Welcome to World Zero - Reviews for the hardcore gamer

Final Fantasy has a long history and a certain place in gamers’ hearts. It has evolved in many forms, from its initial turn based origins to spin-offs and back again. Many of its fans have seen it through nearly every incarnation, myself included. My second ever console Role Playing Game was the original Final Fantasy, played through and completed within weeks of its release. Final Fantasy, while admittedly isn’t the end all role playing series, is a solid series with a universe in which I have returned to, without hesitation, ten times over.

With so many developers jumping on the Massively Multiplayer Online bandwagon, I suppose it was inevitable that Square did the same; the obvious choice being their flagship franchise, Final Fantasy. And let me start out by saying this game is massive. So massive in fact, that I can’t even remotely touch on many of the aspects of the game’s entirety. Many things are left unsaid in this review simply because there is just too much content residing within this mammoth of a game, so I have selectively included the aspects that affected my experience the most.

Past Final Fantasy games have always featured exceptionally creative environments and imaginative characters, and XI is no exception. Nothing irks me more than attempting to be immersed in a generic, monotonous game world or take on the role of a character with no, well, character. While XI's character creation is lacking (you simply select your race, class, one of a dozen pre-made face/hair combinations, and three body sizes) you’ll be hard pressed to create anything other than an aesthetically pleasing avatar. Adding in the impressive armor and weapon graphics, the creativeness only gets better as time progresses.

In addition to a game world in which a description such as massive is an understatement, Final Fantasy XI throws a ton of content your way. Exploration, mounts, dungeons, quests, story based missions, sub jobs, non combat oriented skills, an auction house; just about every MMORPG facet you can imagine is here. Unfortunately, the considerable scope of Final Fantasy’s game world, the massive amount of things to do in said world, and the imaginative way the game is presented are the only true highlights of this ambitious game. Nearly every other aspect of the game is executed in a fashion that has left me simply bewildered in its implementation. In fact, the nature of the game in general is off-putting to a degree that threw me completely off guard given Final Fantasy’s previously impressive track record.

Calling Final Fantasy XI the slowest paced video game I have ever encountered is too modest a term. The game is down right lethargic on a level I’ve never seen before. Developing your character be it via experience, equipment, or improving job skills is excessively time-consuming, even by MMORPG standards. Oddly, unnecessary aspects such as traversing towns, resting, and even the intervals between attacks are sluggish to an extent that it can only be intended to extend the amount of time (and ultimately money) gamers will spend here; because these delays serve absolutely no in-game purpose. Even opening a door has this insolent two-second pause before it leisurely swings ajar. In a standard RPG, such a slow pace is no doubt frowned upon. In an MMORPG, however, it’s insulting. These in-game delays and postponements perfectly compliment Square’s excessive monthly fees which happen to be the highest MMORPG charges to date. Even creating additional characters costs you a fee. Worse yet, inactive characters are only stored on the servers for a meager three months before they’re deleted. Take a break from this game and your progress is gone, no ifs ands or buts. This is not how MMORPGs should be done, and it’s difficult for Final Fantasy XI to be one's online fantasy world of choice when none of these easily resolved (and assumedly intentional) “issues” are not nearly as evident in any of its competitors.

While there are an abundance of quests and missions to keep you occupied in case you get bored of grinding, shopping, or advancing your skills, they are so poorly executed that there’s a good chance you might end up dismissing them from your routine completely. Your quest log is unquestionably the worst ever implemented within the realm of major MMORPGs. It’s baffling as to why it’s so bad, in fact. After you hunt down a quest providing NPC, they’ll offer a brief bit of narration on what they want done and why. Chances are, your destination will be relatively far off, and by the time you get there you’ll understandably want to check your quest log for the specific information. Upon opening the particular quest entry you’re treated to perhaps a sentence or two detailing who you’ve already spoken to along with your goal and nothing more. Returning to the NPC who instigated the quest is just as futile. More often than not they’ll spout a single, ever-repeating line of dialog consisting of "What? Is there something you don’t understand?" as if they’re mocking you.

Another perplexing issue is how poorly Final Fantasy XI’s map is implemented, especially given the fact that the world is divided into linearly connected segments separated by loading screens. Whether you’re in a segment of the absurdly large cities or the even more absurdly fragmented outskirts, the single section you are currently in is actually quite detailed. The problem herein is that the areas which connect to your current section are not. In some cases their names are left off the map entirely, leaving you with no indication of where a specific bottleneck gateway leads. Initial missions have you venturing several segments outside of your starting area to places only known to you by name. Given the game’s divided environments, you’ll often have to travel an exact order of fragmented areas in a near linear fashion if you ever want to reach your destination. With only in-game information, this task is virtually impossible without simply exploring the world until you happen to stumble onto your objective.

Yet another inexplicable design choice is that of Final Fantasy XI’s servers. Upon creating a character, you simply do not choose a server to start on, you are randomly assigned one. While attempting to coincide a gathering with real life friends may sound hopeless, you are offered to purchase a relatively expensive (for starting players) in-game item called a World Pass that lets you create a new character on a desired server. This is, in whole, nothing short of a ridiculous and incomprehensible idea. In addition, servers are not divided by location; instead Japanese and American players are clumped together. This exhibits not only the obvious language barrier, but an unnecessary cultural antagonism. Japanese players understandably generalize American players as obnoxious while Americans resent Japan’s head start. It’s stemmed in ignorance and generalization, but there’s still an over apparent bitterness strewn across almost every server. Despite the fact that this aspect is not intentionally implemented, it affects your experience nevertheless, especially given that Final Fantasy XI is primarily a cooperative, team based experience.

I am the first one to stand up and defend the fact that atmosphere, character design, and the game world you inhabit are the most important aspects in an RPG. I will not deny that Final Fantasy has these things in spades, but the nature of how this game is handled is defective at best. Principles and poorly made decisions aside, this game is simply not fun in any conceivable way.

Rating	The rating scale in detail
9.0	++ Excellent character models, textures, and most of all, style.
6.5	+ Sound effects are very well done and attacks are satisfying. -- Synthesized pseudo-orchestral score that is not only obnoxiously repetitive but is surprisingly poorly done.
4.0	-- Sports both the worst camera and the worst quest system in the genre, bar none. -- Incredibly unresponsive, non-customizable controls and appallingly bad user interface. -- Ridiculously cumbersome menu driven combat and environmental interaction.
9.0	++ The standard exceptional Final Fantasy aesthetics. Outstanding.
7.0	++ So much time can be spent here that a warning is displayed upon starting the game reminding that you have either work, school, or family that are potentially being neglected. -- Despite the magnitude and potentially infinite amount of game time Final Fantasy XI exhibits, very little of that is of any relative value.
5.9	- A massive, artistic, imaginative, poorly designed chore. This is simply a very poor choice when looking for either a Final Fantasy game or a current MMORPG.