Masochistic. Honestly it is just that; the game was heavily created around community when it first released. Don't get me wrong MMOs are suppose to be about people helping one another; but when you start forcing people to do just about everything together plus throw in grinding and deleveling, those are ingredients for disaster. From levels 1-12 that took around 8 hours to gain. After that you are off to the dunes (that is if you could safely make it there. No you can not ride a Chocobo there; because the license to ride one is level 20). Once there, depending on server you might have a long wait for a party. Back then if you happened to be half way to the next level while other party members were only at 10,100 or even 300 into a level you would not be considered into a party. Why? Because after you have leveled your newly gained leveled just half others exp while you wanted to gain an exp buffer. If the people allowed you to stay and dwarf their exp you would be considered lucky. It would be rather hard to find another party with in your level and exp range. Thus started the waiting game. To which people decided to quit, tried to solo on their own or simply play Beastmaster. Adding insult to injury Chains of Promathia also frustrated people. It was hard to find people; let alone wanting to be picky about what kind of people you wanted helping you do missions for that expansion pack. People weren't willing to help out with missions if you weren't popular in one level another. During my 1 year and 11 months absents the game introduced Fields of Valor which introduced training Regime. Which is very nice when one can not find a party or they do not have time to stand around to wait for an invite. With players running around occupying areas leveling their adventuring fellow and low spawn rates it makes it rather hard to enjoy using the field manual pages to gain exp better. Can't really complain, but better spawn rate could fix that issue. If field manual isn't one's cup of tea then level sync can help with find a party; without worry about dwarfing the rest of the party's exp. Looking at these things and noticing how nice they are and a welcome to the game, it makes a person wonder; why wasn't this here before? Had it been there before WoW wouldn't exactly be tooting their own horn about the massive amount of players.… Expand

I bought this game with all expansions for only $7 and I feel totally ripped off. The PlayOnline system you have to use is clunky and annoying, and takes far too long to get setup, and has annoying music that can't be stopped. The Game itself has horrendous graphics, bad controls, and virtually no configurable options. This is the worst game I have ever played in my life, and I feel totally ripped off.… Expand

I have always been a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, and curious of the MMORPG subculture, where even the most normal and very intelligent lose touch with the world outside their 17" LCD monitors. Sooo, Final Fantasy XI was my highly anticipated opportunity to regress into my own computer screen. Initially it was fun (<30 hrs gameplay), but it became tiresome and routine soon thereafter. It takes an incredible amount of time to level, missions are extensive but rewards are lacking, and monsters are mockingly repetitive. MMORPGs have incredible potential, but they do not cater to the occasional gamer, they are stricly for the hardcore (>28 hrs gameplay/week), all the best to you if you wish to devote yourself to hardcore gaming endeavors, but don't waste your life on FFXI.… Expand

Worst interface I've seen in years. Very user-hostile (-3 points). Console level graphics (ie very poor, low res, low poly). On large monitors every thing is blurred. In game visibility is very low, with objects being largely just blobs at 10+ virtual yards. This is with every game provided graphic setting maxed (-1 point). Combat system painfully boring (-1 point). The no-return policy (due to the one register and you're out scheme used) is a big negative as well (-2 points). I'd have to agree with a previous poster, all the glowing reviews have to be due to the name on the box.… Expand

The Final Fantasy XI is SUCK... I downloding for Steam.. but i did pay for it... Its cost me $9.99 to Downloding Final Fantasy XI. Then After that.. I created my username on Final Fantasy XI.. Its need my Card to payment.. Oh man.. Its wasting my money to playing this game.. and Its not Free Online.. Oh man. I want my money back for Final Fantasy XI.. Its wasting my money........... **** THIS Final Fantasy XI...........................................… Collapse

Boring.

I was very addicted to the game from 2002-2005, then quit playing around level 45 when the grind got to hard. I was excited to see the Ultimate Collection on Steam and thought it would be fun to experience the awesome grouping mechanics and sense of accomplishment this game alone could offer. However, I quickly remembered the inanity of the Playonline system and antiquainted keyboard playstyle, and couldn't bring myself to even bother trying to level my taru. I went ahead an uninstalled, and suggest you think hard before dropping any money on this dinosaur. FF 14 will be out next year, and I'm hopeful it will keep the rewarding parts of FFXI and ditch the old antiquainted grinding and ridiculous game mechanics and registration systems.… Expand

The entire game is held back by its console heritage. It's far too grindy. Only hardcore fans of JRPGs can find this garbage fun. If my friend hadn't bought it for me, I wouldn't have even tried it. Thankfully he had another friend that wanted the account because after 16 hours I couldn't bring myself to double click the launcher.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I tried this game upon recommendation from a friend

I have played lots of MMO's and my friend literally waxed lyrical on how good this game was so when the game became available for 9.99 on steam for the game with all the expansions i bit the bullet and bought it. After going through the ridiculously over complicated system of signing up for a account i logged into the game made a character (warrior class) and tried to get into the game. The first disappointment for me was the overcomplicated and terribly unfriendly User Interface.I bought the game without a instruction booklet from steam so imagine my dismay at the lack of a in game help search!!!! There is a help desk to contact customer services but no in game help searchable database ? The whole menu system didnt make any sort of sense to me or flow at all. The very fact you seem to have to use a keyboard for everything didn't help me to bond with the game......The graphics were terribly blocky (even after maxing the settings) i did do a search in google and made some registry tweaks to make it run on a wide-screen resolution which helped a lot (but should a user have to do this to make a game work ?). Levelling in game seems to take a age which isnt a bad thing and but after fighting one monster / foe you need to rest for 2 to 3 un-needed waste of minutes meditating to gain your health back to be able to attack again. I have tried to like this game for my friends sake but maybe the fact i have been spoilt by other MMO's or just the fact that i have given up due to sheer frustration , has left me with a bitter taste towards this game and the time and money i have wasted on it. I would recommend this game for die hard fans of the final fantasy genre only.… Expand

game did not age well.. boring and a huge time sink.. Other players have been playing for years and so it is hard to find people who want to group with a new player.. the fact that the game still requires a monthly subscription and looks like it comes from the 90s lead to the low score.

I grew up with final fantasy and have played many mmos and this is by far one of the overall weakest mmos still running.. does not deliver a good value in terms of time or money spent.… Expand

Let me preface this review by saying that I was warned about this game by a friend, and decided to take the plunge anyway, because it was on sale. I am writing this review in an attempt to prevent you from wasting your time and money the way that I have. I have been playing video games since 1984, but Square-Enix has achieved something with this game that no other developer I have seen has been able to achieve. They made this game impossible to log in to. I guess that's easy money for them, less update money and what not. First you download the game, easy so far. Then you are informed you must make a play online account. After a maze of button clicking and applications, you achieve that. Then they inform you that you must transfer your Play online account to a Square-Enix account. After an even lengthier search and application process, you achieve that. Then you are told that you need to obtain a content ID, but not told how do do that. After hours of searching and doing general searches on Google, I was able to create a Click to buy account, after more application process. The parent company for Click to Buy is based in EU, so my credit card account was frozen at this point. A call to the credit card company unfroze my card, and after more work, I was able to confirm my account. I then attempted to log onto the game again, and was still told that I had no "content ID". At this time I re-entered all of my game codes and double checked all of my accounts, all of which appear to be in order. When a third attempt to log onto the game came out with the same results, I contacted "customer service" (yes, I put that in quotations for a reason) and have been waiting for about the last 24 hours for a response. I also forgot to mention that my wife was hoping to play as well, but Click to Buy won't allow her to create an account unless she has a credit card under her own name, so even if I figure this out, I would probably have to get a second credit card under her name, so she can set up her own account. I have spent somewhere around 12 hours, over the last 72 hours, involved with this process, and appear to be no closer to resolving the issues. Meanwhile, my 30 day free period, that comes with the game purchase, is being used up and I still haven't even made it to character creation. If you have any love for your own sanity, avoid this game the same way you'd avoid a cracked out transient hooker with obvious STD's. Believe me, the only way that this game would be worth your while, is if they paid you for all the time and irritation you're going to experience trying to get it to run! My friend tells me that this is only the beginning, and that after you start playing, you'll wish it never had started working. Long story short, play WoW, you can be up and running in the time it takes to load up and create a character, and you won't need therapy afterward so that you can re-enter society without screaming obscenities at passersby, because of the pent up tension and aggravation!… Expand