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Oldie but goodie.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game is still going on. Its a fun time sink. People get serious about the game, their money, their armor.

What I've found is a lot of ex-con's hang out in this game (not joking). I have no idea what the attraction is. Maybe it is all the crude language, or the ability to con others out of their stuff and sell it to others. Yes, there are college kids playing and a few casual players, but mostly the gamers here and unemployed, unmotivated and predatorial.

You have to go online to play and could play alone online, but to get the most out of what the game offers you need the help of others.

Children should not be allowed to play this game.

Words Of Warning

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 22
Date: September 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

No one seems to be mentioning the major problem I have with this game. So I guess I will.

I bought this game when it first came out two or three years ago. Spent 50 bucks on it at EbGames. I was so excited, I started downloading right away. After 4 or 5 solid hours (at least), I finally got to start playing.

It's a good game, don't get me wrong, but being only 15 and not wanting to plunk down a week of my allowance a month for a game I could only play for an hour or so at a time (it was on the family computer, plus I had school work). I thought, "Well I'll probably play it again someday." So I deleted my account, so my mom's card wouldn't be charged anymore and I wouldn't have to fork over the money to play each month.

Fast forward 2 years. I have my own computer and my own credit card, so I break the game out again. I have more time, I'm out of school, not yet in college. So what the hell? I'll give it another shot. But first, I read the first few pages of the hefty 144 page instruction booklet.

On page 11, I believe, these words are written under the section "CAUTION! About Your Member Information": "Your member information is retained on the server for three months after your access to PlayOnline is disabled. ... After this three-month period has elapsed, you can no longer use your previous account information. You must create a new account to use PlayOnline again. Please note that this means you must purchase A NEW COPY of the software from a retailer and reregister for PlayOnline".

Maybe you skimmed over that part, so I'll say it again. "YOU MUST PURCHASE A NEW COPY OF THE SOFTWARE FROM A RETAILER".

This means that if you, for any reason, have to unsubscribe from PlayOnline for a while (say you're not playing the game and you don't want to pay for something you're not going to use for a while), you have to shell out the bucks to buy the game again!

I read this and I thought, "Huh. What a bunch of BS." I tried installing it anyway, and wouldn't you know it? My registration codes that worked 2 or 3 years ago do not work now. I can't sell it, the registration codes don't work and I don't want to pawn off my bogus copy. (ANOTHER WARNING: Nobody buy this game used! It might not work for this exact reason!). I paid fifty dollars for the game and those registration code and now the only thing the game is good for now is as a paper weight. And you know how useless those are.

If I were to buy this game again, I'd have to pay about half the price I paid for a game that I already did buy AND I have to play at least every three months. I don't know about anybody else, but I got through game phases. I play a lot of games for a few months, then I stop for a while, then I get back into it.

For me, I'm not sure if I want to waste anymore money and time on this one. Which is a shame, because it's not a bad game.

YOU HAVE TO HAVE COMMITMENT TO BUY THIS. Weigh the PROs and CONs before purchasing. Make sure it's worth it.

If you can handle it, more power to you.

Bag... of ...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: September 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I had, unfortunately, very high expectations of this game. I mean, Final Fantasy... MMORPG? Whoa! The best of two worlds collide!

Unfortunately, they collide in a horrible way. Square smashed this game out of the park graphically, and the sounds effects and music are decent too. Unfortunately as well, that's where the positives stop.

- The UI is awful and unintuitive.
- Play control is cumbersome at best.
- Players are (mostly) unhelpful to new players.
- Race/Class combination is pretty boring. Each race has a "best" class and most people go that route.
- Did I mention play control is horrible?
- The combat system is, also, unintuitive. I *highly* recommend playing a melee character as a first. Any casting class will be killed over, and over, and over. And apparently this is just blindly accepted.
- The chat system is pesky.
- Oh yeah... the play control? Don't even get me started on it.

Now, the reason I weighed Play Control so heavily is because, in ANY MMORPG, you're going to spend a LOT of time traveling around. A *lot*. That, mixed with the horrible UI and combat system just make for a very frustrating experience. If you want a game with any sort of substance? Do yourself a favor and check out World of Warcraft. Or even Dark Age of Camelot.

short and sweet...don't waste your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: July 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I can't begin to describe how boring this game was. After sitting at home for 3 hours for all the install and updates I finally was able to play. I couldn't believe how dumb the controls were on the XBOX controller. We have microphones...and if you play games like call of duty 2 you can talk to different people, but not in this game. You have to scroll through a picture of a keyboard on the screen...it takes 1 minute to write your name. Just don't get it if you are not into games that have a really really deep storyline...100's of foreign names for everything, lots of walking and way too many controls. I played FF9 and absolutely loved it. Can't say that about this one. I am pretty bitter about spending the money on this game. Hope this review was helpful. I read a lot of positive reviews on this site and I am assuming those ones are from people who really are into intense, never-ending role playing games.

BEST GAME EVER

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 20
Date: April 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I love this game! I play for about 12 hours a day. I play 18 hours on days I have off. Thank you god. I have now found my true calling in life.

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.

Fun, but gets old

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: February 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Final Fantasy XI amazed me. The size of the game is enormous with thousands of people playing and numerous places to go. It is one of the most addicting games to play when you first buy it, but over time it gets boring. Hardly anything ever changes, and there's not a lot of action in it. But, for such a large game, the visuals are fantastic and it's great that you can create and personalize your own character. It has catchy music and creative events from time to time as well. It is fun, but since all you really do is level up your character, after awhile it just gets old.

Review after 80 hours.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 19
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I played this game for about 80 hours, then quit completely. The reason for this is because the game is so boring in the beginning, it makes you want to tear up the disk and throw it at the creators.

Ok so I'll be fair and give you some pros...and of course cons.

Pros------------------
1.Nice graphis with high res, and fair battle engine.
2.Rewarding game after you play for about 200-300+ hours.
3.Fast load.

Cons------------------
1.If you want to play this game with a friend, your friend has to go in-game and spend a considerable abount of gil (money) on something called a 'World Pass'. This allows you to make your character on their server, but can only be used once.
2.Very slow traveling and leveling.
3.Expensive fee.
4.Need a friend in real life before you start this game to help you.

As you can see in my review, the cons overshadow the pros.

An honest review by a gamer

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 21
Date: December 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ok - by the tiume you have reached my review, you'll have a good idea of what this is all about.

Forget the payment methods, even forget the graphics and music and actual gameplay.

Lets get right down to it.
What is it that you want from a game? For me, there are 2 options; 1. to have fun, or 2. To burn time.

FFXI really doesn't offer much in the form of fun - it is a real grind to achieve anything, and when you think you have - bamm! You realise you haven't at all, or even come close. Its quite simple; you will spend a LOT of your time, just finding out how things work; but these are things that you will NEED to know, to function properly within this virtual world.

Ok - Lets set this out.
1. To play this game you need to be in a team.
2. People within this game are very strange; you will come across very weird, angry, obsessed, nerdy ( or a combintation )
3. There is (believe this or not) a racism within the game linked to the inherent abilities of each race. I.e, A Tarutaru can't make a good warrior, or a Galka a good mage. Other players will identify the oddness of these combinations with varying results. Often negative.
4. When teaming, you will NEED to be properly kitted out with the appropriate gear for your race and job and level - which will improve your abilities and thus the team's ability to defeat mobs and gain xp. It should be noted that the gear you will need is not easy to find, make or purchase and will get progressively tougher as you gain levels.
5. Everything in this game take an inordinate amount of time. People have mentioned how you have to walk everywhere, or ride a chocobo (Once you have done the time-consuming mission to gain a licesnse ) - what I would like to add, is how SLOW walking is - even by chocobo, the speed isn't greatly improved. However, by the time you are able to ride chocobos, you will appreciate the a pace which otherwise you might feel was pointlessly long.
6. The mobs you fight look the same. You will fight the same mob over and over and over and oevr - again. SOmetimes you will be defeated doing this, sometimes you will not. But while you level, you will kill, face, fight, be beaten by - the same type of mob again and again.
7. The game ecomony is over inflated. When you kill a mob, sometimes it will drop Gil (in game currency) This amount of Gil it drops, even for a difficult mob that you have had to take down in a team, is minimal. You cannot buy anything with it - it is peanuts. The same for anything in this game, in game returns for effort put in are not rewarded appropriately. To gain what you will need, you will need to put in hours and hours of your time, just, for example to purchase a sword, or a pair of boots - so your character will be able to function properly when fighting, for example.
8. You are on your own. The game offers no inforamtion whatsoever on how to make the best of the experience. You will need to search websites to obatin VITAL inforamtion on what you will need to do in most situations. Failure to be aware of the infinte possibilities, will likely end up with yourself being called a n00b.

I could go on -

What I would like to say is that if, for whatever reason, you are unable to form a social life, you are house-bound or for some reason are able to sit in front of your PC/Ps2 for 5-6 hours pers day (This is the amount of time you will need to feel a sense of achievement with each sitting) - then this game will be for you. You will be able to immerse yourself within it, and find that the only thing you will need from the real world is food and sleep (although, you will probably go without on many occasions and blame the real world for this)

For those that want a fun experience - go elsewhere, I implore you and warn you to do so. You will never get a sense of accomplishment from this game, and so this game for you will never be fun. It is aimed at being something just beyond your reach to induce you to continue playing - that is all. It is a grind beyond all reason, unless of course, you are not playing it for the end-game, becasue you don't want to finish it.

Gaming is a recreational pastime, don't make your life become one.

Not worth your time, fair but negative review.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: November 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am a fair reviewer of games, and this game is extremely time consuming. Once you gain experience and levels you will be forced to go on a death march just to get to an area worth your time in fighting. It can take as long as 45 minutes just to go from your home base to an acceptable location. There are no personalized mounts, so you must use paid mounts that are only available around level 25 or so and after doing a quest that again is about an hour walking time away. They also charge you on a monthly basis rather than a cycle. For example if you activate your account on October 31st you will end up paying for the entire month of October without a pro-rate. You will then be rebilled on November 1st. I for one re-activated my account on October 19th, 2005 and cancelled on November 1st. I was charged $25.90 for 12 days of game play. If you plan on re-activating a character, you should consider doing it at the beginning of the month. If you are new to the game, they will pro-rate you for the month after your free trial is up. Please note that they also take down the registration servers at the end of the month so you cannot cancel on the last day of the month. This is very shady of Square-Enix to do although they do tell you in advance. This is still not acceptable. Square-Enix also charges $1.00 for each additional content-ID (used for each character), the competiton typically allows for multiple characters for the same monthly cost. The auction house does not have a search feature and you will have to go through each catagory 1 at a time and forget it being in alphabetical order, it is randomly assorted and painful to navigate. After 2 years of this game making its debut, the graphical glitches such as grid seems on the terrain are still evident and it feels as if no content has been added. The company only creates added content for extremely high levels, so if you didn't get in the game back then, it is very difficult to work your way to the top since the starting and midrange realms are desolate. You are required to be in a party most of the time and just trying to gather a party can be a painstaking task. The PlayOnline client is awkward at best and will require at least 5-6 clicks just to enter the game. FFXI has had more down-time lately, constantly DDoS'd (Denial of Service from rogue people purposely trying to tax the server by hitting it with massive bandwidth attacks. Basically you cannot log in) and they do not reimburse you in anyway like Blizzard does (they offer extra playtime for free to the end of your billing cycle). If you are going to pick a MMORPG to play. Go with WoW. Hands down!

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