Is there a story???

[bokofett]

Does the world of Vana'diel even hae a storyline to go with it or do you just sit there and walk around fighting crap.

[Ichy]

There is a broad history, deeply developped culture within the races, metaphors for the good the bad and the ugly moments of real life, any number of quests that affect your fame, rare and unique rewards for completing those quests, and yes, there is an on-going story to the game that advances through cutscenes as you perform missions for your nation...

Unless you choose to be ignorant of all the things that make this game awesome, forego them and just walk around fighting crap... Then that's pretty much all there is.

[Krystic]

Oh, and trust me going around and fighting crap, after awhile will get very frustrating...

...so its good to try out the issions that involve the main story of FFXI.

[GaV]

Yeah as ichy and krystic both said the story advances with missions which you recieve from your home city. Doing these not only progresses the storyline but also gives you other perks such as cash, a higher rank and such items as the airship pass.

[Bahamut2000X]

Plus every now and then Square runs events such as the Treant one.

There's also some mini plots in some quests that sort of build up as you go from quest to quest.

[bokofett]

but doesn't it bother you that some higher power(square) has the right to just stop play and end your game and doesn't it also bother you that there will never be an ending, the story will never have completion???

[Flying Mullet]

Originally posted by bokofett
but doesn't it bother you that some higher power(square) has the right to just stop play and end your game and doesn't it also bother you that there will never be an ending, the story will never have completion???
So stop playing after a certain quest or point and tell yourself that Final Fantasy XI is done.

[Ichy]

A massive multiplayer online role playing game... with an ending? Where would they make their money? From all the people who would lose their characters they've put hours, days, months even, into once the game was "over"? If that was the case I'd quit now, and if it had been the case back before launch I never would have bought the game in the first place. I'm guessing you're not familiar with this type of online game... They don't come in the offline single-player or "congradulations you win the game" variety (except PSO, however as fun as that game is it's severely lacking content in comparison with so many other MMORPGs). If I'm right and you've never played, I highly suggest you take Anarchy Online's 7-day free trial ('cause it's free :D ), or something similar, just to familiarize yourself with the type of gameplay environment and community involved. You know, see if you like it before you go and spend $59 on the game and an additional $12 a month. ;)

[bokofett]

True, i have never played an online game, as such. But what i was trying to ask was won't square eventually end the game, by not providing service anymore. Like if they decided to end everyone's subscription and make them apply to a new game and in turn lose all of their characters.

[Ichy]

You know I really don't know. It would be financial suicide, though. Think about it, they just boasted 1,000,000 charaters, most subscriptions have one or two, maybe 3 characters at most assigned to them. (We'll use 3 just for the sake of plausibility). That's 1,000,000 / 3 * $12 = $4,000,000 a month. Yep, a month. I seriously doubt they'd consider shutting the game down at any point, but if they ever do you can bet it's going to be the biggest in-game event the game's ever seen and I'll be there to see it ;).

As for sequels to MMORPGs... I never did understand that one. You can always patch and what not to add more content to the existing game :)

[Lionx]

Its quite logical for them to shut down the servers if there is too little people playing. But with the set up for me seeing it as THE BEST MMORPG up to date....i doubt it would be gone in 6-7 years if it deals its cards right.

[Bahamut2000X]

Only 6-7 years? If they jusy keep it constantly updated (like they are) I see this becoming the never Ever Crack and being around for 10+ years even. As long as Square can keep it interesting then people won't leave.