FFXI
Final Fantasy was SquareEnix's first MMORPG (Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game). The game and even genre was a tremendous inspiration for Darkspade in terms of not just role playing but how CW created the standard in match writing, PPVS, matches and game rules.
When FFXI was finally released in the US in 2002, a side-project called CreatureFantasy was created in thinking that the CreatureWrestling genre could produce exposure to the realm of MMORPG at the same time expansion of a new title called CreatureFantasy Championship. The original concept would have been a PvP (Player versus Player) tournament. The winner(s) would advance in a tournament for the championship. However, upon the fact that FFXI didn't have a PvP at the time and that to even obtain the players for this- one would have to level towards 75 and develope a social environment in Linkshells.
Wiki's Summary of FFXI:
Final Fantasy XI (XI, Fainaru Fantajī Irebun?), also known as Final Fantasy XI: Online or simply Final Fantasy Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix Co., Ltd. (then known as Square Co., Ltd. at the time of the Japanese release). It debuted in Japan on the Sony PlayStation? 2 video game console on May 16, 2002 and was released for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers on November 5 of the same year. It was then localized and released for the North American market on October 28, 2003. An Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in April 2006 as the system's first MMORPG.[1] The story is set in Vana'diel, where various tasks can be performed to improve a character's powers or to complete quests.
In January 2004, Square Enix announced that a total of over 500,000 users utilizing over 1 million characters were playing the game. As of 2006 there are currently between 200,000 and 300,000 active players logging in per day (see Reception) and the game is the dominant MMORPG in the Japanese market.[2] Three expansions for the game have been released since 2002, capitalizing on the game's success. Square Enix, as well as other sources, has reported that the number of users continues to grow at a steady pace.
