Final Fantasy XI - is it worth it?

[PARANOiA]

I've seen this game for sale for $10 or so. I'm not too keen on jumping back into WoW since I found it a little too addictive, but I'd like to jump into a new MMO for some "fun" gameplay.

Anyone with any experience in the area feel like giving me some tips on whether this is a good idea or not?

 

[vazel]

It's an okay game, I love the battle system and cutscenes in an mmo is neat. But be warned the economy is one of the crappiest in an MMO, rapant inflation and farmers everywhere. And the game is heavily dependant on groups for passing missions.

 

[Sankari]

I don't recommend it if you don't have the patience and time to wait for parties. IMO its really crappy MMO because of its heavily basing in parties which you don't find too often if you don't have plenty of friends in game. I played it for a week or so, then I waited for a party for like 3 hours, partied for 2 minutes before someone had to go eat and the party got disbanded. Needless to say I smashed the CD's with a hammer after that and will never touch the game again.

I understand giving bonuses for partying but its ALWAYS a bad idea to make soloing impossible.

 

[Gradthrawn]

I put 6 months in it of daily play. Not much time by MMO standards, but enough to get good exposure to the game. You can solo to 15 easily for most any job class. 20 if you stretch it. Anything beyond that does pretty much require partying. But by the time you get to 15, you'll likely have encountered quite a few people already and made some friends. I haven't played in some time, but I thought it had a good community. I agree with vazel's comments.

 

[RadioFr33Europe]

I played FFXI for over 2 years and had a blast.

The criticism of parties is dead on. If you have a less than desired class (I played Thief and Warrior), waiting for a party can take hours. And, you really can't do much by yourself after 20.

Once I had a kid, I just didn't have time to wait for parties to form.