Final Fantasy XI Online Official Strategy Guide (Fall 2003 Version)

I'm new to MMORPG's, but chose to take the plunge with FFXI, and I've not been disappointed. It's a wonderful game, and quite frankly addicting, if you can afford the time it takes to invest in playing.

Being completely new to the genre, this guide was a must for me. It has good details on early quests and missions, and though the maps could be larger, for many places you can get or buy maps as well in-game. As every monster is somewhat different, I found the monster guide fine, as it gives me an idea of what areas I can go to and which ones I can't, before I spend 30-40 minutes walking there in game.

The reality is that all of this information can be found online. Often it is better info, such as maps of NM spawn areas, etc. However, I find the guide invaluable, and it is always by my side for a few reasons.

1)I do not want to run back to the auction house to see if it's time to upgrade my gear. I check the book, and go back when I reach the appropriate level. The guide...Read more

And then you're on your own. This is not the worst thing ever. Naturally it would be a mistake if the strategy guide gave away ALL of the secrets of the game. But that is only the first mistake with this book. First, though, let's talk about the good things this strategy guide has to offer.

First off, the book is chaptered off like an instruction manual with the early chapters dealing with "entering" the world of Vanadiel and getting around and along with the other players in the game. The subsequent chapters talk a lot about the jobs, the weapons, the armor, the scrolls, and all of the accessories you can acquire during your playing time. Toward the back end of the book, you get the starting missions for all of the cities and "some" of the quests for the major cities in Vanadiel (note that I say "some"). Finally you get a list of all the regions of Vanadiel and a list of all the monsters and guilds and such.

Most of this information will serve...Read more

Many people dismiss guides to online games outright. The information is too out of date and they are often shoddy jobs, cranked out in a hurry for release day with only a tiny bit of information.

This is not one of those guides. This is a full featured, up to date, and comprehensive guide to the game. Tables include stats on creatures, weapons, armor, recipes and effects of crafted items, mob lists including levels and vulnerability information by zone, all quests in each zone, all spells, and virtually all aspects of gameplay.

It is truly a comprehensive guide to every aspect of playing Final Fantasy Online and is the model of what a guide to a MMPORPG should be like. It's a fabulous job.