Final Fantasy XI.

[DarkKnight]

Maker: Square-Enix.

Platform(s): PC, PS2, X-box 360.

Story:

The world of Vana'diel stands on the brink of war. Three powerful nations, united in their plight against the beastmen forces, look to their last hope - brave adventurers like you!
Will the beastmen gain the upper hand, and thrust the once-peasceful Vana'diel into another war? Step into the world of Vana'diel and journey forth on grand adventures with players from all across the globe!
Fianl Fantasy XI is the first online game in the award-winning Final Fantasy series. How you play is up to you, with limitless possibilities for adventure. Set out on your own to discover the countless secrets of Vana'diel, or form a party with your friends to purge the beastman forces and bring home sensational spoils!

Characters:

The first step in your adventure is to create your character's traits, including race, gender, face, hair color, body size, job, and nationality. This will become your on-screen "alter ego" in the world of FINAL FANTASY XI.
The classic Job System of the FINAL FANTASY series returns in FINAL FANTASY XI. You can acquire a wide variety of abilities with various jobs -- and even discover new jobs as you play!
Rumor has it that with the proper training, Vana'diel adventurers can become paladins, bards, and rangers. What other jobs will you be able to discover?

Communication:

The world of FINAL FANTASY XI consists of an international community that exists without borders. Hook up with your existing friends, or meet and greet new adventurers from around the world.
Communicating with other players is the main feature of FINAL FANTASY XI. Communication is a snap with user-friendly chat, messaging systems, and easily-managed friend lists. Teaming up with others is the key to success, so don't go alone!

More then combat:

In Vana'diel, your existence is not limited to battling the menagerie of dangerous creatures that lurk outside the city walls. You can also fish, synthesize items, and spend your time participating in a number of non-combative activities.
Crystals, the origin of all energy, are scattered throughout Vana'diel. By collecting them, you can use their powers to create new items and become a famous craftsman in your own right.
Many other activities await. You can spend the day fishing, surrounded by the rich wilderness of Vana'diel. Try creating new recipes for fine dishes for your friends. Aim for riches by synthesizing fine jewelry. Scour dark mines for precious ores. In FINAL FANTASY XI, combat is just the tip of the iceberg -- if you'd rather enjoy a peaceful life inside the walls of the city, nobody will stop you!

Stevie's verdict:

I am a fan of _all_ Final Fantasy's, even the begining ones, so it should come as no surprise that I love this game. (Hence why I used the 'offical' descriptions instead of my summary)

The array of things you can do is quite large, a newbie can start in the mines district, get to level 5, collect 12 Zerhun soot, and then do nothing but synth[Create items from other items]. Obviously by staying in the cities you miss out on most of the fun of killing big arse monsters, but it's all about choice.

The current level cap is 75, but you have a lot of jobs to get through before you end up with all level 75's, and even when you get to level 75, NM[Notorious Monsters] will eat you alive without a party.[See: Bahmut]
(WoW players be warned: You have to pull your weight in parties.)

The races: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/citizen/index.html

The Jobs are: Warrior, Monk, Red-Mage, White-Mage, Black-Mage, Theif, Paladin, Dark Knight[Whee!], Blue-Mage, Ranger, Cosair, Puppet Master, Summoner[Like Yuna], Dragoon[With pet Dragon], Beast Master, Bard, Ninja, Samurai.
By doing a certian quest, you can unlock subjobs, which give you half of the skills and atrributes of the sub job.

There was a gil problem a few months ago, people exploiting bugs etc, but Squaresoft fixed it and removed 100 billion gil from circulation, and peoples accounts got suspended for breaking teh rules.

Downsides of the game:
Healing, when you are a level 34 warrior/monk or vice versa, it takes for ever to recover your HP if you are playing solo, so bring food. (Goblin chocolate, huzzah!)

Leveling by your self can get hard, but it's unlikely you'll be without a linkshell for long.

Americans, god they are jackarses.

Advice:

If you logon, remember that there are people who don't speak english, so don't expect an reply from a Japanese player. Use the auto-translate function.

If you want to play this game, tell me and I will buy you a world pass, that lets you play on the same server as me. I can answer all your nubby questions (As we all have them) and give you some starting gil. [You will still have to buy the game though.]

I've attached some piccies, but I have a 38MB video that is better, anyone know a good place to upload it? :/

[Zantinzuken]

Would you say it would work on a pc like so?

Pent3 700mhz
512ram
Nvidia Geforce mx4000 128mb gfx
23gb free space

I'd get it definitly if i was sure it would work...

[DarkKnight]

The Requirements for Final Fantasy XI are as follows:

PC Version:

Minimum System Requirements

* Operating System - Microsoft Windows 98 / 98SE / Me / 2000 / XP.
* CPU / Processor - Intel Pentium III 800Mhz or faster processor.
* Memory (RAM) - 128 MB RAM.
* Graphics Card - NVIDIA GeForce series graphics processing unit with 32MB or ATI RADEON 9000 series graphics card.
* Sound Card - DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card.
* Hard Disk Space - 6 GB free hard disk space.
* CD-ROM Speed - 4x CD-ROM Drive (installation only).
* Others - Keyboard, Mouse.

Recommended System Requirements

* Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP.
* CPU / Processor - Intel Pentium 4 processor.
* Memory (RAM) - 256 MB RAM.
* Graphics Card - NVIDIA GeForceFX series graphics processing unit (AGP)
with 64MB of VRAM.
* Sound Card - DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card.
* Hard Disk Space - 6 GB free hard disk space.
* CD-ROM Speed - 32x CD-ROM Drive (installation only).
* Internet Connection - Cable / DSL Broadband.
* Others - Keyboard w/ 10-key numeric pad, Mouse w/ Wheel.


PS2 Version:

* PlayStation 2 Console System.
* PS2 Ethernet or Modem Network Adapter.
* Final Fantasy XI Game for PlayStation 2.
* PS2 Internal Hard Disk.
* USB Keyboard (Recommended).
* Internet Connection.
* Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard)

My advice: Wait untill you can get a better CPU. It -would- run, but it'd all have to be low spec. :/

[Bobo.]

torrent?

[DarkKnight]

torrent?

Wouldn't do you any good.

* Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard)

It is a MMORPG, you pay a fee every month to play it.

[James]

Hey Stevie, how are you liking the 10 hour mantinance?...
XD

[DarkKnight]

Hey Stevie, how are you liking the 10 hour mantinance?...
XD

10 hour POL maitnence has nothing to do with FFXI.

POL, Play On Line, is the registering service. It is used to create accounts, create new characters, etc, but not to play FFXI.

[James]

Hey Stevie, how are you liking the 10 hour mantinance?...
XD

10 hour POL maitnence has nothing to do with FFXI.

POL, Play On Line, is the registering service. It is used to create accounts, create new characters, etc, but not to play FFXI.

Bugger, stop being so smart and accidently in the wrong place at the right time. <_<

[DarkKnight]

Hey Stevie, how are you liking the 10 hour mantinance?...
XD

10 hour POL maitnence has nothing to do with FFXI.

POL, Play On Line, is the registering service. It is used to create accounts, create new characters, etc, but not to play FFXI.

Bugger, stop being so smart and accidently in the wrong place at the right time. <_<

...K!

*stumbles back into Kate*

[DarkKnight]

Hey Stevie, how are you liking the 10 hour mantinance?...
XD

Update: They had two updates, one for POL[The one I thought], and one for FFXI, the later of which is the one you talked about and it disabled FFXI for some odd hours. (Not sure how long, I was watching DVD's for the first time in a few months.)

The reason for the update is the new expansion pack, Treasures of Aht Urhgan.

New features can be seen here: http://www.playonline.com/pcd/update/ff ... etail.html

Thought you might want to know you where right.

[James]

Thought you might want to know you where right.

I'm going to quote this onto NPF.

[DarkKnight]

Thought you might want to know you where right.

I'm going to quote this onto NPF.

You say it like it hardly happens.

[MrBlackDX]

Jay is never right you see, usually just a shell stealing tard, anyway, i would get this, but teh moneh

[DarkKnight]

Jay is never right you see, usually just a shell stealing tard, anyway, i would get this, but teh moneh

Yeah, the fee is the big draw back...

Having said that, it's a fee I pay gladly.

It is USD$12.95 a month, which is about 7 quid and about AUD$18. The way I figure it, it costs AUD$24 for a carton of beer, or AUD$50 for a pack of smokes. Since I niether drink like a fish nor smoke like a chimney, it's a vice I can afford.

[DarkKnight]

FFXI is now officially the best MMORPG alive today.

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff ... etail.html

I'm gunna have me a chocobo to call mah own.

[Snakey]

I'm gunna have me a chocobo to call mah own.

Thats a rather strange thing to call a Chocobo.

[DarkKnight]

I'm gunna have me a chocobo to call mah own.

Thats a rather strange thing to call a Chocobo.

I want to call my Chocobo George.

But I'm not sure if it'll let me.

[DarkKnight]

I have the coolest name of any one here that plays MMORPG's.







More to come when imageshack stops having brain farts.