I totally agree M'lady, the FF station games are some of the best i've ever played. However I think that is the problem, FXII Promoted the game Hugely and had every avid FF fan sitting at the letter box for their Pre-order. So much hype, and such a high standard to keep up, no matter how good FFXI was going to be people were going to be let down by it.
I'm one of the rare FF players as my Favourite was FFVIII, FFX2 was great graphics, especially the song a thousand words, Master piece, and i believe a hit in Japan. One thing is for sure Yuna would kick Britney spears, Christina and pinks ***!
EQ is definately the better fun, but i think the social climate has alot to do with it, i've made many friends there and leader of a 200 strong guild. FFXI is not a bad game atall just a let down for the Hype it had recieved.