I have played the game pretty much since North American release, and it was addicting, but somewhat unfufilling.
$40-50 for game
$15-20/month roughly
$1 for each additional character
Worth the cost?:
The cost of the game, yes. The monthly cost? Probably not.
Maintenance/Updates:
-Quite often, actually
-After installing the game, HUGE update. For Dialup, approx 10-15hour download.
Amount of time spent waiting:
100+ hours
Keep reading for a true review from a dedicated long-time player:
The best part of FFXI has to be the first few months of playing. You are a "newbie" at this time, and everything is an adventure to you. You could really care less about gaining experience points, as you are focussed on exploring the huge world that is Vana'diel.
As you progress through the game, it slowly loses the feel of adventure, and gains the addicting feel of enhancing your character. You no longer care about exploring, you are now focussed on getting to a higher lvl, and possibly being the best, which is VERY hard since there are so many end-game players now.
The Experience Point system is based around forming parties and killing monster after monster in a specific location. The "best" location for gaining experience points at the level of your character is normally decided by those who have trained another job at that level. This means that, if you plan on taking one job to the cap (Lv75), and then plan on taking another job to cap, the scenery is almost the exact same as the last time. This is from the lack of different locations that can be used for good EXP gain.
FFXI is not for someone who wants to level their character quick, unless they have a neverending amount of full days to dedicate to their character. What takes the most time in FFXI is waiting for a party. After level 15 or so, soloing your exp becomes harder, and takes longer. To seek for a party can take a very long time, or can take a short time. Sometimes there is no one online that is your level, so you can't start your own party, and you can't join one. This means, at a low lvl when you can't really solo monsters that make you money, you are forced to wait...and wait...and wait.
Another thing about FFXI that is very time consuming, is making money. Lately, there has been a rush of people buying Gil (which is the currency in FFXI) off of some gilselling websites, which in return completely ruins the economy of the game. Frankly, it would be hellish to join FFXI now as a newbie, because everything is so expensive.
Although I listed the negative side to FFXI, that doesn't mean in my years of playing i hated playing the game. I have made some very good friends, some that I even found to live near me. Also, depending on your graphics card, FFXI does a fine job impressing people with the graphics that are displayed. I have a fairly older GeForce FX graphics card, (5200 to be exact) and the graphics wow'd people I invited over to see the game.
Another thing that makes the game great is having friends you know personally playing on the same server. This way you can explore and experience the game with a bit more excitement, and create some great memories.
It may sound somewhat "nerdy" the way I am describing the game, as if it was an important thing in my life, but it was in a way. It took a lot of time that I could have spent doing other things, and now that I think about it, I wish I had. I recently quit playing FFXI due to the economy becoming pretty much ruined, however I have made sure to keep in contact with the friends I have made.
One more thing: The "100 or More Hours" spent playing actually means "150 days of literally sitting at the computer screen".
150 x 24hours... you do the math. That's not even 1/5th of the playtimes some people have who started AFTER I started playing. This game is truly for someone who
a) Is still in school (NOT college/university)
b) Has a lot of spare time
c) Is willing to dedicate their spare time to this game.
If you don't have a lot of time to dedicate to the game, get Guild Wars or something, which doesnt take as long to do certain things.
I hope this helps anyone who is planning on getting this game, and I hope I didn't turn you off the game too much!^^ (