This piece of artwork was recently posted over at Creator’s Voice Z. It was done by Fumio Minagawa to celebrate the release of A Shantotto Ascension, the latest add-on pack for Final Fantasy XI. Minagawa was the artist behind the add-on’s cover art.

Along the top: “Congratulations on the release of A Shantotto Ascension!”

Shantotto is squeezing her Moogle Rod, letting out a “giri giri” sound. Besides being a squeezing, grinding noise, “giri giri” also means “just barely” as in “just barely making a deadline.”

The Moogle warns, “You had better make that deadline, kupo…”

Along the bottom, Minagawa admits, “This is an illustration that I forgot to enter into the FanArt Competition. (true story)”

If you enjoy Minagawa’s artwork, you can see much more at RGB230.com

In the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation, they talk a bit about the upcoming “Vana’diel Collection 2″ which contains the original game, all of the expansions, and the 3 add-on scenarios. The new packaged collection is expected to go on sale in Japan on November 12th for 6090 yen.

The people at Dengeki PlayStation got a chance to ask a few questions to Final Fantasy XI Art Director Ryosuke Aiba about the cover art to be used for the new collection. Riverne is the inspiration for the design. Aiba says he is fond of that area for its dynamic, fantasy look. The wyrm on the cover is also reminiscent of the “Chains of Promathia” expansion.

Also look at the armor some of the characters are wearing. Some of those outfits are not currently in the game. Aiba says there could be a chance that some of those outfits might be used in the future. There’s also a chance, he says, that some of the designs are ready to go already. If there is a lot of passionate feedback from the players, they might consider putting them in the game.

As a final question, they ask if the wyrm in the picture is supposed to represent a Dragoon or Beastmaster’s pet. Aiba makes a vague reply and says he personally wishes that wyrms had a bigger part in the game because when people think of fantasy, they think of dragons. He says people should look forward to how wyrms are used in the future as well.

So, how much should we read into the few comments Aiba made? Some of the armor designs are interesting. Even more interesting is how Aiba responds to that last question. Is it a hint for the future? Could it be that the new avatar is a wyrm? We’ll just have to wait and see!

Thought this might be fun to share with everyone. Poor Square Enix has been taking quite a beating in the Japanese news lately. Final Fantasy XI is being targeted in the midst of a media frenzy regarding… Online Gaming Addiction *thunderclap* .

Livedoor News decided to take it one step further and depict an MMO-addicted father in the emotionally scarring comic you see above. I translated the provided version, but you can see the original on their site if you are bi-(lingual)-curious.

A lot of the buzz concerning “netoge haijin,” or people addicted to “interNET games,” seemed to stem from the release of this book, aptly titled: ネトゲ廃人 (ne-to-ge hai-jin), which delves into the lives of such people and offers illuminating quotes and statistics about what such an addiction can do to a person. The book also references Final Fantasy XI directly more than a few times.

The Livedoor news article mentions an 18-year old boy who got sucked into the world of Final Fantasy XI. He would spend 20 hours a day playing, subsisting on just bread slices and milk. His life consisted of being behind the computer screen or in bed, but if he had to sleep, a friend would take over in order to camp monsters. “I lost an enormous amount of my life. If young people spend all their time playing games, they won’t be able to work. If net addiction increases, I can see it being a serious problem in Japanese society.”

A look through the news recently shows that many other Japanese people feel this same way. More than anything, this kind of pressure might be what drives Final Fantasy XI’s shift towards casual play, and brought about the promises of a more relaxed MMO experience from Final Fantasy XIV.

Source: Livedoor News

Here’s another 四字熟語, four-character idiom. Check out Shade’s artwork at the link above if you like it!

This time I tried out a 言い習わし, a type of kotowaza that provides some knowledge or pearl of wisdom. Think of it like a proverb.

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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Shadey Sayings is another collaborative effort with Shade, also known as shadeykris on DeviantArt and, of course, Seyonne on Gilgamesh.

She has recently begun making wonderful, all-new drawings for her ElForto Adventures page. I think these pieces provide a great opportunity to showcase her work and educate those interested about a unique and interesting aspect of the Japanese language: 四字熟語, four-character idiomatic phrases. I will try to present a new phrase every so often using Shade’s illustrations to convey its meaning, and adding an explanation to examine its construction.

To get a sneak peak at her latest strip, be sure to visit ElForto Adventures!

If you remember the Vana’diel Rules for Dating from a while back, this is another page of helpful advice from the same author. This time, it’s a little parody of advancing to a new school and trying to establish oneself as a delinquent.

In Japan, the new school year begins in early April. Vana’diel Tsuushin #7 came out on April 2nd, so it was the perfect time for these tips to be disseminated to the youthful masses who enjoy Final Fantasy XI.

As a reminder, the order runs left to right, top row then bottom.
壱 – 1 , 弐 – 2 , 参 – 3 , 四 – 4 , 伍 – 5 , 六 – 6

The fun continues from Vana’diel Tsuushin with a Q&A about Dynamis. These were presented in the middle of a giant section of Dynamis strategies. It’s actually a pretty solid guide to have sitting open for times you don’t want to (or can’t) click through webpages to find what you need.

There are also a number of little comics sprinkled throughout the section, which I’ve pasted below. With each successive answer, the only thing that becomes clearer is why I made sure to include the extra entertainment.

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Courtesy of Famitsu.com, Final Fantasy XI fans can view sample stories from already released manga volumes for free!

Click here to view

The colored pictures along the left side are the volume covers, and the smaller black&white shots can be clicked on to view the individual stories.

Of course, all the pages are in full Japanese, so you’ll be hard-pressed to get the full experience without being able to read the language. I actually own the books displayed, and hope to get them translated and uploaded for everyone at some point once I return to Japan (where my scanner is).