Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn

Bryguy1982

May 20, 2014

5

**This is a long review, but I am just trying to help out my fellow hardcore MMO players out there. Even though I am a huge World of Warcraft fan and have played the game (WoW) for many years, I am not comparing FF14 to WoW. I am just trying to save you disappointment if you are trying to fill that WoW void with another MMO.**

**Short list of Pros and Cons at the top, while details**This is a long review, but I am just trying to help out my fellow hardcore MMO players out there. Even though I am a huge World of Warcraft fan and have played the game (WoW) for many years, I am not comparing FF14 to WoW. I am just trying to save you disappointment if you are trying to fill that WoW void with another MMO.**

**Short list of Pros and Cons at the top, while details will be below that**

Pros:
+ You can level all the classes and professions on one toon.
+ Plenty to do and experience leveling your first class.
+ Good graphics with a decent story.
+ Pretty easy to get geared and get right into the endgame action (This can be viewed as a con as well)
+ Challenging bosses for the parts of the game that haven't been nerfed yet.

Cons:
- Game world/community just feels empty and dull while questing.
- NO world PvP. The game does have arena-like PvP, but it is the most boring thing ever.
- There is no stand-out gear that separates the casuals from the best players. You can pretty much get the same ilvl gear without completing the hardest content in the game.
- Professions are useless for improving your endgame, so there is no point in leveling them.
- 30 minute to 1 hour dungeon queues for DPS classes using the duty-finder.
- Too easy for bad players to get gear!!!

FF14 Review:

I have played this game for 40 days now while putting at least 5 hours a day into the game, so I feel I can give an honest review of the game. Like most MMOs, the gameplay grabbed my attention right away, but fell short for endgame material in my opinion.

I am basing my review on Character Leveling, Endgame, Professions/Crafting, and just the overall server community (this will vary depending on which server you play on).

Character Leveling: 7 out of 10
What I like about this, is that you can basically level every class to 50 on one toon, which prevents the game from getting too boring right away, because you can mix-and-match different abilities. If you get bored of leveling a healer, just switch to a DPS class or tank.

You can level by questing, queuing for dungeons (which start at lvl 15), doing Fates (random events that pop up around the world, which involve killing things), queuing for Guildhests (mini-dungeon). Basically, the game offers a variety of ways to level.

The thing that sucks about using the same character to get your first few classes to 50, is that you will eventually run out of quests to do, because the quests don't reappear when you level a new class. As a result, you will be forced to grind fates over and over and over.

Endgame: 5 out of 10
(Before you FF14 fanboys bash me, I've completed Titan Ex and made it to T9 as a WHM. Basically, I feel I'm qualified to comment on endgame.)

Dungeons consist of 4-man groups; Raids are usually 8-man groups, aside from Labyrinth which is 24.

*Endgame provides a decent amount of dungeons for new players, such as Labyrinth of the Ancients, Primal HMs and Exs, and Bahamut Coil 1-9. My complaint with endgame isn't that the content is easy, but rather that you can grind the easier dungeons over and over and pretty much end up with the same gear as those who take pride in being a skilled player and spend hours wiping on near-impossible bosses.

I feel the endgame is what killed this game for me. It basically becomes a grind-fest for Tomestones (these are used to get ilvl 90 raid gear). You don't even need to be good at the game and get equivalent gear to the best hardcore players. At lvl 50, most people are walking around with the same blues and looking the same. Due to this, you will get grouped with a lot of terrible players that were most likely carried by others.

On a side note, it is really easy to gear up your other classes on the same toon. Just from healing raids over and over, I was pretty much able to get a full bard set and tank set.

Professions/Crafting: 3 out of 10
This game isn't any different from most other MMOs. It is a time-killer and doesn't give you any better gear that you can't easily farm for yourself. Most people do it just to sell stuff on the auction house (BTW... Money is pretty much pointless in this game. The only time you will spend it is on stuff for your guild house), or just to get achievement points. Basically... There is no benefit to leveling any profession to lvl 50.

Server/Community: 4 out of 10
Even though this is a MMO, most of the time you feel like you're playing the game by yourself. Once in a while you will group with people for dungeons/raids, but outside of that, the game just feels lonely. This is coming from someone that is on a popular server too. You will have the gold farmers spamming non-stop; the occasional troll yelling out random things; and the people in party finder needing people for extreme primals or fate grinding to upgrade their relic weapon. The world just feels empty to me. Maybe because their is no world PvP? I still can't put my finger on it.… Expand

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

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

CristianS

Aug 28, 2013

9

Don't listen to all the low scores.. MMO's in early lifetime have this kind of login problems, who cares? Don't rate games on that. Please grow up! The 1017 and whatever other errors are annoying. but who cares!

So that is that, the game plays great. It looks great, fun classes and a good fighting system. And a lot of things to do in the world. It is still a Final Fantasy game so it'sDon't listen to all the low scores.. MMO's in early lifetime have this kind of login problems, who cares? Don't rate games on that. Please grow up! The 1017 and whatever other errors are annoying. but who cares!

So that is that, the game plays great. It looks great, fun classes and a good fighting system. And a lot of things to do in the world. It is still a Final Fantasy game so it's really story based. But than with an open world and thousands of others! This game has everything to be a great game in the future not only today. I can't wait to play 100's of hours more I think its much more fun than wow (for new players...) And it's better than GW2 what is very boring end game.

So please guys stop giving stupid ratings because you are annoyed with some errors.... Go get a life or don't play games in their releases. The best thing the only errors are server errors. I never encountered a quest error, item error or world/ design errors!… Expand

marrew

Sep 3, 2013

9

As an original player of FFXIV 1.0, I have to admit, I went into ARR with low expectations. I expected to see a rushed product only hoping to recoup the massive losses that 1.0 incurred. That said, I was blown away by the sheer overhaul of the game. The environments, sound, gameplay all did a massive 180-degree turn.

Everything has made a drastic improvement from the original, withAs an original player of FFXIV 1.0, I have to admit, I went into ARR with low expectations. I expected to see a rushed product only hoping to recoup the massive losses that 1.0 incurred. That said, I was blown away by the sheer overhaul of the game. The environments, sound, gameplay all did a massive 180-degree turn.

Everything has made a drastic improvement from the original, with better combat, a better HUD, and more accessibility for those who are new to the game. That being said, launch has been plauged significantly with constant server congestion and lockouts, which is annoying, seeing as how the game is beautiful once you beat the dreaded 1017. Much of the problem lies in SE not being prepared for the positive reaction to the game, which is a catch twenty-two indeed.

As of today, Sept. 3rd, there is a scheduled maintenence that will hopefully restore functionality to the servers and clear up the massive congestion.

tl;dr: The game is EXCELLENT once you get passed the dreaded 1017 log-in issues.… Expand

slickwilly06

Sep 6, 2013

10

This is the first game to satisfy my MMO craving since WOW. I tried GW2 for a few months but it lacked the depth and social interaction i desired. FFXIV is easily accessible to MMO newcomers and offers enough content for veterans. The community is extremely helpful and it is nice to be able to play with both PC and PS3 players. My Free Company is composed of both PC and PS3 players and weThis is the first game to satisfy my MMO craving since WOW. I tried GW2 for a few months but it lacked the depth and social interaction i desired. FFXIV is easily accessible to MMO newcomers and offers enough content for veterans. The community is extremely helpful and it is nice to be able to play with both PC and PS3 players. My Free Company is composed of both PC and PS3 players and we are one big happy family. The server problems are fixed after their first big patch so all of the haters can stop picking and just enjoy the best final fantasy experience in years.… Expand

Kyoushin

Sep 7, 2013

10

Awesome game, Beautiful scenery, nice storyline, hard dungeons, challenging game overall! Ive just got my first character to 50 and there's still tons of content to explore and constant new content coming in.

Bremic

Sep 11, 2013

10

This game is a true success story, a total comeback kid. So far I love everything about this game. The gameplay, while not necessarily revolutionary, is done well, and to be honest I think that's what MMO gamers want. Something that's just done *well.*

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

wawekar

Oct 30, 2013

3

The game has very nice graphics. How ever it just becomes boring and a chore to play after a bit. I did not last a month with it. if you like repetition over and over then this game is for you. I tried to play a conjurer (healing class), apparently I was not too good at it. Skills are boring. As a healer when I got heal 2 I could not use it as I ran out of mana healing. What didThe game has very nice graphics. How ever it just becomes boring and a chore to play after a bit. I did not last a month with it. if you like repetition over and over then this game is for you. I tried to play a conjurer (healing class), apparently I was not too good at it. Skills are boring. As a healer when I got heal 2 I could not use it as I ran out of mana healing. What did not make sense is your skills like heal 1 would heal for the same amount but each level you attained the cost to cast it went up. This game wasn't for me. I give it a 3 because the graphics were really good.… Expand

Sindena

Nov 11, 2013

2

While it looks all shiny and pretty it is actually a grind fest with lots of problems. You only get quests once, but allowed to do all classes. So once you get to your second class it is grind till you go blind. Hours and hours of running in circles. Then if you are a lower level and trying to complete a quests, you are competing against a level 50 farming for items from same mob. He oneWhile it looks all shiny and pretty it is actually a grind fest with lots of problems. You only get quests once, but allowed to do all classes. So once you get to your second class it is grind till you go blind. Hours and hours of running in circles. Then if you are a lower level and trying to complete a quests, you are competing against a level 50 farming for items from same mob. He one shots everything so you either party up with him and stand there while he kills or you wait hours. Now the party up problem is, providing he will, is that you get lower exp if any cause you get ZERO hits in. Plus you do not learn how to play your class at all this way. The community is worst that World of Warcrafts andI thought that would be impossible. These people are down right hateful and snobby. Do not ask for help in the shout chat, they call you names and laugh at you. Oh and did I mention the relentless spamming in general chat and whispers by gold spammers. It is non stop and makes playing very difficult at times.

Over all this is a bad game I would not recommend it to anyone. The only good thing Square Enix did was make it pretty. Another failure in my book with new clothes on.… Expand

Just_thetip

Oct 20, 2013

4

There were a couple bright spots in this game but overall I found it to be painfully boring. The ability to mix abilities from different classes is a great idea. Unfortunately most abilities feel much the same. Combat felt slow paced. The Questing is its worst flaw. Reading through incredibly dull and unimaginative dialogue from quest giving NPCs was nothing short of a chore. None ofThere were a couple bright spots in this game but overall I found it to be painfully boring. The ability to mix abilities from different classes is a great idea. Unfortunately most abilities feel much the same. Combat felt slow paced. The Questing is its worst flaw. Reading through incredibly dull and unimaginative dialogue from quest giving NPCs was nothing short of a chore. None of it is compelling and I ended up skipping through all of it after a while. The character models look good but the graphics for the environments are sub-par and that's with all settings maxed. The tool used to find a group for dungeons is probably the slowest I've encountered. Especially when considering it can group you with anyone in the NA servers. PVP is completely absent at launch and will be limited when it does come from what I've read. I tried to like this game and gave it some time hoping it would get better as my character progressed but that just didn't happen.… Expand

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 (ReallyYou 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

Sevorast

Sep 7, 2013

8

Excellent game with amazing graphics and a really well done musical score, as expected from any FF game.

While the launch (and pre-launch) were plagued by disconnects and other server issues, they have done an excellent job over the last week or so in clearing those up, and are expected to continue to improve the server performance and stability in the coming weeks. Game play isExcellent game with amazing graphics and a really well done musical score, as expected from any FF game.

While the launch (and pre-launch) were plagued by disconnects and other server issues, they have done an excellent job over the last week or so in clearing those up, and are expected to continue to improve the server performance and stability in the coming weeks.

Game play is fluid and feels very good, animations are very well done and really match the skill or spell they are assigned to, while giving your actions a sense of weight that many games lack.… Expand

AtlasOrion

Nov 30, 2013

5

I'm a big FF franchise fan and I was stoked to play this, lots of hype. There's good and bad, as with every game, but overall I found this game to be incredibly underwhelming. A great big "MEH". I really wasn't sucked in the way I have been with other games, even though it offers some really cool (albeit unoriginal things).

Good: -Price, $30 is pretty reasonable, considering what youI'm a big FF franchise fan and I was stoked to play this, lots of hype. There's good and bad, as with every game, but overall I found this game to be incredibly underwhelming. A great big "MEH". I really wasn't sucked in the way I have been with other games, even though it offers some really cool (albeit unoriginal things).

Good: -Price, $30 is pretty reasonable, considering what you get
- Graphics are amazing, though not recommended for anything less than an Nvidia 570 or above, or radeon 6870 and above if you want to get close to ultra settings, it's pretty demanding on systems.
- Lots of detail, the mounts, pets, cities, characters and country side are very well drawn out with lots of little features
- Great story lines adult scripts, not fluff for little kids, there's swearing and some "colorful" themes lol
- Seems to be a decent crafting system in place, lots of mats to farm for ppl that like that thing

Cons: Quests don't teach you much, you really have to make google your friend with this game. Can be very confusing and infuriating trying to figure out how to play and how to complete a quest. Like under quest objectives it will say "complete the quest objective". Ya, thanks for that...
- Skills are very limited and very banal. Enjoy your half dozen ineffective skills with no customization.
- Everyone looks the same. You're gonna wear THIS armor, and you're gonna not like it. No dressing room either.
- Very tedious UI and game mechanics. To hand in an item you have to talk to the NPC, open your item log, click on the item to select "hand over" or place it in the "hand over box" then press "hand over". Iknowright?
- Map tells you nothing, and there's icons all over the place that you will have no idea what they are, next to players, next to mobs, above NPCs. It's a crapshoot.
- absolutely 0 visible range on mobs, PCs or NPCs. You can see them, but mousing over them does nothing past about 50 yards. That'll be fun for pvp...

I'm sure they'll eventually fix it up and change a lot of things, they've already made some improvements while I was playing, but as of Dec 1/13 I would say wait another 3 months or so or you might become really disappointed and never come back to it.… Expand

Chaz0r

Sep 6, 2013

10

FF14:ARR is a standard theme park MMO. If you don't like games like WoW, RIFT, Warhammer Online or Lord of the Rings Online, this game isn't probably for you either.

If you like those games, FF14:ARR is for you! The core mechanics are great. Everything works polished. The story is awsome, the FATE-Events are fun. The graphic is absolutely awsome! Many MMO-Devs say that it's notFF14:ARR is a standard theme park MMO. If you don't like games like WoW, RIFT, Warhammer Online or Lord of the Rings Online, this game isn't probably for you either.

If you like those games, FF14:ARR is for you! The core mechanics are great. Everything works polished. The story is awsome, the FATE-Events are fun.

The graphic is absolutely awsome! Many MMO-Devs say that it's not possible to create a MMO with awsome graphics and runs on middle class computers. FF14 takes those comments and spits on them. This game looks nothing else than awsome!

Really, really good game!… Expand

wazula5

Aug 28, 2013

10

So far the game is excellent. The vast majority of the issues in 1.0 have been resolved.
Initial class leveling is pretty quick and keeps the story moving.
The Gear Set option is clutch a simple but massive improvement on inventory management and switching between classes.
Love that they have established a new paradigm for grinding.

betelgeuzah

Aug 28, 2013

10

This game does not deserve a 10. However, it does not deserve a 0 either. The server problems are annoying but the game itself is amazing and a million times better than 1.0.

Square-Enix has done a great job with this game. There is a lot to do for a new MMO and the graphics are fantastic. The combat stays interesting since not all monsters can be facerolled, especially in class andThis game does not deserve a 10. However, it does not deserve a 0 either. The server problems are annoying but the game itself is amazing and a million times better than 1.0.

Square-Enix has done a great job with this game. There is a lot to do for a new MMO and the graphics are fantastic. The combat stays interesting since not all monsters can be facerolled, especially in class and main quests.… Expand

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

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 'buildTo 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

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 aroundShall 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

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 trivialThis 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

ChillingWind

Aug 28, 2013

10

Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn is the best MMORPG I have ever played. It IS NOT the same game that came out years ago, and many people are judging it based on the past when I believe Square Enix has found the meaning to the word redemption. The graphics, music, gameplay, and game as a whole is amazing. It is a must buy especially with it being sold at under $45.

Cocytus

Sep 24, 2013

5

Be careful if buying this game.
The game is riddled with unrestrained RMT bots, hacked user accounts that are used as RMT mules that when banned Squeenix refuses to reestablish. Heavy lag problems, long(90min+) dungeon finder queues along with unstable dungeon servers. The game is so poorly coded that high end gpu’s tend to run at very sloppy fps. (Same with Sli/Crossfire)
As if thisBe careful if buying this game.
The game is riddled with unrestrained RMT bots, hacked user accounts that are used as RMT mules that when banned Squeenix refuses to reestablish. Heavy lag problems, long(90min+) dungeon finder queues along with unstable dungeon servers. The game is so poorly coded that high end gpu’s tend to run at very sloppy fps. (Same with Sli/Crossfire)
As if this wasn't good enough their customer support is the worst of any MMO ever to have graced us. Their email support takes 24hrs to create your ticket and 48hrs to receive a copy/paste response to any issue you may be having. Long wait times on phone/chat (2:00hrs+) only to be cut off because there are no agents available after you were already on a queue during working hours!! And even if you get lucky and are able to get attended by an agent they never resolve the issue and always respond with a 'Prepared response' followed by disconnecting the chat/phone call.
Oh, but wait there's more. You'll love this one. They refuse to take your money. That's right, their payment system is so archaic and sloppy that it's unable to properly process your credit cards. After the first attempt fails your credit card gets locked for 24hrs and each additional attempt resets the timer and adds more wait time (48-72hrs). Until the systems locks your card for 30days. All this information was gathered via phone. The payment process makes no mention of this nor does it provide a way for you to see the time left on your lock down so you're left guessing whether or not you already have the 30 day restriction and resetting the timer if you attempt to use it again. (Customer service doesn't have a way to tell you either )
Square Enix response to the issue? "It's your fault" "Your credit card denies the payment" Even after repeatedly informing them via email, chat, phone and forums that after calling to our respective banks (that's right more than one credit card/bank) there was no issue with them.
OK, so paying with cc is a no-go. Let's try their "Crysta" system (it's a payment system similar to Xbox microsoft points). Assuming you fall under their designated allowed countries (Brazil & Venezuela aren't part of America and Puerto Rico isn't part of the USA Sqeenix has spoken!) you will be able to buy crysta via the UltimatePay option by buying their pre-paid $20 cards. Please note that this card will also be rejected by Squeenix and you will be required to call UltimatePay support in order for them to manually push the crysta onto your account once you provide them the card code via phone call.
I strongly recommend staying away from this game until Square Enix fixes all these issues if at all. Please note that from past experience (FFXI, FFXIV) Square Enix has for the most part always ignored the player and done their own thing at their own pace. If anything I hope this post helps new players get a clearer picture of what they're getting into after paying for the game.

Current outstanding issues on forums for those interested:
Payment Method Registration Errors [Error Code 401 and 601]
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/93493-Payment-Method-Registration-Errors-Error-Code-401-and-601
Can't Buy Crysta
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/94774-Can-t-Buy-Crysta
Error 2002 and 90000
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/94987-Error-2002-and-90000

You can view all issues at their Technical Support Forum:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/627-Technical-Support… Expand

Marandopsu

Sep 11, 2013

5

Now a mediocre game instead of an abysmal turd. This qualifies as a tremendous turn around for Square Enix, but don't expect anything other than archaic mechanics and a mundane story.

CaptainGowa

Aug 28, 2013

10

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is so much better than its previous incarnation that it's hard to fully describe. While there's nothing overly innovative about it, this game takes all of the great ideas from various successful MMORPGs and incorporates them into one package. The fantastic story telling and presentation of Final Fantasy XI, the usability of World of Warcraft, and aFinal Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is so much better than its previous incarnation that it's hard to fully describe. While there's nothing overly innovative about it, this game takes all of the great ideas from various successful MMORPGs and incorporates them into one package. The fantastic story telling and presentation of Final Fantasy XI, the usability of World of Warcraft, and a number of great systems inspired by others. With a great deal of nostalgia and Final Fantasy goodness thrown on top, this game will keep any Final Fantasy fan busy for years to come.

(While there are some hiccups during this initial launch phase, including errors that are being mentioned, this is to be expected of any big product launch. With new servers coming within a week's time, these annoyances are only temporary and do little to hinder a legitimate review score.)… Expand

Nightchills

Nov 6, 2013

0

The game is a total grid fest. Yes you can have one toon and do it all but OMG. There’s only enough quests out there for 2 “MAYBE” 3 classes worth of grinding and that’s still doing fates Rifts like in rift or should I say stolen from Rift or ark falls in defiance) The combat system is complete trash every ability is on a global cool down due to the cross platform factor. Set a macro andThe game is a total grid fest. Yes you can have one toon and do it all but OMG. There’s only enough quests out there for 2 “MAYBE” 3 classes worth of grinding and that’s still doing fates Rifts like in rift or should I say stolen from Rift or ark falls in defiance) The combat system is complete trash every ability is on a global cool down due to the cross platform factor. Set a macro and auto combat. While the game looks GREAT the mechanics and game play is so far below the line to even call it a Final Fantasy game. Gold spammers ever where, and due to SE’s lack of planning for the PC gamers there is no such thing and right click so if u want to ignore someone that takes an hour to open the menu then try to catch the spammer through the waves upon waves of spam. Within the first week of open game play you couldn’t walk into a town without getting spam in gen chat and IM’d constantly… Crafting is ok not the best crafting system out there, again a system stolen from another game. The crafting system is much like that of Vanguard, however the market is so trashed due to all the gold farmers you can’t make any money, and on top of that, that is how SE expects you to make money so good luck there. The community is the worst part though, one of the main grind instances for level 50+ gear just happens to be the 2nd to last instance of the main quest line. People speed run that instance and just leave the new comers behind they don’t even care if it’s your 1st or 50th time through. While this game could be great it falls short in a big way.
Find a demo or get on a friends account. This game is good for about 1 month then the grind and the community will get you and you will wish you had every cent back.… Expand

Bastrion

Aug 28, 2013

10

A veritable phoenix risen from the ashes of a terrible initial game. This game is excellent, and once the login issues are resolved, hopefully everyone can begin to enjoy it

Velaniswin

Aug 28, 2013

10

While the launch has been frustrating, I'm enjoying this game a ton and will probably stick around for a while to see where SE goes with it.

The launch of an MMO can be rough for any company, so I won't let some server issues ruin the great game play Yoshi P worked on.

Bnburns2000

Aug 28, 2013

9

Short Version: If you're a fan of vanilla WoW, but still prefer the updated accommodations standard with most MMOs, you'll find a lot to love with XIV:ARR. If you prefer the action-combat of GW2, TERA, etc., this game may not be to you. Beautiful graphics, intuitive interface. This is a game that appeals to mmo fans that have grown tired of the old titles, but are still looking for thatShort Version: If you're a fan of vanilla WoW, but still prefer the updated accommodations standard with most MMOs, you'll find a lot to love with XIV:ARR. If you prefer the action-combat of GW2, TERA, etc., this game may not be to you. Beautiful graphics, intuitive interface. This is a game that appeals to mmo fans that have grown tired of the old titles, but are still looking for that same experience with updated features. XIV:ARR doesn't reinvent the wheel, and while it's a slow starter for the first 20-30 levels, the pay off is definitely worth it. After floundering between various mmos for the last 3-4 years, I feel like this is the game I've been waiting for.

Funny enough, with all of the so-called "WoW clones" on the market, very few games ever truly felt like the original World of Warcraft experience. This one does, at least for me.… Expand

Dashuto

Sep 2, 2013

10

Despite a crowded launch, the game has made absolutely massive improvements. To see a game transformed as this one has, has never been done. The developers directly ask users regularly what they wish to see in the game, and content is massive compared to before, with many additions on the horizon. Gameplay is solid, and hardware usage was updated. The community is fairly strong withDespite a crowded launch, the game has made absolutely massive improvements. To see a game transformed as this one has, has never been done. The developers directly ask users regularly what they wish to see in the game, and content is massive compared to before, with many additions on the horizon. Gameplay is solid, and hardware usage was updated. The community is fairly strong with committed players, a good investment for a gamer who has time on his hands.… Expand

KrispyKleen

Sep 5, 2013

10

Truly a masterpiece. If you did not play beyond level 10 or 15, you know nothing about this game and it would be unfair for you to write any type of review. Everything about this game is amazing, you can really see the time and effort put into it. I love A Realm Reborn. It is amazing.

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

Synikal603

Aug 28, 2013

10

If you can look past the growing pains that all MMO's suffer when they first launch you will find a fun romp through a beautifully crafted world. FFXIV: ARR is a vast improvement over the previous launch version of FFXIV in pretty much every way conceivable.I can easily recommend this game to fans of Final Fantasy and MMO's though I do caution people interested to give the game a week orIf you can look past the growing pains that all MMO's suffer when they first launch you will find a fun romp through a beautifully crafted world. FFXIV: ARR is a vast improvement over the previous launch version of FFXIV in pretty much every way conceivable.I can easily recommend this game to fans of Final Fantasy and MMO's though I do caution people interested to give the game a week or so to sort out all of its issues.… Expand

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

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

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

Cell1e

Sep 22, 2013

3

What I like:
I like the pretty places, the graphics and the range of armours and weapons, classes and skills. The animations are nice too. I like the cut scenes seeing my character in them. I liked the character creator, its better than some mmo's out there.
The ability to play lots of classes and do lots of crafts all with one character is nice if you are into building lots into yourWhat I like:
I like the pretty places, the graphics and the range of armours and weapons, classes and skills. The animations are nice too. I like the cut scenes seeing my character in them. I liked the character creator, its better than some mmo's out there.
The ability to play lots of classes and do lots of crafts all with one character is nice if you are into building lots into your one main. I personally like making lots of different characters with different looks and trying out new classes and jobs that way.
The bad:
The Map, its TERRIBLE!!! I have never used a worse map in an mmo in the last five years at least. It has been a torture finding my way around. The crystal travel within cities is pretty pointless as you can't use it unless you happen to be right there touching one, why not let you teleport from anywhere you are to any of the crystals. The fact you can't preview items...who makes an mmo without item preview? The lack of a sort button in the inventory.
Now the UGLY:
Why tie all the fun stuff to the main quest and THEN make dungeons part of the main quest??? It is beyond belief that any game maker would happily alienate a large group of potential customers by saying 'its our way or the highway'.
Let me explain. Everything I like to do in an mmo, like crafting, selling things on the brokers, storing things in storage and yes even riding a chocobo can only be done when you have passed certain milestones in the main quests; at level 15 you get a main quest to leave your little town and fly to the other two main cities to deliver messages. Until this point you are just doing local quests, not able to store anything or sell anything as you have no access to the servant guy who you can hire when you complete some of your main quests higher up. Im level 19 and still haven't unlocked my chocobo or auction house and am a little stuck with no money waiting on a slow dungeon finder mechanic to find me a place on the third of the three main quest story dungeons you HAVE to do before you can hope to advance. Actually I ran out of money because as you quest you get no money dropping, you get paid very small amounts from SOME quests but I was silly enough to just use the teleporting skill without realising it was using my money and I wasn't getting the money back from the two dungeons I had laboured through.
Yeah this game is so not about great loot- I'm not seeing how anyone can find it rewarding at all.
This afternoon after waiting a long time to be matched with a group I decided to roll another character out just to get a break from the grind and frustration and when she was ready to go I was told I could NOT go back to my server as it is full and no new characters allowed. I tried to get any eu server and they were all blocked and the only servers allowed for me to try were NA servers. Not great for me here in Ireland. There as also a message stating that there would be NO server switching at any time. So I have one character stuck, broke and waiting for a dungeon on a full up server (how is it I had so much trouble getting a dungeon group is beyond me)
I feel utterly fed up and annoyed and bothered. I would say to anyone out there who isn't a brainwashed final fantasy fan to think carefully before buying this game. Make sure you love dungeons, you will have to play them and you will have to play a lot of them. If you love getting lots of loot, forget this game, I got to level 19 without even filling one of my 6 bags, okay the clothes items go to a separate storage but still there should be drops of potions, weapons, crafting stuff, money...there is nearly nothing but xp from grinding.
If I manage to suck it up and stick out the final dungeon I should imagine I will be at least level 20-22 before I get to use the brokers properly or get my riding skill. That's half-way to level cap!! Something is wrong with that picture.
Oh and gathering and crafting? Very time consuming. I'm really not sure it is worth the bother. I love to craft and do it in every mmo I play. I can't see myself doing it in this game.
The FATES are pretty unrewarding too. You get xp and some small amount of coins. Oh and another big disappointment is the lack of audio with 90% of the talking cut scenes, in this day and age and with the wealth of Square Enix you would think they would pay some voice actors.
But it is pretty.

Pretty Frustrating!!
Pretty Unrewarding!!
Pretty Grindy!!… Expand

suneater

Nov 29, 2013

6

While it has improved a lot from the "1.0" launch version, not everything has changed for the better. FFXIV is completely average and doesn't try to excel at anything.

The storyline has been changed from a quest every 5 levels (give or take) to a hand-holding, tunnel vision, JRPG-style story that leads you from one quest hub to the next and locking you out of everything that you haven'tWhile it has improved a lot from the "1.0" launch version, not everything has changed for the better. FFXIV is completely average and doesn't try to excel at anything.

The storyline has been changed from a quest every 5 levels (give or take) to a hand-holding, tunnel vision, JRPG-style story that leads you from one quest hub to the next and locking you out of everything that you haven't done a tutorial for. I appreciate the attempt at a longer and revamped story but it has so many small problems that, while being the highlight of the game, is still sub-par for both JRPGs and story-centric MMOs. Many parts of the main story are NPCs literally just handing you extra "kill X" and "loot Y" quests that have become a cancer on MMOs. Everything outside of the story quest you are currently on is locked out until you are "allowed" to do it; for example, I had two mounts I earned during 1.0, but I wasn't able to use them until I completed a level 20 quest that I didn't have access to on my level 50 character because I wasn't that far in the story yet. If you're looking for a JRPG, try replaying one of Square's older games instead.

The combat has been reworked into a hotkey spamfest. Like most modern MMOs, once you find your "rotation", you will be facerolling for most of the story and into endgame. "Red circle dodging" has become ridiculous in 2.0 with most endgame content requiring more running in circles than actual fighting. Playing a melee class is infuriating with many late/end game enemies spamming ground targeted AoEs that have a habit of one-shotting non-tanks. In short, the gameplay has become a slower version of GW2 with even more AoE spam from enemies.

Endgame consists of grinding the same 2 dungeons for months to get tokens (why don't the dungeons drop token-strength gear?) to upgrade your gear so you can grind harder dungeons to get bigger numbers. All equip from 1.0 has been streamlined into just bigger numbers and stripped of unique stats & buffs; AF quests used to require a party to help and rewarded some of the best gear in the game with Job-enhancing stats. Now AF is trivialized, handed to you for finishing solo content and discarded once you get Darklight. Everyone looks the same, uses the same rotation, and is running the same dungeons to increase their numbers.

After 2 years of reworking, FFXIV still has too many small problems to really be any better than "good". With all the huge changes in 2.0, many old problems were fixed but many new problems were introduced. Overall this is an average MMO, using average gameplay elements seen from many other popular MMOs while introducing no innovation or creativity. There is too much pandering, too much recycling of content, and too much rehashing of old FF elements (what does Lightning from FFXIII have to do with this game?). FFXIV is a western gameplay jigsaw puzzle pieced together by an eastern dev who bring nothing new of their own to fill in the gaps.… Expand

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

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 asWell, 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

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

Oceanborn

Sep 2, 2013

10

I can't belive it, finally Final Fantasy XIV: A realm reborn. After waiting 2 years *q*
Start... 1017, 2002, 10102, Unable to obtain world list for NA/EU... I really enjoy pressing 0

HintonR

Aug 31, 2013

10

Those who are complaining about server issues and not being able to log in due to server capacity did get the short end of the stick, but does that make it a bad game? I don't think so. On the other hand, I think the fact the servers are always full is a sign its a great game and that everyone wants to play! FFXIV:ARR is a dream and fantasia for many MMO veterans both hardcore and casual.Those who are complaining about server issues and not being able to log in due to server capacity did get the short end of the stick, but does that make it a bad game? I don't think so. On the other hand, I think the fact the servers are always full is a sign its a great game and that everyone wants to play! FFXIV:ARR is a dream and fantasia for many MMO veterans both hardcore and casual. The polish that Square Enix & Yoshida's dev team has given to the game has given the genre new life.

The JRPG genre has been a dying one in the west, lacking the freedom of western open world RPGs. However, Square Enix has blurred the line between JRPG and MMO when they enfused the Final Fantasy franchise with the MMO genre a second time a la FFXIV:ARR.

I am very excited to say that ARR caters to the single person role player inside everyone of us. Especially the console players. The way the game leads the player from one quest to another while slowly unfolding the lore of the world around them allow the player to really settle into the world at a comfortable pace while eventually still learning to conquer more difficult content. This pacing can feel like the typical MMO quest hub fare as well as also feeling like one large tutorial for the game's endgame. That being said, everything in the game is presented with excellence.

The narrative of the main storyline, though at times can contain "filler" quests, unfold a very epic tale that flavors towards the typical Final Fantasy story: a rebellion against an empire. Those who have wanted to see any of the 2D Final Fantasies re-invented in some way and able to see how SE has re-envisioned their staple trademarks in HD 3D; then I can only recommend this game, and greatly so!!

For $30-40 you are able to experience one of the most polished role playing experiences that will ever come on console and PC, supported by a company dedicated to satisfying their customers. Even for a short stay, Eorzea has a lot to offer for just that bar of entry. Other games retail at $60 remeber. But let's continue? I digress.

The audio in the game in outstanding! The voice overs are nothing to talk about, but are an added bonus that fleshes out the world out a little bit more; still the text can sometimes feel dry and dull. But the music, and sound effects, and the little ambient noises that you start to take note of. Little details like when in a crowded room of both players or NPCs, chatter starts to rise and soon enough you'll notice the room is loud with small talk. Details like the click-clacking of the armor that your Chocobo's wearing. And then the awesome battle music that accompanies you when combat begins and the overworld scores that carry you around the world as they transition between battle and back as you progress through the dynamic and stunning 3D world of Eorzea! There's so many beautiful scores and battle themes, they are incredibly memorable especially for any MMO. And they still have the classic FF fan fares and Chocobo themes.

The combat is somewhat of a controversy. I definitely like the new pace coming from 1.0. The system is a little different from classic XIV, but its a welcomed improvement and has definitely streamlined battled flow of the game. Many MMO veterans have regarded ARRs new system as the traditional "tab target" system; but what some fail to mention is that the system is polished to the brim and as crisped as autumn leaves that it still remains to be very active & immersive. And by polished and crisped, I mean the outstanding animations.

This game excels at giving every aspect an MMO should have and giving it a high bar of polish. The animations transitions from one action to another, going from one animation to another so naturally. Combat is slow but a classic Final Fantasy player will appreciate the homage of FFXIV:ARR "tab targeting/GDC" based gameplay to their traditional "Active Time Battle" systems of ole'.

Did I mention the lore is great? Any fan of the series will appreciate the homages it gives to franchise staples ranging from reoccuring characters, motifs, and themes. They will feel right at home in this MMO space without ever feeling like being dropped right into a world. Numbered Final Fantasy games have always been able to tell a good story usually also introducing a completely new world. ARR does no different, and that it being an MMO does not greatly intrude to the single player experience it offers. If even, it greatly benefits that it is an online game.

How many people wanted Skyrim Online? Oh thats right, they're making an MMO now. Final Fantasy tested this formula in FFXII and have spent almost 6+ years creating the fantasy world they aspired to create. With the original shortcomings of the original XIV, ARR triumphs proudly as a numbered FF in the series. It brings the traditional FF experience to the HD 3D realm. But it also brings to the franchise an outstanding MMO experience. Long live Eorzea! … Expand

Siel

Sep 2, 2013

10

Excellent game, Excellent story, it had a lot of problems at the launch but the game itself is almost perfect.

If you want to play something new and fresh, if you are tired of MMORPG-like WOW, I invite you to play FFXIV.

Stoff3th3m4n

Sep 4, 2013

9

They game is really fun to play at this moment, despite of server issues which will be adressed. And that's what it's all about really. They challenge for the developers will be to keep players interested and that can't be reviewed yet naturally. But plain and simple, it's really fun to play.

jayborrelli

Sep 11, 2013

10

Fun, addicting with an Epic story line. Ps3 play, other than targeting (which can sometimes be difficult) works really well. Not sure otherwise how this game could be any better, a true 180 from its former FFXIV 1.0!

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 goblinsThis 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

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 isa 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

The_Ommadawn

Sep 18, 2013

9

This came out of nowhere for me and ordinarily I wouldn't play a Final Fantasy game. I am SHOCKED at how good this game is. I've been scratching for years to find a replacement MMO for WoW. I've tried all the recent challengers (Tera, GW2, Rift, Secret World) and all have their strengths. The all offer something and are enjoyable to play. What FF provides, isn't the next step in MMOThis came out of nowhere for me and ordinarily I wouldn't play a Final Fantasy game. I am SHOCKED at how good this game is. I've been scratching for years to find a replacement MMO for WoW. I've tried all the recent challengers (Tera, GW2, Rift, Secret World) and all have their strengths. The all offer something and are enjoyable to play. What FF provides, isn't the next step in MMO evolution, but a finely tuned and polished game that has been clearly been thought out. I know that log in issues are the biggest problem (since launch) and sadly, this happens with almost all new games. I read that even Square Enix weren't prepared for the player influx. I guess, like me they read the reviews and jumped on board. If you're an MMO fan, you will love FF Realm Reborn. Graphically, it's a work of art. The animations, colours, environments, armour, clothing, just about everything is the peak of any MMO i've played. The first 15 levels were a little slow if you're a veteran of these type of games. If there is one BIG weakness it's the lack of voice over cutscenes. Maybe this will be added at a later date. It's a shame because some parts are voice acted then moments of silence while you read the text. The combat is tab targeted but fast paced and action packed. I await the likes of Wildstar and Elder Scrolls Online to see if they can pull me away. From my experience so far, this will be no easy task.… Expand

jball_2k

Sep 16, 2013

8

Let me start off by saying that I have played most MMO's since EverQuest. Even I avoided this game like the plague when 1.0 came out, as it was just not even close to WoW. All the poor reviews kept me away.

I have a level 50 Scholar, and I love it. Leveling starts off VERY fun, then does tank as you are pretty much forced to grind FATE quests. FATES are public quests. Dungeons are semiLet me start off by saying that I have played most MMO's since EverQuest. Even I avoided this game like the plague when 1.0 came out, as it was just not even close to WoW. All the poor reviews kept me away.

I have a level 50 Scholar, and I love it. Leveling starts off VERY fun, then does tank as you are pretty much forced to grind FATE quests. FATES are public quests. Dungeons are semi challenging, and need to have more rewards for completion. The Trials are a BLAST, and the story is quite good,

I would definitely recommend this game, if you have 3-10 friends to play it with. A lot of these dungeons are so hard that PUG'ing is very hard. Right when you hit 50, it's harder than raiding in WoW.… Expand

Enigma_Syrus

Aug 28, 2013

8

FFXIV:ARR reminds me a lot of what initially brought me to WoW. The world is new and there is plenty to do. You can quest, grind, do guildhests (small challenge maps), leves ("dailies" that open up early in the game), FATEs (open world events, bosses) and instances (replete with group finder). It keeps the FF feel, while handling like a contemporary MMO. You also get mounts that are alsoFFXIV:ARR reminds me a lot of what initially brought me to WoW. The world is new and there is plenty to do. You can quest, grind, do guildhests (small challenge maps), leves ("dailies" that open up early in the game), FATEs (open world events, bosses) and instances (replete with group finder). It keeps the FF feel, while handling like a contemporary MMO. You also get mounts that are also fighting companions.

It does not have the tactical depth that FFXI had, but neither is it so crushingly difficult and unforgiving (FFXI had very few quest instructions, xp on death, quest to break level caps, Maat fights). I am happy to say that on the way to end-game, there is more to do in FFXIV than any other MMO I've played.

You can use your one character to level every class-job in the game and change class-jobs instantly by saving your gear sets (up to 12 or so) and storing them in your armory (a separate inventory for each equipment slot). As you use up quests, xp is scale for FATEs based on your highest level so that the xp grind becomes less pronounced.

Instances and FATEs are also level synced. This means that when you arrive, you are capped at a certain level. However, you will still gain xp, etc. This allows you to play with lower level friends, etc. if they need assistance or you want to rerun an old instance.

Now, glowing positives aside, lets be realistic. FFXIV:ARR borrows A LOT from other MMO's. You can see WoW in it (interface, character handling), Rift (open world events) and SWTOR (how it handles quests). If you are burned out on traditional MMO's, then you may feel the same here.

The game is also facing some overpopulation issues and is suffering from that. Despite what you read here, Square has announced that there will a server hardware expansion but it won't be ready until the beginning of next week (around September 2nd). There is a queue system, but that too is overloaded (most people never see it). The problem is compounded by a lack of afk kick system, so those that get in will park their characters if they leave for awhile so they don't have to sit at the login screen. Can't blame them... but it prevents people from actually playing during that time.

In the end, this game will live or die based on its end-game content and how fast Square corrects the server population issues. Some end-game is lacking but they have already previewed the first end-game raid (24 or 25 man, I'm a little off on the exact figure) so it is on the way. Anyone who has played WoW however knows that people will only stay if that content keeps coming.

I implore those that read this to try to form their own opinions of the game. There are plenty of videos on Youtube, etc. where you can see gameplay in advance. Make your own determination. There can be a strong bias in these reviews either by fanboys or those loyal to another MMO.

Only time will tell how successful FFXIV:ARR will be.… Expand

Khronikos

Sep 6, 2013

10

Fantastic game. Utterly amazing what they have done in the last couple years. It went from crap to diamonds. The worlds are huge, the systems are amazing, and there is so much to do. Sure, it has a lot of fetchy stuff but they have worked their ass off to make this a great game living up to the legacy of FF. I'd honestly take these idiotic negative reviews with a grain of coarse salt. ThisFantastic game. Utterly amazing what they have done in the last couple years. It went from crap to diamonds. The worlds are huge, the systems are amazing, and there is so much to do. Sure, it has a lot of fetchy stuff but they have worked their ass off to make this a great game living up to the legacy of FF. I'd honestly take these idiotic negative reviews with a grain of coarse salt. This is easily one of the best looking RPGs I have ever played with full settings and SGSSAA on PC at 1080p 60FPS. Do yourself a favor and try it out.… Expand

mekia

Sep 2, 2013

10

What Square Enix has done with 2.0 is nothing short of breath taking. In 2-3 years they created a completely different game, ARR has no resemblance of the fiasco 1.0 was.

You have two new jobs to play with and one new class. The new class ACN can split into SMN and SCH which is a new healer in FFXIV ARR beside the WHM. ACN has two different pets a tank and a dps one which are veryWhat Square Enix has done with 2.0 is nothing short of breath taking. In 2-3 years they created a completely different game, ARR has no resemblance of the fiasco 1.0 was.

You have two new jobs to play with and one new class. The new class ACN can split into SMN and SCH which is a new healer in FFXIV ARR beside the WHM. ACN has two different pets a tank and a dps one which are very useful while leveling. But later on to stay a dps you should change to SMN and as pets you than have Ifrit,Titan and Garuda.

Leveling is going quite fast with loads of Story Missions which range from one to 50 and reward you with a FFVI Magiteck mount.
Fates which are events out in the world to complete which give xp/gil and sometimes items.

There is so much to do in this game that you wont get bored for month. And SE already said that XIV will get major updates every 3 month.… Expand

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

hodgesb

Sep 9, 2013

9

Wow, quite a change from the first FFXIV. The new interface is great, the map works perfectly, and the skills are much more accessible than before. Overall, they fixed the issues that prevented me from enjoying the first game. I played about 14 hours and each aspect of the game (so far) seems perfected, which is much more than I can say for most MMO's. You can tell they really put in theWow, quite a change from the first FFXIV. The new interface is great, the map works perfectly, and the skills are much more accessible than before. Overall, they fixed the issues that prevented me from enjoying the first game. I played about 14 hours and each aspect of the game (so far) seems perfected, which is much more than I can say for most MMO's. You can tell they really put in the effort and I believe they will be successful without having to go the F2P route. They may be sticking with the traditional MMO formula, but I don't mind since it's a formula I enjoy.… Expand

MacMercurius

Aug 30, 2013

10

This game is absolutly great. It is polished, solid classic gameplay and tons of atmosphere. One of the best MMOs around, if you like this sort of "classic" game mechanics like WoW. It has very, very few bugs.

coolflare

Sep 2, 2013

10

This game is well optimized and when I say well I mean -very-. The standard settings of this game runs on my crappy laptop without issue and remains with the beauty you expect from a final fantasy game. Square outdid themselves and I recommend anyone in starting this game. There may be a few negative reviews here, some are in right however, some of these reviews were illogical by giving aThis game is well optimized and when I say well I mean -very-. The standard settings of this game runs on my crappy laptop without issue and remains with the beauty you expect from a final fantasy game. Square outdid themselves and I recommend anyone in starting this game. There may be a few negative reviews here, some are in right however, some of these reviews were illogical by giving a game entirely a 0 score simply because of login issues on release date. I wish people would make decisions more rationally rather than out of pure rage.… Expand

Quixadhal

Sep 7, 2013

9

Like many others, I came to FFXIV 1.0 after enjoying the old-school FFXI game that preceded it. I wasn't expecting it to be as "hard-core", since the trend has been making games more solo-friendly and "easy", but I *was* expecting something along the same lines.

What we got in 1.0 was something between an alpha and beta test of a new combat system, a different class/job system, and aLike many others, I came to FFXIV 1.0 after enjoying the old-school FFXI game that preceded it. I wasn't expecting it to be as "hard-core", since the trend has been making games more solo-friendly and "easy", but I *was* expecting something along the same lines.

What we got in 1.0 was something between an alpha and beta test of a new combat system, a different class/job system, and a graphics engine that felt both too advanced and too limited, at the same time. I can only assume the previous development team was working on both the PC and PS3 versions at the same time, and failures on one held up the other, in both directions.

After Yoshi took over, he made a concentrated effort to fix and salvage what was good from the PC version of the game, and shifted focus to developing a brand new engine from scratch, which would eventually become A Realm Reborn. It was the best decision he could have made.

The re-launch of FFXIV is a success, and the first time in history an MMO has ever found success with a second chance. The game is just fun to play, and amazing to look at. On top of that, it's very smooth and responsive, even on middle-of-the-road hardware.

The only issues have been the crazy popularity that was MUCH higher than they expected, causing a lot of server issues on the North American cluster during launch week, and some minor irritations with the UI that almost every game has until they have time to refine things a bit more.

Unlike some other MMO's (which I won't name), FFXIV feels like the devs really love the product, and the franchise in general. There are all kinds of little polish details you don't really expect from an MMO, and especially one still in launch phase. There are lots of them, but the most recent one I noticed was that when riding a mount, you get unique background music that fits the mount you've chosen to ride... and that the volume of the music ramps up while you're racing along, and falls back into the background as you stop. Wonderful immersion detail that is purely there for flavor.

I totally recommend it to my friends. And if you got burned on 1.0, you now own the new version, and have a few days to check it out without paying... now that most of the launch issues are either fixed or have a fix in sight, it might be worth the time to download it and see.… Expand

namythemithra

Sep 9, 2013

10

i played xi for 6 years then i took a break tried out few MMOs, then started 1.0 3 months before it was taken down and i was disappointed but i kept believing they must change it to something better.

tried beta phase 4 and i was honestly shocked with the improvements, the game felt new compared to 1.0. it is amazing now, everyone i know is so addicted. when players got angry because ofi played xi for 6 years then i took a break tried out few MMOs, then started 1.0 3 months before it was taken down and i was disappointed but i kept believing they must change it to something better.

tried beta phase 4 and i was honestly shocked with the improvements, the game felt new compared to 1.0. it is amazing now, everyone i know is so addicted. when players got angry because of capacity and log in issues it was because the game was so good everyone wanted to play.

the game feels like a FF game, it has that feeling that you can't find in other games. I even started reading all the dialogues (i never done that in any game before).

I can see myself playing this one for years!… Expand

Statrix

Sep 10, 2013

10

I've slowly been losing hope for the MMORPG genre, but this game completely ignites the spark. It proves that MMORPG games with the classic recipe can still be great when implemented correctly, and that P2P is still a way to go, and makes for a much greater community. I haven't been this attached to a game in while. Do recommend trying it out of you haven't. Great party mechanics, greatI've slowly been losing hope for the MMORPG genre, but this game completely ignites the spark. It proves that MMORPG games with the classic recipe can still be great when implemented correctly, and that P2P is still a way to go, and makes for a much greater community. I haven't been this attached to a game in while. Do recommend trying it out of you haven't. Great party mechanics, great solo mechanics, great storyline, great endgame already, with a promising lead developer that won't let down.… Expand

tyspi

Sep 10, 2013

10

I have played every new hyped Mmo including the original 1.0 and this game gives you the feeling right off the bat that it's a winner. It's very intelligent unlike a lot if the other Wow clones out there with some very intuitive systems. I have yet to try endgame which for me is where the game will define itself but I have a feeling this game will surprise a lot if people. Give it a try;)

Drazin

Sep 10, 2013

9

Ive been playing from 1.0 and trudged through it. went through all the betas. Had the 1017 fiasco.. and after it all... I must say, this is the best comeback of any game ever. Im not fanboy-ing this at all. If you love a fantasy world with a story that has you on the edge of your seat and great endgame to boot, this is the game for you!

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 myFFXIV: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

2random

Mar 20, 2021

1

Buy this, buy that, buy game, buy expansion, buy one more expansion, buy one more expension again, buy subscription every month. Then you have to spend 200 hours doing "fetch this- talk to that guy - fetch that" quests. Or buy auto lvl and buy skip quests. I can buy like a huge pizza and 2 years of WoW instead.
Servers are filled with player-like bots. Most "people" just stand aroundBuy this, buy that, buy game, buy expansion, buy one more expansion, buy one more expension again, buy subscription every month. Then you have to spend 200 hours doing "fetch this- talk to that guy - fetch that" quests. Or buy auto lvl and buy skip quests. I can buy like a huge pizza and 2 years of WoW instead.
Servers are filled with player-like bots. Most "people" just stand around teleport area doing nothing. Havent seen anyone say a single word in global chat for like 2 months. It can take up to 2 hours to get into a dungeon. So fake. Every time I try to enter any server there is a fake "20 players login queue" message to make the game look more popular. In game community is extremely unfriendly. People would rather rage quit than explain boss tactics.
Graphics are really bad. Even Lineage 2 looks better at this point.
Music is good, though.
So, in case you have 8(full party size) rich friends who can pay at least $100 each- you can have some fun. Otherwise, it's not worth it.… Expand

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 StoryIt 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

kaltorak

May 22, 2014

6

It's not bad, it's just... ok. I wanted to like it, but there is not much to be enjoyed. It has nothing bad. But there's also nothing to look forward.

PRO: Graphics. Mostly outdoors, cities and characters are a bit meh. But in general they are good. CON: Skills and spells are dull. I could see all the skills I was going to get and there was none I could be really looking forwardIt's not bad, it's just... ok. I wanted to like it, but there is not much to be enjoyed. It has nothing bad. But there's also nothing to look forward.

PRO:
Graphics. Mostly outdoors, cities and characters are a bit meh. But in general they are good.

CON:
Skills and spells are dull. I could see all the skills I was going to get and there was none I could be really looking forward to.

The game is fine. The problem is Rift is better, GW2 is better, Wildstar beta looked like it will be better, even Neverwinter Online would be better if it weren't for the horrible subscription model.

I would say, if oyu love FF universe, you can still enjoy it. Otherwise, even though not having anything really wrong, you won't… Expand

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 revivalI 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

bigmorningwood

Mar 15, 2014

10

Boring story, slow painful start (Lv.1-15 are REALLY boring on every class), invisible walls, useless crafting classes, weekly cap in endgame content. Ignore this and, sadly, you have the best MMORPG in the market right now. Gorgeous graphics, superb combat (when you have all your abilities), you only need ONE character to enjoy everything there is in the game, endgame provides a goodBoring story, slow painful start (Lv.1-15 are REALLY boring on every class), invisible walls, useless crafting classes, weekly cap in endgame content. Ignore this and, sadly, you have the best MMORPG in the market right now. Gorgeous graphics, superb combat (when you have all your abilities), you only need ONE character to enjoy everything there is in the game, endgame provides a good enough challenge, most of the community is helpful, cheerful and well mannered, every class is balanced and has a unique playstyle, and every 2-3 months there's a big patch with lots of content (SquareEnix is doing a really good job this time). For today's standards, this is THE MMO everyone should be playing right now.… Expand

halcyon_zephyr

Mar 26, 2014

5

First off, I would like to say that I played this game since launch, and quit about a month ago (February 2014).

The Pros: > You can switch classes whenever you want (outside of combat) on the same character! This means that you can have basically every class unlocked on the same character so you can fill virtually any party role. If you picked a DPS at the start and find that it isFirst off, I would like to say that I played this game since launch, and quit about a month ago (February 2014).

The Pros:
> You can switch classes whenever you want (outside of combat) on the same character! This means that you can have basically every class unlocked on the same character so you can fill virtually any party role. If you picked a DPS at the start and find that it is too hard to get into groups, then you can just start to level up a healer.
> To help with re-rolling, you actually get an EXP boost to level up your other classes basically twice as fast.
> The grouping system / duty finder is really nice in this game. You can just queue up solo and be paired with a random group (this usually goes a lot better than it sounds), or you can queue up with some friends. When you queue solo you now have the option of leaving a player commendation which can be spent on some aesthetic items, like a crown.
> The graphics are stunning and the soundtrack is also quite nice!
> The story is really interesting, as are most FF games. Depending on where you start off (one of three different towns, JOB dependent... not race) then you get to meet different a certain couple characters more in-depth than the others. This gives people a little bit of a unique feel for the game, and also makes it slightly more enjoyable to create a completely new character.
> You get mounts that you can level up and use while exploring the game! Well, the only mount that you can have fight with you is the chocobo mount, but you can get other mounts that you can ride as well.

The Cons:
> The armor system makes no sense.... when you first get to level 50 you are probably using armor that was either crafted, or just found in a dungeon. This armor, if it is i50 or i55, can be infused with materia to give it bonus stats... like +HP or +Accuracy. However, you can easily get some new i70 armor from doing some dungeon grinding for a few hours, or by crafting it (this crafted armor can have materia added to it). This armor has a higher item level (the i#) and usually a little more defense with some stats added on to it. Later, you can get myth tomes in order to get the next highest item set which is i90. This armor is just a little better than the i70. However, if you put as much materia as possible on the i70 armor then you can basically have armor that is just as good, if not better than the i90 armor! The i90 armor is something you have to either wait MONTHS to get (since there is a mythos cap per week) or you have to beat the coils over and over and over which will also take months (since you can only do it once per week...). So basically the materia system is pointless because you can't use it with any of the high level armor, and it makes easy to get armor basically the best. This also renders the higher end dungeons, like the coils, basically useless (at least when it comes to loot acquisition).
> They have completely broken the market so that there is no way to make money! You can have every crafting profession that you want, but there is no point to any of them since they take forever to level up and no one can buy / sell anything since patch 2.1 came out. This patch brought out guild housing at 1,000,000 gil!! This made everyone and their brother try to make money at the same time, so everyone was trying to sell things and no one was buying them... no guild on my sever could even afford a large house (the million dollar house) and only 3 guilds could even afford a medium house (15,000 gil).
> Every major update that SE has planned so far (patch 2.1, and patch 2.2 *not out yet*) has just destroyed the game further when it comes to the actual game content. In 2.1 they came out with something called the Crystal Tower where there are three teams of 8 players fighting a series of bosses and enemies in order to get some random loot. This loot is seriously random, and basically all that was dropped were Lancer and Monk gear the whole time, when 8/10 times there wasn't even that class in your party. This frustrated SO many people... Also, once you obtained loot for that week you were not allowed to get any more for that week - but you could still do the dungeon. Thus, it was important to pass on loot that you didn't actually want!! However, some people at the end of the dungeons were getting FORCED to take loot, resulting in them being locked from getting loot the rest of the week! SE did nothing to fix this, and they were then behind in gear because of a programming error.
> Trying to level up another class, even with the EXP boost is terribly slow and grueling; exponentially more so if you are trying to level a DPS class. When using the duty finder, you may have to wait for over an hour for just one dungeon! This one dungeon won't even get you half a level either... Tanks however, get into everything instantly, so if you plan to level a DPS, then you need to get a tank friend!… Expand

Wolfmoon2682

Aug 22, 2014

10

I've been playing MMO's since EverQuest, i've played literally DOZENS upon dozens of them and FF XIV ARR has to be one of the most polished and addicting mmorpg's ever to grace my collection! It doesn't innovate (aside from the amazing controls on the console version, the likes of which have NEVER been matched) but it takes everything the genre has done up to this point and perfects nearlyI've been playing MMO's since EverQuest, i've played literally DOZENS upon dozens of them and FF XIV ARR has to be one of the most polished and addicting mmorpg's ever to grace my collection! It doesn't innovate (aside from the amazing controls on the console version, the likes of which have NEVER been matched) but it takes everything the genre has done up to this point and perfects nearly every single aspect of it!

And to top it all off the story rivals that of even the single player counterparts in the series.You simply do not want to skip the dialogue ever. The most basic of quests has at least a story worthy of some nostalgia or a chuckle. The graphics are fantastic even on the PS3 version and the FPS on PS3 is respectible for the quality and sheer size of the game.

But the PC and PS4 versions are the best option naturally, i know i mentioned the controls for consoles but they really do feel natural and don't slow you down as much as you might think. There is always something to do in the game and the patches are so vast and full of content that other mmo's would consider them stand alone expansions! You simply get more than you pay for and the asking price of the monthly fee is cheaper than most (WoW included!)

Simply put, this is one of the very best mmorpg's i have ever played. It had a terrible first release but a Realm Reborn made up for it in spades! What other mmo has failed and then not only redeemed it'self but wrote it's failure into the very fabric of the story via an in game cataclysm!?

I look forward to many years of memories and expansion packs!… Expand

datus

Aug 10, 2014

10

Wow so sad to see this amazing MMO being down-rated because of problems that happened a year ago on launch day. All you incredibly learned individuals who gave this game low scores based on "launch day issues" and didn't come back to adjust your score should all just stop using the internet for humanity's sake.

As an MMO veteran, I will give this game nothing short of a 10 forWow so sad to see this amazing MMO being down-rated because of problems that happened a year ago on launch day. All you incredibly learned individuals who gave this game low scores based on "launch day issues" and didn't come back to adjust your score should all just stop using the internet for humanity's sake.

As an MMO veteran, I will give this game nothing short of a 10 for attempting to be awesome. Some say it's a WoW clone just because it has a skill bar. Other than that there is nothing WoW like about it. This is like a cross between UO and EQ with awesome FF story telling. I typically hate dialogue in MMOs but the story telling in this game is so compelling I actually enjoy the main quest line. Which is there for those who want it, and many MMO basics like mounts and airships are also level locked (a la FF games) which seems bad but they really make it work in providing a feeling of accomplishment.

There is so much to do in this game between being able to play every class as one character, and trying out all the crafting and gathering professions, that it never feels like a linear progression regardless of whether you follow the story or not. It's just an awesome blend of open world exploration / harvesting and story line that I haven't seen in any MMO to date. I really think this is what ESO was trying to be. Also, best fishing system ever. My only regret is that I waited this long to try it.… Expand

Izz

Oct 28, 2013

7

This game is getting FAR too much credit. I was a huge fan of FFXI some 10 years ago, I always wanted an MMO with the amazing world and houses like it, but with a western feel and combat, and FFXIV ARR does just that.

It is a good game, but it is not without it's problems. In fact, while a lot of big issues have been addressed, and there's a lot of awesome things in the game that manyThis game is getting FAR too much credit. I was a huge fan of FFXI some 10 years ago, I always wanted an MMO with the amazing world and houses like it, but with a western feel and combat, and FFXIV ARR does just that.

It is a good game, but it is not without it's problems. In fact, while a lot of big issues have been addressed, and there's a lot of awesome things in the game that many MMO's miss, a LOT of the LITTLE things are completely non-existent. This can range from simple right mousing a player to block or report as a gold seller (which there are many) to not being able to kick players in dungeons (Had a couple leechers put us on follow and AFK, and we could do nothing but accept it or leave ourselves, having to wait 40 minutes to requeue).

The quest system is messy, there are very few quests around for those who like to level multiple classes (which I do, and have leveled EVERYTHING from professions to standard classes and jobs, to at LEAST 15, with all the jobs unlocked)

This game has F.A.T.E's not much unlike public quests from warhammer (just, no where near as good) or similar somewhat to RIFT's in...rift (again, just not as good) These help to level alts, but unfortunately, it's a zerg fest of joining a party and just running around the zone racing other parties to a little blue circle and spamming as much AoE (sucks for non AoE classes) in hopes to tag the mobs for the extra XP, and then move on. This is alright for 30 minutes but it gets boring fast, and once you've done the quests on 2 possibly 3 (any more would be unbelievable unless you spent most of the time doing fates on the first 3) you're stuck with doing just these, or leve's (repeatable quests, in which you get 3 a day (12h), stacking up to 100. They also give low XP.

It's nice that you can mix and match classes, but in reality, it's not like FFXI, and unless you've leveled a lot of classes, you get very little abilities to choose from, and if you have unlocked a lot? You still have few, even fewer that's not a carbon copy from another class, and/or just utterly useless (For example, a couple taunts, or heals that are identical, or "combo" abilities, that do 100 potency (damage) or 200 if chained from a specific ability, which you won't have unless you're that class, so you'll be using your basic 150 potency instead.

It's "early" as it's only been out a couple months however, it's already been re-released once, so this should have been gotten right the second time around. Also, houses are not in it yet, and its something i really look forward too, and whilst their adding housing in the first content patch, its only for guilds.

The zones are also very messy, where none of it falls together seamlessly. You have level 15's in one part that can just wander right into a level 40 part of the zone. The quests send you to often different area's altogether, and this might be alright if there was more than 8-9 per quest hub, and if they wasn't stupid quests like "/bow to this NPC" now "/dance"...I don't want to travel half the world, paying a fortune in teleports just to do that.

The actual world is also very small, and we've just had the halloween event which consisted of ...3-4 quests.

However, there are some good things about it. The professions and gathering are very nice and well thought out, if not a little easy but time consuming. The graphics is also amazing for an MMO.

All in all, it's a fun game, and it has the POTENTIAL to be one of the best MMO's out there, the problem is, it's already losing it's player base and unless they get round to doing it SOON, it might end up going F2P and falling with the rest. Especially when you need people to do FATES, and since it's not very solo friendly for altoholics, this could be an issue.

Graphics 8.5/10
Sound 7/10
Music 5/10
longevity 8/10
playability 7.5/10
character development (tough one, there's a lot to get but ultimately, too much that's similar across classes and too few abilities) 7.5/10

It however, does have a certain charm to it!

Overall 7.8 10

I hope that VERY soon they address some GLARINGLY small issues that should never have been overlooked, small issues yes, but lots of them. It has the potential to be the best MMO on the market, but the lack of housing and availability for leveling alts, and especially solo really let the game down.

It's certainly worth the price tag (I paid less than £18 for PC) even if just for the free month to give it a go. If you like MMO's, this is certainly one to at least try, it has a lot of charm and the more support it gets the better it could potentially be… Expand

matpsch

Apr 17, 2014

10

I have played FFXIV since the original 1.0 release date. 1.0 had it's shortcomings but when A Realm Reborn came out, they totally made up for it. This game has such an immersible, beautiful world with so many fun quests, fights, and dungeons. It's highly addictive and every major update that adds even more content make it even more addictive to continue playing. Thank you Square Enix,I have played FFXIV since the original 1.0 release date. 1.0 had it's shortcomings but when A Realm Reborn came out, they totally made up for it. This game has such an immersible, beautiful world with so many fun quests, fights, and dungeons. It's highly addictive and every major update that adds even more content make it even more addictive to continue playing. Thank you Square Enix, this game is so good.… Expand

Delmale

Sep 3, 2013

8

I played FFXIV ARR through beta and I found the game to be entertaining. The leveling experience is extremely similar to your standard quest to level MMO with a side of Guild Wars 2 type world events (for extra exp) called FATEs, thus it's not fair to judge a game just based on the leveling (and to an extent, the dungeon experience) alone. So I decided to wait until end-game before puttingI played FFXIV ARR through beta and I found the game to be entertaining. The leveling experience is extremely similar to your standard quest to level MMO with a side of Guild Wars 2 type world events (for extra exp) called FATEs, thus it's not fair to judge a game just based on the leveling (and to an extent, the dungeon experience) alone. So I decided to wait until end-game before putting up a review.

However, the so called "early access" to the game game actually turned out to be "late access" for me. I have a legacy character and the world I am on literally prevents me from logging in as its always full. So I decided to re-roll to kill some time, but guess what?! Every server is full! Not only that, but servers do NOT have queues you have to constantly hit star character screen choose character login Error! Server full! Just to retry every single time.

This has caused people to leave their characters in the game online over night for fear that they won't be able to login. This launch was a complete failure. Unfortunately for SE, a game isn't just based on its content. It's the ability to execute their product in a timely manner and provide acceptable service on a consistent basis. I have not been able to access a product that was advertised to be available days before its August 27th release date, primarily due to the fact that I work and everyone is hammering the servers at 5PM. While it is understandable that this is a busy time, it is unacceptable that there is no server queue and it is essentially luck based who gets in.

For that I give it 3/10.… Expand

Garethw87

Dec 26, 2013

8

Excellent MMO. If you like the idea of an MMO, buy this! You will like it. very detailed, entertaining, designed, and the combat is great. It sounds minor but actually have to move and time the combat adds so much more to it then just standing, pressing the same button over and over. The Hunters Log book is great when bored to grab a few extra levels! The cities and character design isExcellent MMO. If you like the idea of an MMO, buy this! You will like it. very detailed, entertaining, designed, and the combat is great. It sounds minor but actually have to move and time the combat adds so much more to it then just standing, pressing the same button over and over. The Hunters Log book is great when bored to grab a few extra levels! The cities and character design is amazing. They look and feel very real and alive. And of course the story is interesting and not a bore. It feels like you are just playing another great FF game, not an online one!

One word of warning. You need a good PC setup to be able to enjoy the game properly.… Expand

augh18

Apr 9, 2014

7

Probably the greatest comeback in videogame history (aside from perhaps the original Final Fantasy, though that was playing with far smaller stakes than FFXIV was in its original iteration).

Best parts of the game are the animations and music. Has a distinct JRPG feel. Questing is tedious at times but I expect that with any MMO. Most revolutionary aspect of this game is probably theProbably the greatest comeback in videogame history (aside from perhaps the original Final Fantasy, though that was playing with far smaller stakes than FFXIV was in its original iteration).

Best parts of the game are the animations and music. Has a distinct JRPG feel. Questing is tedious at times but I expect that with any MMO. Most revolutionary aspect of this game is probably the Extreme Primals, which is a good and bad thing. Good, because they are the most intricate boss fights I have ever seen in any MMO, but bad, because the fact that it's an MMO means there are latency issues that can cause wipes in this fights due to a simple lag spike. It's like playing Super Meat Boy and needing to make a perfect jump to clear your perfect run, but getting a lag spike when you hit the jump key, so you just fall off the ledge into a pit of spikes and die.

Thought the endgame was pretty decent (it's the standard MMO login for dailies affair) until the implementation of the "Atma" questline, at which point I decided to quit. Everything from 1 - 50 was overall extremely enjoyable, I do not see this as being a long-term game for most people, but seeing as you can get this for $30 right now (and often less due to sales) for the PC version, it's worth checking out for the free 30 days and enjoying the ride from 1 to 50.

If this were a single-player game, the experience would be so much better, but unfortunately the "theme-park & dailies" MMO aspects start hurting the game the deeper into it you get, and this does detract from the Final Fantasy experience. While it's a far cry from what FFXIV was in its original form, it still shows why some franchises are better off sticking to what they do best, and this is a franchise that was never going to see gameplay benefit from going online. It's just more potential for monetizing, and that does nothing for the gamer but devalue the experience.… Expand

demonofelru

May 5, 2014

8

This game looks beautiful and the sounds and music are fantastic. The overall story is exceptionally written. Another great feature is being able to be all classes with one character.

This game is full of Final Fantasy nostalgia, and is a great fit for any fan of the series.

The only downsides are that the end game sinks into the normal MMO trap of grinding for gear.

ReithD

Jun 30, 2014

10

After a couple months of fixing the lag and server stability this is hands down the best MMO in the market right now. IF I had to rate it on release date I would have said a solid 8. That has changed with all the large updated occurring every 3-4 months.

Some items do need work like the PVP content and more end-game for casuals are needing outside of crystals tower which a 24 man raid,After a couple months of fixing the lag and server stability this is hands down the best MMO in the market right now. IF I had to rate it on release date I would have said a solid 8. That has changed with all the large updated occurring every 3-4 months.

Some items do need work like the PVP content and more end-game for casuals are needing outside of crystals tower which a 24 man raid, hard-core you have the Coils an 8-man raid to mess with. The coils are by far some of the most difficult dungeons I've seen. In update 2.3 will will see the hunt system implemented which should expand group content on the last tier of difficulty.

I love the aesthetics of the game. It doesn't look like WOW or a wow-clone like Wild Star, but it does bring many features people luv from wow. The characters have great emotes tied to them that are different from each race. These are the best realized races I've seen in RECENT mmos.

Early on the combat system does not try to overwhelm you with too many abilities. That being said Paladin and Bard are not terrible technical at lvl 50, Warrior the other Tank then Paladin is a blast to tank with. Monk, Dragoon, and other classes become a Priority based combat and that is where you can find more complex combat. During the guildleves you will learn how your class/job works in a group setting through the lvl 50 process and does a good job of not holding you hand all the way through it.

Alot of Lore has been built into the game you can find by doing beast quests, job quests, and sight seeing quests.

Final Fantasy 14 A realm Reborn has a bright future.… Expand

Narziss

Jul 26, 2014

8

FFXIV is easily the best MMO I've ever played (right above GW1 and far above FFXI). In terms of contemporary MMO's, I hate the lack of the trinity in GW 2, which feels like a solo game. I hate the aesthetic and feel of WoW, although I appreciate the group play and dungeon queueing. FFXIV takes the best from everyone else and puts it in one package. My only complaint is the that theFFXIV is easily the best MMO I've ever played (right above GW1 and far above FFXI). In terms of contemporary MMO's, I hate the lack of the trinity in GW 2, which feels like a solo game. I hate the aesthetic and feel of WoW, although I appreciate the group play and dungeon queueing. FFXIV takes the best from everyone else and puts it in one package. My only complaint is the that the gear choices are too linear, and there aren't different options available to cater to different builds. There is only better and better stated gear, but no gear diversity with different utility (but that is a problem that most MMO's suffer from: linear gear progression instead of interesting gear selection. For example, in Diablo 2, you might use a level 29 ring just because it fit your build, even at level 99. In FFXIV there are no items with unique properties, gear is just a grind hill).… Expand

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

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 industryIt'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

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!

WCM320

Feb 6, 2021

6

It's fine for a MMO.

It really did kind of leave out the best part about the prior FFMMO.

Chalkbrood

Apr 20, 2021

2

MMORPGs are never good ever. Squenix never develops good games. you do the maths

erazor2021

Aug 18, 2021

0

If you don’t like the Trial / “Realm Reborn” take my word, you won’t like any of it…

New players hope you are ready for 200+ hours of MSQ which is mainly reading text. I fell for the recent hype. To all the people who says “it gets better” seriously, what is wrong with you? This constant insincerity is what kept me going. IT DOESN’T GET BETTER (a least to the point it serves as aIf you don’t like the Trial / “Realm Reborn” take my word, you won’t like any of it…

New players hope you are ready for 200+ hours of MSQ which is mainly reading text.

I fell for the recent hype. To all the people who says “it gets better” seriously, what is wrong with you? This constant insincerity is what kept me going. IT DOESN’T GET BETTER (a least to the point it serves as a valid argument).

I just finished Shadowbringers 5.5 MSQ, and let me tell you, this is an “interactive Novel” more than it is a video game.

Sure with each expansion the game (novel) gets a little better, in terms of graphics, animations, storytelling, but the CORE of the game doesn’t change, it is still this outdated mmorpg tab targeting, with its main FOCUS on MSQ, which is basically walls of text.

Your quests in order of occurrences is: talk, travel, click objects, kill NPCs, do dungeons/trials/story instances.
They added one different mechanic in Stormblood lol, which is to “click stuff in FPS mode”.

I can count the EPIC moments of the story in one hand! 3 of them were in Havensward and 2 in Shadowbringers (forget RR and SB).

The main focus of this game is the MSQ, but the problem is; the MSQ is 90% fluff pointless writing and storytelling, you could cut out 80% of this writing and still get a concise accurate description of the story, albeit just more on point.

What Square Enix is doing is inflating game time content with more and more text and sloppy animation screens, which I’m not kidding stretches the MSQ than it really needs to be. I’m not even talking about important background build up, I’m talking about content you won’t even remember because it served no purpose in the grand scheme of things. (Anything you wont remember a month from now isn't worth reading about).

Because the MSQ is mainly storytelling, and single player orientated, why not just play better solo video games that are much, much better technically advanced in gameplay, like GTA 5, Witcher 3, red redemption 2, and hundreds of others titles?

There were times I was so desperate to just “play” the game, because there is so few dungeons/trials and killing quests in-between all the walls of text.

One could always pay a story skip potion, but the fact is MSQ is the focus of this game, the endgame is extra stuff. Players and Square have both said that MSQ is the focus of the game, and the more casual player base.

WoW = focuses on repeatable endgame content after a short introductory (and often crap) storyline.

FF14 = 200 hours of MSQ (at minimum) at which point you can cycle through some endgame content and get max ilvl gear fairly easily. But levelling others job/crafts, which has its own questlines seems be one of the most popular things to do.

I won’t be buying Endwalker. People who enjoy reading fluff for hundreds of hours to see one good cutscene here and there, you do that, enjoy! I’ll watch it in a recap YouTube video and do more productive things with my life than read FLUFF MSQ content, which is intentionally used to extend game play time.

“You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time” think about if you’re really enjoying that 200 hours or if you’re only enjoy small amounts of it. Whilst the epic moments were epic, the pain of going through so much unfun content to see it was not worth it. The balance is definitely not there.

Even most fans think the post RR quests are so bad, yet square hasnt fixed it by just removing it for new players by using a short narration cutscene to bring players up to date for havensward. (And i heard it was even worse, oh dear God).… Expand

mcbmg

Dec 18, 2021

0

Purchased this game on Dec 11. I have been unable to get into the actual game. Spent a couple of hours trying to get server, then long 2500+ queues. I purchased it on Steam and requested a refund the same day and was denied. They include the download time, the time spent getting your character created and time wasted in queue. Do not buy this game.

Trade60

Feb 21, 2014

10

FF14:ARR has a lot to offer in an MMORPG. I played FF11 and the original version of FF14 witch sucked really bad. FF14:ARR has amazing graphics, huge game world, ground mount customization, great story, and so much more. I played just about every MMO out there and only a few held my attention, this is by far one of the better MMO's I had a chance to play. You can make one character andFF14:ARR has a lot to offer in an MMORPG. I played FF11 and the original version of FF14 witch sucked really bad. FF14:ARR has amazing graphics, huge game world, ground mount customization, great story, and so much more. I played just about every MMO out there and only a few held my attention, this is by far one of the better MMO's I had a chance to play. You can make one character and play and level every class in the game with the ONE character, much like FF11.
The things I was not a huge fan of, that some MMO's like SWTOR have that FF14:ARR doesn't, you have to read the quests, or not read them, but they don't have voice actors, at least not on all of the quests, some of the main story quests have voice actors reading to you, and the cut scenes are amazing and also have voice acting. The choices you make don't feel like they really matter very much while questing, where games like SWTOR and ESO both have a really cool way about doing quests. In some ways it almost feels like an adult version of old school WoW.
FF14:ARR runs so smooth, I am running the game max settings with 60 fps and the game handles great, even in high travel areas like city's, even on low settings the graphics are still great. The game does have zoning, but when the game loads the first time, any load screen after is very short. Most of the time it doesn't even feel like you zoned into a new area, the transition between zones is smooth, and you can still chat with your friends.
Games like WoW on max settings have massive frame drop in load zones and/or city's, dungeons, raids going from 60 fps to 40 fps witch is very noticeable.… Expand

Nijinsky85

Feb 18, 2014

9

I've played a lot of MMO's starting on SWG, to age of conan,lord of the rings, SWTOR, TSW and more. This has to be one of if not the best.
Aside from the one character can be any class, it doesn't offer much new or groundbreaking, but everything it does offer is solid. You know you are playing a quality MMO. The world is amazing, offering so much character, and it still manages to keepI've played a lot of MMO's starting on SWG, to age of conan,lord of the rings, SWTOR, TSW and more. This has to be one of if not the best.
Aside from the one character can be any class, it doesn't offer much new or groundbreaking, but everything it does offer is solid. You know you are playing a quality MMO. The world is amazing, offering so much character, and it still manages to keep the traditional Final Fantasy Appeal.

Well Done Yoshi P. I'd give it 10/10 but the PvP isnt great right now. But its a very good 9.… Expand

Polarthief

Mar 16, 2014

7

Not great, but not bad. More or less the subscription pay model is what makes me a bit more critical of the game (should this ever go free2play, I'd instantly bump it up to a 9, if not 10).

The game does some really, and I mean, REALLY stupid things, such as disabling any social menus and all whispers while inside a dungeon/raid, doesn't let you queue up for a role (and instead you onlyNot great, but not bad. More or less the subscription pay model is what makes me a bit more critical of the game (should this ever go free2play, I'd instantly bump it up to a 9, if not 10).

The game does some really, and I mean, REALLY stupid things, such as disabling any social menus and all whispers while inside a dungeon/raid, doesn't let you queue up for a role (and instead you only get to queue as a class), the game feels "slow", mostly due to the global cooldown of 2.5s and things that aren't on the GCD require spamming the keys very hard to get them to work, but overall, the game feels fluid and very fun. The graphics are great and the sound, like any FF game, is in a league of its own at the top of the video game music genre.

If you ever get bored for a month or two and have a lot of free time, I recommend picking it up for the reasonable price (that comes with a free month). You will get a LOT done in that free month (I got two classes to max and even managed to do endgame). Until a few more patches roll out, the score will remain as is. It's not the best, but by no means is it bad, especially if you're bored of WoW.… Expand

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

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 allThis 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

ChaseFace

Feb 26, 2014

9

It looks GORGEOUS, the music is amazing and has lots of throw-backs to older Final Fantasy games including Materia from FF7, for example. If you've always wanted the universe of Final Fantasy to be a multiplayer adventure, this is your answer. That being said, it's not a perfect MMO from a mechanics standpoint, but it feels like if World of Warcraft was friendlier and more majestic.It looks GORGEOUS, the music is amazing and has lots of throw-backs to older Final Fantasy games including Materia from FF7, for example. If you've always wanted the universe of Final Fantasy to be a multiplayer adventure, this is your answer. That being said, it's not a perfect MMO from a mechanics standpoint, but it feels like if World of Warcraft was friendlier and more majestic.

Square Enix keeps adding new content every 2 months so there's never a lack of things to accomplish. There's 8 crafting classes, 3 gathering classes, and 9 combat classes, and they're adding more combat classes in the future.

The combat, GUI, game mechanics, crafting, gathering, etc. are all explained simply to you through the main storyline, which doubles as a tutorial with a very manageable learning curve.

The end-game can be either really close-knit and supportive or highly competitive with neckbeards trolling over the shout channel and prove how leet they are with their top-tier gear. I suspect they migrated from World of Warcraft.

But don't worry, the game offers a LOT of challenge. The Primals (Garuda, Ifrit, Titan, Siren, Odin and now Leviathan) have 3 difficulties - Normal, which you complete to progress the storyline, Hard, which you complete to get your Relic Weapon as well as get Primal Weapon drops, and Extreme, which you complete for high-level quests (I would assume, I'm still trying to beat Titan HM). Hard Mode is already pretty hard.

If you happen to be a big fan of RUSHING through the game to get to the end-game content, you're gonna be a little disappointed. There's a good amount to do end-game, but since the game's only 6 months old they're still releasing new content. Take your time and smell the roses.

ALSO, THE ONLY REASON THIS GAME HAS SO MANY NEGATIVE REVIEWS IS BECAUSE THE LAUNCH WAS REALLY CHAOTIC AND PEOPLE COULDN'T LOGIN OR CREATE NEW CHARACTERS (y'know, like most MMOs experience when they receive a massive amount of traffic) SO EVERYONE **** AND MOANED EVERYWHERE ON THE INTERNET. The problems have been MORE than resolved. I haven't had to wait in a queue more than twice in about 6 months, and I'm in an extremely populated server.… Expand

iYiaz

Aug 30, 2020

10

Simply the best MMORPG.
An incredible experience even for those who are not MMORPG fans.

CtrlAltDefeat

Jan 29, 2014

10

Don't let all the negative and mixed reviews fool you. This game is amazing, unlike it's previous debut. It plunges you into the realm of Eorzea, where you are tasked with overcoming it's hardships and challenges that it's facing at the current time. The game keeps it's FINAL FANTASY feel with monsters from previous games, your own chocobo, and old classes like Black and White mage, andDon't let all the negative and mixed reviews fool you. This game is amazing, unlike it's previous debut. It plunges you into the realm of Eorzea, where you are tasked with overcoming it's hardships and challenges that it's facing at the current time. The game keeps it's FINAL FANTASY feel with monsters from previous games, your own chocobo, and old classes like Black and White mage, and truly makes them all "reborn."

The gameplay is great and in depth, bringing classic spells and skills back, including the Limit Break. The class and job system is perfect, and makes it easier for you to decide what you want to become. End-game lasts a long time even at release, and they are constantly working on expanding it and making it even more epic! You can change your class anytime you want, so you can do literally EVERYTHING! Crafting is extremely in depth and fun to do, and gathering is just as exciting!

The servers run smoothly, and I don't get lag on a server that is across the ocean. All the complaints about the servers are from the beta and the very launch of the game which is to be expected, so I do not know why people bash it in reviews. Square Enix makes constant upgrades to their servers to make sure players are having their best experience possible. They schedule maintenance late at night when not as many players are on as to ensure they are not intruding in players gameplay experience.

The soundtrack... Oh my god the soundtrack! What else is there to say? All the music is beautiful and fits the setting perfectly. The graphics couldn't get any better either! The landscape and scenery will make you stop and take random selfies just because you want to waste time taking a gander at it. You will not find an MMO with better graphics for a long time. Boss battles are exciting and fun, even more so with a soundtrack that will have you rocking out before you know it, and a beautifully terrifying monster in front of you. The soundtrack will attach itself to your mind and devour your soul, and the graphics will make your eyes jump with joy!

Square Enix did what no other company would do, and they did it well. The disaster that was 1.0 is no more, and now we can enjoy what we once thought was a train wreck at an insanely high speed. The man in charge of the game now, Yoshi-P, listens to the community and adds the content they want the most and fixes all their problems within moments. You simply cannot find a better MMORPG than this. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go run The Binding Coil of Bahamut with my Free Company. I really hope I see you soon!… Expand

IrealiTY

Feb 18, 2014

9

A very solid MMO and a fun experience. If you focus on getting everything out of this game (Cross Class Skills, Crafting, etc) you have a lot to do.
To finish the current High Level Content you'd need a very solid group of people as the fights are very intense.
The story is a bit generic but has a few interesting twists. PVP is currently the only miss placed pivot stone and needsA very solid MMO and a fun experience. If you focus on getting everything out of this game (Cross Class Skills, Crafting, etc) you have a lot to do.
To finish the current High Level Content you'd need a very solid group of people as the fights are very intense.

The story is a bit generic but has a few interesting twists.

PVP is currently the only miss placed pivot stone and needs better adjustment.… Expand

sky_haze

Feb 22, 2014

10

Good storyline. Beautiful texture details design. Good atmosphere.

I recommend this game to try, people who like the things listed above.

Most of the negative reviews are from the server issues the game had during the early access weekend prior to launch. This is not indicative of the final product.

xFODDERx

Feb 26, 2014

10

Ok so 5 months in from first log on, the game is going from strength to strength, yes there are still very minor bugs, if you don't know what to look for then these may not be ever obvious. however hotfixes are very proactive and the Dev team always put a sub note on the forum showing know issues. RMT gold spammers are running away quickly and Square Enix have been very tough on cheating.Ok so 5 months in from first log on, the game is going from strength to strength, yes there are still very minor bugs, if you don't know what to look for then these may not be ever obvious. however hotfixes are very proactive and the Dev team always put a sub note on the forum showing know issues. RMT gold spammers are running away quickly and Square Enix have been very tough on cheating.
Gameplay. a lot of MMOs branch for quest based levelling while others opt for good old grinding. FFXIVARR does both, a nice story mode to keep you interested with Fate grinding in between. the new areas in 2.1 are fantastic (even if the gear in Crystal Tower is below spec of Mythology and allagen gear) however they do add a nice way to gear up your sub classes.
Future Safe. yes! currently PS4 version is in Beta and I believe PC dx11 is rolling out the door soon too. added to that Director Yoshi has stated a 10 year Dev support life.
Finally. everything that has been stated for FFXIV has happened, so given that Gold Saucer has now started development, and we have seen the rear of an old very popular FF Series boss, then im very optimistic about loving the game for a long time to come.
Slight footnote, im not to sure about PC gaming but I play on the PS3 and it works brilliantly, I would strongly suggest though that players choosing console platform to upgrade to an SSD as sometimes the ps3 minor lag can leave you thinking you have dodged an AOE yet be just caught, not very handy on a Titan landslide!… Expand

orsonriven

Mar 3, 2014

8

this game could be better in some ways, but over all yoshi p and his team did a great job fixing this nightmare of a game and made fun game to play, even if you hate MMOs, if you like final fantasy games this is a game to play through the story once and enjoy it.

silverwingz

Mar 9, 2014

10

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game has come far i must say from being trash to being something enjoyable,some of the quests get kind of repetitive but which games now 'days don't feel that way, if your just buying the game my tip to you is learn that map as best as possible your going to want to :) and learn how to craft early such as being an armorer saves you time in future :)… Expand

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

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