Xbox 360 question. Need Live?

[BeowulfFFXI]

Hey, I'm a new 360 owner, and don't have Xbox live just yet. I was told the disc goes though Xbox live and straight to PoL? Does this mean XBL isn't needed?

I play on PS2 and PC atm (crappy PC) and was thinking of picking this up since I like console play more. TV+Non-Comp chair is always a good thing for me.

I plan on getting Xbox live soon, but do I need this to logon to POL? If so, does this mean that that w/e Xbox Live has a maintenance, I can't play? PoL+Xbox maints will be a damper to my usual PS2/PC experience with this game.

Also are the graphics really a big improvement over PS2/Low-end PC?

I'm buying a new Laptop eventually, but I'm no a huge PC gamer, as said above. Thanks in advance for any help.

[retice]

Yes you need Xbox live to play FFXI on 360, but you only need Silver, you dont need the Gold membership.

As to the graphics im not real sure as I play on PC, but friend plays on Xbox an he likes the graphics

[levish]

You also need xbox live to play any sort of online game.

The graphics should be a pretty big step up from the PS2. Not sure what your definition of a low end pc is since FFXI will basically run on a 386 sx2 33mhz with windows 3.11 (not really but not too far off =P )