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The Hassles of FFXI on the 360
Via GameSetWatch, an IGN article looking at the frustration and hassles of the SquareEnix PlayOnline interface on the Xbox 360. From the article: "If you've played FFXI previously, the process of going through Play Online to get into and out of a game session may seem familiar. On the PS2, which didn't have a complete Online solution like Xbox Live, Play Online's existence was justified and even welcomed. On Xbox 360... not so justified, and definitely not welcomed."
Well your going to have to wait for games such as bluedragon from a developer called Mistwalker. These are the guys that were producing the old games you remember. Dont you wonder why the games seem different after FF9? Its because its not the same team. Sadly the mistwalker games wont come on ps3, so i'll never have a chance of playing them.
OK... now, I'm a total Square fan. Hell I've spent more time playing the FFXII demo than DQ8 (not that I don't like the latter, but I'll get to it after WA:ACF).
That said, what exactly in most Square games is there to the story besides cutscenes? I mean really: you talk to someone and get dialog or cutscene. Then you fight your way around until you get to a boss, and another cutscene which furthers the story. Honestly I can't think of anything that has ever really influenced the storyline. I like the games, because they're fun and they have good stories, but ... they're pretty much the same thing!
In FFXI, it's the same. There is longer between scenes, perhaps, and they're significantly more difficult, but ... you still talk to people for tidbits of information, and then you go off to fight a battle or get an item somewhere or put an item somewhere, and you get a cutscene to further the story when you're done. Maybe you don't feel as "involved" in the process; admittedly the general lack of actual roleplay on most servers isn't conducive to an immersive environment, but still. It's the same thing.
I would recommend you find an RP Linkshell if you really want to get into this. (And be careful; avoid "RP" linkshells which are full of angsty emo kids. Drop them immediately.) They exist in varying degrees; you can probably find a few friends and do this yourself if you desire. To this extent, MMOs in general will require a bit of participation to complete the loop on your end. They can't force you to act in character without draconian oversight, but just because you don't have to doesn't mean you shouldn't. RP can be a great deal of fun and make all the difference in the world.
The world in Final Fantasy never "changes" outside of the story. "Stuff happens" in FFXI, as well. You have to play more than the first few missions to find it, though. You need to delve deeper into the world. This requires you become a high-level character, but once you are, there are many, many missions to go on. (And with the CoP expansion, there are a good number of missions for moderately-levelled players, too.)
POL provides: Updates and information, chat, email, messaging, accounting, and it does it through an easy-to-use interface that doesn't require anything external, and works on any platform. If you don't like it, big deal; so you have to click an extra button or two before the game starts. The sound you hear is the world's tiniest violin, playing just for you. The people I know who play on the PC (which is actually most of them) have absolutely no problem with POL.
(In fact, when I first started playing WoW, for instance, I found that having to go to a website to register was quite tacky, and was annoyed I couldn't do it through the game.)
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Or you could just hold down Enter/ X, until you ended up in the game-like a normal person would.