To begin with I am a Final Fantasy fanatic so consider that as I continue my review.
The first thing I noticed which is impossible to miss unless you fall asleep is the lenghty install. To finish installing all of the expansions, get registered, perform updates, create a character, and start playing the game, it is probably going to take a few hours. This is assuming you have a broadband connection. If you do not have one expect this process to take considerably longer.
I won't complain too much about the install because a lot of other MMO games out there take quite some time to update as well. This is simply an FYI.
Character creation is pretty simple. The biggest problem I have with it is the lack of identity. There are few enough options that you kind of feel like you have the same character as 25% of the world. This isn't exactly accurate, but I never felt like I had anything original. It isn't a terrible thing, but it is one of those things I wish I could customize a little more.
The interface... well... lets just say it is different. I have played many MMO PC games and this interface and control scheme are way... way... different than any other game I've played. That doesn't make it bad though. I actually felt a little lost at first because the controls we so different than any MMO I have played. I actually had to look at the manual! That is like guy rule number one, never look at instructions. I failed! haha. The truth of the matter is once I got used to the controls I really liked them. As stated they feel very awkward for a while, but once I got it, I really liked it because it felt so fresh. It was something new. A different experience than I was accustomed to. I give the controls a 4/5 once you get it down. My only serious complaint is the fact that the mouse wheel doesn't control the zoom.
Gameplay... that is a large topic to cover. I will break it down a little.
Travelling around the world is a lengthy ordeal. Don't plan on getting anywhere fast. That is all I need to say.
Combat is what I appreciate about this game. I have only touched a small amount of it in my time playing, but I really enjoy the combat. I like the spell effects and ability effects. Good stuff. If you get this game learn to use the keyboard for targeting, it is far easier than trying to get your mouse on a moving monster and clicking it. There are Tactical Points you earn when you hit monsters or take damage. Once you hit level 10 in a weapon skill you get a new ability that you can use once you get enough Tactical Points. Then you will have to earn more Tactical Points to use the ability again. You also get job abilities. The job abilities I have are on timers so I can only use them so often. Square has always done an excellent job with effects. I already stated the spell and ability effects are great and I mean it. They have that Square/Final Fantasy style where they are just so visually appealing. You just want to perform the ability or spell again just so you can watch it haha.
The game also features tradeskills, but at this time I have virtually no experience with them so I cannot comment, just know they are available.
The game environment is really nice. I have not seen it all by any means, but from what I have seen I really enjoy it. The graphics are very dated by a 2006 standard, but it doesn't hold me back from enjoying the game. I won't defend the graphics and say they are great, but I cannot knock them too much either because they are as good as any Final Fantasy game to date. If you do buy this game I highly suggest looking up how to edit your registry to bump the graphics up a bit. When I first played the game I was shocked how bad the graphics were. I went into the FFXI config utiliy and bumped them up as high as I could. At that point they looked decent. Once I learned what to modify in my registry the graphics looked much sharper. Not perfect, but I am satisfied.
The sound is alright. I like the sound effects, but the music can get a little repetative. It is good enough that it doesn't get annoying though, at least not yet. ;)
So the big questions is how does this game compare to similar titles?
That is such a tough thing to answer for others. I will say if you do not have a lot of free time this game is probably not for you. That hurts me to say because I know myself I don't have a lot of free time. I really want to like this game, but I know how much of my time I will have to invest to really achieve anything. That kind of scares me. The people who do play it tend to play for ridiculously long periods of time. I get people messaging me all the time to get on. It is kind of a turn off. I don't like logging on and having people expect that I am going to commit to 4 hours of gameplay. I have a very hard time sticking around for 2 hours honestly. I have that problem with any game though. I just can't tune in for an excessive amount of time. I don't want to tell anyone not to get the game if they are interested, but realize what you are getting into. If you are like me you might want to avoid this one and get something else. Will that keep me from playing it? Not right now. I cannot say how long this game will hold my interest. I always wish that I could stay into MMOs just for something fun to do, but after a while I just lose interest. I don't imagine this game will be different just because of how much time everything requires.
The most appealing part of this game to me is the combat system comparing it to other MMOs. I like the fact that the enemies don't feel extremely stupid and the same all the time. The enemies have different abilities and spells just like in other Final Fantasy games. In most MMORPGs I feel like every monster is the same pretty much with different graphics and strengths. They just run up to you and keep hitting you the same way until either you die, or they die. Final Fantasy has gone beyond that. To me that is a massive improvement over other MMORPGs. The sameness has been reduced.
Final Fantasy XI actually has a storyline! Actually many storylines. That is another huge improvement over other MMORPGS. Sure other games have lore and quests, but I can't think of any that have a cohesive story like Final Fantasy XI. This is another untapped area for MMORPGS that Final Fantasy XI explores.
This game feels like Final Fantasy, in a new way. In all other games parties were involved and travel was fairly quick. This game puts you into the Final Fantasy world on another level. I feel like they took all of the great things in the Final Fantasy experience and put you into Final Fantasy "the life." You live out all of the little stuff you otherwise miss in the traditional games.
So... what is my final verdict?
I am happy I bought it. I am disappointed with how much time is necessary to play this game, but I have a good enough time playing it that I will certainly keep an active subscription for a while.
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This is an overall good game for what it is. You will enjoy it for a while I know I did. But the biggest issue I have found is that the end game aspects completely take away the fun. You will have to level up a job that meets groups standards and not your own standards. You will have to deal with a rather rough in game economy depending on your server. You will also have to deal with the constant actions of RMT (Real Money Trade). In the end you will probably spend most of your day sitting around wondering why you are playing this game. The end game monsters that are fought only spawn every 21-24 real life hours and are heavily contested and have many people in line waiting for the items. I do not recommend this game for those that are seeking something less reliant on team play and required time. I have left FFXI after 2 years and went to World of Warcraft and do enjoy it much better. For those of you seeking a good MMORPG and not looking to devote your life I would say go with WoW. For diehard Final Fantasy fans then FFXI will most likely suit you. If you enjoyed FFXII then you will most likely enjoy the online version as it is very similar in it's battle engine but far less customizable. Just brace yourself for end game and all of its grief and despair. I hope this review helps some of you!Best Deals for Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection 2007 - PC
I have been playing this game for quite awhile, and also tried my hand at WoW. If you wonder if this game for you I will list the pro and cons.Pros:
Immersing stories, if you like FF series in general, you will love the storytelling aspect of the game. It is rich, detailed, and will suck you in. It does create somewhat believable world.
Huge expansive areas. And I do mean it, huge!! Lots of area to explore. However, you won't reap all the benefits of exploring safely until you are lvl 75 and doing it with 1-2 other persons.
Challenging, this game is not for the casual players. It is very involving and require some sort of understanding of each jobs that you choose. Some of the best items in the game will take a huge effort to get it and the helps of others.
Complex, this is not a simple hack and slash by any means. A full understanding of each jobs you choose is required, and it will reward you with the satisfaction to do things that are somewhat impossible.
It is a very social game. You will rarely be alone doing stuffs in this game, you cannot do most things by yourself. People are forced to interact and seek help, you don't have much choice, especially if you try to get anything done in this game. The social aspect of this game is what makes it so addictive, you will feel like you are in a big huge chatroom, and people will gossip and talks about everyday life stuffs just like in a chat room.
There are a lot of things to do in this game, you will never run out of things to play and do. Even if you only level 1 job to 75. The amount of things you can do is endless.
Battle system is quite intimidating but will reward you if you are smart and can take advantage of it.
This game is great if you have minimum 3-5 other people that you can trust and play regularly. Yes you will make new friends and meet new strangers along the way, but this game is best to experienced with several of your most trusted companions.
You can do quite a few of customization once you are level 75 and it will be applied to all your other jobs as well if you choose to level another new jobs.
Cons:
This game is not for casual players. It takes a long time to do anything. You will spend hours trying to get a party started, to get invite, or to do anything in this game, from quests, items, or doing any missions.
The transportation in this game is very poorly designed, you will end up spending most of your time waiting around for people to start any event, or starting a party. The downside is you cannot do anything unless you are in a party, and it can take from 30-60 mnts to start a party, getting ready and actually arriving to a camp spot. To give you an idea, usually it can take from 15mnts to 2 hours to get a party invite depending on your job (popular or not, some jobs you can wait for a day and not getting any invite). Then it will take from 30-40 mnts from getting ready and find a good camp (travel time included). You will be expected to stay from 2-3 hours. If you don't have 3-5 hours per game play, you might as well don't bother with this game. You can get a lot more done playing offline game or World of Warcraft in that amount of time.
The idea of getting xp in this game is to do the same thing over and over, which is similar to WoW but at least with Warcfraft you actually do explore the area, kill some mobs, and get the xp. In Final Fantasy you will stay in one spot and do the same thing over and over. Quite boring.
The game is very strict and somewhat narrow, if you don't have specific set up, then you will not have an effective party. You can still make do, and experiment a bit, but the result will not be as satisfactory compared to a standard party.
This game punish the players, over and over, and with no discrimination either. A lot of things will go wrong mostly because other member in your party does not know his/her jobs. Missions will failed, party will wipe, you will lose xp points. The amount of punishment that this game does to the players are unbelievable. They have made a lot of adjustment in the past few years to make it somewhat bearable.
Quests and exploration are pretty useless, you get rewarded with almost nothing. Getting money is extremely difficult. And you hardly get any decent gears or items until much later in the game.
If you like to solo, then this game is not for you. There are only very few jobs that can solo effectively, namely Beastmaster and Puppetmaster. Other select jobs can solo but not as good compared the other two jobs. This not even an option, you need 5 other people with specific jobs to make a party happen. You have more freedom with the set up as you reach lvl 75, otherwise you can't do much about it. I hope in future updates this will change and encourage small party of 2-4, but knowing how Square Enix works, that's a wishful thinking.
When they say you have to level a job, they really mean it, IT IS A JOB!! One of the biggest flaw and the worst possible game design mistake of this game is that they created the job with a full intention for you to work it. It has become a second job, with very little fun in grinding your xp to 75. You cannot explore and gaining levels, instead you are bound to its rules and have to bite the bullet and make it work with other people, who sometimes are not as competent as you.
Conclusion: you either a hardcore FF fans, or have a lot of time in your hands. Otherwise do not bother with this game since you will be wasting your time and efforts, and money. WoW is a much better choice if you are casual player with 1-2 hours per play time, you will get much satisfaction with Warcraft. However if you are looking for a challenge, then FFXI is the game for you. The sense of accomplishment is greater, but the rewards are mild, mostly from the sense you completed some aspects of the game. FFXI requires a lot of dedication and time sink, a casual player will have to spend between 6 months to 1 year to level one job to 75 and start to reap its benefit. I strongly advise you prepare yourself for the time commitment that this game requires.
Honest reviews on Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection 2007 - PC
Prepare to be disappointed if you've never played an morpg before. The first levels are easy to get, but once you get to ten and up you will need a party to level up faster. To unlock any other job class aside from the ones available at the begining of the game, you're going to need to get to level 30 first and do a different quest for each one. If you want to do anything later on in the game you'll need a party for it, and you'll need luck to find others who'll want to do the quest. When you do a world search you'll see that there are only 1-2 thousand people online, and then you have to see which are Japanese, or French. If so, you'll need to press the Tab button to see translation options in order to communicate. The only good thing really are the nice graphic and different areas. Don't be surprised to not accomplish much in hours after you level up enough to do anything. I'd only recommend this to people who have a lot of time to kill. By the way, EVERY SINGLE AREA in this game will have mobs and creatures that will "aggro" or attack you if your level is too low, so you have to check them from a distance to see their level of difficulty. (get used to doing this all the time if you don't want to die...)Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection 2007 - PC
I've been a long time fan of Final Fantasy games, this was my first MMO too, got it when it first came out, around 2000 or so. It was ok at first but then it got real repeditive real fast. It is the same mobs and same levels all the time, just different difficulty mobs. the expansions that have come out for this are just a waste of money, maybe a few extra missions and quests, but all in all, its the same thing over and over. Once you can get past all that, this game is so overtaken with cheaters, that for you to be able to get good gear or weapons, you need to.. guess.. yes thats right spend money! you have to buy gil to get anywhere in this game because gilsellers run this game and as long as SE never sees the problem with this then the game will always be ruined. Next, if you can get past all that bs then for you to actually level up, considering you have any gear or weapons or spells worth a damn, then you usually sit and wait for pt's a looooong time. Yes, be prepared to wait forever and a day to level up any, and SE made this so hard to level alone that it will take same amount of time to solo or party to get any levels in this game. Well if you can get past all that.. then you got more time and money to waste than I do. I highly recomend a different game if you are looking for a good MMO or RPG or both.
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