GCM has kicked up a review of Final Fantasy XI, from gameplay to graphic,sound,value and finally comes to a conclusion scoring 7.2.

GamePlay

Final Fantasy XI gives you the choice of 5 playable races. Humes are from the Republic of Bastok, and-you guessed it-look like humans. Like most RPGS, they are able to do many things, yet aren‘t especially great in one area. The cute Tarutaru, or 搈idgets?as I call them, are from Windhurst, and are adept magic users. The Galka, are a fierce bestial race from Bastok, born for brutish combat. The final races are the Mithra, who are your ranger or thieve types, and the Elvaan, who are much like Humes in their adaptability.
After you get your race settled, it‘s on to your choice of jobs (read: classes) are to be chosen. Your basic fare here, like mages, warriors and so forth. From here, you are let loose into the grand world of Vana抎iel. A word of caution, you will probably a little puzzled by the wonky controls at first, obviously a console design issue.

I too, like Megan Dyer who also reviewed this puppy, was forced to dust off my game pad to play. A game pad to play an MMO? Yup. Don‘t fret though, it‘s not as bad as it sounds, as that‘s what was intended in the first place. And hey, didn‘t we all start on consoles anyways? It‘s like riding a bike. However, if you MUST use your keyboard, you can fiddle with the extensive mapping functions, and find something to your liking. Be wary of the camera too, it can do some, ahem, interesting things in dire times.

The first 10 or so levels are pretty easy breezy, as you wander aimlessly from area to area, in search of quests and missions. Most of these are your pretty standard RPG fair, kill that, fetch that, collect this and so on. They are pretty vague though, I had to go online and look up specific details, something very common these days. Take note MMO developers, when you force your flock to go online to hunt up random items locations and whatnot, that‘s not kosher, mkay?

Grouping is recommended for many missions, perhaps keying on the more Asian-centric concept of socialistic values, that encompass togetherness, family, and community. Or maybe, Square just decided to make it hard as hell to solo. Seriously, its pretty rough alone out there, so find some buddies. Obviously finding a player group (clan) is the best option, although even these options consist mainly of just a simple global chat channel.

The fun really begins (like most MMOs) when you start getting some levels under your belt. At level 18 you can branch out into a sub-job, this allows for some more variety, although you can‘t become a master in this sub-job. Thankfully, you can change jobs anytime you want, not unlike the unlearn system in SWG. You just have to work up the ladder a bit if you change around, but overall, it‘s not so bad.

Combat is an all-important part, lest we not forget. It‘s real time and stat based, so no twitch skills really needed much here. If you have fought in any recent MMO, it‘s no different here. Somewhat boring, somewhat methodical, and very much overdone. Sure the magical spells and special moves add some flair, but it‘s pretty monotonous after awhile. Be mindful of death too, you lose some exp towards your next level or so. This is a pretty harsh deal for most players to deal with- at least it was for me. Some would argue death is too light in some games, with corpse runs, non-lootable corpses and whatnot. But losing hard earned xp is just dumb, and doesn‘t promote the core goal of gaming-FUN.

After level 18 or so, things start to turn into a bit of a grind. It‘s kinda cool to ride a Chocobo at level 20, those cute little bird like creatures so common in the series. As you progress, you of course need better gear and items, and that‘s where the auction house comes in. Here you will find most of the good stuff ingame, aside from the high end questing. But I found it pretty tedious after this level, the stakes were raised, and coupled with the lack of groups to be found in some areas, the extreme death penalty and general interface issues, this game turned into Crapsville, USA pretty quick. Even the prospect of gaining an advanced job at level 30, like Samurai or Beastmaster, wasn‘t enough to really keep me going for long.

Graphics

It sure is Final Fantasy all right. Just like Blizzard has with Warcraft, the Square art team has a distinct style, somewhat zany, a lot cute, and 100% Japanese. Best of all, you don‘t need a pimped-out rig to run it either, as its been out for awhile now, and optimized for some pretty smooth performance. There were some moments of lag, but it‘s hard to tell if that was due to large amounts of objects on screen, or the general online lag, we all know, and love. Really though, this is one of the best performing MMOs out there.

The character models and animations are really splendid, each imbued with a lot of personality. The artists really seem to really enjoy their work, and it shows- and why not? It‘s like being in charge of a beloved Disney cartoon or set of characters, you have to give respect for such a venerable franchise. While you can fault the facial and body type features as being a bit generic, they still don‘t detract that much. Just don‘t expect City of Heroes or Star Wars Galaxies type customization here.

You will also become bored of the repeating enemy models. The special effects, such as spells, are surprisingly robust and colorful. You may not see some of the outlandish moves in the very recent Final Fantasy games, with exotic blue orbs, lighting, earth eruptions and so on, but they are still pretty cool.

The world itself is really well put together. Each urban area has quaint little houses, or towering castle type structures. Like World of Warcraft, there seems to be a lot of hand drawn details, instead of some generic building creator used in so many MMOs these days. There is a very muralistic approach to many of the landscapes, with delicate, pastel colors, making everything seem more peaceful, or softer, than usual. The environments are also pretty varied, from roaring oceans, to tranquil forests, bustling towns, frigid mountains, eerie dungeons and so on. Overall, the graphics won‘t floor you for the most part, but there is genuine beauty here fans will truly savor.

Sound

Of course, when talking about any Final Fantasy game, the first thing that comes to mind is the music right? Ya know?the shows that are playing at amphitheaters around the globe? Where they have huge screens presenting in-game action set to the world-class orchestra? Yeah, well that little slice of heaven is in Final Fantasy XI too. Sweeping, grand, melodic, entrancing, harmonious, alluring厃ou get the picture- this is some great music folks, despite many opinions that this isn‘t the best in the series. Well, I have hardly played said series much, so with my near tabula rasa like FF mind, I declare this to be some solid music. And that‘s my final answer.

Beyond the score, there isn‘t much to write home about, however. The sound effects are pretty standard, and like most MMOs (except the insane Everquest 2, something like thousands of lines of speech from NPCs), there is little voice acting.

Value

First off, Final Fantasy lovers will probably get a big kick out of the game. But after you play for a while, unless you have oodles of time, you will grow weary of it. However, it‘s often said that the people make the game, and I didn‘t really find myself a player group for this title. Of course, if you can justify spending ＄13 a month on a 3D chatroom, go right ahead, but I抣l pass.

Like most MMOs, this game will keep you busy for months and months, as long as Square keeps pumping out updates to keep things fresh.

Final thought

Final Fantasy XI isn‘t a bad game per se...it‘s just not top of the line when compared to the current stable of WOW, Everquest II and others coming down the pipe. It does have charming graphics and sound, but the maddening grind really drives down the fun factor.

This game really reminds me of the approach of Star Wars Galaxies. The latter MMO took a HUGE license and turned it into an online abomination (although the grouping/graphics are killer). Still, to call Final Fantasy XI an abomination is pretty harsh, it runs smooth, has few bugs, and has a good chunk of content and solid backing from Square. The player base is also pretty strong, with enough gusto to last a few more years at the very least. And hey, where else can you play as a 3-foot tall spell chucking mage?

From www.gamechronicles.com