Our YouTube of the week is the early teaser trailer for Final Fantasy XI. Shown in January 2000 at the Sqaure Enix Day event this trailer shows such out-takes as Gobbues eating Mandragoras.

Enjoy!

Recently Ray_XXX_of_FF contributed the following opinion on why Wings of the Goddess should be a success. This post took place in the recent topic RE: Is FFXI clinging on?

The game is far from dead. with the release of server migration it seems several servers are getting more populated now while others are not. soo it would depend on what server you go on. Fairy server which i'm located on is very very active. End Game is mostly the HNM scene with the HNM linkshells but with the introduction of Einherjar *it's tough* there is chances for abjorations *in my honest opinion they need to increase the drop rate* but they are slowly putting in ways to obtain other several high end game gear in other means. Example is assault. with the introduction to Nyzul you can get NM items and high after items like ridill and stuff from Nyzul. it only takes min 3 to 6 people to complete. only 30 min and you can do it with the number of tags you have. sooo on average you can get 8 to 9 runs a week in easy.

with the new expansion comming out, and the revisit in history from the Great War, storyline wise I think this will be a wonderful expansion. soo I wouldn't be surprised if several 100 people do return just for the back history and expansion.

We would like to thank new forum user HissyFitz for posting his impressions of the Pankration that was launched this month. We've included his posts below and hope you will join the community in the discussion of the Pankration.

Pankration is pretty fun. Getting the soulplates is easy. You don't have to engage the mobs. I was out trying to get one and saw a BST engaged and thought I would try that. It worked. You can get pics of others mobs or pics from behind. You may not get one everytime but I usually get one within about 3 tries. The only time I have noticed that you can't get a pic is when the mob is asleep. May have just been my luck though, but so far it fails every time for me.

The lvl of your mob seems to correspond with how high the area is that you acquired your soulplate. They sometimes have a main job only and sometimes they come with a sub job. My Wyvern is a War and at lvl 15 I tried to add sub job but it said that it couldn't. My thoughts are that it must be lvl 18 before you can add a sub . It is possible that certain mobs will only be able to have a main job.

Click read more for Hissyfitz's full post or check out this thread to join the discussion!

Do you enjoy drawing? Have you created a crazy Final Fantasy related wallpaper or digital creation? We are looking to expand our Fan Art section. If you have some awesome artwork to share with the community please head over the submission form and we'll be sure to post it.

Opal flame has submitted part one of her excellent story centered around her Blue Mage. We are happy to post "Blue Mage Story: Pt One" to help close out our week. We've got an excerpt below and a link to the full story as well. Look for the second part in the coming weeks!

"The blood of the beast fills my body, my blood is no longer red as most warriors of Vana'diel, but is starting to turn blue, same as the beasts which we fight. Though my journey has barely began I have had a long trial. Right from the start I wondered if it was the right path for me, I had already once gone and made pacts with the avatars and become a powerful summoner, and now I find myself feeling as though I'm starting over and working both against and with the many monsters of Vana'diel. Not far in I almost give up, learning spells is a very trying ideal taking what seems like forever to learn the most basic of magic. Altana isn't smiling on me, and I hadn't learned anything, so I decided to take a break and travel the world a bit more and try to realize why I want to do this and why fate seems to be leading me down this path."

Read Blue Mage Part One

Source: PlayOnline

The PlayOnline registration server will be unavailable due to maintenance at the following time. During this period, following services will be unavailable:

- Register or unsubscribe PlayOnline accounts
- Review or update member information
- Review, purchase, cancel, or reactivate Content IDs
- Apply for World Transfer Service
- Purchase expansion pack registration codes

Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

[Date & Time]
Sep. 17, 2007 from 20:00 to 21:00 (PDT)
* Maintenance completion time may be subject to change.

[Affected Services]
PlayOnline

Square Enix has released images and details on the "Nomad Hat", the exclusive item is only available to registrants of the Fan Festival. We've got five images below and the post from PlayOnline, which features a video!

From PlayOnline.com:

The special in-game item given away exclusively to attendees of the FINAL FANTASY XI Fan Festival 2007 (November 15, 2007 to November 17, 2007) has been announced!

Click here for details.

Images:









View Full Size

We've got a new poll asking if you have taken part in the Pankration yet. Please let us know by voting on the left side bar. We've also got the previous poll results below.

Previous Poll:
Question:
The August Version Update..

Choices:
Option 01: Brings Some Great Weapon Changes [3 votes]
Option 02: Brings Me Some Nifty Gear [0 votes]
Option 03: Lets Me Spend Gil On My Favourite Choco! [1 votes]
Option 04: Hasn't Really Affected Me Yet [4 votes] .

This past week Square updated their screenshot of the week. We are happy to post it below for you:

We've got a trailer from 2004 for Chains of Promathia as our Youtube of the week. We know it's old and in Japansese but come one, some of the sequences are amazing. The Final Fantasy XI engine still amazes us. Check it out below:

Thanks to OpalFlame we've got three brand new screenshots added to our database. Thumbnails below:


Landscape


Wyvern


Dynamis Sandoria

View New Screens

We've got an update on the PlayOnline Viewer update that was posted yesterday. Full details below:

At the following time, we performed a version update of the PlayOnline Viewer.

* The client software has also been updated at this time. The version update process will automatically begin upon login after the time stated below. Please follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

[Update Time]
Sep. 11, 2007 0:00 (PDT)

[Affected Services]
PlayOnline

[Important Update Details]
-An issue was addressed where the PlayOnline Viewer would freeze when trying to open certain e-mails in the unread mail list (Xbox 360 only).
-Other minor issues were addressed.

The leviathan server was experiencing some issues earlier in the day. These have since been resolved.
Source: PlayOnline

We have experienced several technical difficulties on some areas on the Leviathan World, but the recovery process is now complete. Thank you for your patience.

[Date & Time]
Sep. 11, 2007 from 5:48 to 6:30(PDT)

[Issue Details]
Unable to access to the following areas.

[Cause]
Technical issues with the servers.

[Affected World]
Leviathan

[Affected Areas]
-Northern San d'Oria
-Lower Jeuno

[Affected Services]
FINAL FANTASY XI

A version update was applied to FFXI yesterday. Here is the information:
Source: PlayOnline

At the following time, we performed a version update of FINAL FANTASY XI.

* This update consists of a version upgrade of the client program. When you press the play button after the time stated below, the version upgrade will begin automatically. Please follow the instructions on the screen.

[Affected Period]
Sep. 10, 2007 9:00 (PDT)

[Affected Services]
FINAL FANTASY XI

[Important Update Details]
- Pankration in the Pit has been implemented.
*Please refer to the related information for details on Pankration.

- Accuracy rate of following weapon skills were adjusted:
Guillotine / Penta Thrust

Following issues have been addressed:
- The abilities of some monsters were weaker than intended.

- If a Goblin Bounty Hunter was defeated, it would remain KO'd and not disappear.

- Players were not able to enter Hazhalm Testing Grounds properly if the player who reserved the chamber checks the "Entry Gate" while not possessing the key item "glowing lamp."

- All random damages were not being calculated properly.

- Amount of damage was not being corrected properly when characters were equipped with two-handed weapons.

- Monsters with two-handed weapons had higher attack and accuracy than intended.

- TP of Beastmaster's pet continued to decrease while it's not engaged in battle.

- Automaton's new attachment "Stealth Screen" was not working properly when it was used with "Optical Fiber."

- Automaton would cast magic on a player who is in KO'd status.

- Automaton's status was lower than it was supposed to be.

- Under certain combinations of Head and Frame, Automaton would try to cast spells continuously.

- Players were sometimes able to carry more chocobucks than what was allowed when item "Chocobuck Slip" is traded with chocobucks.

- The location of the treasure did not display during the Chocobo Hot & Cold game when cancel button is pressed at certain timing upon using clump of Tandjana wildgrass.

- Item icons would not appear in Delivery Box. (Xbox 360 version only)

- Macro may not have functioned when the name of certain items are included.

- Text command that represent another player or monster were not working properly when the command contained apostrophe.

Today's version update brings with it the long-awaited opening of Pankration.
Armed with soultrapped, combat-enhanced monsters from around Vana'diel, adventurers now have a venue where they can gather and place their beasts in direct competition with one another...The Pit.

Click here for details.

We would love to know if you have taken part in "Pankration in the Pit". Please let us know by responding to our latest Topic of the Week. If you missed the details on this event please check out our previous news post here.

This past week producer for Final Fantasy XI, Hiromichi Tanaka, spoke at the Austin Game Developers Conference. This was actually an event we reported on back in the Spring but now that it has passed we are pleased to bring you the details on Tanaka-San's address. Many topics were discussed including the development of Final Fantasy XI, the upcoming Wings of the Goddess and the ever secret �Next Gen Square MMO Project�. A huge thanks to Gamasutra for first reporting on his Austin GDC address.

Tanaka revealed that the roots of Final Fantasy Xis development actually began in 1999 after Chrono Cross was completed. The game originally planned for the Microsoft Xbox but that was abandoned due to space concerns the project was only completed for the Playstation Two and later moved to Microsoft's Xbox 360 platform. He also stated that between the game's 32 public servers there are as many as 20,000 unique logins on each server per day. The total number of players is currently thriving at roughly 550,000 � That's a lot of adventurers!

He also discussed the problems of Realy Money Trading or RMT within the Final Fantasy XI universe. Mr.Tanaka explained that these groups are usually connected to each other through common funds rather than standing independent . He also explained that attacking the issue of RMT within FFXI has to be a multi-pronged approach. Just banning/removing the farming accounts isn't enough - Banning the �hunter� or gil collecting accounts and maintaining a good log system are two of the key weapons used by Square Enix to stop the currency trade. This is an issue we have reported on many times and we are happy to pass along news that Square reports 2 out of every 3 real money trading operations have shut down.

During the end of his presentation Tanaka presented the crowd with the chance to ask some questions and he also addressed the upcoming expansion Wings of the Goddess. He revealed that there will be a total of twelve skus (retail units) between the multiple languages and platforms that Final Fantasy XI currently supports. He also revealed that it will be a simultaneous release across all platforms and languages � this is defiantly good news for our European counter-parts who received their language packs this past spring.

The presentation closed with some information on Squares secret next generation MMO. According to Tanaka the game has changed a lot since it's initial announcement at E3 2005. The development team has undergone some changes and the project is now using a cross-platform middleware. He ended this tantalizing topic stating that it won't be much longer before we learn more about Square's future plans.

Lots of exciting news has come from Tanaka's speech and we would like to thank him for giving the community so much to be excited about. Wings of the Goddess is currently scheduled for a Winter release and we will on tap to bring you all of the latest breaking news.

Source: PlayOnline
We've got one more reminder from PlayOnline that Microsoft will be preforming maintenance on Xbox live tomorrow between 2 and 6PM (PST). Full post below:

At the following time Microsoft will be performing maintenance on the Xbox Live service.
For more information please see the Xbox Live official homepage (http://www.xbox.com/live).

Xbox 360 users will be unable to log into the PlayOnline Viewer during this time. Players who are already logged into PlayOnline will be able to continue to use PlayOnline services. However once logged out, PlayOnline will not be accessible until the maintenance period is over.

[Date&Time;]
Sep. 10, 2007 from 2:00 to 6:00 (PDT)

[Affected Services]
Users of the Xbox 360 edition of the PlayOnline Viewer

*Users of the "Playstation 2" and "Windows" edition of PlayOnline will not be affected by this maintenance.

Source: PlayOnline
A general reminder that Final Fantasy XI will be unavailable tomorrow for a few hours. Details below:

At the following time, we will be performing FINAL FANTASY XI maintenance on all worlds. During this period, FINAL FANTASY XI will be unavailable.

Thank you for your patience.

* The client software will also be updated at this time. Once this maintenance is completed, the client update will start automatically after logging back into FINAL FANTASY XI. Please follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

* From 30 minutes before the start of maintenance until the end of maintenance, applications for World Transfer Service will be unavailable.

[Date & Time]
Sep. 10, 2007 from 9:00 to 12:00 (PDT)
* Maintenance completion time may be subject to change.

[Affected Services]
FINAL FANTASY XI

There is a post over at the official Playstation Forums suggesting that Wings of the Goddess will be released in limited quantities for the Playstation 2. Given the fact that the core game was recently made compatible with the Playstation 3 via a firmware update this is a little hard to believe. We are working are hardest to find out specifics in regards to the availability of the Playstation 2 release.