FFXI-how much spare time do you have?? (Final Fantasy XI (Xbox 360))

Member Name: balfury

Product:	Final Fantasy XI (Xbox 360)
Date:	10/08/08 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: meet new people across the world, play with thousands of real people

Disadvantages: takes a long time to achieve anything

Final Fantasy XI is one staggering huge overwhelming MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) the graphics are average but the gameplay more than makes up for this. Its an online game that requires a monthly subscription (£11 per content ID and a further £1 per extra character). Installation can take anywhere from 30mins to 4hrs depending on internet speed. The game isan online RPG that shares a world (Vana'diel) with users of other consoles (PS2 PC and 360) and usersfrom other Countrys. The unique auto translate system allows you to converse with players from Japan, Germany and more. There is a steep learning curve to the game, enough to discourage most people from returning to the game, but once the basics have been learned its becomes a lot more fun. FFXI has no ending as such, the story you play does end but it takes a very long time to do and there is allways something else to do. The game relies heavily on teamwork and other peoples help to progress so you find yourself making friends fast, you spend a great deal of time with these people and even become close. The general idea in FFXI is to lvl your character to 75 (from a list of jobs) which can take anywhere from 1 month to well.... I played for 2 years and only got to 74. Levelling is done in the form of a party with 6 members, typically this will include a tank (someone to make the monster attack just them) a puller (someone to bring monsters to the party) a healer (someone to heal the party/bring them back to life) and 3 DDS (damage dealers that hurt and kill the monster) one of the 6 members in the party will be the leader they will tell people what to do and be responsible to deciding what and where to fight and replacing departing members. There is a whole host of jobs to choose from,
-White mage (my personal favourite) heals people and brings them back to life thay can also transport people to selected points and prevent damage.
There are 6 main jobs in the game.
-Black mage deals damage by throwing magic at the monster, can also poison to degenerate the health of the monster
-Red mage can do what a white mage and a black mage does as well as use a sword, its a user of all but a master of none, they can also replenish magics
-Warriors are used as a tank and for dealing damage with an axe typically.
-Thiefs are used as a puller and do damage with a knife, they can also change who the monster is hitting giving people time to rest.
-monk is generally considered the strongest in the game but are unable to wear heavy protective armors weaken thier defence.
There is also unlockable jobs at lvl 30 that all have thier unique uses in a party.
in FFXI you can craft earning you money )gil) you can choose from a list of crafts each takes a long time to master but once at the top can be very rewarding.
Overall the game is very rewarding but you need alot of time to play it, if you only have 1 or 2 hours a week this is notenough to truly enjoy it. Highly recomended if you have nothing else to do.

Summary: a very good enveloping game