Square Enix has announced that my favorite MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI is coming to Xbox 360. I started playing FFXI when the Playstation 2 version had its U.S. launch last spring because at the time it would have cost more and been a big hassle to upgrade my computer to play the game. Since that time various events such as the death of the hard drive in the kid’s computer along with a motherboard problem in WillowBrow’s, gave me the "opportunity" to upgrade my rig to something more potent. Since I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, I decided to go with an Athlon based board. It’s been pretty good, the only problem being that the CPU tends to overheat which (especially since installing FFXI) has forced me to run my PC with the cover off (topless PC…mmmm…).
FFXI runs very well on the PS2, but I started considering running it on the PC for a couple of reasons. One, I can’t always get access to the TV to play when I want to, and two, Square Enix slashed the price of the PC version and expansions to $19.99 each. So I didn’t have to spend a lot to add the convenience of being able to play on my own PC whenever I want to. I also bought a Logitech Dual Action game controller, also $19.99, because the game was designed to be played with a game pad which is how I’m accustomed to playing it. Well after a long installation and update process, the game is up and runs okay. My only complaint is the occasional hiccup in the background music. I was able to load up the game pad default settings and jump right in. The higher resolution on the PC is very welcome because a lot less of the screen is taken up by the menu boxes and everything looks so much better.
I’m still planning to play on my PS2 sometimes, but now I feel better set for the future of the series. Even with an Xbox 360 version coming out, I suspect that the series has a permanent home on the PC which will probably see enhanced features first. I would guess that the PS2 version will be supported until a year or two after the Xbox 360 and the very likely PS3 versions come out. Then I suppose I’ll recycle the PS2 hard drive for use in the kids PC, looks like a standard IDE drive.
Well kudos to Microsoft for working out a deal with Square Enix to get FFXI on Xbox 360. In another story, I read that Square had originally intended to publish FFXI on the first Xbox, but could not come to an agreement with Microsoft to allow them to use PlayOnline to login rather than Xbox Live. Microsoft’s intent to bring the later cancelled True Fantasy Online to Xbox may have had something to do with the trouble as well.