I was impatient to fill the void left by PSO and didn’t really care for the Western aesthetics of EverQuest.
Final fantasy 11 pling a mule full#
I started my FF11 career with the Japanese PC version, which preceded the North American release by a full year. On PC you needed a capable graphics card, not a cheap proposition in 2002. On PlayStation 2 you needed an add-on hard drive and a network adapter. The usual series tropes of character classes like White and Black mages were present, but beyond each class’s iconic abilities, it was a whole new open world.Įven playing the game at the time was demanding. By comparison to PSO, it was like signing up for MMO boot camp: FF11 threw players headfirst into loads of systems, menus, and game mechanics we’d never experienced before as Final Fantasy fans. First steps Hunter's PreludeįF11 was likely most players' first Japanese online game after Sega's user-friendly Phantasy Star Online (opens in new tab). They can't quit now: the 20th anniversary is just 12 months away.
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But that time won't come this month, or this year. Someday it will be their job to shut the game down. The development team are caretakers, satisfying the hardcore fans who stick around. A planned smartphone version was canceled. Yet they still maintain a dedicated team to continually balance the game. At this point in FF11’s lifespan, Square Enix could probably get by with just keeping the servers running. The crowds (typically around the game’s auction houses) are diminished, and the framerate is smooth without hundreds of players idling in the same spot.
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The expansions that once felt so new and exciting now feel retro and distant. To see how the game had transformed: what had stayed the same, and what was still annoying. But to celebrate its 19th anniversary with a retrospective that would do it justice, I decided I had to play it again. I played Final Fantasy 11 for a full decade before walking away. (Image credit: James Mielke, Square Enix)