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Dont buy USED....!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: February 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I will keep this short and to the point FF11 is an amazing game---BUT---within the box you purchase is a registration code to register you online to play the game(unique to each game box)if you but this item from a person who says they tried and did not like or could not use due to ANY reason(slow cpu etc...) then they have ALREADY registered this registration code and therefore the game will be 100% USELESS to you. Playonline.com's policy is very clear, they will NOT help you with this problem as (right on top and bottom of box) it says, and i quote "not valid for purchase if opened. Not for resale by a prior owner." this is on the box because if they have used at ALL, then u will NOT be able to play, and you WILL have to buy another copy of the game. So please beware and make sure, if you buy used, it claims UNOPENED in the item description.

Final Fantasy XI Online: First Day Jitters

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 23 / 31
Date: January 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

My heart raced and dinosaurs danced the Hula in my stomach as I tore off the packaging of what I hoped to be my newest MMORPG fix. After devouring my dinner (yes, yes, I was stuck with one of those bodies that require food to survive) so that I could devote a few full uninterrupted hours to FFXI, I popped in the disc marked FFXI Disc One... So I inserted the wrong disc, stop laughing. After inserting the correct CD, the PlayOnline installer was doing its thing to my delight. An hour or so had passed by the time all five discs were finished installing.

Play time!... Er, or not. I forgot about the registration process. No big deal, though, I was used to it after two years on Dark Age of Camelot and Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. Name, address, credit card number, and agree to the dozen EULAs and Privacy Policies that sell my soul to the Dev-gods... I'd be done in three minutes... So why did such an easy task take three hours?

By the time I had finished typing in my information and all four registration codes (One code for the PlayOnline Viewer which is nothing more than a glorified account login screen for FFXI and Tetra Master, one for FFXI, one for the expansion pack to FFXI and one more for Tetra Master), it was 11 pm. Next came the hard part... The infamous patch! Now I do understand that I'm on a measly 56k but a twelve hour patch on the very first day is not a good sign.

I awoke today and logged in to see a cinematic so beautiful that the sixteen hour delay seemed worth it. The effects were stunning and the voice actors were perfect. Kudos! In fact, I think the cinematic was better than the film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within... although, most fans of the game series would state that my toe crud would make a better film. But was the game as great as the cinematic?

With a few taps of the mouse to navigate the character select screen, I was settled into Bastok with a Mithra thief sure to make my girlfriend jealous. But alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to backtrack a bit to the creation of Genesys, my thief. After being spoiled by the creative designs of the Dark Age of Camelot avatars and the plethora of detail available during the creation of my Star Wars Galaxies characters, my bliss wavered at the lack of depth put into the characters FFXI offered. We are given five races to choose from: Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra and the Galka. Only three of the races, however, have male and female options. They all have movies attached to them that show a bit of each race's personality, and I must admit that a few of the animations left me wondering if I should seek psychiatric help for finding computer generated women attractive. Each character has eight hair styles with two colors attached to each style which vastly limits any diversity the Devs may have hoped for.

After choosing one of the six starting professions (Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Thief), I created something called a handle. I'm still a bit clueless as to what the handle does as I had already chosen my character name but nevertheless, it needed to be done to complete the login process. Now, before I continue any further, raise your hand if it seems something was forgotten before game play begins. You guessed it! There are no servers to choose from. Apparently, thwarting evil behemoths with a buddy is frowned upon because in order to be on the same server as your friend, one of you must buy an in-game World Pass, which is simply a password that you enter during character creation.

The screen went dark as the Loading bar filled and processed my request to begin game play. Now, I was a bit boggled at the lack of a splash screen, but Dark Age of Camelot did lack a splash screen until two years ago. I understand it's still the first week but come on! Are you expecting me to believe they thought black was an acceptable splash screen in this day and age? Make it a screenshot of a naked Tarutaru for all I care but make it at least look like you tried!

Once loaded, Genesys (my sexy feline thief) was given her very own cinematic showing her grace Bastok with her presence. Straight out of the gate, we're tossed into the tail end of a seemingly useless (and random) storyline involving a few villagers. The two I encountered consisted of some brats whining about being too young to fight and a woman who wanted to leave the city but the guards denied her the simple request. After finding the NPC who passes out the newbie money (which isn't enough to buy dirt), I ventured out into the rocky wastelands to lay the smackdown on some ne'er-do-wells.

I must say that the combat system is a rather refreshing change from the average turn based attacks. Not only do you not carry your weapon while in a non-combatant state (such as wandering town) but, unlike many other games, a very smooth animatic was inserted before and after each fight which allows us to see our weapons of choice being drawn and placed back into their respective sheath. Now maybe the average gamer won't care if they see their dagger ripped from its scabbard with zeal but it does add a bit of realism which is rather important in an RPG.

The choice of creatures to squash did leave a bit to be desired and I found myself sitting around awaiting the spawns. It seemed I was running around the map more in search of monsters rather than killing them. Normally, I'd blame it on the crowds stealing my kills but throughout the course of my night, I ran past maybe twenty other gamers. For the first week of a new game, that I believed had a huge following, it felt very barren.

I think I am a rather forgiving person but alas, now we must move on to my real grievances... and there are a few.

First things first... I have problem with the bill. As of late, many gamers have been griping about the fact that the box and registration number costs upward of $50 plus we pay the $12.95 per month, per account (save for Star Wars Galaxies that charges an insanely high $14.95). Final Fantasy XI, however, makes even me protest. Not only are we covering the bill for the game discs and the monthly service but on top of that, Square Enix has the audacity to implement a billing system that charges us per character! That's just a new low in my book.

Secondly, the HUD gets my goat. The HUD... Or should I say lack thereof? Every online game I have ever played has a very distinct layout on the screen that usually allows access to such things as the inventory window, options and exit. But no, not this game. To access any additional features, such as those mentioned above, you had better either read the manual or just start pounding keys. If you do eventually access the HUD, don't count on the keyboard configuration to fully work since it only accepts alphanumeric keystrokes (excluding the NumPad).

As a disabled man who has found it possible to fully run all online games using nothing but a standard trackball, I found it impossible to access 95% of Final Fantasy XI. It almost seems as if the Devs are placing a sign up notifying us hardcore gamers that the physically challenged are unwanted in the lands of Vana'diel. For those who use some form of onscreen keyboard to communicate, the lack of a Windowed Mode confirms the unwelcome atmosphere.

Perhaps next time, Square Enix should try making a Final Fantasy title that truly lives up to the mythos of its predecessors instead of trying to pass off a cinematic as a video game. To be honest, I can't even say the music was well-done as it was the same old score lifted from all of the console versions. Keep in mind that this is all merely one reviewer's opinion.

Had I known, I would not have bothered

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 30 / 45
Date: March 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game has some good points which you can find in most of the other reviews, all I'm concentrating on are the flaws I wish I had known about before I bought it.

1. Experience points are horrible. When you only need 500 points to advance to your next level, getting 36-72 per kill is fine. When you need 4,000 (and that's just level 18) still getting 36-72 per kill, which is all you ever get from anything you can reasonably kill alone, is insane.

2. The only way to actually level up is to get lucky enough to find a good party. YOU CANNOT SOLO IN THIS GAME. After level 15 it's almost impossible to go anywhere alone. I like playing in parties, but I don't like being forced to join another 5 people everytime I log on, and that's if you can find any open groups, which can take 5 minutes or 5 hours. Sometimes I enjoy playing alone, or with a smaller group, but the full 6 man party is essential if you hope to make any progress.

3. Casual gamers need not apply, if you think you can pop on for an hour or so and accomplish anything, don't bother. You won't even gain a level or accomplish any missions or quests of significance. There is simply too much traveling over huge distances and dependence on others to get anywhere fast.

4. The enemies are poor. There are only a few different character models so they are all variations of the same creatures. This is made more annoying by the fact that not only do the goblin thug and goblin butcher look pretty much the same, but you have to check the strength of everything before you fight it. You will fight a goblin thug in one place that is too weak to give you any experience points and fight another that kicks your butt into the ground in another. But they are the exact same enemy.

5. There is no escape. If you get attacked by anything, most enemies wait until you are already engaged in a battle or are healing to attack, most of the time all you can do is run to the nearest map zone, where a new area loads, to escape, this can be hard though since it can take five minutes to reach these areas and the creature attacking you will NEVER stop chasing. It's also nice how even though you may be faster, they can still keep hitting you with their melee attacks from 20 feet away. In fairness, there are scrolls and some spells that can help, but mostly you will run and pray, because if you fall you die and lose 10% of your current experience. If there is a level 25 white mage near you can get a raise for less penalty, but it's not dependable enough to hope for unless you've made it that high.

6. If you are looking to meet people this is the wrong place. Unlike other online games, because of the group and level limitations (there need to be no more than 3 level differences between the strongest and weakest characters in a group in order for everyone to get decent experience) the same people you meet and play with today may be 5 levels above or below you the next time you see them depending on how much everyone plays, but if you enjoyed their company too bad, you make a lousy group now. There is very little socializing anyway, few people talk other than in group chat, and in groups everyone worries more about getting the next kill than saying "Hi". This could be more of a personal complaint than the others because I have made friends in other games, and here I feel lonely since I didn't know anyone going in and the few people I have met I left behind. If you don't care about anyone but yourself in a game then this is no problem.

There are a few other things that bother me about this game, but these were the one's I now realize if I had known before I bought it, I would not have wasted my money.

Not bad. . . but has it's flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 18
Date: November 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've waited to post a review for this game to get a feel for it. I will be completely honest in the fact that I thoroughly enjoy it, but for the less tolerable game players, I would not suggest it. This game requires immense amounts of patience.

It takes a long time to level up your character, and after a short period of time you will find out that in most cases you NEED to start finding groups of people to game with.

The game does have quite a few things to keep you busy. Missions, quests, crafting, etc. But I can see how someone can become bored with it, all of these things tie in to having a strong character, and as I mentioned before it takes time.

As for the gameplay. . . it's smooth, granted the servers aren't in the U.S., but I haven't experienced much lag and I am on the east coast, so I'm not complaining. The graphics aren't too shabby, when you start the game up, you will think you wasted your money if you are big graphics nut, but after tweaking with the display options, it looks pretty nice. Sound quality is great, it holds very true to the final fantasy experience (i.e. music and sound effects).

If you are looking for a story line, this isn't the best place, the story line is loose and not really there, but there's not a WHOLE lot you can do for a MMORPG in ways of a story.

System requirements seem to have been an issue for people, it states on the packaging what it requires to run the game, honestly you don't need a "super-high end-spend the next years worth of paychecks" video card. I am using one of the lower end GeForce cards, I think I paid some 60 bucks for it.

The only real beef I have is the cost, you have to pay a monthly fee for your "content i.d." and then a dollar for each character made under it, so if you like to have a lot of characters, you're going to be forking out some serious dough.

All in all, it's a pretty good game, you need time to play it, a little patience, a decent computer set up, and a little bit of cash. If you want something that is, more involved, I'd suggest Star Wars Galaxies, SWG has more stuff to do than you have time to spare.

Not for everyone

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: August 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let me start off by saying that this is not a bad game at all. It is fun and fairly easy to get into provided you have played mmorpg's in the past. The graphics are pretty good also. However, there are some major drawbacks that made me quit this game in 3 weeks.

Being that this is Square's first game in the mmorpg world, it isn't exactly user friendly. The controls simply don't make sense and I never found a way to configure them to my liking. Commands like Ctrl + A to attack and having to macro spells to use them in a timely fashion is frustrating early on.

Also be warned that this is for hardcore players with 4 hours of time to play per day ideally. This is the main reason I quit. This is very hard to get into only being able to play every other day for 2 hours a day. Once you hit level 10 you are forced to group and it took me about an hour just to find a group as a black mage. There is an enormous leveling grind. At level 9 it took me 2 hours to hit 10 solo.

Another huge drawback is the monthly fee. It's not so much having to pay the monthly fee that i have a problem with. It is the fact that you are charged 1 dollar extra for access to tetra master, and another dollar for every extra character you create. This in my mind, is money hogging. The only reason that this game takes so much time to me is that Square wants to keep you around for many monthly fees. The fact that it takes forever to level in this game, forever to get groups, having to level up your sub job seperate from your main job tells me that all Square sees with this game is $$ and all they hear is cha-ching.

Most Addictive Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 24
Date: October 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A bit of background:

1) My girlfriend hates final fantasy
2) She hates online games
3) I hate MMORPG's
4) I was bored and signed up for the ffxi beta...

When the beta kit arrived, the Girlfriend said, "You can only play that 2 hours a night!"

Needless to say, when beta ended, we had a lv48 RDM, with most of the other jobs levelled to 10-25, a bunch of dead plants in the yard, and lost weight cause it was too hard to leave the screen to eat. (Yep, it's the FFXI Diet!)

Oh, yes, I said 'we'. The character is our child, a joint creation... the 2 hour rule was thrown out, of course, and we both played for hours and hours despite thinking we wouldn't get so involved.

After a year.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: March 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game shortly after Christmas in 2005 and in March of 2006 I am still an avid fan. Yes, through the months I would get irritated at the excruciatingly large amount of time it took to level a job to 75... but now that I'm here I realize that I've had a lot of fun and adventures just getting here.

Everyone likes to focus on the leveling... but the game has so much more than that. This game was created to have a near infinite realm of possibilities as far as fun is concerned but like life, it makes you put in the time and effort of creating a character before you're allowed to partake in the end-game rewards.

Vana'diel is an ever-expanding world of people and quests and if you're bored there's every chance that you've not ventured far enough abroad, or gotten lost in a place more dangerous than your scant amount of levels. Days when I was tired of the 'exp grind' were the days when I've had the most fun. I still remember wandering blindly through Carpenter's Landing and stumbling upon the Barge there. I remember getting mauled by a random Notorious Monster on that barge at level 45 (we almost had it ;) ). I remember the first time I went to the Sanctuary of Zi'tah and my first trek through Beaucedine Glacier.

Final Fantasy XI is a beautiful game, with a LOT to do. Get yourself to level 60 and a whole world will open up. This one's not about the instant gratification, it's about earning your way to the top. The best of everything goes to those that stick it out and in the end you'll find that whether you're helping a new player through his Kazham Key quest or farming items to spawn Gods in Sky... there'll always be something to do.

A previous reviewer said that there was never a sense of accomplishment in this game. I believe the opposite to be true. I believe that you feel the accomplishments more... because you've had to work for them.

Buy the game.

It's great fun.

Solid and Fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: December 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Prior to purchasing this game I spent several months playing Star Wars Galaxies, which is supposed to be the most cutting edge MMORPG on the market. Unfortunately SWG is still extremely buggy and many of the available professions in the game are broken. Needless to say, I started looking for another game and came across FFXI Online. With the exception of a few nitpicky things this is a great game.

Pros:

It's Solid - This game has been up and running in Japan for over 18 months and any bugs that may have existed have been worked out.

Fun story elements - If you take the time to explore town and talk to all the NPC's when you begin you'll quickly fill your mission queue with things to accomplish during your early levels. These are not all typical "go kill/fetch" tasks and some are multistage. Key missions also have in-game movies to introduce them.

The FF atmosphere - Elements of the earlier games permeate the online version. Chocobos, Mogs and Guardian Forces are all here in one form or another and add to the overall charm.

Great graphics - If you have a good video card you're going to love the look of this game. Some of the reviewers have complained about pixelation. I've had little-to-no problem with it. Make sure you use the configuration tool to bump up the graphic performance as high as your card will handle. There's also a benchmark utility on Square's website that will give you a good idea whether or not your system is up to scratch.

Cons:

Poor documentation - The book that ships with the game is horrible. They would have been better off shipping Brady Games' strategy guide with it. There are pros and cons to certain character race and job combinations that you would not know about otherwise.

Long install - Yes, it's a doozie. Don't expect to play much your first night. First you have to install the Play Online client, then you have to install the game itself. After that you have to install the expansion pack. Finally there is a lengthy update to install the latest files. The account creation process is also pretty involved. My guess is that all the extra gyrations you have to go through are due to this being a cross-platform game. Still, they could have made this easier.

Character variation - There is very little you can do to make your character look unique. There are 8 race/gender combinations, 8 faces per combination and two hair colors for each face. On the plus side, this probably reduces the amount of lag associated with rendering characters and keeps this a speedy game for console players.

Interface - Slightly customizable, but it's definately geared towards console players. Still, most MMORPGS have variations in the way their command keys are organized, so experienced gamers will overcome this quite quickly.

Overall Rating: I'd give this a qualified "Buy" rating. Complaints about the cost are unwarranted. The monthly rate and initial cost are comparable to similar new MMORPG's on the market. Still, it is a lot to plunk down if you're not used to it. Also, this game has learning/advancement curves that may not suit the average MMORPG player. North American gamers tend to gravitate towards first person shooters while the Japanese market is high on RPG's. If you are a Killer or Achiever type of gamer you may be frustrated. If you are predominately an Explorer or Socializer there is much here to love.

Square Enix's new MMO packs a punch!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: February 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When everquest was released in 1999, It quickly became the gamers addiction of the year. Renamed as Evercrack by is loathers and lovers, the game stretched out far and wide and is still one of the most played MMO's on the planet. However, new members of the MMO world are quick to bite at Everquest's heels for their own bit of the cash pie. Released late last year, Final Fantasy Online (XI) is Square Enix's most recent attempt at entering this area of uncharted territory. Until now, they're RPG strategy has been completly based on the "single player". Now...all of that has changed...and for the most part...it's really good!
Unlike everquest, this game has serious graphical punch as well as a beautiful interface. However, the price for the graphic detail is none to small. Anything below a Radeon 9600 or a top of the line GeForce FX and you might as well kiss resolution and quailty images goodbye.

As for sheer size, this game has no equal. At almost 6 gigs, and four discs, I am not exaggerating when I say "BIG". You can play as 5 different races. The Hume, the middle of the road character, The Elvaan, The strong, tall, ok at magic man, The Taru taru, the small low strength magic race, the Mithra, the race of fast feminine felines great for theifs and monks, or the Bulky and slow Galka's who are dripping of power and strength.

But it doesn't stop there. You then choose from the six basic jobs (Warrior, Monk, Thief, White mage, Black mage, and Red mage). The nice thing here is that you can change jobs at any point without losing the stats of the job you've already worked on. In essence you could play as every job. And soon, you can add a sub job, meaning you can mix and match all of the first six jobs. AND THEN, you can get 8 more jobs...everything from a Bow and Arrow carrying ranger to a sword swinging samurai to a creature creating summoner. And you can mix and match these all as well. Of course some pairs work together better than others.

Then comes the story line. There are 3 different story lines spread out across the beautiful and deadly landscapes of Vana'diel, which is the world you're in. Depending on where you start, Sand'oria, Bastok, or Windhurst, will dictate which of these storylines you take on. Once again, you can set up shop in any of these cities at any time just by going to the consulate of the town you're in. So you can play all of them at any given time.

Then there are the 100's of sidequests that allow you to do everything from gain rare items to gain upgrades to your character (max lvl, sub jobs, etc).

Basically, this game could take you years to complete and even then you'd still be playing it. On the flip side, it does have it's shortcomings.

First - it's damn hard to make money in this game. For one thing, unless you are a theif, you're not going to get a lot of gil drops from enemies. And only certain enemies drop them. However, items can be sold in your Bazzar (on your person) and at the Auction House in most of the cities.

Second - Death "Penatly" - Every time you die, you lose 10% of your current exp based on your EXP level GOAL. so if you're trying to reach 5,000 exp and you die, you lose 500. And unless you're partying, you won't see exp for kills much higher than 50 or 60 since the monsters get tough very quickly. This makes dying very very frustrating. This also means that, for the most part, there's not a lot of soloing in this game.

Third - Chocobos...but not quite: While they do show up...you can't get them early on, and you have to go through hell to get them. And then, you can only use them for a limited time at a price. It's not usually very much. But as popular as the chocobos are, Square could have done a lil more to integrate them into the game (A La Final Fantasy Tactics).

Fourth (and finally) - The Music: While each area has it's own distinctive musical touch...they can get old fast. Especially the fight music, which generally stays similar throughout. The nice lil touch is the chocobo music which is always fun to ride to.

And one thing to note: Getting the game up and running will take you at least an hour to two hours (and don't even think of trying to run this over a phone line). This includes installing the playonline viewer (which is a port from the Playstation version which consists of web utilities meant for console players as well as a game launcher), Tetra Master (a multiplayer version of the card game from FFVIII and FFIX), and the three discs of FFXI info as well as a very long update process as well as the need to register everything and sign up for the online service (needing about four codes, one for playonline, one for Tetra master, one for FFXI, and one for your Content ID to play FFXI). Ugh...thankfully you only have to do this once!

All in all...if you are an MMORPG fan, you should get a kick out of the Square take and the Final Fantasy feel. In addition, you'll be spending so much time exploring and meeting new people online and fighting and adventuring that you may never want to turn it off (which is both a wonder and curse). Just remember, it's only a game...or is it?

`Revu

Only start if you are serious, not casual

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 15 / 21
Date: March 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Everything the reviewers say about the rich graphics, the realistic and pretty characters, and the depth of complexity is absolutely true about this game. If it is the case that you are deeply dedicated to the concept of the MMORPG, you have immense time to explore and learn the details of play (probably you are 18 or under or unemployed), and you really feel determined to succeed this game may be the world that suits you. When I want to log in and play a game however, I want it to be a simple and light escape from reality. I want to be able to easily role play, level at will, and enjoy the comradeship of my friends.

The only way I can review this is to make a comparison to the other MMORPG I play which is Ragnarok Online. When I started that, I am immediatly surrounded by the people playing, the controls and navigation were easy to grasp, and the game was left very open on how one wishes to play. The replay value was immense -- log in, level a bit, talk to your friends, make your characters how you want. For a busy person, it is the perfect escape.

FFXI however did not give me this luxury; it was tiresome learning how to play; you do not meet people immediatly on entry nor that much making the atmosphere incrediably lonely; you are not given a lot of freedom how you wish to level (you MUST find large parties); the game was so complex and the options given to you so numerous that it somehow made me feel I was at the desk of a job rather than having fun with a game. This review therefore is nor for the MMORPG fans out there that know what FFXI may entail but more for busy that may be looking to play as they have been introduced to the fun of FF before. I was amazed at the skill of the creators of this game, but I was not able to have fun.

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