U.S. FFXI 360 Beta Begins

Gamespot is reporting that the U.S. Final Fantasy XI Xbox 360 Beta has begun. You're going to have to get ahold of a Beta disc from the Official Xbox magazine's February issue, and then sign up at the PlayOnline site. From the article: "When the game goes live in May, Xbox 360 players will be able to rub elbows and swap healing potions with their PlayStation 2 and PC counterparts. But for the duration of the beta test, Xbox 360 users will be kept on their own servers. They will be able to interact with beta testers from Europe and Japan, however. While Square Enix has issued a list of known issues with the beta game, support for USB keyboards and mice has been included."

Comments

First

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

Will the graphics be improved, or similar from the PC or PS2 versions? Again, give me a reason to get the Xbox360, not just offer ports of existing games on existing platforms.

Second, hasn't the fire under FFXI kind of fizzled out? Is there still much demand for this online RPG or are the only people playing it diehards that can't let go? From what I could tell, FFXI kind of failed for the PS2, considering how many returned openned HDD and FFXI game bundles you could pick up at a discounted price for months after its launch at most big box stores.

Anyways, as other recent online articles are suggesting, next gen console games seem to be sequels and ports of existing games rather then true original content. I will wait about a year until they stop porting old games over to the Xbox360 and come out with more original game concepts.

Re:First

[Anonymous Coward]

First

So close...

Will the graphics be improved, or similar from the PC or PS2 versions?

They'll be PC "high-quality", which I count as "no".

Second, hasn't the fire under FFXI kind of fizzled out?

In the US and Europe? Yes, World of WarCraft killed it. In Japan? Apparently it's still popular.

Otherwise, this is a flat-out port of, basically, the PC version.

The real headline should be: XBox360 Port of Four-Year Old Game With No Upgrades Enters Beta, Slashdot Thinks This is News - but that doesn't fit.

Re:First

[oGMo]

Reports are saying that look like the graphics on the PC version which are a big improvement over what you saw on the PS2.

This is definitely true; although the PS2 version could be easily updated... and it's silly that they don't. Compare the graphics on FFXII (which undoubtedly uses a modified version of the same engine) to FFXI.

Another complaint I have heard is that the PS2 version is holding the graphics of other versions behind (since they don't display cloaks and some other things). This is BS, from a developer's perspective: the other versions already look better, and there's no reason you couldn't add the additional things on systems that handled it.

I still have a friend I talk to once in a while that still plays and it looks like the population is lower than when I played, but it's holding steady.

Definitely... FFXI is the kind of game that requires a long-term commitment; those players that have committed are likely to stay so, especially with the constant updates and story extensions that Square adds.

The only issue now is inflation in the world. The way the game was designed you need a lot of raw materials to craft things. New players generally gathered these to make money at the start of the game. With less new people playing few of the materials are being gathered leading to higher prices for them which raise prices across the board.

This isn't the only problem... gilfarmers and botfishers are also to blame. However, I'm on a server with much higher inflation now than the first server I played on, and it's actually made it easier for me to earn a lot of money. There was still really expensive stuff on the old server, but getting the cash was harder. So it balances out to an extent.

The game had some interesting concepts with how it handled crafting and the economy, but it seems like WoW has out shined it. Who knows, maybe with the new generation of consoles coming out ports of the game will bring in lots of new blood.

I disagree. WoW may be more popular, but it has no real storyline, not to mention the huge story arcs that FFXI has. Additionally, while it's OK for casual playing, the rewards feel too easy. Earning ranks or rare items in FFXI feels like much more of an accomplishment; I'm not the only person I know who has returned from WoW to FFXI because of this.

But being a failure on the PS2? I'd have to disagree. The only issue is that the PC version was so much better as the PS2 chugged along at times.

Really? I've heard the opposite... the PC version tends to stutter when you're in a busy area (try lower Jeuno or around a moogle during an event), whereas the PS2 runs smoothly regardless. I do have a problem with USB keyboard input, but it may be my keyboard.

It's true that people looking for the next Final Fantasy game and spending 300 hours leveling your party and completing every side quest were disappointed [...]

Perhaps. Unfortunately most of the "good stuff" happens later, and you need to find a good group of people to play with, even a static party. That totally changes the game. There is definite Final Fantasy material there, though; you just won't see it until you've made progress deeper into the game's storyline.

Well besides that part that simulated the wait in line game, but at least you were logged into the server unlike WoW during that simulation.

Which was this...? You mean the recent NPC quest?

Re:WOOT keyboard and mouse

[PKFC]

Um... Hello? Square Enix has said they won't implement voice chat because it's more difficult to track abuses. (Although I read something in the manual about there being voice chat... *rereads* Ah only send and receive Xbox Live voice messages.. no big deal since every 360 game will do that via the guide button)