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. 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
  2. geoffconklin
    Nov 16, 2015
    10
    I just finished ARR and I have to say that it is the best MMO experience I've had in as long as I can remember. The storyline is amazing, it has as much polish as any Blizzard game (more if comparing it to their more recent games...), the servers are hopping, and there is just so much content. I am really looking forward to getting started on the expansion!
  3. 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
  4. eialici
    Sep 12, 2015
    7
    This would have been a great game if they had included voice acting for dialogues which, sadly, they did not.

    I see reviews and people claiming that the story is well written and sorts and that creating a voice dialogue for every scene is ridiculous. The story might be well written but I did not buy a game to read, I buy a game to play, Remember, Skyrim has voice acting for all    This would have been a great game if they had included voice acting for dialogues which, sadly, they did not.

    I see reviews and people claiming that the story is well written and sorts and that creating a voice dialogue for every scene is ridiculous. The story might be well written but I did not buy a game to read, I buy a game to play,

    Remember, Skyrim has voice acting for all scenes and that was in 2008. We are living in the 21st century, not in the 80's,    … Expand
  5. baslack
    Aug 20, 2015
    4
    Ok, at this point I'm an MMO veteran. I've played dozens of these things since SWG and while I wasn't around for EQ or DAoC, I've seen most of the big titles. FFXIV is an anime themed WoW 2.0 theme park MMO that's pretty conventional to 2004 game play. That it's subscription only in this day and age of F2P bailouts is remarkable. However, it's not because of any secret in game play orOk, at this point I'm an MMO veteran. I've played dozens of these things since SWG and while I wasn't around for EQ or DAoC, I've seen most of the big titles. FFXIV is an anime themed WoW 2.0 theme park MMO that's pretty conventional to 2004 game play. That it's subscription only in this day and age of F2P bailouts is remarkable. However, it's not because of any secret in game play or innovative storytelling. The game play is pretty much WoW with a prettier skin on it. The story is some of the most painful mary sue anime archetypal tripe you'll ever come across. I think it's ability to hold subs directly correlates to the fan base for the IP. Simply, it is P2P because SQ fans are willing to pay to get their fix.

    It does a few things very well. Most notably, right off the bat you're introduced to a very robust fast travel system, both intra-city and global map wide. The class mechanic is unique in that it allows any character to level any class; active class is dictated by the implements equipped. The world and characters are appealing, especially if you're a fan of the anime style. As a roleplayer, it has one of the most active RP communities in any game I've ever seen. Cities are full of folks roleplaying at all hours, every day (on Balmung). The game also seems to cater to these folks, with robust housing (instanced lots) and cosmetic gear.

    That said, it does some things horribly. This is old school tab targeting. This is old school toolbar drive rotation repeat combat. When people are scripting macros to do combat and crafting (which is also toolbar driven) because it's tedious, you know you have a problem. Quests are your standard fare: kill fetch and escort. Kill quests tend to be short, which is good, but fetch quests tend to be long and take you between multiple zones with excessive loading times due to the pretty art. Escort quests are highly tedious, requiring you to manually emote at your charge to get them to follow you. Leveling is fast, at least early, but very grindy and repetitive because of the over simplification of combat.

    Perhaps my biggest complain is that one of the most interesting features, housing, is locked behind a level 50 grind wall. As a roleplayer, housing is what will make be pay a sub. It's a space to play in. Having to slog through 50 levels of grindy game just to get to it is a show stopper. Not to mention when those quests end up bugged, failing to turn in and wasting your time. Finally, there should be a check box to skip ALL cut scenes in the game. In this day and age, forcing your player to sit through these is totally unacceptable. If folks want to get on with their play, let them do so, SQ. Finally, putting basic items like the Auction House as unlockables behind a dungeon based quest system? Yes, they did that. And that's just one example. FFXIV and SQ like to lock features of their game behind a large collection of hoops. It's how they spread out your time and grind your sub money out of you. Well... the players. My 30 days are up in about two weeks and I think I'll be moving on.

    The good:
    Well implement Fast Travel
    Interesting Multi-class mechanic
    Aesthetic appeal
    RP Community
    Has Housing

    The Bad:
    Total lack of innovation in gameplay
    Excessive grind
    Housing locked behind grind to 50
    Buggy quests still present after the reboot
    Unskippable cutscenes
    Basic functionality unlocks behind multiplayer dungeon quest completion

    P.S. Also note, which this maybe a Haven for roleplayers, getting into that haven, the Balmung server, will cost you. SQ for whatever reason ties their character creation to server queue. So if a server is full, you can't create characters on it. Balmung always has a queue and so it's virtually impossible to ever create characters on it. There's occasionally a window after maintenance (4AM PST) but otherwise, the only way to get onto the server is via the transfer service of Mog Station. That's $18 USD, for as many characters as you like from one server to another. Worth it if you're a roleplayer to some at least, but still, consider the extra cost if that's what you're coming to FFXIV for.    … Expand
  6. KrytyNiekrytyk
    Aug 11, 2015
    10
    Good battle system, great animations, unbelievable plot, epic music, pretty graphic. This is best mmorpg of all time, and one of the best games ever made. One minus - incredible expensive.
    Graphic - 10/10
    Audio - 10/10
    Plot - 10/10
    Gameplay - 9/10
    Overall rating - 10/10
    Best. Game. Ever.
  7. icometobot
    Aug 10, 2015
    10
    The best and far most fun mmo out there. You have to work your ass off to get good gears and the environment is VERY friendly. You can combine your skills and change to whatever classes you like. My classes consists of ninja, monk, and dragoon. I recommend this game to everyone and most of my friend quit the horrible game elsword and decided to play here and got hook. The dungeons, raids,The best and far most fun mmo out there. You have to work your ass off to get good gears and the environment is VERY friendly. You can combine your skills and change to whatever classes you like. My classes consists of ninja, monk, and dragoon. I recommend this game to everyone and most of my friend quit the horrible game elsword and decided to play here and got hook. The dungeons, raids, and pvp all consist on all servers not just one server alone. However, DPS classes will have to wait for a bit longer than tanker and healer classes UNLESS you have a full party with friends then it will be more fun. The graphics is beautiful and the content is extremely nice. My server is Coeurl. But it doesn't matter because you still que up with different people from all over different servers. Rarely salty people because people learned how to help each others. I believe REAL fun mmo is monthly subscription unlike those play for free **** and buy to win and look good mmo's.… Expand
  8. SynKazama
    Jul 13, 2015
    5
    FFXIV as a whole offers a great story, beautiful world, great music and production values. By gaming standards it's very good. By MMO standards, it's actually quite bland and really offers nothing new to the genre or fails to even rehash anything that made MMOs great.

    From a veteran's perspective (10+ years playing various MMOs): Jobs are overly balanced to the point where they don't    FFXIV as a whole offers a great story, beautiful world, great music and production values. By gaming standards it's very good. By MMO standards, it's actually quite bland and really offers nothing new to the genre or fails to even rehash anything that made MMOs great.

    From a veteran's perspective (10+ years playing various MMOs):

    Jobs are overly balanced to the point where they don't differentiate well within their trinity (Tank,Healer,DPS). Everything in the game has been designed around equality, which is odd seeing as how, like FFXI, all jobs are accessible on a single character and players are encouraged to level multiples.

    Character progression slows to a near standstill at cap with virtually no options for how you build and play your character. Unlike most other MMOs there are no talents/skill trees/ branching or specialization in either skills or equipment. All skills and abilities are automatically learned along the way, and for equipment It's simply a straight vertical climb up the iLVL chart which also offers next to nothing in terms of choice.

    Raid content is repetitive and heavily reliant upon dodge and enrage mechanics. While raids can be difficult, it is generally because people fail to execute a very mechanical formula such as failing to meet DPS checks or remembering phase changes and specific positioning.

    Dungeons are simply a means to level and gain tokens to exchange for the basic pre-raid iLVL requirement gear. There are no valuables or collectibles (besides glamour items, furniture and minions) to be obtained. No usable rare and unusual items exist at all in the world.

    Crafting provides almost no advantage to character development as equipment is, in 95% of all cases, sub-par to raid and token gear. It can be used to earn an equally useless income by crafting consumables and glamour items but ultimately provides little to be desired.

    Both of the above are done in an overly cautious means to prevent RMT (Real Money Trade).

    Despite the recent news and reviews, open world is no more dangerous than in 2.0. Players can still take down 3 enemies at a time with literally no open world danger aside from going AFK.

    The most glaring issue is in all of the limitations imposed by SE that prevent people from continuing to grow at their own pace. Nearly everything is gated by timed lockouts and access. Even gathering jobs can only obtain the most important resources at specific intervals. These serve the purpose of delaying content consumption between the patch cycles and to balance the progression levels of the player base.

    Although the attempt to level the progression of the player base is likely done to prevent elitism, it's backfired in a sense. Instead of being judged on their progress in the game, players are more often ostracized for lack of coordination, response time and general skill.

    It's first expansion Heavansward offers almost nothing new to the genre either. The largest changes made to the game are a graphics refresh (DX11), open world flight, new dungeons, new jobs and a level cap increase. In other words, very standard fare for an MMO expansion. Once the world is seen, story played through and dungeons crawled it leaves very little for veteran MMO players to enjoy.

    If you're new to the MMO genre, looking for a casual place to hang out online with friends, really into role playing or just have a very limited amount of time to play, FFXIV may be hands down the best choice. But if you're a hardcore MMO player, raid junkie, or want to become a PvP god we're a little out in the cold right now. Hopefully 2015/16 will bring back some of the great sandbox MMO features many of us miss.    … Expand
  9. nutdemon
    Jul 2, 2015
    9
    This game is reaaaaally good! It has one of the most friendly communities I've ever seen on an MMO. Couple that with the excellent gameplay and storyline, this makes this game a real gem. Don't let the low user score confuse you, FFXIV: ARR is the new and improved version of it's older retard brother FFXIV. PLAY IT!
  10. 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
  11. Unholyskorn
    Jun 9, 2015
    10
    I liked it. Just about to come back and try it again. I stopped months in, didn't even get to the end game just got distracted by other games. I think people just come here to bash things.
  12. Panserbjorne39
    Jun 4, 2015
    6
    I have a level 50 Warrior (tank) and have played the game for about 3 months. Here's my review:
    Beautiful to look at but at it's core is a relentless never ending grind. Toxic community full of former WoW goons and griefers. There are some good players out there of course, but there is a ton of griefing and harassment that take place. RMT and bots are running rampant atm.
    Full of    I have a level 50 Warrior (tank) and have played the game for about 3 months. Here's my review:
    Beautiful to look at but at it's core is a relentless never ending grind. Toxic community full of former WoW goons and griefers. There are some good players out there of course, but there is a ton of griefing and harassment that take place. RMT and bots are running rampant atm.
    Full of pointless fetch quests and travel time sinks even after level cap. Tab target combat with 3 second globals is boring and all jobs feel the same. Dungeons using insta-wipe mechanics and rigid adherence to trinity remove all semblance of skill or fun.
    Some very cute moments but they don't outweigh the monotonous grind of a WoW clone like this.
    Dungeon queue for DPS jobs is insanely long. At level 50 I quit the main story arc and went to crafting because I just couldn't take the grind any more. Crafting is great, and probably the best I've seen so far in an MMO. But at the end of the day, action and combat are what keep me interested in a game so I will be cancelling my sub this month.    … Expand
  13. mk7peters
    Jun 4, 2015
    0
    Worst mmorpg I have ever played! First time log in you get bombarded with RMT friend requests by the end of your game play you have just received over 100 friend requests. SE support does nothing but tell you to blist and send a suggestion to them about it. You will spend more time blisting then enjoying the game. SE support is supposedly looking into the issue but I doubt they will doWorst mmorpg I have ever played! First time log in you get bombarded with RMT friend requests by the end of your game play you have just received over 100 friend requests. SE support does nothing but tell you to blist and send a suggestion to them about it. You will spend more time blisting then enjoying the game. SE support is supposedly looking into the issue but I doubt they will do anything since these accounts help make them money. In my opinion these so called support people are the ones engaged in these gil selling activities and will do nothing until they recuperate the money lost during the flopped release of this game. If you want to enjoy a mmorpg this is not the game to buy and dedicate your free time.… Expand
  14. braindamage
    May 18, 2015
    6
    a ok game ruined by bad game design, the design of this game turns the community into the game it to foul impatient piece of shi , I played ffxi online back a long time ago and never ran into the grief laden piece of chunks, I do in this game man,

    play it with a group of friends if possible also about time to ditch the ps3 don't you think,, it holds the game back the story is    a ok game ruined by bad game design, the design of this game turns the community into the game it to foul impatient piece of shi , I played ffxi online back a long time ago and never ran into the grief laden piece of chunks, I do in this game man,

    play it with a group of friends if possible

    also about time to ditch the ps3 don't you think,, it holds the game back

    the story is really hard to keep a track of in between all the dumb stuff you have to do in the meantime between missions, but the game is ok, not the story but the game play    … Expand
  15. PeterRJG
    May 6, 2015
    5
    This is pretty much the mini-review I wrote for mmorpg.com so it is a bit of a copypasta. Anyhow, here goes:

    I'm not sure what game these people here who say "excellent game" or "best thing ever" are playing. Maybe they're shills or trolls. Maybe they're easily amused. Maybe they get off on doing simplistic, repetitive, tasks. My bet is with the easily amused factor. Anyhow - my take    This is pretty much the mini-review I wrote for mmorpg.com so it is a bit of a copypasta. Anyhow, here goes:

    I'm not sure what game these people here who say "excellent game" or "best thing ever" are playing. Maybe they're shills or trolls. Maybe they're easily amused. Maybe they get off on doing simplistic, repetitive, tasks. My bet is with the easily amused factor.

    Anyhow - my take on this in pro and con form:

    Pros: * It's pretty * Vibrant music * Well designed and animated character models * Switching jobs and classes on the fly is a new twist - largely in theory though * You can track your character through SE's FFXIV website. It's a neat touch.

    Cons: * Mindlessly simplistic combat mechanics - you mash the same two/three buttons from levels 1 through to 50 irrespective of class or job. In other words, it shows its console heritage * Everything is on the same cooldown timer * Combined, the above two points quickly devolve into boring and repetitive combat * Can't skip the cutscenes/theater after character creation. This aspect gets old quickly * No zone or global chat channels. You're in a heavily-populated though silent world. * /tells are worthless as most people have them disabled due to rampant gold spammers * Most characters look the same - everyone gets the same quest reward gear * You can't mail alts money or gear or materials. You need to join a guild with a company chest open to do this, or trust a friend to do it for you * If you play a DPS class, expect long waits to do instances * Quests are the usual kill x amount of this, or gather x amount of this to hand in. No real innovation here * This is a subscription only game and it's debatable it offers anything over and above many free to play alternatives. Very debatable. All up, 5/10.    … Expand
  16. HungryHippo123
    Apr 14, 2015
    8
    I enjoy playing this game since i am a final fantasy fan but i felt like i was repeating a lot of the objectives all the time and wasn't giving me anything new to do, but its fun playing.
  17. 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
  18. herbosoft
    Feb 17, 2015
    10
    This just might be the best Final Fantasy in my books. The soundtrack, the story, the dungeons, classes/jobs are all amazing. Well done Square Enix. I will be playing this one for a long time!
  19. benny0909
    Feb 16, 2015
    8
    Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn has been one of the most incredible game purchases I have ever made. I've played more MMO's than I care to admit, but this title takes many of the elements of existing MMO's & improves upon them. With so many different jobs to choose from, you'll quickly find yourself juggling multiple playstyles, as many compliment each other & are all fun to play. IfFinal Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn has been one of the most incredible game purchases I have ever made. I've played more MMO's than I care to admit, but this title takes many of the elements of existing MMO's & improves upon them. With so many different jobs to choose from, you'll quickly find yourself juggling multiple playstyles, as many compliment each other & are all fun to play. If your a FF fan, this is one title you won't want to miss.… Expand
  20. SpookySpartacus
    Jan 29, 2015
    5
    It's a good MMO overall, but it falls short of being great by any means.

    To put things into perspective: I didn't play FFXIV 1.0 and I haven't played an FF game in years before this. I have, however, played my share of MMOs, both sandbox and themepark: ArcheAge, WoW, Guild Wars 1 and 2, SWtoR. I'm not an FF fanboy by any means, but I would call myself somewhat jaded by the MMO industry    It's a good MMO overall, but it falls short of being great by any means.

    To put things into perspective: I didn't play FFXIV 1.0 and I haven't played an FF game in years before this. I have, however, played my share of MMOs, both sandbox and themepark: ArcheAge, WoW, Guild Wars 1 and 2, SWtoR. I'm not an FF fanboy by any means, but I would call myself somewhat jaded by the MMO industry of late.

    After putting in about 40 hours I have to say, plain and simple, I got bored. I didn't even reach the endgame, but already I was yearning for... more. More exploration maybe would have helped. More variety surely would have. FFXIV ARR has good content, enjoyable classes, fun crafting minigames, and I liked the FATE system even when it was repetitive. The idea of hunting down monsters for rewards is a nice twist, too.

    Really though, that's where the game ends and should have begun. There's no difference in this class system compared to any of the other games I mentioned above (with ArcheAge being the only possible exception). It could just be me, but I'm perfectly okay with making a new character to try out a different class, and that's essentially what you are doing whether you admit it or not - when you take a new job, your level goes back to 1 and you start over, accomplishing the same end through slightly different means. There's certainly nothing new about the questing, other than that the quests were honestly a whole lot easier than I expected, which partially led to the boredom I've experienced and ultimately in putting the game down for good.

    I like to think that this game is the same skeleton of the traditional themepark MMO (quest hub system, group and raid finder for parties, the good ol' leveling and crafting grind we know and hate) with the pretty colors of Square's AMAZING Final Fantasy universe painted all over it. So if you like that, this is a game worth looking at because at it's core, everything is present and shown off very well.

    The bottom line is that the MMO gamer picks up an MMO, as he or she has done time and time again, and plays it looking for something that improves on that design while still presenting the traditional elements in a way that is... well... palatable is a good word. If the amount of people still playing SWtoR is any indication, we will put up with any amount of bugs and terrible graphical quality as long as the GAME is fun. A lot of people will happily take that same formula in stride when it looks and feels this much better. However, the MMO gamer who's looking for the next new hit, the next fun, innovative game, will not settle for the skeleton model any more. We'll play it to see if we can tolerate it and when we can't find anything new and exciting in it, we'll move on and never look at it again.

    Sadly, that's what I'm going to have to do with this title - move on and never look at it again.    … Expand
  21. RedthornWitch
    Jan 19, 2015
    10
    I don't usually write reviews for games. However, I LOVE this game and I wanted to do so for this one. The first time I started playing I was a bit overwhelmed with it but once I started to get the feel of it I fell in love. FFXIV ARR has to be my all time favorite now. I definitely suggest this game to anyone who's interested in MMORPG. Its a beautiful game and deserves my 10 score. WithI don't usually write reviews for games. However, I LOVE this game and I wanted to do so for this one. The first time I started playing I was a bit overwhelmed with it but once I started to get the feel of it I fell in love. FFXIV ARR has to be my all time favorite now. I definitely suggest this game to anyone who's interested in MMORPG. Its a beautiful game and deserves my 10 score. With any game, there's going to be people who like it, and people who don't. So play it for yourself and make your own opinion of it!… Expand
  22. 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
  23. Dias
    Dec 8, 2014
    10
    Great game, I look forward too playing it when ever I get a chance. Sadly too say I have one big complaint. Having maintenance take down the servers during peek gaming hours and at the end of a game week is horrible for players like me and others. We understand they need to be done but can it be in the start of the "new week" so we can grind out our weekly points. It's frustrating andGreat game, I look forward too playing it when ever I get a chance. Sadly too say I have one big complaint. Having maintenance take down the servers during peek gaming hours and at the end of a game week is horrible for players like me and others. We understand they need to be done but can it be in the start of the "new week" so we can grind out our weekly points. It's frustrating and needs too be done when there are low number of people playing and not cutting the game week short by 3 hour. Only complaint for this game and will be posting more of them till it can be changed. I've suggested this game to 4 friends already and they too also love the game.… Expand
  24. Kyuurai
    Nov 21, 2014
    5
    This game was once a 10 in my opinion but now Square is just recycling old content.
    The endgame is just terrible.
    Do you like mindless grind of old content that you already did 1000 times just to get a new weapon that is going to be your BIS? Then this game is for you. They did the same to the crafting professions. They added something called "desynthesis" needed for the newest recipes    This game was once a 10 in my opinion but now Square is just recycling old content.
    The endgame is just terrible.
    Do you like mindless grind of old content that you already did 1000 times just to get a new weapon that is going to be your BIS? Then this game is for you.
    They did the same to the crafting professions. They added something called "desynthesis" needed for the newest recipes etc. You basically have to level your crafting once more in order to make those new recipes.

    This game is going downhill. All the critic reviews are from the "good times".
    Don´t look at the 2013 reviews. Go for the 2014 ones.    … Expand
  25. RobO2112
    Nov 16, 2014
    9
    It has been slightly longer than a year since launch.Those decreeing that this game would be F2P in months have been served their humble pie. And what we have now is something that's rather impressive for an MMO. A failed game, retooled, and turned into a thriving online community.

    So far this year we've seen added to the game: Dec 14, 2013 2.1 "A Realm Awoken" - Main Story    It has been slightly longer than a year since launch.Those decreeing that this game would be F2P in months have been served their humble pie. And what we have now is something that's rather impressive for an MMO. A failed game, retooled, and turned into a thriving online community.

    So far this year we've seen added to the game:

    Dec 14, 2013
    2.1 "A Realm Awoken" - Main Story Continuation; Crystal Tower - Labyrinth of the Ancients 24-man raid; 3 dungeons: Pharos Sirius, Copperbell Mines (Hard,) and Haukke Manor (Hard;) 5 trials: Ultima Weapon, Thornmarch, Garuda, Titan, and Ifrit (Extreme); the first installment of the Hildebrand side quests; 2 Beast Tribe dailies; and 4v4 Arena PvP "The Wolves' Den"; Treasure Hunts; Free Company Housing; and Duty Roulettes

    March 26, 2014
    2.2 "Through the Maelstrom" - Main Story Continuation; 8-man raid: Second Coil of Bahamut; 3 Dungeons: Lost City of Amdapor, Halatali (Hard,) and Brayflox's Longstop (Hard;) Trials: Leviathan(Hard/Extreme,) Thornmarch (Extreme,) Battle on the Big Bridge; second installment of Hildebrand sidequests; 2 new Beast Tribe dailies; FC Housing Gardens/Utility Furnishings; Glamours; Retainer Ventures; Zodiac Weapons; Challenge Log

    July 7, 2014
    2.3 "Defenders of Eorzea" - Main Story Continuation; Crystal Tower - Syrcus Tower 24-man raid; dungeons: Hullbreaker Isle, Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard,) Stone Vigil (Hard;) Trials: Ramuh (Hard/Extreme); 3rd Installment of Hildebrand sidequests; Hunts; Chocobo Raising; FC Housing Private Chambers; Ixal Beast Tribe dailies; Frontlines PvP (24v24v24)

    October 28, 2014
    2.4 "Dreams of Ice" - Main Story Continuation; 8-man raid: Final Coil of Bahamut; 3 dungeons: Snowcloak, Sastasha (Hard,) and Sunken Temple of Qarn (Hard;) Trials: Shiva (Hard/Extreme,) Dragon's Neck Colliseum; 4th installment of Hildebrand sidequests; New player class: Rogue; New player job: Ninja

    So if you're tracking with all that, that's about 8 additional hours of main story line quests, 4-5 hours of silly Hildebrand sidequests for comic relief, two new high difficulty 8-man raids, two new lower difficulty 24-man raids, 4 completely new dungeons, 8 hard mode dungeons (which aren't just carbon copies of their lower level selves adjusted to 50, but have unique layouts and boss encounters) and over a dozen trials. Not even to mention all the crafting recipes/changes, and all the other minor quality of life changes that just make it a better place to play, not to mention an entirely new class and job. This amount of content would normally be found in a full retail box expansion!

    I look forward with great anticipation to the story that we'll be told in the coming years, and all the indisputably Final Fantasy locales, characters, and music we'll be treated to along the way. The game may not for everyone, but it's definitely for me, and I would definitely encourage anyone who wants a treat for the eyes and ears while playing a solid MMORPG to check out FFXIV;ARR.    … Expand
  26. Winterlight212
    Nov 13, 2014
    7
    I initially gave this game a very good review, and I regret jumping the gun. New Review having played for a few months now: 1) Slowest combat of any MMO I have ever played (2.5 second global cooldown, compare that to WoW's 0.5 second global cooldown; now imagine drinking tea between spells). 2) As a result of extremely slow combat pace, there is no complexity or diverse rotation, there isI initially gave this game a very good review, and I regret jumping the gun. New Review having played for a few months now: 1) Slowest combat of any MMO I have ever played (2.5 second global cooldown, compare that to WoW's 0.5 second global cooldown; now imagine drinking tea between spells). 2) As a result of extremely slow combat pace, there is no complexity or diverse rotation, there is no complexity in dungeons or boss mechanics, because the pace of combat is so slow you would have enough time to anticipate nearly anything that comes your way.

    3) No public chat channels, and no standard intuitive chat interface, in fact you can't even set reply as the R key, it must be set with CTRL or ALT, really? As far as no public chat channels I mean no "General" or "Zone" or "Map" or "Trade" sort of chat channels as you may see in other games. You can create a private channel, though you have to go all the way to an NPC, read through some text, and can't even name it what you want because they are apparently anti-everything (i.e. very controlling), and won't let you use most words to name your private chat channel.

    4) The actual gameplay, aside from the extremely slow combat, just feels like an outdated Final Fantasy game that tries to be dramatic, and ends up being redundant. What I mean is they try to impress you with flashy spell/sound effects, and music, but then the actual gameplay is so redundant that you are just wandering aimlessly to try and repetitively grind the same quests over and over (literally, you repeat the same quests over and over, not even joking there, it is the exact same set of quests, with the exact same name, and the exact same objectives).

    5) Dungeons are very straightforward, in fact so straightforward that I would say there's absolutely no challenge whatsoever, which goes hand in hand with the slow combat limiting the complexity of ANYTHING in the game at all, but again no surprise here. As far as how the dungeons look, I was not impressed, they were all largely just going through "tunnels" of some sort or variation, and killing pretty much the same set of 5 different monsters up until the boss fights, which also were pretty redundant as well.

    6) Again with redundancy: Everyone looks the exact same. Why? Because there's pretty much only a few templates for gear of each type, which is why most people end up looking the exact same.

    7) Healing is a complete utter joke. I cannot emphasize this enough, as it is truly tragic, because I absolutely love healing. Zero complexity here, and again I think a big reason for that is the pace of combat, which means there is no need for a diverse range of options for healers, which is why it ends up being redundant as well.

    8) As many other players have noted: Zones feel extremely small, and I agree.

    9) Extending on the previous point: The FFXIV world is not an open world, it is divided up into many different instanced type zones. What does that mean? It means that if you go to a new zone, you will see a loading screen when entering that zone, because the world is not interconnected. Even more interesting is that even just within the same city there are multiple instanced zones, which is laughable to say the least, because it makes the city feel even smaller.

    In conclusion: Too small, too slow, too repetitive, and the game director is now talking about implementing "marriage," which is fine, but then he went on to say that it would exclude gays. Really? I mean come on, even Electronic Arts has plenty of gay relationships in their games, who cares if two male or two female characters want to get married? Are the Tea "Patriots" and Ugandans and all the radical ignorant populace of the world going to teleport in and suddenly crash the servers every time two male or two female characters get married in some undisclosed location? No. Does it destroy straight relationships who will have no idea that gay marrying is going on somewhere far, far away in some undisclosed location? No, because they won't even know, because it's not their business, and it's not announced, so they would not know, yet they feel the need to control what everyone does and thinks, which is ironic coming from these "Patriots" claiming to be "Pro-Freedom," really now... the ignorance is astounding. If Yoshida didn't want this to be an issue, he shouldn't have implemented marriage in the first place, at all, period. As for the rest of the game: Garbage. If you like garbage, you might like this game, I say might because garbage flavor can vary, you might not like this particular flavor of garbage.    … Expand
  27. SeanMcgahee
    Oct 17, 2014
    10
    Best MMO i have ever played... Im not sure why anyone could possibly rate this poorly. The music track is out of this world along with the graphics as expected from a final fantasy game. The story is incredible, the crafting and market system blows world of warcraft out of the water... And guess what; they have only been up and running for a year meaning they are an infant in the MMO andBest MMO i have ever played... Im not sure why anyone could possibly rate this poorly. The music track is out of this world along with the graphics as expected from a final fantasy game. The story is incredible, the crafting and market system blows world of warcraft out of the water... And guess what; they have only been up and running for a year meaning they are an infant in the MMO and already blowing others away. The dungeons are awesome, the crafting...yeah you actually have to make the items... Through a series of learned abilities ... Not just grab this mat and that mat and poof i made something.... Still not sold ok ok then how about this.... Try it for free on me...Pc, Playstaion3, or Playstaion 4... Pick your poison ;) I play on ps4.

    If you register a service account using my invitation code below you will receive a 14 day free trial, and once you subscribe using my code you'll receive exclusive in-game item rewards instantly, at 30 days and at 60 days. Just go to http://sqex.to/Msp and once again dont forget my code 8XNEJNJJ. My in game name is The Malevolent and i am on the Lamia server US if you need help or tips. Happy gaming!    … Expand
  28. EL1TE
    Oct 15, 2014
    8
    For the record my rating is: i like (10) and i don't like (0), not saying 10 is a perfect game, my ratings don't work like that, simply i either like, or i don't.

    What i like: The game has an interesting story with characters that make sense and that are not boring, the combat itself gets better as we level up despite having to grind a lot to get to level 50, the Primals are a good    For the record my rating is: i like (10) and i don't like (0), not saying 10 is a perfect game, my ratings don't work like that, simply i either like, or i don't.

    What i like: The game has an interesting story with characters that make sense and that are not boring, the combat itself gets better as we level up despite having to grind a lot to get to level 50, the Primals are a good challenge, the crafting and gather has some sense in this game and they are fun, the possibility to train and let him follow us and also color your own Chocobo is great, personal housing where we can put our trophies with items we get and by using them in craft, gather among other things, there's a good amount of Dungeons also, the classes itself i can say i have a lot of fun playing Monk, i also like Scholar and Black Mage.

    What i don't like: End game and Time between content patches. End Game is basically ONE dungeon with a few levels, at the current time we are on version 2.3 where the End Game is the Second Coil of Bahamut, a Dungeon that requires coordination by all party members, meaning if one fail is most likely going to be a wipe (Turn 6 might be an exception), however they introduce something called Weekly Limits, Weekly Limits are limitations that you can only get X item/Currency per week, limiting your progression, for example, each Turn of the Coil, drops Two gear items, however they are random despite each turn having it own loot table, and if you beat turn 6, you go to turn 7, you beat turn 7 and go 8 etc. You can't go back to beaten turns before weekly reset at Tuesdays, then there's the weekly limit for Tome currency which is used to trade for Coil equivalent stats-wise gear, however (excluding accessories) the amount of tomes you get per week isn't enough to buy a SINGLE armor pieces, not to mention the weapon that you need 3 Weeks to get it, which is insane, this is a CHEAP way not to allow people to progress by limiting them instead of adding new content.

    Time between content updates, currently it's been far more than promised, since the release of 2.0, we were promised content patches every 3 Months, except it goes for 4 Months, meaning that people have been doing their weekly stuff, which at this point pretty much all Hardcore players have, do coil, logout. This is a terrible thing to allow to happen, it's not healthy for the game.

    So why do i rate 10 (i like) with such limitations, well it's simple i used to play GW2 but it's been 2 Years doing the same, no expansions, they now sold some of their servers meaning the game sometimes lags hard making it unplayable, so yes, i don't have any other MMORPG to play at all, or i'd give this game a 0 as well, but since it's been 1 Year and fan fest is coming, and also 2.4 with a new class, i guess that's enough motivation.    … Expand
  29. 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
  30. curvy2
    Sep 26, 2014
    10
    God damn amazing, it's like one long beautiful dream you don't want to wake up from. Not since FFVII has there been one more deserving of the name Final Fantasy. And if your PC can crank it up to max settings it's hand's down the best looking MMORPG out there 10/10
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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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