Once you've created your character, Final Fantasy XI will feel either very familiar or very alien to you, depending on your gaming past: Final Fantasy XI's gameplay has a lot in common with games like EverQuest and almost nothing in common with previous Final Fantasy titles. Exploration and battle follow the usual MMORPG formula, requiring players to venture out and kill rarabs and other tiny creatures for the first several hours of the game. Like most MMOPRGs, battle is done automatically, but Final Fantasy XI offers a few twists to keep it fresh. For example, skill chains and magic bursts are techniques by which players in a party can inflict bonus damage by correctly timing the use of certain skills and spells, a form of teamwork that will be essential in some of the game's later dungeons.