[MUD-Dev] [NEWS] Final Fantasy XI debut on PS2 in US

[kennerly at sfsu.edu]

"A Fantasy That's Never Final"
Chris Kohler.  Wired /archives/meow?group+ April 5, 2004.

http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,62910,00.html

<EdNote: Copy below>

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A Fantasy That's Never Final
By Chris Kohler
02:00 AM Apr. 05, 2004 PT

"r u a ps2 n00b?"

How to answer? Should I admit that I am indeed a second-class
citizen, an untouchable in the city of the bourgeoisie? The March 23
release of the PlayStation 2 version of massively multiplayer online
role-playing game Final Fantasy XI has brought a fresh influx of new
players to the game. To the many high-level warriors and red mages
running confidently around the virtual world of Vana'diel, players
who have been immersed in Final Fantasy XI since its late-2003
release for personal computers, this influx is a pox on their fair
city, an irritating mass of unwashed immigrants who beg for free
money from the rich and ask annoying newbie questions all day.

But PS2 gamers have a similar sense of we-were-here-first
entitlement -- Final Fantasy has been a predominantly
console-oriented series since it first appeared on Nintendo's
Famicom in 1987. And indeed, in Japan Final Fantasy XI made its
debut exclusively on the PS2, the PC version being a mere
afterthought in the land where console gaming reigns with an iron
fist. As far as the PS2 crowd is concerned, PC gamers are the
usurpers and squatters, encroaching on their territory; the world of
Moogles, Mythril and Materia is their turf.

And this situation is, in some way, exactly what Final Fantasy XI's
designers set out to create.

Final Fantasy XI's release on the PlayStation 2 marks the fourth and
final major step in Square Enix's master plan to create an MMORPG
that puts the focus on a worldwide, diverse community. This idea is
more radical than it sounds. Yes, Final Fantasy XI borrows the very
basics of its game play from successful PC MMORPGS like Ultima
Online and Everquest -- the goal being to kill monsters of gradually
increasing difficulty to build up your character's level and amass a
horde of virtual treasure. But in Final Fantasy XI, you can't do it
by murdering the weak -- there's no player killing. And you can't do
it alone -- after the first few hours of leveling up, expanding your
horizons becomes nearly impossible without a party of friends to
help you.

So right off the bat, you're encouraged to make friends. The cities
of the game are so vast that at first, merely navigating them is
virtually impossible without asking directions. And every time I
tried this, I was bowled over by the friendliness of perfect
strangers -- every person I ever asked for help didn't simply tell
me where to go but actually led the way, taking time out of whatever
they were doing to "physically" bring me to my destination.

On my second day, a stranger named Tarukun walked up to me out of
the blue to give me a Linkpearl, which is like a little magical
walkie-talkie connected to a master device called a Linkshell. Any
player with a pearl can chat in real time with other players who
have pearls of the same set. The group that I was invited to, the
TinyTornados, is exclusively for TaruTaru, the diminutive
Hobbit-like race of magical creatures to which my player character
belongs.

My tiny cousins offered to answer any and all questions I had about
the game. There is, I found out, a certain team pride among us few,
proud players who chose to be neither a muscle-bound swordsman nor a
curvy cat-girl. And it was in this circle of new friends that I was
asked, right off the bat, if I was one of the new arrivals fresh off
the PS2 boat. I hesitated, but finally figured there was no harm in
answering "Yes."

"o. so how do u type?"

A good question, and one that points to the difficulties inherent in
not only setting up a persistent online experience that lets players
on different platforms and in different countries play in the exact
same space, but even putting an online role-playing game on the
PlayStation 2 in the first place. Unlike Microsoft's Xbox, the
PlayStation 2 doesn't ship with an internal hard drive, so the $100
FFXI package includes a 40-GB one. Physical installation of the
drive is surprisingly easy -- it connects to a $40 network adapter
(not included, but required) then slides into a bay in the back of
the console.

That's the easy part. Now you've got between two and three hours of
software installation, registration and character creation standing
between you and game play. The FFXI software comes factory-installed
onto the drive, but after you fiddle with the settings and get your
PS2 to recognize your dialup or broadband Internet connection,
you've got to download all the software updates from Sony's servers.

"Boo hoo," mock the PC gamers. Indeed, for that crowd a two-hour
setup process is the best-case scenario. PC gamers tend to see a
game that refuses to run as a challenge, whereas console gamers
demand refunds. What's more, console gamers want it all for under a
few hundred bucks, not the thousand-dollar supercomputers needed to
run the PC version of FFXI, which is a surprisingly taxing piece of
software. So FFXI's installation process might be daunting to a
group used to true plug-and-play, but it's about as smooth as can be
expected at this stage.

But as my new TaruTaru buddy suggested, the thing that PS2 players
need to think about that PC players take for granted is how to
type. You could use the on-screen virtual keyboard, picking out
letters with your standard PS2 controller. But why, when any USB
keyboard will work? Even better is the dual-function controller
released by Logitech that puts a full-size keyboard into a PS2
controller. It's a bit awkward at first, but less so than juggling
two separate input devices.

If you must use only a standard controller, though, there's an
in-game menu of key phrases that you can scroll through as an
alternative to hunting and pecking. And since Japanese players share
the same servers as Americans, there's an auto-translate function
for those key words. What the American versions of FFXI lack is
Japanese text input for the growing number of young Final Fantasy
fans who can speak the language. This effectively removes any
possibility of meaningful conversation between the two groups and
renders Square Enix's vision of a truly international community
nearly pointless.

This is frustrating. But in most other ways Final Fantasy XI is a
fascinating and fulfilling experience. It's becoming progressively
more difficult to argue that online game aficionados represent a
shut-in group of socially awkward devil worshippers when Square
Enix's bold experiment in community-based role-playing game play
rewards players for being outgoing, considerate and generous.

Final Fantasy XI for the PlayStation 2 is rated T for Teen.

It is available now from Sony Computer Entertainment America in a
$100 package that also includes a 40-GB hard disk drive
(required). The PS2 Network Adapter ($40) is required but not
included. A USB keyboard is strongly recommended, but not
required. After the first month of play, a $13 fee is charged per
month.
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