History YMMV / FinalFantasyXI

** Beastmasters have always had a bit of a troubled history in finding their niche in general gameplay, but that means some of the very unique tools they have at their disposal tend to get overlooked. One of these is courtesy of their Slug Jug Pets known as Generous Arthur, who has an attack called Purulent Ooze that can inflict a Max HP Down debuff of an enemy, reducing their max HP by a very impressive 10%. Now obviously, this will only be useful as an opening attack since it only reduces Max HP, however once the debuff wears off, the enemy does not get that health back, plus due to the general rarity of the debuff very few enemies are immune to it ... including endgame bosses! Many endgame alliances will end up bringing a Beastmaster with them if only because being able to shave 10% health off a DamageSpongeBoss is just too good to pass up!

* NintendoHard: Let's just say that this game isn't as "casual-friendly" as other [=MMORPGs=] like ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. And while the game has gotten easier somewhat, for some it doesn't feel as if it had.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It's hard to really put into words how innovative, intricate and downright crazy ''Final Fantasy XI'' was for 2002, both modernizing the rather scattershot formula of other [=MMOs=] prior and streamlining it enough for anyone to reasonably play on a [=PS2=]. One example is that it's a game with a full featured soundtrack for every area, and even dynamics depending on where you fight and if a party's involved; simply having a town jingle or a couple basic tracks was typically the standard for the genre at the time. The game was also probably one of the most influential, as snippets and tidbits of its ideas and DNA can still be found in games today. However, it's also damn ''punishing'', with ancient menu-by-menu UI, the infamous [[ScrappyMechanic Level Down mechanic]], a clunky lock-on and combat system despite the sheer breadth of options, and a presentation fitting of a game from its time in every way. ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' would take the world by storm only two years later, and a decade later, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' would fail on following ''XI'' in design and [[FollowTheLeader follow]] ''Warcraft'''s, highlighting that the entire industry had also mostly moved on at that point. Now ''XI'' is mostly left to the dedicated and the curious, despite how much ''XIV'' still pulls from it to this day and continued content updates on PC.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It's hard to really put into words how innovative, intricate and downright crazy ''Final Fantasy XI'' was for 2002, both modernizing the rather scattershot formula of other [=MMOs=] prior and streamlining it enough for anyone to reasonably play on a [=PS2=]. One example is that it's a game with a full featured soundtrack for every area, and even dynamics depending on where you fight and if a party's involved; simply having a town jingle or a couple basic tracks was typically the standard for the genre at the time. The game was also probably one of the most influential, as snippets and tidbits of its ideas and DNA can still be found in games today. But ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' would take the world by storm only two years later, and a decade later, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' would fail on following ''XI'' in design and [[FollowTheLeader follow]] ''Warcraft'''s, highlighting that the entire industry had also mostly moved on at that point; now ''XI'' is mostly left to the dedicated and the curious, despite how much ''XIV'' still pulls from it to this day.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It's hard to really put into words how innovative, intricate and downright crazy ''Final Fantasy XI'' was for 2002, both modernizing the rather scattershot formula of other [=MMOs=] prior and streamlining it enough for anyone to reasonably play on a [=PS2=]. One example is that it's a game with a full featured soundtrack for every area, and even dynamics depending on where you fight and if a party's involved; simply having a town jingle or a couple basic tracks was typically the standard for the genre at the time. The game was also probably one of the most influential, as snippets and tidbits of its ideas and DNA can still be found in games today. But ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' would take the world by storm only two years later, and a decade later, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' would fail on following ''XI'''s design and [[FollowTheLeader follow]] ''Warcraft'''s, highlighting that the entire industry had also mostly moved on at that point; now ''XI'' is mostly left to the dedicated and the curious, despite how much ''XIV'' still pulls from it to this day.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It's hard to really put into words how innovative, complex and ''unique'' ''Final Fantasy XI'' was for 2002, both modernizing the rather scattershot formula of other [=MMOs=] prior and streamlining it enough for anyone to reasonably play on a [=PS2=]. One example is that it's a game with a full featured soundtrack for every area, and even dynamics depending on where you fight and if a party's involved; simply having a town jingle or a couple basic tracks was typically the standard for the genre at the time. The game was also probably one of the most influential, as snippets and tidbits of its ideas and DNA can still be found in games today. But ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' would take the world by storm only two years later, and a decade later, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' would fail on following ''XI'''s design and [[FollowTheLeader follow]] ''Warcraft'''s, highlighting that the entire industry had also mostly moved on at that point; now ''XI'' is mostly left to the dedicated and the curious, despite how much ''XIV'' still pulls from it to this day.

* LongRunners: Final Fantasy XI is actually over a year OLDER than Creator/SquareEnix, with its first trailers and releases having Squaresoft logos and copyrights... and it is still running, even with a diminished customer base, over two decades later, with only support for outdated consoles being removed.

* FanonDiscontinuity: A substantial number of ''Final Fantasy'' fans tend to skip this game when talking about the numbered series, due to it being an MMO. It doesn’t help that, in comparison to FFXIV (its online sister entry), it has a much higher skill barrier for newbies to get into because of its aged gameplay mechanics and overall design philosophy.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Fans of the ''Final Fantasy'' series tend to skip this game when talking about the numbered series, due to it being an MMO.

* {{Adorkable}}: Aphmau might be [[spoiler:an empress,]] but hell if she isn't this when she falls flat to her face when she tries to greet you.

** There's also the gradual raising of the level cap from 75 to 99, after years of the best gear at 75 being the best in the game. For some, it means the game becomes more soloable or less people are required to get things done, for others it means their hard earned gear now amount to nothing compared to the new stuff. Either way, there will be a grind.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Shantotto. Square seems to have taken notice of this, and included her as the de facto representative for this game in crossovers.

* NeverLiveItDown: Pandemonium Warden made headlines when a group stubbornly sat for eighteen hours while fighting it (Which the game STRONGLY suggests against. Hell, you gotta click past the warning every time you enter the game, not even VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft does that). The boss has been killed relatively quickly (that is to say, with a bit of time left on the two hour timer) multiple times since it was nerfed, but journalists (and this very wiki) continue to report on the evil online game that makes you sit at the computer until you're physically sick. (See MarathonBoss above.) A general rule of thumb nowadays is that no boss sticks around for more than two hours. After that, the critter despawns, but if it takes you that long to kill the guy, you are not doing it right (Underleveled, bad strategy, [[RefugeInAudacity half the alliance being made up of bots]]).

* ScrappyMechanic: The "Level Down" mechanic, wherein when a player dies they lose EXP, and if they lose too much they will actually level down. The reason this is so hated is because in most endgame missions a player is almost expected to die, sometimes multiple times, in order to complete it. Worst, the mechanic only makes sense from an MMO FakeDifficulty stand-point, in that it makes sure a player can never be truly "done" with leveling up a character, thus forcing players to play more just to make up the level(s) they've lost.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Fans of the Final Fantasy series tend to skip this game when talking about the numbered series, due to it being an MMO.

* LongRunners: Final Fantasy XI is actually over a year OLDER than Creator/SquareEnix, with its first trailers and releases having Squaresoft logos and copyrights... and it is still running, even with a diminished customer base, nearly a decade and a half later, with only support for outdated consoles being removed.
* NeverLiveItDown: Pandemonium Warden made headlines when a group stubbornly sat for eighteen hours while fighting it (Which the game STRONGLY suggests against, hell, you gotta click past the warning every time you enter the game, not even Warcraft does that). The boss has been killed relatively quickly (that is to say, with a bit of time left on the two hour timer) multiple times since it was nerfed, but journalists (and this very wiki) continue to report on the evil online game that makes you sit at the computer until you're physically sick. (See MarathonBoss above.) A general rule of thumb nowadays is that no boss sticks around for more than two hours. After that, the critter despawns, but if it takes you that long to kill the guy, you are not doing it right (Underleveled, bad strategy, [[RefugeInAudacity half the alliance being made up of bots]]).

** The "Waifu" heroes; Lion, Prishe, Aphmau, Lilisette, and Iroha all have enjoyed popularity due to being the face of their individual expansions, as well as their spotlight received in the spin-offs of ''Dissidia'' (Prishe in the ''012'' incarnation, the rest in the ''DFFOO'' mobile game).

* LongRunners: Final Fantasy XI is actually over a year OLDER than Creator/SquareEnix, with it's first trailers and releases having Squaresoft logos and copyrights... and it is still running, even with a diminished customer base, nearly a decade and a half later, with only support for outdated consoles being removed.

** Due to the numerous similarities between the playable races in both games, fans going to FFXI from FFXIV and vice versa tend to nickname one game's race after their equivalent from the other (ex: calling Tarutarus, "Lalafells", or calling Mithras, "Miquotes".

* ThatOneBoss:
** Everybody has a horror story about at least one ''Chains of Promathia'' boss, most aggravatingly the 45-minute airship fight where dying to any one of three stages of the fight meant you needed to fight all three again, but not before reacquiring special items needed to win. The [[MarathonBoss Pandemonium Warden]] [[RunningGag deserved this title once]], on account of literally beating a linkshell into submission courtesy of a ''nineteen hour fight'' that ended when the leaders started realizing people were sacrificing their actual health and called it off. Due to the negative press, they {{nerf}}ed both it and the similarly maddening Absolute Virtue while also going to the extreme AntiPoopSocking measure of a ''two-hour'' time limit on both fights.
** Interviews have revealed that Absolute Virtue [[HopelessBossFight was never meant to be beaten]], and that he was supposed to be the risk for killing the last boss of the Sea region. After players figured out how to kill him through exploits, they made him a guaranteed pop and gave him a loot table which he did not have the first time he was killed.

* DemonicSpiders: [[KillerRabbit Rarab enemies]] at high levels; Rarabs start as TheGoomba, the weakest enemies in the game ... however they attack fast and even have a self-healing move called Wild Carrot. At levels 119+ Rarabs can become absolutely brutal, they attack lightning fast, spam weapon skills, and Wild Carrot can now heal in the ballpark of thousands of health ... which if a player is unlikely, they can use over and over.