Square Enix announces three downloadable expansions for Final Fantasy XI

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 22nd 2008 at 7:30PM }

Diehard Final Fantasy XI players who've not been beckoned away from Vana'diel by the siren call of World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online will be pleased to know that three "scenario expansions" for Square Enix's MMO were recently announced at VanaFest, a FFXI fan event in Japan. The three add-ons will be downloadable from the PlayOnline Viewer over the course of 2009, each going for "around $10.00."

The expansions won't be adding any new locales to Vana'diel's geography, but will attempt to "deepen the storylines running through pre-existing areas by ushering in all-new plots and intrigues." The three scenarios are titled A Crystalline Prophecy - Ode of Life Bestowing (which will be available next Spring), A Moogle Kupo d'Etat - Evil in Small Doses and A Shantotto Ascension - The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born (which will be available in the months following the first expansion). Brief synopses for the scenarios, which were explained in a recent press release, are available after the break.

From a Square-Enix press release:

A Crystalline Prophecy - Ode of Life Bestowing
One day, a giant crystal appeared in the skies above Jeuno, triggering a series of unexplained happenings across the land. Now, adventurers will set forth to unravel the mysteries of this primordial crystal that holds the secret of Vanadiels past.

A Moogle Kupo d'Etat - Evil in Small Doses
It all started with an innocent drop of rainwater and a rickety, ramshackle Mog House desperately in need of repairs. Little did anyone suspect that this was only the beginning of a harrowing nightmare unheard of in the annals of moogle-kind.

A Shantotto Ascension - The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born
The eccentric Professor Shantotto returned to Windurst one day after a mysterious, unexplained absence, shocking her colleagues with behavior so outrageous it put her old self to shame! When she goes so far as to proclaim herself ruler of her own empire, adventurers set out to discover the truth behind her alarming shift in personality.

Tags: expansion, final-fantasy-xi, scenarios, square-enix, vanadiel

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

syrik zero @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:34PM

How about just a new trailer for FF13

Hyams @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:52PM

Get this: they're actually going to *sell* the new trailers to us as a DVD.

I shit you not.

syrik zero @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:53PM

WTF?

WiiFTW @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:43PM

Is it a law that Square-Enix must use crystals in all their Final Fantasy?

WiiFTW @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:59PM

*Final Fantasy games

SoulBlade @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:01PM

yes - and a character named Cid

Foetoid @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:15PM

Plus a reference to Bahamut.

VicViper09 @ Nov 22nd 2008 10:06PM

what about Biggs and Wedge references

Blank-Mage @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:43AM

And an airship.

joeymoto @ Nov 23rd 2008 3:54PM

Chocobos???

capt_carl @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:04PM

A Shantotto Empire sounds awesome. She was always my favorite NPC. Anything involving her almost makes me want to play again.

ThePhoenixLament @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:40PM

Throw out an official one for Versus while you're at it Sqare Enix...

And I hate to be cliche but is anyone even playing XI anymore?

Bluebrake @ Nov 22nd 2008 11:13PM

No. As with everything, it ceased to exist after you stopped paying attention to it.

Blank-Mage @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:45AM

FFXI rocks hardcore and you sir are NOT hardcore and I'm too busy typing to make this not a run on sentence because I'm ANGRY!

Xelloss @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:54PM

Yep, while I don't play anymore it still hold out at around 500k subscribers. Its been floating around the 3rd and 4th most subscribed mmo. WoW being number 1, and Lineage 1, 2 being the second. Age of Conan subscriptions have dropped and not sure how Warhammer is doing though.

Markez @ Nov 22nd 2008 9:23PM

You could go ahead and cue the "and so it begins" voice clip from Fable II, if it weren't for the fact that nickel and diming is already way too rampant...

Ignatius @ Nov 22nd 2008 9:28PM

Are they going to also include another billion 50-hour bosses and make guilds literally sick again?

Josh @ Nov 22nd 2008 9:51PM

I still play FFXI and its a great game. Its not as much of a popular game, but it has a cult/hardcore following. With 500k subscribers at $12.95 a month they're bringing in quite a bit of money. So in no way is this going to end soon, and they're committed to bringing fresh content to those who want it.

Aldo @ Nov 22nd 2008 11:06PM

Yeah I'm coming back to the game, not because of this content but mostly after spending all of my 2004 summer playing the game it grew on me and made me kept coming back on a yearly basis to see what's new.

Misfit Toy @ Nov 22nd 2008 11:17PM

I enjoyed it when I played it. But there are two things I can't take anymore that other MMOs don't do.

1) You don't run so slow (yes, I know there are chocobos. I'm talking about on foot.)
2) You don't lose XP after dying.

The game is a grindfest and to get penalized for grinding and failing is painful. I remember one time grinding for over an hour only to have that hour wasted in a matter of seconds from dying. The dual classes is cool though. And I like the FF world.

If they came out with a newer FF MMO with updated graphics and got rid of those two problems (especially #2) I'd be game to try it. Right now I'm all about Lord of the Rings Online though.

Happy for the hardcore though to keep getting more goods.

Josh @ Nov 22nd 2008 11:45PM

I always want to try to get into an MMO (not get addicted to one, but play one regularly), but they always bore me, and it's because of the combat. Are there any MMOs that have more interactive combat, not just click-and-watch?

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 23rd 2008 12:36AM

Age of Conan is supposed to have more engagins combat. I can't remember all the specifics, but I think it had something to do with blocking and attacking... and maybe chaining together combos.

I'm probably doing a shitty job of explaining it, but if your interested, you should look up AOC

Josh @ Nov 23rd 2008 12:52AM

Thanks for the suggestion, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and:

Real Combat

"Real Combat" is being touted by Funcom as a revolutionary approach to combat in online RPGs where the player is in direct control of the character's weapon strikes in real time. This multi-point melee and ranged combat system is purportedly easy-to-learn and is one of the prime attractions of the title. Allegedly, the "Real Combat" system will take the ritualized combat experience previously found in online RPGs in a new direction. For this system, Funcom has also added aspects such as formation combat, mounted combat, siege combat and hive combat. However, this "Real Combat" never made it live into the game, and was replaced by a simple combo system where you click icons in a certain order to activate "combos" which is a series of scripted strikes.[24]

Wonderful.

Anyway, I was just thinking about my question again, trying to come up with a good combat system, and a realized that a good starting point would be to just take the combat system from the 3D Legend of Zelda games and just add multiplayer, basically. I think that would actually work pretty well.

So, if there are any MMOs out there like that (or even like the Tales or Star Ocean series), please let me know.

Atr-Slzr-Ctr @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:20AM

Excelent question, Josh. Thats my main grip with MMOs, and Im waiting for that approach since "Dark Ages", if I remember correctly.

Alzheimers @ Nov 23rd 2008 2:04AM

Planetside is the first one that comes to mind, but I don't even know if that's still running.

I think the Matrix Online had an interesting Rock-Paper-Scissors approach to combat, but again I don't know if that's up either.

wonderweazel @ Nov 23rd 2008 9:58AM

you could always try phantasy star universe, it was real time combat.

MMLgamer @ Nov 23rd 2008 11:12AM

You could try Genji Days of the Blade. Although I don't think it's an MMO, I do think it's an interesting take on Japanese history (with real time weapon change).

Josh @ Nov 23rd 2008 12:47PM

Thanks for all the suggestions:

Dark Ages -- I can't find any information on the combat, but I really like the graphics of this game. Very Super NES-esque. Wonder why I never heard of it before.... Anyway, can anyone explain the combat in this game?

Planetside -- That's an MMOFPS. :P

Matrix Online -- The combat looks pretty automatic to me, still point-and-click.

Phantasy Star series -- I have played PSO, and it was a lot of fun, but these games aren't MMOs. The combat in these games is the closest I've seen in any online game to what I want in an MMO, however. The combat in Phantasy Star games seems to be a tad slow, though...

Genji -- Uh, what?

I'm starting to lose hope that my perfect/best fit MMO is out there. -_-

But thanks again, and if you find any other games, let me know.

SlimPickinz96 @ Nov 24th 2008 9:25AM

I "think" the reason being an MMO with "3D Zelda" style combat hasn't been made is probably due to latency over the internet.

An MMO-FPS like Planet side, from what i remember was mostly PvP. Still, lag caused some frustrating situations as you can imagine. Still, a "click and watch" RPG is dodgy enough when lagging solo or in a midsized/large group.

Blank-Mage @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:48AM

A moogle coup de tat, evil in small doses? That sounds like the best plot in the epic history of epic final fantasy plots. Sold.

Alzheimers @ Nov 23rd 2008 2:02AM

I just picked up this game recently after a few years away, and I have to say I'm extremely disappointed that most of the reasons I stayed away continue to plague the game to this day. The interface is still terrible, the config STILL requires registry hacking to up the resolution, and most of the content is heavily guild-based making solo playing difficult.

In fact, the one thing that HAS changed has actually made the game worse -- the areas in the early part of the game are barren, deserted, devoid of any players at all. While areas like Valkurm used to be camped to hell, now it's impossible to find a gang of more than 2-3 to play with. Because so much of the content requires you to complete group quests to access, this severely handicaps newer players who aren't playing with friends or aren't quickly sucked into large guilds.

And those that are around don't speak English.

In fact, I've only seen ONE PERSON talking since I started a few weeks ago. One person. It's a decent game and deserves a chance, but good luck in finding anything more than a single player experience.

chukz @ Nov 23rd 2008 11:26AM

I agree that it is heavily targetted towards group play (if you want to do anything worthwhile). Luckily a new addition in the december update promises "Valor Fields" which is targeted to gaining XP for soloists, so hopefully that actually yields good XP (can be done daily).
The other thing they added which is really cool (and not in another MMO, iirc) is the Level Sync system, which let's you team up with a lower level friend in a party so you can XP together (ex; you are lv70 and your friend is lvl30, you can XP together and both gain XP fighting the lvl30 mobs). That's how I read it to be, not sure if i got it 100% though (not sure what happens to armor, how they are penalized for stats and so on).
Things like that make me semi-interested in returning to the game, where sometimes you want to XP when no one may be seeking... most of these issues seem to be addressed.

Focant @ Nov 23rd 2008 4:38PM

Yes the game is very group oriented but I personally think it's a good thing. Every MMO has some group oriented content especially at end game.

The heavy emphasis on it, in my opinion, is what makes FFXI's community probably the best you'll find of any MMO. In games where you can practically solo the entire way to the level cap you never really interact with people unless you want to, and you'd be surprised how few people want to interact outside of their guild. I've played a few MMOs including WoW and AoC but not one of them has had a community that felt so friendly or one that I could actually get involved in as that of FFXI's.

Finally, I can't say there is a lack of people. Perhaps a lack of people doing the thing you want to do sure. I've been lfp for hours with no hint of getting a party numerous times but that doesn't mean the game is barren. It's times like those where you have to just take charge and convince people to do stuff as opposed to waiting for someone to do it for you. Also, I rarely run into JP players unless it's REALLY late at night so you might need to specify exactly when you were playing before saying no one who speaks English is on.

zombiejesus @ Nov 23rd 2008 3:04AM

So your paying 10$ for each new quest package? Am I reading this right? This would be the equivalent of WoW adding the Sunwell area and making us pay to go there.

WorMzy @ Nov 23rd 2008 3:15AM

The four people that play this game must be thrilled.

Blank-Mage @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:48PM

SO ANGRY!

Focant @ Nov 23rd 2008 4:23PM

Well on my server right at this moment there are 2,382 people logged in. There are 32 servers total.

You do the math. Not a ton but definitely more than your four :)

(Just pointing out the game isn't dead like most of you think.)

JetPogi @ Nov 23rd 2008 3:55AM

It didn't even take me a week to stop playing XI on ps2

Blank-Mage @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:48PM

SO VERY ANGRY!

JetPogi @ Nov 23rd 2008 11:33PM

I'm just saying I'm not an MMO kind of guy never been probably never will be.

JackFrost @ Nov 23rd 2008 5:12AM

Don't know what server you are playing on. But Levi Is very populated and I have never had to wait for a Party.

The game is fun if you enjoy Group Based MMOs.

Also you can solo, I'm doing it now on a Dragoon....its not hard at all if you are not a idiot.

~Enjoy

john @ Nov 27th 2008 11:02PM

But but people are idiots! Hence why everyone whines "its so hard" when its really not

Nevers @ Nov 24th 2008 12:06PM

First off.. Blank-Mage, you rock!!

0/19 on Leaping Boots ... gave up =[ F!k that lizard. Tried BCNM ... everyone else got the goodstuff but we wipe on my run or I get diddley.

I just started playing FFxi for the first time bout 8mo ago... incredibly in depth world and very very cool community. Ya just have to ask... maybe over and over but all you have to do is ask and ye shall (wait I was just about to quote the bible, kill me now......)

Level Sync is a great addition that shoulda been in from the start but it's gimping my weapon skills at an alarming rate; but, I'd rather solo w.s.'s than actual job levels.

Anyway I can't wait to continue my rise to 75 with my lvl 62 Dancer... the game is a definite time sink but I'm having a blast.

[I'm playing solo right now...][please assist][hand][job][Subligar][down][rod][up][Time for work]