Square Enix sure have a way with deluding social standards: anyone partially smart would stay away from this disaster
Now this will be particularly brief because there isn't a single pro in Final Fantasy XI:
--Cons:
*---The graphics are equivalent to a PS1 game and couldn't be any more choppy
*---Character movement seems unnatural with severe lag and foot movements entirely out of synchronization with their associated sound effects
*---Each character model is unoriginal, they are expressionless at all times, they do not have texture on their bodies, and there is little variety
*---The environments always tend to be dull with little to no other interaction aside from ravaging beasts in the unseen wilderness waiting to smack your back and kill you even when your twenty feet away from them while they do it
*---The music is soured and uninspiring, there are few actual soundtracks
*---Your interaction level with the outside world of NPCs is grim as there aren't any voiced dialogue, let alone little to no gesturing, and they can't service you anything at all
*---The game mechanics are the worst I have seen yet: skill isn't a variable, it's tedious, monotonous "leveling up" that can only determine victory from defeat in every and all situations
*---You will always be reliant on secondary players--"Parties"--to progress through the game, meaning that if you aren't able to find anyone then you will wait x number of minutes or hours in despair over why you even wasted your money on this trash because everyone else partially smart who had once played also knows it is trash and won't be able to help you for that very reason
*---The mechanics don't offer little to any variety and are about as bland and ad hoc as you can conceive
*---There is little to no reason to progress in Final Fantasy XI aside from speaking to socially intolerant child A, B, and so on
*---Children who have nothing better to spend their time with will cash in extra dollars for Square Enix so that they can continue bringing back life to this walking pile of trash for bonus years without stop
*---It is one of the worst social personas in the world to be known as a player of this game in front of people who have social lives and want to get somewhere in their life aside from speaking to virtual children across the world
I understand I had mentioned some of the pure negativity in this abysmal title and not nearly all of it, but I had to throw this small review out there to vent frustration over those who choose to waste their life away for this mess. If you are planning on playing this game, however, than get out of the dark corner in your house and make real friends instead of virtual ones: that's the bottom line.