For a game thats been out since 2002 and stuck on lolps2 the graphics are perfectly fine.
play a bit more before you give a game a bad review.

The controls are retarded unless you go to the options and change it to like half keyboard instead of full keyboard.. and you also will want to change the camera axis to inverted if you want standard wow-like controls. The game was alright at best even with the good controls, but it picked up in fun-ness after I plugged in a game controller for my PC. The game was obviously meant for playstation 2, because it plays better with a controls. The big hint was all the stupid menus you go through for items, experience, equipment, partying, friends. Square wasn't ready for a computer game, they probably should have left it to playstation 2 adn xbox just to keep from scaring -anyone- away...

I think you are being a little overly critical. The game came out in 2002 and is stuck on the PS2. So, it is limited in that respect. The PC allows people to get a better looking game through 3rd party tools. The graphics really ramp up later in game where it shines with animation, some really badass cutscenes and the like. (CoP anyone?) The spell effects are very nice and unique. I'm not saying its the best looking game out there, but after 4 hours you've seen roughly 0.000001% of what the game has to offer.

Controls... I had no problem picking them up my first time playing over 4 years ago. It took a little getting used to, but really, it wasn't that hard to figure out.

Community... FFXI may not have the most subscribers but the community, imo is excellent. People help and chat all the time. Just ask around for a linkshell (or guild) and ask you'll see what I mean. I rarely run into assholes anymore and the game overall has a very mature player base (not without its high end drama though.) The server I am on... Odin, is packed... people running everywhere at all times of day and night. One of the benefits of FFXI is all nations of the world play on the same servers... meaning, if you work nightshift, you can have people to play with when you get home. Its nice communicating with Japenese, Austrailians, Germans, people from Vietnam and many other places. The game included a nifty auto-translate function that allows you to communicate very effectivly even if you can't speak their language and that is a first in any game if I am not mistaken.

Hey, if you didn't like it.. .then so be it. FFXI is extremely hard to get into and for the first two weeks you'll be like WTF!? But, if you stick with it, you'll see why over 500k people are still glued to it everyday of the week. Its a cool game, but you need patientce, and if you have it, you'll be rewarded with an experiance you won't get anywhere else.

Wow, this review was quite different than what I expected, and from what I read, it sounds like you didn't want to give this game a chance.

FFXI was, at launch, one of the most graphically demanding MMO's on the market, and while it may not be able to hold a candle to some of the new MMO's, it is still a very artistically driven and imo a very beautiful game. I'd like to ask what resolution you where using, and if possibly either due to your configuration, or registry hack, you messed something up? The opening cinematic should have looked good as anyone can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Upy2_aONI its the standard Square type cinematic, look at any videos from other Square games at this time and you will see (specifically FFIX)

This game also has one of the deepest gameplay systems in MMO, class synergy is mandatory, and parties have to be efficient. Just look up Renkei Skill chains and you will begin to understand the depth in it all. It IS however very punishing to new players, I would say that it took me nearly a week before I could truly contribute everything I should to a party, but once I did, I had a blast.

I'm not saying this game is perfect, I'm just saying that maybe you didn't look quite deep enough.

Lucid you know I play this game you could have asked me to help you get setup with the game. True most people don't hang out in the starting cities but that is because the game has been out for five years. Most players now hang out in the EG cities or Jeuno. As for not seeing anyone think about it like this, in WoW no one hangs out in the starting city you quickly out grow it. The same is said of the starting cities in FFXI. As for the WASD controls if you go to configuration you can change your keyboard from full to half-keyboard. The menu system comes from the fact that SE has always been menu friendly. The graphics well it still holds up well with the right setup on someones computer. The graphic engine for this game doesn't always like the most up to date video cards. SE somehow wrote the programming in a really weird way so you really have to check SE's website to see the best video cards. I usually have people comment on the graphics being better then WoW's when they see me playing on my computer.

Anyways how have you been, I haven't seen you in a while? Give me a call.