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I've caught the "Final Fantasy Fever" once again from reading more about Final Fantasy XI and the upcoming expansion Chains of Promathia. And what makes it all the more enticing is the fact that I can now actually afford the monthly fee. But, as always, there are a few problems that are keeping me from actually going out and buying the game.
First off, even though I'm making enough money per month to make the $14 monthly fee bearable, there's still the $50 price tag on the game itself. At my current income, that's a month's "wages" right there, after the cut for the DSL. And right now, I do not have that much money to spare. Once my brother pays me, as mentioned in the "Patience for a PS2" post I would, but. . . .
I have other pressing expenses besides the DSL. First and foremost, I am going to buy that PS2 -- FFXI will be there for a long while yet, but I'm not always going to be able to get a PS2 for $40. Second, Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and the original Legend of Zelda (on the GBA) are both being released in June. Those, also, come before FFXI. So where does this leave me financially? Broke, that's where.
But okay, that's only June. . . . What about July, after I'd saved up some more money? I'd have to wait another month, but then again, with two Zelda games to play I think I'll be plenty occupied during that time. Still though, there's the problem of the $50 price just for the game itself remains. (Why can't it be $30? They're already getting the monthly fee, dangit!) There's a possible solution to this, but it's by no means a sure thing.
That is, I've offered my brother this deal: He pays for half of the game ($25) and after that he only has to pay $1 per month -- the price of his extra character. I'd front the entire base fee plus the cost of my own character ($14), and he'd be able to keep his character for as long as he wants for only $1 per month.
Now, that may not sound like a good deal for me, but it suits my situation. I can afford the $14 a month I'd be paying, but I can't afford the $50 all at once that it'd take to buy the game. I will, however, be able to afford $25 for the game, and then we'd also get the first month free so that if worst came to worst, I'd have time to get the money for the first fee if I didn't already have it. And also, if you look at it like I'm paying the full $50 for the game and my brother is paying half of the total monthly fee for a while, it'd be like he'd be paying half of the fee for three and a half months. That's not too bad, really.
As you can see, I like scheming out how I might get Final Fantasy XI -- heck, I've been doing this since before the game's US release -- but through all of it I've still been asking myself, "Will it be worth it?" Having $41 left over per month after expenses instead of $27 would go a long ways in letting me buy more console games (and for saving up for new systems), but if I played FFXI for a long time it could be worth it. And on one hand, I've heard people say they were really disappointed by the game, but on the other I've heard about a lot of people really enjoying the game. Even though I'm more inclined towards getting FFXI now than when I was considering it before, I'm still torn by indecision.
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