Sunday, May 22, 2011

FFXI Ultimate Collection Abyssea Edition

After several months trying to like FFXIV and many attempts to go back and try to get into the game, I finally made my way back to Final Fantasy XI. It seems like now was the perfect time to return with the release of the Final Fantasy XI Ultimate Collection - Abyssea Edition. You can get right back into the game with all of the expansions and add-ons for only 20 bucks and it's available as a digital download through Amazon and Steam. This was perfect for me since I had missed the latest addons and at the normal 10 bucks a pop I saved a good ten bucks at least. I honestly can't recall where I left off with the addons since I didn't really end up doing any of the story lines for them past the first one, and of course I stopped playing right before I got the sweet end piece of augmented gear.

Now there is Abyssea and a level cap of 90. I'm left wondering which class I should play. I've spent the last couple of days dorking around on BST and finishing an old 290 axe trial. Is it just me or did experience points from mobs get increased? I started the quest to get into the new areas, I just need to go enter one of the maws and turn in my key item for some visitation time. Without a linkshell, though, it seems a little scary. I mean, what's to lose except a little experience points, right? Still, I wish I could find some Abyssea mentors to help me understand all these time extensions, at as, and insane experience points groups that are available. I guess the first step to that would be to just ask, but I guess I've been busy with other in game things so far. It goes back to th question of what job I want to play. While I've been thinking it over, I've been leveling up some crafts, spending some Gil, making some Gil, and LOVING how the auction houses are all tied into Jeuno now. Take that, FFXIV, why can't you get it right like XI? Superior retainer system my ass.

Another cool thing about this Ultimate Collection is that it comes just in time to snag the 9th anniversary experience points bonus ring and outfits. The Novennial ring comes with an experience point bonus of +100% for a maximum of 9000 extra points per charge and a duration of 720 minutes per go. This puppy has 10 charges, so if you don't let any go to waste that's 90,0000 bonus experience points by the time you're through. Amazing! As far as the novennial outfits go, they are quite Victorian in style and very slick. The male version is not as colorful, but does have a bit of charm to it. Personally, I'm digging the female version. The coloring and design is breathtaking - and that's saying something coming from a hetero male.


Here's my mule, Angrymonkey sporting his bodacious digs.


The female Novennial gear has got to be one of my all time favorite armor designs.

You'll have to forgive me for the quality of the photos, I took them off my big screen TV with my Xoom. They aren't to show off the quality of the game, which has improved by the way with adjustable background ratio up to 16:10, but to highlight some of the things I'm excited about. So, without further delay, I will introduce the Destrier Beret that comes with this collection via special code. This hat turns you into a chocobo! Not only that, but for your jobs under 30, it also adds regen, refresh, auto-raise,  increased skill gain, and increased movement speed! Is that insane? I love it! Picture added to post for awesomeness.



This helm is awesome! It makes me want to play one of my jobs I never leveled.


Here's me as a chocobo!

BTW - there are a lot of speculation threads on the internet that assume this is only for new accounts, but I can confirm that they code works for existing accounts as well.