Atlantica Online Versus Final Fantasy 11 Upgrades

Among the many games out there, exists two which could ultimately become legendary for their graphics, tendency to addict gamers, and ability to ignite interest even after failing miserably at completing the hardest quests. Atlantica, the more appealing because of its no-charge, turn-based style of play in which you control 8 other chars other than yourself, does this in a weird way. Most of the time, the player is either way too rich or way too broke but there's no in-betweens and time (outside the game) often leads to more money in the game. Visually, its not as appealing as Final Fantasy 11. In Final Fantasy 11, whose total monthly charge is more or less equivalent to World of Warcraft's (15-20 dollars), you control one character but that character can become a certain number of very different jobs (14+), Summoner and Redmage being the old school favorites of the genre's fans. However, here we come across a problem with either game. There was a time of about two months for Atlantica where even higher level gamers got stuck. The same goes with Fantasy but this lag was about two-years long. It involved this problem: you would reach the highest level (120, Atlantica, 75 in final fantasy) and even after traveling to higher level areas the games became dull, instead of fun. In attempt to fix this, the creator's of the final fantasy came up with an update which generally caused a lot of interest with old school and new-school players. Atlantica off-handedly announced some kind of update but no one suspected an update, players just thought it was regular maintenance.

Now to the problems. Final Fantasy 11, in its attempt to create interest among higher level players, brought about this idea of upgrading weapons from scratch. (you get a weak weapon, complete a conquest and it becomes a stronger weapon and then you trade that weapon, complete another quest and it becomes an even stronger weapon). Ideally, this "sounds" fun but it's anything but. Final Fantasy 11 made the mistake of making the first quest in the series too boring, not difficult, and lagging in style. Instead of throwing the player a bone, they shoved him into a quiet jail-cell where he has to escape four solid walls to create a better weapon. Worse, the initial weapon you get, is three or four times weaker than the initial weapon you wield (if you've attained level 75). Don't look forward to its next upgrade in which the players can go above and beyond their limits by reaching level 99 or aspiring to reach 99. The quests will probably be just as boring and just as lagging in style. Final Fantasy just can't hold up to its part of the deal. Gamers got what they wanted but Square Enix just ruined the whole thing by giving it to them under impossible or impossibly dull conditions. Two years of waiting for nothing, ugh.

Atlantica online, on the other hand, with its so-so upgrade that it didn't even announce until after it was done (just to remind you, this is a free multiplayer online rpg), improved its game play and fun factor by at least 50%. Not only do high level players get more opportunities to gain might (which is the equivalent of merit points or gaining more strength after reaching the limits of leveling) but the new set of items provide players with multiple opportunities to earn money, the games currency. Unlike Final Fantasy 11, Atlantica triumphs with its update and doubly so for being a free game. Ndoors gets nothing but the utmost respect for its blinding updates and its ability to keep players interested, not to mention its infallible game-play. It just seems to me like Atlantica cares about the way a player would play the game, not how much they could bore a player with tiresome tasks.

My advise? Well, Final Fantasy 11, if you want my interest, you're going to have to put more NM's to compensate the need to kill them or, at the least, make them come out more often (killing a lottery mob that comes out every six hours, three times to complete a quest I might have to repeat for another weapon isn't going to give me a positive opinion of you). What happens if someone else kills it before me, I have to wait another six hours? No. No. Your concept was good. Your ideas were bad. Stop it. Atlantica, keep up the good work.