Basic Information

[Charlie]

As the first cross-platform MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI is vastly different from the other games in the FF series. There's a lot of setup to go through before you can even start-up the game and it's best to know what you're getting yourself into.

01. Availability FFXI has launched in Japan, North America and Europe and the game is available on multiplatform, but not in all parts of the world. There are also expansions for FFXI that require the original game, some of which are packaged with FFXI. While you can import and play different versions of the game, it's much easier to get a local version due to the registration process. Currently, there are two expansions for FFXI, Rise of Zilart and Chains of Promathia.

Japan:
FFXI PS2, ￥5,040
FFXI PC, ￥4,300
Rise of Zilart PS2, ￥4,179
Rise of Zilart PC, ￥4,179
Chains of Promathia PS2, ￥4,179
Chains of Promathia PC, ￥4,179
FFXI PS2 Chains of Promathia and Rise of Zilart, ￥8,190
FFXI PC Chains of Promathia and Rise of Zilart, ￥8,190
(tax included)

North America:
FFXI PS2 & Internal HDD with Rise of Zilart, $99.99
FFXI PC with Rise of Zilart, $19.99
Chains of Promathia PS2, $19.99
Chains of Promathia PC, $19.99
FFXI The Vana'diel Collection (Chains of Promathia and Rise of Zilart), $29.99

Europe:
FFXI PC with Chains of Promathia and Rise of Zilart, 50 €

02. Requirement Before you buy FFXI, you need to have the hardware in order to play the game. FFXI has been released on PS2 and PC with an Xbox 360 version coming in the future. FFXI PS2 is not available for Europe because there is.

PS2: FFXI requires a hard disk drive. Sony's new, slim version of the PS2 does not support their HDD so make sure you have an older, bulkier PS2 if you plan on playing FFXI on it. The Japanese PSX (DESR-5000 and DESR-7000) do not work with FFXI.

PS2 with the expansion bay -- the new slim PS2 models (SCPH-70000) does not work!
Japanese PS2 BB Unit, ￥13,037
North American PS2 HDD, $99.99 (includes FFXI)

Internet connection of 56kbps or better
USB keyboard, ~$20
The keyboard is not required, but you'll need it in order to communicate effectively with others in-game.

PC: You'll need to meet the minimum requirements in order to play the game with all the effects turned off or at the lowest setting. The game runs and looks much better on the recommended requirements and higher. You can check your computer's specs by clicking on the Start menu -> Run and type dxdiag. You can also download and run the Vana'diel Bench3 program which puts your PC on a test. Check your score for the results:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/mul...ownload/bench/

Minimum Requirements
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98/98SE/Me/2000/XP
CPU: Intel Pentium III 800 MHz or faster processor
Memory: 128 Mb RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce series graphics processing unit with 32 Mb or ATI Radeon 9000 series graphics card (AGP)
Sound Card: DirectX 8.1 compatible soundcard
Hard Drive Space: 6 GB free hard disk space
CD-Rom Speed: 4x CD-Rom Drive (required only at installation)
Internet Connection: 56kbps modem or better
Other: keyboard, mouse

Recommended Requirements
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 Processor
Memory: 256 Mb RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForceFX series graphics processing unit (AGP) with 64 Mb of VRAM
Sound Card: DirectX 8.1 compatible soundcard
Hard Drive Space: 6 GB free hard disk space
CD-Rom Speed: 32x CD-Rom drive or faster (required only at installation)
Internet Connection: Always-on Internet connection
Other: keyboard with numeric pad, mouse with scroll wheel

Support Information for Windows 98/98SE/ME has been dropped as of July 31, 2005. You can still play the game and check the help achieves, but Square Enix will no longer provide software support.

03. Fees Square Enix runs FFXI on over 30 servers and that requires maintenance and money. After buying and installing the game, you'll need to register to Square Enix's PlayOnline and that requires a VISA or MasterCard. The initial purchase of FFXI includes a 30-day free subscription. After the first 30 days, you'll need to pay $12.95/month. Each character created beyond your first character costs $1/month for up to 15 additional characters. The only form of payment is on VISA or MasterCard so make sure you (or your parents) have one before getting the game.

04. Story The world of Vana'diel was ravaged by the Shadow Lord and the beastmen during the Great War in the 863rd year of the Crystal Era. A slim victory was won through an alliance of the people. Twenty years later, the Kingdom of San d'Oria, the Republic of Bastok, the Federation of Windurst and the Grand Duchy of Jeuno continue to fight for the survival of their people by recruiting adventurers around the world.

05. Starting Off After buying all the equipment, the game, going through the installations, registrations and all that... you get to start the game. There are eight playable races in Vana'diel and that determines where you start off in the game. You can also choose from six starting jobs for that character, but you can always switch to another.

Race:
Hume (male/female) starts in Bastok and is average in everyway.
Elvaan (male/female) starts in San d’Oria; they have high strength and mind power.
Tarutaru (male/female) starts in Windurst and excel in intelligence and magic points.
Galka (male) starts in Bastok and have high hit points and vitality.
Mithra (female) starts in Windurst with great agility and dexterity.

Job:
Warrior. They are the basic fighters. In groups, they work as tanks to take hits in place of the mages.
Monk. These melee fighters have high HP in exchange for weak armor.
Thief. They are fast and can steal, but can't take a lot of hits.
Black Mage. Focus on nuking enemies with magic.
White Mage. As the main healer, White Mages keeps the party going.
Red Mage. These mages do a little bit of everything. They can use black magic, white magic and even the ability to wield swords.

There are also nine advance jobs that can be unlocked through quests after you've hit level 30.