Gameplay
Final Fantasy XI, in addition to being an MMORPG, differs from previous titles in the series in several ways. Unlike the predefined main characters of previous Final Fantasy titles, players are able to customize their characters in limited ways, including race, gender, face, hair color, body size, job, and allegiance. Also diverging from previous games in the series, all battles are real time, and enemies are no longer randomly encountered, a trend continued in FFXII and FFXIII.
There currently 16 (down from 32 at the games height) public game worlds, a cluster of servers, available for play with approximately 15,000 to 20,000 players in each. The servers are named after summoned monsters from previous Final Fantasy titles, such as Ifrit and Diabolos. Players have the ability to move between servers, though Square-Enix charges a "world transfer" fee to do so. There are no region-specific or system-specific servers, and unlike most online games, players of different languages play in the same world and can interact through automatic language translation from a library of translated phrases. The game servers are run by Square-Enix as part of their PlayOnline network. A private Test Server, Undine, was opened to eligible players to aid in feedback of updates in development for the game in mid-2011.
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