Final Fantasy XI - Online

Welcome to my blog site. This is for all you FFXI players, fans and nuts — both newbies and vets — whose free time (um, 20 out of 24 hours, I suppose?) is dedicated to the game. This is my first post which I would like to use as a springboard for newbies to get into the swim of things.

So here’s FFXI in a nutshell:

• Final Fantasy XI AKA FFXI is an MMORPG (that stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game, folks!) published by Square Enix.
• Its PC version was released in 2003.
• The story is set in the fantasy world of Vana’diel
• All battles are real time (hooray!)
• The four main cities in Vana’diel are Bastok, San d’Oria, Windurst, and Jeuno.
• There are 5 races: Elvaan, Hume, Galka, Mithra, and Tarutaru
• These are the common monsters ready to kick you and your Aunt Fanny: Adamantoise, Ahriman, Behemoth, Bomb, Cactuar, Chimera, Cockatrice, Flan, Four Fiends, Garuda, Iron Giant, Malboro, Tonberry
• The Shadow Lord is Public Enemy Number One
• Players begin the game as residents of any one of the three main countries, San d’Oria, Bastok and Windurst
• Gameplay is comprised of two major components: missions and quests
• Each nation and expansion has its own set of missions and quests
• A player may choose from 20 different jobs — Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Thief, Paladin, Dark Knight, Beastmaster, Ranger, Bard, Summoner, Samurai, Ninja, Dragoon, Blue Mage, Corsair, Puppetmaster, Dancer, and Scholar.
• FFXI players can participate in crafting and hobbies.
• FFXI has a largely player-based economy, with a heavy reliance on “Auction Houses”
• FFXI currency is called “gil“

So that’s the (cracked) nutshell version of what the game is basically about. Expect a lot of action and a lot of grinding. As for moi, to get away from the daily grind (hey, I have a life outside FFXI, ya know!), I invest in the occasional gil from sites like IGE.com. And no, I don’t a give a second thought about purchasing virtual currency. Life is too short to waste arguing about the EULA.

I’ll be back with another post soon.

Your friendly FFXI Nut