When the most notable part of the game is chatting, there is a problem.

User Rating: 2 | Final Fantasy XI PC
By ziggyone | Review Date:
Final Fantasy XI is a typical MMORPG, with an exception; it has the Final Fantasy name branded to it. From the start, the installation and account creation process are a mess and take hours to complete. Thinking back, this should have been a clear indictor to me of what the actual game play is like. The character creation is very limited and you'll likely see a thousand other characters that look exactly like yours. It is so limited, they do not allow one to even pick out which server they are on and make it an in game hassle to ever get together with a friend. Game play is not this game's strong point. The combat is slow-paced, unbalanced, and the animations are dull. There is nothing exciting about the combat. It is possible to do combo attacks with party members, but it does require one to look up exactly how to do the combos on a third party website, as the game does not explain jack. Not to mention 95% of it is automated as you have to build up your limit in order to do certain special moves. You can move around while fighting, but not that it matters much unless you are thief. Thieves can execute a back stab attack that only works from behind an enemy, but that is about the only positioning on the field that really matters. If you do find yourself needing to run, you probably should not bother. This is because even if you are running and have the enemy off screen, it can still attack you, which just should not happen. Enemies have always played a big role in all Final Fantasy games, but you will not find a large variety of them in this one. Most of them are simply variations of weaker ones, but except stronger and slightly larger. Some of them look cool, but that wears off as you find that look repeating throughout most of the game's areas. The story is practically non-existent as there is no reason to ever care about what happens to its world. The story lacks any elements at all to make it the least bit entertaining. What’s the point? To kill monsters that respawn indefinitely, at least that’s what it seems to be, with a bit of item upgrades taking place in between certain levels. One thing about an MMORPG that should be in any of them is being able to create a unique character, but Final Fantasy XI has very little to help you distinguish your character from others. You will likely see many different clones of your character as the choices for appearance are extremely limited. If you want a unique look, you will never have one in this game. The sound, including music, is just as bad the combat animations. They are similar to the sounds of other Final Fantasy games, but lack the quality that other games have. They amount of music in the game is minimal. Don’t expect to get a nifty victory tune as you defeat an enemy or hear accurate sounds effects when hitting an enemy. I do not even know where to begin on the interface other than it was apparently designed by a group of people that believe gamers need to memorize a book of macro commands in order to anything in a decent manner. Most of the customizations and commands that can be done with it are not documented in the instruction manual and once again the player is required to consult with a third party to figure out what can be done and how to do it. I suppose one thing that was partially right is that there is an auction house in each city. It's easy to find what you want, sell and buy items. This system isn't without fault as you are limited in the amount of items you can put up for sale, which can cause some players to have to wait before putting more items up. It also can have a good deal of lag time depending on how busy it is. The only part of the game that I actually found enjoyable was the chat features. You join things called link shells and you can join as many as you’re invited too. There is not much documentation on how to create them, so most players will rely on others on the creation of them. It does give a nice environment to chat to players and setup parties, but without a good interface to create and manage one, it really hurts the system. On top of all that, the developers decided to make achieving anything a complete inconvenience. In order to get a 'support job' one must complete a quest which requires one to find three items which make winning the lottery seem easy. The items dropped come off beasts which are heavily camped, one of which only spawns at only a certain time during the games night hours. The rest of the quests are just as absurd, which includes the quests to get the advanced classes, chocobo, and the few other quests this game has to offer. They are designed to be complete time sinks and nothing else. I could never recommend this game to anyone, not even to those that are huge Final Fantasy fans. This game may contain some things from the FF universe, like chocobos, but the elements which have made the FF series one of the most loved of all time are missing. There is no epic story, low production values, and just plain bad game play. There is nothing in this game, other then chatting with in game friends, that is even remotely fun. Just stick with instant messengers and message boards if you want a good discussion as that is all you could ever get out this game.

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