About
About FFXI
Final Fantasy XI, in addition to being an MMORPG, differs from previous titles in the series in several ways. Unlike the predefined main characters of previous Final Fantasy titles, players are able to customize their characters in limited ways, including race, gender, face, hair color, body size, job, and allegiance. Also corresponding to previous games in the series, all battles are real time, and enemies are no longer randomly encountered.
There are 32 public game worlds, a cluster of servers, available for play with approximately 15 to 20,000 players in each. The servers are named after summoned monsters from previous Final Fantasy titles, such as Ifrit and Diabolos. Players have the ability to move between servers, though few do; more common is the creation of different characters on different servers who can send items between each other. There are no region-specific or system-specific servers, and unlike most online games, players of different languages play in the same world and can interact through automatic language translation from a library of translated phrases.
Game play in Final Fantasy XI consists of two major components: missions, through which the main storyline of the game is told, and quests, which do not advance the main storyline, but fill out the game's fantasy world. Missions are undertaken to advance in rank, access new areas, gain new privileges and advance the various storylines. Each nation and expansion has its own set of missions and quests, which a player must complete to advance in rank; a player may only complete missions for his home country. Quests may be undertaken for various rewards and fame. At release, over one hundred quests were available to play and new quests are added frequently.
The world of Final Fantasy XI is known as Vana'diel. It consists of two main landmasses with two smaller islands flanking them, which in turn are surrounded by small islands. It features diverse climates, ranging from the northern glaciers to the southern deserts. The four main cities in Vana'diel are Bastok, Sand'Oria, Windurst, and Jeuno. The expansion Treasures of Aht Urhgan added the large Aht Urhgan Whitegate Al Zahbi city area. The rest of Vana'diel is made up of a number of outdoor, dungeons, and minor town areas split into various regions. While most areas are accessible by walking, various modes of transportation, ranging from the classic Final Fantasy Chocobo and airships to special spells, facilitate movement across the game world.
The events of the game are set 20 years after the Crystal War, when the nations of San d'Oria, Bastok, and Windurst on the main continent of Vana'diel fought and defeated the Shadow Lord and his army of beastmen. A parallel world named Dynamis, in which the beastmen succeeded in conquering Vana'diel, can also be explored. It is described as a dream world created by the god Diabolos.