Shouta
Member
Repost of our FAQ from the old boards. Compiled by Alex and information by several others (myself included)
Official Gaming-Age Final Fantasy XI FAQ, v1.1
Revision History:
1.0-1.1: Added basics of Synthesis, bolded headers.
Gaming-Age Player Data:
http://www.video-source.com/rugalz/ga_ffxi/wiki.pl?GA_FFXI
Final Fantasy XI is an MMORPG, or massively multiplayer online RPG. Taking notes from classic offline RPG's, and combining them with the redeeming qualities of modern day online RPG's, it offers large advances, and leaps in quality in most aspects over the existing genre.
It is an online only game, and requires a subscription fee monthly of 12.95 to play.
This guide will help you to grasp some of the basic concepts, and prepare you for your adventures in Vana'diel as well as a mediocre faq compiled by a wickedly amatuerish collection of writers going from recollection and ripping off various websites can.
Platforms supported: PC, PS2.
Release dates: October 28th, 2003 PC. March 2004, PS2.
Getting started, can I play Final Fantasy XI?
Personal Computer requirements:
Operating System: Microsoft� Windows� 98 / 98SE / Me / 2000 / XP
CPU: Intel� Pentium�III 800Mhz or faster processor
Memory: 128 MB RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA� GeForce� series graphics processing unit with 32MB
or ATI� RADEON� series graphics card that supports hardware T&L.
Sound Card: DirectX�8.1 compatible sound card
Hard Drive Space: 6 GB free hard disk space
CD-ROM Speed: 4x CD-ROM drive (required only at installation)
Other: Keyboard, mouse
Playstation 2 requirements:
Playstation 2 game console.
Network Adapter
Playstation 2 Hard Disk Drive (bundled with FFXI, releases in March 2004)
Dual Shock 2 gamepad
USB Keyboard
The Basics
--There's 3 nations in the world of Vana'diel, in constant conflicts of course. And the nutreal state, Jeuno.
--5 playable races: Elvaan, Hume, Galka, Mithra, Tarutaru.
The Galka are the big race of FFXI. With their high vitality, Galka can take punishment like no other. They are pretty much the inverse of a Tarutaru. Their high HPs and vitality make them excellent tanks on the battlefield. All of that comes with a cost though. Their MP pool is the lowest of all races. Not your typical caster class, but there have been many succesful Galka mages. All Galka are male, as well.
Official Description:
The Galka are a hulking race of powerful warriors. The Galka's capital city, located in the Altepa desert of Zepwell Island in the southwest corner of the Quon continent, fell to an attack from giant ant creatures six hundred years ago. The surviving Galka spread throughout Vana'diel, and a large number of them eventually settled in Bastok. The sheer strength of their powerful physiques is second to none. They have used their skills to contribute to the construction and development of the numerous mines in Bastok. However, it seems that some Galka have less than fond feelings for members of the Hume race.
The Mithra are a female only cat-like race. As you might expect from a cat, they are very dexterious and agile. The fastest reflexes of all races, which make them great at thievery and long range attacks. Their HP and MP pool are like that of Humes, average.
Official Description:
The Mithra are a predominantly female race of hunters who live alongside the Tarutaru in Windurst. They are easily identified by their characteristic ears, which give them spectacular hearing ability, and their long tails, which result in an unparalleled sense of balance. They are known for their energy, curiosity, and their penchant for causing playful mischief. The Mithra enjoy a friendly relationship with the Tarutaru, and this attitude of mutual cooperation has made Windurst a nation of peace and prosperity.
The very short and very cute Tarutaru appear to be bred for the role of Mage. They have the highest Intelligence and MP pool, but suffer from weaker muscles and a smaller amount of HPs than the rest of the other races. Don't let this discourage you though! Many a great tale have been told of fearsome Tarutaru fighters roaming the lands.
Official Description:
The Tarutaru are a race of skilled magic users who call Windurst their home. Although the Tarutaru physically resemble children, their size does not reflect their age. Masters of the magical arts, the Tarutaru have honed their abilities through dutiful study of the world around them. Their dedication and hard work fueled the rapid reconstruction of Windurst after its destruction in the Crystal War. The Tarutaru enjoy a friendly relationship with the Mithra, who call Windurst their home as well.
The hume race is about as average as you can get. They have no strengths or weaknesses so they can be sufficient at every job. If you are the type of player who is not sure which class you would like to choose, or you would like to leave your options open for future job changes or simply for a mixture of jobs, Hume is a solid choice
Official Description:
Making their home in Bastok, Humes have spread to the farthest reaches of Vana'diel. Humes are characterized by equally-balanced abilities, and are intelligent and highly skilled. This combination of traits has played no small role in Bastok's growth into a prosperous nation of technology and industry.
At first glance, the Elvaan look like your typical elves, but they are somewhat different. Unlike typical elves, elvaan have only average dexterity, and low agility/intelligence. Elvaan has a high proficeny in STR and MIND, with commendable HP.
Official Description:
A race of proud warriors, The Elvaan are the founders of two legendary orders of knights in the nation of San d'Oria. Physically, they are characterized by their tall, slender bodies and pointed ears. Their unshakable pride and faith in their beliefs is visible in each of their determined faces. Both males and females of the race excel in swordsmanship. Most Elvaan seem to eschew the business world, preferring an austere lifestyle as skilled swordfightersrs.
The Job System
Firstly, to post Stats and what they do...
...HP/MP/STR/DEX/VIT/AGI/INT/MND/CHR
If you don't know what HP and MP are, do not buy FFXI. In fact, run from the very sight of it.
STR will effect your physical attack
DEX will effect your accuracy
VIT will effect your defense
AGI will effect your evasion, and your ranged ATK
INT will efffect your Black Magic power, and your MP..I believe
MND will effect your White Magic Power, and your Magic Resist...again, I believe.
CHR effects odd portions of job, such as the quality of a BRD's songs, or when taming a beast as BST.
Indivudal Skills
Weapons skills: Hand2Hand, Dagger, Sword, Great sword, Katana, Great katana, Axe, Great axe, Scythe, Polearm, Club, Staff.
Ranged skills: Archery, marksmanship, throwing.
Defense skills: Guard, evade, shield, parry.
Magic skills: Holy magic, Recovery magic, Strenghten magic, Weaken magic, Elemental magic, Dark magic, Summon, Ninjutsu.
Bard skills: Singing, stringed instruments, wind instruments.
Final Fantasy XI has a powerful, and new job system lightly modeled after the likes of Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy Tactics.
It stresses customization, and fleshing out of your own personal role in the world, some of it's points are:
Pure Race selection Every job is open to every race in Final Fantasy XI, for the purpose of creating unique combinations, and personal roles.
The Basic Job At the start of the game, the six classic Final Fantasy roles are avalible:
Warrior, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Thief and Monk.
Each job begins by altering your character with the jobs basic stat charges. And allowing your character to use a "Super Power" or "Two Hour Skill". Over time, your characters will grow a massive ammount, unlocking new abilities, traits, and other additions.
The Sub-Job system: In time, your character will be allowed to equip a "subjob". These play a major part of your characters development.
Some restrictions apply though:
~Reduced to half of your currently equipped main jobs level
~Stripped of the Super Power ability
~May not add equipment options to your main job.
Advanced Jobs Don't let the title fool you. Advanced jobs have no higher quality of use, or balance in compairison to basic jobs. However, they are typically more challenging/expensive to use, and are generally more specalized
You may equip an Advanced job as a Main job OR a Subjob, there are no restrictions of that area of useage. However, they remain locked until a later point in the game, upon reaching that point, each indivudal job will require it's own quest, usually based on the history of the job, to unlock and allow for useage.
Advanced jobs avalible are:
Dark Knight, Paladin, Ranger, Bard, Beast Tamer,Summoner, Dragoon, Samurai, Ninja.
Job Swapping: At any point in Final Fanatsy XI, while in a mog house, you can effortlessly swap out your main job and/or sub job for something else. There's no penality,.no restrictions, and no altering of your current job status to do so.
For example. If you unlock, say the Ranger advanced job, and would like to play with it for awhile, you'd remove your, let's say. level 25 Warrior status, and equip the level 1 Ranger job. And that'd be your new main until you switched back or to something else. Requipping Warrior would revert you back to your old level 25 status.
Job descriptions:
Below, are some descriptions of jobs that I blatantly stole from Buggy and Shouta, and altered without permission.
Basic Jobs
Warrior: Warriors are the epitome of fighters, able to use most, if not all the weapons and armors in the lands, combined with the most lethal of combat skills. Also, due to their balanced strength and defense, they are very useful to have in the front line of a party
Warriors are the only class in FFXI with the provoke command, which attempts to pull an enemy off of another player, and onto yourself.
Throughout the game, they develop a lot of combat aid skills, and with their large range of equipment, allows them to sub nearly anything with high quality use.
Two Hour Skill: Mighty Strikes. Turns every hit into a critical. Including Weapon Skills.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/warrior
Monk: As a Monk, to find your real power, you need to find the center of your being. The balance between your physical, spiritual, and mental selves. You do this by honing your body through the art of combat and your spirituality and mental powers through meditation. Only by remaining good may a monk find the center of his/ her being.
They are master of Martial Arts and unarmed combat skills. They use their fists as a weapon to attack an enemy. The monk will use claws and other types of weapons on their fist to increase the harm to their opponents.
Monk is a varried job. While it lacks in pure out and out ATK power later in the game compared to the likes of RNG or DRK, it has some amazing stat altering skills, abilities, some of the, if not the best Weapon Skills in the game (while equipped with hand to hand) and an amazing two hour ability.
Two Hour Skill: Hundred Fists: Elimiantes all delay between attacks, allowing for a pure stream of swings.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/monk
Black mage: A Black Mage is one of the weakest classes when it comes to body, but their intelligence has no par. As a Black Mage you will begin weak, but as you grow in intelligence and mana points, you will become a powerful fighting force.
Black Mages' spells are varied and sundry, but they get many more combat spells than the White Mage�s. With a Black Mage's vast repertoire of useful spells you will become a much sought after commodity... for your spells can mean victory or defeat for other players. Black Mages usually stand away from the battle so they are less likely to be attacked due to their lower HP and defense
Black Mages, despite popular Final Fantasy lore, were a rarity in beta. Black Mages are the class that can deal the most overall damage in FFXI, and have a ton of multi-use spells.And are a almost nessicary factor when it comes to enemies with high phsycial defense, or a large elemental allingment.
Two Hour Skill: Manafont: Elimiates all MP use from spell casting.
Abilities &
Traits:http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/blackmage
White mage: A White Mage is a healer and protector of the weak. They have in their control many varied and sundry healing spells, as well as spells to affect one's chances in battle. White Mage�s do possess some combat spells, but combat is far from the focus of the class. The White Mage is a fountain of mind and healing that many players rely on.
White Magic is a nessicary lifeblood of all FFXI gameplay.
WHM's, like BLM's, also have a mixture of unique spells in addition to their basic useage, such as time magic, stealth spells or teleporation spells. WHM is also less frail than a BLM, and has better weapons avalible, which can result in a multi-purpose job selection.
Two Hour Skill: Benediction: Fully restores your parties HP within area of effect.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/whitemage
Red mage: The Red Mage is a mixture of both classes of Mage as well as a Warrior. They are able to use both White Magic and Black Magic but they take a longer time to learn magic compared to a pure White Mage or Black Mage and lack area of effect and other certain spells. But they do have access to weapon enchants and elemental defense spells. These Magicians can also equip the lower levels of armor and weapons a Warrior wears.
The Red Mage can fill many rolls in a party and are great for solo. But they won't be as good in Black Magic as a Black Mage would or as skilled in White Magic as a White Mage would be. They are the most "balanced" class in Vana'diel.
Despite prior Final Fantasy games, the Red Mage is quite a useful class. Red Mage is also a master of speed, developing traits such as Fast Cast which remove delay time from spell cool down.
Two Hour Skill: Chain Spell: Allows character to cast spells back to back with zero delay time.
Abilties & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/redmage
Thief: The thief is a shady character which makes use of many skills often deemed improper by the rest of society. The skills of the thief reflect his/ her way of life, namely sneaking around, stealing Gil, and attacking from behind with deadly backstabs. Thieves have always had a bad reputation so don't be surprised if you are always under suspicion.
Thieves start off fairly weak, but as they gain skills such as
Sneak Attack and Feign Death, they soon become dangerous foes. A thief is always useful when there is an agile character needed or an item that needs to be stolen or found in a dungeon.
Thiefs are an amazingly versitale job, and like most other jobs, an invaluable assistant in upper game combat. While it could be considered a selfish job, the Thief, outside of skills such as Steal, Mug, Sneak Attack, etc. Also produces many helpful party roles. With their great Treasure Hunter, Gil Finder, and of course, Trick Attack (transfers all aggro onto another character) skills.
The Theif is a good mix of selfishness and party play, with lots of interesting abilites. And if used as a sub, is one of the most versitale and universal selections in the game.
Two Hour Skill: Perfect Dodge: Prevents all damage from melee attacks.
Abilties & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/thief
Advanced Jobs
Ranger: Master of stealth, cunning and range. The archer, while possessing decent melee to aid in TP gain, is a master of long range combat, such as Archery and Marksmanship. The Ranger also has severeal skills aiding in accuracy, stealth, tracking, etc. The ranger has the ability to become one of the most damaging jobs in the game, but requires a lot of care, and money to do so.
Two Hour Skill: Eagle Eye Shot: Fires a Super Critical Arrow/Bullet resulting in massive damage.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/ranger
Bard: Bards may just be mere poets or minstrels in our history, but in Vana'diel they are magical vocalists and musicians. What's great about them is that the songs they play do not require mana points (MP). Bards work very well in a party. Often you hear them playing their tranquil songs of support. Those songs range from stat boosts, status change resistance, to the always welcomed life-giving heal. While many of the songs Bards use are party support melodies, they are not always sweet with support. If needed, they can release a requiem sound of damage upon enemies
Bards are the ultimate support class, and possess fairly decent melee as well.
Two Hour Skill: Soul Voice: Massively enhances the potency of songs.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/bard
Beast tamer: A Beastmaster's special ability allows them to tame monsters as pets for their disposal. They can tame monsters equal to the level they are currently at or lower. And although the possibility exists that they tame a stronger monster then them, it is unadvisable as the pet can become wild unexpectedly and turn on it's master. When using a personal pet, if you tell it to attack, it will attack the target. It remains completely loyal to the tamer until the pet dies, the set length of time the monster is able to be controlled expires, or the beast breaks the spell. One major advantage to using a pet is while the pet begins to attack the enemy, it is now distracted and this gives the Beastmaster and their party an open door to attack.
The Beast Tamer can eventually open up usage of a pets specail abilities, and can call powerful familairs in to aid them in battle. One balancing factor is, however, that upon victory, if your pet reamins alive/under your control, you suffer a 30% EXP loss, but only to yourself, not the party.
Two Hour Skill: Demon: Greatly Hikes the power of a pet.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/con...obs/beastmaster
Dark knight: A Dark Knight is a force of destruction through multiple means Including to go as far as leeching off of foes to regain their own health. They do not fear magical foes because they also have the ability to strengthen their magic defense. Rather than using support magic to aid their comrades, they learn the destructive art of Black Magic in order to dispose of enemies quicker Despite popular lore, DRK's also possess solid defense and vitiality, allowing a cunning player to, like most things, assume multiple/fleshed out roles.Dark Knight's are also masters of defeating the Arcane
Two Hour Skill: Blood Weapon: Each Successful hit drains HP from the enemy, and gives it to you.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/darkknight
Paladin: A versitale warrior of the light, and masters of single handed swords and shields. Paladins's are quite adept at varried combat and defense, and due to their nature, can play anything from a defensive tank, to a melee'n back up healer at the users whim. Paladin's are also masters of defeating the undead
Two Hour Skill: Invincible: Generates a pure aura of enemy hatred, and grants the character complete immunity to all physical attacks.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/paladin
Ninja: The Ninja is well equipped with skills that allow him to situate himself in the most heavily guarded places to sneak around, or if the situation warrants, eliminate a threat. Walking the fine line between light and darkness, the Ninja is familiar with both the physical disciplines of the sword and throwing weapons. Their darker side gives them familiarity with Ninjutsu, making the Ninja's proficiency in the magical arts. His mastery of throwing weapons sets him apart from the rest of the classes, second only to the Ranger. The Ninja is poorly armored, but their speed more then make up for their low defensive value
Ninja's possess the Dual Wield ability.
Shouta does his best to drudge up the specifics of this trait here:
"During intervals according to your weapon you attack. When it's time to attack, the damage you do is a combination of your attack rating (found in the equipment screen) supplemented by your weapon attack Strength.
So for example, my WHM had 114 attack and a 17 DMG weapon.
So every 366 wait, I'd deal 114+17 (that doesn't include defense of the enemy).
With Dual Wield, it's Both weapons delay added up instead of just one. However, it's a tad different. Where the basic attack is 114+17 every 366 Delay, a Dual Wield for my situation would produce 2 114+17+17 attacks every 720 delay or so. The two weapons are added to the base stat and each weapon will do damage according to the final overall number. So while it's slower, you're still doing more damage than Single Wield. Also, the higher in level a Ninja is, the better the delay time on Dual Wield I've heard so eventually that cuts the 2x delay down."
Two Hour Skill: Self Sacrifice: Deals massive damage to the enemy, but kills you. (No EXP loss)
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/ninja
Samurai: Samurai live and die by the code of Bushido--but they don't die easily. Samurai have honed their martial skills to perfection, although this does not mean his mental training has suffered, for his strategic sense is second only to the warrior. Despite marginal HP, the Samurai is virtually equal to the Monk in terms of strength. Death is not viewed as failure, but as the ultimate service which can be rendered. Samurai's are masters of technique, and in this case, that'd be technique points. Samurai's live and die by generating loads of TP, to both defeat an enemy, and defend his friends. Samurai are also masters of vanquishing Demons.
Two Hour Skill: Wise Reflection: TP costs are reduced to 0, resulting in the ability to chain Weapon Skills together by yourself.
Abilities & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/samurai
Summoner: There are those who can bring forth a monster to fight in their stead. There are a few who are true masters of the summoning art. Summoners dedicate themselves to the fine art of summoning monsters and learning how to use them. They are not good at hand-to-hand combat, but are able to call upon elemental gods, causing their enemies to suffer and perish in terrible ways.
Summoners are the most frail natural jobs in the game, but possess massive ammounts of MP. Summoning in FFXI is more or less controlled like a real time version of FFX. You have full control over your summon, including the ability to make it melee, retreat, etc. And it learns it's own specail skills as it gains levels.
Summons sap MP over time, so it's a good idea to prepare yourself with MP restoring food items, refresh spells, or bard songs.
Two Hour Ability: Astral Flow: Unlock the Summon's true power, resulting in great strength, and the ability to use the ultimate skill of the Summon (EG, Diamond Dust for Shiva)
Abilites & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/summoner
Dragoon: The fabled Dragoons, or Dragon Knights, are few in number but worth an army when it comes to slaying dragons. While certainly a tough opponent in combat, their specialization against dragons makes them truly devastating. While most Dragoons only seek out the lairs of evil dragons, some don't seem to care or distinguish between types and will hunt any dragon that comes across their path.The Dragoon's are courageous fighters who have mastered the art of the jumping spear attack. With the briefest of starts, they can launch themselves many feet into the air and descend again with tremendous force, piercing the hide of even the toughest foe.
Dragoon's, like Monk's, are a varried class within basic damage dealing. Focusing on multiple jump techniques, and more important, the managing of your person Wyvern, it can be a tough class to grasp, but is worth it in the long run.
Two Hour Skill: Call Wyvern: Calls a Wyvern to your side to fight by you until it perishes, it's skills are based upon your subjob.
Abilites & Traits: http://ffo.warcry.com/index.php/content/jobs/dragoon (Also lists the subjob skill alteration)
Basic Combat
While combat in FFXI starts off fairly vanillia, and on the basic side, while easing you into the game, it grows to one of the most compex, difficult and overall satasfying RPG experiences around. If you're looking for a rush, look no further.
Basic melee combat is worked through an automated system, to avoid broken thumbs, and click, click, click syndrome.
However as you grow, gain more skills, traits, take advantage of the job system, open up subjobs, advanced jobs, expansion jobs, etc. So does combat.
Concepts of ability management are taken much further in FFXI, espically through the use of the Desperation (aka 2hr) Skills. Indivudal traits, and the combination of the above from subjobs,. and race management really shine is a SEVERELY team work orianted game in FFXI, much, much moreso than games of the past.
The next step in this would be the TP system. Much like everything in FFXI, this is based on personal prefrence from the jobs you select, and the weapons you use within said jobs. TP stands for "Technique Points", which work much like the Limit Breaks of past Final Fantasy, only the end result here is "Weapon Skills".
Weapon Skills can be anything from Stun Techniques, to Elemental based attacks. And are completely dependant of the weapon you have equipped.
As your indivudal weapon skill grows (see above) so will the ammount of techniques you are able to use.
Again, much like Limit Breaks, your TP bar will grow from dealing melee damage, or recieving it. Upon 100% accumulation, you can unleash a technique, however, if the time is not right, you may also store up to 300% TP for future use.
TP will fully depelete upon WS useage, so if you use 300% Red Lotus Blade, it'll be around three times as strong as usual, elemental balances and the such depending.
TP Never naturally depeletes unless you are resting, then it goes down 10% per rest boost, or if you leave an area, then it completely vanishes.
It's coming right for us! Skill Chains.
Skill Chains are yet another slice of the TP/WS pie.Also called "Renkei" they allow you to chain multiple weapon skills together, from simplistic chains of lower teir stuff, to high end chains of devestating damage, and will often greatly alter the outcome of a battle.
So, did that scar you for life? Good, you probably deserve it. The above is a listing of abilites that will sucessfully chain together. Not everything goes into everything you dummy! This is why you always ruin puzzle pieces!
Skill Chains require solid player communication, knowledge, and timing, it's a vital concept you should grasp as soon as possible.
Magic Bursts
What?You thought that was all?
In addition to the basic skill chain system, based on it's elemental allignment, a properly placed spell can result in an insane ammount of damage, and like Skill Chains, can also easily decide the outcome of a battle. For example, if a skill chain ended in a Fire based Liqufication, and a mage cast any Fire based spell (Fire, Fire II, Fire III, Firaga, etc) it would result in a Magic Burst if timed properly, resulting in crazy damage, once again.
EXP Chains
Monsters have a difficulty ranking, much like certain offline RPG's, and other online RPG's.
The ones in Final Fantasy XI are:
~Too weak to be worthwhile
~easy prey
~decent challenge
~even match
~tough
~very tough
~incredibly tough
~impossible to gauge!
The lowest tier, "Too weak to be worthwhile monsters", are well, too weak to be worthwhile, they also fear you, so even if they aggro, they'll avoid you.
Impossible to gauge is simply a rating left for boss monsters, where they wanna hide the stats, and increase the risk factor for you. It gets it's own rating because, well, FFXI has a lot of bosses.
Also, modifers of "it seems to have..." either "high defense, or high evasion" are also in the rating system.
Anyhow, on to EXP Chaining...
Upon defeating an Even Match monster or above, a time slot will open, and if you defeat another Even Match or above monsters within the time period, you get a bonus chunk of EXP.
The higher the number of monsters you chain, the more the bonus. You can chain up to six monsters.
This is a common practice, and a total feat in character micromanagement. It's quite a rush, and very fun to go on a big streak of MURRRDDEEERRRR.
Dealing with Death
When you hit the dirt, without being revived that is, you lose 10% of the EXP required to hit the next level, if it takes 5900 EXP, you'll lose 590. If you lose more EXP than you have on a current level, you'll level down.Leveling down will result in a barrage of profanity.
You respawn at your last Save/Home point.
You lose nothing you were carrying, however, and that includes gil.
Loot/item distribution
While FFXI doesn't have nearly as much of an absurd ph4t l00t5 policy as other MMO games, it has it's fair share. Loot distribution is handled in two ways, depending on the leaders decision:
1.) Quartermaster Mode. The leader obtains all items and distributes them himself
2.) Lottery Mode: All items are cast into a pool, and players roll dice for them. Rolls go betwee 1 and 999.
Basic start-up information:
Vana'diel is home to three competing nations, and the Nutreal state of Jeuno. Each Nation is home to a race.
Bastok: Humes and Galka
Windurst: Tarutaru and Mithra
San d'Oria: Elvaan.
Jeuno is an indeptant, rich nation that is never effected by Conquest (see below) or allows citizenship.
You may start your game anywhere in the world, but, if you start in your home country, you're given a fairly decent ring for doing so. However, you may start in one Nation, and transfer citizenship later, and purchase the ring in the Conquest menu (see below) if you like.
Mog Houses
Each player has their own personal safe haven from the get go, their Mog House. Much like Animal Crossing, but without the stagnant taste of "lame", you can decorate your Mog House with a ton of different items as you see fit.
Also, you can change jobs here, store items, accept deliveries, and even read the paper.Heck, you can even do some gardening.
Synthesis/Crafting
Trade Skills are implemented in FFXI. And in a more satasfying, and less stressful manner, though they remain expensive.
Certain guilds specializing in the below skills, and the needs of the PC's who wish to partake in them can be found in the three capital cities. For exaple:
BoneWork in Windurst, Carpentry in San d'Oria and Gold Crafting in Bastok.
Upon joining a guild, you'll be presented with a Crystal that said guild frequently uses. Crystals can be obtained in Conquest, detailed below.
Much like past Final Fantasy games, Synthesis uses multiple items to create one greater item, and in FFXI crystals are used as a base. Fire Crystal melts/heats, for example.
Trade Skills can be used for many great things, creation of potions, armor, bullets, food, etc. Or just a general flow of income, below are the avalible crafts, recipies and advice can be obtained at the guilds themselves, good luck.
And don't forget to keep talking to the guild master, once your skill reaches a certain level, your may preform a challenge to raise your rank title.
-Fishing
-Blacksmith
-Goldsmith
-Carpender
-Alchemy
-Cooking
-Leatherworking
-Sewing
-Bonework
Player trading & transactions
Eliminating the annoying folks screaming their lungs out on the street corner, is the Auction House. Each Nation, and Jeuno is home to an Auction house (all cities AH's are indepndant from one another) in which you can buy or sell, pretty much everything in the game, an ungodly useful feature.
Also, there is the personal Bazzar, allowing players to take items in their inventory, and open a personal shop where people can come and go at will, this is great for most areas, but the melting pot known as Jeuno charges a hefty tax.
Linkshells
It's a communication device. One person in each of the Kingdoms' capitals sells them.
They run 8,000 gil. Upon purchasing one, you can choose the pearl's color and name. Both of which are permanent.
The person who buys the linkshell is the owner of said linkshell, and they are non-transferable.
There are three levels of status within them. Shell holder, Sack holder and Pearl holder.
The Shell holder can distribute pearls/sacks at will, and remove people from the groun as well, including both Sack and Pearl holders. They can also change the welcoming message.
The Sack holders can distribute pearls at will, and remove pearl holders, and change the welcoming message.
The pearl holders may only chat on the linkshell.
To distribute a peral to someone, you have to manually hand it to them. No sending it over AH delivery's to a mog house. Although, you MAY appoint someone from a pearl to a sack over the LS system, to ease the process.
Conquest System
The conquest system has a large impact on the global economy, it also opens up more features in your towns.
The world is composed into tons of "reigons", most (not all, such as obvious areas as the ferry route from Mhaura to Selbina) are up for grabs.
Upon first server bootup, I believe each country has their basic reigon outskirts under control only. Meaning San d'Oria controls Ronfaurae, Bastok controls Gustaberg, and the ungodly cool Federation of Windurst controls Saruta Baruta.
To participate in Conquest, you speak to a gate guard, either by any of your nations gate guards in your capital, in Jeuno, or an the embassy in another country.
You'll get an option to have a signet bestowed upon you.
Reigon conquests are tallied once per real life week, and in that time points are gained by defeating monsters with your countries signet on. But, on the flipside, points are also lost when you perish with the signet on.
When you fight, and win, you gain "conquest points" for yourself. These points can be redeemed at a gate guard for a number of rare, kickass items your country gives to adventurers as gifts for helping out.
There are many benefits to reigon control. The more you have, the better your economy, the more shops that open, and the more stuff that is carried is said shops.
Also, more conquest items are avalible for purchase
Also, little neat quirks, such as cutscene replaying characters, a traveling performer group, etc.
On the flipside, if your conquest sucks, and you're in last place, your economy is murdered, crystals don't drop, shops can't restock and thus are nearly bone dry of goodies, and fewer conquest items are avalible.
Also, in reigons under your control, crystals are dropped by monsters. And, if that area has an outpost, your country assumes control of it, and allows you to do a few small things, such as Save a home point, purchase small items, etc.
That's also effected by your global ranking, of which Windy, Basty and Sandy are always competing for first place.
Signet does wear off, however, it's effected by your nation RANK (raised by playing through the storyline missions) AS ARE the items avalible to you for purchase from the gate guards and at Rank 5, I beleive it lasts about 6 hours or so. When it's up, you gotta get it recast.
So, that's how it works currently. PvP is being added, and spliced into Conquest, so nations can effectively beat the crap out of each other.
Oh, and of course, there's the EX. Dispatch Forces. Upon reaching level 25, and with a party of 5, you can have your nation dispatch you to a non-controller reigon and you can focus there. I dunno the specifics on this one sadly, never got to try it, nor do I know of the reward system that goes with it.
Quests:
Quests are a huge piece of FFXI. Offering major rewards, fun activites, little cutscenes, they're much more polished and enjoyable than the rest of the genre, and of course, reward the player further with a title (you gain a title from your last completed quest) and a higher level of fame, fame is required for certain events in the game, and certain other quests as well.
Missions:
FFXI has a story line, yes, shockingly enough, Square someone managed to cram a big plot into an MMO game. And refreshingly enough, it's actually quite entertaining, and well thought out. All that from a Final Fantasy plot, what the...?
Anyhow, the plot is advanced through a large ammount of story based missions you obtain from your country. Each country has their own view on the plot, although some missions are the exact same for each nation, such as the link up missions like 5 or 9.
Transportation:
FFXI has multiple modes of transportation. Ranging from foot (duh) to Ferry, to Chocobo, to Airship, to high end teleportation magic. Each form of transportation, outside of walking that is, requires either a fee and/or a quest or certain game condition to use it.
Synthesis
As mentioned before in Conquest, Sysnthesis uses crystals, and is FFXI's form of trade skills. More useful, and altogether much more fun, they are a useful commodity, but require large ammounts of gil. Weither you lose gil, break even, or make the monopoly guy look like a chump, depends on your profession, and business savvy.
Server selection and World Passes
Final Fantasy XI has around 30 servers, and will likely have more come tommorow.
However, due to morons, and high server clogging, Square decided to implement a World Pass system.
Upon making your first character, without a world pass. You'll be automaticly rolled to the server with the least population. This is done so Square doesn't have 10,000 people on Bahamut, and 10 people on Fairy.
This is easily bypassed with a World Pass, which you purchase in-game with gil. Upon recieving the pass, you obtain a password, that can be used at the character creation menu. World Passes are good for five uses, and last for a week.
In closing
In closing, I didn't have fun writing this faq, and I'm now evil because I stole large portions of it.
This was a time consuming waste of human effort because you're all so damned lazy...for shame.
But, what I did have fun with was the FFXI beta. And as most other GA beta players will tell you, the game is incredible.
I went from having zero interest in it, to taking up arms and proclaming a game in a series that I rather dislike to be my favorite one other.It's a gem of an MMO game, and shouldn't be overlooked, or under analyzed.
So, learn the ropes, evolve your playing style, make your own choices, stick with the game, and
Welcome to Final Fantasy XI: Online
In this topic we will also start the first steps of the Gaming-Age linkshell. There will be two sides, I will control the San d'Oria section, and Shouta the Bastok unless changes arise. We will not be startting in Windurst due to travel conditions.
In final closing, thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, and due to the games highly customizeable and balanced nature, I urge you to ask. This guide merely covers the basics.
Oh, and don't ask us which job is better than another, advice on race or subjob combos yes, but the job system is pure balance, so be happy that for once, SOMEONE made a balanced game.
