Final Fantasy XI Benchmark 3 Released

Sidicas writes "Squaresoft has released a new version of the benchmark for Final Fantasy XI. The new version includes a preview of the Tavnazian Archipelago from the Chains of Promethia expansion pack. The benchmark is full of eye-candy and makes for one heck of a screensaver!"

Comments

Yet more benchmarks

[OAB_X]

I dont think that this will replace 3dmark anytime soon. Nor will it replace the new HL2, Doom3 or Far-Cry benchmarks. Maybe it will add onto them, but, never replace it.

Re:Yet more benchmarks

[mausmalone]

The benchmark isn't meant to gague how powerful your system is, but how well your system can run FFXI. They give a list of scores on the page and tell you what kind of in-game experience you can expect. This is mainly the result of a console developer trying to cope with a multi-configuration platform (i.e. you can't complain so much if the game doesn't work on your system, as you could've tried the demo first for free).

Square Enix

[Donoho]

Squaresoft is dead you insensitive clod!

Re:Square Enix

[Crimsane]

we could be so lucky.
if it were "dead" we could put it to rest.
unfortunately its more of an "undead" as it wanders around trying a ghostly shell of its former self trying to suck the blood of those that once loved it.

Re:Square Enix

[Guppy06]

From what I can tell it seems Squaresoft was by far first among equals in that merger. Final Fantasy this, Final Fantasy that, and yet very little seems to be on the horizon in the world of Dragon Quest/Warrior. The old FF games have been ported seventeen different ways to Sunday but we still haven't seen ports of DQ 5 or 6 in English. Going to the Square-Enix homepage, I don't see anything that looks like something that would have come from Enix, and you really have to dig before you see the phrase "Dragon Warrior." You give us an update to Seiken Densetsu 1 for the GBA SP that manages to break the beauty of the ring menu system but you can't be bothered to finally bring Terranigma to North America? It's not like you even have to translate it...

Squaresoft is alive and well, it's Enix that seems to be floating belly-up. Where's Soul Blazer IV? Can we at least get a Chrono III?

Re:Square Enix

[Firehawke]

Well, about the only thing Enix has done that's high profile of late is Dragon Quest, and that series takes even longer than Final Fantasy between revisions.

Nevertheless I wouldn't count them out just yet.. though your point is valid and I agree-- the part of the company that faces the outward world the most is the Square side of Squeenix.

Re:Square Enix

[dancingmad]

Are you kidding? Enix has always taken a long time to put out Dragon Quest games, but they are FAR more popular in Japan than Final Fantasy. DQ8 just came out. At the end of November DQ8 was the best selling game in Japan. According to the Magic Box:

Dragon Quest VIII (PS2, Square Enix) - 2,236, 000 units

More tellingly is that the company is using the game to promote a new franchise, Code Age. SE knows very well that DQ8 is enormous in Japan but won't see much action in the U.S. SE is a Japanese oriented company.

As for the Gameboy, there is a DQ game for it: the Japan only DQ Slime Mori Mori title.

Enix is alive and kicking around as well as it always has.

Re:Hello, jpeg

[obsid1an]

Yea, it is so bad that it's the most popular MMO with the exception of Lineage 1 & 2.

FFXI contribution to MMOGs == control mechanism

[DJ Wipeout]

Yes, hopefully all the mouthbreathers and asshats will migrate to EQ2 and WoW, so those of us who actually enjoy the game can enjoy it that much more.

If nothing else, FFXI has the best damn control mechanism of any MMOG out there. WASD makes you run in the direction you push, and the arrow keys move the camera. I haven't touched the mouse in-game in over 10 months.

From what I can tell, the people who hate FFXI the most are the ones that insisted on using mouse+keyboard instead of keyboard only or ps2-style controller and keyboard. If I was still using the mouse, I'd hate it too.

Re:FFXI contribution to MMOGs == control mechanism

[DJ Wipeout]

But let's start with this. We're talking about a PC game. PC interfaces come with a mouse and controller. It would make sense to create a port of the game that caters to this interface.

No, we're not. We're talking about a game for the Playstation 2 and the PC, where all players are in the same world system. When designing a game for multiple operating systems, you want the interface to be the same. Apple taught us that consistency is good, yes?

Instead they basically ported the PS2 version over directly, and poorly mapped the PS2 buttons onto the keyboard. So using the keyboard is a chore. Simple example: Let's say I want to equip a new sword. FFXI: Press the "-" key on the numpad, and then choose the Equipment option. Then select the "Weapon" slot. Then select the new piece of equipment. (Of course, you can use either the keyboard or the mouse for this.) World of Warcraft: Press Shift-B. Right click on the new sword. Done. Which is easier here?

Chore for you maybe.

Ctrl-E. Return. Up or Down however many times to get the weapon you want. Return. Escape. Done.

I can do this in less than a second. All without my hands leaving the keyboard. Or if it's a switch I need to do often, I just make a macro for it.

Is there any time in WoW where you have to take your hand off the mouse to use the keyboard? Do you ever have to do it in the middle of a fight? I'm sorry, I hate having to switch control mechanisms, *especially* in the middle of a fight.

But ignoring the terrible control for a while, let's talk about the gameplay for a bit, and how this game can be more accurately called Crab Fantasy XI.

Uh, did you play the same game that I do? I'll freely admit the scaling up of monster models, but it's not like that's unique to FFXI, and I definitely have not spent my entire game levelling off crabs. I think the only time I fought them at all was in Qufim.

Personally, I think playstyle has much more to do with how one views FFXI. If all you think of the game is "Get my job to 75 and sub to 37" then heck yeah you're going to look at it as a grind. Did you ever fish, just for the sake of fishing? Did you ever just hang out someplace with your friends? That said, most of the MMOG experience is tied to the other players you interact with in the game. If you don't find people you can connect with, then you'll lose interest. There are 50+ people in my linkshell for me to hang out with, and I'm "grinding" 5 or 6 jobs at the same time. Whatever I'm in the mood for, I can do. I'm a casual player, so I'm less concerned about when I achieve something and more about what happens along the way. I like FFXI a lot, and I'm sorry you don't share that opinion, since it seems like you've put some effort into it in the past. I hope WoW is the game you're looking for.

Re:FFXI contribution to MMOGs == control mechanism

[falcon5768]

YAY, its someone who's not a EQ reject and actually knows what they are talking about.

Seriously I think most of the fun with FFXI is the fact that you can get overwelmed on what you want to do. Do I want to fish, do I want to farm, do I want to quest, do I want to level.

There have been days where my GF has just sat in her moghouse and talked to our LS. Her freind who blasted past her burned out in 4 months trying to hit 75, I havent come close to it yet.

Re:FFXI contribution to MMOGs == control mechanism

[falcon5768]

Obviously you havent played long enough. Some of those quest pay a lot and are repeatable and not much effort, but you cant be lvl 20 and have to have some fame (IE done some quests) in able to do it.

Like I said before, it seems the only people who have problems with the game are either those who subscribe to the EQ style of play and not the original UltimaOnline style. OR who think this is like a normal FF game. I have been playing since May and havent even gotten close to doing 90% of the stuff, heck people have played for 3 years and still havent done it all and they keep adding more stuff (this weeks update fixes your 24/7 bot problem, adds brand new missions, adds new mobs, adds new equipment along with a host of other changes)

Installation fails

[magic]

On Win2k, the installation fails with the error 'data1.cab' is missing :(

-m

Re:Installation fails

[Luveno]

I'm getting the same error on WinXP Pro SP1.

Re:Installation fails

[Reapman]

Thanks for sending the MD5... I'm getting:

FB5D1205892381DC8AF9042BBE88A274
which is obviously different then whatyou got, and i've downloaded twice getting that exact same hash mark... going to try it with Internet Explorer later on and see if that makes a difference.

Re:Installation fails

[Reapman]

Sorry for a "double post" but yeah, use IE it works fine downloading with that (IE 6.whatever) Bahaumut vs Airship... Sweetness...

Re:Hello, jpeg

[DAldredge]

Funny, that didn't work on the movie "Final Fantasy: The Spirits that make you very sleepy" ;->

Re:Hello, jpeg

[DAldredge]

It didn't have a plot. That is what happens when you rewrite the script 50+ times.

And if I am so stupid why do you respond to me?

Re:Hello, jpeg

[DAldredge]

No, that can't be it as most of the posts have all the words spelled correcly and I don't bother. ;->

Re:Slow, Uninteresting, and Blurry

[Reapman]

Just downloading it now (looks like it's an IE only download experience >:/) anyways if it's anything like the second one, yes it's designed to stress the computer more then what the game is (in the second there's a scene with dozens and dozens of little annoying taru characters all doing some emote stuff) as for the graphics, yeah it's definitly not the most beautiful game, but it's far from ugly (personal opinion anyways) it' no EQ2 thats fer sure. So no, if you ever did play this game don't expect 5fps, unless you max the details (on an ATI 9600 it ran fine except in extreme in game weather conditions)

Re:huh?

[z-pak]

Correction: Ballista = Never Play Tested By Devs Its just a sleep fest (in game AND out if you're anything but a mage).

Time?

[Ganondorf Dragmire]

After watching this benchmark, my system is indeed sutible to run this game. The question do I have the time to play?

Re:huh?

[falcon5768]

I have fun like crazy beating the crap out of Mages with my Monk... The key to balista isnt range, its stratagy, if you dont co-ordinate with your players on your team yeah your going to get your ass handed to by a mage, but if you can get a member to play around with a mage, they wont see your raging fists pound their ass into the ground.

Re:Slow, Uninteresting, and Blurry

[mausmalone]

So I'm curious. If this is a new engine, then I guess that would explain why it ran so poorly - but it wouldn't explain why the graphics looked so vanilla.

Well, here's the catch-22. If it's a new engine, yes, that'll stress your computer and make the framerate drop as it will most certainly have all sorts of added graphical stuff (things like depth of field or glow, which can be added afterward with no need for new textures or anything). The reason why it looks so vanilla, though, is that the characters, environments, and textures were all designed for an engine from a few years back. They're always going to look just as vanilla, no matter how much the engine improves. (Think of Tenebare, except in a much less extreme case.)