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Final Fantasy XI
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Hironobu Sakaguchi, producer of the Final Fantasy series, is a self-professed EverQuest junkie. He finds the interaction of real players in RPG environments as emotionally engaging as the scripted stories of the single-player RPGs. Sakaguchi and Square are convinced that the future of gaming lies in gaming online with hundreds of simultaneous RPG fans. Final Fantasy X may very well be the last single-player Final Fantasy; Final Fantasy XI, to the surprise (and chagrin) of many fans of the series, will be a massively multiplayer online RPG.
Released: Unknown in Japan; unknown in the US
Systems: PlayStation 2
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Though some may question Square's wisdom in making Final Fantasy XI online-only, no one can deny the company's ambition. Final Fantasy XI will use Square's yet-to-be-launched PlayOnline service. In addition to supporting Final Fantasy XI, PlayOnline will provide non-game-related portal services through a partnership with NTT Communications, Japan's largest telecommunications company. Activities such as chatting in real time, reading weekly manga, and listening to music will be available from within the game software. Square currently plans to charge 1500 yen per month (about $15) to play Final Fantasy XI online. The 1500-yen fee includes a 500-yen monthly membership fee and a 1000-yen monthly user fee. To help gamers accept the idea of monthly fees, Square is expected to sell Final Fantasy XI for as little as 1000 yen (about $10).
Unfortunately, Final Fantasy XI's release is hampered by Sony's online strategy, or lack thereof. Japanese and US gamers alike will be playing Sega's Phantasy Star Online by January 2001. Meanwhile, Sony's online hardware and software strategy remains ill defined and nebulous at best. If Sony can't deliver the hardware and infrastructure an online game needs to succeed, the quality of the game itself will scarcely matter.
And don't dismiss Final Fantasy XI as an EverQuest clone just yet. Square's public announcements have focused on the PlayOnline service to the point where scarcely anything is known about the game itself. A massively multiplayer online console RPG may differ in many significant ways from a PC game, and Square is known for its innovations in the RPG genre. Whether Final Fantasy XI brings the series to new heights or crashes and burns spectacularly, it is certainly a game worth watching for.
Now show me Final Fantasy Series
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