The thing is, I really really miss having characters who had specific strengths. And most of the battles only take a couple swipes to finish off the monster. So I was looking at the license board today and there are a BUNCH of spells that I never use because there's never really any time to use them. Things like Slow and Haste don't come in handy at all when you're just running around fighting because basically it's just thwack thwack and the monsters dies. You don't even have to be looking at the screen, you don't even actually have to do anything if the gambits are on properly.

It's just, I miss thinking things out and going, "ok, I think I'll cast fire now". And stuff like that.

I don't hate the battle system, it certainly makes for more leisurely playing. I can be browsing EoFF and farming/leveling up at the same time. So that's cool. I just don't think it's all that fun or exciting.

As for being similar to FFXI, the only thing that is similar is how the monsters are roaming around and can aggro you. Other than that, FFXI is a faaaaar more complex and strategic battling system. And of course FFXI has the job system which I really like.