Hail, adventurers!
Fujito here.
I am honored to be writing this missive to you as the new producer of FINAL FANTASY XI. Though I know I cannot hope to hold a candle to Hiromichi Tanaka or Akihiko Matsui, I promise you that I will do my utmost to help the team bring you a compelling Vana’diel experience.
Today I am bringing you fresh content to the WE ARE VANA’DIEL website, our hub for the 20th Vana’versary festivities.
WE REMEMBER VANA’DIEL is a project in which we lay out the way Vana’diel has transformed from the start of service to the present day.
WE ILLUSTRATE VANA’DIEL is an art gallery exploring the artistic backgrounds behind various NPCs, areas, and other aspects of FINAL FANTASY XI’s visual design.
WE DISCUSS VANA’DIEL is an interview series where we pick the brains of those involved at the start of the project and learn from their experiences.
WE WATCH VANA’DIEL is a collection of video content where adventurers talk about their experiences in the world and explore a variety of key personnel’s favorite tunes from the game.
Finally, VANARIUM is illustrated content commemorating the 20th Vana’versary created by Fumio Minagawa that depicts a variety of Vana’delian personages in an adorable format.
I hope that through viewing Vana’diel through a wide variety of lenses you have been able to appreciate the storied history of the game. I am confident that the site has been an unmatchable way to experience everything that FINAL FANTASY XI is and has been.
While we had originally intended to cease updating the site after the 20th Vana’versary, we’ve decided to keep things coming a little while longer.
While it goes without saying that there are promotional aspects to this decision, the bigger impetus is that we believe that site’s name is more than just window-dressing—“WE ARE VANA’DIEL” is something that continues to exist in the present moment.
Those of us involved with the creation and operation of FINAL FANTASY XI have always and will continue to always walk hand-in-hand with our adventurers, families, supporters, and partners every step of the way. Vana’diel would not exist today if that wasn’t the case.
That is what we mean by the “WE” in “WE ARE VANA’DIEL.”
So what have we accomplished? What things have we gained? I think leaving a public record of these accomplishments is an incredibly crucial thing to keep.
May 2023 will mark the 21st Vana’versary, and fear not—we intend to keep the game running.
So what comes next? Well, the kind of Vana’diel that will accompany us into the game’s third decade is something for us to explore together. And when we look back on that decade, I hope you’ll come back to this site.
Because YOU ARE VANA'DIEL, too!
I hope you will continue to enjoy this website as much as you enjoy the game proper.
Yoji Fujito
Director and Producer, FINAL FANTASY XI
