The 2008 Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival, held by the game’s maker Square Enix, was held Friday and Saturday, December 5 and 6, at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel on Highland Avenue. About 500 die hard FFXI gamers descended onto the hotel, myself and my husband included. This was our second year to go to the FanFest and I have to say, what I experience at the FanFest is why I keep playing FFXI.

This year’s FanFest was definitely scaled down from the 2007 FanFest. Last year’s FanFest had about 2,000 attendees and lasted from a Thursday to a Sunday. This year’s FanFest saw only about 500 attendees and lasted just two days. But those two days were packed with events and news that had the gamers hopping with excitement.

Friday night, of course, was just a reception and all the gamers finding one another and meeting up. As an MMOPRG, FFXI of course has led people to make friends online from around the world. The FanFest is probably the only venue where these gamers are able to come together and meet face to face so they can continue their friendships that they began in-game.

So, can anyone say that OPEN BAR the first night of the FanFest was a superb idea?!? Probably about two-thirds of the gamers were over 21, which made the lines at the bars long. But add in the free food, who cared about waiting? Fried calamari, duck pot stickers, egg rolls, gazpacho were only some of the yummy food offered. Maybe the food was a bit more than most of us were expecting (what gamer hasn’t lived on hot pockets, chips and tacos?), but hey, who complains about free food? After a couple of hours, everyone was relaxed, relaxed and relaxed!

The fun stuff started up again Saturday morning where the opening was a teaser of what was to come for the day and for the game. If you check out Allakhazam, one of the longest-running sites for MMOPRGs, you’ll find the news and updates that SE has in store for FFXI. But, can I say WOOTLES for the three new storylines that are being developed??? I mean, come on! The titles themselves have me grooving: A Celestine Prophecy, A Moogle Kupo de Etat and A Shantotto Ascension! Three storylines that are complete quests in and of themselves that continue the stories began in the Wings of the Goddess expansion will be rolled out soon. I guess that means I’m going to actually have to level up my character to take these on!

The developers then introduced to new aspects to the game: Moblin Maze Mongers and the Swarm. The Maze is a build your own dungeon with mobs of your choosing and you and your party fight for a reward. The Swarm is something along the lines of a bunch of mobs spawning and you and your party just keep killing them until the end. Either of these I think are good ways for casual players and social linkshells to have some fun, get some XP and get good drops.

But, the best reason for going to the FanFest, is for the PEOPLE. Okay, the reason why everyone goes to FanFest is not only to find out what to expect in game before the general public and get an exclusive in-game item (woot for the Moogle Shield!), but to meet up with the friends they make in game. Now, can I admit that yes, I was excited to hear about the game stuff, but I was more excited to meet up with Pikko of Pikko Pots fame and the other Allakhazam administrators that I have talked with, in some electronic fashion?

Traycee is going to kill me if I don’t even get to the cosplay. Now, last year definitely had more cosplayers but there were a few people that just had the most awesome costumes. Soulflayer for one, baby Moogle and More Than a Black Mage and Summoner were the ones that completely blew me away. The details, effort and time that go into making these costumes just are phenomenally unreal. Okay, the baby Moogle probably didn’t have a lot to it, but that baby is just so darn cute! And these were the winners of the costume contest.

These were the winners of the costume contest:

Other cosplayers that were in the costume contest, but didn’t win. I love the Chef!

I kept telling myself that I was going to create and wear a costume this year and I didn’t get around to it. But I’m planning for next year and I WILL do it!

The Developer’s Panel definitely gave the gamers some things to cheer up, mainly other ways to gain more XP and drops. Other methods are also being developed to combat RMT (the BANE of MMOs).

Another way for the gamers to be part of the FanFest is to enter the Crafting and Art Contests. The number of art pieces entered this year was close to 80 pieces, but the one that caught my eye the most was La Theine:

Seriously, it looked like an Impressionist water color painting. It was just gorgeous. It took second place in the Contest.

And for crafting….I have to say GO PIKKO! Pikko already made a name for herself with her extensive research into the gardening and crafting recipes of FFXI and started making bentos for her lunches in Hawaii. She made up a bento for the crafting contest and took second place:

All I can say….nom nom nom DELICIOUS! Congratulations Pikko! The Chocobo Family on the shelf above her bento was the winner.

After the contest winner announcements and the giveaways (one of the giveaway winners was the guy who was the very last to register for FanFest AND was also the most recent gamer to register to play the game—-a diehard FFXI gamer to be sure!), there was a concert by Kumi Tanioka, one of the composers for the FFXI soundtrack to round up and close out FanFest.

All in all, I have to say that I loved the FanFest as much as last year. It was smaller, but no less fun (but please, SE, give us Gobbie Bags we can be proud to carry, not bags that make us look like tourists). It’s fun to put faces with the character names and know that there are FFXI diehards just like me.

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