No big shocks here, but a fun bit of trivia. Recently, Famitsu surveyed people who purchased Final Fantasy XIII and asked them what other Final Fantasy titles they have played in the past. The winner appears to be Final Fantasy X with 67.4% of respondents indicating they played it. Final Fantasy 1-6 are bundled together and have 65.9%, which the article says includes any and all ports/remakes, so it’s hard to tell if people jumped in during the NES/SNES eras or simply picked up a title on the DS. 8.3% of respondents, or about 10 people, put Final Fantasy XIII as their first foray into the series.

The article mentions that Final Fantasy XI pulled in relatively smaller numbers, and it does look a bit like a black sheep among its family of titles. Seeing as there were only 132 responses to the survey, it’s hard to count this as a knock against it, but it does serve as another indication that XI simply hasn’t been very accessible, even to established fans of the series.

Square Enix has launched a music page featuring a collection of 60 different CDs they plan to have on sale at the Tokyo Game Show. The collected song list spans more than a few Final Fantasy titles, some Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, and several other Square Enix franchises.

Customers will also receive a special “Sampler CD” with songs from upcoming titles such as Final Fantasy XIII and The 4 Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden as well as golden oldies like the TGS2007 trailer for Final Fantasy XI Wings of the Goddess.

Square Enix has obliged gamers looking to go green with a free Square Enix Music “Eco Bag” in which to place your merchandise. In Japan, it is common to shop with a reusable tote bag called an “Eco Bag” instead of continually getting paper or plastic bags from the supermarket. It comes from the English word “ecology,” but is pronounced like the echo in “Echo Drops.”

You can visit the newly opened site here and see all they have to offer. By the way, let me tell you from personal experience that CD #26 is a trap. Next time you want to make a remix CD Square, call up DJ Plaeskool.

平和

It’s been a slow month for in-game FFXI news to be sure. The latest expansion, A Moogle Kupo d’Etat, has been out for awhile. The Sunbreeze Festival with new furniture built from goldfish scooping prizes is over. There hasn’t been an announcement relating to in-game things on the PlayOnline website all month.

I’ll use this as an excuse to post something only slightly related to FFXI since some people sounded interested when I mentioned it on twitter.

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In the past, there have been sites that attempt to record the storyline of FFXI. However, it is a lot of work for just one person or even a small group of dedicated fans. There are missions to complete, jobs to unlock, and quests to fulfill all over Vana’diel. It would take a long time to collect all of it.

Thankfully, the people over at Studio BentStuff in cooperation with Square Enix have published the ultimate story guide to Final Fantasy XI. “Final Fantasy XI Story Ultimania Ver.090409″ went on sale yesterday and Elmer and I have both picked up copies of this massive guide. For 1900 yen plus tax (roughly $20 USD), you get nearly 500 pages of information on the world of Vana’diel. Some of this is stuff we’ve seen before in books like the World Concept book or Life in Vana’diel. However, there is plenty of stuff not published anywhere else making this an excellent purchase for any trivia happy Final Fantasy XI fan.

Let’s take a quick look at what’s inside:

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Famitsu Xbox360 magazine continues their coverage of FFXI with the “Behind the Scenes of Vana’diel” series. They interviewed GMs, the Localization team, the Effects team, and now the big guy himself, Hiromichi Tanaka.

The first part of the interview was published last month. It covered what Tanaka is responsible for as the producer, a bit on ACP, and how FFXI is unique for being available on multiple consoles. The second part was published recently and has some interesting stats and tidbits, especially looking forward at FFXIV and in light of our recent player survey. Here are some of the things Tanaka had to say this month:

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No, that isn’t Final Fantasy XIV concept art you see to the left… it’s an image of what Final Fantasy XI could have been. Those are early renditions of the five race of Vana’diel from an art book: Final Fantasy XI World Concept. It was made available in 2004, around the same time shipments of CoP were defeated by a tornado.

Recently, we learned that the races in Final Fantasy XIV will receive a variety of alterations to differentiate them from their Vana’diel counterparts, while keeping them familiar to veteran players. We can’t look forward, so let’s take a look back (and get back to some FFXI-related stuff finally) and see how the races evolved into the avatars we know and love. Maybe some of the choices left on the cutting room floor will get a second look in Eorzea.

The pictures have been ripped (quite literally, my poor book ) from the pages of Final Fantasy XI World Concept, published by Shueisha V-Jump.

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Absolute Virtue’s arch-nemesis, Suteki, has provided more insight into his battle tactics within the pages Connect!On July. Unfortunately, he still doesn’t seem to have a clear answer to sealing Absolute Virtue’s special abilities. For this volume, Suteki has presented a new theory in great detail, including Alliance make-up, timeline and analysis of the steps involved.

The working theory is to build a solid party that can stand up to punishment and shave away Absolute Virtue’s HP with extreme firepower.

Read on to find out more.

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The Star Onions’ newest album, Sanctuary, was released today. Corinth happened to pre-order the Sanctuary CD from Amazon.jp and it arrived right on schedule! Read on as she gives you a look at the merchandise itself and Elmer delves into some bonus material available in Japan!

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A new book has hit shelves that explores the growing problems of net addiction in Japan. Titled 「ネトゲ廃人」(ne-to ge hai-jin), the book explores online game addiction, a problem once thought to be confined to Korea, China or Russia.

ネトゲ廃人 is a shortening of ネットゲーム廃人 (ne-tto gee-mu hai-jin), a phonetic spelling of “Net Game,” and hajin, which means “disabled person.” A haijin is someone who is completely dependent on online games, to the point where they cannot leave their homes or function in normal society. Although the term is becoming commonplace along with the ever-increasing number of Japanese suffering from net addiction, 廃人 (hai-jin) on its own is also used in the gaming world as a derogatory term against perceived addicts. Much like “elitist” or “noob” in among English-speaking gamers, “haijin” singles out players from the crowd in scorn.

Perhaps the most interesting find by author 芦崎 治 Ashizaki Osamu, is data that flies in the face of gamer stereotypes. The author states that the commonly held image of haijin – pudgy, shy anime otaku – is incorrect. The data collected during research for the book indicated a large number of addicts were woman in their 30s, and the amount of housewives was also well beyond expectations.

The author found there was a shocking reality beneath the surface of Online Game Addiction and there were times that subjects could barely separate their fantasy world from reality. He also claims to explore the positive aspects Online Gaming can provide as an outlet for those truly disabled in the real world. Still, he reiterates his goal is to bring more attention to this problem in a society of people who tend to be very private and ashamed of admitting fault. Overall, it sounds like a very interesting read.

Source: Sankei News
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Trends are constantly changing in FFXI. Years ago, if you wanted a damage dealer, you searched for a Black Mage or a Ranger. Nowadays, Samurais are seen as one of the top damage dealers and poor Black Mages can barely find party invites that don’t require them to pretend to be healers. Trends change as people understand more about the mechanics of the game, different elements and abilities are added, or when the player base just get lazier.

Keeping on top of trends is a good habit for any party leader. Knowing what kind of party formations people expect or are used to using can help your party run smoothly. It’s also good to know where people like to party for exp. However, gathering all this kind of information can take a lot of time and effort. That’s where Connect!On comes in. Every so often they do a section called リーダー学. They talk about the things party leaders should be aware of and this time the topic is party trends.

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