Bad but it has its moments!
GOOD:
--It's an immersive game. There is sooooo much to do!! I understand why there are still so many players devoted to this game. It is impossible for the average person to ever run out of things to do in FFXI.
--Unlike games like World of Warcraft, you don't need to create a bunch of different characters if you want to try out other jobs. One character can play any job they want. I also love the large selection of jobs to choose from and the fact that you have to complete a quest to unlock most jobs (the quest is normally fairly painless).
--The LevelSync system where higher level players can drop down to a lower level to help out and, if not level-capped, gain good experience.
--As with all Final Fantasy games, the story is engaging in this game and, while I didn't finish it by any means, what I saw of it was entertaining.
BAD:
--My single, biggest complaint about this game is the travel system. You have to attain level 20 before you can gain access to a Chocobo and, even after you do that, you have to do a long quest line that takes foreeeeeeeeeeeeever. Once you gain access to air ships, you guessed it, another long quest line that takes foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeever. Even when you do gain access to these things, you can wait for an airship at the dock for 10-15 minutes, then sit through a 10 minute ride, so you've easily killed 30 minutes of time sitting around doing nothing. Your other option is to get a teleport, but then you have to pay a white mage and gil isn't exactly easy to come by in the initial stages of the game. (Plus you can't get a teleport to anywhere until you travel to the crystals the long way.) I *HATE* the time you waste traveling in this game!
--For quite awhile in the beginning stages of this game, you only have 30 slots in your bags and 50 slots in your Mog House (bank). Any armor or weapons you have equipped take up bag space, which can drop you down to 14 available slots if you have something equipped in every slot. You can, of course, put things up on the auction house, but are only allowed 7 auctions at any one time. I think I was around level 10 when I realized I didn't have enough bag space. There is no relief for many levels when you can unlock 30 extra spaces in your Mog House (but have to pay for it regularly). Yes, you can create a "mule" and mail things to this other character, but that's a pain. Just give me more space or let me put up more auctions and don't make my equipped armor take up bag space!
--Having played many hours of other MMOs, I did not like the quest/mission system in FFXI. There is no indication given when an NPC has a quest for you and, were it not for the many guides online, I would never have made it as far into the game as I did. You also lack a usable quest log, so it's tough to find out what you're supposed to do next if you forget or log off for a couple of days. I also did not like having to complete quests to unlock higher levels, where you could end up in a great party and either have to waste a lot of time not getting experience or leave the party to go complete your level break quest (which would not be done in time to go back to that party you were enjoying so much).
--As stated earlier, gil is not very easy to come by in the early stages of the game. Quests don't give you much gil and neither does killing monsters. About your only option is to complete some once-a-day encounters in the hope of getting a rare piece of armor or level a trade skill. However, you spend so much time traveling and having to complete quests to unlock game-essential content that leveling a trade skill seems like an even bigger hardship than in most MMOs. This makes it virtually impossible to level some of the more interesting or unusual jobs in the game because you need so much gil for ammo, puppet parts, etc.
--Lastly, maybe it was just the server I was on or something, but many of the players I encountered in FFXI were very elitist. The fastest way to get somebody to laugh at you was to mention that you played (and, gasp, enjoyed) World of Warcraft. Because FFXI is overly complicated and involves many components that waste a lot of time, several of the players I talked to wore that as a badge of honor. If you like FFXI, great! If you don't like WoW, great! I just found it very distasteful to have to deal with people who thought they were superior because they don't mind wasting 30 minutes of time just to travel from one city to another.
That's it. Yes, I found a lot more negatives than positives with FFXI, but if you have an abundance of time to kill and enjoy a good Final Fantasy story, then this might be the game for you!