Working as Intended

Let's just get this out of the way first. I have many issues regarding Final Fantasy XI's gameplay and the direction it's gone since that massive pile of disappointment otherwise known as Wings of the Goddess was released. However, one thing I'll always defend are the areas/zones in the game. While other MMOs have come along and trumped XI in graphics technical-wise, the asthetic and atmosphere XI has created for its world is still (until XIV anyway) completely unmatched.

Since I'm back in XI to help a good friend out with finishing Chains of Promathia like he always wanted to to, I figured I'd give Vana'diel a nice little tribute on this obscure and pointless journal before I set sail for that wacky place known as Eorzea. A land I still don't know how to properly bloody pronounce yet.

The list is in no particular order, except the last one, which is there for a reason.

Oddly enough, I started off in San d'Oria of all places when I booted up Final Fantasy XI for the first time way back when. The town's incredibly annoying soundtrack and generic-medieval-ness got old quite quickly, so when I was first able to I lept over to Bastok. Never looked back.

To me, it's definitely the most interesting of the starter cities. Unlike the aforementioned medieval San d'Oria or the nature-loving Windurst, Bastok has hit the industrial period. Hell, the entire city was actually build into the mountain that now creates the outer wall. It's got a rather spiffy (if somewhat annoying if you're trying to cross the damn thing) rising drawbridge, the Metalworks area, and all that stuff.

But, mostly, I just love Bastok because of the above picture and music. That's the sight that greets many players when they've Warped back to down after a few hours out in the fields and/or dungeons around the world. It's a very welcoming view after a long EXP session or event.

In Final Fantasy XIV, Bastok appears to be getting a successor in the form of Ul'dah. Sadly nothing has been released about it, but I'll certainly be looking into it whenever it pops up.















The Valkurm Dunes will never be known for being a very nice looking zone.

For many a year (and even to this day somewhat) the Dunes was the go-to place for Level 12-20 leveling. Many people headed here with absolutely no idea what partying was like or even what their job's role was in them. Not to mention this stretch of levels was where everyone was introduced to the concept of sub-jobs. Due to the general obvious lack of experience, the Dunes parties were often a very slow EXP crawl, where party wipes were nearly as common as the mob pulls to camp.

It's also known for having the most blindingly white sand ever created.

I always did like Valkurm. Not the parties, mind, they were absolutely ghastly 90% of the time. The actual zone itself, to me, is one of the highlights of Vanilla!FFXI. The Selbina music, the ocean, the horrible party memories, it's all good.

Well, except the last one.

This was the zone where you discovered if you loved or hated the game. I imagine many characters were canceled/deleted on these sands. I'd put it on this list probably for that alone, but the fact that it's really pretty helps it quite a bit too.















I really feel sorry for Mhaura.

It's got an almost disturbingly peaceful soundtrack, the town itself is small but very homely (features nothing but a dock, a general store and a few Guild shops) and it's a much better place than Selbina. Despite all that though, Mhaura was never used for its original purpose, to be the Windurst equivalent of the Valkurm Dunes/Selbina. It's rarely used at all, full-stop.

The only people who visit it now are those who are either traveling by boat to go to Selbina/Aht Urhgan, or are there to complete/start an obscure quest or two.

Poor Mhaura..














Also known as, "The zone that's only well-known due to it's awesome music." I'll be honest and say that's why it's one of my favorite zones. Sure, the almost never-ending forest design and general layout is quite spiffy, not to mention it being a surprisingly good leveling spot (especially with Fields of Valor), but.. nope, it's the music that sells this place.

Strangely, the text description for the place is rather accurate. Most people don't visit Zi'tah anymore unless they're on their way to Ro'Maeve/Boyahda and areas beyond. The occasional party still pops up here and there around the Outpost, but.. yeah, she's a mostly empty zone.

Seems very appropriate, though, so I don't mind.
















This zone is technically split up into two smaller ones, Riverne Site #A01 and Riverne Site #B01. Neither is terribly different from the other anymore (they used to have different level-caps, but they've been removed now), but they're still an incredibly awesome sight.

A lot of content in Chains of Promathia revolves around Riverne. Most quest lines send you here at some point, there's a lot of very sought-after NMs running about the floating islands, and, of course, you come here to fight Bahamut much later down the road.

But above all that (hurrrr), it's simply a fantastically designed place. Being above the clouds, leaping from island to island via strange warp-points, fighting all sorts of cool looking monsters is hard to beat. And with the level-cap now removed, a lot of people have actually been coming up here to EXP from 35-55. Not sure if the mobs are any good for that, but I know the awesome floating rocks are enticing people to check it out.

One of the reasons I took up Chains of Promathia's (at the time) very time-demanding jaunt was to finally see and explore this zone. It didn't disappoint.














Everything happens in Whitegate.

The zone will always be memorable to me for two reasons. Firstly the aforementioned everything happening here, so memories build up really quickly, and secondly for the boat ride over to it. I purchased the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion on Day One, and was on one of the first boat rides over to the new continent. Seeing the boat crammed with 300+ players, each yelling excitedly over everything they saw on the trip ("There's a giant whale on the left side of the boat!!" "Where?!" "Where is it?!") always stayed with me for some reason.

But, yes, if you're planning any event or party after Level 55 in Final Fantasy XI, Whitegate is going to be involved in some fashion. Directly or otherwise. It's home to the Assault/Besieged/Nyzul Isle/ISNM/Einherjar events (though Ein' is technically in Nashmau). A lot of really good storylines have you passing through here often. And, of course, Whitegate is surrounded by Colibri homeland. Otherwise known as EXP Heaven If You're An Incredibly Boring Individual.

Poor pink birdies.

Even today, it's not uncommon on some servers for the zone to get so crowded that Square-Enix has to post a message in the in-game chat telling people to get the hell out of there, because, hey, there's too many of you bastards!

It's also home to Naja and Abquhbah, the two greatest characters in any FFXI storyline.














Xarcabard isn't a pretty zone. There are some nice glowing effects as you get closer to the Citadel, but it's mostly just an empty, dreary, snow-covered zone full of very annoying-to-kill mobs. So, why do I like it?

Xarcabard is one of the final areas of the original game, and as a result it just reeks of Edge of the World atmosphere. Even with all the extra little steps in convenience when it comes to travel in FFXI, if you don't come prepared with a spell/item to get you out of Xarcabard when you're done, you're looking at a very long run back. If the Beastmen own both Xarcabard and the next zone over (which is quite often) the next teleport NPC is five zones away. Waaaay back in West Ronfaure.

So, yeah, the zone is pretty damn isolated. And that's why I love it. You still get that very strange sense of occasion when you zone in, as FFXI's equivalent of a final dungeon is just over the hill (the very distant spiky thing in that above screenshot).

Going to or from Xarcabard, you could be in for a very long run.














The 'endgame' zone for Rise of the Zilart, Tu'Lia is still a rather hard zone for many players to gain access to, and almost every single player who has finally reached it says the same thing when they zone in after the cutscene.

"Wow!"

It's ridicuously high above the world, the sky is shockingly blue during the day, and the abandoned and overgrown look of the zone really lets it sink in just how powerful the Zilart must have been thousands of years ago. Their machines still inhabit the garderns, but have since started to malfunctiona long time ago. The Groundskeepers don't even register you 90% of the time. The only ones that do are hiding in little glowing alcoves. The Sprinkler mobs have obviously been doing their job unchecked, and are responcible for the plants running wild on the floating temple.

It's a zone that tells a nice bit of backstory without even having to say anything. The design and the nature of the mobs that inhabit it tell everything. Something I damn well wish a lot of other MMOs would do. These mobs, odd as they were, actually had a purpose for being here, instead of just being generic, mindless shit you kill for EXP.

This zone, purty as it is, is really only used for two things. Getting Byakko's Haidate and Kirin's Osode. Anything else is just something you have to do on the way to getting either one of those items. Occasionally an EXP party, lone Beastmaster or a player just checking out the frankly awesome sights will appear, but mostly it's Alliances going for the big items.

Maybe it's just me, but I always felt that Ru'Aun had a very Balamb Garden look and feel to it. The designs seem similar in certain areas, and.. I don't know, the two just seem rather alike to me.













One look at Bibiki Bay (at least the Purgonorgo Isle section of it) should make it clear was I loves me it so much. It's like a much, much prettier version of the Valkurm Dunes, except with no idiots here. Or no.. anyone, for that matter.

Purgo is probably one of the least visited areas in the entire game, because it's so damn out of the way. The only way to get to it is by taking the Manaclipper ferry over to it (which only goes around twice a Vana'diel day), and it will generally take about 20-40 minutes for most people to reach it from Jeuno or Whitegate. So, yeah, touch out of the way for EXP parties.

It's one of the rarely visited treasures of FFXI. Probably for the best anyway, as it's easy to appreciate how nice the zone is when you don't have several dozen people blocking the best views.

But even still, the odd batch of people run along its shores. Mostly because it really is just that darn shiny.

Not much else to say, it's just a really nice zone.














You will get horribly lost in these jungles.

Might not be the first time you go through, or the hundredth, but at some point the complete uselessness of the map and large amount of twisting caves that don't seem to even remotely go in the direction they're supposed to will get you lost. Bad.

I've seen friends take a left instead of a right and end up on the completely wrong side of the map. Some even manage to zone into the other jungle before they go, "Hey, wait a minute.."

Elshimo Island is a special place for me. As a Samurai, I was generally required to pass through here every dozen levels or so for one quest or another. The most annoying Rise of Zilart quests (oddly also some of the first ones) take place here. Ifrit's Cauldron will forever be burned into my mind as the zone where it took us three hours to get everyone past a single room (GOD DAMN YOU ASH DRAGON), and.. well, yeah. The island is full of memories for me. Good and bad.

Also, this is where everyone encounters their first Tonberry and starts killing them, completely unaware that the more you kill the more powerful Everyone's Grudge/Rancor becomes. I've seen people get hit by that move for 15,000+ HP, because they played for years without knowing how to get rid of the growing effect.

Ah, good times.

Except for Ifrit's Cauldon. Though it is neat how it errupts every time (if you look from Yuhtunga) Ifrit Prime is defeated within it.

Not that that gets rid of my bitterness towards a certain dragon.

Bastard.














By far my favorite zone in Final Fantasy XI, if not any game. I've spoken about this place before, but even still, its sheer contrast to everything else in the game makes Al'Taieu an amazing place to explore and see for yourself. I think a big part of what makes it so special (aside from the mentioned contrast) is that it's a bitch of a place to unlock.

To reach Al'Taieu you have to make it through the seven out of eight chapters in Chains of Promathia. I have no idea how long it takes now, what with no level caps in most CoP zones, but it took my static, who got together usually once a week, roughly 10 months to get to Al'Taieu.

Don't get me wrong, it is entirely worth it once you get there, but.. yeah.

It's not just the design of Al'Taieu that's different from the rest of the game, but the mobs that inhabit it also show of bizarre quirks. Like the Hpemde mobs, who will aggro you but won't attack. You're the first humanoid they've seen in 10,000 years, so they just follow you around for a bit, see what you're up to and then float away, content.

Or the Yovra mobs, who spawn waaay up in the air (you usually have to pan your camera up just to see them) and can't be targeted until they aggro you (when you're directly underneath them), then they'll rapidly decend and start beating the ever-loving crap out of you. Especially if you're fighting on the crystallized water (the blue stuff you run on), as the Yovra's HP Regen is disturbingly high when they're over that. You either take them to land or you die.

There's just so much to Al'Taieu that makes it a fantastic zone. I really hope that Square-Enix looks at it when they go to make an endgame zone for Final Fantasy XIV or any of its expansions. Not to directly copy its design or anything, but to look at just how different you can make something.

Also, the infamous Absolute Virtue lives here.








That's it for zones!

Since I've managed to build up an awful lot of screenshots over the years, I thought this'd make as good a place as any to dump 'em! Hopefully Final Fantasy XIV will have its fare share of spectacular places to explore and fight in!