If you like spending countless hours experience-grinding, and just as much time party-searching, the search is over.

User Rating: 8 | Final Fantasy XI PC
To start off, this game is not for the impulsive and impatient hordes of the MMORPG Underworld. Setting aside item farming for a moment, innumerable hours of gameplay can be derived simply from trying to get your character that next level, or bring you an inch closer to getting that quest item.

Still, for those who have all the time in the world (And maybe a little bit more, just in case), the experience is well rewarding if you're looking to get a breath of fresh, digital air, far from the aggressively age-abused classics.

Before I bring myself knee deep in everything I couldn't stand about the title, I wanted to list some of its redeeming qualities:

While like in other popular Final Fantasy titles, where advancement can be rather limited, it is indeed the clothes that make the man, and while it's possible to don "the best gear for your job," the customizing options never seem to end, leaving you with many options for what you want to focus on doing, whether you'd like to hang back and heal your parties as a White Mage, or bring down the enemy a notch with the very same job.

Just as well, the system for class customization is rather innovative, using a "main job" to focus on your role in a party, and a "support job" to either emphasize that focus, or to bring another element into the party, and with a certain degree of fluidity, a select few combinations become as few dare to dream - highly successful.

Unfortunately, we must always take the good with the bad.

This game, whether or not you have time or patience, can be extremely frustrating; whether you are turned off by the experience crawling, the waiting for what feels like a small eternity for a party to invite you, or the heavy emphases on grouping, waiting for the tick-based timer to roll by so the shops can open for ever essential crafting materials, and finally the experience penalty upon dying. If you don't speak fluent Japanese, it is also possible to be left out of the loop by language barriers.

Overall, for personal reasons I gave this game an 8, just barely making it fit to hold the title of the Final Fantasy franchise's honored name.