U P C O M I N G   H O T   T O P I C Are you going to join the world of Vana'diel? Many questions have been answered about Final Fantasy XI. More information on the gameplay, the characters, the towns, the monsters, have been revealed over the past few months. Is Final Fantasy XI looking more tantalizing or are you going to skip the online adventure and just wait for the next single player title in the series? Let us know for our next mailbag update.  M A I L B A G   A R C H I V E Explore the Mailbag archive. > Current Mailbag > 04.28.02: What do you think of the new Square-Nintendo partnership? > 03.09.02: What do you think of Final Fantasy X? > 01.09.02: What does the Final Fantasy series mean to you? > 10.14.01: Final Fantasy XI: Console Blockbuster or Big Time Bomb? > 09.20.01: The Mailbag 01.09.02 - What does the Final Fantasy series mean to you? Some enjoy the storylines, others enjoy the action. Some people focus on magic abilities and attack techniques while others emmerse themselves in the characters. Here is what your favorite aspect of the Final Fantasy series is. Send your all your mailbag stuff to locke@ffonline.com or dh@ffonline.com.  H O T   T O P I C I have been thrilled with every FF. I have played some more than others, but what should one expect. I have great memories associated with every Final Fantasy I have played and experienced. The way my brain works, I remember events with music and games and I can pop in any Final Fantasy and certain memories flood back to me and I can vividly remember anything about that memory, but this is only with the FF series. We have been blessed with video game creators who can create something artificial and yet it's so real at the same time. These games are something that I hold dear to me and with every new Final Fantasy the "Final" part seems less and less accurate, and the "Fantasy" part seems to become more and more true. If only I could meet Mr. Sakaguchi and give him my deepest regards... ...Now to start counting the days until FF10. - Chris With fans like you, it is safe to say that there won't be a "final" Final Fantasy for quite some time. Considering the financial troubles Square has hit recently, I'm sure Mr. Sakaguchi needs all the support he can get. I'm sure he appreciates knowing that there are fans like you out there. Let us know if FFX lived up to your expectations. - Locke Hiya locke, dh and everyone else at FFO. My mum keeps on telling me that before I discovered FF that I used to ride bicycles and climb trees, whatever they are. FF Means a great deal to me, it's helped me to take my mind off of studying for a good 25 hours, and Nobuo Uematsu's Cosmo Canyon even helped me past my music exam where we had to play a piece and get graded on it. The first thing that attracted me to the series was the fact it was an RPG, and over here in England there haven't been any decent RPG's released since Secret of Mana and Zelda, and from that fateful day when I picked up FFVII my life changed direction! Since then I've pre-ordered every new FF, and imported the old ones, and now I've got a complete collection, and I've just started to import the soundtracks! Anyway, I could waffle on for hours (just ask my mum, my friends, my family, etc etc) about the wonders of the FF series, but I'm gonna leave it there! - Dangermouse "Trees" are supposedly those brown and green things you see in Chocobo Forests. They grow upwards toward that huge glowing ball in the sky. That's what the encyclopedia says, anyway. While your tale of "climbing" these "trees" sounds a bit out there, I'm not here to judge you. I'm sure the people at Square appreciate your business. If more people in Europe start buying as much merchandise as you do, maybe we'll start seeing more ports over there. - Locke Locke, First of all considering how high I hold FFO in regard, (even though I can't use the forums because I use AOL) I am honored to be in your mailbag section, thanks and I do indeed like MMORPG's, in fact Unreal Tournament is currently my favorite. Also, what I meant by FFXI graphic's is that someone at FFO said the FFXI's character graphics weren't gonna be as good as in FFX. And I know FFIX is not a sequel but I still believe it should have the quality of past FF's. Okay now that I got that said, my favorite part of FF's is the story AND characters. Sure, better graphics, sound, or battle system is important, but without FF's traditionally great story it would just be another RPG, faceless, maybe with a few things that made you keep your eyes open. I mean without Cloud's history FFVII would just be a game about some hero who saves the world from a big ass comet. Instead of the impacting character who won 4th place in your current top 10 FF characters. I mean what would FFXI be without Vivi? Also the thing that makes a FF fan want all the FF's is that each story is very 'deep.' Some of the FF start out slow but each one always ends up with all the characters having a big change in their lives. Lives that you not only can watch but control, to some extent. For instance, I played Star Ocean: The Second Story, (why has no one heard of it?) and beat it but felt like there was something missing from it. SO2 was just like a clone of earlier FF graphic wise, but the CHARACTERS were the part that somehow made me wondering what was the point of playing. In the FF series the FF character always managed to pull you into the story and make you want to keep going to see what happens, a lot like a movie you can control. So although the music sets the mood, the CHARACTERS keep the game intriguing. - AdemoS I couldn't agree with you more. Square had its roots on the old 8-bit systems, so its success is in no small part based on their ability to convey a great story even when the graphics are lacking. I still enjoy FFVI more than FFVIII or FFIX, even though the latter two games have much better graphics. Square knows how to make dynamic protagonists whose stories, while not excessively deep to the point of absurdity, are rich enough to make them stand out. As for the forums issue, the general ban on certain e-mail addresses helps us cut down on spam. AOL users can send their desired usernames and a password to forums@ffonline.com to have an account created for them. Other freemail users are urged to register with their ISP-provided e-mail address. - Locke hi locke, I have been playing Final Fantasy since 1990. That is a game of many unique features. Today you see all games with the same sort of battle system or storyline of Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy to me is the original and greatest rpg/adventure series ever created. When I play I look at the storyline battle and graphics. So far every final fantasy has lived up to its title. When I get into a new Final Fantasy the storyline gets me so involved that I play for 12 and 14 hours a day. The game never gets boring. There is always something new to do. So when you ask me what I think of final fantasy ill tell you that it is THE GREATEST GAME EVER CREATED!!!!!! - -ofy1- [josh] I can't see myself playing any game for 12 hours, but I do know several people who could probably give you a run for your money. Keep up that enthusiasm and watch your phone bills when FFXI comes out. - Locke  G E N E R A L   E - M A I L S Final fantasy 7 is and will always be the best out the series. The game has a fantastic storyline and the characters are incredible. I wish the characters looked more detailed like the upcoming ff10. I think the ff series below 7 are good too. But squaresoft is losing their touch; they focus too much on cinemas and graphics that they are getting worse on every game after ff7. The characters are horrible after ff7 as well. Whoever is making the characters needs to look back at 7 and below because those were good characters and final fantasy characters really, really! need to be fixed. What happened to the armor and gil situations, ff 8 didn't even have armor and you got a salary? FF 10 got some sphere board crap, man final fantasy is definitely going downhill. Hopefully in the future, they pull off a masterpiece like final fantasy 7! - TmXDragoon In a way, the changes help keep the series from stagnating. The items, magic, and battle systems haven't changed much over the years, so it isn't surprising that the development teams are looking to tweak each new game just enough to keep it from being a rehash of a previous release. I agree that the changes in FFVIII were disastrous, but the Sphere board wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It did take up about five of the 50 hours I spent beating the game, but I enjoyed the level of customization available to me. I did feel that the Final Fantasy IX was just a series of exercises designed to keep players occupied between FMVs. The new stories focus more on cinema than on game play, but it looks like more and more games are heading that way. If Square decides that the market wants that type of thing, RPG dinosaurs like us are just going to have to suck it up and look for another series to occupy our time. - Locke Hey Locke! Do you know how hilarious you are? I just had to tell you how much I enjoy reading your responses, even though I may not agree with them, they're still funny as hell! (And I know you're probably thinking "She has no life" but oh well that's ok!) Anyway, I'll have to check out Seiken Densetsu sometime, if I ever get around to beating FF9. I'm currently occupied with Suikoden II right now, have you ever played that game? I like it 'cause I think it's cute! Oh, is Saint7 still working with FFOnline cause I haven't heard from him in a long time. Well, thanks for the tips & I'll be looking forward to the next mailbag update!! - Christa By now you've probably had a chance to read Saint7's latest article on the main page, but here's a quick link on the off-chance that you missed it. Sephiroth might be conspicuously absent, but at least everyone's favorite thief made it up there. No, not the one with a monkey tail. You can catch up on some of Saint7's old stuff in our feature archive. Also, keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a piece on Final Fantasy fan's top-rated Square games. - Locke Hello, From what I've heard from the FFX soundtrack, I'd have to say that those pieces are very beautiful. I really can't wait to hear the rest of the music from the game. I don't think that Uematsu is losing his touch at all. I know of few true musicians who loose their creative touch, if any. However, like mentioned before. It's very hard to make beautiful masterpieces with a strict time limit. I'm a visual artist, and I have a hard time working in time constraints. Everyone has their highs and lows in the creative field. One piece may be the most beautiful thing you've seen or heard, while the next is rather dull and bland. It all depends. I think Uematsu has done a wonderful job in the past, and I know I won't be disappointed in his work in FFX and any later installments. He's quite a wonderful musician. - Chyme As long as the rest of the gaming world and the people at Square feel that way, you won't be deprived of his musical talents anytime soon. I'd still like to hear a different artist's take on the series, but I respect the opinions of those who feel otherwise. Having played and finished FFX now, I do appreciate his work on the soundtrack more than when I heard it coming from my CD player. - Locke Locke, I was wondering if there were any plans to bring Final Fantasy X to the PC platform, or even Xbox or Gamecube for that matter. I really love the series but don't have the money to buy a PS2. I'm sure there are many more people out there like me. I know it will definitely need to be on DVD discs since I assume that's what the PS2 version is on, but that's not really a problem as far as I know. Just a question I really wanted to ask. Also, I like the music I've heard from FFX (from the website, various movies and such) just as much as the music from FFVII. I never played through FFVIII enough to like the music or hate it; I played the demo and hated the battle system so I didn't get the game. I think he's just as good as before, just in a different way. I respect your and others' opinions saying that the music isn't as good, but in my heart, Nobuo Uematsu's music will always be the best. - Methuseus Sure, sure, sweep those mp3s under the rug. We'll just let that be our little secret. The way things are going, Uematsu will be around for quite some time. As for the PC issue, I doubt that FFX will see a port. I don't know of many games that are released on DVDs and it doesn't look like Square will be a trendsetter in that area. Keep in mind that their previous PC ports, FFVII and FFVIII, weren't the commercial successes that they hoped for. - Locke I don't like the prospect of Square releasing twice as many Final Fantasy titles each year. Of course, I'm not in favor of them releasing one Final Fantasy title a year. I'd settle for a good Final Fantasy title every other year rather than buying games like Final Fantasy VIII and IX each year. I'd like to comment on your distaste of Square releasing multiple Final Fantasies or releasing them too quickly apart from each other. Personally, I love the new FF's as much as the old, but let's set aside our tastes from now. Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9 are made by different teams. Even Sakaguchi has a smaller role in the creation of 7 and some other ones like 5. These games are, for the most part, made by different teams, so I don't see how working on two games by different teams affects the total quality of the game. Also, they worked on 7 and 8 just as long as they worked on 4 and 6; they released them closer to each other because they started working on them and planning earlier, and they were simultaneous projects. So I just wanted to make it clear that I doubt the cause of your distaste of these games comes from the lack (or rather no lack ) of time spent on them. - Edrees When a company develops games simultaneously, it leaves itself little room for correcting mistakes. By the time Square has a chance to see what gamers are and aren't responding to positively in one game, they're already well into production of the next installment in the series. It doesn't matter how much time Square spends on a game if they're busy working on something that gamers won't like. Taking a breather in production would give Square a chance to slow down and retool the series to keep it from becoming stale. Time off might give them some ideas on how to turn the series into something other than a boring exercise in which a player's real goal is to get from one FMV to the next. It doesn't take much for Square to make a pretty game, but lately it seems they're having a hard time making a fun one. - Locke Locke, You ignorant slut. =O ;_; We all know that Uematsu is the man, FF8 OWNZ stfu plz. ;) <--(Notice the winky wink happy smilie, and put that ax down. =O) Well I've heard a lot about Uematsu's music becoming too stale for the FF genre, and I was wondering what you think of Tetsuya Nomura's artwork. He has been the main character designer for Final Fantasy since FF7, and I THOUGHT FFX's characters looked a slight too much like the FF8's, but after seeing some of the first sketches of the FFXI lead characters I am starting to notice that his art style has little to no variety anymore. =/ Do you think he should be replaced with another artist who has a fresh new style, or do you think his designs do justice to the games? Don't get me wrong, Nomura's art is great, but if you're going to make 4 new sequels, I think it'd be best to NOT have the characters resemble casts of previous Final Fantasy games. What do you think? Oh and eat your spinach. - GKSetzer I'm not much of an art person, but I don't see anything wrong with what Tetsuya Nomura has going on right now. The lack of variety in the magic and music of the series might get to me, but the artistic style hasn't struck a nerve with me just yet. IF FFXII's lead character also looks like Squall and Zell's illegitimate love child, we'll talk. - Locke Do you know if ffXI can also be played with out the internet??? -mrlovepants7 Final Fantasy XI: Online, as the name implies, is entirely an online experience. Unlike Sega's release, Phantasy Star Online, FFXI will not feature a single-player offline mode. - Locke Thank you for taking you time to read this e-mail. I am a very active online gamer. I currently play Ultima Online.. Well that doesn't have to do with this e-mail.. heh.. but the question is. Will Final Fantasy XI be on the PC along with PS2. If so, will you be able to interact with people on the PS2 from your PC and vise versa? Thank you - PaT Last April, Square announced plans to release FFXI on both the PC and PS2. They haven't mentioned any changes in plans as of yet, though so far we've only heard details about the PS2 version of the game. Compatibility issues have not yet been discussed. - Locke Dear FFonline, While searching the web I found a realease date at www.ebworld.com, they say that final fantasy XI is coming out 2/2/2002 a month after final fantasy X comes out. a fan - David Thanks for your interest, but the ebworld.com information is a bit misleading. They did similar things for Final Fantasy XI as well. The release date they have listed is for record-keeping purposes. Final Fantasy XI won't even be released in Japan at that time, so it certainly won't see a US port so soon. - Locke

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