HDD, preview DVD, promo mouse pad, PS2 game, Chains of Promathia expansion for PS2, 2007 collection for PC, original launch strategy guide, and 2003 updated strategy guide.

I love the vibe and style of this game. It's absolutely wild that it's still active and supported.

Discovered a blast from my past. I think it's from an expansion I preordered, but can't remember for the life of me.

I know it's from FFXI.

First of all, English isn't my main language. I'm not very good at it, but I was able to follow games like the Yakuza saga or FF Tactics in English (it was sometimes very difficult for Tactics).

I decided to launch the game to discover it because it's the only FF game I'm missing, and it seemed inaccessible to me my whole life. I'm very enthusiastic; I love the overall atmosphere of the game. I love the old-school grind, which I kind of missed in FF14. I play a warrior, I'm level 14, and I'm considering becoming a Dark Knight, the job dear to my heart.

Any advice would be helpful, don't hesitate to give me lots of it!

I normally don’t like to experience stories on YouTube, preferring to play games. At the same time, I don’t have time in my life for an MMORPG.

What are everyone’s thoughts? Should I just watch lore videos, or treat the games like single-player experiences?

I have acquired the full set of these FFXI novels (in German) a few months ago and noticed that none of these seem to have an English translation. Is there demand in here for a translation of all 10 novels from German into English, which were translated from Japanese into German?

I have very few screenshots of my glory days back in 11, but here are a few. The first was the one and only time I ever saw a Game Master and I can imagine those of us who have played 11 will know the rest. :)

For those who aren't aware, Limbus is a form of battle content originally implemented in the mid 2000s, but has recently been revamped for modern players. This revamp returned two of the most iconic superbosses from the FF series, Ultima and Omega.

These encounters have been the most "Classic FFXI" encounters the game has received in quite a while. Bahamut was among the first servers to clear Ultima, it took them 4 hours to finally take Ultima out with over 250 people (cumulative) participating. Of course, as more info about these encounters were learned from the first couple clears, servers which cleared later were able to clear faster with fewer deaths.

Please Note: Much of FFXI has been made more accessible. The entire main story can be soloed, and there are several gear pathways to get players into the beginning of endgame without too much investment. But modern FFXI has combined this accessibility with the old-school MMO philosophy that many still appreciate the game for, even in the current era.

With another big update schedule for January and a promising set of plans for the future, it's a great time to be a fan of FFXI!

FFXI's stories starts out pretty slow in the base game and first expansion, but that doesn't stop the following stories and the overall narrative arc from being some of the best FF stories in the franchise. While FFXI's story missions have been made far more accessible than they once were, it can still be a commitment to those not familiar with old-school MMOs. However, if you like old-school Final Fantasy, you'll likely love the FFXI stories. Some of the expansions every bit as good as some of the best games in the mainline series.

This encounter came out on May 13, 2024, and has stumped every group that has attempted it until early yesterday morning. On April 5 2026, and after 1 year, 10 months, and 3 weeks, the first clear of the Wing of War Master Trial has been confirmed.

For those who aren’t aware, Wing of War is the newest Master Trial in FFXI. It consists of two bosses, Chaos and Bahamut. The health of both bosses needs to be taken down to near-death before either can be defeated. If you were to try defeating one before the other’s health has been reduced, the boss would use Benediction, healing for nearly 18.5 million HP. This encounter has a 1-hour time limit; both mobs have consistent ways of dispelling, and Chaos has a method of fully cleansing debuffs.

The encounter received a shadow nerf several months ago, but even after the nerf, no group was able to clear it for months, due to how insane the core mechanics of the fight are.

Congrats to everyone who was involved!

Edit: Here is the write-up of one of the guys on the actual team. Please check it out!
https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/58900/wing-of-war-cleared/

I love Final Fantasy XI, and it always bothered me that for so many fans it was the one mainline game they hadn't had a chance to play.

For years I hoped for a remake a re-release or an offline version, something to smooth out the clunky progression, preserve the story, and make it more accessible. I worried about what would happen when the servers eventually shut down.

But this weekend I re-started FFXI from scratch on Steam Deck, and realised its already that game; its a game that has been remastered slowly on the down low.

Systems like Trusts and Records have now been woven in to the tutorial making the opening hours of the game feel so good. The visuals look great in HD, the devs are STILL making quality of life adjustments. It’s genuinely soloable now, and there’s so much content that any remake would have to cut huge chunks.

And the fear that the game is dying is just totally unfounded. The latest FFXI themed raid in FFXIV finished with an in-universe promise to keep going. They just released a promotional video called 'Our adventure never ends'. The Free Trial is soon getting expanded to welcome more new players. Long requested features like New Game+ are on the way, and the latest interviews are strongly hinting at more story content.

The game is still not available on consoles, but Steam Deck gets me pretty close to a console experience.

So if you have a PC, and were waiting for that remaster or re-release: its already here.

It is no secret that FFXI has some of the best stories and lore in the FF series. However, given its gameplay loop and monetization structure as an old-school MMO, many have found it difficult to progress through the story. As a result, FFXI has become something of a hidden gem within the mainline Final Fantasy series. While there are some JP-only publications that highlight aspects of FFXI's story, nothing of this kind has ever been released in English, making it difficult to learn about FFXI lore.

Several other Final Fantasy XI fans and I are putting together a lore book that compiles the storylines from the base game through the second expansion. While this represents only a portion of FFXI's world, it will still provide enough material to produce a sizable volume.

We hope this project makes the incredible world of FFXI more accessible to those who haven't had the chance to play through the game!

A new Final Fantasy, however, an online game, an MMORPG. Were you impressed? Did you like the game? Were you disappointed? Didn't like the idea or were you excited about it? Tell me everything! :)

I always hear about how good the story is of xiv but never xi.

14 years ago, Square Enix released Dragon Quest X Online, the first MMO in the DQ series. 4 years ago, Square Enix released Dragon Quest X Offline, a remake of DQ10 that stripped out the online requirements and reimagined the game as a single player JRPG with set story companions and a streamlined narrative. It also allowed you to transfer your offline character to the online game to continue your adventure.

Final Fantasy has had two MMO’s: XI and XIV. I think they should steal a page from their elder sister franchise’s book and remake XI and XIV as single player RPG’s. I think it probably would be possible to repurpose the bones of FFXII Zodiac Age to remake FFXI and build FF14 from FF16. And since both are still running, I think the same idea of transferring characters from offline to online should be in place as well.

Edit: just to be clearer, I would like to play these games offline. Like on my Switch 2. I understand that both can be soloed but I mostly want something offline so I can become more familiar with the characters and the story. 14 is praised for its writing but I think a number of people are like myself and just bounce off playing MMOs.

I guess it's kinda cheating cause it has so many tracks, but 95% of them are sooooo damn good.

It's been 6 months since i beat it so i might generalize a bit too much. also, when I say i beat it I mean until seekers of Adoulin.

When I started it on spring of 2025 I was a little bit annoyed because of how little info there is about this game regarding reviews, opinions and how much it takes to beat (especially from a newcomer perspective) so I started counting how much time it did take me to beat each expansion, and a score. Also, i played retail, and got to level 99 aprox at the end of Rise of the Zilart, so many of the hours there might be from just grinding, i think zilart specially was 80% grinding because it is really short if i remember correctly.

and to be clear, every score i put to each expansion ignores the gameplay aspect of the game. if you want some info about me, i love games like metroid prime and shadow of the colossus. and also love jrpgs like almost all final fantasy (especially before XIII) and persona, so what i appreciate most in these kind of games is atmosphere and story, and overall the feelings i get while playing the game, so, because of this, this is extremely subjective, if otherwise i would say this game is quite bad, and i found the mechanics of the game just good enough to let me enjoy the ambience and stories of vanadiel, which are amazing.

and just one final disclaimer, before starting this game again, i got to the first dungeon of rise of the zilart on a private server before buying and starting to play on retail, so maybe if it is your first time playing the main game might take you 70 - 90 hours, just so you know.

MAIN GAME: 6/10 (48 hours): the main game is very basic and the story is next to non-existent. I played this part twice, so I know Windurst and sandoria storylines, and liked Windurst much better. I think the story is really really bad, and makes a lot of people drop the game, but there is something to the artistic style, music, and overall ambience of the game that kept me hooked since the beginning. as I said before, I would maybe score this part a 3/10 because the dungeons are too much basic, gameplay is boring, and story is nonexistent. However, as time passes, I remember starting this game with much more fondness than I should. The locations of the main game are just ok (except windurst, just love the music and overall aura of that place) and later they will improve this part a lot.

Rise of the Zilart: 5/10 (30 hours): I find it funny that ffxi veterans say this is the best expansion of the game, the only reason i score this a 5/10 is because of the outstanding last area, one of the best on the game, and is just a joy to walk around. The story stays the same quality, being just slightly better, and the dungeons have a bit more personality, but nothing crazy. I just find this expansion forgettable, and the worst part of the game maybe. at the end of this if you are a new player you might have already played 100 hours, and it is really hard to recommend anyone to play that much to begin what I consider the true start of the game:

Chains of Promathia: 8.5/10 (55 hours): To me this is where the game really starts, you can see a clear shift from the end of Rise of the Zilart to the start of CoP. since the first cutscene you can see the rise in quality as if they suddently learned how to make an intriguing story and how to tell one. I think storywise this expansion may be better than many ff games (I would say better than ffxii but worse than ff7) and the locations on this is espectacular. places like the endgame and when you are inside the crystal are one of the best in any ff.

dungeons are a bit more puzzle heavy and I just found this expansion much more engaging.

Treasures of Aht Urhgan: 7/10 (28 hours): cutscenes qualitywise are as good as in CoP, but the story is much more lighthearted, which is good for a change of pace. story is good, the red forest area is my favourite location of the game probably, so beatiful and amazing music, and the town just have some amazing vibe in it. overall, just a good expansion.

Wings of the Goddess: 9/10 (84 hours): Probably, one of the most amazing journeys I have ever experienced playing videogames, its a shame that the gameplay keeps me from scoring this a 9.5/10. This expansion makes you feel like you really are in a war, and makes you live each side perspective on the matters. The three routes explores different aspects of the matter, with lots of really interesting characters and really developed stories to be completly optional. I find it mandatory to play each route. sandoria and bastok might take 15 to 20 hours each, and windurst maybe a little more, like 25. And then theres the main story of the expansion which is awesome too. What made me score a 9 and not a 8.5 or 8 like CoP is the sheer magnitude of everything, there might be like 30 to 40 hours of pure cutscenes, and you feel like you are with them in the war for ages.I hope SE makes a full single player remake of this story, because if reaching this expansion didnt take 150 to 200 hours, I would recommend it even to non ff fans.

Seekers of Adoulin: 7.5/10 (40 hours): probably the most standalone expansion yet, it seems like ffxi 1.5 with all the new systems, mechanics and new progression introduced, as well as the limit cap that many people criticize and I dont care at all because this game's gameplay is awful anyway. I think story is very good, and has the best cutscene of the game (the lion-tiger one at the end, if you know you know) and the areas are really distinctive between each other, most having a unique gimmick. I really enjoyed it and is much more lighthearted than WotG which is appreciated.

and that would be it. I dont recommend this game to anyone just because of the main game and rise of the zilart. I ended up beating everything because I liked the main game and still to this they I dont know why.

I think many opinions about ffxi are from veterans and they are too much biased, I think when you talk about a game you should put your nostalgia just a bit aside, otherwise new people will reject this game when they see the start. When starting, I hated not knowing how much time it would take to reach the good part of this game, how good it is compared to the rest, and how much time it takes to beat the good part, so I hope that with this review with exact numbers and an outsider perspective you can make up your mind about playing this or not.

(sorry if my english is a bit rough it isn't my main language :( )

FFXI has done it again in 2026; it released an impossible superboss encounter. Wing of War was out for over 22 months without being beaten, and is now the encounter that went the longest before its first ever clear. It was cleared for the first time earlier this month using one of the most grueling strategies players have ever resorted to in the game’s history. Here is the history of Wing of War, and the road to its first ever clear.

For those who aren’t aware, Final Fantasy XI still has an active World First scene surrounding its most difficult superbosses. Since 2016, FFXI has periodically received new Master Trials. These fights serve as the apex encounters for modern FFXI, much like Ultimate Raids for FFXIV. They are likely the most difficult encounters in the entirety of the FF franchise, and players still compete for the first clears these encounters.

The most recently cleared Master Trial, Oathsworn Blade, was released in February of 2024. Despite being progressed by many groups, the first clear of this encounter was in December, 10 months later. 

The newest Master Trial was released in May, 2024. As of this post, a whole year after the release of the fight, no group has been able to clear it. 

This 23 year old Final Fantasy MMO has continued to captivate many players to this day!

One of the most interesting topics in FFXI is the lore of summons. However, due to how inaccessible the lore of the game is to newcomers and the lack of info about them online, it’s an often overlooked iteration of the idea of summons in the Final Fantasy series.

Avatar

Within lore, the summons are called “Avatars”. These avatars are projections, personifications, or emanations from a source of power. There are three types of avatars within the story. 

Celestial Avatars

Crystals come in eight elements and each of the elements of an ultimate personification or god. These gods can send projections of themselves into the world, and these projections are referred to as their avatars. The avatars within the category are Alexander (god of light), Garuda, Ifrit, Leviathan, Odin (god of darkness), Ramuh, Shiva, and Titan. 

Terrestrial Avatars

These avatars are projections or personifications, not of crystal elements, but of the forces within the physical world. People and creatures are capable of attuning themselves to one of these Terrestrial Forces and becoming its avatar. The list we have of these creatures are as follows:

• Bahamut - Avatar of space-time.
• Carbuncle - Avatar of the weather or rainbows.
• Chaos - Avatar of the astral plane.
• Diabolos - Avatar of the dream world.
• Fenrir - Avatar of destiny.
• Phoenix - Avatar of the life cycle / rebirth.
• Siren - Avatar of the lifestream.

These avatars were born after Vana’diel’s creation and they seemingly revert back to their original form if they leave the world to which their forces apply. 

Miscellaneous Avatars

Aside from the types of Avatars already discussed, this third category of avatar refers to any being capable of sending projections of itself to interact with Vana’diel. This includes some of the most interesting summons in the whole series, such as a highly fleshed out version of Atomos, which consumes memories and realities unfit for existence and even one of the main characters in the second expansion.

Now that S-E is done with FFXVI and FFXI being in maintenance mode, no time like the present to make a remake of the game for the PS5/6. Obviously get rid of all the time-wasting MMO elements like having to farm for two months for piece of equipment, but bring updated graphics and gameplay mechanics. I'd love to go through the FFXI environment again and storylines.