The multitude of fees really put me off getting this game, plus - EPIC INSTALL TIME!!!

I love FF, but XI is just a terrible grind. I don't think anything will pull me away from WoWCrack, until Diablo 3 or whatever Blizzard comes up with next. BTW Blizzard and Square Enix are my favourite devs of all time, so I hold no bias whatsoever. Maybe FF Online2 will be better.

I enjoy the game in spurts. I can play for like 2-3 months and then quit for half a year or more. But I always get that itch and come back... and this post is giving me that fucking itch again. THANKS JIM...

As for fees, you DO have to pay the fees on Xbox, but the "upside" is that you can play this online with the silver Xbox Live if you aren't a gold subscriber. You don't need to be a paying XBL member to play FFXI. Shit, if you're online with your xbox, why the hell are you sticking with Silver anyways? Seriously?

I have this certain level of respect for people with the patience to play this game. Not only is it slow compared to other MMORPGs but you really had to put up with a lot of Korean players that made things 100 times harder then it really should have been. Grinding is never fun when you have to fight over mobs.

I remember really looking forward to it before its release, reading all the playstation magazines. I had planned on making a summoner at one point, even though it sounded like a pain. Maybe even get white mage as a second class, or just make a white mage to begin with. I enjoyed looking at the screenshots, i remember the benchmark program that came out, and was excited when it was finally out!

But I wasn't able to get it at the time. I know someone who played it since release (i remember trying to figure out how to get onto his server if i did get it augh), but left early last year, and has never looked back. I'm not impressed by their endgame content from what I had heard of it, and haven't heard great things about their battle/exp system either. Although i have enjoyed seeing some videos of boss fights and whatnot, and I get curious again at times, I don't think it'll motivate me enough to buy this.

@Droll

Agreed.

All of my friends were/are into FFXI. I've tried playing it several times; each time I come back to it I think, "This time will be different." But it's always the same. Then again, I don't like WoW either. Maybe I'm just not into MMOs? The only one I've ever invested significant time into is PSO.

I played this game for about 2 or 3 years I believe and I loved it. It took a lot of patience and time but I really think it is the best MMO out there; too bad PA decided to endorse WoW though and everyone played that.

The community in that game is awesome and that's just what really made the game for me. The job/subjob and the difficulty were great too but since you had to work together so much it just made the community a really nice place and you don't have to deal with the dumbass 12 year olds like you do in WoW.

Sadly I had to quite it due to time and I have the time to play it now but I doubt I could get my old character back and don't want to level it up again in all the jobs I had leveled. ;_;

Every time I see the rare FFXI post, I have to fight the urge to toss up a wall of text. I still play, and there are a few things I really like about it compared to other MMOs.

The primary storyline missions are always a blast and with the first two expansion packs weave together a pretty tight little story. The job system is really well done; there's 20 really unique jobs out there, and being able to borrow another job's abilities can really change the way a job plays. Furthermore, the fact that you can change jobs whenever and a lot of gear is usable across multiple jobs is fantastic for tempting people to experiment with new classes.

The big downsides are yes - you need a well-rounded party for just about everything, and yes - leveling up is a brutal timesink. Furthermore, jobs tend to have bad carrot distribution, making the 40s and the 60s kind of thankless. I guess the bottom line is everything's harder than your average MMO, but most people wear the time spent as a badge of pride.

In all, if you have a friend that still plays and are willing to put up with the install time, you can normally find the game + 3 expansion packs for $20 and it includes a free month of play. Be sure to have a keyboard. Let your buddy give you a gentler introduction to the game; it's not very friendly but can be a worthwhile (an addicting) experience.

pretty good game but i'd think it might be hard starting playing now... altough there as been a certain influct of new players this winter.

No more special editions! My bank account is crying.

decent game, played for years. 75mth mnk - midgardsormr

-yes, its slow.

-like someone else said, the carrot distribution is poor.

-it is heavily party based (solo'ing with respectable XP is almost impossible).

-/+end-game is heavily alliance(raid) based.
-end-game is poorly implemented and the early end-game content is not instanced and can cause mob/camp disasters.

-lots of good gear is based on pop mobs and also causes mob/camp disasters.

+storyline is more fleshed out than most.

-playing through nearly any of the storyline requires parties and alliances.

+/-job system is cool, but there are many job combinations that are not viable for any purpose (not nearly as interesting/useful as FFT's job/subjob combos).

-most NA players in strong LSs or upper level play are hard to deal with (childish/selfish/etc).

+playing with JP players can be a total BLAST (this is one of my fondest memories of the game).

+fishing is cool.

-/+doesnt rely very much on traditional FF series lore or themes (summons, chocobos and moogles is about it... as well as most of the jobs).

+challenging game that can be rewarding if you really learn the ins and outs of battle and play.

I hated this game when it came out on the PC way back when and I love most Final Fantasy games.

Also...dunno why this was posted now, but the 2008 edition has been out since around early/mid April.