Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy Vana'diel Clock [HORI]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This clock is a "luxury" or "collector's" item that IMO can be truly appreciated only by FFXI fans. Heck, some FFXI fans don't think it's practical to buy this. Frankly you can't blame 'em because of the price plus the fact that the information this clock gives can be easily accessed by fansites on the Net. The reasons why I bought this clock were clear: I'm a die-hard FFXI fan and I wanna add it to my armada of FFXI collectibes. It may not be worth it to some people, but to me it does. FYI I can manage my own money perfectly. This is just one of my hobbies so please cut me some slack. Save me from those negative opinions.

The clock has 4 square buttons, each with the Flags of FFXI's 4 nations: San d'Oria, Bastok, Windurst and Jeuno. You set up to 4 different alarms and assign them to the 4 nations' buttons. The alarms are in the form of musicbox versions of the 4 nations' BGMs in the game. Pretty nifty if you ask me.

Here are the programs in my clock: For added information, I'm a San d'Orian Hume Summoner engaged in Clothcraft:
1. The San d'Orian alarm is programmed to wake me up at 8:45am everyday before I prepare to go to work.
2. The Bastok alarm is programmed to go off whenever it's lunchtime at 12 noon (I only activate it during weekends when I'm at home and not in work).
3. The Windurst alarm is programmed to go off whenever the Weaver's Guildshop opens in the game. The reason for this is that the Weaver's Guild is located in Windurst.
4. The Jeuno alarm is programmed to go off whenever it's 9pm in my time, because that's the time where my friends and I meet at Jeuno and head out for our levelling adventures.

Would I recommend it? Yes, but it all boils down to your own personal preference. If you think it's too expensive, then don't buy it, simple as that. You're NOT uncool for not owning it, trust me. No one cares whether you own this or not. If you do buy it, make sure you make good use of it. It's a very expensive piece.

The second revision of the HORI FFXI Vana'diel clock is an improvement, but still misses the mark for a $49.95 (original price) clock. The days of the week icons are difficult to view and there should be a USB connection and program to utilize the clock.

The clock does lose time. Normally I set the clock ahead about an Earth minute (25 Vana'diel minutes) and let it slow down to the correct time.

Yet, for a FFXI player this clock does have its advantages. Before I login I consult the clock to know the time of day (e.g. night: Ghosts, Fomor, etc. could be out), day of the week (for the element), moon phase to name a few.

Yes this information is available on fan sites. Unless you have a PC near-by you can't access this information. I know several people who play on a PS2 or XBox 360 and don't have a connected PC near the game machine (one is my Son (the PC is upstairs but he plays on the PS2 downstairs).

I can recommend this clock to any FFXI player without a PC near his game console, die-hard FFXI collector, Windows players running FFXI fullscreen, etc.

I keep this clock on my desk at all times. This clock is a typical every day alarm clock for the real world, but can double as a desktop game device that keeps track of the time, date, and moon phases in Vana'diel - important information for those who use the game's gardening system among other things.

The clock is an attractive desk ornament, the alarm functions are of course handy, and the alarm music is quite attractive.

The controls to set the clock could be a little more intuitive (do not lose the instructions!), but overall this is a highly functional piece of FFXI memorabilia.

I bought this rather odd clock on a whim, being an avid FFXI player. After spending a little time fooling with it, I found that I have more uses for it out-of-game than in!

Setting the thing up is a little bit of a hassle, what with game time and real time needing to be in sync, but if you're not using it to keep track of game time, close is good enough. On it's own, it's an accurate and novel desktop clock with four alarm settings, which are very versatile. The alarms can be set as countdown timers, which is handy in the kitchen, or as just plain timed alarms, good for wake-up calls, appointments, etc. The alarms have a volume control, although to be fair the settings seem to be 'Loud' and 'Obnoxious'. Still, it gets your attention when they go off, and I guess that's the point. The alarms are jingly, music-box like renditions of the various national anthems in the game world. they're recognizable if you know the music, but not actual in-game quality.

As an aside, my personal favorite on this thing is the San D'orian March.

My only complaint is that the contrast on the LCD screen is a little dim, and no way to adjust it (that I've found). Other than that, I've been very happy with the clock, it's an inexpensive and novel timepiece that looks neat and does operate as advertised.

First of all, I knew that it didn't link with the game so I wasn't disappointed like many others. I actually wanted to buy this clock when I saw the ad in the Chains of Promathia expansion pack for the PC when it came out years ago. I recently started playing again and decided it'd be fun to pick it up and try it out.

First of all I am VERY impressed with how easy it is to set up. For those of you who have problems, I suggest using http://www.pyogenes.com/ffxi/timer/v2.html to set it up. It needs to be down to the second, so it may take a couple tries. All you do is put in your time zone (based on a chart they give you), the date, and the earth time (again this has to be to the second.) and it automatically calibrates all the Vana'diel info i.e. Day, Moon Phase, Time.

Four alarms can be set as countdown timers or just your standard alarm. They can be set to Earth time OR Vana'diel time. For instance, you can set the alarm for 8:00 Vana'diel time so you know when the Mhaura ferry arrives. You can set the Countdown timer for 2 hours earth time to notify you when your 2hr is ready to use again. Alarms are super easy to set and turn on and off.

The cons. You can leave the alarms on so they will perpetually go off every time they're scheduled to. However, the timers must be turned on again after they've completed their countdown. This isn't a huge deal but say if you wanted to synchronize them with a specific airship and have it go off every fifteen minutes and automatically start over again, you can't.

The screen can be difficult to read from certain angles and in certain lighting. The light isn't as bad as most people say though.

The alarms seem too loud for the speakers. They are very loud and, especially during high notes, distort a bit. It's a shame because they're actually quite pretty. They sound like music box versions of the various nation's themes. I don't know why they made them so loud as most people will have this sitting a foot or so away from them while playing.

All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase, the cons are more just little annoyances than anything to deter a purchase. This is a surprisingly sophisticated little device and I recommend it to anyone who avidly plays Final Fantasy XI.

I bought this piece for my fiance who is a huge FF buff, I thought it would make a nice add on to his collection. The time is off by about an hour (It is supposed to auto set the Vana'diel [game] time when you input your current [earth] time/zone information.) Only thing I can think of is that it might not work with daylight savings time. The LCD screen also has to be placed somewhere with a light colored background, it's not the easiest to see.

Overall though, he likes it as a collector's piece and therefore it was worth the cost.

A real-time clock that shows current time from Vanadiel and its moon faces and weather forecast, cool!!! Like living in it!

you may think, like I do, that this is a USB connective clock (it is not, despite beind described as USB) that will warn you when airships are aproaching, timers are up, and otherwise be a helpful tool in playing FFXI. You will be wrong.

It is a standard clock with stop watch like buttons that you program. The display is sort of hard to read, and I have not yet been able to get the time syced up proper with my time and with game time. The days are not even acurate. the clock is not particularly attractive, and for $24, well I expected alot more.

The description is misleading, dont be confused.

Buy this only if you play FFXI and want a decoration, dont expect it to help you too much, dont expect it to be too acurate.

The display is so dim it's almost impossible to read. The timer tunes sound nothing like the country themes in-game. Save your money. Don't buy this.

as i said before it is a good and will help u so that u know the ingame time for some NM and some of the HQ crafts and u can also make alarms for the air ships or for anything u want to do after somtime in game also it have a good sounds of the alarms
**** but ;) (i always like this part)
the clock should be improved like the sounds of the clock it is only mid and they should make it as mp3 for high quality sounds and they should make an always timing for the departure of ships from and to rather using the alarms to do this things i donot want to tell some advices that they should know by them self specialy after the last expansion
but ;) (this is the last but lol)
in general it will help u unless if u donot have extra money to to spend it .