spectrum, where there’s so little actual content to the game that I have to resort

頻譜，其中有這麼少的實際內容的遊戲，我不得不求助於。

to flowery language just to fill four minutes’ time. And then there are the games that are

到花言巧語，只為填滿四分鐘的時間。還有一些遊戲，是

so unspeakably massive that I know that anything I say, even if I did the whole talking-fast

我知道我說的任何話，即使我做了整個說話的速度

thing, would merely scratch the surface.

事情，只會是表面上的。

As far as MMOs go, Final Fantasy XI is an odd bird. Perhaps due to the international

就網絡遊戲而言，《最終幻想XI》是一隻怪鳥。也許是由於國際

success of the Final Fantasy brand, Square Enix decided at the outset to integrate their

最終幻想》品牌的成功，Square Enix一開始就決定將他們的《最終幻想》品牌整合到一起。

servers, racially speaking. You could be fighting alongside a Japanese PLD, a French BLM, a

服務器，從種族上講。你可能會和日本人民解放軍，法國BLM，法國人民解放軍並肩作戰

Canadian COR, all in the same party and working toward the same ends: More EXP, more gil,

加拿大COR，都是同一個黨派，朝著同一個目標努力。更多的EXP，更多的GIL。

more things to obtain. Some concepts are universally understood. For everything else, there’s

更多的東西獲得。有些概念是普遍理解的。對於其他一切，有

an autotranslate system that replaces simple phrases, place names, and items with text

自動翻譯系統，用文本替換簡單的短語、地名和項目。

objects that resolve dependent on the client seeing it. It’s not exactly the United Nations,

對象，解析依賴於客戶端看到它。它不完全是聯合國。

but it’s been working fairly well since... really, it’s been that long?

但它一直在工作相當不錯的，因為... 真的，它已經那麼久？

October of ‘03. Over eight years now in the US, and closer to 10 in Japan. And you

03年10月。在美國已經超過8年了，在日本也接近10年了。而你

don’t have a game running for eight years without change. Time used to be that, unless

不要一個遊戲運行八年都沒有變化。以前的時間就是這樣，除非

you were a Black Mage or Ranger, you didn’t get invited to EXP parties, and you didn’t

你是一個黑法師或遊俠，你沒有被邀請參加EXP派對，你沒有

get EXP outside of parties because the mobs you’d have to kill were unspeakably vicious

在派對之外獲得EXP，因為你必須殺死的暴民是無法言喻的惡性。

to a lone player. That was then. These days, there are so many bonuses, buffs, and new

到一個孤獨的玩家。那時候是這樣的。如今，有這麼多的獎金、buff和新的

features that you can play the game more myopically if you wish, but where’s the fun in that?

功能，如果你願意，你可以更近視地玩遊戲，但這其中的樂趣在哪裡？

It seems these achievements are no longer considered the hardest in the whole of XBoxdom.

似乎這些成就已經不被認為是整個XBoxdom中最難的了。

But wait, the 360 didn’t even exist in October ‘03. But the PC did, and those players were

但等等，03年10月360還不存在。但PC確實存在，而那些玩家

playing right along with the already-released Japanese PS2 version, the flagship software

和已經發布的日本PS2版一起玩，旗艦軟件。

for the short-lived PS2 hard drive. The good news is that the world finally had its first

為曇花一現的PS2硬盤。好消息是，世界上終於有了第一個

truly cross-platform MMORPG. The bad news is that, even today, the XBox 360 and PC versions

真正的跨平臺MMORPG。壞消息是，即使在今天，XBox 360和PC版本的

are hamstrung by continuing to support the PS2.

都因繼續支持PS2而受阻。

See? It’s been how many minutes and I’ve only barely touched on the game itself, as

看到了嗎？已經過了多少分鐘了，我才剛剛接觸到遊戲本身，因為...

opposed WHY the game works the way it does. There is actual gameplay! It doesn’t just

而不是遊戲的工作方式。有實際的遊戲玩法!它不只是

play itself... well, kinda. You don’t actually attack your foes directly, rather you lock

遊戲本身... 嗯，有點。你其實並不直接攻擊你的敵人，而是你鎖定了

onto them with an attack command and from that point out, your basic weapon swings are

到他們的攻擊命令，從這一點，你的基本武器揮舞是

rigorously timed by the delay value of your weapon, and augmented by various factors on

由你的武器的延遲值嚴格定時，並由各種因素增強對

your other 15 pieces of gear. And then there’s an update, and a new shiny object, and the

你的其他15件裝備。然後有一個更新，和一個新的閃亮的對象，和。

great wheels of progress and power creep spin up again. Because fashion is smashin’, the

進步的巨輪和動力的蠕動再次旋轉起來。因為時尚是粉碎性的，

true meaning of it.

的真正含義。

I could easily do a five-minute analysis of each of the game’s 20 jobs, and even that

我可以很容易地對遊戲中的20個工作分別進行5分鐘的分析，即使是那

would be barely enough to do some of the more eclectic classes justice. The quick and dirty

將勉強夠做一些更折中的類的公正。快速和骯髒

version follows: Warrior, Monk, Thief, and Red, Black, and White Mage are available from

版本如下。戰士、僧侶、盜賊、紅黑白三色法師都可以從。

the outset, and if that list sounds familiar, you’ve probably played Final Fantasy 1.

一開始，如果這個列表聽起來很熟悉，你可能已經玩過《最終幻想1》。

Everything else requires completing a quest to unlock: Paladins tank things and cure themselves,

其他的都需要完成任務才能解鎖。聖騎士們可以治療自己的疾病

Ninja were supposed to be a ranged-attack and debuff class until it was found that they

忍者本來是一個範圍攻擊和debuff的類，直到發現他們

tank better than Paladins, Rangers shoot things with bows, Beastmasters and Summoners subcontract

坦克比聖騎士好，遊騎兵用弓箭射東西，獸師和召喚師分包。

their beatdowns, Dragoons enlist the service of a baby dragon as a damage sidecar, Bards

他們的打法，Dragoons請來了一條小龍作為傷害副車，Barders

buff the party by singing, Corsairs buff the party by... playing blackjack... Dark Knights

通過唱歌來給派對增光，海盜船通過... 玩21點來給派對增光... ...黑暗騎士

and Samurai hit things really hard, Puppetmasters get to build their teammate from scratch (with

和武士打東西真的很辛苦，傀儡師可以從頭開始打造自己的隊友（有了

a whole lot of money), Dancers inflict all sorts of weird debuffs in melee range, Scholars

一大堆錢），舞者在近戰範圍內造成各種奇怪的debuff，學者們

are schizophrenic mages, able to choose the Light Side or the Dark Side as the situation

是精神分裂的法師，能夠根據情況選擇光明面或黑暗面。

calls, and...

呼叫，和...

… well, let’s just say that Final Fantasy V, their point of origin, afforded Blue Mages

......好吧，我們只能說，《最終幻想V》，他們的原點，給了藍法師們

30 spells. 11’s blue mages? 150ish. Somewhere around there. Honestly, I lost count. I blame

30的法術。11的藍色法師？150左右。差不多吧老實說，我數不清了。都怪我

the bagpipes. And catgirls. Final Fantasy XI is the true black sheep, sequestered in

風笛。還有貓女《最終幻想XI》是真正的害群之馬，被封存在...

its place as the MMO no one played, except the thousands who did, and unable to gather

它的地方作為網絡遊戲沒有人玩，除了成千上萬的人做，並無法收集的地方

the attention of its woefully defective little brother 14. And then Shantotto shows up in

引起了它那有缺陷的小弟14的注意。然後Shantotto出現在

Dissidia and people are interested again. Funny how that works.

Dissidia，人們又開始感興趣了。有趣的是，這是如何工作的。