Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2236 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,673 out of 2236
  2. Mixed: 169 out of 2236
  3. Negative: 394 out of 2236
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  1. Adyon
    Oct 15, 2013
    3
    I rarely base part of my opinion of a game on the customer service of the company if I can help it. But in this case, the customer service has been SO bad that it makes me drop my rating of the actual game. The game itself (what amount I got to play of course...so take it with a grain of salt)? 8-9. Customer service? 0. After over 1000 minutes on hold total and being hung up on multipleI rarely base part of my opinion of a game on the customer service of the company if I can help it. But in this case, the customer service has been SO bad that it makes me drop my rating of the actual game. The game itself (what amount I got to play of course...so take it with a grain of salt)? 8-9. Customer service? 0. After over 1000 minutes on hold total and being hung up on multiple times by their machines as well as by their chat, I am still even now wondering why they never contact me about ANYTHING to tell me what's going on.

    A week in I got hacked. My fault. I didn't have an authenticator. I realized the only other thing I'd use the same password was my LoL that I hadn't played in a few months. Went checking and discovered about their being hacked and passwords lost. My account was "terminated" by Square-Enix with admittedly a VERY rude accusatory e-mail that ACTUALLY says, "Unfortunately, you have shown yourself to be unwilling to follow the rules of the FINAL FANTASY XIV community. If we find that you have created another FINAL FANTASY XIV service account, we reserve the right to terminate that account as well".

    But that's not the bad part. It's the fact that I spent a couple weeks TRYING to get in touch with them. 3 hours waiting on hold then...suddenly it hangs up on me. This happened more than once! What? I even got a message from their chat after I waited in the que that their were no representatives available which instead gave me a form to fill out. All of these events early in the day well within their hours. Oh and that form? Waited over a week and NEVER got a response. So I started trying to contact again and after a couple attempts FINALLY got through.

    I found out from him my account spammed chat with gold-seller site information. But that was my only transgression. Okay, sounds like what they'd do with a hacked account. But it turns out he can't do anything. He told me he'd "escalate" my problem for the investigation group to look at and that they'd get back to me. Well that was weeks ago. I haven't heard a SINGLE thing from them in that time. After a month and a half from when this started, I STILL haven't gotten my account back. I may have to write this off as money I wasted purchasing a game in the first place that I'll never really get to play. Glad I bought the collector's edition for the extra goodies! TOTALLY WORTH IT! Ha ha.    … Expand
  2. Jakallov3
    Aug 27, 2013
    4
    The main issue I have with FF14, is that it plays like any other MMORPG out there, the same formula MMO players have seen has been recycled, again. I enjoyed playing for some time, however, if you are someone that has played other MMORPGs, you will see that you are playing the same game over again, there are many free to play games out there in where you can invest less money and have aThe main issue I have with FF14, is that it plays like any other MMORPG out there, the same formula MMO players have seen has been recycled, again. I enjoyed playing for some time, however, if you are someone that has played other MMORPGs, you will see that you are playing the same game over again, there are many free to play games out there in where you can invest less money and have a very similar experience, for example the quest formula that is found in many other games, comes back to FF14 with no real change, you will see a lot of "Kill 10 squirrels and come back for a reward... now go collect 10 furry tails.. which are found by killing squirrels .
    There are also many problems with the servers, you can have quite a good time if you are able to log in, I played both on the PC and PS3, and the PC obviously out stands the PS3 version, as in the console the game runs around 25 frames.    … Expand
  3. FraterOrmus
    Aug 27, 2013
    4
    Took part in Closed Beta which went as most Betas go until Phase 4 Open Beta when everything started falling apart at the seams under Stress Testing. Ever since the Open Beta concluded, it has been nigh impossible to login to play the game between constant Error Messages, multiple Emergency Maintenance windows every day (each spanning 1-5 hours), and imposed population limits with noTook part in Closed Beta which went as most Betas go until Phase 4 Open Beta when everything started falling apart at the seams under Stress Testing. Ever since the Open Beta concluded, it has been nigh impossible to login to play the game between constant Error Messages, multiple Emergency Maintenance windows every day (each spanning 1-5 hours), and imposed population limits with no Auto-logout of AFK users. For the past four days they have been "Live" you haven't been able to create a character, join any of the existing Servers or play. From what I experienced during Beta, the game is worthy of a FAIR rating, typical of an MMO from 10 years ago with a fresh coat of paint (the graphics are probably it's greatest asset). Considering all the other MMO options out there, it probably isn't much to write home about or be excited over unless you are a Final Fantasy fan. With all of the problems this game has been experiencing the past several days my suggestion is to save yourself the frustration and your money, and stay far away from this game until Square Enix can resolve their Server Capacity issues.… Expand
  4. KnasACC
    Aug 27, 2013
    1
    Way to go Square Enix selling a game that you can't play. Error upon error the last four days. No action from the team behind the game only empty words and apologises. I would recommend anyone to stay away from this game unless you like giving away money without getting the promised service. You'd think they would do better as it's the second time they try launching the game but no, veryWay to go Square Enix selling a game that you can't play. Error upon error the last four days. No action from the team behind the game only empty words and apologises. I would recommend anyone to stay away from this game unless you like giving away money without getting the promised service. You'd think they would do better as it's the second time they try launching the game but no, very disappointing.… Expand
  5. Babu-x
    Aug 27, 2013
    4
    In one sentence Very epic fantasy world with talkative NPC and boring quests.

    I'm a big Final Fantasy fan boy, so big, I'm like a windmill when it comes to FF series. I have FF7 (ps1 & pc), FFTactic (PS1, PSP, iPad) just brag a little but FFXIV is very boring from the get go. I don't plan to waste my time with this anymore. Pros Very nice graphics. Detail character customization.    In one sentence Very epic fantasy world with talkative NPC and boring quests.

    I'm a big Final Fantasy fan boy, so big, I'm like a windmill when it comes to FF series. I have FF7 (ps1 & pc), FFTactic (PS1, PSP, iPad) just brag a little but FFXIV is very boring from the get go. I don't plan to waste my time with this anymore.

    Pros Very nice graphics. Detail character customization. Moderate graphic power needed. Very nice details on every little things. The details of dungeon and buildings almost makes you feel like you actually got lost in a big castle. Nice physic. Quick travel points in towns.

    Cons I have been playing it since early release and I must say that quests are very boring and NPC talks too much that if you read everything they say you won't get anywhere. Game play becomes click on NPC skip everything, go to another place click on another NPC skip everything and quest done.

    There are no motivation to do the quests until now. Compare to SWTOR the quest are very boring (SWTOR is not the best MMORPG out there).

    Quick travel in town is very nice to save time but you need to remember all the awkward names of the travel points to get to the right place. But quick travel in town is free and unlimited. I wonder why they didn't make the quick travel menu into map oriented.

    Map detail are very nice but quest related icons on map are very confusing. They try to be epic, I get it but the game play and quest are very boring compare to that epic theme. SWTOR is more fun to play than this.    … Expand
  6. bluejay3463
    Aug 27, 2013
    4
    Constant server outages, massive queues for logging in, and the inability to even create characters. The game as it stands right now is unplayable. These problems have been going on for days and have not improved since early access. Even as of the official launch, it is almost impossible to get in an play the game.

    When you can play, the graphics are decent and the story line is above    Constant server outages, massive queues for logging in, and the inability to even create characters. The game as it stands right now is unplayable. These problems have been going on for days and have not improved since early access. Even as of the official launch, it is almost impossible to get in an play the game.

    When you can play, the graphics are decent and the story line is above average for an MMO, but the game is very derivative of World of Warcraft. The Job system is one outstanding innovation, but as for the rest we have all played this game before. Combat and character movement is slow, and targeting is cumbersome. There is no active dodge. Visual indications of character responses are text only (like dodge or parry very 2005). PVP isn't in the game yet. Overall a little disappointing given that they had 3 years on top of the original game release to try and get this right.    … Expand
  7. Roketsu86
    Aug 27, 2013
    2
    The only thing, the ONLY thing that is holding me back from buying a month's sub now is error 1017. I get it, there's a lot of players. I genuinely enjoy my time spent in the game. The multiclassing is really fun and I've had a blast playing with all of them. Crafting is both rewarding and engaging. The world is colorful and vibrant and there's nary a moment of lag to be had. TheThe only thing, the ONLY thing that is holding me back from buying a month's sub now is error 1017. I get it, there's a lot of players. I genuinely enjoy my time spent in the game. The multiclassing is really fun and I've had a blast playing with all of them. Crafting is both rewarding and engaging. The world is colorful and vibrant and there's nary a moment of lag to be had. The game is fun, and that's the most important part. It just launched, so it's entirely reasonable for many servers to be full.

    BUT WHY THE HELL IS THERE NO QUEUE SYSTEM!!

    Did we suddenly go back to 1995 or something? Just telling me "We're sorry you can't play, please try later" and not giving me ANY way of knowing when a good time to come back is is just asinine. I spent the entirety of Sunday periodically checking every 10 to 30 minutes to see if I could get in. Nothing at all, couldn't play that day at all. Not to mention that meant I sat around my computer not doing much of anything because I had no idea if there would be space on the server in the next few minutes or not. It's all a load of bullsh*t.

    And then there's the updates on Lodestone. They update relatively regularly, which is nice. HOWEVER, the updates they post are simply repeating what they said the last time. There's been 4 different followups to the congestion post today, and each one has literally been the exact same post, word for word, followed by another apology. It's infuriating.

    At the end of the day, I enjoy playing this game. If SE doesn't get their act together on this though, I for one will not be dumping any more money into this aging locomotive.    … Expand
  8. hamyolo
    Aug 27, 2013
    0
    first off final fantasy meets WoW clone
    second, you cant even log in on launch day because the servers are full, no queue, just a message that says servers are full, try again later.
    you can spam the menu 100+ times to try and log in never works, or put you in queue
    this is NOT a small problem or a early launch problem, this problem has been here since beta FACT ask anyone please
  9. yoshi-p
    Aug 27, 2013
    0
    I GIVE UP after trying to log in for 2-3 hours of spamming the log in the past week, just avoid this game.

    People who are in the game, refuse to log out because they know its impossible to get past the character screen
  10. punchingjesus
    Aug 27, 2013
    0
    this game is next level bad, do not give them a second chance.
    you pay money for this game and you honestly cant play it because errors after errors after errors
    the white knights will say these are "little bugs" or "all mmo have problems at launch" the fact is this problem was in beta they never fixed it they said they wouldnt rush the game the second time its obvious they did on    this game is next level bad, do not give them a second chance.
    you pay money for this game and you honestly cant play it because errors after errors after errors
    the white knights will say these are "little bugs" or "all mmo have problems at launch"
    the fact is this problem was in beta they never fixed it

    they said they wouldnt rush the game the second time its obvious they did on the US/EU side    … Expand
  11. kuroyume
    Aug 27, 2013
    1
    Avoid buying this game. When the servers ran into capacity problems Square chose to limit login availability and disable queues rather than fixing the actual issues. It's been 4 days without any fixes, and the only announcement made has been that more servers will be added to the japan data center, which is the one that has been mostly problem free.

    At this point, it has become clear    Avoid buying this game. When the servers ran into capacity problems Square chose to limit login availability and disable queues rather than fixing the actual issues. It's been 4 days without any fixes, and the only announcement made has been that more servers will be added to the japan data center, which is the one that has been mostly problem free.

    At this point, it has become clear that the publisher hopes that many people who bought and paid for the game will give up on playing saving them the expense of adding more servers.

    The game is unplayable right now for a large portion of the user base, and there appears to be no solution in sight.    … Expand
  12. cheeseheads
    Aug 27, 2013
    0
    not sure who they hired to run and maintain these servers but they should be fired now. bad launch is bad and this is worse. Also combat is at snail pace at best and quest hubs? really. well nice try but they have a ton of improvements before this game is even alright at best
  13. xhorathor
    Aug 27, 2013
    0
    bad storytelling, boring fighting Routine ,quest hub based ,boring mmo Standard classes .Server maintenance everyday, Log in Queue ,disconnects after instances. game state is awful.
  14. Danarchist
    Sep 26, 2013
    3
    I can honestly say I have not been so bored in a MMO since....well...never. The combat is a matter of hitting the same buttons in the same pattern (macrod to my keyboard after first hour) and sidestepping the occasional special attack.
    Quests are kill 10 wolves and fedex as is the standard, but do no reward nearly as much xp as just standing around whopping stuff and hitting any events    I can honestly say I have not been so bored in a MMO since....well...never. The combat is a matter of hitting the same buttons in the same pattern (macrod to my keyboard after first hour) and sidestepping the occasional special attack.
    Quests are kill 10 wolves and fedex as is the standard, but do no reward nearly as much xp as just standing around whopping stuff and hitting any events you see pop up for the same amount of time. In fact ignoring side quests completely led to a much better experience with my second character as I was out of the training wheels portion much earlier.
    When will MMO's figure out that the majority of the people playing can figure out their systems without being forced to do the "tutorial levels" for the first few hours of gameplay? As this game is exactly like every other MMO (with a couple gimmicks) why do I need to spend an hour and a half learning how to do a combo? I figured that out when I got my second attack. Make this crap optional, I have played dozens of these games!
    Much like going from one fast food chain to the other. The wrappers different but the food tastes the same. Just this one requires you subscribe.    … Expand
  15. Passivepete
    Oct 23, 2015
    0
    I've played a lot of games in my time and this one is bad. It's really simplistic, boring combat (press button, wait for cooldown, press the next button), boring missions (take this item to this guy) and clunky controls. It is designed around consoles so on a PC it is especially awkward to play. It looks like a little kids game, in fact I started to google it to see if it was designed forI've played a lot of games in my time and this one is bad. It's really simplistic, boring combat (press button, wait for cooldown, press the next button), boring missions (take this item to this guy) and clunky controls. It is designed around consoles so on a PC it is especially awkward to play. It looks like a little kids game, in fact I started to google it to see if it was designed for young kids. There is no real meat here, it's a dressed up grind fest. It makes me appreciate how good other mmos such as wow, eve, guildwars2 etc actually are and that I should appreciate them more!
    I really wanted this to be a good game I could sink some time into but I knew it wasn't it before hitting even level 10. The first introduction to the game, the hook that should make you think HELL YEAH, after creating your character is a whole bunch of dialog with no voice acting, it's your hint that this game is bad. Lucky they have a free tryout and I didn't waste money on it, they should have mini download of a few gig so you don't have to waste 20gig of data on it too.    … Expand
  16. JimmyCricket
    Nov 30, 2015
    4
    I am completely bewildered as to why this game is getting such a positive wrap. Laggy servers, terrible, boring and monotonous quest line, extremely poor UI all add up to make this feel like a title from 2005 (if not for the impressive graphics engine). Even so I'd much rather be playing Vanilla WoW cause it was such a smoother game experience, even 10 years ago in comparison to this.I am completely bewildered as to why this game is getting such a positive wrap. Laggy servers, terrible, boring and monotonous quest line, extremely poor UI all add up to make this feel like a title from 2005 (if not for the impressive graphics engine). Even so I'd much rather be playing Vanilla WoW cause it was such a smoother game experience, even 10 years ago in comparison to this.

    Alas, this game does not come close to being a WoW killer, and shows no signs of ever being one.

    Do yourself a favour... Don't bother.    … Expand
  17. wawekar
    Oct 30, 2013
    3
    The game has very nice graphics. How ever it just becomes boring and a chore to play after a bit. I did not last a month with it. if you like repetition over and over then this game is for you. I tried to play a conjurer (healing class), apparently I was not too good at it. Skills are boring. As a healer when I got heal 2 I could not use it as I ran out of mana healing. What didThe game has very nice graphics. How ever it just becomes boring and a chore to play after a bit. I did not last a month with it. if you like repetition over and over then this game is for you. I tried to play a conjurer (healing class), apparently I was not too good at it. Skills are boring. As a healer when I got heal 2 I could not use it as I ran out of mana healing. What did not make sense is your skills like heal 1 would heal for the same amount but each level you attained the cost to cast it went up. This game wasn't for me. I give it a 3 because the graphics were really good.… Expand
  18. Sindena
    Nov 11, 2013
    2
    While it looks all shiny and pretty it is actually a grind fest with lots of problems. You only get quests once, but allowed to do all classes. So once you get to your second class it is grind till you go blind. Hours and hours of running in circles. Then if you are a lower level and trying to complete a quests, you are competing against a level 50 farming for items from same mob. He oneWhile it looks all shiny and pretty it is actually a grind fest with lots of problems. You only get quests once, but allowed to do all classes. So once you get to your second class it is grind till you go blind. Hours and hours of running in circles. Then if you are a lower level and trying to complete a quests, you are competing against a level 50 farming for items from same mob. He one shots everything so you either party up with him and stand there while he kills or you wait hours. Now the party up problem is, providing he will, is that you get lower exp if any cause you get ZERO hits in. Plus you do not learn how to play your class at all this way. The community is worst that World of Warcrafts andI thought that would be impossible. These people are down right hateful and snobby. Do not ask for help in the shout chat, they call you names and laugh at you. Oh and did I mention the relentless spamming in general chat and whispers by gold spammers. It is non stop and makes playing very difficult at times.

    Over all this is a bad game I would not recommend it to anyone. The only good thing Square Enix did was make it pretty. Another failure in my book with new clothes on.    … Expand
  19. Just_thetip
    Oct 20, 2013
    4
    There were a couple bright spots in this game but overall I found it to be painfully boring. The ability to mix abilities from different classes is a great idea. Unfortunately most abilities feel much the same. Combat felt slow paced. The Questing is its worst flaw. Reading through incredibly dull and unimaginative dialogue from quest giving NPCs was nothing short of a chore. None ofThere were a couple bright spots in this game but overall I found it to be painfully boring. The ability to mix abilities from different classes is a great idea. Unfortunately most abilities feel much the same. Combat felt slow paced. The Questing is its worst flaw. Reading through incredibly dull and unimaginative dialogue from quest giving NPCs was nothing short of a chore. None of it is compelling and I ended up skipping through all of it after a while. The character models look good but the graphics for the environments are sub-par and that's with all settings maxed. The tool used to find a group for dungeons is probably the slowest I've encountered. Especially when considering it can group you with anyone in the NA servers. PVP is completely absent at launch and will be limited when it does come from what I've read. I tried to like this game and gave it some time hoping it would get better as my character progressed but that just didn't happen.… Expand
  20. ntall1
    Oct 3, 2013
    4
    You can get to max level super fast. If you are one of those players that puts in a full 3 day weekend. You could probably get a max level character in that time. Then at max level you have a few choices. First you need to gear up a bit. That requires that you repeat the same dungeon over and over until you have enough of the currency required to buy that gear.

    After you gear up (Really    You can get to max level super fast. If you are one of those players that puts in a full 3 day weekend. You could probably get a max level character in that time. Then at max level you have a few choices. First you need to gear up a bit. That requires that you repeat the same dungeon over and over until you have enough of the currency required to buy that gear.

    After you gear up (Really takes no time at all even tho its super tedious and repetitive) You have have the option to do raid content. Yay. Well there is only one raid so far. A single 8 man raid for you to take down and repeat weekly.

    So, now you have a max level character and you have some gear. What to do, what to do. Run coil, wait a week, rinse repeat.

    tl:dr Pace of the game is super fast leaving you with next to nothing to do in a very short amount of time.    … Expand
  21. wooflikeabear
    Sep 26, 2013
    3
    The game is simplistic, slow and inflexible. Did I say slow? There's a 2.5second global cooldown that leaves you wanting to do something else while in combat.. like watch tv. There's no variety in building your character, all white mages are the same, all warriors are the same, there's nothing to make you unique or stand out. Many of the cross class skills you can use are often soThe game is simplistic, slow and inflexible. Did I say slow? There's a 2.5second global cooldown that leaves you wanting to do something else while in combat.. like watch tv. There's no variety in building your character, all white mages are the same, all warriors are the same, there's nothing to make you unique or stand out. Many of the cross class skills you can use are often so underpowered that they are a waste of MP, TP and a global cooldown to cast.

    For a game that has been re-released, there are so many empty areas with NPCs that have no quests to give. There are also insufficient quests to level you completely and then little to no quests available to level the rest of the classes that it forces you to play on the same character. In other words there is insufficient content for a new release, let alone a re-released game. The public quest system called FATES is also simplistic and boring. Coming from having played Warhammer and Rift, the public quests here are a total letdown and the game forces you to grind these boring public quests to level subsequent characters. The dungeon matchmaker forces you to wait 40-90 minutes for a group unless you play a white mage which makes dungeons a lousy method of gaining XP or progressing.

    Character balancing also leaves much to be desired. Playing a melee in high level dungeons leaves you running away from boss attacks more often than actually attacking causing your damage to be lousy and leading groups to always prefer having ranged damage dealers over melee. Playing a ranged just leaves you standing around pressing 1..2..3.. repeatedly. Of the two tank classes, no one wants a Warrior in group and any high level group will insist on the tank being a Paladin instead. This may be acceptable if this was a game just out of beta, but for a re-release, it's not just disappointing, it's a ripoff.    … Expand
  22. squish88
    Oct 10, 2013
    3
    To say this game is outdated is putting it very kindly.

    Pros: 1) The ability to make a chat channel that's specific to a group of people that you choose is nice. No more spamming guild chat to talk to your smaller group of buddies all at once. 2) Inventory space is a non-issue from the get go. Finally a game that sees that it's more annoying than anything else to have to 'build    To say this game is outdated is putting it very kindly.

    Pros:
    1) The ability to make a chat channel that's specific to a group of people that you choose is nice. No more spamming guild chat to talk to your smaller group of buddies all at once.

    2) Inventory space is a non-issue from the get go. Finally a game that sees that it's more annoying than anything else to have to 'build up' inventory space. On a side note, the gear not going into your normal inventory is nice as well.

    Cons:
    1) The map functionality is so convoluted you have to "figure it out"... That's MMO gaming 101 folks... an easy to use map. They failed at that. Badly.

    2) The chat functionality lacks basic abilities like right clicking on the names of gold farmers and/or greifer-types to block/report them...

    3) Quest turn ins... WHY on God's green earth, do I have to drag a quest item from my inventory, to a special quest turn in window just to turn in the quest... No other MMO that I've ever played does this. It's absurd, and a waste of my time.

    4) Gathering... a) gathering sucks, other MMO's (think SWTOR) have found ways around this. Take a look at them & stop wasting players' time, and b) Why is it that I, all of the sudden, can't cast a spell, swing a sword/axe, or even wear the same clothing just 'cause I'm picking berries?!?!?!?! Stupid. Just plain stupid.

    5) The combat system is beyond dated. It's standard vanilla WoW. There's no active combat like, say, Guild Wars 2, or Tera for example where you actively dodge. It's the same boring, no thought, button clicking rotation that people used 7 years ago where you occasionally have to step out of the red circle on the ground.

    6) Last but not least... you have to travel on Chickens. No further explanation needed.

    Honestly, I don't care if they screwed up their first version, and this one is 'way' better. It's still not as good as a lot of other games currently out there, and they want people to pay a monthly fee for this... HA!! Good luck.    … Expand
  23. Hue
    Oct 18, 2013
    1
    Shall we begin with the force fed story or the fact that it took them over 2 months to get friends on the same server together?

    I should have taken my initial suspicions about this game and stuck to them. Just turn around before you waste your time working in a game. It will take you countless hours or boring repetitive story line quests to unlock end game dungeons. Just turn around    Shall we begin with the force fed story or the fact that it took them over 2 months to get friends on the same server together?

    I should have taken my initial suspicions about this game and stuck to them. Just turn around before you waste your time working in a game. It will take you countless hours or boring repetitive story line quests to unlock end game dungeons. Just turn around and pick a game that was actually developed for the story.

    This should have been marketed as a JRPG with ONLINE CONTENT as opposed to an MMORPG.    … Expand
  24. GrimStabberson
    Jun 15, 2015
    1
    This game is the final nail in the coffin for my love of the Final Fantasy series. FFXIV is a HUGE pain in the butt to even get started and has a monthly subscription- on top of the game's initial price tag. It is largely a chore to play and is designed more to eat up time more-so than actually be fun.

    FFXIV is chocked full of mindless fetch quests that have you delivering trivial    This game is the final nail in the coffin for my love of the Final Fantasy series. FFXIV is a HUGE pain in the butt to even get started and has a monthly subscription- on top of the game's initial price tag. It is largely a chore to play and is designed more to eat up time more-so than actually be fun.

    FFXIV is chocked full of mindless fetch quests that have you delivering trivial items, like tea leaves, from NPC A to NPC B. In typical MMORPG format you will run the same dungeons and kill the same mobs for endless hours for drops and levels. Again, most of this game is designed simply to eat up time doing menial tasks repeatedly to keep you subscribing for months to make progress.

    My main purpose for writing this bad review, however, is to warn about the ungodly amount of spam it has. The spam here is worse than anything I've ever seen in a game- including free to play games. On many servers it is so unbearable that people either have to use 3rd party tools to block some of it (which is against the ToS) or simply turn off the personal chat function. The whole freaking POINT of an MMO is to interact with other players, but many people struggle doing that due to all of the spam messages we are constantly bombarded with.

    The "Report Spam" function in this game is basically nonexistent and most players don't even know how to do this. SE basically expects you to stop what you are doing, log into their website, fill out a form for each spam message, and send it to their "Special Task Force" (which is basically 3 employees for all of North America). What makes this even more ludicrous is that we sometimes get a dozen or more of these spam messages from various characters with names like "Dffrffddf Gffgfdfg" every few minutes. This has been a problem with them for the last 2 years and it really hasn't gotten any better. Basically, they just don't care. It is totally unacceptable.

    Anyone that says this isn't a problem is either in a locked server that's hard to get an account on (for bots and players alike) or are on a Japanese server (which SE seems to actually give a damn about). NA/EU servers, as a whole, are completely spammed into oblivion and the developers just don't care. As a US player, I personally take this as a slap in the face.

    As an added bonus, a large part of this game's community consists of elitist metrosexual douchebags. Sure, there are nice people that play, but expect the obnoxious ones to drown them out. If you're new to a dungeon in end-game there is a very large probability you will be insulted non-stop and possibly kicked out of the party. You can expect rudeness and petty arguments in nearly every raid. This community is so toxic that- if understanding people like me try to explain the mechanics of a dungeon to new people- even I get hate for taking the time to do so. The mentality basically boils down to "GO! GO! GO! YOU SUCK, NOOB!!!" Of course, when they inevitably wipe due to this attitude, they rage quit. This might not sound so bad on its own, but often there is an hour wait *just to get into a dungeon*!

    If you like being trolled by metrosexual half-naked cat-men and spammed nonstop by bots trying to sell you game money for real money, then this is the game for you. If you want to make friends to go on an exciting and engaging adventure with, however, look elsewhere.    … Expand
  25. Nightchills
    Nov 6, 2013
    0
    The game is a total grid fest. Yes you can have one toon and do it all but OMG. There’s only enough quests out there for 2 “MAYBE” 3 classes worth of grinding and that’s still doing fates Rifts like in rift or should I say stolen from Rift or ark falls in defiance) The combat system is complete trash every ability is on a global cool down due to the cross platform factor. Set a macro andThe game is a total grid fest. Yes you can have one toon and do it all but OMG. There’s only enough quests out there for 2 “MAYBE” 3 classes worth of grinding and that’s still doing fates Rifts like in rift or should I say stolen from Rift or ark falls in defiance) The combat system is complete trash every ability is on a global cool down due to the cross platform factor. Set a macro and auto combat. While the game looks GREAT the mechanics and game play is so far below the line to even call it a Final Fantasy game. Gold spammers ever where, and due to SE’s lack of planning for the PC gamers there is no such thing and right click so if u want to ignore someone that takes an hour to open the menu then try to catch the spammer through the waves upon waves of spam. Within the first week of open game play you couldn’t walk into a town without getting spam in gen chat and IM’d constantly… Crafting is ok not the best crafting system out there, again a system stolen from another game. The crafting system is much like that of Vanguard, however the market is so trashed due to all the gold farmers you can’t make any money, and on top of that, that is how SE expects you to make money so good luck there. The community is the worst part though, one of the main grind instances for level 50+ gear just happens to be the 2nd to last instance of the main quest line. People speed run that instance and just leave the new comers behind they don’t even care if it’s your 1st or 50th time through. While this game could be great it falls short in a big way.
    Find a demo or get on a friends account. This game is good for about 1 month then the grind and the community will get you and you will wish you had every cent back.    … Expand
  26. waverlock
    Oct 3, 2013
    0
    Game is too boring. Played for almost 30 hours. As a conjurer i was just spamming aero, not doing anything else to win a fight (except run). The evolution was very slow at some parts.

    Found missions and storyline meanless, with no relevant content. Items where all about the sanme. I felt a kind of waste of time with this game. Most of the time i felt a sense of "I am lost and alone"    Game is too boring. Played for almost 30 hours. As a conjurer i was just spamming aero, not doing anything else to win a fight (except run). The evolution was very slow at some parts.

    Found missions and storyline meanless, with no relevant content. Items where all about the sanme. I felt a kind of waste of time with this game.

    Most of the time i felt a sense of "I am lost and alone" looking for the mission objectives. Map is a complete nonsense and let you dizzy.

    Didnt see anything new or relevant to continue to play. It was extremelly boring and at the end i realize it was a waste of money.

    Also the necessary monthly fee was not so clear before I purchase the game... a TIP for everyone who wants to adventure yourself.    … Expand
  27. Hadelex
    Oct 9, 2013
    0
    Game is still in it's prime and it will grow..better...NOT! Cause game is not new, it is an overhaul of ff 14 1.0 version, then it has serious mechanism flaws..Once you run out of main and sub quests in order to level your class/job you need to do dungeons (you need a guild called here free company for it cause auto party matcher waiting time will kill you as dps)or mostly grind fates forGame is still in it's prime and it will grow..better...NOT! Cause game is not new, it is an overhaul of ff 14 1.0 version, then it has serious mechanism flaws..Once you run out of main and sub quests in order to level your class/job you need to do dungeons (you need a guild called here free company for it cause auto party matcher waiting time will kill you as dps)or mostly grind fates for xp..a some sort of rift/GW2 dynamic events but with this kind of slow paced combat it turns horrible and uninspired..(take your mount search on map Fates and go..).Most important thing in a mmo is combat and enjoy to progress, here i was frustrated and you can see a lot of players didn't resub. SE need to change leveling to make a non blind FF fans to stay… Expand
  28. Xradus
    Sep 27, 2013
    4
    I think all final fantasy fans have waited long enough to finally get their new MMO after the first FFXIV fiasco we had. I played more than 100 hours, so you can expect I've seen everything this game has to offer, and I'll tell you: This game has almost nothing to offer. The whole basic idea is great, I love how the story is set, the animations and everything are probably the best I'veI think all final fantasy fans have waited long enough to finally get their new MMO after the first FFXIV fiasco we had. I played more than 100 hours, so you can expect I've seen everything this game has to offer, and I'll tell you: This game has almost nothing to offer. The whole basic idea is great, I love how the story is set, the animations and everything are probably the best I've seen in a MMO. But here comes the bad news: It's one huge boring grind fest with no diversity what so ever. You can hit max level pretty quick, you can either take the slower road to quest trough everything, or you can grind your way faster with FATEs, you choose. You get Items shoved down your throat all the time so you won't even need the action house and economy this game has to offer, which causes in end game you have almost no possibility to make some money. Once you hit max level you're gonna grind the same dungeons over and over again to gear up (I wouldn't mind that if there are actually a lot of dungeons, but there are 2-3 dungeons you're gonna spam....3 DAMN DUNGEONS that take you almost an hour to complete with little to no reward, just to get some tomes you can turn in for gear), with the same boring rotation you're character has. You almost never use any situational spells at all. The bosses are all so easy, you pretty much just need to dodge everything the boss launches at you, and that's not even hard because you get red indicators where the bosses attack will land. There is no feel of achievement in this game at all, all players are forced to do the same dungeons which results in no diversity again in all characters in the end. I really hope the game is gonna bring A LOT of new good content with the next patches, but as it is right now, you have to be a robot to enjoy this game.… Expand
  29. Cell1e
    Sep 22, 2013
    3
    What I like:
    I like the pretty places, the graphics and the range of armours and weapons, classes and skills. The animations are nice too. I like the cut scenes seeing my character in them. I liked the character creator, its better than some mmo's out there.
    The ability to play lots of classes and do lots of crafts all with one character is nice if you are into building lots into your    What I like:
    I like the pretty places, the graphics and the range of armours and weapons, classes and skills. The animations are nice too. I like the cut scenes seeing my character in them. I liked the character creator, its better than some mmo's out there.
    The ability to play lots of classes and do lots of crafts all with one character is nice if you are into building lots into your one main. I personally like making lots of different characters with different looks and trying out new classes and jobs that way.
    The bad:
    The Map, its TERRIBLE!!! I have never used a worse map in an mmo in the last five years at least. It has been a torture finding my way around. The crystal travel within cities is pretty pointless as you can't use it unless you happen to be right there touching one, why not let you teleport from anywhere you are to any of the crystals. The fact you can't preview items...who makes an mmo without item preview? The lack of a sort button in the inventory.
    Now the UGLY:
    Why tie all the fun stuff to the main quest and THEN make dungeons part of the main quest??? It is beyond belief that any game maker would happily alienate a large group of potential customers by saying 'its our way or the highway'.
    Let me explain. Everything I like to do in an mmo, like crafting, selling things on the brokers, storing things in storage and yes even riding a chocobo can only be done when you have passed certain milestones in the main quests; at level 15 you get a main quest to leave your little town and fly to the other two main cities to deliver messages. Until this point you are just doing local quests, not able to store anything or sell anything as you have no access to the servant guy who you can hire when you complete some of your main quests higher up. Im level 19 and still haven't unlocked my chocobo or auction house and am a little stuck with no money waiting on a slow dungeon finder mechanic to find me a place on the third of the three main quest story dungeons you HAVE to do before you can hope to advance. Actually I ran out of money because as you quest you get no money dropping, you get paid very small amounts from SOME quests but I was silly enough to just use the teleporting skill without realising it was using my money and I wasn't getting the money back from the two dungeons I had laboured through.
    Yeah this game is so not about great loot- I'm not seeing how anyone can find it rewarding at all.
    This afternoon after waiting a long time to be matched with a group I decided to roll another character out just to get a break from the grind and frustration and when she was ready to go I was told I could NOT go back to my server as it is full and no new characters allowed. I tried to get any eu server and they were all blocked and the only servers allowed for me to try were NA servers. Not great for me here in Ireland. There as also a message stating that there would be NO server switching at any time. So I have one character stuck, broke and waiting for a dungeon on a full up server (how is it I had so much trouble getting a dungeon group is beyond me)
    I feel utterly fed up and annoyed and bothered. I would say to anyone out there who isn't a brainwashed final fantasy fan to think carefully before buying this game. Make sure you love dungeons, you will have to play them and you will have to play a lot of them. If you love getting lots of loot, forget this game, I got to level 19 without even filling one of my 6 bags, okay the clothes items go to a separate storage but still there should be drops of potions, weapons, crafting stuff, money...there is nearly nothing but xp from grinding.
    If I manage to suck it up and stick out the final dungeon I should imagine I will be at least level 20-22 before I get to use the brokers properly or get my riding skill. That's half-way to level cap!! Something is wrong with that picture.
    Oh and gathering and crafting? Very time consuming. I'm really not sure it is worth the bother. I love to craft and do it in every mmo I play. I can't see myself doing it in this game.
    The FATES are pretty unrewarding too. You get xp and some small amount of coins. Oh and another big disappointment is the lack of audio with 90% of the talking cut scenes, in this day and age and with the wealth of Square Enix you would think they would pay some voice actors.
    But it is pretty.

    Pretty Frustrating!!
    Pretty Unrewarding!!
    Pretty Grindy!!    … Expand
  30. Dokkodo
    Oct 14, 2013
    2
    Well, at least it's pretty. Unfortunately that's the end of the positives.

    A very typical MMO with VERY slow pacing and almost no strategy to it's combat or diversity to it's classes. The class-changing system is cool, or rather it would be if all the classes didn't play pretty much exactly the same. There's many MMOs out on the market now, and a lot of them are free and just as    Well, at least it's pretty. Unfortunately that's the end of the positives.

    A very typical MMO with VERY slow pacing and almost no strategy to it's combat or diversity to it's classes. The class-changing system is cool, or rather it would be if all the classes didn't play pretty much exactly the same.

    There's many MMOs out on the market now, and a lot of them are free and just as good, if not better, than this game. I would suggest you go play one of those instead if you need that MMO fix.

    Note my experiences are based only on the beta, I knew within an hour of my time playing in beta it wasn't worth a subscription fee.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

33
#33 Best PC Game of 2013
19
#19 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
31
#31 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Hyper Magazine
    Dec 28, 2013
    80
    Full of enough adventure, daring-do and chocobos to make any MMO fan happy. [Jan 2014, p.72]
  2. Gaming Nexus
    Nov 13, 2013
    85
    A Realm Reborn is such a substantial change from the original game that it merits a second look if you hated the first release. So much has changed for the better, and it has resulted in one of the most polished MMORPGs out there today.
    Read full review
  3. PCGamesN
    Nov 6, 2013
    80
    The completionist in me is nearly overwhelmed with the sheer amount of things to do in A Realm Reborn. Square Enix really do deserve praise for not only fixing the issues of the original game, but far exceeding their goal.
    Read full review
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