You are not the first one having this issue.

Well, at the beginiing, there weren't any accounts need to be created other than PlayOnline account.
Square Enix company has gone through alot of system changes, yet FFXI system was an old one and cannot be changed.
Sadly, this is the only way to play it for now.

So it's not that they purposively making your life difficult

Originally posted by vincepirez:

A friend and myself bought this game many months ago when it was on sale. Today we finally got around to giving it a try. Well, so we thought....

The registration and login process is RIDICULOUSLY complex and drawn out. After registering for both PlayOnline and Square Enix, and handling lots of different usernames and passwords, I finally managed to login (20 minutes later) only to find out I couldn't play the game because of some rubbish abount ContentID's. ContentID? What is that? It's not mentioned anywhere in the Square Enix account page. Why are you trying to make it so difficult for people to play?

If a game is this difficult to get up and running, quite frankly it's not worth anyone's time. Seriously, do not buy this game. I'm about to contact Steam to ask for a refund.

You said to not buy because the registration process.

Give me a break. I did it. It's not easy like other MMO but doesn't matter.
The game is a really nice piece of peach. I loved it a lot and I was wondering back to play when the expansion come out.

You're completely missing the point. If the registration process is this contrived and non-intuitive do you really think people are going to waste their time with it? Rhetorical question, because the simple answer is; no, they aren't. I know of several people who also had problems with the process and in the end just didn't want to waste their time.

The process is so overly complicated and nonsensical that there's even a YouTube video "guide" on how to sign up and register your account. Really. Games should not need 30 minute video tutorials explaining how to even get INTO the game.

If the creators of a game can't even nail such a basic process as registering and getting into the game, it's highly likely that this same laziness will be reflected in their end product. Sure, this may be the result of a legacy system being migrated to PlayOn, but it still needs a lot of work. If I (a single individual) have the thought process that I don't want to waste my time messing around with several accounts to get on the game, you can be damn sure that there are hundreds of other people, maybe even more, who have the same thoughts.

It's been like that for a decade. Sadly, since this is still THE most profitable FFXI, they won't change the archaic registration system (or rather, they don't know how to). That said, this game has high rating (85% for PC), one of if not the first cross-platform MMORPG and still have strong subscription based.

lazy kid is lazy... never had to blew a snes cartdriges to work... lazy lazy kids, who cares if the game log in system is old? this never was a game for the masses, so allow that log in system to repel any wow kid going into the game to screw it like most others mmo, plus this game is so awesome and the community is so clear minded helpful and mature, let it stay that way

What does inserting a cartridge have to do with a ridiculously overdrawn and complicated multiple registration and login process for a shoddy MMORPG accounting system? Nothing. Analogies are obviously not your strong point.

Never a game for the masses? Oh, my mistake. I thought the purpose of an MMORPG was to appeal to the masses. Y'know, in order to make the MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER aspect of the game work? I thank you for correcting me on such a glaringly obvious mistake, because I thought for just a moment Square* may have been attempting to make a successful game. If it's such a niche and targeted audience, quite frankly they can keep it.

"WoW kid"? On the contrary, but it's hilarious that in your failed attempt to belittle me you actually admitted that Blizzard have a far better registration and accounting system.

yeah the registration is terrible, but if youv never played this game its worth checking out, 10 years of content

This game is awesome.

That's why.

seriously once you master the content id registration, the game its self it very good, and worth the hassle and frustration that is ffxi registration.

Is there any setp-by-step registration process in FFIX ou Steam site?

It's not install and play, that's fosho lol.

But I've had 3 accounts going over the years. 6 accounts I suppose if you count the 3 I got banned at the same time back in 2008 or so.

Currently taking a break for 6 months after 8 years of constant playing.
Average = 8 hours playtime a day for 8 years will tell you how highly I rate the game.

Like Will said, 10 years of content to jump straight into after going through the hoops of actually getting started.

Hahaha the Final fantasy XIV registration process was also bloody complicated when i tried to get my beta copy working, but when i did get it working.. one of the funnest mmo's i've ever played, too bad i can't pay the subscription fee.

The point is you only need to go through the registration process, once. After that its smooth sailing.

I also want to try out FFXI but they took it off steam for some reason ._.

Lets just hope that after they drop out the console support they will make the registration process more simple. After all the game's content is out this year, this game really needs new players.

Originally posted by Eggi:

I also want to try out FFXI but they took it off steam for some reason ._.

No they didn't?

Originally posted by Justuค็็็็็็็sFIN:

Lets just hope that after they drop out the console support they will make the registration process more simple. After all the game's content is out this year, this game really needs new players.

Console support is what makes it awesome though, its like one of the only mmo's on the ps2, im amazed they could even get it on there in the first place

Originally posted by Eggi:

I also want to try out FFXI but they took it off steam for some reason ._.

No they didn't?

Oh sorry about that, they re-released it, i have the old release of FFXI on my wishlist

Just registered my copy (bought years ago) following those instructions:
http://support.na.square-enix.com/faqarticle.php?kid=59270&id=20

Certainly not straightforward for 2015 standards, but not that bad.

Downloading never-ending updates as I write this...