THE BASICS OF STARTING AN ACCOUNT AND CHARACTER: "What do I do?"
The set up of the Xbox360, PS2, and PC are very much alike. However, on the PC you can adjust your settings, even before you launch POL(Playonline). You can find information in the game Setup/Tweeking/Optimizing forum and maybe third-party programs(the positive kind) to help set this up. You should be able to find your config in your Start menu.
Setup/Tweeking/Optimizing forum:
http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/gam...imizing.q-289/
From here, you will need to register your ID. You can follow the very easy steps in your manual. Once you have a Playonline ID set up, make a FFXI Character ID, which is roughly the same, and you can find directions in your manual. Please remember, making more than one character will add an additional $1 fee per character extra. Also, only one character of a single Playonline ID can be on at once. Now that you have finished this part, you can continue on to the game itself. You will likely see the opening movie. No, those are not real-time graphics...
You will now be in the title screen... yada, yada. before you can play, you will need to make your first character. There is 5 races to choose from and 6 starting jobs, but you shouldn't care about the latter too much. After those two, you are asked your character name, if you have "Worldpass", and which nation you would like to start in. There is three Nations... Windurst, Bastok, and San d'Oria. I'm going to explain this entire process and all it options as follows.
The 5 races are: Hume, Elvann, Galka, Tarutaru, and Mithra. These five are known as the Children of Altana, believed to come from the tears of the goddess Herself. Along with details about these peoples, I will include information about their stats, this will be explained in the next portion.
The Humes: As in every fantasy setting, there is usually one race that represents humanity. The majority of the Hume you will see in your times in Vana'diel live in the southern part of Quon, in a dry wasteland. They live and run the Republic nation of Bastok, which is technologically advanced with gunpower, smithing, steam works, and alchemy. Hume are even on their stats, completely average. Think all-around.
The Elvaans: People new to FFXI often see the Elvaans as the Elves of Tolkien and other fantasies. However, despite their origins were in woodlands, there is great difference between an Elvaan and an Elf. They are not soft, magical, or peaceful. They are honorable, vain, and militant. The best way to describe the Elvaan of San d'Oria, the kingdom in the northern woodlands of Quon, would be a hybrid of old England and France struggling to gain their former glory. Elvaans are the strongest race in muscle and faith with the highest Strength and Mind scores, along with a decently high Vitality and Health stats. However, they are not very smart or quick, with low scores in Intelligence, Mana, Agility, and Dexterity. Think knightly.
The Tarutaru: If anyone is like the Tolkien Elves we see in Dungeon and Dragons, it would be the very short, chubby, and fuzzy nosed Tarutaru. The Tarutaru traveled to their savanah paradise of Windurst many centuries before the present gametime, where they discovered magic and the ruins of magic. Scribes, cooks, and mages by choice, they are usually very peaceful people(there is always exceptions, fear the name Shantotto). Tarutaru have a very high score in Intelligence and Mana. They have a poor score in Mind, and very poor scores of Strength, Vitality, and Health. Think magical.
The Mithra: Easily described as cat-girls from the South. They could be said to represent Africans, however are often petty thieves, greedy traders, or ravenous pirates outside their nation to the Far South or Kazham, a closer settlement. You will never see a Male Mithra out of the nation to the Far South. We know so little about the Mithran culture at this point, but we know their nation is full of special agents named Sin Hunters and that their number of males are very few. Mithra exceel at being speedy with high Aglitity and Dexterity. They have lower scores in Strength, Vitality, and Charisma, though the first two are not as low as Tarutaru's. A quirky trait they have is that they can eat fish raw. Think sneaky.
The Galka: The migthy Galka now live with the Humes in Bastok. They are all-but-oppressed as second citizens, however there was a time where a Galkan empire reigned over a endless desert and it's earth. However, the empire would fall to the endless numbers of the Antican beastmen. They fled from their Zepwell island to Quon and began to live with the Hume. They played a very huge and uncredited role in the birth of Bastok. Galka are unique for they are asexual. Their appearance and interest in women makes them to be considered as males however. Galka are the toughest around with very high Heatlh and Vitality, with also good Strength. On the other hand, the Galka have very low Intelligence and Mana. Similiar to the Mithra, they can eat meat raw. Think tank.
Remember that you shouldn't let your job decide your race. Tarutaru are distant from melee and Elvaan and Galka are distant from magic, however there is plenty of these races playing jobs that would seem weak to them and playing them well. You will soon learn, that racial bonuses are below the importance of bonuses granted from gear and food effects, they serve as the icing on the cake(Health and Mana do still play a big role however). You can be many jobs in FFXI and you might decide to switch your main job. Pick your race for looks. However, I will say this. If you want to stand out, Galka is the least picked race.
After picking your race, you will be able to choose your job. You get a choice of six. Now jobs I will cover in the next section. It is likely you will be level one of these jobs to 30, and another to 15 or 18, at the very least. At level 30, you can unlock more jobs, about 12 more, through quests. These jobs are called Advance Jobs, and are only advance because you need to unlock them, but the six jobs you start with are just as good as these, and vice versa.
Because you can switch your job at will, let your choice be based on the piece of equipment you get with the job. If you want to start leveling Warrior, Red Mage, or Thief, pick Warrior as your job, this is because you get a sword with Warrior and weak daggers with the other two. Black Mage and White Mage both give weak weapons, but it shouldn't matter too much. Monk recieves no weapon, but a White Belt, which is good for a Monk.
Then you will be asked to enter your name. No spaces, no numbers, and only the first letter is capital. Mind you, you can get in trouble for offensive names, but ouside that, you should be fine. There is also Worldpasses and such. You can find any answers to the question in other parts of this site.
Finally, it will ask the nation you'd like to start in. It isn't limited to your race, despite them coming from certain nations. Naturally... Hume and Galka from Bastok, Elvaan from San d'Oria, and Tarutaru and Mithra from Windurst. There is a small reward for starting in the matching nation for your race, a ring with decent stats for a level one. However, if you want to be a Galka in Windurst, go for it. The ring gets outdated quickly by more stat focus rings. Let the styles, storylines, and taste of the town to decide which you like better.
-stopping here... literrally falling asleep here-
-If people would like to include details I've missed on the races, such as stats or quirky traits, please inform me-
-people who have very high and good video that would inspire FFXI can ask me to put it on the first post-