May not be for everyone, but it is for me...

Final Fantasy XI: Online. Yes, its for the hardcore. Yes, its slow-paced. Yes, its not as graphically impressive as other 360 games. But is it worth playing...YES!

Given that I am the hard. The core. The hardcore...I can handle this game. In fact, despite having GRAW, Oblivion, Battlefield 2 and Tomb Raider at my finger tips...countless hours are spent playing Final Fantasy XI.

Originally, on the beta, I held back a little. I wanted to test the waters, but wasn't sure how much I could get into it. I got my character to a level 10 warrior. Decent, but you're not able to do much yet. The fact that the retail version opens up a number of options to you should let you know there's much more to anticipate here. First off it includes all three expansion packs, one of which JUST came out and is selling for $30. So to get this game for $50 is a bargain (if you exclude the monthly fee).

One thing to note, especially about the beta, was that you just got dropped into this world. No manual, no real sense of what the heck I'm supposed to do. This is where the game fails, it is -at times - too large of a sandbox. It is a MMORPG, and the game is supposed to live forever, but goodness. When you don't know what does what, we have a problem.

A couple saving graces about the final version is that 1) we have a manual now, which includes some of the keyboard shortcuts. 2) We have veterans from the PS2 and PC who have been playing for years, and for the most part are friendly and willing to share their knowledge with you (I've had on a few occasions high lvl characters stop what they're doing to help me though a quest). These two factors add to bring a sense of "I know what to do now" that most probably didn't have before.

You can go solo, or in a group - its your choice. You can hook up with a Linkshell (CLAN) and check to see when your friends are on, and when their not. The reason this (Playonline) needs to be seperate from XBOX LIVE is because you are online with PC and PS2 players. So to keep track of a friend playing on a PS2, a gamertag they have NOT. So, the game itself keeps track of who is where, much like Halo 2 did on the XBOX 1. Not only will it tell you if your friend is online or not, it will tell you which region and what level they are.

Are you a white mage looking to hook up with a warrior? You can do a search for someone in a number of ways. By level, by job, or just see who's in your area. Once you know what you're doing it really does improve the gaming experience.

Outside of its dated graphics (though noticably better then the PS2 and in widescreen) and the audio (which is ashamedly electronic sounding as oppossed to the amazing orchestrations I know Square Enix can do), there is a great game to be had. It will not fit everyone, but there are some of us that I've run into (Japanese gamers included) who are playing on their 360 and share my heart.

Yes, it is for the hardcore, but the game is so relaxing...It takes a hardcore audience to get into it, but the gameplay isn't fast and frantic. You want that, play an FPS. This game rewards you in so many areas. It takes time to build a strong character, but then you will be a force to be reconed with. From there you can adventure whereever you want. Explore the new lands included in the expansion packs. Pick up a craft like woodworking and make a living creating and selling items. Furnish you house.

For those who have the patience this game is highly recommended.

Great game with lots to do

I don't know what others are talking about. I played the Beta version and thought it was awesome! There are tons of people to help you if you have questions (gamers, computer characters and live help) and the graphics are pretty awesome! There are so many things you can do besides go out and kill things, although to increase your level you gotta kill stuff. You can heal yourself after battle without buying expensive potions like in previous versions, make your own weapons, armor, food items and other things through synthesizing items, fight alone or join a party, go fishing, gardening or mining, or just sit around selling stuff in your own bazaar. They even have auction houses where you can get whatever you need generally lower than the actual stores. This game rocks! You can also join the mentor program once your level is high enough (to be a mentor) so you can help others out or you can join up with a mentor to help you along if you need it. And they still have chocobos, ferries and airships. There are missions and quests for you to sign up to get special and/or rare items and you can inquire and then choose to accept the mission/quest or not. I especially like the fact that I can have a main job and equip a sub or second job like a warrior who's also a white mage. You can fight and cure yourself at the same time. They also have advanced jobs like ninja, dragoon, summoner and samurai all which are a blast to play with. You can change your main job at any time. Because of all the stuff there is to do in this game it will take some time but that's what makes this game so cool! Who wants a game you can beat in a day and then you either sell it or it sits on the shelf in your room collecting dust? This game offers something for every level of player and the fact that there is so much to do and that it's online makes it fun, interesting and challenging everytime you log in and play! I would recommend this game to everyone!

great game for hardcore mmorpg gamers

This game is nothing like other ff games and unless you are planning to spend a lot of time on it, i wouldnt recommand it. I've been playing it on pc for 2 years now, and am planning on transfering my acc to 360. Its also out on ps2. the reason ive rated it 4/5 is that its an amazing game, but only for a specific type of gamer. It has a great community to it that is very helpful unlike games like diablo. (played that for 4 years) Only turn down of the game is the time it takes to get all updates and downloads and the fact that its $14 a month. The game will require you to have a usb keyboard for 360. I recommend getting a wireless one. The gameplay itself is very slow pace.
Its based on choosing a job (Warrior, Monk, Thief, White Mage, Red Mage, Black Mage, Bard, Beastmaster, Summoner, Dark Knight, Paladin, Ranger, Ninja, Samurai, Dragoon and Treasures of Aht Urhgan's expension 3 new jobs: Blue Mage, Puppetmaster, Corsair) and a race (the Hume, the Elvaan, the Galka, the Tarutaru and the Mithra). Each job has very generic abilities and each takes time to master. (looong time) The great thing about 360 version is that it already includes all the expansions in one. Once you are set with all that, you can jump into adventures although you'll spend lots of time lvling up at first wich can get boring. Passed lvl 10(you can get up to 10 in one day rl time) the gameplay changes and you get a choice of lvling up in a party where each member plays specific role in defeating a monster in order to lvl up. There are also guilds (goldsmith, alchem, woodworking, etc.) where you lvl up specific skills that help you make items and make gil (Vina'dielian currency). Vina'diel btw is the name of the world. (not world meaning server) Game is VERY addictive. (alike Everquest and World of Warcraft) And in style of final fantasy games, the story is really good. There are also other things such as notorious monster fights, many other great battles and other fun things that i dont have time to talk about in a review, so just pick up this game if you love rpgs and jump in.

Final Fantasy XI Online

In a long line of Games that had their start as early as Nintendo the Final Fantasy franchise is one of the most popular and revered RPG's of all time. Since Square Enix designed and released it's first MMORPG (mass multi online role playing game) it has drawn hundreds of thousands of gamers. The world of Vana'diel is deep in story and adventure that you can never possibly exhaust. Since it's release in 2002 four expansions have been added to this already gigantic world, three of which are included in the XBOX 360 release. The fighting methods and role playing qualities in the game urge you to make friends and work with other players like yourself to defend the land from countless enemies. This game has been compared to WOW (World Of Warcraft) and for myself and many FFXI players they left WOW wanting and found what they were looking for with Final Fantasy XI. The amount of jobs and characters is overwhelming for the gamer and you can boast over 2000 hours of game time and still never tire of the gameplay and fun. This is a must for all gamer fans no matter what your taste you will find something your looking for with Final Fantasy XI online.

Final Fantasy XI

I've played mmorpg's in the past and I was really looking forward to playing FFXI for my first time. But I have to say I'm very disappointed with this title. First off you can select the server you want to play on but most of them are barren and rarely do you see other people in the starting cities. There's a huge world of Vana'Diel to explore but it doesn't help when your stuck in the same city and area all the time. The server I found that had more people then the others still was pretty barren in the starting cities. And even when you do find people nobody wants to form a party with you or wants to help for that matter. On other mmorpg's that I played I found people to help me within the first couple of days. But I've played this for a week now and I can't get past level 11 without any help. And if you leave the beginner city and area at a low level you get attacked by roaming beastmen and goblin hordes. It just really gets boring seeing the same old area over and over again. I've started over numerous times with different servers and different races in different cities but always got the same result. Plus the quests and missions your supposed to do are very sketchy on what your actually supposed to do. I don't mean to be so negative and bash this game but it is very frustrating to say the least. I'm still going to play it till my 30 free days are up and I ordered a strategy guide to maybe help me out. But if things don't change until them I highly doubt I'll want to invest $12.99 for this each month.