Final Fantasy XI Vs Lineage II

Since the PS2 release of Final Fantasy 11, I have been playing the game on my computer to run around with friends and do what have you.  The game cost me $40 at the time and since then, I have had to pay an additional $60 for two expansions ($30 each), not to mention an additional $13.95/month for access to my main character and a spare to hold extra items.

Don't misunderstand me.  This is a great game.  It has a unique (for Final Fantasy) story that pits the three nations of San'Doria, Windrust, and Bastok against the beastman hoards.  However, the game also has competition between the three nations to control the world itself.  More so, the nation of Jeuno which holds dominance over all three kingdoms is a vile place run by a malevolent dictator dubbed the Archduke.

With the Aht Urghan expansion, the players of the game have been introduced to an entirely new kingdom on a new continent.  There have been several issues with this chapter of the game and it has been constantly modified since its release.  Again, Square-Enix (formally my favorite two companies for RPGs) has let its customers down in releasing something that should have been worked on a bit better before its release.

The Blue Mage job released with Aht Urghan is one of the most fun jobs I have played in the game, and I have tested each out to some extent.  It has a great deal of power comparable to a black mage's nuking potential at a warrior's melee speed.  This of course is very limited by the Blue Mage's magic pool, but still lethal in quick doses.

In comparison, recently I have been introduced to Lineage II, which has had a lot of bad reviews and I can't argue with many of them.  The system is relatively simple to use and it took me five minutes to get myself into a simple understanding of the game mechanics.  Any complaint to the difficulty of the interface is strictly opinion and you need to try it out for yourself.