rise-of-the-zilart
Latest
The Mog Log: Playing in the epilogue
We still don't have a roadmap for the future of Final Fantasy XI, but now seems like a fine time to start speculating. Yes, the February update was nice, but it was only a patch on certain issues -- it makes leveling lower-level jobs far easier without giving players much of anything new to do. And while the game is at an age when running out of things to do is pretty darn unlikely, we're still going to need some content on the horizon, something to look forward to. (Especially since a lot of the older content we can do has been somewhat invalidated.) I've said before that I'm hoping for another boxed expansion, but I've also said before that I have my doubts about whether or not that's actually viable. But even if we just get another add-on trilogy (which seems more likely even if it's not what I want), we're still going to be dealing with a massive shadow that Final Fantasy XI has been living under for a very long time now. To put it very bluntly, we're running out of a resource that's far more valuable than PS2 hard drive space -- story.
Final Fantasy XI's mog tablet quest to become permanent game fixture
This year's addition to the Adventurer Appreciation campaign, the Mog Tablets of King Kupofried, has become such a rousing success that it will be a new permanent game mechanic for all Final Fantasy XI players.The quest involves finding 11 hidden tablets scattered throughout the world and bringing them back to the Explorer Moogle in Jeuno's Ru'lude Gardens. Once all of the tablets are recovered, three of King Kupofried's super kupowers are released all over Vana'diel for adventurers in the areas introduced by the main game, Rise of the Zilart, and Chains of Promathia, excluding Dynamis, Tu'lia (Sky), Lumoria (Sea), and Promyvion.These powers do things from providing teleportation from the capital cities to the boat towns of Mhaura and Selbina, provide the gilfinder and treasure hunter traits to everyone in affected areas, give fully healed players bursts of speed, and more. The powers will last for a week before the tablets scatter to the winds and the hunt begins once again.For the full explanation of this brand new permanent game mechanic, check out the page on it at the Final Fantasy XI main site.
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.
EU version of Final Fantasy XI 2008 hits stores May 28th
Square Enix has announced that they plan on releasing the 2008 edition of Final Fantasy XI at the end of this month on May 28th. The box will come with the original game plus every expansion released to date. That means players will get Final Fantasy XI, Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urghan, and Wings of the Goddess all in one purchase.This is nothing new from Square Enix, as they've done this the past couple of years. We would just like to thank them for keeping all the expansions purchasable in a single box, as it makes things a lot easier on newer players trying to get into the game -- or even returning players who've lost their original boxes.Update: May 28th is actually the release date for the EU version of Final Fantasy XI 2008 Edition. The US version of this bundle was released on April 15th, 2008.
