Well, I had originally intended for the last post to catch me up to present, so I would be writing about current experiences instead of summarizing recent history. But then I started playing Final Fantasy XI, and I haven't really made time for much else leisure-wise until recently.
I guess a little more history is in order. Historically, Final Fantasy is my favorite video game series. I played the original when it was a brand new game on the NES, and in that time period it became my favorite game. It was similar to Dragon Warrior, which till then had possibly been my favorite, but in those days I thought it was better still. (Though in later years, Dragon Warrior has proved to evoke more nostalgia, and I claim it now as my favorite NES game.)
The first sequel to be published in the U.S., then titled Final Fantasy II (though it is actually a port of Final Fantasy IV), is still one of my favorite games of all time, if not my favorite game of all time. I have played it through several times, including the Playstation and Nintendo DS versions. It was the first game I had played that had such a detailed level of storytelling, on par with books I read and movies I watched. The story resonates with me to this day. Several of my favorite Final Fantasy characters are in this game, including but not limited to Cecil Harvey (probably my favorite FF main character), Rydia, and Kain Highwind. My wife actually got me a copy of the Super Famicom version of this, but I've yet to play it through.
The other main contender for my favorite game of all time is Final Fantasy VI, which was originally released in the U.S. as Final Fantasy III. It has the most engaging cast of characters of any Final Fantasy game, or really any game I've played. It has one of the best villains of any game I've played. It has one of the most dramatic plot twists of any game I've ever played. And the game's opera scene is an interactive work of art that I never tire of replaying or rewatching.
In late 2002, between my brothers and I, we owned every main-series Final Fantasy game that had been released to that date in the U.S., which was I - X, excluding II and III. I decided to replay the series, which included a replay of I and IV, followed by a playthrough of V, which had only then recently been released in the U.S. for the first time, followed by replays of VI and VII, then completing for the first time VIII, IX, and X.
I had them all finished by early 2004, at which time I was eagerly awaiting the Playstation 2 release of Final Fantasy XI, the first online game in the series. Although I was leery of the monthly fee associated with the game, I was excited to see how my favorite game series would be treated in an online environment.
I quickly fell in love with the game. At that time, because I got it right at the U.S. console release, there was a large influx of new players, and it was not an issue trying to find a party for just about anything I wanted to try. I really enjoyed the interaction with other people, and the feeling of learning to work together for a common goal. As I've mentioned before, I was also fascinated with the dynamic of interacting with players from Japan. I started as a warrior and took it up to around level 20I with lofty dreams of becoming both a paladin and a summoner. But after a couple of months was when things began to fall apart in my home life. I had a particularly unpleasant experience where I was forced to leave a party waiting for me while I took care of something at home, which ended up, of necessity, taking much longer than expected and which left my party uninformed and very angry with me for quite a long time. It frustrated me so much that I ended up taking a break from the game.
I don't think I really picked it back up again until I had moved out on my own nearly a year later. I don't remember exactly when, but it seems like it was just around the time that the second expansion, Chains of Promathia, was released. It was more difficult to get a party then, and I seemed to run into more people trying to tell me I shouldn't try, so I started doing more solo play as I started to explore higher-than-20-level areas.
I think I had a few periods of on-and-off play for a while, gradually moving my character up to and through the mid-20's. But at some point I decided I could not afford the monthly fee, and put the game on hold.
When my financial situation finally began to get better and I got married, I picked the game up again for a while. My wife worked early morning hours and we retired together rather early, so I would end up also frequently waking up early and playing for some time before I went to work in the morning. This was around 2010 and the game had become quite different than it had been when I had played years before. It was now very difficult to get a traditional experience party; in fact, during this time, I believe, was when they introduced Grounds of Valor tomes that caused people to form large alliances against easy prey monsters to get quick experience bonuses and level up much faster than anything I'd seen before. I didn't enjoy it because I thought that it boosted levels too fast to enjoy seeing how the character was developing, but it was the only common party opportunity I could find. I ended up still mostly playing solo, taking my warrior up all the way to level 50 as I explored the higher level dungeons from the original game and completed the Bastok missions up to rank 5. At that point, the level restriction for mission 5-1 had only recently been removed, but I wanted to try it at level 50 and wanted to look for a party. But after a couple of failed weekends trying to get one, I decided to take what I thought would be a short break while I pursued other interests. But when I was ready to start again, my daughter was born, her medical expenses filled our budget, and after we had cut out all the rest of the fat, there was still no room left for a monthly game subscription.
This last year, we paid off our car and our daughter qualified for Social Security. Our financial situation finally saw some relief. I began to think about taking up the game again, but I was enjoying myself with Dragon Quest, Zelda, and the notion of replaying earlier Final Fantasy titles, and figured there was no rush. That is, until I read something that upset me more than I realized it would. Earlier that year, though I had missed it until over half a year later, Square-Enix had announced that at the end of March 2016, they would be discontinuing the Playstation 2 and XBox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XI, and it would be playable only on PC.
For whatever reason, this announcement filled me with a deep regret and brought me to tears. It reminded me that the game would not be guaranteed to run forever, and I realized that my preferred means of playing would very shortly be gone forever. I had always meant to do much more with the game, but had never been able to make things work in my life. Even though I still did not really want to spend the monthly fee, I realized that I would regret it bitterly if I did not take time to play the game one more time, and at least try to finish the main storyline, before I could no longer play it on my Playstation 2.
And so, after discussing it with my wife, I renewed my subscription around late November (I conveniently and coincidentally made the decision right at the start of a 10-free-day Return to Vana'diel Campaign) and spent much of the following months deeply absorbed in the game. I did finish the original main storyline for Bastok, and played through Windurst and San d'Oria missions up to rank 4 to effectively see all of the game's pre-expansion story. I have also started Rise of the Zilart content, though I'm very early into it. I finally figured out how to unlock the paladin job, and I have adopted it as my main job, and have leveled it to 58, with my warrior job at 52. I also took time to level up my bard and several mage jobs up to around 20, with white mage at 30 for a viable support job. I have enjoyed the experience immensely and will likely write about some experiences. However, my steam on it has finally slowed somewhat, and I believe I may take a break from it when the console versions are shut down at the end of the month.
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