Opinions on Final Fantasy XI

Terrible MMO.

I quit several weeks after the servers opened so things might have changed... but, these were the major problems:

1.  Economy -- For the first thirty or so levels, 90% of users symbolized the depths of poverty and depravity.  Even money for the most basic and simple gear was extremely hard to come by.  Most higher forms of money back then were earned by farming low-level mobs that drop rare but good high level equipment.  Sort of the like the GBS in Everquest, if that makes any sense... but MUCH worse.  Japanese players have better ping and would always tap the spawns first.

2. Group Dynamics -- Almost facsit grouping requirements.  Your group MUST consist of : X class, X class, X class... etc, to succeed and level at any efficent rate.  Finding a group could take HOURS!

3. Combat -- The game movies like tar dripping over a vat of molasses.  Even the battle animations are slow... it takes a good 5 seconds to unsheathe a sword, slide into a combat stance, and do a slash.

4. Community -- The language barrier created SO many problems...

5. Bottlenecks/Timesinks -- Far too much camping and timesink related stuff.  The progression quests, the airship quest for example, can create huge bottlenecks in gameplay.

i agree with everything you just said. But in a way, that's what kept me in the game. It was pretty hardcore, and i didnt get bored because certain quests took a lot of tries and time to complete. brennan40

It was hardcore in bad ways, imo.  Your personal effort, or say the effort of a small pick-up group, means so little in that game that it's almost mind boggling.  I don't think we should define "hardcore" as group-related timesinks.  They're just not fun, =(.

Yep, I liked FFXI. Sure the combat system is slow and obsolete but the style is still the best around. The economy is fully player-controlled and very dynamic, it might be too hardcore for some people, though. The quests and missions are awesome. The subjob system saves you from repeating rep/faction grind if you choose to play another class.

As for the forced grouping thing, which game doesn't have it? At least you can do major things with only 6 people here, unlike in WoW you have to do 40/25-man raids to even experience half the game content.

Fantastic game, infact I wish I could play more of it but I can't. The time dedication required to get anywhere in the game was enough to make me quit after a year.

Its worth a shot if you feel like putting the time into it. Other then that, I'd pass.