2404 - PC Gaming - Final Fantasy XI (11) Beta Report

Final Fantasy XI (11) Beta Report

Posted by Christian August 14, 2003

Final Fantasy XI (11) has generated allot of interest lately in the North American market. The success of the franchise has almost guaranteed it, but will the project fly seems to be the most popular question. I for one think that there is a pretty good chance that this game will do well, but will people be willing to pay what the costs are going to be. Please click on "read more" to view the rest of the article.

Now let me start by saying that it seems that all MMO's are going to be increasing the pricing for their software over the next year or so, the release and success of Star Wars Galaxies has made this a possibility. With a 15.99 a month monthly charge and a very strong customer base, all games are going to be looking at staying on par with the most popular game.

Final Fantasy 11 on the other hand seems to be going about pricing on a different level. In this game you will be looking at paying a 12.95 a month charge for ONE character and 1 dollar per on the extra for every additional character after this. Now, most people are going to want more than one character, but this pricing seems to be a little on the high side for this style of game. You will also be able to play a side mini game called "Tetra Master" or another additional price of a dollar a month.

Japan seems willing to pay this though since this game has been available in that country for around 2 years now and it has been quite successful. They have a strong customer base and a good setup for people to play one, but here in North America it might be a different story.

Let’s start with the obvious; you will need either a Playstation 2 OR a PC to be able to play this game. If you have a PC, you are pretty much set, but if you own a PS2 you are in for a rude sunrise. You will need to buy an additional external Hard Drive unit that will attach to the back of the game system to be able to play this game. You will also need to have an internet connection, and the add on unit for plugging your system to the internet. As you can see, the price is now adding up to JUST play this game.

Now you will need to get into Playonline ( Square/Enix internet porthole that will be provided for free for this game ) to be able to play the game. Now, while this is going to be free service, you might have to pay to play on the other games that will be on this network (only a guess at this point).

The price of the game will chase some people away to begin with, but the additional costs for PS 2 users might scare allot more away. Sony will have to come up with a better way to price this out or it will cost them big time in the long run.
On the other hand, this game looks VERY interesting with the number of playable races and abilities that will be available to the players. Not allot is known about what the game will offer at this point, but it looks to be interesting. Sony has been quite tight lipped about what they will be doing at this point.

At any rate, the gaming market seems to be heating up with all the additions that will be coming into the market, but I worry about this particular game. There seems to be far too many costs attached to this game to guarantee popularity in North America, but there still should be an audience attached to it as well.

Anyways, I am off to do some more research on this upcoming game. With the details as sketchy as they are, it could take some time, but I will keep you informed of what I find.

Christian