Final Fantasy XI

Twenty years after the Great Crystal War, an evil threat returns in Final Fantasy XI. A desperate call goes out to adventurers around the globe for help, and you are first in line. Begin your journey into the world of Vana'diel by creating a customized character from a host of physical attributes and jobs. Experience missions, quests, and boss battles by yourself or join up with other party members to form powerful alliances as you explore the vast environments that make up Vana'diel. Through the PlayOnline Viewer, you can connect and communicate with other players whether they are playing on a PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system or a PC.

We never saw it coming. When Square-Enix, then Squaresoft, had announced that they were making an online game, we never expected it to see the light of day, much less have the Final Fantasy moniker attached to it. But the day came when the official announcement was made: Final Fantasy XI was going to be the series' first venture into the world of MMORPGs. Reactions were of course mixed. Fanboys and purists threw fits, skeptics scowled, and online gamer fans rejoiced. But it was Final Fantasy. A series known for state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay, a deep, intriguing storylines, and likable, fleshed out characters. Surely we had something to take comfort in? Well, yes and no.
First of all, it needs to be said this is almost nothing like its predecessors. Battles aren't random, monsters don't drop large bags of gil, gaining just one level can take hours, and items can be very expensive. You can't fight many monsters on your own, as you are almost entirely dependent upon other people in this game. Parties become an absolute necessity to level up, and if the people within said party aren't able to get along, then leveling will be a slower, more arduous task than it already is. Not to mention you also may spend hours on end looking for a party to join in the first place, as some jobs are desired more than others.
Once a character reaches level 18 on any job, they can complete the quest to unlock support jobs. This allows the player to take on two jobs at once, with the support job being at half the level of the main. Obviously some combinations work better than others. However the support job does NOT level on its own, so the player must take the time to level the job they wish to be their support job independently. Every time you start a new job you revert to level 1. You do not lose previous levels, so if you leveled Warrior to 30 for example and then wanted to level Thief, but never leveled it before, you would be level 1. But let's say you changed your mind, and you don't want to play Thief just yet. You can change back to Warrior, and you will still be level 30. There is no penalty nor limit to changing your job. One character can play and max out all 20 jobs if desired.