Final Fantasy XI Chains of Promathia Expansion Pack

by Square Enix

Product Features

• In the Great Crystal War, the forces of darkness were defeated. But they have regrouped and are now marching on the cities of Vana'diel. Create a Character and join the fight against an unspeakable evil.
• Each kingdom has its own storyline - as you progress you'll enter other kingdoms and interact with new players, for all-new quests and missions
• The classic Final Fantasy gaming engine returns with cutting-edge graphics, deep storylines, innovative new quests and options
• Customize characters by giving them unique traits and jobs, then go on mini-quests to unlock new classes like Dark Knight, Summoner and Ninja
• Partake in conquest to discover items, earn money, and uncover valuable information about Vana'diel

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002VYS3C
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 3.5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,981 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #38 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Strategy
  • #71 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Role-Playing

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

Expansion pack; Requires FF XI to play
Final Fantasy XI: Chains Of Promathia takes you into the aftermath of a great war, as you answer a desperate call to defend your people. In this first ever cross-platform massive multiplayer online game, you'll unite with other warriors as they save their world from utter destruction. Volunteer for missions to defend the world and its people, across 100 different gameplay areas -- mountains, deserts, oceans, castles and dungeons, all with lives of their own. Fight the constant time and weather changes and create a legend.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid expansion, although a bit disappointing..., March 5, 2006

By 

Steven M. H. Yu "Aeni" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Final Fantasy XI Chains of Promathia Expansion Pack (Video Game)

Chains of Promathia is a fairly solid expansion released by Square Enix for their Final Fantasy XI MMORPG. With this second major expansion (Rise of Zilart being the first expansion) for the series, SE (Square Enix) attempted to introduce several new missions and quests that may be attempted by low/mid-level players, increasing content and play for the more "casual" players. Note: There are no new job classes nor did the level cap change with this expansion (Currently at 75)

In addition, several additional enhancements were added to the game, some of which are still being uncovered through scheduled patches that SE has implemented these past few months. The Adventuring Fellow quests and NPC were added to aid a player in their journeys across Vana'Diel and made possible for exploration in areas where soloing might not be a good idea. This feature and many others are currently under full support by SE with new quests and events being added almost on a monthly basis.

Of course, with all the new content and additions, there's also the downside. Several job class balancing problems were not addressed in this expansion and subsequent patches still have not fixed them (Only the job classes of Rangers, Summoners and Dragoons saw major changes over the past 6 months from the date of this review) Furthermore, the missions have proven to be more difficult than first expected and many players did not believe the reward justified the horrendous amount of time (In terms of equipment procurement, gil and hunting of several key rare/ex items) This sentiment is still being echoed today even by veteran players who are just now getting into the higher level (Uncapped) areas of CoP and are encountering impossible to beat NMs (Notorious Monsters) and incredibly difficult missions.

The expansion does warrant purchase that can greatly enhance a player's time spent in the game, however. Most notably is the inclusion of several new areas which can be accessed without the special missions (Bibiki Bay and Ulegrande Range to name a couple) Bibiki Bay in particular is an experience hunting ground that has become widely popular with many players and most players I know will suffer greatly if they do not have these areas installed to go to with other players.

In short, the expansion is good fun with a group of trusty adventuring friends, but casual players might get turned off with the prospects of spending hours upon frustrating hours to put together a pick up group of strangers to accomplish many of the quests and missions in this expansion.

If you're new to this game and looking for the PC version, I highly recommend the DVD edition of the game, in which is contained both the core game as well as both of the expansions in an affordably priced package. For continuing or returning players, the price is not prohibitive and while much of the content might go to waste on casual players, it is still recommended for the more routine experience outings.

In my own experience, I did not find this expansion as entertaining and fun as Rise of Zilart. However, I rated this release at 4/5 out of consideration that while I may not have found it as enjoyable, that my situation is not entirely due to the fault of SE and that while this expansion certainly has its design flaws, for some players out there, especially for those "hard core" players, this expansion will no doubt provide them with many more hours of play and content to keep them busy until the next epansion (Due to be released sometime in April 2006)

65 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Was hoping for more.., November 10, 2004

By 

Monsieur Mouton "M. Montgomery" (USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Final Fantasy XI Chains of Promathia Expansion Pack (Video Game)

FFXI has it's flaws. Well, okay, quite a few.

I was sincerely hoping this would at least attempt to fix some of them. I have no idea what I was thinking. Not only did the customers who ordered the game as it came out have to run hours worth of upgrades to fix glitches in the expansion, most of the quests and items weren't available due to further problems. Which makes me wonder if Square-Enix just threw the game out as soon as possible, without actually putting any effort into it.

So far, there's absolutely nothing I find useful from the expansion. It HAS introduced a few new items, but most can only be used by classes that already have a nice variety of items available to them. The expansion pack also introduced new areas, one of which is a new city. Wait, no, Square isn't just going to let you go to the new town after you bought the expansion, you'll have to undertake series of horribly tedious missions to unlock the passage. The missions are exactly the same; wait around a few hours to form an alliance then try and survive a trip to a boss fight, except each area looks *slightly* different.

I will admit the new areas that can be accessed freely [...] were pretty fun to explore and introduced some fairly cool monsters, but haven't benefited me in a single way.

NO new jobs were introduced with this expansion. The J&R Music review points out you can get Dark Knight, Summoner and Ninja, but all those jobs are available without Chains of Promathia.

All in all, this expansion didn't introduce much of anything useful (with the exception of some interesting boss fights with familiar FF characters and new areas). Though, it's not horribly expensive so you might as well get it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Promathia Review, October 9, 2007

By 

Alex Mummert "VividScript" (Monticello,IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Final Fantasy XI Chains of Promathia Expansion Pack (Video Game)

Great Game... Exelent expansion to what could be called the greatest massive multiplayer game for any console and maybe even PC

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