VanaFesta 2006

VANAFESTA 2006 Wrap-Up!
On September 22, 23, and 24, the Tokyo Game Show opened its doors to game players from around the world, and offered them a peek at some of the biggest titles in development. At the Square Enix booth, a corner was set aside for FINAL FANTASY XI and the eagerly anticipated 2006 Vanafesta. The three-day event consisted of several exciting events such as Heroines' Combat, TGS Assault - The Gathering Storm, Who Wants To Be A Vanallionaire, and the Vanafesta 2006 Talk Session. Thousands of adventurers from all across the globe converged on the Makuhari Messe convention hall to take part in this extravaganza, making it one of the hottest spots in the building.

Heroines' Combat
Players took their turns at getting pummeled by some of the most deadly beauties in all Vana'diel.

A rise in the number of adventurers signing up to be mercenaries for far off countries has lit the already short fuse of four war-hardened ladies--the Rose Quartet (Curilla, Ayame, Prishe, and Shantotto). To knock some patriot spirit back into the hearts of these adventurers, the quartet has announced the holding of a Martial Ball, open to all who think they have what it takes to play with the big girls.

The rules are simple--a party of six enters the special battlefield where two of the four roses await. When one has been defeated, another will join the battle. Victory only comes when a total of three are defeated within the 15-minute time limit. Several adventurers at TGS thought they could muster up enough mettle to pulverize the ladies, but when the sun finally set, it turned out that less than 20% of the parties that stepped into the ring with the mauling maidens made it out in one piece. It seems that most of the adventurers had the most trouble with a certain indestructible blonde Tarutaru whose dark spells scorched the battlefield and made mincemeat of all in her path.

It is safe to say that all who attended the event found new respect for these fine female fighters, but the roses' work is not yet done. They soon plan on taking their challenge across the globe to a fan event near you!

TSG Assault - "The Gathering Storm"
Adventurers had a chance to go all out on a horde of unruly beasts in a special Assault mission that planted parties right in the middle of the Mamool Ja Training Grounds.

The objectives for this mission were kept simple--take out as many monsters as you can in five minutes. To make it even more interesting, auto-refresh, auto-regen, and auto-TP restoration were given to all participants. This allowed players of all jobs to get down and get dirty with their weapons and spells of choice without having to worry about running out of MP or being KO'd--even the white mages were pulling off skillchains while performing their own MBs. From inexperienced novices, to hard-core veterans, there wasn't a single adventurer without a smile on his/her face after racking up a load of easy kills.

The original mission objectives required that 40 monsters be defeated in the five minutes, but most parties went above and beyond their call of duty, with one group pulverizing 89! That's almost 18 a minute!

Just as with Heroines' Combat, TGS Assault - The Gathering Storm is being readied for up and coming fanfests.

Who Wants To Be A Vanallionaire?
Everyone in attendance at the Vanafesta was able to participate in this quiz that featured various wacky questions to stump even the biggest FINAL FANTASY XI fans.

Here are a couple to test your wits. Can you answer them all?

VANAFESTA Talk Session (Condensed)
For the first time in Tokyo Game Show history, the FINAL FANTASY XI development team held four talk sessions over three days, in which they spoke of the future of the game, revealed exciting new features scheduled for future patches, and took questions from the audience.

Here is a condensed list of some of the version update-related topics that were introduced:

"4 Years of FINAL FANTASY XI - A Summary" "Treasures of Aht Urhgan"
 * September 22 (Day 1)
 * Development and Management
 * Beseiged/Assault
 * Massively Multiplayer Battle Areas
 * Chocobo Raising
 * Chocobo Racing

"The Job System and the Battle System - Regarding Future Adjustments"
 * September 23 (Day 2)
 * Job System Concept
 * Battle System Concept and History
 * Job Characteristics and Future Adjustments

"The Vana'diel Economy"
 * September 24 (Day 3)
 * The Importance of an MMORPG Economy
 * Vana'diel Economy
 * Steps Being Taken

VANAFESTA Talk Session (Expanded)
For the first time in Tokyo Game Show history, the FINAL FANTASY XI development team held four talk sessions over three days, in which they spoke of the future of the game, revealed exciting new features scheduled for future patches, and took questions from the audience.

September 22 (Day 1)
New Features in the Next Version Update Some of the new features to be added in the next version update are a variety of massively multiplayer battle areas much like those used in Assault, Beseiged, and Dynamis. A total of four new areas are to be introduced and have been designed to test the teamwork of alliances of up to 18 adventurers. Only groups who have refined their strategies will be able to proceed through these challenging areas. In addition, players will be drained of certain abilities or attributes, such as the ability to cast magic or use weapon skills, upon entry.

Question: Will there be more chances to obtain relic equipment or abjurations in the future? Matsui: We are currently planning to increase the number of opportunities players will have to obtain abjurations. As for relic equipment, we are planning to release similar equipment in the Aht Urhgan areas.
 * Miscellaneous

Question: Can you make it so a fellow does not depart when changing areas? Also, will there be any follow-ups to the fellow-related quests?
 * Ogawa: The programmer in charge of the fellow system is currently working hard on this issue. Hopefully he will have something soon. As for the quests, most of our planners are busy writing new Aht Urhgan content. It may be difficult for them to make new fellow material until the upcoming quests and missions are finished.

Question: How do you obtain the Parade Gorget?
 * Matsui: You'll first need to make a Goblin Drink (culinary skill of around 80 required). Then you'll need to trade that to a ??? in Oldton Movalpolos. To make the Goblin Drink you'll need 8 items - Gysahl greens, La Theine cabbage, and... we'll tell you the rest over the next two days! See if you can't figure out the recipe yourself!

1. We feel that chocobos' attributes are not growing quickly enough within the current system. The system will be adjusted in the near future.
 * Regarding Chocobo Raising

2. Question: My chocobo won't wake up. Is there something wrong?
 * Answer: Chocobos "resting" for indefinite periods of time is not a system bug. However, we realize that tending to a chocobo that is always asleep is not the pinnacle of excitement. We tend to address this issue in the next version update.

Finally, we will be introducing two new chocobo colors in the next update--red and...??? Also, the outward appearance of chocobos will change depending on their attributes.

September 23 (Day 2)
The regen effect will be cut in half by defeating as many of the Ru'phuabos, Qn'xzomits, and Qn'hpemdes summoned by the Jailer of Love as possible. In addition, using an elemental based attack that corresponds to the current day of the week (i.e. using Fire spells on Firesday) will stop the remaining regen effect.
 * How to Enfeeble Absolute Virtue

[ Warrior ] - Weapons experts capable of using a variety of different weapon skills Adjustments Planned: Changes to the number of equippable weapon types as well as an increase in the type of professions that are compatible as support jobs.
 * Regarding Job Adjustments

[ Monk ] - Melee experts known for their large amount of HP and quick attacks. Adjustments Planned: Making the job more useful in a variety of situations.

[ White Mage ] - Experts in healing and support magic. Adjustments Planned: Increasing the benefits of using white mage as a main job as well as increasing the number of ways white mages can contribute to parties.

[ Black Mage ] - Experts in dealing damage with powerful black magic spells. Adjustments Planned: Making it so black mages are more effective when partied up with other jobs.

[ Red Mage ] - Enfeebling experts. Adjustments Planned: Will continue to find ways to put red mages in positions where they are required to be ready for anything.

[ Thief ] - Experts at tricky attacks Adjustments Planned: Adding elements that will allow thieves to increase the potential of their parties.

[ Paladin ] - High defense makes them experts at defending their parties Adjustments Planned: Improving the performance of paladins when fighting in continuous battles.

[ Dark Knight ] - Powerful attackers with the ability to drain their opponents' abilities. Adjustments Planned: Increasing power when equipped with a scythe.

[ Beastmaster ] - Experts at taming and controlling the most powerful of beasts. Adjustments Planned: While there are no plans on adjusting aspects of solo play, adjustments are underway to widen the possibilities for party play.

[ Ranger ] - Attackers with the potential of dealing deadly damage from afar. Adjustments Planned: Making adjustments to accuracy rate and damage based on distance from target. Look forward to these changes in the next version update!

[ Samurai ] - Experts at storing TP and carrying out powerful weapon skills. Adjustments Planned: In addition to re-evaluating Overwhelm's calculation method, two new job abilities will be introduced at levels 25 and 35. The keyword here is "two-handed weapon." We want players to have the option of choosing to take either an offensive role or a defensive one. Finally, we are working hard to make samurai a more attractive choice for support job. Please look forward to seeing these changes in the next version update!

[ Ninja ] - Dual-wielding masters of ninjutsu, also capable of protecting a party from damage. Adjustments Planned: There are no plans to strengthen the job of ninja, only make it more useful in a variety of varying situations.

[ Dragoon ] - Attackers known for their impressive jumping abilities and their trusty wyverns. Adjustments Planned: 1. Super Jump recast will be reduced to 3 minutes. 2. Empathy ability will provide both dragoon and wyvern with stoneskin effect. 3. Spirit Surge will have an added effect with the ability to reset the recast time of all jump abilities. Please look forward to seeing these changes in the next version update!

[ Summoner ] - Powerful mages with the ability to use their mana to call forth mighty avatars. Changes regarding summoning magic skill: 1. Blood Pact recast time will now be based on the type of special attack used--healing/enhancing or damage dealing. 2. Summoning magic skill may increase not only when summoning an avatar, but also while using Blood Pact. 3. Blood Pact special attack bonuses may be earned while equipping items that give summoning skill bonuses. Please look forward to seeing these changes in the next version update!

[ Corsair / Blue Mage / Puppetmaster ] Adjustments Planned: There are still many things that we are planning to adjust as well as implement. We should have most of these ready by late December.


 * The next two ingredients in the Goblin drink recipe are frost turnips and wild onions.

September 24 (Day 3)
When inflation becomes a problem, players new to the game often find it difficult to purchase items. While a little inflation is normal, massive inflation can be detrimental.
 * The Importance of Economy in MMORPGs

We are currently experiencing a slight drop in inflation as a result of measures taken to reduce actions not in accordance with the official rules of gameplay (RMT, etc.). This, in turn, has resulted in a drop of gil in circulation within Vana'diel.
 * Inflation in FINAL FANTASY XI

Once inflation has stopped, we can take the next step to returning the Vana'diel economy to normal levels.
 * Dealing with NM camping
 * Dealing with fishing macro problems

In October we will be forming a special task force to concentrate solely on locating those players violating the user's agreement. This team will be separate from the GMs and will work directly with the development team. Since we realize it is often difficult to convict a player based on in-game evidence alone, we will continue to search for new ways to prove someone has been involved in restricted activities. We promise that we will continue to work diligently to rid Vana’diel of all players using illegal tools and plug-ins.
 * Policy


 * The next two ingredients in the Goblin drink recipe are one San d'Orian carrot and one thundermelon. We won't tell you the final two ingredients, but we will give you a couple of hints.
 * With a name like Goblin drink, you have to assume that the items are going to be a little on the crazy side. However, the first of the two is not what you may think it is--Movalpolos water. It is in fact, just normal water. The final item is something a little (a lot) bit stranger. We'll let you figure out that one for yourself!