Crime and Punishment

Certain acts will get you outlawed in a town in Final Fantasy Online. The list is small, but clear.

- Attacking someone who is not outlawed.
- Attacking an NPC.
- Attacking a building.
- Healing an Outlaw.
- Being declared an Outlaw by a Domain Lord or Chancellor.
- Pickpocketing or stealing.
- Being in a Highwayman outfit will cause the guards to attack you on sight.

If a guard or a player not in your party witnesses the act, you will be outlawed. When outlawed, you are found guilty and the sentence is death. It is possible to be outlawed in multiple areas at once, so watch it.

If you are outlawed in a town, you will be attacked by the guards or the army. Guards are capable of dealing triple-digit damage (quadruple on a critical at times), and rapidly healing themselves, meaning your punishment will be swift and brutal.

Guards will pursue you out of town if need be. When running, expect to run very far from the guards, maybe even several screens. As powerful as they are, guards only move at player speed, so anyone can outrun them.

There are a few levels of guards, each far more powerful than the last, but each town always has at least one guard on active duty.

If you are outlawed, you are subject to attack from all PCs and NPCs in the domain. The best thing to do in this case is to run out of town as quickly as you can. A single player has little chance of defeating the town guard by themselves.


Amnesty and Impunity

If you are outlawed for criminal acts, you will eventually be granted amnesty after a period of time. When granted amnesty, your crimes are forgiven, and you may enter and leave the town freely.

Impunity means that you are above the law, and you may freely lie, cheat, steal, assault, and murder anyone who is not impuned, the chancellor, or the lord of the domain. People who are impuned are not attacked by the guards or the army, even if the domain is on attack-all.

You may check your outlaw status by clicking the enemies button on your HUD, which will show all domains on Attack All, and anywhere you are outlawed from.

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The Cube

The Cube is FFO's unique jail system. Originally added to dissuade newbie player killers, the system also serves as the post mortem destination for players (above level 9) killed as outlaws within domains. But the Cube is more than a simple 'time out'. In fact, players will remain within the Cube until they either find their way out or are killed a sufficient number of times therein.


Concept:

The Cube is modeled after the large mechanical contraption in the movie series of the same name. Small rectangular rooms each connected to 4 other rooms are marked with a set of weapon names which, when properly interpreted, can help players avoid traps, determine room locations, and reveal the location of the exit. Many rooms contain hidden traps that are often deadly when encountered but can be traversed at considerable peril by those with some experience.

There are a few important differences between the Cubes from cinema and the Cube in FFO. The most obvious at first glance is that the FFO Cube is actually two-dimensional and thus not a true Cube. However, the given name sounds much better as a jail than "The Square". Second, the FFO Cube is very small in comparison, as it consists of only 64 rooms.


The Typical Cube Experience:

A newbie, having never heard of the Cube, has just murdered a fellow newbie, and while continuing to gloat over Newbie Say, he suddenly finds himself transported into unfamiliar surroundings. Still unsure of what has happened, several newbies laugh at him and/or wish him luck via Newbie Say.

The message appears: You have been sent to the Cube as punishment for murdering a newbie. You'll be released after 6 deaths or once you find the exit, whichever comes first. Good luck.

The newbie opens one of the room's four doors only to find an identical room with 3 additional doors. He walks through. Immediately after walking through the door, he receives a message telling him that the room contains an inscription: three weapons he's never heard of. He takes an additional step into the room and notices a bizarre sound and that lines have started to grow across the room. He has just enough time to take one more step before he gets skewered.

He respawns in another small room, picks a random direction, and walks straight until he dies to another trap. The process repeats four more times, after which he respawns back in New Banian, none the wiser as to what he's just experienced.


The Puzzle:

Giving away all of the Cube's secrets would defeat the purpose. However, there are a few things that can be said of it.

First and most importantly, it is consistent. The same coordinate system always applies, as does the system of determining trapped and safe rooms.

Second, while it is consistent, it is always changing. The Cube rooms have the potential to "shuffle" every 15 minutes and every time someone respawns within the Cube. This means that the safe room you just left might not be safe when you turn around and go back. The exit doesn't move as long as someone is within the Cube, but each time a lone player enters the previously empty Cube, the exit moves as well.

Third, the exit is always located on the outside edge of the Cube. This means the exit is isolated to one of only 30 potential rooms.

Fourth, you may periodically come across extra clues that will give away the exit's coordinates.

Once you unravel the mysteries of the Cube, it will be possible (albeit difficult) to find your way to the exit.


Traps:

No discussion of the Cube would be complete without mentioning the traps. The FFO Cube contains 4 distinct types of traps.

Wire-rigged rooms will instantly kill anything that steps inside, and once the wires begin to take form, you have precious little time to step back to safety.

Elemental traps do damage based on your maximum HP, so having tons of HP won't necessarily help you. In this particular case, the door will actually lock behind you, so you have about 2-3 seconds to walk to one of the side doors, as walking through the middle of the room will cause you to take tons of cumulative damage from the two active elemental bursts.

Poison traps release a Poison 2 blast in your character's face, doing maximum HP-dependent damage and additionally lots and lots of residual poison damage. Luckily, residual poison can't kill you, but the initial blast can.

Finally, some rooms will spawns Tonberries as you enter. They're resistant to just about anything you can throw at them, and they deal mortal blows every time they attack. They're relatively slow, so if you time it right, you'll be able to make it to one of the side doors.


Getting 'Cubed':

There are two ways to enter the Cube.

The simplest way is to murder a newbie, in which case you will be sent to the Cube once the newbie respawns. Killing a newbie will sentence you to a maximum of 6 Cube deaths. There are several ways to get away with murdering newbies, however. You can avoid being Cubed for killing a newbie when:

- the newbie is hostile to you
-- actually, if anyone in the newbie's party is hostile to anyone in your party
- the newbie is in your party
- the newbie is within the Cube
- the newbie is wearing a disguise
- the newbie is an outlaw of a domain and is killed within the domain

The second way involves getting killed while an outlaw of a domain. This only applies to players at and above level 10 and occurs regardless of newbie status. You must be killed either within the domain or by an NPC within a domain to be Cubed in this manner. Your Cube sentence will depend on your outlaw status, as those who are considered more dangerous will be Cubed with greater sentences. It is possible to be Cubed for up to 12 deaths in this manner, with the greatest sentences given for destroying domain improvements.


Additional Information:

- Cube deaths result in no gold or item losses and at most 1% experience loss.
- Respawning after death occurs much quicker within the Cube.
- It is possible to communicate with people outside the Cube using standard "Say" channels.
- Leaving the Cube (after fulfilling a sentence of finding the exit) will deposit your character at its standard respawn location.


Removed references to the cubes treasure, which no longer exists. Since I've only been in there three or four times, I'm sure a lot has changed.


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