FFXI: Wings of the Goddess

Expansion brings casual gameplay in the form of Campaign battles, but repainted zones and unfinished quests leave the update feeling empty.

December 29, 2007

A little while ago I voiced some of my anger about how Square Enix messed up the whole release of the latest Final Fantasy XI expansion, Wings of the Goddess. But now that we've (almost) all gotten a chance to purchase and install this expansion, it's time for a little review. Keep in mind, this is a review for the expansion to an MMORPG, so I'll be using terms that might not make much sense to someone outside of this game.

I can't help but to feel that reviewing Wings of the Goddess at this point is a little pointless. It's incomplete. This review is destined to sound (read: be) negative because it's obviously incomplete. That's not surprising, mind you, as previous expansions Chains of Promathia and Treasures of Aht Urhgan were also incomplete upon their release.

In a way, this is almost a benefit. The fact that most of the expansion's content is still locked away means that everyone can explore the new content at their own pace. Those who have the extra time to fly through the missions, explore all the new areas and obtain all the new gear are not that far ahead of the average player who has to go to work, attend school classes, look after their kids — or participate in reality.

So let's consider what's been added with the expansion:

New Jobs

The two new jobs, Dancer and Scholar, were released with the expansion as promised. This might be the best part of the expansion for those who are leveling these new jobs. Myself, I prefer melee jobs, so Scholar is out. Dancer isn't really to my liking at this time, but it could be a sub-job if it proves useful.

Scholar (left) and Dancer (right) are the two new jobs available in Wings of the Goddess, bringing the total job count to twenty.

Still, the addition of new jobs does add some more variety to the gameplay so this is a good thing in my books. Both Dancer and Scholar seem to be viable jobs at this point, and already seem to be better-received than the new jobs from the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion.

New Zones

The "new" areas in Wings of the Goddess are essentially the original areas from the game, re-painted. The expansion takes place in the past, so don't expect new, exotic places. It was exciting, though, to explore some of these areas for the first time. New enemies have been added and the mob levels in these zones have changed dramatically.

In addition, three all-new zones have been added, one on the route to each nation. For example, entrance to Tarongi Canyon on the road to Windurst is now blocked, and you must venture through the new Fort Karugo-Narugo to reach Windurst. Similar zones have been added to the San d'Oria and Bastok routes as well.

Still, not all areas from the original game are accessible in the past. Sarutabaruta, Ronfaure and Gustaberg have each been cut in half, with only one area in the region accessible. The three nation-cities have each been reduced to a single zone as well, although this seems to be temporary as obvious magical barriers are blocking access to the rest of these towns.

New Missions

There are two new missions in the game. Two missions that consist almost entirely of cutscenes, although you do need to complete a few side quests to advance to the third, incomplete mission. The missions essentially give you access to the past, and allow you to participate in the new. Aside from a few hints at the direction of the storyline, these

New missions are presumably around the corner, but expect them to be released gradually over the next year or so. The last expansion, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, just saw its storyline completed a few months ago, well over a year after the expansion's release.

Campaign

There is one redeeming quality behind the release: Campaign. This self-serve means of gaining experience points certainly helps those players who want some short-term excitement in the game. Rather than taking the time to form a party and spending the 2-3 hours at a single camp fighting for exp, Campaign allows you to, by yourself, join in a battle. At any time there's a Campaign battle going on somewhere, so you can jump in and get some rewards for your time. Campaign battles aren't as effective for leveling up as traditional exp parties, but they do offer a nice change of pace.

Campaign battles allow you to join groups in casual battles for exp, without forming formal groups.

In addition to Campaign battles are Campaign Ops. These short quests can be done at least once daily alone or in small parties, and give small experience points and Allied Notes (the WotG 'currency') rewards.

Wrapping Up

…is something Square Enix should have done. The new Campaign battles are a great addition, and the new jobs offer something to many players, but this release feels so incomplete. Even Treasures of Aht Urhgan seemed to be further along than this one. Installing the expansions is socially mandatory for anyone playing Final Fantasy XI, but we can only wait until we get the bulk of this expansion.