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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. 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
  2. Scypheroth
    Oct 17, 2013
    8
    A very on par game with every other MMORPG out there. it has basically become a WoW clone. Tab targeting, fetch quests and simple non complicated game play and boss battles make this game one of MANY WoW clones out there that have tried to achieve there success. If you liek a basic no brainier MMORPG (like WoW) this ones for you!
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. BudMan11
    Oct 12, 2013
    0
    NOTE: I put this review in the wrong spot, I actually played this game for ps3 and I cannot speak about the PC version of this game.
    REVIEW: This game is very bad, I wouldn't recommend spending any money on it. The graphics are pretty nice for 10 year old game. The soundtrack is not bad. This game is very boring and very repetitive. The map is terrible. I would recommend every other game    NOTE: I put this review in the wrong spot, I actually played this game for ps3 and I cannot speak about the PC version of this game.
    REVIEW: This game is very bad, I wouldn't recommend spending any money on it. The graphics are pretty nice for 10 year old game. The soundtrack is not bad. This game is very boring and very repetitive. The map is terrible. I would recommend every other game on the planet before I would recommend this. Wish I could get a refund, signed up to metacritic just to tell everyone how bad this game is. The reviews for this game tell me one thing, never ever trust critic reviews, They must have a different copy of the game or were hit on the head or something. Run as far away from this game as you can, its boring and sucks.    … Expand
  6. Bryst
    Oct 10, 2013
    5
    First off let my say, I didn't play v1.0. So I can't comment on game improvements from 1.0 to 2.0. I can however say: Meh it's an MMO. I played XI LONGGGGG ago, and loved they fact that one character could be ANY class. However, after you get that first character to 50 and want to start a second, be ready to farm fates. ALOT. And they become very repetitive. Its really all the game has toFirst off let my say, I didn't play v1.0. So I can't comment on game improvements from 1.0 to 2.0. I can however say: Meh it's an MMO. I played XI LONGGGGG ago, and loved they fact that one character could be ANY class. However, after you get that first character to 50 and want to start a second, be ready to farm fates. ALOT. And they become very repetitive. Its really all the game has to offer at the moment in terms of lvling. If you're not a tank or healer, be ready to spend 50+ minutes in que for a dungeon.(Which you HAVE to do almost all the dungeons to continue the story quest) They don't even give decent EXP, and the gear is kind of mediocre compared to stuff you can buy on the AH. Levequests work, but are boring and VERY repetitive.

    The story quest has no voice overs, and typical of SE they are a massive wall of text. Oh and 50% of them are go to this guy and talk to this guy or that. After playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, which had cut scenes for EVERY quest, which I loved, this is a huge annoyance.

    The class quests are a JOKE. To become a bard I had to walk maybe 300yards, kill 5-6 mobs and loot a sigil. DONE. To become a paladin I lit a brazer and killed a mob. Then at 45 to get my 4 pieces of relic gear I had to kill 2 non elite mobs at 4 different chests. To get your white mage relic gear you pray at an alter and kill ONE mob to get all FOUR pieces. Its just laziness on SE part. Very disappointing.

    I was very hyped for this game, and even after all of SEs fail with server issues and the congestion because they never implemented an AFK logout I was excited. But once I got my Bard to 30, I realized if I was to ever get my story quest done I would need to roll a healer or tank. So that's exactly what a buddy an I did. But yet again once we hit 45, the dungeons got few and far between, and we completed most the quest in our range. So guess what we got to do? FATES.

    Hopefully SE in a future patch will give more incentive to run dungeons, add some more quests and maybe add more Guildhiests(which I didn't really touch base on)    … Expand
  7. 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
  8. Pork_chops
    Oct 10, 2013
    9
    I've played World of Warcraft, I've played Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild wars 2, and I've played Star Trek Online. But Final Fantasy is by far my favourite MMORPG. I won't lie, it isn't a great departure from the stock standard MMO model, but what drew me in is the class system, the graphics, and the way the world feels.

    That's not to say it's without faults. The UI is really    I've played World of Warcraft, I've played Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild wars 2, and I've played Star Trek Online. But Final Fantasy is by far my favourite MMORPG. I won't lie, it isn't a great departure from the stock standard MMO model, but what drew me in is the class system, the graphics, and the way the world feels.

    That's not to say it's without faults. The UI is really clunky, and takes quite some time to figure out, and anyone with a PC that's not quite gamer level is going to enjoy sudden spikes in FPS. Figuring out where to quest can be a real pain in the neck, and a lot of quests have been translated poorly from Japanese to English, meaning you'll be doing what the quest text says, but getting nowhere.

    There could be a part of fan boyism in this post, since I've been a long time Final Fantasy fan, so take it as you will. But if you're looking for a good, multiplayer game, and you have the hardware to support it, I'd recommend at least giving it a go.    … Expand
  9. Kittencandy
    Oct 10, 2013
    5
    When I first got to play the game, I absolutely loved it. Everything looks pretty and it's crowded so it never feels like you're the only person walking around in the world, the job system seems cool, the opportunity to use just 1 character for all the classes... I took a few crafting classes, some gathering ones, and stuck with conjurer arcanist for mains cuz I wanted to be a white mage.When I first got to play the game, I absolutely loved it. Everything looks pretty and it's crowded so it never feels like you're the only person walking around in the world, the job system seems cool, the opportunity to use just 1 character for all the classes... I took a few crafting classes, some gathering ones, and stuck with conjurer arcanist for mains cuz I wanted to be a white mage.
    All was fun for the first few days but it didn't take me too long to notice some rather annoying things, like how the only way to get money (or decent exp) is by questing, occassionally a monster will drop 1 gil but that's it and exp is really low from normal mobs so the only way to lvl is questing (or fates). A lot of quests are one time only, so when you've lvled your first class to 30, and needing to lvl the 2nd one to 15, it gets boring very fast having to slowpoke farm your exp. Gathering works ok for the first 15 lvls but it gets gradually more bothersome and at around lvl 25-30 it's just so boring it really isn't worth it. Trying to enter instances (needed to progress main story) as a DPS is just impossible most of the time, and when you do get in there's a good chance on dying cuz a lot of ppl never bothered to learn their class. And the world is pretty small, you could probably see everything within just a few hours.

    Anyway, I've played this game for 2 weeks after which I was so bored with it I quit. It's just too repetitive a game to enjoy for very long.    … Expand
  10. 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
  11. Antiks
    Oct 8, 2013
    6
    The pacing and gating of the game still needs a lot of work. Gating key content behind instances that require a group that can take up to hours to form is very old hat. After about level 20 any semblance of pacing or direction disappear They really need some help in their game design/balance department. One example, they throw you from level 17 instances into a story quest where youThe pacing and gating of the game still needs a lot of work. Gating key content behind instances that require a group that can take up to hours to form is very old hat. After about level 20 any semblance of pacing or direction disappear They really need some help in their game design/balance department. One example, they throw you from level 17 instances into a story quest where you fight level 11 monsters. It makes no sense.

    Overall the game still suffers from poor design choices more than anything. The graphics they nailed, the sound they nailed, the combat is slow but i'm sure there is a crowd for it. Instances are pretty standard don't stand in red and some fights requires you to interact with objects during fights. Nothing revolutionary here though some people will say they are "complicated" or "hard" if you are any type of power gamer at all these will be childs play.

    Overall when you get past level 20 the game kind of falls apart into a loosely coupled mess. In my opinion it's not worth your dollars still. There are better offerings out there.

    Better than before does not a 10 review from me. They improved a lot but they still don't seem to understand some basic mmo concepts. I would caution buying the game on any 10 review because no honestly rational person can say there are no issues with this game, there are still a lot.

    Pick it up if you want a lounge game with very little pressure or twitch skill required. If you are looking for a quick paced mmo avoid this game completely.    … Expand
  12. DemiGoth
    Oct 7, 2013
    7
    FFXIV:ARR is a 1000 times better than the failure the initial release was, and I think we all agree on that. But sadly FFXIV:ARR has become 'yet an other MMO' like so many are. It's not really offering anything new in mechanics it's all been done before. The story though is is very well told, but what else can you expect from a FF game?

    Graphics at maxed settings are excellent, but my    FFXIV:ARR is a 1000 times better than the failure the initial release was, and I think we all agree on that. But sadly FFXIV:ARR has become 'yet an other MMO' like so many are. It's not really offering anything new in mechanics it's all been done before. The story though is is very well told, but what else can you expect from a FF game?

    Graphics at maxed settings are excellent, but my GPUs (GTX460 SLI) do run close to full performance. Music is good too, and for once that 'standard' FF tune isn't the only one played in a FF game.

    Personally I think there are enough equivalent MMOs out there that do not require a monthly subscription. I have paid up front for 3 months, but I already can't be bothered to really play it because of it's mediocre mechanics and gameplay.    … Expand
  13. wyzeguyy
    Oct 6, 2013
    8
    Lets not kid ourselves here, Realm Reborn is a generic MMORPG in terms of how the game-play is. The main thing that the game did right though was that it did not cater to casuals, and is really meant for the hardcore player who is willing to sink time into the game to get that ultimate MMORPG experience. If you've been around the block with MMORPGs and want to go back to the old days ofLets not kid ourselves here, Realm Reborn is a generic MMORPG in terms of how the game-play is. The main thing that the game did right though was that it did not cater to casuals, and is really meant for the hardcore player who is willing to sink time into the game to get that ultimate MMORPG experience. If you've been around the block with MMORPGs and want to go back to the old days of hard content this is definitely worth your time. Check it out and play with some friends!… Expand
  14. Asuyu
    Oct 5, 2013
    0
    I have read the reviews. A lot of people seem to give this game 10/10, which begs the question what game were they playing and what are they basing those reviews off of. This game is marred by constant server repairs, glitches, congestion and that is before you even log into the game. (SE has take an approach to immediately fix Japanese servers and wait and see to North Americans, soI have read the reviews. A lot of people seem to give this game 10/10, which begs the question what game were they playing and what are they basing those reviews off of. This game is marred by constant server repairs, glitches, congestion and that is before you even log into the game. (SE has take an approach to immediately fix Japanese servers and wait and see to North Americans, so expect significant delays between when JP servers get fixed and NA get fixed) A lot of FFxiv is unoriginal. They have mashed the previous 13+(there are actually more than 14 currently) FF's, WoW, and a whole lot of other MMO's into this one game. Which should indicate its superiority, but I think it points to SE loss of originality. FF has always been about reinventing itself. Each FF game, added something new to the previous, started a whole new story, and had a completely different game system, there were marked differences in graphics, character types, jobs, etc. The new system is far from new, its the basic system you find in any MMO. The races are all borrowed from FFxi, except the names for those races are different with some minor exceptions (they added a few new sexes and we have light/dark versions) Each class again is borrowed from FFxi, again only change is different names. Additionally, the abilities are learned, similar in some ways to FFxi. Sometimes you obtain abilities from quests. Nothing original about that.

    Overall. The game is fun for about the 30 day trial. After that you delve further into the game and it becomes a grind. Not of leveling but of just staying with the game for its lackluster appeal. SE missed the boat in 1.0 and again in reborn. I give this game 0. Find another monthly service that will appreciate its players and the game.    … Expand
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. GigaHz
    Oct 3, 2013
    6
    I wanted to like this game. As a former Final Fantasy 11 player, Square Enix piqued my interest as early as v. 1.0 with similar race designs and the job/class system.

    At the time, I had the sense to watch some "Let's Plays" and read reviews. After finding out the game played terribly, I didn't bother wasting my time with it. Post-critical reception, I read articles about the revival    I wanted to like this game. As a former Final Fantasy 11 player, Square Enix piqued my interest as early as v. 1.0 with similar race designs and the job/class system.

    At the time, I had the sense to watch some "Let's Plays" and read reviews. After finding out the game played terribly, I didn't bother wasting my time with it.

    Post-critical reception, I read articles about the revival effort of Final Fantasy 14, primarily out of skepticism and general curiosity. Call me negative but I expected an embarrassing failure. In this case, I am not ashamed to admit I was wrong.

    The game, for what it is, plays exceptionally well. The combat is reasonably paced with plenty of actions to do (depending on class and role), all of the classes feel balanced and useful, the leveling mechanics are reasonably fleshed out (to a degree I'll touch on later), the world is varied enough to hold your interest for a good while, and the cutscenes occur with just the right amount of frequency and execution, something I can't say about SWTOR.

    So, I don't dislike Final Fantasy 14: ARR for being a 'bad' game. In fact, I'm confident that the game will appeal to some. However, it's not what I am looking for specifically and I'll explain why.

    Firstly, I'm heavily biased. I was fairly invested in FF11 during its prime. You can argue if it's a fair benchmark or not, but they were made by the same company so I'm counting it. My primary complaint with the game is that it is not challenging, at all. Every class has a specific niche for operation. Once you figure out that niche and what a boss'/mob's gimmick is, you're gaming on autopilot.

    Call me a masochist but FF11 had a daunting difficulty curve. There were easy aspects of the game, sure, but I remember going into certain fights with anxiety. Anxiety because I knew that after my hour plus trek to the fight, the chance of failure was very real, even if everything went according to plan.

    This also leads me into my second complaint with the game, the consequences of failure. In FFXIV there are none, or at least nothing that wouldn't be considered more than a slap on the wrist. There is durability wear, similar to WoW. I'm sure this 'can' be inconvenient if you forget to repair recently, but if you go into a dungeon recently fixed up, this will not present a problem unless you fail so miserably that you're sooner to run out of time than become useless. This scenario, already considering the non-difficulty of the game, is a feat in itself.

    In ff11 people disbanded parties due to death. You could downlevel and exp in general was a serious time investment. This conveniently leads to my third point.

    Am I longing for the days of spending 3 months grinding away to reach level cap? Hell no. I will say that Square Enix almost had the aspect of leveling down properly for ff14. But I want to stress 'almost'.

    Leveling functions similar to WoW in that there are quite a few ways to reach cap. The traditional affair is to string together a bunch of quests with a few dungeons and fights along the way. FF14 follows this template but also introduces a few additional concepts (some borrowed/stolen from GW2): Levequests, Guildhests, and FATEs.

    Levequests are almost like portable instances that you can trigger whenever you want to do them. They provide decent exp and are repeatable with some limitations (you can do up to a given number, with allowances replenishing after a certain time has passed). These are a decent option if you want to make non-quest, solo exp. Guildhests I mention only because I'm not sure why they are even an option. They are basically a boss fight or a short series of fights that only offers decent exp once. After that, they are almost completely useless, unless you decide to try them again with a different class.

    And lastly, potentially my biggest gripe with the game, FATEs. Arguably the best way to level classes fast but also the most mind numbing, repetitive option. FATEs are basically GW2s Dynamic Events system. They offer a tremendous EXP bonus, a bonus so generous it almost invalidates any other leveling method, including quests.

    So you level faster, what could be bad about that? Well, I'll tell you. Not only is the game easy by default, having massive zerg parties scour the map looking for FATEs negates any group functionality or any remote sense of purpose. FATEs are guaranteed good exp, so why NOT have everyone pile on? This would all be a minor issue if quests didn't fizzle up around the 40 mark, which almost forces you to join a FATE party for the last few remaining levels.

    What's worse, your story quest with its exp bonuses only happen once. Unless you've left a few quests laying about, you might as well expect to FATE grind entirely should you decide to level another job.

    I'm not sure how this could be considered a good idea for any game. It's such a deceptive method to artificially extend playtime.

    A solid effort SE, but not enough to keep this customer.    … Expand
  18. Uzumakitony
    Oct 1, 2013
    8
    It still has a lot of work to do but comparing it to the former 'woeful' releases, this is EPIC. I The graphics are sound, the gameplay is pretty great too. The storyline still has a long way to go but that's not the point. Overall it has been a success
  19. faircritic
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    MMORPGs are dead.You play the same thing as WoW but almost a decade later just with cooler graphics, and this genre got absolutely drained,looks like pretty graphics can't save this game from boredom,so linear quests,too much grinding. This is what's going on in FF XIV. And if this wasn't enough to discourage you of getting this game,you'll be lucky enough to log onto servers.I can onlyMMORPGs are dead.You play the same thing as WoW but almost a decade later just with cooler graphics, and this genre got absolutely drained,looks like pretty graphics can't save this game from boredom,so linear quests,too much grinding. This is what's going on in FF XIV. And if this wasn't enough to discourage you of getting this game,you'll be lucky enough to log onto servers.I can only suspect that FFXIV is right now on a endless loop.They are waiting for more customers to buy more servers but meanwhile there are more frustrated players saying CRAP! 0 rated,then the more they wait for money the more 0s they get.The more you wait until you get a stupid error,the more you say garbage,online garbage,cannot enter,more garbage...endless loop. What is worst ,looks like every darn company is following the same stupid formula to go for our money,lack of support ,error something that prevents you from logging until only god knows when.My patience and my belief is done with all overhyped MMOs stuff.
    You saw the same with Diablo,Sim City,etc and when you can finally play them you realize how disappointing they are,and they still want to charge you 15 bucks per m? Oh no sir,I have already learned my lesson,at the sucky way, but you wouln't got me again for graphics or by viral marketing,never again. If you wan to play a MMO go for a F2P at least you aren't charged and probably have more fun that this err final disappointing experience,well at least for me.    … Expand
  20. ookami
    Sep 30, 2013
    9
    I've played many an online game, SWG, SWTOR, WoW, City of Heroes, etc. I never had the chance to play v1 of FFXIV, but I am very much enjoying v2.

    They did everything right with gameplay and mechanics, and the musical score is outstanding the first MMO where I don't play my own music in the background. Learn anything without restriction, Magician? Go for it. Monk? You bet. Crafting    I've played many an online game, SWG, SWTOR, WoW, City of Heroes, etc. I never had the chance to play v1 of FFXIV, but I am very much enjoying v2.

    They did everything right with gameplay and mechanics, and the musical score is outstanding the first MMO where I don't play my own music in the background.

    Learn anything without restriction, Magician? Go for it. Monk? You bet. Crafting does the same thing, Goldsmith? Sure, Leatherwork? No problem! I do very much enjoy this aspect. That being said it took me about 17 levels to really start enjoying it. I was able to get into SWG and WoW and TOR because I knew the backstory. I knew nothing going into this and it took 16 levels or so to get an idea of what was going on. That was difficult because I nearly gave up after level 10 and I'm glad I didn't. It was worth pushing forward.

    For those who complain about the sub fee I really don't understand. How many games a month do you buy? 1 month at least I bet. You would rather pay $60 a month buying a new game than $15 a month? Really? I really detest the Free 2 Play system and I have yet to play an MMO that has done it right. I don't mind paying a sub fee.

    My only real complaints with this game is the storyline is a little hard to get into for me and I tack it onto my other complaint which is the naming system. NPC names, town names etc. They've made it so foreign and hard to pronounce that I can't be bothered, as if someone banged their head on a keyboard and said, ok that's a name! I can do that too you know? "Hail Adventurer! My name is Ggjweriopt!" See what I did? Now my head hurts and I will never remember that name or care to.    … Expand
  21. Drivedown
    Sep 29, 2013
    10
    This game has come a long way from the fiasco that was version 1.0. Overall, Square Enix has done a great job completely remaking the game and optimizing everything that failed in the first. And aside from the server issues during Early Access and the 1017 errors as of launch this game couldn't be any better.
  22. Reihert
    Sep 28, 2013
    7
    I gave it a low score mostly because of it is abysmal costumer service during launch and early acess. After all, they are no strangers to the number of game codes sold and should planned accordingly.

    With that behind, there are still some game breaking bugs in it. In high crowded Fates (like open world bosses), your target disappears, your party mates are also gone making it close to    I gave it a low score mostly because of it is abysmal costumer service during launch and early acess. After all, they are no strangers to the number of game codes sold and should planned accordingly.

    With that behind, there are still some game breaking bugs in it. In high crowded Fates (like open world bosses), your target disappears, your party mates are also gone making it close to unplayable. Very bad culling coding. Also, when you reach 50 and wanna do an instance, it is most likely you'll wait for an hour even if you already have a full team. Instance servers doesnt have enough room for player load.

    Game starts off boring and slow. Voice Overs are horrible and many in game translation.

    However, game starts to pick up around lvl 15 and it only shines from there. You can cross class skills, dungeons are smart with a scaling difficulty and the world is just beautiful.

    Crafting is different in a way, you actually have to know how to react to certain conditions in employ proper skills to make it work.
    It is surely a great game to try, if you can put aside the slow start and the said game breaking bugs.    … Expand
  23. vinarian
    Sep 28, 2013
    2
    This game is a complete clone of other mmo's, it has the Crafting system of Everquest 2, the combat system of WOW, and the dynamic event system of Guildwars 2.

    The questing system is not really a clone of any other game, simply because I have never seen another game with such unimaginative, repeated, exhausting quests since the original Everquest (collect 4 bat wings and kill 12 goblins    This game is a complete clone of other mmo's, it has the Crafting system of Everquest 2, the combat system of WOW, and the dynamic event system of Guildwars 2.

    The questing system is not really a clone of any other game, simply because I have never seen another game with such unimaginative, repeated, exhausting quests since the original Everquest (collect 4 bat wings and kill 12 goblins anyone?).

    If this game is that much better than version 1.0, I am glad I did not try it then...

    The only saving graces that this game has is the music, and the class/leveling system the class leveling system is excellent, however, it is a far cry from being able to redeem this otherwise abysmal travesty of a game...    … Expand
  24. zimtschnecke81
    Sep 28, 2013
    3
    I was really disappointed by that game and stopped playing because i got bored after only three days of game play. Maybe i had the wrong expectations i was expecting something different, something new, something fantastic i could simply not find it in this game. I also think the rating for this game is so high, because the first release was so bad. I might have found out other coolI was really disappointed by that game and stopped playing because i got bored after only three days of game play. Maybe i had the wrong expectations i was expecting something different, something new, something fantastic i could simply not find it in this game. I also think the rating for this game is so high, because the first release was so bad. I might have found out other cool things that i would maybe have liked but i am not keeping on playing a game that keeps me disappointed while i am running around, desperately looking for something i might like…

    IMHO ffxiv is nothing more than another, very common MMORPG, with a very common fighting system, a decent story and a very poor soundtrack. If you do not mind and you are not searching for something new or different and pay for a game like that feel free to try out anytime.

    PROS
    The graphic is nice even though it did not make me say „wow“ on one single point of the game. There are several different possibilities in earning xp which is shared fairly between people taking part of an event and thats really great. So no more stealing kills/xp from other players, as it seems. Respawns are fast enough and that adds good extra fun to the game too. I also really liked stuff like the hunting log nice to make some xp, discover new places etc. I wish to say there are more things i liked but, to me, there are none.

    CONS
    Looking at the races and classes i could choose from there was none i was saying „yes, i really want to play this one“ i made a different experience when playing other games. Also the game world lacks a bit of fancy details and i think it could be way more fantastic for my very personal taste.

    The story itself is incredibly flat. There is too much useless talking (too long dialogues), too much running around and the balance between story (talking) and fighting lacks a lot. At a certain point of the game i would hit a row of video and semi-video sequences that took me 1,5 hours(!) without actually having to do anything! On the other hand I ended up not being able to keep on doing my class or the main quests since i was missing 1-2 levels. So i had to run around, find something/anything to do and perform the same things (like F.A.T.E.‘s) over and over again til i got even more bored by doing that.

    I had to turn off the music because i got very annoyed by it after only 2-3 hours of game play (so there‘s a big minus for the soundtrack whose job should be to add some unique extra atmosphere to a game).

    The fight system is very simple (a few spells, with common effects you would find in any other rpg) and you end up performing the same two/three actions for hours and hours and hours.

    The game-studio does not seem to have lots of experience with a game like that and it might take them some more time to be able to offer its customers a proper support (i was, for example, in queue for help chat for over three hours(!), when i was told that there is nobody available for me and just got kicked out). I made this game run after performing three hours of trouble shooting, finding help in some of the forums to finally make it work.

    The game is very young. I think it has some potential to be a good MMORPG in maybe 1+ years. But i play games for a cool, nice, exciting story, an atmospheric soundtrack, a good balance between talking and fighting, a nice fighting system i did not find it here. So i will, as many others, go and search somewhere else.    … Expand
  25. Voqar
    Sep 28, 2013
    5
    It's pretty and what's there is polished but overall, FFXIV is a stripped down and dumber than usual post WoW clone that plays too fast and easy and which has little chance of keeping players busy like the old school MMORPGs it wants to copy (in regard to subs, little about the game itself is old school at all). FFXIV lacks MANY quality of life touches and features typically found inIt's pretty and what's there is polished but overall, FFXIV is a stripped down and dumber than usual post WoW clone that plays too fast and easy and which has little chance of keeping players busy like the old school MMORPGs it wants to copy (in regard to subs, little about the game itself is old school at all). FFXIV lacks MANY quality of life touches and features typically found in premium (MMO)RPGs. Making the game work on out of date consoles diminishes the PC potential.

    The story quests are generic, simplistic, and tedious. Other quests, when they exist are ultra simplistic and silly easy. The game has a public quest system called fates that are almost always zero challenge, zero threat, and tons of reward for doing nothing. Often at times while leveling, or especially when leveling alt classes, you'll ONLY be able to do fates you will do many fates. The dungeons have very fun bosses but are filled with tedious trash.

    Endgame is pretty typical grind some content, get your special currency, hand it in for gear, except in FFXIV there isn't a whole lot of content to grind to get that gear. Endgame content is an odd mix of very few challenging encounters mixed with some stupidly easy content and players tend to grind the least challenging most rewarding content (since there are no lockouts or restrictions or limits) so most players grind the same 2 instance several times a day for days.

    The game suffers big time from quality of life issues. No attributes or important stats on item comparison, clunky/brutal inventory system, clunkier/more brutal armoire system, cumbersome banking/market/ah system, no item preview, no server transfers, and on and on the list goes.

    FFXIV has a 2.5 second global cooldown, which is the wait time between actions in combat. You either fire an instant ability and wait 2.5s before you can act again, or you have spells with a 2.5s or higher casting time. The 2.5s GCD slows down combat. The theory is that it gives players more time to think although when you have simplified and stripped down and simplistic classes as in FFXIV, there isn't much to think about. Most MMORPGs (except FFXI, the predecessor) have a 1.5s GCD and often give you ways to reduce it to 1s or give you abilities "off the GCD".

    FFXIV has somewhat pretty graphics but for one thing, it has smallish zones with little to no exploration value, invisible barriers, you can't go in water or swim or fall off a cliff and die, or fall off a bridge, you can't jump off a dock into the ocean, you can't go into water that's more than knee deep, and so on. The bigger issue with the graphics is that the engine can't render lots of avatars at once, so in some game content, like when rare level 50 bosses appear every few days and hundreds of players show up, you can see maybe 20 players near you and may or may not be able to see and target the boss even when standing right on him.

    One of the potentially interesting things about FFXIV that ends up not being so great is how they do their class system. Any character can unlock and do any class (crafting and gathering disciplines are classes too). Some skills from a given class can be used wither classes (cross class skills) that allows you to augment your character a little. Then eventually you unlock jobs (prereq levels from 2 classes, for ex, gladiator conjuror paladin). Where this kind of breaks down is with the fact that jobs are highly restricted for cross class skills and even the base classes can often only find so many usefull skills to tack on, such that in the end, every player ends up being similar because there are so few choices.

    FFXIV doesn't have talents or any other way to customize your character, so with cross class skills being so limited, you end up with everybody being the same. On top of that all gear looks the same and there's no real customization (there are armor dyes but you can't dye the better gear. As a result, every player is a clone.

    The crafting system is a mix of a cool minigame style of going for high quality with skills and finite resources, but this ends up being brutally tedious to level up and since crafted gear is generic with drops and quest rewards until level 50, there isn't much point to crafting except to max it out for endgame.

    Gathering is also a minigame of sorts in that you can use skills to increase gathering change or to get high quality materials. Cool idea that's buried in brutal tedium as you run around in a circle tapping 4 tightly placed nodes that respawn faster than you circle.

    The game had a brutal release and even now players can wait 15-45 minutes to "reserve" a level 50 instance even joining as a full group.

    The game is plagued with gil spammers (RMT) in public chat and whispers.

    Console tie in results in small zones, tons of loading screens, screwy UI design, and 3/4 of cutscenes having no voice overs. Even the tiny cities are multi-zoned.    … Expand
  26. 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
  27. yvetle
    Sep 27, 2013
    10
    It's been a long time since I've had this much fun on an MMO and this much fun sustained for a long period of time. A lot of recent MMOs have been fun for short periods of time, but get boring fast or upon finishing the endgame.

    The game looks beautiful, runs great. The gameplay is really fun--traditional Holy Trinity but still exciting. The dungeons are easy until about level 28, then    It's been a long time since I've had this much fun on an MMO and this much fun sustained for a long period of time. A lot of recent MMOs have been fun for short periods of time, but get boring fast or upon finishing the endgame.

    The game looks beautiful, runs great. The gameplay is really fun--traditional Holy Trinity but still exciting. The dungeons are easy until about level 28, then they get progressively more challenging and start to rely more and more on player self-awareness and teamwork. Very fun!    … Expand
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. Dorana
    Sep 26, 2013
    9
    This game has some of the best graphics on MMORPG's to date.
    Sure there can be some extra details added but the general textures are amazing.
    The game had some issues at launch as well as some capacity issues during Beta. However I have since then only experienced login queue message twice since I started playing it again post release. The questing is as with all MMORPG's    This game has some of the best graphics on MMORPG's to date.
    Sure there can be some extra details added but the general textures are amazing.

    The game had some issues at launch as well as some capacity issues during Beta.
    However I have since then only experienced login queue message twice since I started playing it again post release.

    The questing is as with all MMORPG's repetitive to a certain amount, this however doesn't bother me since the environment is appealing to look at and the soundtrack is up to final fantasy standards even if it's not done by Nobuo Uematsu.

    The story line of this game has also been very good and it really helps feeling that your character is performing and evolving.

    Some might consider it a downgrade that you can only have 1 character server. However this has an advantage, alt characters are more or less non existing, removing the clutter of starting zones. they are populated but not infested.

    the system also allows you to have multiple classes on the same character, as has been the case in previous FF titles as well. This allows you to have a more custom based game play and it will allow you to "borrow" various skills from your other roles. However the effectiveness is somewhat lesser if your stats are not at par with the original skill tree of the spell, so a Tank character may have a heal spell but it will not be as effective as if having a team mate with you.    … Expand
Page:

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
See all critic reviews »