Final Fantasy is a name that evokes wildly different responses from gamers. For the uninitiated, it brings the typical response of "How can it be a FINAL fantasy if there are eleven of them now?" For most of the others who have played the games, since the first one appeared way back on the NES, they represent one of the high points in role playing game history. The popularity of the Final Fantasy series can be attributed to the exciting stories, varied magic and combat systems and the wide, unique bestiary of foes that the player must wade through on his way to the end game. Of course the popular trend today is to take a well loved franchise and produce a version where all the regular characters have been changed into hip, extreme, in your face, crime fighting super heroes who ride skate and snowboards and battle robots, while drinking flavored coffees and sports drinks creating corporate tie ins that - no wait! I'm thinking of cartoons! In the video game universe, the popular trend is to take a successful franchise and turn it into a cash cow that is the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Final Fantasy has joined the ranks of others like, Star Wars and WarCraft (coming soon) to make the transition from a stand-alone series of games to a MMORPG. Things like graphics, sound, interface design, and engaging gameplay are things that all games (should) have in common when being reviewed, but MMORPGs are a different breed of game, and so they must judged by all of those things mentioned before, as well as a set of criteria unique to the MMORPG environment. First, let's get a little background on the world of Final Fantasy XI (FFXI).