The History of Final Fantasy XI/2001

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Pre-Release & Beta

2000 - 2001

Release & The First Year

2002

The Rise of the Zilart Era

2003

The Chains of Promathia Era

2004

Conclusion of Chains of Promathia

2005

The Treasures of Aht Urhgan Era

2006

Conclusion of Treasures of Aht Urhgan

2007

The Age of Mythical Weapons

2008

The Add-on Scenarios

2009

The End of the Level 75 Cap

2010

The Beginning of Post-Abyssea

2011

The Level 99 Era

2012

The Seekers of Adoulin Release

2013

Seekers of Adoulin Conclusion

2014

The Rhapsodies of Vana'diel

2015 coming in the future!

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File:Excalibur icon.png FFXI In-Game Event

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Real Life Event in Europe

Game Planning

The video below covers the development of the Final Fantasy series years before Final Fantasy XI was released. It outlines the decisions of how Square jumped into the MMORPG realm, and the planning stages of Final Fantasy XI are discussed. It is a good prelude of these pages to come. If you are interested in the series of events that led up to Final Fantasy XI's inception and planning, I recommend that you start here!

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A note from the creator of this written project, Funkworkz:

The video above was created by Final Fantasy Union. They are a Final Fantasy fan site who creates videos which cover all aspects of the series as a whole. There is no relation between Final Fantasy Union and me, the creator of the following written project. Although this video and my written pages do not have much in common, I recommend you take the time and indulge in both. This video doesn't even scratch the surface of anything regarding the beta and post release. I begin below in the year 2000, which is pretty much where the video leaves off. Both this video and the following pages compliment each other well, and touch on different aspects of Final Fantasy XI. I hope that you enjoy both projects.

2000 - 2001 Pre-Release

This section includes information on the development of Final Fantasy XI, beginning two years and four months before the first adventurer set foot into Vana’diel. Beta testing began in the winter of 2001.

Jan. 29th, 2000

PlayOnline Design Presentation

Square displayed the plan for PlayOnline for the first time at a private event called, “Square Millennium” in Yokohama. Showing off FFIX, FFX and FFXI together, they revealed that FFXI would be the series’ first ever online experience. The next day, Square stock shot up in value from an average of 7,000 Yen per unit the month prior, to 19,800 Yen per unit.

This event was not a press-only presentation. Around 5,000 ordinary people were able to attend by preregistering through magazine ads were invited. The focus however was on Final Fantasy IX.

Above is the pre-beta video shown at the event.

PlayOnline was originally developed to interact with Final Fantasy X, but when those plans fell through it became a strategy site for Final Fantasy IX. The site was designed to complement BradyGames' and Piggyback Interactive's official strategy guides for the game, where players who bought the print guide had access to "keywords" that could be searched for on PlayOnline's site for extra tips and information. This caused fury among buyers of the guide, as they felt cheated for the expensive print guide. The blunder made GameSpy's "Top 5 Dumbest Moments in Gaming" list, and Square dropped the idea for Final Fantasy X, which was under development at the time.

Below is a 2001 promotional video for the Playonline service. Playonline itself had a lot of potential, but never grew to its intended use.

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Mar. 4th, 2000

Playstation 2 Released in Japan

The first iteration of the Playstation 2 system was released in Japan.

Jul. 19th, 2001

Final Fantasy X released in Japan, FFXI movie included

Final Fantasy X went on sale. Included with the game was a bonus disc that gave a look into the progress made on FFXI, which was still in mid-development. “OTHER SIDE OF THE FINAL FANTASY.” The graphics at this time were relatively primitive. The video has since been added to Youtube, and is embedded in this page on the right.

Here are notes of interest.

A dragon (Fafnir/Nidhogg) was shown landing from flight.
A town which does not appear in the final version of the game is in the video.
Mithra and TaruTaru did not appear.
A scene was shown involving a Goobbue scooping up and devouring a Mandragora.
Much of the rest of the video is a montage of how awesome PlayOnline was going to be to communicate with friends and family.

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Sep. 17th, 2001

PlayOnline Beta Testing Begins

General public beta testing begins for PlayOnline on the Playstation 2 with ads displayed in magazines and other media. An ISDN adapter for the Playstation 2 was sold for those participating in the beta.

Keep in mind that this was "Beta 1", which was only the PlayOnline platform and no games.

The rather thick manual was in a binder with an aluminum cover, and weighed about two kilograms. It came with warnings not to drop it, or to accidentally cut yourself on its sharp edges.

Nov. 20th, 2001

FFXI Playstation 2 Version Beta Signups Open

Recruitment for the FFXI beta began appearing in magazines and other media. At the time, the PS2 Broadband Unit, (HDD) was not being sold in stores, and could only be acquired by signing up with an ISP. Despite this, there was an absolute deluge of participants. When FFXI was finished, sales of the BB Unit opened up to accomodate new players, but it was still out of stock almost everywhere. The biggest hurdle for a new user to overcome was simply finding a BB Unit to purchase. This website was developed as an early wiki of sorts that listed sources on where to obtain an HDD unit at the time.

BB Unit

Dec. 17th, 2001

FFXI PS2 Beta Test Begins

The Final Fantasy XI beta test began with lucky players selected by lottery receiving the “PlayOnline Beta 2 Edition,” which included a beta PlayOnline Viewer, Final Fantasy XI beta, Tetra Master beta and a Service Manual binder. Like the PlayOnline "Beta 1" edition, this binder was again very heavy at 2 kg/4.4 lbs. This kit is pictured directly below.

Four world were made: Chaos, Zande, Golbez and Xdeath. Later, Xdeath and Golbez were combined into Zande. Worlds could not be chosen, and players were divided based on when they signed up. New players continued to be selected as the beta went on, adding new adventurers to Vana’diel from Decemeber up until March of the following year.

The following is a quote from Akihiko Matsui regarding his memory of the Beta Test.
This quote was publicized on the "WE ARE VANA'DIEL" official commemorative website in 2021.

"As the Battle Director at the time, I felt that it was too early for the beta test, since the skillchain system had just been decided for implementation, and weapon skills hadn't been fully implemented yet. The start of the beta test also meant bug fixes for the beta server, which was more workload for the main development team. However, the whole team was able to unify their vision of the final product, and the beta test also served as motivation for us to work quickly, so I think it was a good thing overall. Since then, more people came to me for battle balancing-related matters, and I had to switch to working the night shift for a while to make progress on my own tasks, so it was a valuable experience for me."

-Akihiko Matsui, Producer

Dec. 22nd, 2001

Online Party 2002

A private Square event, the “Online Party 2002″ was held at the Tokyo International Forum. 5,000 people were invited on an invitation-only basis. Final Fantasy XI on Windows was shown for the first time. Only stakeholders in the industry and a select few users drawn by lottery were invited to attend. 100 machines were setup to allow attendees to play for 15 minute sessions at a time. At the venue, the beta kit and modem were sold as a set. The set seemed to sell like crazy due to the great response to the 15 minute play session. About 1/3 of attendees won the beta kit in a lottery giveaway.

On stage, Masakazu Morita and Mayuko Aoki performed a mini-concert as Tidus and Yuna, respectively. After the song, sound creator Nobuo Uematsu appeared on the stage. They talked about the songs they sang, the songs from "Final Fantasy XI", and the albums they plan to release in the future.

Logitech, known as "Logicool" in Japan due to an already existing company called "Logitec" there, was a sponsor of this event. It's peripherals such as recommended modems and keyboards were displayed. Below is a ridiculously large controller that was on display equipped with a keyboard in the middle for typing in-game.

Below are pictures of the computers that were setup for 15 minutes of play.

All attendees received these Final Fantasy XI themed neck straps.

The World of the FFXI Beta Test

The beta version of Final Fantasy XI was practically the same as the initial retail version, but there were still many things missing. Below are the important differences.

Character Selection & Jobs

Characters could choose from every race, but the selection of faces was much fewer than the final product. The six basic jobs were available: Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage and Thief. Players could obtain sub-jobs, but the quest was different than now. Players had to obtain an "Old Prophecy" from monsters around Jeuno, and hand it to the master.

Provoke used to say "Hey, how long are you gonna hide under your mama's skirt?" in say automatically.

Level Cap

The level cap was initially set at 30, but they eventually raised it to 35 after player demand. Monster levels were not adjusted to compensate, so players leveled on Easy Prey and Decent Challenge up to 35.

No Undergarments

In the Beta version, there were not undergarments (the clothes you see when you have nothing equipped), and Leather Armor graphics were used for when a player had nothing on.

Entrance to Jeuno Closed

There was an entrance to Jeuno in each of the three surrounding areas, but it was blocked from entry by a metal gate.

Small Home Nations

San d'Oria only consisted of the port, Bastok was only the Mines and Port districts, and Windurst had but the Walls area. Besides Bastok, there was little place to roam in one’s home nation. Home Points were found in each nation, with an additional Home Point placed at each Crag.

Notorious Monsters & Birth of Competition

On January 16th, 2002 the beta received a version update which introduced Notorious Monsters to Vana'diel. In Pashhow and Meriphataud there were Giant Ram NMs. Batallia had a Morbol NM.Skewer Sam was in Sauromugue Champaign. Since they were only there for the duration of the beta, Linkshells would discuss between each other and plan days for each group to take on the monsters in an orderly fashion. The birth of the Linkshell was the same time as these Notorious Monsters, and some rivalries were formed. These monsters were on a 24 hour spawn timer. Unruly linkshells would scramble to be the first to claim it, completely ignoring other groups order that was planned beforehand.

Beastmen

There was only the Orc beastmen model. Yagudo and Quadav only differed in name, but all used the Orc model.

Slightly Different Maps

Maps existed for the areas around the three nations, but they lacked coordinates, and were difficult to understand. Also, there were no maps for areas outside of Jeuno. Areas like Valkurm Dunes didn’t even exist yet.

Good Manners in Ranguemont Pass

After the version update on Janaury 16th, 2002 Ranguemont Pass now had NMs that dropped rare items like Hermes’ Shoes and Prism Capes. Many people hunted them. However, if an error was made during the pull, there would be a disastrous train, so players would shout to warn each other before pulling.

The 3 Ahrimans from nation mission 2-3(dragon BC) used to be at the gate room in Ranguemont, and they were considered as the hardest obstacle for players.

Magic and Ability Names

Redark　→　Blindna

Vocal　→　Silena

G-Cure　→　Curaga

神の祝福　→　女神の祝福 - Both are “Benediction,” but the latter specifies Goddess.

Stop →　Bind - Although the name changed, the spell sound and visual effect were the same as they are today. At the beginning of the Beta, the range of player character auto attacks were slightly further than the enemy. A popular strategy was to Bind a monster then stand out of its range and deal as much damage as you wanted with no threat of a counterattack until Bind wore off. During the Beta, monster and player's attacks were changed to be the same, but it was soon found that bound monsters did not turn around in place. This allowed players to Bind and then stand behind it to avoid attacks. This was also corrected during the Beta, but the fact that Bind always lasted for 60 seconds and that damage did not break the effect carried over to the Retail release. The spell was quickly changed in the June 2002 update shortly after release.

Area of Effect Cures affected the entire alliance.

There were many other differences that were changed before the final version.

Official Events

During the beta test, there were two official events held. The game staff would interact with players in Real-Time, role-playing and giving hints for players to complete certain actions.

The first event was held on March 1st, 2002. The event was called "Connor's Communique". This beta test event involved following hints provided in a linkshell conversation to form a specific party composition and reach a designated location where a GM would be waiting. Reward: Light Staff - DMG 15 Delay 276, HP+100 MP+30, Hidden Effect: Movement Speed+25%.

The second event was held on March 29th, 2002 and was called "Demons in the Rye". Players were tasked with defeating a special monster hiding among other monsters around the world. Since the special monster was visually identical to all the others, the only way to tell them apart was to fight them and find out if they were abnormally powerful. Reward: "Qatar", a hand-to-hand weapon. It was the only H2H weapon in the game. Instead of the +Damage we have today on H2H weapons, it was a straight "D10" stat. It was weaker than bare hands when equipped.

Load Tests

On January 23rd, 2002 a test was performed to see if the servers can withstand simultaneous logins. Tests such as this were done several times through the beta with the cooperation of players and GMs. It seemed that most of these tests turned into shout festivals.

Sage Sundi appeared at this test, and he had a Ragnarok equipped. This version of the Ragnarok does not exist in the retail version of the game. The shape and performance changed.