Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin
Best Final Fantasy MMORPG Expansion
Unless you’re a very hardcore fan of Final Fantasy XI, it’s likely you never made it this far into FFXI’s lifespan to enjoy Seekers of Adoulin. Wings of the Goddess, the Abyssea battle packs, and the release of Final Fantasy XIV, was a gut shot to the game’s player base and effectively moved it out from its prime and into the back nine of its life.
That said, the Seekers of Adoulin meta actually achieved a lot to bring FFXI up to modern day standards. The addition of trusts made it so anyone can reach the level cap without having to wait for party invites anymore.
Home points and field manuals were updated to provide useful transportation across Vana’diel’s massive landmass, and the addition of Job Points finally helped many jobs that had been struggling for years and made them relevant and fun again. Speaking of jobs, both of the new jobs in Seekers of Adoulin were fantastic.
Geomancer, one of the most requested jobs in FFXI’s lifespan, became arguably the most powerful and critical job in the game, even bumping staple support job Bard from its throne.
Rune Fencer eventually became a very unique and useful tank, and a respectable DPS in certain situations as well, after some experimenting from players.
Seekers of Adoulin was great because it shook up FFXI dramatically but not in a way that changed the game’s identity that players had grown to love from its heyday. Abyssea unfortunately did that, but SoA (alongside the Rhapsodies of Vana’diel final scenario) was able to right those wrongs over the course of its run.
The biggest knock on Seekers of Adoulin is its story, which while commendable and features the beloved Arciela, is quite bloated and runs on way too long.
