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. zeigdo
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    really wished i would of enjoyed the game after spending a few hours of trying multiple character to lvl 20 ish ive noticed that the game has a huge lack of action ive had alot more fun with free mmos out there then this subscription based game. The overall graphics are ok the story is alright the cut scenes and voice acting for the little parts that have some are pretty bad.
    like    really wished i would of enjoyed the game after spending a few hours of trying multiple character to lvl 20 ish ive noticed that the game has a huge lack of action ive had alot more fun with free mmos out there then this subscription based game. The overall graphics are ok the story is alright the cut scenes and voice acting for the little parts that have some are pretty bad.
    like most people mentioned you cant really access the game since release because of servers full and no queue system, witch is very annoying.... its normal to have issues at launch day but they said something like they didn't expect so many people playing but they didnt see the amount of sales before game come out weird
    anyways maybe this game will improve but the game doesn't feel up to date graphically and fun wise for today's gaming maybe if it was 7+ years ago     … Expand
  2. Samuraikenshin
    Jul 23, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Combat is slow and dull and only gets mildly better as you level up. Story is bland and unremarkable in any way as the time in between any parts that are ok is broken up by tons of typical bland fetch/ups quests. Quests often have you go from point A to point B back to point A then on to point C etc etc... The FATE events almost all fall into one of two categories, either kill a small zerg of normal mobs or kill one mini boss type monster. This is mostly the same as other games that feature this style of event, how ever it feels worse here.

    Endgame fights rely mostly on extreme gimmick mechanics combined with the long global cool down to force difficulty into the fights. In most cases just reacting to a fight mechanic will not be enough you have to memorize the pattern of the boss so that you can move pre emptively, part of this is due to the horrid net coding used and the awful latency/updating the server does. Itemization on gear is horrible. Secondary stats provide so little benefit that they shouldn't even be on gear, spell/skill speed being the biggest culprit. It provides so little benefit so as not to break the long GCD system they designed that it should have never been created.

    This comes from a pre 2.2 player that cleared turn 4 and just stopped caring about the game due to all the above issues.

    P.S. Crystal tower loot system is the worst thing ever.    … Expand
  3. Zenfang
    Feb 26, 2015
    0
    The Final Fantasy franchise has come a long way from the Final Fantasy 7-9 and even Final Fantasy XI and while I agree that ARR is a enormous improvement over what was first released it still leaves a lot to be desired. The battlecraft system is flat out confusing from Thaumaturge and Archer turning magically into Black Mage to splitting arcanist into two paths it makes no sense. Sure itThe Final Fantasy franchise has come a long way from the Final Fantasy 7-9 and even Final Fantasy XI and while I agree that ARR is a enormous improvement over what was first released it still leaves a lot to be desired. The battlecraft system is flat out confusing from Thaumaturge and Archer turning magically into Black Mage to splitting arcanist into two paths it makes no sense. Sure it has customization for characters,personal houses, and soon Free Company Airships (which in it self i a major break from the past FF games).

    I give it 5/10 it's pay to play, overpriced, graphically improved version of various other MMO's and uniting several past FF games completely throwing out the successful parts of FFXI. It's not fun unless you are crafting or chocobo racing and eventually that novelty wears off and you are left with a crappy battle system that is just boring. Don't buy it, don't waste your money - IF you want a good game go for Guild Wars 2    … Expand
  4. Shperax
    Mar 12, 2019
    4
    This game had so much potential to be good.

    The only thing version 1.0 got right was the amazing combat system. This game removed it in favor of a WoW clone combat system. It feels soooo old. They did improve on the game on every other aspect but in these type of games the combat needs to hold up and the way they changed it just doesn't. 1.0 combat added into ARR would be a nearly    This game had so much potential to be good.

    The only thing version 1.0 got right was the amazing combat system. This game removed it in favor of a WoW clone combat system. It feels soooo old.

    They did improve on the game on every other aspect but in these type of games the combat needs to hold up and the way they changed it just doesn't.

    1.0 combat added into ARR would be a nearly perfect game. Its fun to check out the world and other game systems but once your done that your gonna wanna give it up quick in favor of a game with a better combat system.    … Expand
  5. Ezalael
    Oct 11, 2014
    4
    In 1 word: annoying. It's not beautiful, nor challenging. Walking a lot, with static fights. When not walking, teleporting, but not everywhere, where no crystal to TP we can take a chocobo, and see its ass during minutes until we reach destination. Very lovely.. mmh in fact no. Ah another thing really good: regularly talking to NPC will put you in video mode. Didn't understood why exceptIn 1 word: annoying. It's not beautiful, nor challenging. Walking a lot, with static fights. When not walking, teleporting, but not everywhere, where no crystal to TP we can take a chocobo, and see its ass during minutes until we reach destination. Very lovely.. mmh in fact no. Ah another thing really good: regularly talking to NPC will put you in video mode. Didn't understood why except seeing NPC full screen. Nothing else. Luckily you can skip. Good.… Expand
  6. gamemax
    Dec 29, 2014
    1
    BAG OF STOLEN GOODS
    playing a thaumaturg: skill tree is copied from aion, "fate" events are copied from rift, skill sync is copied from guild wars 2, HUD customizing is copied from rift aso. aso.
    shame on the probably bought reviewers who made me buy this soulless, money grabbing asia grinder trying to cash in on the name of this great series and stolen ideas now please tell me    BAG OF STOLEN GOODS
    playing a thaumaturg: skill tree is copied from aion, "fate" events are copied from rift, skill sync is copied from guild wars 2, HUD customizing is copied from rift aso. aso.

    shame on the probably bought reviewers who made me buy this soulless, money grabbing asia grinder trying to cash in on the name of this great series and stolen ideas

    now please tell me again how profit incentive gives us the best product - capitalism debunked...    … Expand
  7. hithgor
    Feb 11, 2020
    3
    Unless you buy a story skip till the first expansion, you'll suffer the disgusting 60-ish hour-long fetchquests and a really mediocre story. After that, game's a solid 8 for gameplay and story.
    Would recommend adding an extra 10 euros to buying price for storyskip and watching brief recap on youtube.
  8. ZiNg31
    Feb 16, 2017
    4
    I had never played FF games before this. My best friend he is a huge fan of FF series. FF XIV, my friend recommended me to play this. I bought the game and had lot of funs! This is game something I like to play. The bad part was the online subscriptions expired. I was unable to continue playing this. The subscriptions really hurt this. It would be cool if they sell the game forI had never played FF games before this. My best friend he is a huge fan of FF series. FF XIV, my friend recommended me to play this. I bought the game and had lot of funs! This is game something I like to play. The bad part was the online subscriptions expired. I was unable to continue playing this. The subscriptions really hurt this. It would be cool if they sell the game for more money without subscriptions. I could see myself playing this for long time without subscriptions. I have ton of bills to pay including house, SUV, phone, cable and Internet. This sucks.… Expand
  9. moudoka
    Sep 14, 2017
    2
    I was a subscriber from patch 2.1, to 4.1. SE is a horrible company, zero customer service, and will steal from you if given half a chance. In ARR, the game was new, fun, and exciting. Heavensward came out, and it had a lot of elements that were not so good, but overall, the experience was fun. Stormblood came out, and honestly, I hated it. It's the same-old cut and dried danceI was a subscriber from patch 2.1, to 4.1. SE is a horrible company, zero customer service, and will steal from you if given half a chance. In ARR, the game was new, fun, and exciting. Heavensward came out, and it had a lot of elements that were not so good, but overall, the experience was fun. Stormblood came out, and honestly, I hated it. It's the same-old cut and dried dance routine, with nothing new. The new maps were nice, but they wore out VERY quickly until you can fly, then everything else becomes an utter waste of time. 50 bucks for Stormblood, when it's nothing more than Heavensward 1.5. Literally. Exact same raid system, exact same boring storyline that feels amateurish, rushed. Same stupid crafting scrip system that was hated in HW. You want a house? Well, too bad. Unless you are logged in on release day of the player housing, you get nothing. Free Company and personal housing mixed, reducing the chance of getting a house even more. Want to raid? Hope you enjoy wiping countless times because you missed a single step, killing everyone in the raid with you. Like 1-hit kills, no matter how much armor, HP, etc you have? Great, tons of them. Save your money, the subscription is a waste of time. There are almost zero content updates, save a drop every 3 months or so. Like holiday quests? Well, FF14's are trash, they last 15 seconds, and you're done. Zero effort anymore. Do not buy, or support this game until they make real changes.… Expand
  10. Vectis99
    Oct 23, 2018
    2
    A mind-numbing beat-em-up over-saturated with aggressive, addiction-cultivating mechanics to the point of absurdity. The game relies heavily on social elements and can be a cute way to interact with distant friends, but this is about the extent of the games appeal and even it is abused to squeeze as notable a player count as possible using underhanded social-advertising driven tactics.A mind-numbing beat-em-up over-saturated with aggressive, addiction-cultivating mechanics to the point of absurdity. The game relies heavily on social elements and can be a cute way to interact with distant friends, but this is about the extent of the games appeal and even it is abused to squeeze as notable a player count as possible using underhanded social-advertising driven tactics. The game tries to be pleasant aesthetically but ends up looking rather bloated and cluttered. The extended and convoluted plot is bland, slow, and frustrating, with characters it is nearly impossible to become invested in. Avoid FFXIV if possible.… Expand
  11. Praise
    May 26, 2019
    1
    Horrible drawn out story with 1 dimensional characters you can’t force yourself to care about. Enjoy hearing “it’s only the first 30 hours then the story gets so much better!” Just for it to become slightly more tolerable. The fact that they sell story skips in the cash shop speaks for itself. Stay away from this WoW clone.
  12. HafaNana
    May 28, 2019
    3
    I've been playing the game since launch with several breaks. The game can be a fun experience sometimes, but I cannot recommend playing it as it is intended by the developer.

    FFXIV has a new expansion released every 2 years. And you only need a couple of months playing the game for about 2 hours a day to do all the casual battle content of an expansion (released at launch and during the    I've been playing the game since launch with several breaks. The game can be a fun experience sometimes, but I cannot recommend playing it as it is intended by the developer.

    FFXIV has a new expansion released every 2 years. And you only need a couple of months playing the game for about 2 hours a day to do all the casual battle content of an expansion (released at launch and during the 2-year lifecycle). This includes time to watch main scenario cutscenes and to quickly read through main scenario dialogues.

    The game has very interesting HARDCORE BATTLE CONTENT, but I've decided to stop doing it for the following reasons:
    1. There is little amount of hardcore content (Savage Raids and Extreme Primals): 6 - 7 fights every 7 - 9 months.
    2. Progress through a Savage raids is artificially held back a lot due to weekly loot limitations, RNG and the amount of casual content grind required to gear up your character.
    3. It becomes repetitive very quickly. Fights are very rigidly scripted - to the point that you can write down the exact boss attack rotation.
    4. It's way too hard to find player parties for hardcore content. The game provides no efficient matchmaker or efficient tools to build communities (social networks) of reliable players or to filter out misbehaving players. Statics do on regular bases only hard content of the latest progression cycle (a new one starts every 7 - 9 months with the release of the next raid tier), because only this provides relevant rewards. Only about 10% of all active players manage to beat the last fight of a Savage Raid. In Stormblood two Ultimate difficulty fights have been released, that only about 1% of all active players were able to beat.

    Doing OLD CONTENT (of previous expansions) is not nearly as interesting as new one, because:
    - all actions (abilities) of a job (battle class) become available only when it reaches the current level cap;
    - absolute majority of game characters entering older fights through duty roulettes for daily rewards are overgeared.
    As a result older fights feel much more like easy grind than challenging and exciting action.

    PvP in FF XIV is a complete joke. It is unpopular to the point that Square Enix has to limit the number of available game modes (and rotate them each weak) so that the matchmaker can manage to find players for the available ones. There is no open world PvP either. PvP is also completely F2P: a free trial character can participate in all PvP fights (except for ranked matches) on equal terms with subscribers. It is plagued with cheaters and botters. Reporting such players to Square Enix has no effect. There are no efficient ways of communication between players: there is no VoIP in the game, and some of PvP modes have even text chat disabled (you can only use phrases predefined by Square Enix by pressing buttons/using text macros).

    The game is often praised for its CRAFTING system. While it is complex, it is also very repetitive at the same time. Players just use macros to automate the crafting process. If you decide to get into crafting seriously, you will need to level up all the crafting professions on a single game character in order to get all cross-class skills, as well as gathering professions for the supply of materials. And nobody is excited about gathering, because it's just a tedious grind. You don't need to level up crafting to be an efficient PvE/PvP player.

    The game is heavily MONETIZED. Expect to buy the base game and the latest expansion, pay monthly subscription fee and besides:
    - If you are a crafter or collect glamours (cosmetic gear for your game character) you will easily run out of inventory space. To increase it you are expected to hire additional retainers (NPC characters) for additional real money monthly fee. Retainers also provide additional bonuses for crafters. There are cosmetic items that can be bought only with real money. You need to buy Fantasia potion with real money to change the appearance of your game character significantly.
    - You are interested in housing? Be aware that your house will be destroyed if you unsubscribe from the game for longer than 45 days in a row.
    - The mobile app for buying/selling stuff on the in-game auction (Market Board) with in-game currency (Gil) has an optional real money subscription fee and a premium currency that are used to unlock transactions.
    - There are Scenario Skip and Job Level-Boost potions. Be ready to buy both or buy none. If you buy only Scenario Skip potion (there are ~584 main scenario quests as of patch 4.58) your progress will be too slow because of lack of experience points bonuses.

    Square Enix makes 50% DISCOUNTS on the base game and the latest expansion every year at different times on different digital stores (after several months cooldown since new expansion release). You also get all previous game expansions for free if you purchase the latest one.    … Expand
  13. jin40k
    Dec 5, 2021
    0
    queue > eror server > queue. naturally, in squaresoft, allegedly, no one knew about it and no one foresaw this
  14. rkarlberg
    Sep 29, 2021
    3
    Too many negatives! Level design is excellent - but the world is so empty. Monsters look very cool - but drop nothing and very little xp. Story is horrible - boring and too many long cutscenes. Forced dungeons are raids are awful.
  15. Nihl
    Oct 29, 2021
    3
    Decided to give this game a try, coming from a content-starved WoW.
    And what can I say... it just bored me. Couldn't make past lvl 48.
    Combat was sluggish as hell, 2.5 sec cooldown on top of abilities needing to wind up animations before hitting felt awful to me. Speaking of animations... they're way too flashy. I couldn't distinguish anything while doing team content. Quests were    Decided to give this game a try, coming from a content-starved WoW.
    And what can I say... it just bored me. Couldn't make past lvl 48.
    Combat was sluggish as hell, 2.5 sec cooldown on top of abilities needing to wind up animations before hitting felt awful to me.
    Speaking of animations... they're way too flashy. I couldn't distinguish anything while doing team content.
    Quests were nothing to write home about. Absolutely boring.
    I didn't like the main story. At least until the part I was. Felt too generic. Maybe I played too many JRPGs back in the day to be impressed by yet another "chosen hero saving the world" story.
    All "world" zones are instanced. Many loadscreens.

    I really tried to enjoy this game but I couldn't even though I tried to force it under the idea it'd get better. But that's not how it works. A game should be enjoyable from the start.    … Expand
  16. mugaro4201
    Dec 17, 2021
    0
    даже не старались хотя бы добавить русский интерфейс другие языки есть а вот русский нету
  17. loliance
    Dec 11, 2021
    4
    Good remake of a terrible game.
    I would have rated it much, much higher(around a 8!) but I had to endure the 200Quest grind(post ARR) which is at level 50 and at the end of the expansion. Which has since been reduced but still the same issues remain,
    Post ARR story has poor immersion due to lack of voice acting, it's far too long, it's a lot of walking around with no real character    Good remake of a terrible game.
    I would have rated it much, much higher(around a 8!) but I had to endure the 200Quest grind(post ARR) which is at level 50 and at the end of the expansion. Which has since been reduced but still the same issues remain,

    Post ARR story has poor immersion due to lack of voice acting, it's far too long, it's a lot of walking around with no real character progression and it's forced on all users that will not pay for a story skip.

    Post ARR content was some of the worst I've experienced in an MMO, but it get's better with later expansions so stick with it!    … Expand
  18. Egotwo
    Aug 23, 2022
    1
    A very boring game with "cheap" looking world. The story doesn't get any better, as some say. It's still boring. And boring again. Highly overrated. I gave it too much time because people said it gets better. But no, it's boring. I read all text, watched all cutscenes (boring).
  19. meru
    Jul 6, 2023
    1
    How long can your game be boring before it gets good?

    After my first hundred hours in the game, I asked my guild a question. (All of them are great people, by the way.) I asked these people who loved playing the game when the fantastic role-playing experience everyone was talking about will start. They seriously wanted to help me and totally understood the question. They had a    How long can your game be boring before it gets good?

    After my first hundred hours in the game, I asked my guild a question. (All of them are great people, by the way.)

    I asked these people who loved playing the game when the fantastic role-playing experience everyone was talking about will start. They seriously wanted to help me and totally understood the question. They had a discussion among themselves and could not decide if you had to drudge through 300 hours of boredom, or if it was more like 500 hours, before the game gets good.

    I was sad to tell them good-bye.    … Expand
  20. triffy
    Jul 28, 2023
    1
    Boring Slogfest. It’s boring. It’s repetitive. It’s not fun. I fall asleep and can’t play for more than a quest at a time. Apparently it gets good after 60+ or more. A Yawn Reborn is not for me.
  21. ersonic
    Jul 6, 2023
    0
    de los peores mmo que he jugado en mi vida. todas las misiones iguales. caminatas de 20 minutos para hablar con un npc y volver a caminar otros 20 minutos coger un objeto del suelo y que aparezca un bicho para matar. no tiene más durante 40 horas horribles.
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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

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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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