Games
Sony
Microsoft
Nintendo
Other Platforms
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
xx
3 Cards to Dead Time
xx
Alice in Wonderland
68
Aliens vs. Predator
xx
Armada 2526
83
Assassin's Creed II
89
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
89
BioShock 2
xx
Blur
xx
Bob Came in Pieces
54
Borderlands: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot
86
Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
83
Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
69
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight
xx
Crash Time III
xx
Cursed Mountain
75
Dark Fall: Lost Souls
58
Dark Void
81
Dawn of Discovery: Venice
xx
Diner Dash 5: Boom
89
DiRT 2
82
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
68
Dragon Age: Origins - Return to Ostagar
xx
Drakensang: The River of Time
73
Emberwind
86
Europa Universalis III: Heir to the Throne
xx
Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate
xx
Fairytale Fights
xx
Field of Glory
xx
Galcon Fusion
72
Ghost Pirates of Voojoo Island
56
Greed: Black Border
xx
History Channel: Great Battles - Medieval
58
James Cameron's Avatar: The Game
xx
Just Cause 2
79
King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame
xx
Konung 3: Ties of the Dynasty
82
Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, The
xx
M.U.D. TV
xx
Major League Baseball 2K10
94
Mass Effect 2
xx
Max & the Magic Marker
83
Metro 2033
xx
Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove
82
Napoleon: Total War
xx
Order of War: Challenge
xx
Rig'n'Roll
xx
Rocketbirds: Revolution!
29
Rogue Warrior
79
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat
76
Saboteur, The
xx
Saira
xx
Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders
68
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
66
Silent Hunter 5
xx
Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff, The
xx
Singularity
xx
Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy
xx
Solium Infernum
xx
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
xx
Split/Second
66
Star Trek Online
xx
Star Wolves 3: Civil War
xx
Superstars V8 Next Challenge
78
Supreme Commander 2
81
Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 5: Rise of the Pirate God
xx
Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943
xx
Tinker
81
Toki Tori
xx
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
xx
Treasure Island
49
Twin Sector
56
Vancouver 2010: The Official Videogame of the Winter Olympic Games
82
VVVVVV
86
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising
78
Wings of Prey
xx
XIII Century: Blood of Europe
xx
Zero Gear
60
Zombie Driver
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.
Final Fantasy XI

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 80 votes
Read user comments
Rate this game >
Game Info
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Genre(s): Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
Players: Thousands
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Release Date: October 28, 2003
Summary
The world of Vana'diel stands at the brink of war. Three powerful nations, united in their plight against the beastmen forces, look to their last hope -- brave adventurers like you! Will the beastmen gain the upper hand, and thrust the once-peaceful Vana'diel into another war? Step into the world of Vana'diel and journey forth on grand adventures with players from all across the globe! Final Fantasy XI is the first online game in the award-winning FINAL FANTASY series. How you play is up to you, with limitless possibilities for adventure. Set out on your own to discover the countless secrets of Vana'diel, or form a party with your friends to purge the beastman forces and bring home sensational spoils! [Square Enix]
Also On Metacritic
GAMES: Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia
Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central
Also On The Web: Adrenaline Vault Preview GameSpot Preview(s) GameSpy Preview IGN Hands-On Official Website
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Gaming Age
FFXI manages to mend the idea of a persistent online community with a story, graphics, and an intuitive interface that begs to be played when other responsibilities rear their ugly head.
Read Full Review >Play Magazine
Online RPGs are not supposed to have characters that look this good, nor are they supposed to have the sort of atmospheric brilliance exhibited here. [Dec 2003, p.90]
Playboy
It's so engaging that fans may never leave the house, much less visit a theater again. [Dec 2003, p.44]
GameShark
Graphically, the game is a masterpiece. It is, without hyperbole, the most gorgeous MMORPG I have ever played. Characters look richly detailed, and the environment seems alive.
Read Full Review >PC Gamer
A better version of everything the MMORPG community has cooked up so far, and more. [Feb 2004, p.60]
Adrenaline Vault
It could be compared to "Morrowind" in its depth and scope, but the real people that fill the town squares and gathering halls give Final Fantasy XI a living soul that Bethesda’s hallmark title never had.
Read Full Review >GameZone
MMORPG fans should find a deep game with a versatile job system and an detailed universe, and open-minded Final Fantasy fans should enjoy the Final Fantasy nuances and great multiplayer gameplay.
Read Full Review >Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)
You don't buy any MMORPG lightly, least of all this one. It imperiously demands massive chunks of your time, patience and dedication but the rewards are commensurately high. The fierce sense of satisfaction as your fame grows and coffers swell is hard to match. [PC Gamer UK]
Read Full Review >Just RPG
Perhaps the most annoying thing in the game was the focus on gaining experience.
Read Full Review >GameSpy
It's beautiful, it's well-designed, and I can't wait to spend more time in it.
Read Full Review >ActionTrip
In all, the pros of Final Fantasy XI greatly outweigh the cons. The graphics, job and skill system, as well as the overall polish make it an enjoyable experience.
Read Full Review >PC Format
Naturally wanting to be played with a PS2 joypad, the controls are difficult to use and can’t be changed, although a secondary keymap allows for the more familiar [W], [A], [S], [D] combination.
Read Full Review >Game Over Online
One of those games that will probably appeal to any RPG fan, simply by the sheer scope of Vana’Diel and its ever-changing world.
Read Full Review >GameNow
The most beautiful MMORPG currently available. Its environments are second to none, and the character models are elegant and, frankly, a pleasure to behold. The world also feels more alive than any other.
Read Full Review >GameSpot
An online RPG that manages to break the mold, if just barely--but, actually, that's no mean feat.
Read Full Review >Computer and Video Games
You're not going to find another MMOG that's anywhere near as welcoming as this. While the whole PlayOnline front-end interface might initially seem a cumbersome folly, it's not long before you're wishing all your online games could be handled through such a console-style browser.
Read Full Review >Computer Gaming World
Square took the best things about single-player console RPGs and applied them to an MMO - a world densely populated by talkative NPCs, interesting, well-conceived quests, and a whole lot of visual gloss. [Feb 2004, p.84]
GMR Magazine
Offers great rewards to gamers willing to commit the time to it (player-vs.-player between warring nations is coming in January), and the community is filled with surprisingly helpful players, which makes for a deep, compelling, and perpetual gaming environment.
Read Full Review >Boomtown
It has more good points than bad though, at the least it will tide you over until the next generation of MMORPGs hits the streets and at best you will have fun for months, even years to come.
Read Full Review >IGN
Things are only going to get better as they add new content, so you can expect to see this game living a long and healthy life.
Read Full Review >Game Informer
Overall, the game does feel rather slow in comparison to overall MMORPGs I have played, but I is still addicting. [Jan 2004, p.154]
Read Full Review >Computer Games Magazine
Because of the high reliance on other people, diplomacy is a coveted real-world skill as well, and those who can use it wisely always have the most fun. [Feb 2004, p.62]
eToychest
There is a tremendous community established that is very helpful for the most part, and nothing quite surpasses the feeling of adventuring with friends throughout a world as vast as the one Square-Enix has put together here.
Read Full Review >G4 TV
While Final Fantasy XI doesn't currently offer quite as much variety and depth as competing games --especially on the PC -- its superb graphics, sound, and dedicated community make it a match for the competition.
Read Full Review >games(TM)
If it weren't for a few titles like "City Of Heroes" taking the genre in interesting new directions, we'd find it far easier to recommend this more traditional life-consuming abyss of a game.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this game is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 80 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Turffie L gave it a4:
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.
Dan D gave it a6:
This game is recommended for gamers who have no life. The gameplay and the interface is great and so is the community; but the amount of time that you'll have to devote to this game just isn't worth it. I will say this though: FFXI is alot more fun and in-depth than anything that I can compare it to. I just don't like how it consumes years of your life to get anywhere in the story.
Eeach L. gave it a10:
Jack Attack must be confused. Besieged, Campaign, Level Sync, & Fields of Valor are all new systems added since 2003 that fix a lot of the complaints people had about the game. IMO if FFXi were released as a new game today, it would be the WoW killer. Trouble is, it is a 7 year old game; people like Jack Attack that played it in 2003 aren't willing to give it a 2nd chance and new players aren't willing to try an older game.
Andrey S. gave it a5:
I have played FFXI for about 2 years. The Game does not run above 30FPS no matter how good your PC is. The game is very time consuming and requires 2-3 people to accomplish anything minor and 6-8 for anything more serious. There is a lot of cultural diversity on the servers with Japanese, French, German, British, South and North American players. Japanese players usually want nothing to do with English speakers so forget asking for help from them. Square Enix is working on FF XIV online which will basically be the same game except more WoW-like. In 2 years I was able to level 3 Jobs to LvL75 as well as about 6-8 subjobs to 37. Completed Chains Of Promathia, almost completed Rise Of Zilart and Completed Aht Urgan Missions as well as nation missions. All with a LOT of help. If you plan making any progress in this game, you HAVE to make A LOT of friends. Good Luck.
Joshua F gave it a10:
let me just state that i love this game. I have played it on and off since the release date I own it on the PC and Xbox 360 and i love the community. It is not a WoW game You need to form a party to level up once you hit 11-13 or you are in for a long haul. Great game and I wont stop playing it unless FF14 is as great as i think it will be.
Ryan S. gave it a9:
No MMO can surpass the beauty, depth, and addictiveness of FFXI. The game is over 8 years old, is is still going strong. In fact, there's more people playing now then there ever have been. The graphics are showing age, but you simply cannot find another MMO with characters and environments as beautiful and well-designed as those in FFXI. The combat isn't your average MMO combat, but more of a real-time system made to seem turn-based. It takes some getting use to, but it allows for more strategy than faster-paced combat. The sound is this game is jaw-dropping. The sound effects are well-done, but the music is just gorgeous. There are hardly any games(not just MMOs) that can match the quality of music in this game, except some very high-budget games, and the other Final Fantasy games. The story is of the same quality Final Fantasy fans have come to love, and surpasses some other Final Fantasy games, despite being a MMO. As of right now, you can buy the game for $20, which includes every single expansion pack(they're not making any more expansions), and all three mini-expansions. Paying $20 for the game with 1 month free, and then $12 per month after that, you will be hard-pressed to find any form of entertainment of this quality, for such a low price. Worth every penny.
Troy R gave it an8:
I started playing this game around the time the Xbox360 version came out. It is a lot of fun. You will have to do a lot of grinding. It will take you a lot longer to get to lv75 then it does it WoW for example. If you get find a group of people that play around the same time as you and can communicate well with since the amount of people playing has gone down. Use level sync and the fields of valor and the other new things they have added and you can still get to 75. Don't take the easy way out and get into a SMN burn and get to 75 and have no idea how to play your job correctly.
