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This has been in the works for a while, and there's been various permutations of Achievement tracking in the HorizonXI private server, but now it's been fully integrated as a platform within RetroAchievements. This is pretty exciting as someone who's casually a fan of Final Fantasy XI and gives me reason to go back and start anew on HorizonXI.
horizonxi.com
Useful information for getting started can be found here.
As some of you may have already heard, we've been working with the HorizonXI team to bring RetroAchievements support to their Final Fantasy XI private server. Their ideology of maintaining that classic feel of the older FFXI era with some new experiences aligns well with the RA goal of bringing achievements to classic gaming experiences. FFXI holds a significant place in gaming history, especially as a landmark title for the PS2, and we're hoping to introduce even more players to it with this partnership!
Today is the day that we release our initial sets to test out the new integration with their platform! This marks our first ever "Standalone" release on the RA platform--and through extension, the first "core+subset" type experience our site has to offer. Note: this is different than how emulators will implement this sort of feature, which still needs a lot of work before it comes to realization. There are only a few sets to start--but, if things go well, we plan to add many more sets that players can earn achievements in while playing the game ranging from expansions, endgame content, crafting, fishing, job-related goals, and more!
Final Fantasy XI (Standalone) (Check this forum for some useful info!)
Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart (Standalone)
Final Fantasy XI (Standalone) Subset Hero of Nations
Massive thanks to Flam, Shozokui, Rogueone, WCopeland and everybody else involved for helping make this happen!
On the Horizon (Events)
In addition, we're also holding a new event to celebrate this occasion where players will able to get a special badge (courtesy of @Jenettebaghead) for trying the game out and completing early game milestones! Read more about that here: https://retroachievements.org/viewtopic.php?t=25374
The launcher, as well as instructions on how to link to your RA account can be found at https://horizonxi.com.
Link your HorizonXI account to Discord at https://auth.horizonxi.com/ and then follow the instructions here to start earning achievements.
Join the RetroAchievements Discord to talk with fellow achievement hunters about the game in our #horizon-xi channel!
Join the HorizonXI Discord for game support and other useful resources!
tl;dr: Link your Horizon and RetroAchievements account to start tracking achievements in FFXI! Doing so will also grant you an additional 5 mog satchel slots!
What we were used to
The FFXI community is very familiar with the achievement score model for tracking your character's progress. Horizon even implemented such a system on our website, before quickly taking it down due to server load issues.
The achievement score is oftentimes called a "Gamer Score", and creates a more judgemental community where players are judged based on a score rather than their effort and skills. Furthermore, it doesn't capture the full breadth of the game to encourage exploration, nor does it provide a great sense of progression as it usually requires large feats to advance slowly. We wanted a system like Steam achievements, where milestones are broken down into line items and given value individually, without a holistic "gamer score" model. This would fostermore initiatives to explore multiple aspects of the game. Steam is too complex to replicate for a hobby project, however we were aware of a similar platform out there that could work!
Introducing RA
We are pleased to announce an integration between HorizonXI and RetroAchievements.org (RA, for short). RA has been adding achievements to retro games since 2012 and provides a community around exploring and completing retro games. It's a perfect match for Horizon, which aims to capture the FFXI experience in a more retro style. We worked with their team to become their first "standalone" game project:
You can track and share your progress with your profile page:
Get linked up!
You can link your HXI account with your RA account on the Horizon Account Page, after logging in. Here's how the flow will look:
We hope this provides a sense of exploration, accomplishment, and community to you all!
Aerec surprise perk
Linking your RetroAchievement account and talking to Lorekeeper Isa in Jeuno will give you an additional 5 mog satchel slots! (Not implemented at launch, coming soon!) Thanks Aerec!
Announcing RetroAchievements.org integration!
Track your achievements in Horizon with our new RetroAchievements.org integration!
horizonxi.com
