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July 24th, 2006, 21:29 Posted By: shadowprophet
While the core FFXI game shows signs of its age, ToAU breathes enough new life into FFXI to add enough variety and quests for long-time players.
by Kudou Yusaku Via IGN
July 21, 2006 - Final Fantasy XI started on the PlayStation 2 in Japan as far back as 2002, which has then seen ports to the PC and recently the Xbox 360 platform and its two expansions Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia. Square Enix maintains a tight hold on its 500,000 subscribers who can't seem to shake the addicting nature of the game. Existing players may want to know what the new expansion offers in terms of quests and notorious monsters (NMs), both very popular aspects of the game. While the core FFXI game shows signs of its age, ToAU adds enough variety and new content to breathe life back into FFXI for the long-time players.
If you haven't dipped your feet into the FFXI pool yet, just make sure you watch out for the steep drop after the first step. This pool doesn't gradually increase its depth, but instead starts deep and levels up at the other end where all of the experienced players lie. So, if you are a new player looking to get into your first MMORPG or looking for something different, you might have a hard time getting over the game's starting difficulty. Also, don't expect to see any of the new expansion content any time soon since it's restricted almost entirely to high-level players of 50 and up. This means you'll be spending a good month or two exploring the original game and parts of Rise of the Zilart building your character and learning the intricacies of party-based gameplay, because after level 15, you'll probably never solo since the monsters that check as "Easy Prey" become too powerful for one person to take on at a time, forcing the party-based combat. The only job that is really meant for soloing is the Beastmaster job that can be unlocked after you reach level 30. So, for new players, there's a lot of work to do before seeing Treasures of Aht Urhgan, but that is good, because...
Seasoned players of FFXI spend a lot of their time in the new ToAU areas and most of them are at the maximum level 75. Since a difference of more than two levels between two players in a party can affect the amount of experience gained, you won't ever see anybody significantly lower than 55 fighting in a party. While Treasures may be impossible for low-level players to conquer, anybody levels 50 to 75 can enjoy not only the new experience points areas outside of the main city Al Zahbi, but also the new modes like Besieged, Assault, exclusive missions, and the upcoming chocobo raising components.
Final Fantasy XI always has maintained the enjoyable storylines one expects from Square Enix and Treasures of Aht Urhgan is no different. Quirky characters and exciting places to explore set the background for the Far Eastern style this time around. The Empire of Aht Urhgan, located on the Aradjiah Continent, governed by the Divine Empress who controls the land, is under constant attack by beastmen in the Al Zahbi district. The Divine Empress has never been seen by anybody but the Immortals--Aht Urhgan's army of Blue Mages who carry out the Divine Empress's will--and are often running into trouble with the Corsairs (Corsairs are people who use luck to favor their odds in winning money and thwarting the Immortals' plans.) The generals are the strongest of the Divine Empress's army, but do not meddle in the affairs of the Immortals, instead choosing to spend their time protecting the empire during besieged attacks from the three dominant beastmen forces of Aht Urhgan: the trolls, undead swarms, and vicious Mamool Ja. Occasionally, the combined forces of these three powers will ally against Al Zhabi, creating particularly dire situations for defending players.
President Naja Saleheem of the mercenary forces "Salaheem's Sentinels" in the city of Al Zahbi has proven herself as the premiere organizer and recruiter of current and new mercenaries. She provides quests and missions that unfold the mysteries of the serpentine-styled Empire of Aht Urhgan.
Treasures introduces three new advanced jobs to unlock for players to use that are different enough from the rest to warrant genuine player interest. Digging into Final Fantasy's past, the Blue Mage returns in FFXI. Blue Mage's unique job learns offensive and defensive abilities from enemies and then uses them in combat to damage and enfeeble mobs or render aid to party members. Blue Mage is a very strong and ideal damage dealing job -- it can do it all. Later on, Blue Mages can tank enemies (basically keep attention of an enemy focused at oneself to avoid damaging other players), they can deal massive amounts of damage, enfeeble, buff, de-buff, and heal. If you see a Blue Mage looking for a party, make sure you grab him or her before somebody else does! This job is fairly simple to unlock after answering a series of questions. It's also the most popular new job.
Also mentioned earlier was the Corsair. This job uses luck on its side to help the Corsair and his or her party members stat boosts to aid them in battle. The Corsair job is particularly wanted for support, fishing monsters (or pulling), and decent damage. Some people confuse this job with the pre-existing Bard job in that they both offer support, but Corsair is more like a fighting support, while Bard is almost exclusively a backline support/healing job. Corsair is the most difficult new job to unlock. It's also dangerous, as it has players venture into areas that can give a level 75 player a serious challenge. Having a guide, another person and Sneak/Invisible is a preferable way for getting through this quest. Corsair is and isn't popular, but people will always invite you to their parties.
Puppetmaster was the job that Square Enix revealed last and was part of a poll that FFXI fans voted on. This job is similar to Dragoon or Beastmaster with its Pet Command use, but instead of wyvern support or charming enemies, your automaton follows you around everywhere and uses attacks and abilities similar to your own and even has its own skill-ups. As you level Puppetmaster, you get more choices to what your automaton can do, similar to how a Signal Pearl NPC works. Your automaton can mimic real player jobs with its own variations on those jobs including some of its own weapon skills. This job is the easiest of all of the new jobs to unlock, but probably the least popular of the three.
Treasures of Aht Urhgan is a fairly large and lengthy expansion to an already existing enormous game. ToAU tops FFXI out with more than 10,000 quests, 1,000 missions, and the content continues to roll out through the monthly updates. After installing Treasures, however, you're not going to simply hop on the boat and ride it over to the new continent. There are several ways to gain passage on the ship that sails from Mhaura to Aht Urhgan. Adventurous players can choose item hunting quests, similar to what was required to gain airship access to the Elshimo islands, or financially secure players may opt to pay the one time 500,000 gil detour fee to avoid pounding the pavement. The boat ride, however, is really long. It can take up to 15 minutes waiting from the boat showing up in Mhuara to the boat stopping at the port in Aht Urhgan Whitegate (provided you didn't just miss the boat, which means several more minutes of waiting). Square Enix obviously wants the game to feel like a really large world, and the boat ride can be exciting the first couple of times, but it's impossible to get back to Aht Urhgan via a chocobo or airship. No airship? That's right, you're not going to get a sweet five-minute ride to the new nation. It's not a big problem if you're a level 55+ looking for EXP parties often in the new areas, since there is a tarutaru that warps you back to Jeuno for free (provided he's not captured during a Besieged). But if you want to level up a low-level job elsewhere, you're probably going to need to set your Home Point close to where you're leveling up. This means you're going to have to ride the boat again to get back to Aht Urhgan if you didn't leave your Home Point there. And no, there is no teleport crystal for White Mages to send you to. The transportation issue knocks down the presentation a bit, and I think it's safe to say everybody is waiting for an update that will include airship passage back and forth from the metropolis Jeuno to Aht Urhgan.
The graphics in FFXI were once the best MMORPG visuals you could find, but time has not been kind to the game. The older areas look archaic and the higher resolutions of the PC and Xbox 360 can only do so much to put a pretty face on a game with low-resolution textures and an often choppy framerate. The new ToAU areas, however, look decidedly better and are much easier on the eyes. The textures on PC and Xbox 360 help the game somewhat, but that doesn't do too much for the PS2 owners who have their visuals downgraded to the lowest possible resolution. As far as framerates go, whether you're playing on PlayStation 2, PC, or Xbox 360, it's not going to matter if you're taking part in a Besieged event, which can hit over 750 players in the same area fighting off hordes of NMs. Players on every platform may sometimes experience Internet disconnects and system lockups. Still, this daily event remains the dominant popular attraction of the expansion's content.
The game's controls and sound match what Square Enix have come to expect. Some of the newly added music choices top the already excellent score. Whether you play with a controller, keyboard, or keyboard and controller, you probably have your preferred set-up and nothing has changed that will make you alter the way you've been accustomed to.
Technically, Square Enix is constantly on the ball with frequent bug fixes and content updates. Unlike some other MMO publishers, Square Enix always gives advance notices of updates and the servers never crash. One of the updates coming in late July is going to include the ability to raise your own chocobo. Not unlike FF7, this update will include a circuit in which players can race them. If you want to raise a chocobo, though, you're going to need Treasures of Aht Urhgan.
Closing Comments
If you haven't already added this hefty expansion to your current Final Fantasy XI set-up, then you should really consider upgrading it and taking advantage of the new content. While many of the problems like overcrowded camp sites and the EXP grind are still there, you're also getting more options like the aforementioned Besieged and Assault modes. While it's still basically the same game with new places, there's enough new content and the new jobs add a lot of variety to the aging MMORPG. If you're new and curious to MMORPGs, be cautious of FFXI since it is a game that requires large chunks of playtime to get anywhere. If you think you’re more casual, then there is always a certain RTS-turned-MMO that would better suit your schedule, but if you’re ready for a challenge and are willing to work hard to get good, then consider giving Final Fantasy XI and Treasures of Aht Urhgan a try.
IGN's Ratings for Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan (PS2)
OVERALL: 8.4 Impressive!!
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