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Massively's hands-on with Final Fantasy XI's April version update
Prophecy, valor, campaign, and item augmentation, oh my! This latest version update was packed with goodies for the Final Fantasy XI player base, making sure that something for everyone was included in the game. I recently got the chance to sit down with the Final Fantasy XI team and play through some of the content, experiencing what their newest mini-expansion, A Crystalline Prophecy, had to add to the game.Past that, I also had the chance to see the new Fields of Valor areas in action, aid the Mithras in defending Windurst from the beastmen during the Crystal War, and experience some of the hard tasks in the campaign missions first hand.So does the April update get a thumbs up? Is Crystalline Prophecy worth the ten bucks? Those questions and more will be answered within.
Massively's hands-on with Final Fantasy XI's April version update pt. 2
The Crystal War Missions of Campaign The new missions in the Campaign area of the game offer some tough challenges and nice rewards for players looking to further the storyline of Wings of the Goddess. Of special note are the cutscenes, which were very emotional and also very beautiful. Compared to some of the original cutscenes that the game shipped with, these new scenes are very active and dramatic. Funny characters, camaderie, and full blown combat were abound in the seven minute cutscene I watched -- all which included my character fighting back to back with some of Windurst's most talented military heroes. The boss battle I got to participate in was tied directly into the events of the prior cutscene, as players need to use clues from the cutscenes to locate where to go and what to do. In our battle, one of the Mithras was injured as she fended off hordes of beastmen with a slew of grenades, forcing our party to find her and help defend her. Unfortunately, once we located her door, we were attacked by a group of beastmen that included a very powerful boss. Even with five well geared level 75 players, including me as the white mage with my brand new white mage abilities, the boss took a considerable amount of time (and a little cheating) to defeat. As to the fate of the injured Mithra... let me just say that I was a little heartbroken by the end of the cutscene, and I only knew the character for ten minutes. Our overall impressions of the version update and mini-expansion are... For a game that's close to seven years old to feature challenging, engaging content, well-written story, and beautiful graphics is in itself amazing. The version update even seems to be slowly upending the former hardcore playstyle of FFXI, creating a more welcoming game for newbies and veteran players alike. If you have Final Fantasy XI and have let your account lapse, my suggestion is to certainly come back and give the new version update a try -- especially regarding additions like the Fields of Valor. FFXI has evolved from a game of ruthless intentions into a challenging, but rewarding experience for those who are willing to stick with it. Additions like being able to add your own stats to items via item enhancement only make the game more approachable for today's World of Warcraft audiences. The version update brings much to the game and makes for a thumbs up. A Crystalline Prophecy, however, is a little shaky. While the content starts at level 30, it cannot be finished until the player is level 75. The storyline looks to be decent and the end reward seems to be worth 10 dollar price tag, but the level 75 requirement pushes this one into the territory of "buy it if you can finish it." This isn't an expansion I would recommend for players just starting with the game, but it certainly is a purchase for those who are already FFXI veterans. But, newbies, if you can afford the 10 dollar price tag and have a character at or over level 30, go ahead and grab it. It's a nice addition to the game, especially for a price of 10 bucks.
Final Fantasy XI's April version update to include a mog house full of new features
The version update is a special time for all Final Fantasy XI players. A time where people gather around Tetra Master while they wait for the servers to come back up, a time when people cry nerf when Square-Enix changed how their class worked, but especially a time to drool over all of the coming new features.We already heard that Square-Enix would be expanding the Fields of Valor and Moblin Maze Mongers systems, but now we get to see that there's much more in store for April's update. Things like brand new nation missions, more areas in game that support treasure casket drops, notorious (elite) monsters appearing in the campaign system, and the huge announcement of "item augmentation," a type of enchanting system for pieces of equipment.For a game over six years old, FFXI keeps proving to its community that it can keep up with the features of newer MMOs, as well as deploy features that aid the playability of the game. As more information comes in regarding all of these new changes, we'll keep you updated with all of the juicy details.
