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Heyy I want to know if any 1 plays this game. I have it and i want to know if its worth it playing 12 dollars a month >.<. See my friends told me awsome things but i wanna know your oppinions on it. If people who don't know what this is its an Online game. Its like Final Fantasy 7 and like 10 combined but for on the internet.
http://ffvault.ign.com/ that is a good site i think. anyways i would like someones Oppinion and i want to know a little about it from smoeone who plays.

Well my opinion would be that it looks very awesome for what I have seen, never played, really want to. Is there anywhere I could get a demo of this, or something so I can play it? Final Fantasy is the best RPG out there. And it's $12 a month to play a game that you have to buy, that's dumb it should just be free.

I agree. I wish there was a demo.. but there isn't. You have to pay 12 dollars a month. I find this quite annoying. It isn't much but i don't know if its worth that much. See i guess i will install it, See what it is like and maybe cancel the sub or somthing. I have internet it should be Free! Its not like Starcraft.. You have to pay because there si a lot of things inside the game. My friend tells me anyways.

First of all, it's a series of RPG's, not just one RPG.
Second of all, it's and online game, meaning it gets updates every month and you play with people online, so thus, it has an online fee every month like every MMORPG (Except guild wars, which pwns.)
Lastly, Chrono Trigger pwns Final Fantasy by a mile.

yeah i love final fantasy games. they have really good music. its the best RPG series ever. i have Final Fantasy X-2, and its awesome. If you watch G4TV on X-Play last night they were talking about Final Fantasy 11 from a fan letter

My nightmare experience with Final Fantasy 11

---

As a long time fan of RuneScape, I decided that it was time to move to an MMORPG like FFXI. I had read many things about it, such as how it is fullscreen with excellent full 3D graphics, real-time contact, worlds to explore, quests to complete etc.

So, I went out just before Christmas and bought myself a copy of FFXI from my local EB Games.

And then . . . the horror started.

I have 6 computers in my house (that's right), but they all are either very old or somewhat new. My computers are not "gaming computers", they are "programming computers", and so I don't need super huge amounts of memory or ultra-powerful graphic cards. In fact, I prefer to have old hardware so that I can test how my programs work on the old hardware.

Anyway, I had just put an extra 1GB of memory into one of my new computers that kept running out of it (Norton Internet Security, ya' know?). So, this was my computer of choice for installing FFXI.

So, I put the first of the 5 CDs in, and a little popup appears. It informs me that I have to install this "PlayOnline" service. So I switch up the CDs for the PlayOnline Viewer CD. I install it, it takes just under half an hour. Then, it asks me to connect for my first time (after entering serial codes, usernames, and passwords). So I do. Then it says "Updates are available". I download the updates.

The first stage is where it downloads the new files. No, it doesn't just download updated files, it downloads ALL of the files. This takes about half an hour. Then, just when I think it is done, it begins to install the updates. This takes yet another half hour.

Thankfully, after several hours of installing the viewer, I am able to connect. I am met with a interface stuffed full of chat, email, channels, etc. Did I pick up a chat network by mistake? No. Supposedly, FFXI works through this Square Enix invention called "PlayOnline", which is basically the game server that directs everything.

So, I click on "Games". It has "Final Fantasy XI" listed, so I click it.

ERROR : "Final Fantasy XI is not installed"!

So, I must now install the actual game to be used with PlayOnline. I put in disk 1 of FOUR. The game takes 2 hours to install. FINALLY, it is finished. I go back to PlayOnline, and open up the game. I am met with this great title screen with screenshots of wars, peaceful lands, and hardcore RPG characters. It's truley stunning. I click on "Play Now".

Bam!

You guessed it . . . DOWNLOADING UPDATES.



So, there goes another 3 hours to download the files . . . yet ANOTHER 2 hours to re-install them.

All together, including sleep and eating in between, this game took 2 DAYS to install (did I also mention that I entered a total of 2 usernames, 2 passwords, and 3 serial codes?)

YAY! It was finally installed.

...

Are you ready for it?

Are you sure?

Here's what happened:

I go into the PlayOnline Viewer, select Games, and then select Final Fantasy XI. I receive the updated title screen, and click "Play Now". What happens? THE THING CRASHES BECAUSE MY COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE THE PROPER GRAPHICS CARD!!!!!!

Well, now I know that I have wasted my money for nothing. Or have I? I did some research on the Internet, and it turns out that FFXI only supports something like TWO graphics cards out of EVERY SINGLE CARD THAT EXISTS!

So ...

With all of the amazing things that I have heard about this game, I decide to give it a second chance. So I do some research, and prepare my computer for an upgrade.

I went over to my local Future Shop, and purchased the fairly inexpensive GeForce FX 5500OC Overclocked graphics card (200$ Canadian).

So, my total bill for this game is just over 250$ (There is something like a 50$ fee for purchasing the CDs and the like).

Now I am eager to get this thing rolling, to see my money work brining me the best of MMORPGs today (argueably).

I went upstairs to my computer and took it apart. The graphics card was ready to do it's job, when . . . WHAT'S THIS?

MY COMPUTER DOESN'T HAVE THE CORRECT MOTHERBOARD TO TAKE THE 200$ GRAPHICS CARD!!!

...

Well, at that point there were some words that I would have liked to say that would turn the ears of children into mud puddles. Luckily, I had a backup plan.

My computer downstairs (actually, it's the one I'm using right now ) was fairly old (701 mHz Pentium 3 with only 288 GB of Ram), but it had a motherboard that supported this card.

So, I opened it up and stuck in the Über graphics card of ... Überness

Tada! Super graphics at my fingertips, although somewhat laggy, worthy of FFXI.

...

You know what time it is... 2 DAY INSTALL TIME!

Yes, I had to do it ALL OVER AGAIN.

...

2 Days later, I had FFXI installed on my computer.
My resources used until this point?

Total cost: $250
Total time to install: 5 Days (1 for buying the card)

Well, I decide that it is time to run the game.

Bam!

The game crashes.

I was about to have a heart attack.

Luckily, it was merely a problem in the game's graphics configuration. It took me several hours to look up a fix on the internet, and ended up having to use the DOS Prompt to call an EXE buried in the game's many directories of encrypted ROM files.

All was as it should be . . . almost.

The game ran perfectly . . . almost.

I was met with a title screen (after loading the game, not in the PlayOnline viewer) that was travelling at a blazing speed of 10 FPS.

The intro movie, though it was stunning (some of the best graphics I have ever seen in my life), was completely out of sync on my old computer and traveled as slow as Norton Internet Security on a Windows 3.1 Laptop.

I had to dig up some super-hidden graphics settings (more hours of researching on the internet) in order to solve the problem.

So, my game ran perfectly (with the exception of having the graphics so low that it reminded me of Super Mario 64 (Really!)).

The game looked terrible, I had no way to finally see the amazing glory of FFXI's graphics that everyone spoke about . . . it was quite depressing actually.

However, the gameplay more than made up for it. I loved speaking and interacting with other players in real-time fullscreen. I loved it.

The shops and battle systems were amazing, and there were hundreds of lands to explore - true Final Fantasy Style.

It was quite an amazing game (graphics aside) - for a price - no, really, a HUGE price.

Now, it seems that Square has decided to milk as much money out of their super nerds (those who sit around all day with no job playing EverQuest or FFXI, commiting suicide when their account is hacked) as possible.

Let me go over a few of the prices:
You pay for the game
Some people (like me) pay for super expensive graphics cards
You pay for your FFXI account
You pay for each INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER


The last two are also MONTHLY fees, that add up to about 15 USD if you only have one character.

Time passed . . . and I slowly became more distant from the game. I lost interest, and drifted back to my high-level character on RuneScape.

And what is this? I'M STILL BEING CHARGED FOR MY ACCOUNT, EVEN THOUGH I DON'T USE IT!!!

So, I go to my account management, and delete it. Or at least, I tried (Square isn't going to make it that easy to get out of paying them). Keep in mind that it has been 3 months since I got the game to actually work. It asks me for my PlayOnline account name and password - No problem! I use it every time the program starts! Now, it asks me for my PlayOnline serial code. Umm? I try to move on without it. "Nope, enter it now or die" it basically tells me.

It took me a whole week to dig up my book, which contains your codes. I open it up and, NO CODES. It took me a second to notice that the book was the French Edition, which doesn't contain the codes.

It took me ANOTHER week to find my english copy (by now, I have lost another monthly payment to them). I enter my PlayOnline serial code. Now it asks me for my FFXI serial code. Ummm? Luckily, it was also hiding in the book. Now it asks me for my account, and so I entered it, along with my password. I then proceeded to answer several questions about why I wanted to delete it, and passed about 13545124534 dialogs asking me to re-consider.

Finally, my account was deleted. But what is this? You still get charged for the month that you delete your account, AND the month after!!!

---

And thus ended my battle with FFXI. Costing me a total of over $300, and countless hours to install it, this game delivered nothing but the worst graphics that I could afford to compute, and only a few months of near-fun gaming.

So now what?

My FFXI box, and all of the CDs and books, are sitting in the back corner of my basement collecting dust as I go alone happily, playing an online game (RuneScape) that is x10 as fun, with about the same graphics as I could afford. With no hassle... with no install times... directly in my browser... ... ... for FREE.

So do I recommend Final Fantasy XI?

Well, if you were bored enough to read through my entire rant... you know my answer.

gg FFXI ... nr

I really wouldn't reccomend FFXI, don't get me wrong, I love the final fantasy series, but apparently about 80% of the charactor configurations (classes and subclasses) become completly worthless once you hit higher levels, thus forcing you to scrap your charactor that you spent 40+ hours on leveling. Also, it appears that there is widespread discrimination against americans by the Japanise users, I guess we just suck that much.
I found this much out by poking around on their forums a few months ago.
Really, just go with WoW, its awesome.

I have it jsut screw it jsut get a free one or one like guild wars.

Dude, you don't play FF11 on computer... you play it on PS2...

Ps2 version sucks and you whinners, i'm on 56k I spent 2 days dling updates.

Um why the PS2... Play in on the Xbox 360

Well ok i'm not reading all that. Way to much. See I love Final Fantasy 7 and 10. I guess i will try out FF11, its not that much a month. I guess it will be a good change. Also FF102 was Awsome i beat that. I like FF10 better though. I was really good at it. I would play ti again but once you know the story and everything i can't play it anymore. Its different somehow wiht Ff7 but you know.

Whoa, Tarh, that was alot of crap you went through... Feel sorry for ya.

But yyyyyea.... I dont have the correct supplies for this... (A mac...)

PS2 version got better ratings on every ... rater... thing... You're just jealous PS2 can actually get a GOOD internet game... besides MGS3 Subsistance... and Socom 3... OMFG 32 PPL ONLINE IN ONE GAME!

Once again, Neiji, with the "jealous" claim...come on, dude, what are you, 13?
Not every topic is a contest between Ps2/Ps3/Sony and everyone else...
And the best computer will always absolutely blow away the best console, so I don't see why it wouldn't be just as good to play on computer as it would on Ps2, or Xbox360. (Which won't even be out for a couple months, and thats no fun)


LOL after reading Tarh's post, I'd definitely say do a LOT of research on the requirements if you're getting it for PC. Otherwise, I'd say go for it. It seems its only shortcomings are technical issues.

I just said screw ff11's stupid pay per month thing and got guild wars. It's an awesome game that has awesome graphics etc. but i wouldnt reccomend it to someone with an average computer. I'm lucky I have a gaming computer that can take it on the highest detail etc. but my sister's computer couldnt play it because it was several years old. So Guild wars is an awesome game that only cost me $50 US to buy and i have had no problems with it since.

Indeed, awesome graphics and no monthly free, fun game too.

Also, alot of graphics cards can run it (Not on the highest quality, mind you). I can run it on an old Geforce2 MX 400 and I'm pretty sure my Onboard GFX card.

My dad paid an extra 400$ for a top-of-the-line video card for this computer. The people ripped him off and put in a chaintech 8mb card.

At least its AGP.