I have played both. I played FFXIV before I played FFXI which was a terrible idea since FFXI is less newbie friendly. Both Matt and I struggled to get any idea what we had to do. It was suggested in this very forum that we follow a newbie guide to help us through, however... it just didn't grab us at all. FFXIV has obvious direction and we didn't have to follow a guide to get us through the opening section of the game, so uh that ended up sticking.

re sub fees - FFXIV is £10 for the base game and then £9 per month afterwards, which isn't really all that bad, everything considered.