Is Final Fantasy XI worth getting?

Question

I just recently got X-box Live (and love it), and was hoping for some good massive multiplayer online (I play Soul Calibur IV and DOA 4 online), but I like MMORPGs. Was wondering if FFXI was worth getting or should I wait till Age of Conan/Champions Online?

Answer 1

I got FFXI right when it came out for PC a few years ago....it is pretty fun but there are some major drawbacks.

1) Japanese mmos are really hardcore and you will need to be griding like crazy for anything, exp, items, quest stuff.

2) The only way to level in the game (unless you are beastmaster, which you cant get till later after leveling alot) is to be in large groups that can chain a lot of monsters in one go (you get extra exp)...problem with this is that it can take upwards of 2 hours just to get a party organized, people often leave and it gets really annoying.

3) It takes a lot of doing to get even basic gear, requireing hours of pharming for stuff to sell in the market or killing the same monsters hoping they drop whatever.

So if you have A LOT of time on your hands, by all means its a great game...but if you want something that you can just pick up for an hour or so at a time, this isnt the MMORPG you want.

Answer 2

FFXI will require a a big time investment. You pretty much have to group with people at all times otherwise you won't be able to do much of anything.

Age of Conan on the other hand is a complete joke. Hopefully they can fix (or complete rather) the PC version before making the 360 jump. Its fun for a while but there is literally nothing to do. You level up so darn quickly you're left thinking....um....now what?

Haven't seen or read up on Champions so no comment there.

Answer 3

Robby's reply was once true, but SE has addressed these issues with new patches again and again. They've given players more options for leveling and pretty much everything else in the game. This includes increasing exp granted in smaller parties, granting more exp for weaker mobs, and even allows you to earn an npc of your own to level with and can even customize to some degree.

Its the only mmorpg out there with an acclaimed plot(well, multiple acclaimed storylines actually), and one of the few with cutscenes. In addition, its one of the few which gives you a house to decorate, and allows you to enjoy every job/class on one character. You can also raise chocobos, race your chocobo, bet on races, capture monsters and battle with them in an arena, and much much more.

It is a bit more difficult then most mmorpgs though, and missions and quests can be very challenging. In addition, it has a harsher learning curve then most noobies in mmorpgs aren't used to. Finding a friend or someone to help you can make this very painless though. I did it alone, but when the game was much more extreme, the learning curve really isnt anywhere near as bad as some people claim.

Over the years theyve pretty much added everything you could want in an mmorpg. Doing so has kept them the top pve mmorpg out there, with over 500,000 active users; and the forth most popular overall for years. In addition, you can play with people on ps2, ps3, 360 and pc from all over the world. It doesnt segregate its players like most multi-release online games.

Its one of the best mmorpgs out there, and one any player looking for something deeper in the genre should try.

Age of Conan looked very promising, but it doesnt seem to have done very well at all. Alot of people returned it to the store because they system reqs were too high. I'm hoping they can fix it up, and help challenge the shallow monstrosity that is WoW.

Age of Conan isnt hitting anywhere near the number of subscribers it was hoping. My computer doesnt meet reqs, so ive been unable to try it for myself.