Final Fantasy XI Review

By Simon Parkin Published 19 April, 2006

Vana 'Diel, or shall I?

Version tested: Xbox 360

MMORPGs are comfortably the most hated of games for a reviewer to critique. This is partly because, even if you do spend one whole month of your life playing solely this game (during which time you can earn no money from other work to feed yourself or your family) everybody that is currently playing the game moans and bitches that you haven't played it enough yet and it's only 600 days in when your ninja character with thief sub-job reaches level 75 and completes his set of AF armour that the game really begins to make sense.

But it's mainly because, unlike offline games, online RPGs are not self-contained blocks of gameplay and narrative with a start, a middle and an end. Rather, they are infinitely shifting, enormous structural playpens that exist primarily to breed and facilitate human relationships; the life and love that traditionally surrounds games rather than inhabits them. The game only really begins to make sense 600 days in when your ninja character with thief sub-job reaches level 75 and completes his set of AF armour because it's only when you get that far in that you realise that the fun you've had hasn't really had much to do with the game at all.

'Final Fantasy XI' Screenshot 1

Street Fighter 2 amazed because there was community gathered around the arcade cabinet. We all jeered or revered each other while watching and learning new techniques together: a group of humans bound and strengthened by a communal gaming focus. The experts helped the newbies until the newbies beat the experts and the circle of strife completed.

We all have known that feeling of kinship through shared interactive addiction and affection, whatever the game in whatever the space in time. MMORPGs are the same except moreso a hundred times over: their community is perpetually bred from within.

One could write for hours about what a wonderful place Sweden is to live: the sights and sites and sounds and pros and cons of its society's structures. You could wax lyrical about how the laws are so very well thought out and the town planning and education and health and police and transport mechanics are perfectly implemented. But really, your quality of experience in Sweden is only partly influenced by these things. What really makes it a good place to live in are the people you encounter while there; that interplay of human relationship that makes life what it is.

And so that is why MMORPGS are impossible games to review within the traditional critical framing question of: "How much fun will I have here?"

How much fun you will have there is only partially dictated by what the game's creators put in place. The rest is down to the life that fills that framework.

So, all one can really do is pull out a photograph of Final Fantasy XI for you to look at and, in doing so, simply give you the opportunity to see what those who love her see.

'Final Fantasy XI' Screenshot 2

Like Sweden, FFXI's society and scenery is built from hundreds of tiny building blocks. It has races and racism, transport systems and ticket offices, vocations and money, smoking cities and gleaming landscapes, savage monsters and dark dangers, sparkling oceans and swimming skies and hope and death and fishermen and swords and mayors and farming and furry thongs and enough of the paraphernalia of life to persuade you to emigrate from atomic reality to pixel virtuality.

Indeed, when you pick the game's box from the shelf at your local retailer or add it to your basket online, know this: you're not so much holding a videogame as a passport. Your new identity, new home, new face written in zeroes and ones and burned to a disk with which you can trade life in this world for life in that world.

In your hands you hold the rabbit hole to wonderland; the wardrobe to Narnia; the trunk of the faraway tree, the cyclone to Oz, the gate leading away from the hobbit's shire.

The red pill.

What price life? £29.99 and £8.99 monthly rent.

Let's imagine for a moment that when you get to this world there's no one else there - the muddying critical modifiers of emotionally charged relationships wiped away. Let's purely and simply chart your first lonesome week in Vana 'Diel. Your first few hours will be spent tentatively stepping out of your adopted home city's gates (Bastok, San d'Oria, Windurst, or Jeuno), before battling a few low-level monsters in an effort to level up your chosen job as quickly as possible while earning a little money to buy some armour. Battles are built on invisible dice rolls so there's seemingly little skill involved at first - simply a battle of your stats versus his.

'Final Fantasy XI' Screenshot 3

Initially, you're weak and useless and you won't be able to travel very far without dying and subsequently lying hopelessly on the floor crying out in coloured text for a passing mage to revive you. If no one comes to your aid it's a case of respawning back at town, losing a percentage of your experience and starting the process over.

Inside your city various basic quests are available to you, all of which earn a small amount of money to spend at the shops or at the player-run auction houses and enable you to take your first baby steps into the overarching plot. Other players cannot see your interactions with NPCs so everybody plays out their own personal stories silently next to one another. When you have built up enough strength you can venture a little further outside of your city and, if you're lucky or can find an escort, you might make it to the next town along.

This is essentially how the game continues to work for the next 50 years. You get a little stronger so you travel a little further and beat the next slightly harder monsters. You get a little richer doing so and buy some better weapons and armour in order beat the next slightly harder monsters. All the while questing, advancing the story and making new friends draws you from capital letter to full stop.

And it's this final element on which the universe lives or dies. The game positively encourages interaction with other people, many quests only becoming feasible when working in a team. So you must make friends and join a linkshell (a clan whose online members you can speak to at any time no matter where you are). You might decide to meet up at 8pm to help someone else in the linkshell complete a quest they've been struggling with or you might choose to meet up in Brighton next Saturday for a pint. Lives converge in Vana 'Diel and suddenly the potholed roads and crusty levelling fade from view. The game becomes simply a backdrop to existence: a means to an end.

'Final Fantasy XI' Screenshot 4

And, sadly, that end isn't always friendship. There are tricksters in Final Fantasy XI - virtual criminals out to win confidence before stealing other player's in-game items or money. There are scammers at the player-operated casinos and rogue beastmasters who would look to deliberately set powerful monsters upon weaker players for sport (Monster Player Killers). Every community is subject to those who would violate it's terms and laws and Final Fantasy XI is no different.

Likewise, its framework is frequently flawed - full of tiny mistakes and design sins that the developer gods should never have infected their world with. Should you fail to meet the right people and form those crucial linkshell relationships then these flaws eventually shatter your play experience. Devoid of community this is essentially just a four-year-old PS2 game (albeit complete with all the expansions, including the latest Treasures of Aht Urhgan), as hurtful as its jagged polygons.

Crucially, the game retains much of the Final Fantasy DNA - Moogles and Chocobos and airships and jobs and Cid and orphans and any number of the unifying threads the series enjoys running through its coded veins. So for the Final Fantasy fan, this is the live-in dream. But, these trappings of Square-Enix's most treasured IP will do little to compel the friendless player to push on sixty hours down the line - and sixty hours will be just the beginning of your commitment if you wish to see this through to the end. Well, an end.

Indeed, the MMORPG is a genre for people with few commitments. When you take one on you take on a new life: one that makes almost as many demands of you to succeed as this one. The key difference between its reality and ours is that if you follow the game's guidebooks and fansites and tirelessly chip away at life in the game, you will slowly but surely succeed - at least in the traditional western 'get-more-powerful, have-more-things, be-able-to-beat-bigger-monsters' type way.

'Final Fantasy XI' Screenshot 5

Real life isn't so simple and perhaps therein lies the appeal. For teenagers or reclusive twentysomethings and northwards, the MMORPG provides an escape; A preferable world where the other players largely share the same interests as you and where the rules and boundaries are clearly defined and easy to work within - providing you have the time. Perhaps then the MMORPG genre is best suited for the young - those yet to fully find their place and purpose in real life - or the old - where the game allows a fresh start and challenge from the bottom of the social ladder when all your cards in this life have already been played.

In this world there are faults deep and as wide corrupting the framework but, unmistakably, there's the potential for glory, wonder and passion to be woven into the tapestry of your play experience; unscripted flashes of soul tugging brilliance as your team slays that dastardly notorious monster after an hour of intense strategising or when a high-level white mage brings you back to life when you thought all hope was lost as you lay unconscious in the belly of that mythril mine. Those are the moments that are unique to you. Again: in creating an MMORPG, the developer doesn't script create amazing gameplay moments for you like in most games - they simply create the place for them.

Attributing a numerical value to this world is about as ridiculous as giving London four out of ten because it needs a good wash. Sure, remove the other people and the resultant empty shell is clearly showing it's age. There's potential for lonely nights of wandering aimless and lost, grinding against the game's antiquated cogs and mechanisms for scant little reward: An ageing face, furrowed brow, grey hair and an awkward gait. Two out of ten.

But overlay the living, breathing, bustling society that inhabits this land and mix in Final Fantasy's still compelling mythologies and there's no denying the potential for life-affirming, memorable and wonderful adventures filled with glimpses of real life truth, beauty and awe: A mature, life-chiselled face full of the confidence of having lived and won and worked out its place in life. Ten out of ten.

The truth of the situation lies somewhere in between, because even hardened FF fans can't escape the fact that this is little more than a solid, functional port of a four year old game. As potentially enjoyable as it is (if you put the hours in), and as much content as there is in this all-encompassing release (if you really put the hours in), things have moved on considerably in the MMO scene in the intervening years. 360 owners deserve a lot more than a re-re-issue for their money.

7 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Simon.

About Simon Parkin

Simon Parkin is an author and journalist on video games. A regular contributor to Eurogamer since 2005, his work has also appeared in Edge, The Telegraph, Gamasutra and Boing Boing.

Read more articles from Simon by visiting the Simon Parkin archive page.

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Comments (67) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • #1 6 years ago

    I love confusing reviews :)

  • Hunam85 #2 6 years ago

    He pretty much said it can range from 2/10 to 10/10 depending on how it goes.

    But i agree with him on giving London 4/10, it really could do with a wash :p

  • AHiFi #3 6 years ago

    Ten?!!!!

  • #4 6 years ago

    2/10 from me!

  • Heartcore_Ninja #5 6 years ago

    But the game is so shite IMO, oh how I dream of the day where we have a great console MMORPG...

  • Feanor #6 6 years ago

    And what's between 2/10 and 10/10 - Six. :)

  • AHiFi #7 6 years ago

    ....Ten?!!!!

  • Carlo #8 6 years ago

    "Devoid of community this is essentially just a crusty four-year-old PS2 game (albeit complete with the two new expansions and the 360's HD capability), as hurtful as its jagged polygons."

    Lets hope it sells shit-loads then.

  • Daan #9 6 years ago

    So I'll be the first to say it's better than Kameo then?

  • reality_cheque #10 6 years ago

    I didn't like the having to race to monsters part when I played the demo, but I've really been missing this game for some reason, which I think is the level up music :(

    Fuck me I'm sad.

  • varsas #11 6 years ago

    >But the game is so shite IMO, oh how I dream of the day where we have a great console MMORPG...

    Phantasy Star Universe? Though it has a Guild Wars hub architecture rather than continuous sprawling world.
    Edited by 1 at 19/04/06 @ 14:56

  • The_Aardvark #12 6 years ago

    Horrible review.

    Just horrible.

    Almost everyone reading this review will know what an MMORPG is. They know it's social. What they need to know is how the game works. And this doesn't tell them.

  • #13 6 years ago

    Are those screen grabs really from the 360 version? Can't be, cos the demo looked utter crap even in hi def.

    I'll eat my hat if they are tho

    /waves hat

  • alimokrane #14 6 years ago

    What a wonderful review to read. honestly, thank you.

  • Syrette #15 6 years ago

    Maybe the demo was a really old build.

    Like, really old.

  • ecureuil #16 6 years ago

    The game is crap, that's all anyone needs to know.

    You have to fight tiny rabbits for 100 hours, then you can progress to fighting some sort of orc. But don't try and fight more than one at a time, else you are SCREWED. Welcome to the MMORPG.

  • Beano #17 6 years ago

    Tried the beta... technically it seemed very muddy, glitchy and slow....

  • Teeth #18 6 years ago

    LMAO at the cries of "ten!!???" - you whelps obviously didn't read the review then

  • Khanivor #19 6 years ago

    Fuck me, and I thought I've written some long, rambling and ultimately pointless intors but this takes the biscut.

    However, the clever device of not giving a score, thereby forcing people to wade through the words, is worth stealing :)

  • reality_cheque #20 6 years ago

    Almost everyone reading this review will know what an MMORPG is.

    Lowest common denominator.

  • Eldritch #21 6 years ago

    Another great example why "new games journalism" is a pain in the backside.

    Another great reason to skip to the end.

    A truly bad review, maybe because I don't give a fiddler's fart about living in Sweden, thank you.

  • tengu #22 6 years ago

    lol, is this the joker that did that bizarre Dragon Quest VIII review? Quite funny I thought.

    FFXI remains the only numbered FF I've never played, and it's probably going to stay that way, as I hate the idea of online RPGs.

    "So I'll be the first to say it's better than Kameo then?"

    Well, that's not hard to do now, is it? :)

  • #23 6 years ago

    Teeth wrote:

    "LMAO at the cries of "ten!!???" - you whelps obviously didn't read the review then"

    I did read the review, and I still haven't a clue what Simon thinks of the game :/

  • Dizzy #24 6 years ago

    Nice not giving a score. A good idea since it is quite hard to evaluate MMORPGs anyway (I would give WoW different ratings depending on what stage of the game you are and what guild you are in).

  • rinoaMW #25 6 years ago

    Its a pretty good game, if you like MMO's and all things FF. Its definitely one of the best examples of an MMO ageing well and standing the test of time...its been going for years now, and is still heavily populated. That’s the testament of a good MMO for me.

    so where's Kami saying "Now I’ve played this for X years……"?

    heh just kidding, Kami :)
    Edited by 1 at 19/04/06 @ 15:24

  • jellyhead #26 6 years ago

    2/10 to 10/10 hmm, both better and worse than Halo then? ;)

    / runs away!

  • octo #27 6 years ago

    It's like Paul Giamatti from Sideways is writing these reviews :-)

  • jlaakso #28 6 years ago

    Well-written review.
    However, you could've given some idea as to how it fares against the competition - notably WOW. Yes, even though it isn't available on the 360.

  • krudster #29 6 years ago

    The review was published without a score by mistake. Sorry chaps!

  • CyberClaw #30 6 years ago

    The review is not bad per say, but it lacks any meaty detail.
    Comparing it to other MMORPGs would have been a start, and mentioning that the game installs to the hard drive, making the HDD a must, and how much space it takes are definitly missing.

    That said, how much space does the game take in the HDD?

  • corposant #31 6 years ago

    I thought this was a great review.

    In fact I think EG should explore creating an entire ranking system based on comparison with countries. A ten could be England (for patriotic reasons) and a 0 somewhere crap like Chad.

  • #32 6 years ago

    Where'd that last paragraph come from?

    /head explodes with the pain of it all

  • krudster #33 6 years ago

    Sorry for any confusion, the review went live before the final editing.
    Edited by 1 at 19/04/06 @ 15:47

  • bluebird #34 6 years ago

    By far the best review I've read on this game, and MMO-RPG's in general. This article applies to most of them really. Having tried both EVE-online (the best I've seen so far) and FF-XI, and having shared playtime with friends on WOW and City of Heroes, they all pretty much have this same upside and downside: You get back what you put in.

    If you're a newcomer to massively multiplayer games, do not underestimate the time they eat from you.

    You MUST socialize in them to enjoy them. None of the MMO's I've seen handles single player gaming well. All of them come alive when you do. And stealing your life in the process. I quit with Eve as it was either about taking on a virtual lifestyle or my 'real' life. The same with FF XI. Cuter, yes, but an even more obvious grind. These games take significant dedication, and are only for those even able to put that in.

  • CyberClaw #35 6 years ago

    Can anyone tell me? How much space does this game's instalation take in the hard drive?

  • trevd72 #36 6 years ago

    the monthly payment is the thing that bugs me about these things!

  • Grunk #37 6 years ago

    When did this Simon guy turn up?

    /hasn't been paying attention

  • reality_cheque #38 6 years ago

    @Eldritch: [/i]A truly bad review, maybe because I don't give a fiddler's fart about living in Sweden, thank you."[/i]

    I think you missed the point of the Sweden comments. Go back and try again.

  • MrAtheist #39 6 years ago

    Jeez Krudster when did you stick you editor of DOOM hat on? Parkins NGJ-no-point-issuing-a-score review gets shredded and a 'safe' final paragraph and 7/10 gets slapped on!? eh?

  • Pho-Zoon #40 6 years ago

    So... much... hyperbole...

    /struggles to breathe

    And then... a seven!

  • TheMoonRat #41 6 years ago

    More of a review off mmorpgs in general than a review of the game :/ The review has kinda put me off all mporgps tho; i don't fancy being so commited to a game that it starts to interfere with real life.

  • Pho-Zoon #42 6 years ago

    Why waste so much poetic fluid on a seven-out-of-ten game?

    And whatever happened to the days when only very good games got sevens or eights, and 9s and 10s were scarcely spoken of?

    EG's standards are slipping! It's the end of the world! McDonalds put dog meat in your french fries!
    Edited by 1 at 19/04/06 @ 16:45

  • alimokrane #43 6 years ago

    @Pho-Zoon

    There was no score at the end before but for some reason that was changed. I liked the way the review was before without a stupid number to justify the review.
    Edited by 1 at 19/04/06 @ 16:53

  • Azazel #44 6 years ago

    "Why waste so much poetic fluid on a seven-out-of-ten game? "

    Because it's Final Fantasy.

  • Juriel #45 6 years ago

    Yay, recycled, OLD PS2-material...
    Such a new dawn of gaming, on a new platform.

  • thegamesthething #46 6 years ago

    "Can anyone tell me? How much space does this game's instalation take in the hard drive?"

    Cyberclaw, the demo was about 5gb I think, the real thing may well be more.

  • PearOfAnguish #47 6 years ago

    What a load of gubbins that was.

    Sweden??

  • BEAR-ONE #48 6 years ago

    I must say that I saw the trailer on XboxLive, and was totally underwhelmed by the graphics and all. I was thinking "decidedly Japanese RPGs are not for me"...

    BEAR

  • captainrentboy #49 6 years ago

    Blackdog:lucky 360 owners get to play a PS2 game on their machines ^_^

    LOL!!!!!UWE OWNZED UZ 360 OWNAZ!
    Is it wrong for me to truely hate someone on a forum?Because I just can't help it,whatever this guy writes brings tears of frustration to my eyes:)And anyway,the last time I looked on the Game store shelves FF11 wasn't in the ps2 section.

  • dudefella #50 6 years ago

    don't get me wrong, the review did a nice job of mentioning the ups and downs of MMO's, but it could have said more about game mechanics as it mentioned NOTHING! So overall I'd give this review a 5/10. Style was its saving grace! Man, reviews like this one and DQ8 really need to stop happening. I want information about the actual game in my review!

  • SirScratchalot #51 6 years ago

    "What a load of gubbins that was.

    Sweden?? "

    Now imagine your surprise if you live there. Which I do. Quite confusing this became for some reason.

  • Xerx3s #52 6 years ago

    Not my kind of game. But i suppose that it attracts some ppl. :\
    Edited by 1 at 19/04/06 @ 19:31

  • Drakron #53 6 years ago

    FF XI required the PS2 HD that was released ... in japan only.

    That is why you dont see FF XI in the PS2 section in any other region besides asia.

  • Hunam85 #54 6 years ago

    Erm, Dakron, it came out in America too.

  • Genome #55 6 years ago

    Wait a minute? What's all this about Sweden?

    Oh, it's a metaphor.

    Well, it's a bloody stupid one and as a citizen of Sweden, I demand free stuff.

  • dmigsy #56 6 years ago

    Great review

  • ilmaestro #57 6 years ago

    Be glad you don't need to buy a Japanese version - it's full price over there. And by full price I mean 'FF price' ie. even more expensive than a standard game, though it comes with arguably nicer box art.

    Is the £8.99 a month not a little steep? I thought I remembered the PC version working out to less than £7 a month, maybe I'm going crazy.

  • Pastici #58 6 years ago

    I bet I'm wrong but maybe the Sweeden part is about the comic Little Gamers, a sweedish comic where onew of the creators plays this and does quite a few comics about it. *shrugs*

  • Drakron #59 6 years ago

    Erm, Dakron, it came out in America too.

    Odd, I was sure the HD end up restricted to JPN region and FF XI required it to play.

    Of course I dont usually pay much attention what happens in the colonies ...

  • LlamaFarmer #60 6 years ago

    I really enjoyed this review, though I can see why some people wanted more information on the game. But for me, it was a great read.

  • Triggerhappytel #61 6 years ago

    "The review was published without a score by mistake. Sorry chaps!"

    You liar! It was done purposely like that (hence "Attributing a numerical value to this world is ridiculous";) but I think you guys relented after all the 'number-moaning' going on here. Why are people so desperate to put a number on everything. Can't they just read the review and reach their own conclusion?

  • vane101 #62 6 years ago

    Nice writing but it didn't tell us much about the game's basics. I would say this is not a game to begin your MMORPG career. It's hardcore levelling and nowhere near as fun as say World of Warcraft.

    The PC version takes 6 Gigs and an expansion is due, which will probably be between half and a full Gig. So if you've downloaded all the demos and other stuff, you may be pushed for space, as the 360 only has 12 Gigs free.

    Oh, I might as well add a bit more. This isn't a great game for soloing and most classes are weak without a group. There's a clever translation system where you can select basic phrases so the Japanese can understand and vice versa. Some Japanese have a reputation for not grouping with westerners.

    Nice looking world though despite the outdated graphics.
    Edited by 2 at 20/04/06 @ 10:36

  • dk_rare #63 6 years ago

    Meh

  • kenty #64 6 years ago

    what a bunch of arse. Eurogamer please NO MORE of this New Games Journalism gayness >_

  • Injurak #65 6 years ago

    Here we go, I’m a player with an "end game" character so I thought I would give you a bit of information on the game, you may choose to start in any of three cities (bastok, Windurst and Sand'Oria). The races are: Hume (human) middleish stats
    Galka- high STR and VIT, Elvaan (like an elf) these have high STR, Mithra (cat people) high DEX and Tarutaru these are casters.

    It's important to know that this game is the most clan orientated MMO I have ever played (played EQ2, WOW and FFXI) most quests and monsters you need help do finish. Solo levelling becomes inefficient past about level 12 (at level 10 you start to join a group). All of your buying and selling happens through the auction house, in here you will have or break yourself, it’s a tough market.

    Next is the fact that this is a Japanese MMO, this means that you spend allot of your time levelling your character and making money to fund your next quest or mission and the majority of the players are NA, JP or British.

    When your character reaches rank 5, he or she can use an airship, but you’re looking at 40+ levels in for that. The first mode of transport is the loveable chocobo which at level 20 when you make your way to the city of Jeuno becomes available to you through a simple quest.

    Crafting is an integral part of the game; if you’re sensible you will choose one and take the cost of levelling it.

    EXP is important; you place your "looking for party" flag up and wait or start your own group from the people seeking. It is vital that you choose a good mix of "jobs" to accompany you as the basis of battle is to get a "skill chain" this is when you time the use of skills correctly to do extra damage. You are able to do this after gaining "TP" from hitting the monster physically with your weapon.

    This RPG is not for the WOW fans where the whole game is easy; this is for people who want a challenge for their monthly fee. This is about helping others and receiving help yourself in return. Your gear represents your commitment and your skill. The game has flaws like, human nature (people bringing the price of the item you just saved up for to a price double what is was a week ago), the way it absorbs your soul until you "must" reach set level by Tuesday. The random maintenance that take the game offline for hours each month, the fact that the same monster models have been reused allot and simply renamed and made harder (this doesn’t really mother people but it would be nice to get a few more). Other than that the game suffers from the same flaws as all mmos; time, people making a living in RMT (real money trade) casinos (but really who is dumb enough to hand over 100k to a total stranger on the "change" of winning).

    I would recommend visiting these sites:

    http://w ww.playonline.com/ff11eu/index.shtml
    http://ffxi.allakhazam.co m/

    If you have anyother questions about the game, just contact me somehow :)
    Edited by 3 at 20/04/06 @ 16:43

  • miiiguel #66 6 years ago

    I've tried the demo, and my honest opinion is that this is a old-gen game (PS2; XB), it "smells" PS2, and there's nothing wrong with it, I'm just not in the retro mood, anymore.

  • vane101 #67 6 years ago

    Good posts by arbiter and Injurak but I can't see console gamers with little or no experience of MMORPGs liking this game.

    Even the Japanese fans of the single player FF series didn't exactly jump all over it.

  • Injurak #68 6 years ago

    "I can't see console gamers with little or no experience of MMORPGs liking this game."

    I know I sound like a salesman but; an MMO is about taking on something new, you build your character to your spec and a hardcore MMO is a good place to start, where best to start than with the best? The Japanese players are an extremely polite people, a pleasure to play (although yes, it’s not the same for them all) with and the majority are very skilled at gaming.

    You could play a game like WOW (I hear they are thinking of moving it onto the next gen market) but I have seen people move from WOW and flounder around because they expect to get by easily. These easier MMO's get boring very quickly in my opinion. The review was a bit harsh but the Asian made games are all the same, to compare them to the US and Canadian games (tailor made for us) and this is what happens.

  • Rambaldi #69 6 years ago

    4 yrs old and nearly £10 a month....and an MMORPDKDJIG to boot

    /yawns

  • Kafeen #70 6 years ago

    Since when does a game being a few years old mean its crap?

    FFXI has been a strong performer for 4 years and with the new expansion and new platform its playable on its only getting better.

    Sure, it might now be as pretty as some newer games so if you play a game purely for its graphics FFXI might not be the game for you. If you're looking for an MMO with plenty of story in it and alot to do you still can't do better than FFXI.

  • DAL9000 #71 6 years ago

    Does it /hurt/ to write a review this rambling and pretentious? No, seriously. D'you think the author felt actual, physical pain every time he launched into a bizarre metaphor or an ill-conceived philosophical digression?

    'cause if he didn't, he really should've. Lord knows it surely hurt to read it.

  • Futaba #72 4 years ago

    What the...NIN/THF?

    You n00b! :p