It was a lot more loved than XIV ever is, and that's even after Yoshi-P saved XIV with A Realm Reborn. It's more because XI didn't try to be an MMO, it plays like a traditional JRPG, complete with your blue combat window and everything. It was an MMO but it always advertised itself as a Final Fantasy game first, something XIV has a hard time doing because it's a much more streamlined MMO title. Now I love XIV to death, but the world of Eorzea has nothing on vana'diel simply because Vana'diel's world is so huge in comparison, even before the content updates. Eorzea never really opened up until it's first expansion, and even then, we're still missing half a continent and some areas from the game's [i]Legacy[/i] status.