Hey people I have a question... Final Fantasy XI is it actually worth buying? I just need a couple of answers...

-I am unaware of the whole quest/story system do you accept quests like WoW for example? Or is it a storybased game that just brings you through the story?

-How expensive is it? I guess prices are the same as in Europe as in America maybe a bit more expensive here but how many expansions are there now? Is there a pack that you just have all the expansion at once + account?

-Is the game still populated? Many people found this game the worst in the FF history.

Thanks :D

Firstly, I must say that FFXI is a massive time-sink. You need to spend a long, long time to be able to proceed in any satisfactory way (for instance, I've been playing FFXI for two and a half years now, and I've only just gotten my first Job to level 60, although granted, there were periods where I wasn't playing for an extended amount of time). It is this reason, along with the mind-numbing level-grind, that has put a lot of players off this game.

However, that does FFXI a great disservice. FFXI's storyline is probably the most well thought-out and intriguing plot in the FF series. Although there are quests you can do for various NPCs, which will net you all kinds of rewards (usually gil, but also sometimes items and occasionally giving your character new abilities, such as the ability to equip a sub-job, or ride a chocobo), the actual storyline is progressed by accepting missions from a certain NPC in your character's home city. These missions intially begin by assisting the development of your home country, but eventually end up involving ancient conspiracies that threaten the existence of the entire world of Vana'diel (and no, that wasn't really a spoiler).

Completing a certain number of missions increases your character's 'Rank' in that country, as well as gaining a nice reward in gil (there are 10 mission ranks in all for each country). Besides progressing the storyline, one of the main reasons for completing the missions is to gain the Airship Pass at Rank 5, which is required before you can ride the Airship routes between the three nations and Jeuno.

The expansion missions are also worth undertaking, as they not only extend the storyline further, but also open up new areas to explore (the Tavnazian Archipelago, aka: the city shown in the game's opening movie, is one such area).

Finally, as far as monthly payment is concerned, I can't remember how much the fees are in Euro Dollars and British Pounds, but the US price (which is what I pay my FFXI fees in) is $12.95 USD a month, which is the basic FFXI subscription and one character. Any extra characters on top of the first cost an extra $1 USD a month, per character.

And yes, the game is still definetely well populated. Just standing around in Aht Urhgan Whitegate is a frustrating task from the lag, due to too many players being concentrated in one area. And lately there have been a lot of new players entering the game, so the game is still going very strong, regardless of what some people may claim. :p

Thanks alot for your great review this has helped me alot! I am wondering though, do you buy FFXI or only an account? Or do you have to buy every expansion with it? Because for example Guild Wars already has several expansions but in order to play them you have to pay around 100� for all of them so i was curious about FFXI

You have to buy the actual game, that comes with one Content ID, and activate it by registering a credit or debit card when you create a PlayOnline account in order to play FFXI. A Content ID allows you to create one PlayOnline account. Any FFXI characters you create are automatically assigned to this PlayOnline account. If you want to create another PlayOnline account, you need to purchase another copy of the game and register another Content ID. If it's only you who is going to play FFXI on that computer/console etc, then one PlayOnline account is all that's needed.

As for the expansions, at the moment there are three expansion packs released for FFXI: Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, and Treasures of Aht Urhgan. The most recent PC release The Vana'diel Collection 2007 along with the X-box 360 version have all three expansions included.

Some earlier versions of FFXI though (particularly the original US PS2 and PC versions) are missing some of the expansion packs - however, the original European PC version has Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia included with the game. Only the most recent expansion: Treasures of Aht Urhgan, is required to be purchased seperately.

However, Square Enix is going to be releasing more expansion packs in the future - one: Wings of the Goddess, has recently been announced, so you will need to purchase them eventually as they're released, but luckily, they're usually not that expensive.

And it goes without saying that you do not need the expansions to play FFXI: but they are definetly worth it, as they add new Jobs, areas, missions and items to the game that otherwise would not be available.

I played it up to level 75 Black Mage. Personally, I think it's a pretty bad idea to play, not because it isn't good but because it requires too much time. You will be throwing away a lot of real-life opportunities with your new addiction to this game. It requires that you party for hours and stay online as long as possible. Other than that the game is stellar. The graphics and audio are still acceptable and it has it's moments. The time-sink is more than any other MMO I've played.

I have been playing 3 years and I have to agree with Jonnywarhawk. This is the most time consuming game I have ever come accross.

I do love it very much tho, and the relationships that I have built up after a 275 day playtime (time I have been logged in O.o) have made the sacrifices worthwhile. But this is only my situation. Having the means and time to be able to play as much as I have done in the past 3 years means my real life hasn't suffered nearly as much as many people I know.

It has a disclaimer before you login... "we have no desire to see your real life suffer as a consequence of playing..." But in stark contrast to that statement the game is built in such a way that it demands time, effort and dedication on a scale previously unheard of in games and even MMO's.

As a happy addict I can only reccomend it.... but only if you have the dedication to get the most out of it.

As an example... to get a Cellestial weapon fully upgraded in FF X takes what? a few hours, maybe a day at most. Well to get a Cellestial Weapon fully upgraded in FF XI can take literally years. Not to mention untold millions of Currency too.