I'm going to at least say what I think of keyboard vs controller, because I've made the decision to buy a gamepad. I was originally a PS2 player, and with the PS2 limiting the game, and I sold my PS2 anyway, it was going to be more to of a hassle to play on the PS2 than it would on the PC or XBox. I don't own an XBox360, and I have a pretty good computer for my Photoshop skills. All I really needed to buy was the game, for 10 measly bucks.
Loaded up, started playing the game, and went with the keyboard as my controller. Maybe it was my comfort level of being on the PS2 version so long, but the keyboard controls suuucked. I even went to configure different keys to different controls, and was getting better at it, but it was still a pain. So I went to Best Buy and found the only gamepad sitting on the shelf for $19.99. Set up the controller, and I will seriously switch back and forth between the two controls due to some lag from the gamepad after I switch windows on the PC, but I mainly use the gamepad.
I restarted playing early Feb 2011. Every PS2 player should follow my lead. If you have a computer that can run FFXI, spend $30.00 to get the game played there. If you don't have a computer up to snuff, put some money aside and get one. You'll do yourself a favor by upgrading in more ways than just for FFXI.
