how to buy this game?

[Riggs]

I want to run a second account, but i can't see the game for sale on any of the online stores here in the UK.

Is the only way to buy it now via a download site i.e. steam, secondly i already have the game all i need is the codes, can i avoid the download and just buy the codes?

[Demon6324236]

Yes you only need the codes, on need to download. I bought FFXI from Direct 2 Drive when I got it for my PC, not sure if you can for UK but I would hope so.

[Seyomeyo]

Amazon sells this game via digital downlod. you don't need to actually download it there to get the codes.

[Emilja]

Hi, can I download the game for win7?
I play the game thru xbox and I want to play with laptop so I can play everywhere =)

[wildsprite]

there are places online that have the installer or DVD images, search google for them, but be careful and make sure you do a virus check, the Ultimate Collection works with Windows 7 for sure....not sure about the others

I do wish they would make it so you could just get the full game for download directly from the FFXI website rather than making people hunt for it

and no I do not see getting the installer for FFXI online as piracy, it isn't because you pay for the code or codes

[Dragoy]

wildsprite,

Doesn't really matter does it how or what we users see that as, as it is still a fact that SqEX prohibits even lending the installation media to a friend. ^^;

So...


Emilja,

Officially no. There is no way to download the game without buying it, and indeed, those unofficial sources may actually do more harm than good in that they can be malicious (and less money to SqEX which is no doubt the reasoning behind them particular rules).

[wildsprite]

Dragoy
not for FFXI they don't, if you have the code you can use your friend's installation media for FFXI, what do you think the buddy pass was for?

its not like other Final Fantasy games, you still require to pay to play online, and SE has stated in all of the manuals if you have FFXI on one system you can use it on another, you just need to install it

[Kaisha]

Someone tell me again, why doesn't SE offer FFXI for digital sale via their own store/SE-Account manager?

[wildsprite]

they don't? they did last time I looked, they had the Ultimate Collection and the Ultimate Collection Abyssea Edition....they are gone from their own store?

[Leyza]

they don't? they did last time I looked, they had the Ultimate Collection and the Ultimate Collection Abyssea Edition....they are gone from their own store?I'm pretty sure they do. I think it was there when I was going to buy the game about a week ago. Then again, I'm not known for having a good memory. >.>

[wildsprite]

okay I looked, I was able to find this
http://store.na.square-enix.com/store/sqenixus/en_US/pd/productID.241238700
which is the Ultimate Collection Abyssea Edition, I cannot seem to access the European SE store though

[Demon6324236]

Someone tell me why they continue to have the ultimate collection listed on POL & SE's own store yet there are no copies and will never be.

[wildsprite]

for some reason SE doesnt have a link to the Abyssea Edition in the store, only from the http://finalfantasyxi.com/na website can I find it....perhaps if there is a EU version of the site there is a link to it there? does anyone from Europe know? I checked the European store, it isn't listed in the store itself...

[wildsprite]

okay after a little more research I found this
http://www.ff11europe.com/index_en.html which does not point to any SE store for it, wow I'm disturbed by this, why does SE Europe not have it for digital download from the SE store? makes no sense to me at all

the SE website points here http://weblet.eu.square-enix.com/epage.php?id=FFXINSD&lang=en which has the same places the FFXI website points

[wish12oz]

Just use Steam and buy the digital download version, they have an EU store I imagine.

[Dragoy]

Dragoy
not for FFXI they don't, if you have the code you can use your friend's installation media for FFXI, what do you think the buddy pass was for?

its not like other Final Fantasy games, you still require to pay to play online, and SE has stated in all of the manuals if you have FFXI on one system you can use it on another, you just need to install it

I'm not sure where you get your information from, but indeed, if you have a Buddy Pass, you may lend your Licensed Software for this limited purpose.

However (http://support.eu.square-enix.com/faqarticle.php?kid=12688&id=455&la=2&ret=faq&pv=10&page=0&c=0&sc=0&so=4&q=borrow):


Lending disks is prohibited. Please purchase the expansion disk of the registration code you purchased. User Agreement does not permit borrowing disks
Member Agreement

Article 4: Ownership, Rights, and Restrictions
4.2 Restrictions.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you may not:
(a) Modify, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software;
(b) rent, lease, loan, sell, sublicense, distribute, transmit or otherwise transfer the Software, your User or other account-related information (including, but not limited to, your User ID or password information) to any third party;
(c) Make any copy of or otherwise reproduce the Software; or,
(d) Use the Software or your PlayOnline user account to provide service bureau or time-sharing services, or for any other commercial purpose. The PlayOnline Service and the ability to access PlayOnline are for the personal use of Users only and may not be copied, resold, leased, transferred, exchanged or bartered.

To me, that's quite clearly against borrowing the installation media (excluding the exception that is the Buddy Pass, of course). It is OK to play on any platform with the same account of course, but you would need to purchase the installation media and expansion for that separately. ^^;


Just use Steam and buy the digital download version, they have an EU store I imagine.

Yes, that works, but I wouldn't suggest installing via Steam. If at all possible to be avoided, that is. >.<


Edit:

It's worth mentioning that getting only the registration codes via Steam is also possible. One does not have to use Steam to install the game, if one has other means to do that.

[Riggs]

[QUOTE

Yes, that works, but I wouldn't suggest installing via Steam. If at all possible to be avoided, that is. >.<[/QUOTE]

pity i dident see this comment first, 3 days of uninstalling and reinstalling later and my accounts still arent working corectly

[Leyza]

Weirdly, I had no issue activating XI after buying it on Steam. Maybe I just got lucky?

[Dragoy]

There should be no issues activating content with the codes acquired via Steam. If there really are issues with the account(s), it's very likely something else, and unless it's due to a user error, one should contact the Customer Service via the Support Centre/Center.

Some people simply have issues getting the game itself to work via Steam, and I personally don't like to have my games tied to Steam so that's why I never recommend it. It's a viable option though, so it's not that I'm saying it's something people absolutely should avoid; it's mostly just my personal preference, and the knowledge of people having problems with it that have me against it. ^^

[wish12oz]

Steam installs FFXI to a different place than it would normally go, this is probably the reason people hate it. Anyway, I just got a new PC and needed to put FFXI on it like 2 weeks ago. The first thing I did was DL the windows 7 POL installer, found on SE's official website:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/download/media/vista01.html?pageID=media
Click "Agree" at the very bottom of the page here to get it. After installing and updating it I just pinned it to the start menu.

After that I DL'd the game from Steam, since I bought a copy from them for my mage mule and can't seem to find my PC disks aside from WOTG anywhere. And now when I want to play FFXI, I open the start menu and click the POL shortcut I created there. I don't play through Steam, and you don't need to either.

[Dragoy]

It is not recommended to install the 'stand-alone' POL Viewer if you also have it installed via Steam. Bad things can, and will happen when doing that.

I don't doubt however, that there is a way to make them work together, but for the average user, I can see it spawning more harm than good, unless it's merely the installation order that affects the outcome. In any case, I wouldn't recommend that method except for the adventurous...

The location where Steam installs it, is not a bother. ^^;

[Kaisha]

They muck each other up because Steam automatically updates the registry file-paths for its copy of FFXI when you install it.

Outside of using a different region version (I'm pretty sure JP ver uses its own registry folder, dunno about EU copy), sandboxing, or ToS-breaking 3rd-party tools, not really much way around having two identical functional copies of POL/XI installed and operating happily.

Steam copy serial key can be grabbed without installing it by using this view in Steam and hitting CD-key, such as this old pic shows...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v607/Genexi2/FFXI/steamffxi.jpg


For those that do run off a Steam install though, it's identical to a disc-release. Not Steam DRM'd either, can boot POL without having it open, which is how I roll.

[Riggs]

My issues here were i already had the game installed and playable with 1 char, i bought an account from steam and installed steam and ffxi thinking it would leave me with the 2 games, but as stated above steam version over wrote my original, and then none of the passwords used would work kept saying incorrect id or password. So i installed my original account only to get same message.
After a day of messing about i decided to delete it all off my pc, only for 1 version to refuse to be deleted and as such when i tried to run pol from my cd and install it along with all the expansions it would not work as it says another version is installed.

I downloaded the version of se's web site and that installed pol but i had to go in to the game disk and run the installer for each expansion seperatly.

Again another day of telling me passwords were wrong only to suddenly work after try 100, but i'm missing several of the expansions now and no idea how to get them installed.

[Dragoy]

Riggs,

That should definitely be unrelated to how you install the game. Did you make sure you had entered your SqEX Account name and one-time password option (if applicable) set for use?

As for the expansions, did you re-install them after installing the 'stand-alone' POL Viewer? In any case, I would try reinstalling them once more again...

[jewlz]

you can buy it on stream!

[Riggs]

i would love to reinstall them but the installer won't run as it says pol is already installed

[Lisotte]

I don't see the point really of running it through steam; unlike 99% of steam games you only use steam for the download and acquiring the cd-key. You can then launch the game outside of steam whenever. It's pointless anyhow to run it in steam; my friend's can't see me playing FFXI and I can't use the steam overlay in game.

However I play windowed so I see my steam messages pop up anyway so it's all good.

More on topic, there should be sites (amazon I believe, for example) that allow the purchase of the game via download. I can't speak personally for amazon, but by the method I used to buy the game (steam) I was able to see the cd-key w/out downloading it. So you should be fine.

[Dragoy]

i would love to reinstall them but the installer won't run as it says pol is already installed
That would be expected. This is indeed one of the reasons I never suggest installing via Steam, as it can easily become a mess. You may need to be a bit more drastic to get everything uninstalled (may need to do some Registry editing, though using some sort of a 'cleaner' to do that might be more safe) and be able to do a clean install, but I wont go into details here.

Whatever you do, create backups, restore-points, everything possible to prevent messing up things even more. :]


but by the method I used to buy the game (steam) I was able to see the cd-key w/out downloading it. So you should be fine.

Indeed. That has already been mentioned at least a few times. ^^;