The History of Final Fantasy XI/2001

==Game Planning==
The video below covers the development of the Final Fantasy series years before Final Fantasy XI was released. It outlines the decisions of how Square jumped into the MMORPG realm, and the planning stages of Final Fantasy XI are discussed. It is a good prelude of these pages to come. If you are interested in the series of events that led up to Final Fantasy XI's inception and planning, I recommend that you start here! 
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A note from the creator of this written project, Funkworkz: 
The video above was created by Final Fantasy Union. They are a Final Fantasy fan site who creates videos which cover all aspects of the series as a whole. There is no relation between Final Fantasy Union and me, the creator of the following written project. Although this video and my written pages do not have much in common, I recommend you take the time and indulge in both. This video doesn't even scratch the surface of anything regarding the beta and post release. I begin below in the year 2000, which is pretty much where the video leaves off. Both this video and the following pages compliment each other well, and touch on different aspects of Final Fantasy XI. I hope that you enjoy both projects.
==2000 - 2001 Pre-Release==
This section includes information on the development of Final Fantasy XI, beginning two years and four months before the first adventurer set foot into Vana’diel. Beta testing began in the winter of 2001.
Jan. 29th, 2000	    PlayOnline Design Presentation 	    PlayOnline Design Presentation 	
Jan. 29th, 2000	Square displayed the plan for PlayOnline for the first time at a private event called, “Square Millennium” in Yokohama. Showing off FFIX, FFX and FFXI together, they revealed that FFXI would be the series’ first ever online experience. The next day, Square stock shot up in value from an average of 7,000 Yen per unit the month prior, to 19,800 Yen per unit.
This event was not a press-only presentation. Around 5,000 ordinary people were able to attend by preregistering through magazine ads were invited. The focus however was on Final Fantasy IX.
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Above is the pre-beta video shown at the event.	PlayOnline was originally developed to interact with Final Fantasy X, but when those plans fell through it became a strategy site for Final Fantasy IX. The site was designed to complement BradyGames' and Piggyback Interactive's official strategy guides for the game, where players who bought the print guide had access to "keywords" that could be searched for on PlayOnline's site for extra tips and information. This caused fury among buyers of the guide, as they felt cheated for the expensive print guide. The blunder made GameSpy's "Top 5 Dumbest Moments in Gaming" list, and Square dropped the idea for Final Fantasy X, which was under development at the time.
Below is a 2001 promotional video for the Playonline service. Playonline itself had a lot of potential, but never grew to its intended use.
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Mar. 4th, 2000 	    Playstation 2 Released in Japan 	    Playstation 2 Released in Japan 	
Mar. 4th, 2000 	The first iteration of the Playstation 2 system was released in Japan. 	 	
Jul. 19th, 2001	    Final Fantasy X released in Japan, FFXI movie included 	    Final Fantasy X released in Japan, FFXI movie included	
Jul. 19th, 2001	Final Fantasy X went on sale. Included with the game was a bonus disc that gave a look into the progress made on FFXI, which was still in mid-development. “OTHER SIDE OF THE FINAL FANTASY.” The graphics at this time were relatively primitive. The video has since been added to Youtube, and is embedded in this page on the right. 
Here are notes of interest.
*A dragon (Fafnir/Nidhogg) was shown landing from flight.
*A town which does not appear in the final version of the game is in the video.
*Mithra and TaruTaru did not appear.
*A scene was shown involving a Goobbue scooping up and devouring a Mandragora.
*Much of the rest of the video is a montage of how awesome PlayOnline was going to be to communicate with friends and family.	<youtube width=450>giGAZiQIRkM</youtube> 	
Sep. 17th, 2001	    PlayOnline Beta Testing Begins 	    PlayOnline Beta Testing Begins 	
Sep. 17th, 2001	General public beta testing begins for PlayOnline on the Playstation 2 with ads displayed in magazines and other media. An ISDN adapter for the Playstation 2 was sold for those participating in the beta.
Keep in mind that this was "Beta 1", which was only the PlayOnline platform and no games. 	
The rather thick manual was in a binder with an aluminum cover, and weighed about two kilograms. It came with warnings not to drop it, or to accidentally cut yourself on its sharp edges.	
Nov. 20th, 2001	    FFXI Playstation 2 Version Beta Signups Open 	    FFXI Playstation 2 Version Beta Signups Open 	
Nov. 20th, 2001	Recruitment for the FFXI beta began appearing in magazines and other media. At the time, the PS2 Broadband Unit, (HDD) was not being sold in stores, and could only be acquired by signing up with an ISP. Despite this, there was an absolute deluge of participants. When FFXI was finished, sales of the BB Unit opened up to accomodate new players, but it was still out of stock almost everywhere. The biggest hurdle for a new user to overcome was simply finding a BB Unit to purchase. This website was developed as an early wiki of sorts that listed sources on where to obtain an HDD unit at the time.	
BB Unit 	
Dec. 17th, 2001	    FFXI PS2 Beta Test Begins 	    FFXI PS2 Beta Test Begins 	
Dec. 17th, 2001	The Final Fantasy XI beta test began with lucky players selected by lottery receiving the “PlayOnline Beta 2 Edition,” which included a beta PlayOnline Viewer, Final Fantasy XI beta, Tetra Master beta and a Service Manual binder. Like the PlayOnline "Beta 1" edition, this binder was again very heavy at 2 kg/4.4 lbs. This kit is pictured directly below. 
Four world were made: Chaos, Zande, Golbez and Xdeath. Later, Xdeath and Golbez were combined into Zande. Worlds could not be chosen, and players were divided based on when they signed up. New players continued to be selected as the beta went on, adding new adventurers to Vana’diel from Decemeber up until March of the following year.	 	
Dec. 17th, 2001	
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{| class="notice metadata plainlinks" style="background: #feba71; border: 3px dashed #FF911A; border-collapse: separate; border-radius: 15px; text-align:center; line-height:20px; max-width:90%; height: 80%;"	The following is a quote from Akihiko Matsui regarding his memory of the Beta Test.This quote was publicized on the "WE ARE VANA'DIEL" official commemorative website in 2021.
"As the Battle Director at the time, I felt that it was too early for the beta test, since the skillchain system had just been decided for implementation, and weapon skills hadn't been fully implemented yet. The start of the beta test also meant bug fixes for the beta server, which was more workload for the main development team. However, the whole team was able to unify their vision of the final product, and the beta test also served as motivation for us to work quickly, so I think it was a good thing overall. Since then, more people came to me for battle balancing-related matters, and I had to switch to working the night shift for a while to make progress on my own tasks, so it was a valuable experience for me."
-Akihiko Matsui, Producer	 	 	
The World of the FFXI Beta Test	
The beta version of Final Fantasy XI was practically the same as the initial retail version, but there were still many things missing. Below are the important differences.
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Character Selection & Jobs
Characters could choose from every race, but the selection of faces was much fewer than the final product. The six basic jobs were available: Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage and Thief. Players could obtain sub-jobs, but the quest was different than now. Players had to obtain an "Old Prophecy" from monsters around Jeuno, and hand it to the master.
Provoke used to say "Hey, how long are you gonna hide under your mama's skirt?" in say automatically.
Category:History