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Final Fantasy XI shows off winners for its anniversary art contest
Although the North American anniversary doesn't take place until later this year, Final Fantasy XI has been running for eight years as of this past May. When that milestone rolled around, Square-Enix announced their 8th Anniversary art contest as a chance for players to show off their talents and potentially get rewarded for them. The official winners have just been announced, complete with the requisite gallery of all the winning entries for fans to peruse, with the results both creative and indicative of the game's long history. The recurring visual elements seem to be food, tarutaru, mithra, and mandragoras -- which certainly goes a long way toward showing what's stuck out in everyone's minds over the duration. There are even a pair of entries (such as the one above) that use food itself as the medium for the celebration. Final Fantasy XI players are encouraged to take a full look at all the artwork on display in the winners' gallery -- enough to bring a nostalgic tear to any player's eye.
One Shots: The little white dress commands it
We debated about posting this particular screenshot as it contains something that isn't, strictly speaking, available in Final Fantasy XI. What might that be, you ask? Well, it would be the cute little white dress that this lovely Mitrha above is wearing. But then we thought, it's a cute little white dress and we see very little of FFXI, so here it is! Fanguad writes:This image is of the Holla crag in La Theine Plateau in Final Fantasy XI. The rainbow you see behind the crag appears after it rains. My character is dressed in custom armor not found in the game - there is an active community of modders who create new armor models. Technically it's against the ToS, but it adds so much spice to the game.While we're not so much with the changing code being OK, we're all behind Square-Enix adding a little white dress into the game so people can enjoy some vanity clothing during sunny, rainbow filled days. So come on, Square, give the cute Mithras some casual-clothing love! (Added bonus: Tarutaru could use them as floor-length robes!) Do you have a favorite outfit in your game of choice? Perhaps you're really jazzed about that new Lunar Festival clothing you just got? Or perhaps you just have a fantastic costume you made in CoX, and want to show it off. Just send it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com, and yours could be up here next!
Make your own FFXI dungeons, Fan Fest recap
Writing for Gamastura, freelance writer Emily Balistrieri has a lengthy run-down on the biggest party of the year for Final Fantasy XI fans: Fan Fest. She offers up two features for the price of one. The first is an interview with some folks from the development team, including Hiromichi Tanaka, and Global Online Producer Sage Sundi. The second is a breakdown of the events of the Fest itself, from the introductory speech to the obligatory game music concert. Another very popular event returning from last year was held Friday at 3:00 PM: The Tarutaru Marathon. Registered players were each assigned one tiny, adorable, level one Tarutaru character to send hurtling through a perilous dungeon. Monsters there could smite these wimpy Tarutaru into dust with just one hit, so stealth -- well, more so just running like hell -- played a big part in advancing the furthest. No one actually managed to cure the goal Galka character before the 20 minutes was over, but the closest three were awarded pretty sweet tech prizes. In fact, the top prize for many of the contests was a new PC.One additional element not covered in her writeup, but touched on in an update to the official site: the prospect of player-created dungeons! This idea is so out there that the language on the site sounds especially cautious:The development team hinted at the possibility of a function that would allow players to design their own dungeons. These adventurer-created dungeons could then be attempted by and traded between friends. However,this idea is still in the early planning stages, and there is a chance it may not come to fruition.If this was of interest, don't forget to check out our own Jason Dobson's gallery of photos from the event, and his own chat with the dev team.
Final Fantasy XI Fan Fest 2007 gallery, from cosplay to concert
While we enjoyed speaking with the Final Fantasy XI dev team regarding the MMO and its latest expansion, Wings of the Goddess, that was certainly not all that took place during the Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival 2007 in Anaheim, CA. From seeing planner Kenichi Iwao in a samurai helmet to rubbing elbows with more cosplayers than I care to admit, this past weekend's event was certainly a memorable experience, and we have the pictures here to prove it. Our thanks to event attendee Johnathan Perkins for the above pose, which had us rolling.Mithra tail-grabbing antics aside, other highlights include a costume contest that saw an attendee dressed as the venerable Cid taking first prize, as well as an eclectic concert featuring both North American video game cover band The Smash Bros. and The Star Onion's own Kumi Tanioka. Click through to feel as if you were there, one frame at a time.%Gallery-10466%
