Final Fantasy XI (online)

introduction to this game

well known final fantasy goes online, in a world name vana'diel where everything is possible
pricing for first character create would be 12.95 USD and from second onwards would be 1 USD per character.
requires quite alot of disk space, around 8 GB and had different expension making vana'diel bigger then ever
advanture with other players to explore the world and uncover the history of vana'diel
helping NPCs and missions to unlock more missions

graphics 9/10
beautiful vana'diel scenary almost every corner of the game, day and night, from admiring sunrise or sunset beside the beach, to deep inside forest with beast lurking every corner
for character design, total for 5 races, galka,mithra,tarutaru,hume and elvaan
each with 10 different faces,hairstyle and even size can be chosen
for every different weapons and armor equiped, they are mostly different design, and some even job specific armor which makes the job unique look

end game aspects and gameplay 10/10
well, FFXI is an online game, so the game never end unless square enix collaspe (which is impossible) or you stop playing it.
end game aspects varies from basic farming of gil,weapon and armor to camping for rare hunt which will only pop every 24hrs or even 1 week
as there are more expension now, the end games widen even more, doing missions and more rare hunt to hunt on
another end game aspect will be same character, different job.
the job system allow people to play more then 1 job on the same character, there are 20 different jobs

jobs
as mention, there are 20 different jobs in ffxi currently
with 6 basic job
warrior,white mage,monk,black mage,thief,red mage
and the rest is call advance job which are
ninja,ranger,dragoon,beastmaster,bard,summoner,blue mage,corsair,puppetmaster,dark knight, paladin, samurai,scholar,dancer
each with unique ability waiting to be explored by players

subjob system
up to a certain level, you will be able to get quest. upon completion, subjob will be granted
for example, i am level 18 warrior now, i complete the quest, and putting whitemage as my subjob
i have to level my whitemage to lvl 9, so i can get warrior 18/ white mage 09
and i will have the ability of warrior, and ability + spell of a level 9 white mage
there are different types of combinations of jobs, and people make good use of it

partying
it is almost impossible to solo your level up as the mob gets harder and way harder as you level up, you have to find parties to level up, or even create one
making balance party would be a better idea because you don't want mobs chasing your mage and end up corpse lying around that area, tanks,damage dealer,buffer/heal, debuff
are important in balancing party, ffxi emphasis alot in grouping up since soloing is almost impossible unless you are a beastmaster or you have power leveling from friends

combat
for most online game, fighting is as easy as click,hack and slash, kill , pick up item, level up
for ffxi, there are 3 main concern in fighting, HP,MP and TP
HP is needed to take damage from mob and low hp usually means death
MP is needed to cast spell such as cure or fire
TP is given to attackers every successful strike, storing it to 100 will allow weapon skills to be use against mobs and with the correct order of different weaponskills from different people will pop up a skillchain, which deals extra damage and give even more damage if the mages are able to cast to correct elemental spell to burst it, as known as magic burst

quest and mission
quest gives character reputation which will lower item cost sold by NPC, missions allow players to help its own nations in certain way to rank up characters
certain mission also open up pathway to places which can only be access only after you have gotten that mission or completed that mission
some quest and mission are soloable, but some requires up to a full alliance(18 person) for help
but the rewards are usually fruitful

crafting and material gathering
FFXI isn't just about combat or quest
crafting is access to every player, with the corrent crystal and material used and with the correct skills level, players are able to craft weapons, armors, medicines or even material for other recipe
fishing, mining, harvesting are ways to gather material used in crafting
or even some quest requires skills level to do so

PVP
some people just love PVP (player versus player) or pking
ffxi don't allow pking, but there is a pvp system name as ballista for player to test out different combos or show their skill to other players

sound 10/10
like other final fantasy, music are created for FFXI, some might be familiar while others are just new. each area in game have their repective music and tune which allow player to enjoy the game even more, some area are relaxing, and some are tense which sounds like danger

controls 9/10
there are different types of controls for FFXI, from the most uncommon used mouse ( which is impossible) and keyboards, there are 2 types of control using key board, WASD FPS setting or default num lock
players can also customize control setting which makes the player most confortable

communicating 10/10
unlike other online games which you can only join one guild to chat, ffxi had a linkshell system
shellholder (leader) sack holder (sub leader?) and linkpearl holder(member)
linkshell can be create for various purpose such as going for an event or hunt, socialise with other players, or even for end game aspects
players can hold as many linkshell for 1 inventory slot each and switching linkshell for different purpose

summary 10/10
for all hardcore final fantasy, you would not want to miss FFXI as it wouldn't be disappointing
i had personally heard alot of negative comment about ffxi but i personally think ffxi team did a good job making the game balance, for alot of online i had played, i would say ffxi is very balance
replaybilty are high as well due to expension and various events and jobs for players to play on