Final Fantasy 11

Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia, Rise Of The Zilart, Treasures of Aht Urhgan
$19.99
If anyone is looking for a great game to play, something that goes beyond a linear storyline, then THIS is the game for you. The game is fantastic. The world is beautifully created. Sitting on a hill in the Batilla Downs region watching the sun come up, and it is different everyday, maintains a certain amount of beauty.


I joined a wonderful Linkshell (guild) on my 4th day in game. The people are friendly and helpful. and I cannot imagine have joined anyone else.

It it a hard game. You will be able to breeze through the first 20 lvls or so of your career. Then once you get to 30 you have the option of starting advanced jobs. Summoners, Paladins, Ninjas, Samurais, Dark Knights(my favorite). And the game lets you have a sub job. And when you have a sub job you can use all its combat and noncombat abilities. Very cool.

The cutscenes for the storyline are beautiful, the NMs (notorious monsters) and tough to kill, some require an Alliance of 18 people.

There is only one thing that I can think of that could be slightly improved upon, and that is leveling solo. It is possible, just no where near as fast as in a party.

So if anyone joins us in Vana'diel, look me up on the Shiva server. Id be more then wolcome to have you join us.

Final Fantasy XI Online: The Vana'diel Collection 2008
$14.99
Well this game is not what i would call exactly an easy game. It is chalked full of missions quests enemies to kill and general wonders. The game is beautifully detailed and some of the hard to reach area's are a visual wonder. As an mmorpg ffxi gives you basically a open world to explore with probably over 100 maps that are richly detailed and time consuming to explore. This game can easily take away countless hours of your time without you knowing the time past.

Gameplay

Gameplay is based on cooperation. It is very rare that an individual can go out on their own and complete tasks. Most of the game requires a minimum of another person or a group of 6-18 ppl to complete. As the game progresses and you get further along in xp and lvls the high end tasks require multiple uninterrupted hours with 12 or more members. Usually the rewards are totally random and you are not garanteed anything. Most of the high end items drop maybe once and everyone there wants it so its a toss up on who gets the item which usually is rewarded to the person that plays the game the most and helps out the most. If you are a person with limited time to play its hard to get rewarded correctly.

Controls

On the xbox i would not recommend playing this game without a usb keyboard. Tried it once and it was horrible trying to type without it. Once you have a keyboard the game plays well and is perfectly detailed. Without a keyboard you will be completely miserable so dont do it to yourself.

Graphics

Simply stunning! You see the sun rise and set. The moon rise and set. Ocean waves crash at your feet as you run in the sand. Ghosts haunt you in mines. Tornados touch down in the deserts. Lightning strikes in the backround. You get the idea.

Replayablility

Its end game there is always something to do. Many hours can be spent just doing one thing. You will spend hundreds of hours getting one character to max level with full caped xp traits.

Price

12.95 a month with an extra 1 per character you make past the main.

Value

Once you dish out the money for the game and pay for the keyboard its still below an average xbox game. It pays for itself over time. If you play it a lot and dont mind the monthly fee then it can keep ya home instead of going to the movies etc.

True to past ff games

Yes and no! It has the ffxi feel with jobs you can play like blackmage whitemage Warrior. It makes you feel that you must work as a team like true ff games. Missions are very in depth and have a long backstory. It falls behind on some things like summoning. The pets are while pretty not as we have seen in the past. Weaponskills or limit breaks are pretty eh. Most of the time you wont realize you activated a weaponskill they are that unnoticable. Limit breaks or 2 hours are what they are called do exactly what they say. Take 2 hours to get a new one. Each job has a different 2 hour some are ok like redmage gets chainspell which allows it to cast spells over and over again with no cool off time or casting time. Some are terrible where for example samurai gets to do 3 weaponskills at a time instead of one.

Anyway i give this game a 4/5 for fun because when you first start there is nothing like it the game is just amazing. The point off is for it limiting you to have to party.

Overall i give it a 3 since it is a bit old you have to pay for it a month and it gets really tiresome doing the 3-4 hour events on a regular basis.

Final Fantasy XI: Ultimate Collection
$19.99
Vana'diel ? a land of magic, swords and technology ? welcomes new adventurers, along with seasoned FINAL FANTASY veterans, with open arms. This land cries out for fearless warriors like you to restore the peace that the citizens dream of. Heed the call and join hundreds of thousands of players from around the world to become the hero that Vana'diel needs.

Final Fantasy XII
$19.99
So many years after this came out, I actually got a chance to play it. Before the review, let me tell you one thing: I've been an avid fan of Final Fantasy for years. I have played every one (excluding the only Japanese released FF's) as well as some of the other Square created games like Parasite Eve and FF tactics. This is important because some people got started in the series at different period and thus have different bias.

This game has some gorgeous content; the world is huge and all yours to discover. It is easy to go off exploring for hours and find new environments, towns, and people that have nothing to do with the main plot. One of the first things I did when playing was to see how far I could go off into the world, regardless of what I was suppose to be doing. To make more incentive, there are things called "hunts." These hunts take you off to every corner of the Earth to defeat a certain monster for a client and to get a bounty. Many times, you'll find yourself heading off into the wilderness not knowing exactly where you are going, destroying tons of monsters along the way, exploring, trying to find your way, learning new licenses, going off for hours and hours with no end in....

Wait! Wait a minute! Isn't Final Fantasy about the story, and if you are going off 5 hours at a time to do a few hunts, doesn't that make the story choppy? Hell yes it does. The story has many strong foundations, but this kind of game play environment doesn't allow space for story. In one point in the game, the characters must tread past a highway, into a forested area, complete a fetch quest, head to a coast, then on to some highlands, through a cave, then to the city you were going for, complete some meaningless tasks, and then continue the story. I am not sure of the exact time for that whole sequence, but it is probably about 10+ hours, and that is just to further actually storyline if you manage to not get distracted by any side quests or exploration.

So, with so much time passing between events, it is hard to keep up with the intricacies of the plot. Sometimes you'll only hear a person's name once in a 20 hour period and have to recall it to make sense of the actual storyline. While traveling these long distances, there is no talking, no discussion, and no character development. After spending 30 hours with the gang of FF6, I felt like I knew them. After spending 40 hours with the folks at FF7, I knew their personalities. This game however, I feel like I knew none of the characters as the little plot that is revealed is separated by hours and hours of travel.

The characters aren't even likable in an unlikable way. Balthier is the only character that manages to make an impression and have some layers. In almost every FF, it is easy to tell why the characters have banded together. They are invested someway in how the story progresses. This FF though doesn't really explain why any of these characters, except the lead Lady Ashe of course, wants to continue. Basch is completely flat; Penolo is a bit of a whiny girl; Fran is just Balthier's side kick.

The battle system was not a favorite. In reality, you don't actually end up playing the game - you are just walking. Gambits can be programed to automatically take over every command, so your characters just hack away. Espers, magic, and Techniques used by FF to make a more tactful game are unbalanced and you won't use any of them. So in these huge landscapes and with these mass areas to travel, you will just be walking while your characters automatically hack and slash. There are rare occasions when you have to take over for your characters which is the most frustrating part in the game. For you experienced RPGers: ever been in a situation when you knew roughly the HP of each monster, so you did one spell that attacked them all and had each character attack a separate monster so they would all die very quickly? There will be none of that in FF12. All of the tactics are gone as you don't control anything, and when you try too, the system in place is very hard to work against.

The ending saved this FF from being a total mishap. It was fast-paced, good battles, and the storyline came to it's peak and I was able to care for the characters, even if it was for the last 5 hours out of 60. The game began well, too. It's just that 40+ hours of exploration in between where the story is lost. Don't be surprised if you trudge through which seems half the globe to only forget why you are going there.

All in all, this game had a wonderful exploration element. This is the thing that kept making me want to pick up the controller and play. I didn't mind to spend that much time and being able to see an entire world of people, things, and environment. The problem is that it gets old. There is no substance; you aren't controlling anything are being rewarded with enough story. It will become very monotonous, and I just rolled past the last part of the game to just end it.