The cheaper bundle includes both versions, which is nice. You need one per simultaneous player (so if you have two PCs and want to play with your kid you'll need two copies).
You can make the Java client "host a server" (open to network) which is fine for basic play and starting out multiplayer; but you can play single player with no server at all.
The server is nice (and free for Java if you have a machine to spare or even some CPU) because you can make a "persistent world" that's always there whenever someone logs in. But that can all wait for later.
You can make the Java client "host a server" (open to network) which is fine for basic play and starting out multiplayer; but you can play single player with no server at all.
The server is nice (and free for Java if you have a machine to spare or even some CPU) because you can make a "persistent world" that's always there whenever someone logs in. But that can all wait for later.