Final Fantasy XI: My solo quest to achieve greatness. Or level down trying.

Carby Cap: the most appropriate cutscene armor for every situation.

Some of you might've noticed that I've been mentioning Final Fantasy XI lately, either through random twitter pictures or possibly overhearing a Valkurm Dunes reference at your local Best Buy. Regardless, it's true, I've been playing FFXI. I have both a good reason and a kind of silly reason for doing so.

Firstly, I want to experience FFXI in full, or at least hitting the main bullet points, simply because one day I might not have the chance anymore. FFXI's last "major" update will happen in November of this year, and while PC support will continue, console support ends in March of 2016. There's no telling exactly how long the servers will stay up after that point.

Secondly, I'm dumb, and I want all the Xbox 360 achievements for FFXI. It's been a semi-serious goal of mine ever since I experimented with returning to the game back in 2010. After the announcement of console support ending was made, I knew that my time to get this done was limited, and I'd never have the chance again unless I did it now. Ultimately, it's a great motivator to get me logged in and plowing through storylines and other content, so getting some little pop-ups of victory along the way is a nice bonus.

It should probably be noted that I'm not a serious Xbox person at all. I probably put more time in with my Wonderswan Color than my 360, but it's got some exclusives (<3 Blue Dragon) that make it worth hanging onto. My point is, it makes it all the more ridiculous that I'm attempting this, but hey, why not?

Oh, did I mention I'm doing everything completely solo?

As it turns out, FFXI is a different game than it was in 2010, let alone 2005. The three main points that are making my life a lot easier are:

• "Trusts": NPCs that act as party members, which can be acquired by various means, usually involving progressing in the main storylines. Basically, you get to summon your favorite story characters and fight alongside them, eliminating the need for a party full of those pesky real people. Trusts are permitted in most major content, meaning any storyline battlefields or bosses can be tackled alone.
• Teleportation: Home Points and Survival Guides are scattered around the major areas of the game, allowing you to warp there instantly for a small amount of gil or other currency. This speeds up fetch quests and other story missions considerably. While you need to "unlock" the warps by traveling to them the old fashioned way, once you've gotten most of the important ones at your disposal, travel times become trivial.
• Rhapsodies of Vana'diel key items: Rhapsodies is the final storyline for FFXI, bringing together all the other stories for one final climactic finish. Progressing through RoV awards you with key items that each grant a 30% permanent EXP boost (we're up to about 180% now), in addition to other rewards like being able to call forth more Trusts at a time and lowering warp costs to almost nothing.

These additions allow me to summon up a full party out of thin air, warp to the best leveling spot instantly, and gain RIDICULOUS amounts of EXP in a short time. That's right: the leveling parties of the past are long gone. The main goal of the game is to get to endgame quickly and participate in the advanced content, not gain levels.

For my purposes, I have a lot of jobs to level, so the ease of leveling up is very much welcomed. I also have to do a lot of running around for storyline missions and quests, meaning those warp points are saving me hours and hours. It's a wonderful time to be a solo player in Vana'diel, to be sure!

I've got until March to reach my goal of acquiring every Xbox 360 achievement, which will complete most of the major content in FFXI as a result. I'm actually well on my way, I've been playing so much that I haven't had any time to write about it! Stay tuned for future updates, assuming I get a chance to stop playing in the next few months.