The Galka are a playable race in the MMO Final Fantasy XI. This guide provides information on strengths, weaknesses, beginning jobs and suggestions for playing the race.

Overview
Galka are one of the five starting races in Final Fantasy XI. Galka are a huge beast like race made up of only males. Galka also have the highest strength, vitality and HP of the races.

Description
The name Galka translates to “mountain” and for good reason too. They are massive, muscular and not so attractive. There are no female Galkas. Old Galka go to a holy place to die, where they are reincarnated. The new body and spirit return to the village afterwards. Galka are much more prone to physical jobs.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Galka are well suited to melee jobs due to high HP and strength stats. The high mind stat makes them great monks. Their intelligence, agility and charisma stats aren’t very good, but they are a large imposing race. If this is the effect you’re going for, easy choice.

Beginning Jobs
BLACK MAGE – The only good thing about being a Galka Black Mage is the conservation techniques you’ll learn. Galka have very low MP and intelligence, making the few spells they can cast lower damage than usual. It will also be expensive keeping yourself geared.

MONK – The best option for the Monk job is Galka. They have just the right stats to make a great Monk. With the highest HP and strength and the second highest mind, Galka are really made to be Monks.

RED MAGE – Galka Red Mages trade healing survivability for brute strength. Red Mage is not a great option for Galka. They have high mind to help with enfeebling spells, but not enough MP to cast much.

THIEF – Believe it or not, Galka make pretty decent Thieves. The main point is to focus on agility and dexterity gear for your Trick Attack and Sneak Attack abilities.

So you decided to play FFXI and if you're not careful you'll probably get yourself into a whole mess of trouble. The thing about playing an online game like this is that you either have good manners or the other players will start to resent you. These are things that I learned from playing the beta under the nick of "Shadowcat" (no relation to any comic book characters) and hanging around the retail PC players. I've also learned that some of this has occurred on the North American launch as the Japanese players came to resent the total idiocy of a large group of American newbies. This ensued in something I term as "Stupid Newbie syndrome" where a block of established players clashes with a large group of newbies that has just come into the game. To prevent more of this upon the North American PS2 launch I'm writing this FAQ just for you.

Part 1: getting started-

First off you have to choose your system. Having the PC edition does not necessarily mean the game will look better or play any different. (Actually the sky looked a bit washed out on my PC beta but I'm not too sure if it is the same now as there's been a lot of updates.) There is virtually no difference between the two versions and PS2 and PC players play on the same servers. Also around are the Japanese players, and they can be a bit hard to communicate with so be nice.

1.1 System Requirements-

*Note all prices are estimates based on the suggested retail prices of these items as of 1/14/04.

1.1.1 PS2 edition:
A PS2 (of course, but a lot of us have these)-$170

Sony's Network Adapter- $30-$40

FFXI with the HDD- $99

USB Keyboard- $7-$30 (this is required for chatting on the PS2[no USB headsets here!], and personally I recommend the Sharkboard or the Powerboard. Both are great basic full sized USB Keyboards that can be gotten for very little on Ebay.)

Many North American players, new to the game, have some terrible misconceptions about how the experience (exp) penalty works in parties, and also about the optimum level range within a party. All the time I see people on the boards saying that you should have no more than a 3-level range in a party, but the acceptable level ranges are actually much larger, once you get above level 20 or thereabouts. Heck, even the official strategy guide tells you that parties will not want beastmasters or summoners because the pets rob the party of exp. Again, this is just wrong information.

It can also be disconcerting to have one character in your party ding to the next level, and everyone else suddenly sees their exp per kill dropping by a huge amount. Also, in other MMOGs, the higher level mobs tend to give larger and larger amounts of experience points, but in FFXI it seems like you're always getting the same low exp no matter what types of mobs you are fighting. This guide explains everything you ever wanted to know about how exp works in the game.

Warning, this is a loooooonnnnng guide, because the subject matter is complex and there is a lot to cover. If you are reading-challenged, I apologize in advance, but remember that knowledge = power in MMOGs.

Exp Basics
There are five different situations that each yeild different exp rates for players:

FFXI is very group-oriented, if you wish to obtain xp at the fastest rate, grouping is the way to go.
However, if you find yourself in a poorly configured group, you may gain xp at a very slow rate, or worse, end up with negative xp.

XP / Hour Ratio:
Below 1000: Bad
1000-2000: Average
2000-4000: Good
4000-6000: Excellent
Above 6000 : Phenomenal, yes this is possible

So what is the secret to getting a good xp / hr
ratio?
I. Party Configuration
II. Party Level Range
III. XPing in the right area
IV. Working together as a TEAM

I. Party Configuration:
Making a PT is more than just grabbing first 6 people you see. It takes some time to fill out a well rounded PT, but it will pay off in the end. A basic
party requires two elements, a tank, and a source of healing. As long as you have these two elements, you have a functional party. A successful party will have those 2 elements covered, then squeeze in as much damage dealing jobs as possible. Finally, there are the catalyst jobs, they act as multipliers for your damage and healing source, and help reduce downtime.

Tanks:
A tank has two roles: one is to absorb damage, two is generate Hate, as in keeping the monster' attention on you. A person that can absorb damage well, but can not hold agro does not make a good tank. A tank should always have up to date Armor, less Defense = more damage taken = less Hate. See Section III for more details in Hate management. If you don't have a good primary tank, then you'll need a "secondary tank" so you can take some heat off your primary tank.

Having a "secondary tank" is not a requirement, and is redundant in most cases. For the early levels(pre 40), anyone with high Defense and Provoke will work as Tank, at the later stages of the game it's usually PLD/WAR, NIN/WAR, WAR/NIN.