Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy XI Atlas

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

 

 

I bought this thinking it would be an updated strategy guide, but was disappointed when I found out it was only a book of maps with a small list of key events and points of interest to go with each area. It gives a nice overview of each place in Vana'diel, but not really necessary for the average gamer. I think this was meant more for a collector's sake than a gamer. The artwork is great and it's a nice book to have on a shelf, but I wouldnt' recommend it for someone looking to uncover secrets of the game.

This atlas, in my opinoin, is pretty good, but not complete at all. It does give you a lot of maps, but only the ones you start off with, or can buy/quest - none from coffers. (Maybe with the exception of Castle Zvahl, I can't remember how you get that map)It does give you a fairly accurate list of monsters and nms along with reccommended levels and some pop locations. Also, it does have maps of towns with some usefull NPC locations. So, if your a beginner, I would definetely reccomend it, since it can get you around for quite a few levels, but the more experienced players don't really need it, unless they really want to save a few gil by not buying maps.

As I bought it for collecting purposes only, I wasn't overly disappointed with the content. It covers all the original FFXI areas (I think), some of the Zilart ones but lacking many dungoen maps like all Sky zones, uggalepih, cauldron, boyahda, quicksand, kuftal, SSG, onzozo, ie the coffer/chest ones.
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There is no CoP content at all. Some NM spawn spots are missing especially in Zilart maps, but there is a more comprehensive "NM Drop Table" that includes areas they didn't have maps for, no COP. There's also info on BCNMs and Dynamis but u can't expect them to be complete given the nature of the game.

The advice and quest info they give for each area is really only helpful to a <Lv30 beginner (similar style to Brady's strategy guide). Some of the lvling up advice is unconventional.

For its usefulness, it'll depend on how many maps you've collected and your knowledge of NMs. Anyway I wouldn't buy this book as a refence since there are much better ones online.

As a collectors item, the Amano art on the covers (4x A4 sides) is very nice, I wished it came with more of it. Otherwise it's the same quality as their FFXI strategy guides.

Do not waste your money on this steaming load. Not only is it missing a TON of maps (CoP zones, I can understand.. but no Boyahda, Quicksand, Onzozo, etc.?); for the maps it does have, that's just about all you get - a map. There's a little info on some NM pop locations, but that's it. This guide doles out useful information very sparingly. Not a single damn coffer pop location.

As if being an ATLAS WITHOUT MAPS wasn't enough, the guide is spotted with misinformation here and there. For example, don't try to use this guide if you need to go to a specific location in Western Altepa Desert - the grid is completely wrong.

The one useful thing you get from this guide is level ranges and aggro information for different mobs in different zones. Knowing whether raptors in the Valley link or not is a good thing.. for this, I give the Brady Atlas 1 star.

The FFXI Atlas has some alright info in it but for the most part if you play the game you already know the info in it.

it is kinda cool to have the maps but not worth the price.

This book doesn't give as much information as the actual thick FFXI Strategy Guide. Heck, it's not even a strategy guide to begin with. It's a book that contains many of the maps of FFXI, both cities and dungeons. Take note, "many of the maps". There are a lot of missing maps and areas for some oddball reason.

The maps are personally drawn, meaning they don't use graphics from the actual maps from the game. This is good in some cases, especially the annoying maze-like Yuhtunga and Yhoator Jungles, where the actual map provided in-game does not include visible underground passageways, you can still get lost despite the map provided to you. The maps in this book include "dotted line" pathways just so you could "see" those underground passageways and where they are located on the map.

This may or may not be good for some of you, but it also has extra information and advice that you may or may not need, like Notorious Monster spawnpoints and an explanation on what these Notorious Monsters drop and why you need them (I call these monster drops "droppings"). It also has supplemental advice on where to buy good weapons, whether items are better bought in the Auction House or in NPC shops, the works. Personally I find these paragraphs a lot more interesting than the maps themselves.

Be mindful though, and I can't stress this enough. THIS IS NOT A STRATEGY GUIDE, BUT IT'S EXTREMELY USEFUL IF YOU BOUGHT IT TOGETHER WITH THE ACTUAL THICK FFXI STRATEGY GUIDE. Don't buy this alone unless you already own the FFXI Strategy Guide. If you do buy it but don't own the actual FFXI Strategy Guide then IMO it will definitely leave you hanging, but not necessarily a waste of money.

To me an atlas should have all maps of places mentioned in its pages. I bought this thinking it would cover all the areas that I had access to. I understood that it was published after CoP was released so it probably wouldn't have those areas. However, all I really wanted was maps in sky and a few others. WRONG! Not only were the maps not included, but most the maps that I would ever really need were not included. Places like Gusgen Mines, Sky, Crawler's Nest etc seemed to be left out. What a waste.

Yes, ok, it doesnt have all maps, but what matters is it IS very useful, I play ffxi a lot and i use the atlas a lot, I recomend it to any player that can afford to buy it.

I purchased this book a long time ago and it still has that same new smell from the day I purchased it. That was a hint to the usefulness of this book for me compared to other resources in my experiences. I have to say the maps are accurate but not as detailed as they should be. They do not show alot of very key "points" to help keep you from getting frusturated during your endless travels in the FFXI world. They basically show the same map "in-game" provides. I think the reason for this is not to ruin the challenge of figuring out all the "in's & out's" of navigation for new explorers, rather, leave them w/ a brief background to maintain direction. Some may think that beginner's would want these features, however, the first time exploration can be fun w/o detailed maps. But years later when you forget things, it's just a nuisance. Personally, after figuring out all the "angles" of each zone on my own, I like the detailed references esp. since it was literally over a year in between visiting alot of the zones. It does also included some other helpful information relating to each map I was already familiar with, which some would find useful I suppose. So, I guess you could say this book may be of use to a beginner even though similar "in-game" maps are provided. As far as experienced players who don't want to use the massive amount of brain storage to remember the endless amount of zones for years and years of their lives, a more detailed quick reference guide, I believe, would be way more useful.

Final Fantasy XI Atlas Help with the game, the book is out dated, I'd look on line, for updated information.