February 7th, 2003

A new expansion to Square's latest instalment, FF11, is coming out during April in Japan. The magazine hype is already going at full speed, both Famitsu (the biggest Japanese gaming magazine) and Dengeki have large, many-page long features of the upcoming expansion disk.

So what does this Vision of Ziraat offer that the original FF11 game doesn't have? Well lots actually, new items, new jobs, new areas and extra side quests. One new job is that of Summoner, complete with three summons: Ifrit, Titan and Carbuncle. It is assumed that in order to gain the job as a Summoner you must complete some complicated task first – like fighting against the beast that will later become your ally. Another new job could be ninja, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. The jobs seem to follow the basic Final Fantasy game job line, nothing new in sight. But then again, whychange a working formula?

A place called "Ifrit's Cauldron" is among the new areas added to the game and many of the islands that were on the map but couldn't be accessed will be available now. These as yet unexplored areas will have new side quests for the players to complete. The players who don't buy the expansion pack won't be able to access these areas and can't learn the new skills, but the new items will be available for everyone. The new areas aren't essential in order to play the game though.

New areas include the previously mentioned Ifrit's Cauldron where it is assumed that a Summoner could acquire Ifrit. The place is full of mountains and volcanoes. Nog will be a pirate island and it's rumoured that you could meet Gilgamesh there. Uglap's Temple will show us another familiar face, Tonberries have taken this temple of an evil god to be their own.

Another newly added area will be a beautiful idyllic forest that has stayed free from the human touch. Ancient ruins will be found from there, occupied by a tribe of cursed people. The place will be called Yutanga Forest. Another new area is made up out of a whole underwater cave. Cave of Kolrock will be occupied by terrestial coral colonies. The cave used to serve as a shelter.

Although FF11 has been available in Japan for ages, still no western release date has been given and FF11 is getting expansion packs in its home country already. Things aren't looking too good for a western world release, though Square is still planning to release the game outside Japan.

"It all began with a stone,
Or so the legend says.

In ages past,
The sentient jewel,
Enormous and beautiful,
Banished the darkness.

It's many-colored light filled the world with life
And brought forth-mighty gods.

Bathed in that light,
The world entered an age of bliss,
Until after a time,
The gods fell into slumber.
That world was called Vana'diel."

The game takes place in the beautiful world of Vana'diel. But now Vana'diel is in the middle of a war. Only crystals forgotten long ago may save Vana'diel from falling into the hands of darkness.

Vision of Ziraat (Jirat No Genei) will be in shops April 17th in the Japanese markets. The price of the PlayStation 2 version has been fixed at 3,980 yen (33.59USD), whereas the PC version's price will be open.

Those of you who can read Japanese can click the thumbnails to view images at full size, for those of you who can't the pictures are worth looking at anyway.

Written by alhana
Proofread by Pulsar

Sources:
Final Fantasy XI Resources
Square Central
IGN