So, on this page:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/dow...stall_win.html
there's a link to the 'Store' where one can get the full game:
https://store.eu.square-enix.com/eme...rs-Edition.php.
However, if you're in the UK you get this:
https://store.eu.square-enix.com/uk
If you try to select 'EU' there's a brief time when your browser goes to the EU site but then you're forcibly geo-located back to the UK..
This means the link on the download page never gets you to the page to order the game.
I tried manually changing the emea_europe part of the game link to uk but get a 404.
Clearly, SE have engineered the EU/UK Store to prevent UK users buying the game in this way.
Why?
The only FFXI package available to UK users is just the Adoulin expansion: click GAMES then select FFXI from the menu ..
https://store.eu.square-enix.com/uk/final-fantasy-xi
.. which clearly states you need the base game to play, yet there IS NO FFXI ON THE UK STORE! I've been to the US and French sites and they have the full game, I tried Australia but get forceibly geo-located back to the UK store.
I'd use a VPN to get past this roadblock but since SE uses a fatuous regional coding system I have no doubt an NA-sourced code wouldn't work for UK SE accounts.