A time consumer and not really what one would consider a Final Fantasy in the respect of which it is viewed.
I spent more than a year on this game, became high leveled in many jobs and after all that work (and I do mean work as you will find that this becomes an obsession more than fun- don't misunderstand, there was fun involved but mostly in improving oneself for bragging rights and helping others to feel good about yourself) I can honestly say I am no better for it and have lost a year of my life to the sands of time and the genre known as MMO RPG. And while this is a good MMO RPG, this game is inherently a time-consuming product that will drain one's social life, bank account, and faith in humanity as you will very likely run into situations where when you are looking for help you will find that there are not that many people out there who are willing or at least not for free. I spent the last two months of the game simply asking for help from whoever would listen, begging for aid in my endeavor to reach a more desirable level or earning a more desirable item or items. This game is basically about improvement: improvement in stats, improvement in looks, improvement in self-esteem, improvement in bragging rights, improvement in decor of one's own personal dwelling (known as Mog House), improvement in one's nation's status in the world- you might say it's the theme of the game. The graphics in this game are nice, the improvement can be both obsessive and fun, friendships forged while in the game are nice, and although the sound effects and music aren't totally bad, they are not what I would call good either; it is always nice after being away from one's hometown for a long time to come back and hear the same music but after that little refreshment the music gets very repetitive. The problem is that when the same music is heard for the seven hundredth time it can get very tedious.
As for the story: even though I tried to follow it and kept my parties waiting for quite a bit of time while I read what the characters said (there is no voice acting in this game except for the noises made when attacking) I just couldn't stay interested in it- this game basically a fighting game- many of the events are connected somehow to fighting, or lead up to, or follow after a fight. This game just does not follow suit with the other Final Fantasy games and I guess it just wasn't for me even though I got pretty far along in it, because there are many other people who still enjoy it to this day and have been playing it for quite awhile before me. I do not suggest this game to anyone with a short attention span or lack of patience because, believe me, if you play this game you will be waiting for something or another.