Final Fantasy XIV Online

 PC
User Score
3.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 408 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 113 out of 408
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 408
  3. Negative: 259 out of 408
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  1. Yahwey
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    This is an amazing game so far. Yes the UI has got some issues, but it's beautiful and there is a lot of potential. I'm spending 6+ hrs in day in it easily each day, getting lost in this amazing world and throughly enjoying myself. Find yourself an amazing LS (I was really lucky to have found one before OB), and off to adventuring you go!
  2. Meyeri
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    Everyone complains about this game because they want it to be perfect and they can't handle the lag with the menus, and how it's so hard to do a trade, when really it's not hard at all. Most people who play FFXIV have played XI and they're so used to how they played XI that they don't want to be open minded about XIV. For example, my dad complained all day about how the Journal doesn'tEveryone complains about this game because they want it to be perfect and they can't handle the lag with the menus, and how it's so hard to do a trade, when really it's not hard at all. Most people who play FFXIV have played XI and they're so used to how they played XI that they don't want to be open minded about XIV. For example, my dad complained all day about how the Journal doesn't help at all, whereas XI didn't even help you with quests. I just think it takes some getting used to. I have no problems maneuvering around town, getting into battles, or doing any crafts. All the menus are easy to figure out and I don't find it to be a hassle. It just takes some common sense and hard work to figure out a game that has no guides.… Expand
  3. Eilidh
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    This game is AMAZING! The graphics are stunning, Character creation is light years ahead of FFXI, and gameplay is amazing! The most amazing aspect of this game is the crafing and harvesting. While I have always been a crafter in MMORPGs, the crafting system in FFXIV is far more engaging than any other MMO that I have played. Even the harvesting is addicting, which is refreshing. I haveThis game is AMAZING! The graphics are stunning, Character creation is light years ahead of FFXI, and gameplay is amazing! The most amazing aspect of this game is the crafing and harvesting. While I have always been a crafter in MMORPGs, the crafting system in FFXIV is far more engaging than any other MMO that I have played. Even the harvesting is addicting, which is refreshing. I have been looking forward to this game for years and I am NOT disappointed!… Expand
  4. axeaxaxe
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    Theres a lot of butthurt kids throwing out zeros because they feel insulted. Grow up and learn to look at something objectively when rating.
    The game has problems, that will be fixed. The gameplay is fun. Graphics great. Story is great. They've already laid out a roadmap of all the things they'll be adding to the game. Don't take these reviews seriously. Some of these people are pathetic.
  5. reileaboss
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    It's fun. Just a bunch of whiny kids with no patience.
    A zero? It doesn't even make sense to give this game a zero. Metacritic reviews are worthless. Noone gives an honest review.
    The gameplay is fun. Graphics are great. Story is good. I've never run out of stuff to do. Are there problems? Hell yes there are. Not one of them can't be fixed with time. They already have a ton of stuff    It's fun. Just a bunch of whiny kids with no patience.
    A zero? It doesn't even make sense to give this game a zero. Metacritic reviews are worthless. Noone gives an honest review.
    The gameplay is fun. Graphics are great. Story is good. I've never run out of stuff to do.
    Are there problems? Hell yes there are. Not one of them can't be fixed with time. They already have a ton of stuff planned to improve the game.    … Expand
  6. kitkat
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    The game isn't as bad as these kids are whining. Anyone who rated 0 or 1 shouldn't be taken seriously. It's impossible to give this game a rating like that even with the problems it has. Theres no such thing as objectivity here.
    Theres a lack of mid-end range content. A few systems are broken and need tweaking. There are barely any bugs. The game runs great. The systems are fine. Gameplay    The game isn't as bad as these kids are whining. Anyone who rated 0 or 1 shouldn't be taken seriously. It's impossible to give this game a rating like that even with the problems it has. Theres no such thing as objectivity here.
    Theres a lack of mid-end range content. A few systems are broken and need tweaking. There are barely any bugs. The game runs great. The systems are fine. Gameplay is fun and exciting. Classes are well thought out. Anything thats wrong with it can be fixed with time. Server issues, content, missing systems, lag. The game officially launched TODAY for christ sakes. Kids these days have no idea what an mmo launch is like.    … Expand
  7. kathars1s
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    Good game. In 3-6 months it will be an amazing game. Graphics rock, gameplay is fun. love the story. love the concept. lots to do even at launch.
    Ignore anyone who'se too much of a tool to give an honest review. A 0? seriously? give it a rest. It's at worst a 6 right now. Will easily be a 9 in 6 months
  8. Deofiendwingles
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    The online community of this game is far better then any other ive played with. no trolls no really way for people to annoy you. i havent seen anyone trying to sell gil or been bugged my someone to go to some site that sells it. people that play this game are great to interact with. ui is buggy, markets wards are somewhat if a mess but you can really find things out by interacting andThe online community of this game is far better then any other ive played with. no trolls no really way for people to annoy you. i havent seen anyone trying to sell gil or been bugged my someone to go to some site that sells it. people that play this game are great to interact with. ui is buggy, markets wards are somewhat if a mess but you can really find things out by interacting and talking with people. People who find the game hard should just stop and do something else. if you cant take the time to find simple forum posts on a on a question you have, go play something else. unlike some games this doesnt cater to the casuals as much… Expand
  9. akumamage
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    I find it funny that 2 of the reviews have sdfg spammed, people who only played beta and refer to lag that has been fixed, a couple reviews who look at the fatigue system as if they were like the rest of us when we first heard about it.

    Heres the thing about reviews in the first week of launch, reviews are gonna be terribad. Look at ffxi when it was released in jpn first couple weeks,    I find it funny that 2 of the reviews have sdfg spammed, people who only played beta and refer to lag that has been fixed, a couple reviews who look at the fatigue system as if they were like the rest of us when we first heard about it.

    Heres the thing about reviews in the first week of launch, reviews are gonna be terribad. Look at ffxi when it was released in jpn first couple weeks, bad,

    now, still considered better than wow.

    Just sit back, and relax, FINAL FANTASY (note the caps of the game, you know people play for the name too) XIV will be here to stay.    … Expand
  10. mickst3r
    Sep 30, 2010
    10
    A bunch of whiny spoilt kids that expected every game to be flawless at launch scores this game a '0'.
    Even if you hate FFXIV was a passion, you have to admit the graphics are way better beyond any mmo out there currently, which would at the very least be a +2 to the score ratings. The game in itself is unique, it is not like any of the other mmo's out there that are just WoW clones, the    A bunch of whiny spoilt kids that expected every game to be flawless at launch scores this game a '0'.
    Even if you hate FFXIV was a passion, you have to admit the graphics are way better beyond any mmo out there currently, which would at the very least be a +2 to the score ratings. The game in itself is unique, it is not like any of the other mmo's out there that are just WoW clones, the game-play is completely different, the combat system is completely different from other mmos; +2.
    FFXIV offers multiple classes that users can play on one character, by switching weapons on your character you will be able to play as a different class which is very diverse and an enjoyable aspect of the game; +2.
    The crafting system is in a whole league by itself, FFXIV made the most detailed, in-depth crafting system to date. The crafting system gives players various options on how they would like to craft their items; each with their pros and cons of course... The crafting system is not just a stupid point and click craft button like WoW and their mmo clone counterparts; FFXIV's craft system gets the players involved in the actual craft and makes the whole experience worthwhile; +2.
    The Storyline in FFXIV is very entertaining and will capture most people's attention with various cutscenes showing your character interacting in the short clips, the story itself which applies to the quests you do takes players through the actual FF journey. +2.

    +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 = +10

    Sure it has its cons as well, which game doesn't?
    The UI can be confusing when you start off, as the UI is unlike the standard normal typical mmos, not many people will be as comfortable with it at the start. It can be seen as very cumbersome and takes too much type going through the various menus, however one can argue that by doing so, players get more involved with their character that way, they get to control what their character is actually doing with this UI instead of just auto attacking... ;-2.

    At the least it should be an 8...    … Expand
  11. Telenus
    Oct 1, 2010
    10
    If an individual wished for an MMO that did not feel it should copy World of Warcraft, this would be the one. Challenging and Complex to boot. It caters to a more hardcore gamer than those with a mentality that wishes for instant gratification. The graphics are outstanding, quite frankly the best of any MMO out there. It also has, in my opinion, one of the most in depth crafting systemsIf an individual wished for an MMO that did not feel it should copy World of Warcraft, this would be the one. Challenging and Complex to boot. It caters to a more hardcore gamer than those with a mentality that wishes for instant gratification. The graphics are outstanding, quite frankly the best of any MMO out there. It also has, in my opinion, one of the most in depth crafting systems out there. While it does have some problems with lag and other minor inconveniences. A die hard Final Fantasy fan should find the game to their liking.… Expand
  12. nevlos
    Oct 1, 2010
    10
    If you enjoyed FFXI, you'll enjoy this without a doubt. The game has really brought back the feeling of immersion, and why we play MMOs in the first place: Community!
  13. richitt
    Oct 1, 2010
    10
    This isn't a turnkey MMO as Square Enix doesn't hold your hand with tutorials and the like. But, for gamers with a non-linear vision of what a game should be, FFXIV is engrossing-- taking a decent level of commitment to to the game's various modes of play-- gathering, crafting, shopkeeping and, to be sure, battle. It's still too early to tell what the game will really be like given theThis isn't a turnkey MMO as Square Enix doesn't hold your hand with tutorials and the like. But, for gamers with a non-linear vision of what a game should be, FFXIV is engrossing-- taking a decent level of commitment to to the game's various modes of play-- gathering, crafting, shopkeeping and, to be sure, battle. It's still too early to tell what the game will really be like given the player-driven economy and everyone's limited exposure to date, but directionally, it's a solid game with a lot of promise. I'm hooked.… Expand
  14. Jae
    Oct 5, 2010
    10
    Game doesn't deserve all the hate it is getting. The game plays nice and looks great. It is lacking in content, which is obviously going to be provided throughout the life of the game. I hated the keyboard/mouse controls from FFXI but am perfectly fine with them here. Takes a powerful computer to run. Has real potential.. but a lot of it is going to hang in the air until SE releasesGame doesn't deserve all the hate it is getting. The game plays nice and looks great. It is lacking in content, which is obviously going to be provided throughout the life of the game. I hated the keyboard/mouse controls from FFXI but am perfectly fine with them here. Takes a powerful computer to run. Has real potential.. but a lot of it is going to hang in the air until SE releases patches. It has more potential then any mmorpg I have seen released in the last 5 or so years.… Expand
  15. Neiloch
    Oct 6, 2010
    10
    Funny to see so many people hate the UI when its exceedingly simple, more so than other popular MMO UI's. If using the keyboard you just press the Home key and boom, a menu for every window in the game, even a top section for context sensitive options. It's just that easy.

    I'm not a fan of the market system, and can't imagine it not getting some overhauls with the amount of pressure they    Funny to see so many people hate the UI when its exceedingly simple, more so than other popular MMO UI's. If using the keyboard you just press the Home key and boom, a menu for every window in the game, even a top section for context sensitive options. It's just that easy.

    I'm not a fan of the market system, and can't imagine it not getting some overhauls with the amount of pressure they are receiving. Seems a lot of people's dislikes are directly related to the fact that the systems aren't typical of the WoW clones. People complain they can't find the right vendors because they don't have a label, but then the weapon vendor has his own stall and is surrounded by guess what, WEAPONS. The systems and methods are atypical so people have a hard time getting used to them, but they work fine.    … Expand
  16. Eerazer
    Oct 8, 2010
    10
    Fantastic game, played every day since the 22nd of september and i am not bored one bit. looking forward to what it brings in the future, excellent graphics, soundtrack and character progression and many choices regarding skills and a tailor your own type of class makes this game unmissable.
  17. pabswikk
    Oct 11, 2010
    10
    This game is, honestly, not of a 10/10 standard right now, but I have a feeling it will be brought up to scratch with remarkable speed. The fact is, one that most people judiciously ignore, is the core of the game is just that. A game. Unlike most modern MMORPGs on the market this one has, so far, thrown the conventions MMORPG lovers have come to accept as standard (Auction houses, giantThis game is, honestly, not of a 10/10 standard right now, but I have a feeling it will be brought up to scratch with remarkable speed. The fact is, one that most people judiciously ignore, is the core of the game is just that. A game. Unlike most modern MMORPGs on the market this one has, so far, thrown the conventions MMORPG lovers have come to accept as standard (Auction houses, giant exclamation marks) out of the window and concentrated on making a game for once. The unfortunate thing is Sqaure Enix obviously either could have done with more time in beta to add these features on top of the suprisingly immersive and enjoyable core, or have not yet grasped that user functionality is now all important in the MMO market. However, Square seem to be listening to their players (and naysayers) and attempting to fix these problems. The problem with this game is not content. It is a beautiful game in an enrapturing world. It is simply one of mechanics, one that can be fixed easily and quickly. One final note; This game, to all those who say it doesn't, has quests. They're called Guildleves and work exaclty likes quests. You get the leve (quest) which has text telling you why you're doing what your doing, where it is etc., and when you've finished it you get rewards. How have thousands of people missed this simple fact is beyond me. It's a quest with the boring parts cut out. i.e. finding that idiot with the big question mark.… Expand
  18. jacktion
    Oct 22, 2010
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I was so looking forward FFXIV, but it was so terrible. The only reason I played that I was a big fan of Final Fantasy~~~~it is the worst game i v played, no longer interesting~!~… Expand
  19. Ansuca
    Oct 28, 2010
    10
    I'm playing FFXIV now. It's a hypnotic game, amazing...
    SE need to do some things (better interface, put AH, chocobos....) but they are doing it. Megapatch in November and December...
    It'll be a great game!
  20. smcc
    Nov 19, 2010
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really don't understand where all the bad ratings are coming from considering this game is a brand new mmo. All mmo's have problems upon the first release. This is not you're normal mmo. It is not WoW, Warhammer, Aion or even FFXI for that matter. It is not meant to be compared to any of these either. FFXIV is breaching new ideas and styles of play for it's version of the game. It is revolutionary. All these small problems, that don't make the game unplayable, are set to be fixed by the end of 2010. I personally love the game so far. It's graphics are impeccable, the style of leveling is unique and the feel of the game is it's own. It's potential is breaking through with every patch and it can only get better. I have played every mmo ever made, so my opions are not bias. If you are looking for one of the first new mmo's post WoW to take control of the mmo fan base, this is it. Just give the developers time to work out the kinks. For those reading reviews and want to know more about the UI, it is set to be patched Nov 25 2010.… Expand
  21. sanchokobe
    Dec 16, 2010
    10
    Give it another try. There have been two major updates since the release (which I agree was incredibly sub-par), and there's one more major update scheduled to happen still this month. Many of the major issues have been addressed. The UI has been totally revamped, and is more responsive. Crafting has been streamlined. Controls are now more customizable, especially for mouse + keyboardGive it another try. There have been two major updates since the release (which I agree was incredibly sub-par), and there's one more major update scheduled to happen still this month. Many of the major issues have been addressed. The UI has been totally revamped, and is more responsive. Crafting has been streamlined. Controls are now more customizable, especially for mouse + keyboard people. There have been countless other improvements on top of those, and more are on the way, such as an item search in the market wards, and drag-and-drop functionality in the gear window.

    Also, Square Enix has done something that I personally have never seen a game company do. They admitted their failures, publicly apologized for them, promised to fix them, and they are repaying their customers by suspending all subscription fees until the game is an acceptable level of quality. They are making good on their promise. The game has vastly improved from where it was in October. It deserves another chance.    … Expand
  22. Krykira
    Mar 9, 2011
    10
    This game is absolutely awesome. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for FFXIV, and its players.
    The combat, the crafting, gathering, its all great. While its could use a little polish its an entertaining and fun to play game.
  23. Jez89
    Mar 9, 2011
    10
    I love copy-pasta landscapes. I love slow as hell combat. I love bugs and glitches. I love the fact I'm the only person still playing. Therefore I love this game.
  24. Lynnea
    May 29, 2012
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. All of these reviews are so old, they're irrelevant. The game has undergone massive changes to address players' concerns. I've introduced countless people to this game and every single one of them has liked it enough to continue to pay for it. Also, unlike most other MMOs, the story progresses naturally as the game ages. At launch, we heard rumors of the empire plotting to attack. Earlier this year, they were sighted in Gridania. Now, they're everywhere and we have to join groups to push them out. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that you guys should give the game another try, because it's come a very long way and is really thoroughly enjoyable now.… Expand
  25. rustyshield
    May 30, 2012
    10
    Great/fun game, now that the changes have been coming in! And when version 2.0 hit, which is in a few months, it is going to be an even better experience. Don't judge this game based on its past as that is no longer a thing worth remembering.
  26. neopolx
    Jul 15, 2016
    10
    Its a fun game with jobs and different options for the characters. it starts slow but you will access to more and more functions leveling up your character, like sell on the market and better items and stuffs.
    This game is great and the expansions are the best.
    Fully recommended.
  27. LastResource
    Jan 14, 2023
    10
    worth it and glad to play this game again. so much memories and nostalgia within this fourteenth game in the series.
  28. Nikki
    Sep 30, 2010
    9
    I played FFXI for four years and loved it. FFXIV comes back with a similar feel but totally different gameplay. Its still a lot of work to get things done like FFXI, but thats what I loved about the game, the feeling of accomplishment when you get something done is impossible to feel anywhere else. Tons of classes and complex crafting systems is going to have me playing for years.I played FFXI for four years and loved it. FFXIV comes back with a similar feel but totally different gameplay. Its still a lot of work to get things done like FFXI, but thats what I loved about the game, the feeling of accomplishment when you get something done is impossible to feel anywhere else. Tons of classes and complex crafting systems is going to have me playing for years. Furthermore, the graphics are beyond any in any MMO yet released. If you didn't like FFXI, I doubt you'll like this one, but if you did, definitely try this one out.… Expand
  29. Musai
    Sep 30, 2010
    9
    People are overreacting about this game. Yes. It isn't perfect, but the game reminds me of games like Asheron's Call, popular during the early mmo days. Don't believe the hype, the game is not for everyone and is loaded with problems, but if you like ffxi, give it another chance later on.
  30. JustJack
    Sep 30, 2010
    9
    Final Fantasy XIV Online, We see alot of these MMOs come and go, right now we have a Saturated Market of F2P P2P and everything inbetween. I think that is why people tend to troll games that are fresh on the market threatening there safe places. I like this game, Im sure we all know of the issues that it has, but truely, what MMO does not have issues on release? CONTENT Promised WILL COME,Final Fantasy XIV Online, We see alot of these MMOs come and go, right now we have a Saturated Market of F2P P2P and everything inbetween. I think that is why people tend to troll games that are fresh on the market threatening there safe places. I like this game, Im sure we all know of the issues that it has, but truely, what MMO does not have issues on release? CONTENT Promised WILL COME, there is alot to do right now! without having to get our heads around MORE CONTENT at this time. its diffrent and thats what makes it special, it will grow on you and you will love it,or you dont want to learn? fairenough its nto a game for you, Pace yourself and enjoy the small things, thats what this game says to us, if you can do that it will reward you. NOT perfect but water it and it will grow into somthing special.… Expand
  31. Fensfield
    Oct 1, 2010
    9
    Honestly, I bought Final Fantasy XIV as just that - a Final Fantasy. The single player RPGs in the series have never rated high on my preference list, though I've enjoyed them, however I've always felt the worlds portrayed by the series would play so much better as online worlds.

    And, as such, just as I was excited for Final Fantasy XI, I was (and remain) excited for Final Fantasy XIV.    Honestly, I bought Final Fantasy XIV as just that - a Final Fantasy. The single player RPGs in the series have never rated high on my preference list, though I've enjoyed them, however I've always felt the worlds portrayed by the series would play so much better as online worlds.

    And, as such, just as I was excited for Final Fantasy XI, I was (and remain) excited for Final Fantasy XIV. And I honestly have to say, it delivered. Final Fantasy XIV presented me with a unique and compelling world and what's more, actually asked me to set about exploring it.

    Now, I will not deny this game has flaws - it has quite a few. But I've always maintained it unbelievably stupid to judge an MMORPG on the flaws it exhibits in its first year, let alone first month. I'll come back and start niggling over resolvable issues then, maybe. For now, I see potential, and I like the basic systems I'm presented with, along with the world and the basis for the kind of roleplay I enjoy.

    I expected pretty much exactly what I got from Final Fantasy XIV; a good world, a good story, and enjoyable battle system, an actually fun crafting system, and a unique take on the systems so generally formulaic in modern MMO games.

    Is Final Fantasy XIV for everyone? Very likely not. But for me, it's very much the online RPG I've been looking for to replace Ragnarok Online the best part of a decade, and I'm pleased to have bought a Collector's Edition. What's more, it's remarkably friendly to the casual player - if you define casual as a player with limited time available, which describes me perfectly given my recent return to university. The experience system is geared to give large bursts for a short time after login, and then level out should you attempt to grind; just how I like it.

    Sorry if this isn't the most useful review ever, but simply put, I'm having fun and I'm sure there are a lot of people who will also, so long as their only definition of 'fun' isn't the formulaic, Western MMORPG, or bust.    … Expand
  32. TreborLocke
    Nov 16, 2010
    9
    If you are a fan of WoW, you probably wont be a fan of this game or its interface.

    Yes, the interface is DIFFERENT however, it is not bad. It looks that there are several people who have no idea how this MMO was designed. It was DESIGNED to be less cluttered than a standard mmo. Ever looked at someones WoW interface who plays alot? Holy crap its cluttered with stuff that isnt    If you are a fan of WoW, you probably wont be a fan of this game or its interface.

    Yes, the interface is DIFFERENT however, it is not bad. It looks that there are several people who have no idea how this MMO was designed. It was DESIGNED to be less cluttered than a standard mmo. Ever looked at someones WoW interface who plays alot? Holy crap its cluttered with stuff that isnt needed! You have all the same things in the FFXIV interface that you do in WoW and then some. The two things many people will be confused by is "Lack of Jumping" and "I hit spacebar to start chatting? o_O". Other than that, everything including interactions flash on the screen like any other mmo (either by cursor or at the top).

    The quests are easy enough to find. The MMO focuses more on exploration than the quests though and the guildleves system is very efficient and actually EASIER to use than the system in WoW if you do want them. Do you NEED a giant billboard for "Quest is here?" Honestly, I like a littkle adventure in my MMOs. Yes leveling and finding gear is harder....its almost the exact same as what happened in FFXI (which btw, most of you have probably never played and I'll bet some....no...quite a few are lying about playing too).

    This is an MMO for patient people who enjoy scenery...high magic...tons of crafting options...and lots of exploration.

    Also, quite knocking the class system. It's virtually identical in nature to the class system of FFXI and resembles tactics (with equiping weapons to change class).

    Yes, the game has some glitches (Slow inventory loads and character loads....and that is ONLY if you have a slow machine).

    If you intend to run this game, please make sure your computer meets a few or all of the recomended system requirements (I7 processors are very new and expensive for most people right now but, the graphics card is FAR more important than the actual CPU speed of the computer. All you need is a dual core with a good graphics card).

    I highly recomend this game to anyone who has the explorers mindset (A mindset that is usually required for games like Ryzom and EVE-Online).    … Expand
  33. Realist95
    Mar 20, 2011
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's a great game! I like crafting - and i got it in this game!
    I like gathering -and i got it too- Mining Botany Fishing
    Outstanding graphics!! Stunning landscapes!
    And you may play in this game - every job (class) - you want -you have to just switch you weapon (tool)
    And this game is better and better after each update!
    And it's absolutely FREE after purchasing it!    … Expand
  34. yvesquo
    Jul 22, 2012
    9
    How can you give any game a zero out of ten...I wouldn't even give Atari's Swordquest that rating, and that's saying something. Now there is something mighty fishy going on here. To tell you the truth, it really is a good game. I just don't understand what all the bad noise is about. There were issues at launch, just like most MMORPGs invariably have during their first few weeks/months.How can you give any game a zero out of ten...I wouldn't even give Atari's Swordquest that rating, and that's saying something. Now there is something mighty fishy going on here. To tell you the truth, it really is a good game. I just don't understand what all the bad noise is about. There were issues at launch, just like most MMORPGs invariably have during their first few weeks/months. Perhaps people were coming into it hoping it was another WoW clone, or something like that...which is outrageous, because how could a well respected company such as Square Enix ever release a WoW clone given their long tradition of "turn-based glamour in a box." Well, I knew exactly what to expect...but I must have been alone. Sure the game has what people call "clunky controls" and a extraordinarily complex user interface. It is a Final Fantasy game...is it not? If you didn't want Square Enix's, at times, systematically laborsome turn-based style...as opposed to the WoW keyboard-mash, noob-gank, high-vault, free-for-all...then you obviously came to the wrong place. Everything that was right with Final Fantasy XI was preserved in this game. It is true, the quest system is somewhat repetitive...but it's the kind of repetitive that feels more Zen-like to me, rather than blatantly contrived. In other words, despite the presence of rice in this oriental dish, there is still a large serving of meat as well. Has anyone ever quit an MMORPG because it was "repetitive"; I wonder if reviewers recognize just how absurd this sounds? MMORPGs are always about a style of game-playing repetitiveness; that is what makes it an MMORPG...the kind of repetition that feels genuine and fitting, given the genre. Without any "grind", you wouldn't really have an MMORPG at all. Indeed, it is how all the repetitiveness and the novelty is blended together that makes a game like this enjoyable...not necessarily that there is repetitiveness. It's the way that the recurring phrase reverberates or resonates. And another thing, the game is unfinished...incomplete...not yet whole; and thank God for that. MMORPGs are judged on different standards than any other type of videogame; they are not presented all at once to their public: they unfold over the years. Some companies who do MMOs get it all wrong and try to produce a "finished product" from the very beginning...and it comes across as too slick, hurried or sensational. People should be expecting small or limited worlds with somewhat brief storylines in the beginning...it gives them much more room to grow and blossom in the years to come. And when all the puzzle pieces finally fit into place, it eventually feels more precise and exacting...because rigorous planning was made before each new addition to the world was cautiously made. And, last but not least, we must talk about the game's projected "Lasting Appeal". Can you believe that gaming critics gave the game a rating for this category within the first couple weeks of release? I can hardly believe it! It took me almost two years to figure out how to review this game...both because of the grueling real-life schedule I have had to deal with during this time, and because of the complexity of the product that I was holding in my hand. How can you play any videogame in a two-week period (especially an MMORPG) and critique it believably on "Lasting Appeal"? Do gaming critics have time machines...I didn't know this time-travel technology was even available to us yet? Somehow it must be possible for game reviewers, because it seems they are capable of making speculations on an MMO game's lasting appeal while it's still green...this particularly for a game genre that is generally understood to linger for decades in the hearts of subscribers, rather than a few hours after its purchase. Well, anyway...I believe that the game is quite good now, even before the 2.0 patch has been scheduled for release. I just hope Square Enix doesn't bow too much under the pressure of the western consumer, redesigning their game to be yet another insipid WoW clone...because that is all the western gamer seems to really want in an MMO: bocks of colorfully frozen treacle that can be jumped over in a single bound; beating down both one's friends and foes over and over again until one decides to look for something else to do; unpersuasive heroes that read more like villains in heroes clothing; crafting terribly ugly items to be fitted onto even less persuasive toons; and generic storylines that feel like they come straight out of a Cracker Jack box. I hope that Suare Enix intends to cling to their tradition, despite all this bad noise, because it is a valuable heirloom that they possess: adding a more graceful eastern aesthetic to their games...where "art direction" and game-play combine to make a product truly worth the time it takes to consider its cultural value...for me, that adds up to about twenty months, so far.… Expand
  35. Aericyn
    Oct 1, 2010
    8
    A lot of existing graphic and control comments. Here is my review on gameplay.

    The combat is more tactical, for example as a pugilist soloing I can swing behind a creature and attack before MOB responds and receive a "you hit X from the rear for X damage". Also works for left, and right. This is more of a to-hit bonus than a damage bonus from what I can tell so far, but still cool that    A lot of existing graphic and control comments. Here is my review on gameplay.

    The combat is more tactical, for example as a pugilist soloing I can swing behind a creature and attack before MOB responds and receive a "you hit X from the rear for X damage". Also works for left, and right. This is more of a to-hit bonus than a damage bonus from what I can tell so far, but still cool that I can do it.

    You are able to design a character from the ground up with skills and stats that affect both combat and gathering/crafting. You can increase your elemental stats to increase both your damage mitigation and spell damage. Say I want to have more powerful Lighting spells. I increase my lightning affinity. Affinity also affects drop rate for elemental shards used for crafting.

    Carry a sword and drop a fireball spell from time to time. The game allows it.

    Gathering is a good mini game and you can share nodes with other players so no more "Hey that was my ore site!" As you gain levels in gathering class you receive skills. For example, a speed buff when going from node to node.

    Crafting is also a pretty good mini game with things that directly affect results, like using facilities, (just a buff you pay for). Eating food to increase stat and effectiveness. There is still a lot of mystery to crafting, intentional though also a bit tough to figure out. I saw someone make a +1 weapon last night so the possibilities beyond normal results are there. Reminds me of D&D with +1, +2 gear.

    FF14 requires you to really give socialization a once over. I am used to doing most things myself in other games. I know this has been tried in the past with varying results, games like EQ2 tried interdependence at launch but they had to tone it down quite a bit. Folks are just now discovering Faction Leves and from what people have said seem grander in scope than the Kill X of X Battle Leves. Faction leves require a certain amount of faction points to receive. You gain points for completing Battle or Crafting leves. I don't even have 100 points yet, so haven't done one myself.

    The game tracks things you do in the game but how you see results of that tracking is unknown to me. For example, I received notifications that I completed 10 Crafting leves and another one saying I killed 200 monsters.    … Expand
  36. LambdaChops
    Sep 30, 2010
    8
    I personally quite enjoy this game, however it is not for everyone! This mmo is very Archaic compared to more recently released games. The game does not hold your hand at all and is not afraid of repeatedly kicking your ass. If your expecting a game similar to wow then you should save yourself the trouble and move on. If you are considering this game then it would be in your best interestI personally quite enjoy this game, however it is not for everyone! This mmo is very Archaic compared to more recently released games. The game does not hold your hand at all and is not afraid of repeatedly kicking your ass. If your expecting a game similar to wow then you should save yourself the trouble and move on. If you are considering this game then it would be in your best interest to wait at least a month or two for a major patch.… Expand
  37. polyhedral
    Oct 1, 2010
    8
    I like the game, call me crazy, or addicted. No need for "alts", more need for reputation less trolling, win/win imho.

    Do everything on one character, all classes, all skills. Horizontal and vertical growth. The higher level behests are fun, and they are every hour. Localleves give you a ton of things to do regarding crafting, and guildleves come quicker now than in beta. I don't    I like the game, call me crazy, or addicted. No need for "alts", more need for reputation less trolling, win/win imho.

    Do everything on one character, all classes, all skills. Horizontal and vertical growth. The higher level behests are fun, and they are every hour. Localleves give you a ton of things to do regarding crafting, and guildleves come quicker now than in beta. I don't think many people even bother giving this game a chance beyond rank 20, just like they did with FFXI, which is rather amusing when I played FFXI for years as well. It's just one of those games, that begs people to bash it. Eh, video gaming in 2010 is not like it was in 1989. GET OFF MY LAWN!    … Expand
  38. bloodychill
    Oct 5, 2010
    8
    Graphics are top notch, user interface is a bit wonky and really needs a gamepad and it's not going to register with people used to playing WoW (the game by its very nature works on a different paradigm). It'll be most friendly to people who played FFXI, fans of the series already, and people who are looking for an MMO that's just a little new and different.
  39. kasumisan
    Oct 7, 2010
    8
    While the UI does need work, you can play easily enough with a gamepad. As it is simply launch and updates / fixes are bound to pop up I think this game has potential. Not to mention the stunning graphics and beautiful music. I started out as a Lalafell in Ul'dah and the intro was quite amazing graphically. For this game to be a hit, they have to work on implimenting more elements fromWhile the UI does need work, you can play easily enough with a gamepad. As it is simply launch and updates / fixes are bound to pop up I think this game has potential. Not to mention the stunning graphics and beautiful music. I started out as a Lalafell in Ul'dah and the intro was quite amazing graphically. For this game to be a hit, they have to work on implimenting more elements from FFXI. Namely the /sea function, some form or AH and the function keys to target your party members. It would also be nice to have confirmations appears on screen instead of having them only appear in the main menu.

    One thing I really liked is how crafting gives you experience, both craft and physical. I spent a relaxing day fishing and didn't have to worry about grinding to get exp. I hope more recipees and the ability to sell things more easier gets included in later upgrades.

    All in all, if you can get past the UI hickups, this is a fun game to play.    … Expand
  40. sliven
    Oct 17, 2010
    8
    Graphisms are absolutly Amazing !!!! Craft system is very deep, hard and interconnected. Leves are a good way to group and meet people from everywhere in the world. Traductions are very good, animations wonderfull. Only things that are not good are : UI and target system. But it will be fixed very soon with next patchs. So, i don't worry about the future of FF XIV !
  41. HimuraBattousai
    Oct 24, 2010
    8
    Final Fantasy XIV isn't bad, but it just isn't quite perfect yet. The be=basic gameplay, is all solid, by which I mean combat and exploration. The combat is much slower and more tactical than other MMOs I've played, which is no bad thing, but it takes some getting used to after playing another MMO or even Final Fantasy XIII. The ability to change classes on the fly is useful, fun, wellFinal Fantasy XIV isn't bad, but it just isn't quite perfect yet. The be=basic gameplay, is all solid, by which I mean combat and exploration. The combat is much slower and more tactical than other MMOs I've played, which is no bad thing, but it takes some getting used to after playing another MMO or even Final Fantasy XIII. The ability to change classes on the fly is useful, fun, well thought-out and unique. Eorzea is a huge and unique world, too, from the sprawling forests of Gridania to the shining towers of Limsa Lominsa to the glorious desert of Ul'dah. It;s just fun to see what's around the next corner.

    The biggest problems on the gameplay side lie in two places, the economy and general performance. The economy is a free market, with no auction house as of yet, which makes buying and selling... chaotic. It takes a long time to do anything. I can see why Square did this, since when other MMOs have launched without established prices, the economy has been ruined by real-life profiteers, but some better organisation would have been appreciated. However, Square are patching this out in the next update - a search function is coming and the market will be sorted into different wards based on item types. Furthermore, there is actually a space for an AH in-game, so one should be patched in when the economy settles down.

    General performance is the other bugbear. Crystal Tools looks beautiful whatever it is on, but FFXIV makes it evident that it wasn't built for the PC. There is slowdown even on the best connection and with a top-spec PC. Hopefully, with patches, though, this should improve too. A qualm which lots of people have, but one which hasn't really bothered me, is the menu system. It was evidently built for a pad, and can be a bit slow to navigate, but it hasn't bothered me. However, if they ever patch in menu hotkeys, that would be a godsend. For now, though, I'm happy to navigate the main menu. The graphics are stunning. I've already said that Crystal Tools is a beautiful engine, and this proves it - even on the lowest spec the game looks great. But that's the problem - the lowest spec is still an expensive, powerful computer. If you can run it, though, expect to be blown away. The sound is equally impressive. Nobuo Uematsu was sorely missed in FFXII and XIII, and his return is indeed a glorious one. The one big turn-off for most would-be players is the user-friendliness. In-game help is little - expect to ask a lot of questions over chat, or have a second computer on call to type in queries. The game is hard - there is no handholding going on here. That's either a godsend or hell on earth to you. In short, FFXIV is the opposite to WoW in every aspect - hard to WoW's easy, slow to WoW's fast. When Square sort out the main problems, which would seem to be a simple matter through a few patches, then FFXIV's reputation can improve, and this game can truly become great. This is no APB - the juggernaut company behind it won't let it's juggernaut franchise fail. If I haven't sold you, then I implore you to check back when the PS3 version launches and these problems are ironed out. Join now, and while the stakes are great, the rewards are even greater.    … Expand
  42. maley
    Nov 19, 2010
    8
    This game is not like every other mmo out there. That in itself deserves praise. Soon enough everyone will see this game reach its potential and come in droves. I like it now and its only gonna get better. It retails for a reasonable price. Try it.
    Square-Enix is listening.
  43. nisolas
    Nov 21, 2010
    8
    After about a months play I would give this an 8. You can log in every night and do something different. Level a job, craft or gathering. None of it is simple so you can keep learning how to make new items, or do something better.

    I'd like more bagspace, or something to hold all your class weapons and gear. But you start out with 80 spaces yourself and then get one retainer that you can    After about a months play I would give this an 8. You can log in every night and do something different. Level a job, craft or gathering. None of it is simple so you can keep learning how to make new items, or do something better.

    I'd like more bagspace, or something to hold all your class weapons and gear. But you start out with 80 spaces yourself and then get one retainer that you can use to hold more with. It takes a while to travel between the cities but they are alll very varied and worth exploring. You also have the option of teleporting to a place once you have gone there, or if a member of your party has done so. I like the music and graphics. However you can not turn off all sounds if you turn off all the settings for music which isnt good if you are watching tv or listening to music while playing. I don't mind the interface because its like ff11 but it would be good if they had given more control over what it does. Like added optional chat filters. Its hard, not everyone will enjoy it but its not shallow. Which is something ive noticed is a becoming a trend in new mmorpgs.    … Expand
  44. Jojocool
    Nov 26, 2010
    8
    I wanted to wait until the first main update of FFXIV before I sent in a review of the game. With all MMO's just starting out, there are many issues and "bugs" to fix and I wanted to give FFXIV time to do that. I have been playing FFXIV since the CE edition and I can truly say that FFXIV did an AMAZING job in the November 25 Update. Anyone reading reviews would always hear about how badI wanted to wait until the first main update of FFXIV before I sent in a review of the game. With all MMO's just starting out, there are many issues and "bugs" to fix and I wanted to give FFXIV time to do that. I have been playing FFXIV since the CE edition and I can truly say that FFXIV did an AMAZING job in the November 25 Update. Anyone reading reviews would always hear about how bad the UI was, right? Well, it is ALOT better now! I can not put into words how much better the game-play is now in FFXIV since that update. So if you got frustrated and quit the game, which quite a few people did, give it another try. I think you'll be glad you did. And if you haven't played FFXIV yet, now is the time to do so. FFXIV offers many things I personally have never seen in a MMO (and I've played a few). I'll name a few that I really enjoy:

    1.) The job system. In MMO's that I've played you can choose between different DoW (Disciples of War) or DoM (Disciples of Magic) jobs. You might be able to craft or something (like FFXI and WoW) but it wasn't really a class of its own that you could choose. There is so much more to crafting in FFXIV. Not to mention the DoL jobs (Disciples of the Land). Which include Fisherman, Botanist, and Miner. I am a bit surprised at the amount of people in the game that prefer DoL and Crafting jobs in lieu of the standard DoM (Disciples of Magic) or DoW (Disciples of War) classes. I personally prefer the DoM and DoW classes but thats one of the things I really like about FFXIV....there's something for everyone!
    With that being said I also would like to mention the fact that you can rank up jobs and can use most of the abilties, spells, etc. you learned from that particular job on a different job. Lets say I learn "Cure II" and "Stoneskin" from CON, "Provoke" from GLA, and "Second Wind" on PGL but then I want to play as an Archer....I can *equip* all of those abilities and spells and use them on Archer also! If you love playing a certain job but you also want a great ability from a couple of other jobs, then rank up those other jobs for that specific ability and then go back to playing your favorite job.

    2.) LEVES: -These "cards" you get from the adventurers guild are pretty fun and a way to get some extra gil and some pretty good items. It also lets you fight mobs that you may not have even seen yet i.e. imps. And with "Guardian Aspect", it's a good chance to get some really good Rank Points in a short amount of time. And on the Craft Leves, nothing beats not having to use up your items/shards and still be able to get Rank Points for your choice of craft. Not to mention the â    … Expand
  45. janglotron
    Jul 25, 2011
    8
    After the recent 1.18 patch the game is much better. The future only holds more developments. It's on its way! There are map redesigns, chocobos, airships, and many other final fantasy changes coming. I highly recommend checking the lodestone for updates as the game has finally begun to change in big ways.
  46. gamingsince86
    Jul 24, 2012
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I wouldn't have recommended this game when it 1st launched. Being a huge FFXI fan i was greatly dissapointed at about level 36 when i realized there was nothing to do but grid. It released unfinished and unpolished, there were no mounts for a world that huge you NEED mounts. there was very little story and no side quests when it released...i stuck with it for about 6 months after it came out to hopefully wait out the storm but in 6 months all i got was a slighty faster UI and sidequests that had no value. So i quit. I played rift star wars and diablo 3 and none of those games cured the itch after experiencing FFXI and seeing the possibilities of XIV, so 2 weeks ago i reinstalled XIV! HOLY CRAP SQUARE ENIX HAS BEEN BUSY WHILE I WAS GONE! what im going to say is kind of double edged. FFXIV is now in the perfect vanilla stage. and what i mean is that it is a solid game now. It's a complete BEGINNING mmo right now and i know it should have been when it release but hey SE screwed up. whats new and improved? SO LETS TALK ABOUT WHATS NEW! Inn Rooms: now you can do a short quest to obtain an inn room in all three cities where you can store gear sets. rewatch all the games cutscenes you unlocked, read the chapters of the game you been through and sleep! as most mmo's have now when you sleep and log off, you return with a "rested" state and get a 50% exp boost for a limited time. the longer you sleep the more you get. next. CLASSIC CLASSES! if you played XI, XIV kinda threw you for a loop with having the same classes (kinda) yet with different names. now you can unlock whitemage black mage, warrior, paladin, monk, dragoon and bard! now its not a duplicate of the classes already in FFXIV its more like an advanced version of the stock XIV jobs, you get more moves than what the stock versions have and access to AF gear quests wich you know is class specific for that unique look while running around eorzea ALSO you relic weapons too :) next. Mounts! you can rent chocobo's now at lvl 10 and actually own one to call but ill touch that topic in a bit. you can also own a goobue mount but i think they are taking the npc away who gives you that soon, guess it was a limited time to get one. also they added airships that take you beetween all 3 cities...sadly you dont get to '"ride" like in XI, its more instant but on the bright side there are no routes and the wait time is short. if you wanna go from point A to point C you can without switching routes at point B. next. GRAND COMPANIES. basically GC's are what the nations factions were in XI each nation has a banner and its own set of quests and rewards. they have shops where you spend grand company seals for unique items that represent your affiliation. the GC quests include GC storyline. GC leves. escort missions and 2 more i just cant remember right now. also through your GC you can unlock the ability to call your own chocobo that you can name and put armor on! next. STORY! I havn't experience alot of the new story content but so far i've gotten into the original main story line wich came with the release. the GC storyline wich involves an apocalypse type story line (there is now an unexplaind huge red orb in the sky at all times that may crash into eorzea, wich leads up to the release and beginnings of v2.0. and when you sleep in you Inn room strange events happen that involve a story element that i have yet to understand with cutscenes, nightmares, ect. they added something called skirmish but i dont know what that is. next. BATTLE SYSTEM, they have done away with stanima. you now auto attack just like FFXI, you can skillchain with yourself now (its very effective) its called combo. there is a little exp chain timer to keep you on your toes. alot of moves have new animations and dont look so boring. primal battles!! ( ifrit, titan ect.) wich is part of the GC storyline :) next. Materia system! you can now craft materia and place it armor and weapon slots to give them improved stats to add to customization of your character. there is alot more than what i've stated in this game as of now so im sorry i can't cover it all, i mean it is an MMO review... I GAVE THIS GAME A 7.5-8 because it is now playable and enjoyable to the degree that XI was when it 1st came out. SE worked hard and remained humble throughout the process and understood they released a bad product. even through the tsunami that shut them down for a while they kept pushing to better the FFXIV experience.... now with a new dev team they are heading in the right direction! the game needs more polish obviously but with v2.0 right around the corner i think its going to get all the polish it needs! SE has been dedicated to this project and it deserves a second look! right now the game is 19.99 retail (get it before v 2.0 comes out it may go back to full price) and as of now its F2P untill ps3 release ;) for more. http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/ http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/index.html… Expand
  47. LiyuLitra
    Dec 21, 2018
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Base game itself is good. The Story, which in the later expansions, is a driving force for many,is somewhat lacking in a few departments here.
    The character creation is good, with options and different races to go with. None of the characters have any stat difference(Like in Neverwinter for example) where classes have certain stats higher then others, which here is a good thing as all races here can deal the same damage.

    The classes also have Story at different Levels(1,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50) with free gear at set levels(45,50)

    You only need 1 character at that to have all the classes, however that also means you have to pay extra if you want to have multiple characters. That being said, the monthly subscription is 10.99€ if you want only want 1 character each world, or 12,99€ for 8 each world. If you buy the Steam version, you get a extra payment method, but are locked out of buying the expansions over the website. Same goes the other way around too.
    So be very careful when buying either 2 versions!
    The additional Purchase are not required, the entire game can be played without them. You even get item to change the way you look entirely (including race)once.
    The game is a good 8/10

    What can be said as a negative is the size, its somewhat like 30 GB and most of its size comes from updates which you have to download over the launcher. So if you have a slow download speed be aware.    … Expand
  48. Ultan
    Sep 30, 2010
    7
    Im a big Final Fantasy fan for starts, but I cant give this game 10. Im just going to keep this simple for now on what I think of the game.

    Graphics = 10 (amazing graphics if your computer can handle it. I have an average computer with a 3000 benchmark and it lags alot with open night sky or wind / shadowed areas) Gameplay = 7 (mostly solo play so far. No one is really grouping and its    Im a big Final Fantasy fan for starts, but I cant give this game 10. Im just going to keep this simple for now on what I think of the game.

    Graphics = 10 (amazing graphics if your computer can handle it. I have an average computer with a 3000 benchmark and it lags alot with open night sky or wind / shadowed areas)
    Gameplay = 7 (mostly solo play so far. No one is really grouping and its mostly grinding crafting or leveling a class. Game was aimed more for solo play yet to see anything in group play as it is to early to tell.
    Funfactor = 7 (still have not grouped or played in dungeons as of yet)
    UI and controls = 6 (needs some work still for smooth play, still to much like Final Fantasy 11)
    Payment method = 4 (They could have done alot better in this area, everything is using a 3rd party pay site and it cost 10 per month for game and 3 per toon owned. Also additional charges apply to these sites)

    Im not going to say much yet about this game as its only been about 3 days playing and have not gotten far. But this is what my first impressions are so far.    … Expand
  49. Knup
    Sep 30, 2010
    7
    First and foremost this game IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. if your content with your MMO now this probably won't change your mind however im still gonna praise it for now. The UI has been bashed its not great, and could be soooo much better but apparently SE didnt take anyone to seriously about the UI in XI either o well. Compared to 11, this game is so much more accessible being able to changeFirst and foremost this game IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. if your content with your MMO now this probably won't change your mind however im still gonna praise it for now. The UI has been bashed its not great, and could be soooo much better but apparently SE didnt take anyone to seriously about the UI in XI either o well. Compared to 11, this game is so much more accessible being able to change classes anywhere just by the change of a weapon is fantastic and the main classes, War or Mage disciplines are fun and enjoyable to play. The game forces you however to build up a craft and gathering profession which IMO. hurt it, Not being able to simply repair all your gear at a repair vendor is annoying and forcing you to either, seek out another player to do so or level up your skill to do it your self is just a pain in the ass. No more long low lvl hikes back from your Homepoint to the zone you died in, dying is much more forgiving now with no exp loss anymore the big draw back of dying is weakness which is annoying enough to not want to die to often. Graphics are good yay. A teleport system is implemented which makes traveling throughout the world far less tedious once you get your initial experience doing it 1000x over is just a pain in the ass thankfully they cut this out. Im forgiving the lack of auction house right now because lets face it, with one RMT would over take the market and destroy the economy right away and prices would be outragous, atm money is easy to make through gathering or crafting, the crafting system is fun and frustrating a huge step up from XI however this and the gathering skills are huge signals that this is not for the casual audience because simply clicking once won't mine your copper or make your cotton cloth, a little thought and understanding of the system is needed to be successful in either of the two. If you want a simple MMO this isn't for you
    If you want something perfect in all aspects and expect nothing less this isnt for you
    If you love the Final Fantasy series this STILL MIGHT NOT be for you this is not your typical FF
    If you can come into Final Fantasy XIV with the understanding it has it flaws and is going to eek you the wrong way now and again but in the end the outcome will feel very rewarding give this a try, if your on the edge because of the flaws, wait a couple of months check what SE has fixed via updates through just the first week the UI went from almost unbearably slow to a good speed between windows. They will get some of the issues out i just hope it doesn't take them too long.    … Expand
  50. Gothmog1065
    Sep 30, 2010
    7
    Haters gonna hate. The game is far from perfect, but it isn't horrible. The game isn't designed for power levellers or the people who play all day long. So far the game has been fun. The game is designed to make people craft their own items, and sometimes the crafting can be complex. This isn't a game where you just go do the "optimal build" and pound on baddies and pray for awesomeHaters gonna hate. The game is far from perfect, but it isn't horrible. The game isn't designed for power levellers or the people who play all day long. So far the game has been fun. The game is designed to make people craft their own items, and sometimes the crafting can be complex. This isn't a game where you just go do the "optimal build" and pound on baddies and pray for awesome armors. You have to make your own armor or pay a premium for it. There is no "optimal build" and there are a ton of ways people can customize their gaming experience. You can be a rogue character that can heal. You can be a caster that can beat the crap out of things. You can make your own items, or team up with a group to make items for everyone. There is almost too much to do right now, and people who don't have a big bad boss to go after first thing haven't a clue as what they should be doing and they'll lose interest. The graphics are gorgeous, naturally. There hasn't been much of a story line, but then again, the game isn't complete yet. I have a feeling it won't be "complete" until the PS3 release, and this is just a bigass beta test. The quests can get kid of repetitive, but there's a lot of things to do. I have a feeling this game is going to shape up well. It's not complete and there's things to do yet to finish it, but I think it will do well.

    Oh, for the whiners about keyboard/mouse control: This is a game designed for gamepad use. Either use one or get over yourselves.    … Expand
  51. shadus
    Oct 13, 2010
    7
    First lets discuss the bad. The control scheme is dedicated to controllers, you will not enjoy the controls on a mouse and keyboard, which is fairly inexcusable. The second item is the UI, S-E in their infinite wisdom decided to prevent botting they would store portions of the UI server side... unfortunately this means the UI is amazingly unresponsive. There are times when the latency forFirst lets discuss the bad. The control scheme is dedicated to controllers, you will not enjoy the controls on a mouse and keyboard, which is fairly inexcusable. The second item is the UI, S-E in their infinite wisdom decided to prevent botting they would store portions of the UI server side... unfortunately this means the UI is amazingly unresponsive. There are times when the latency for clicking items in the interface exceeds 20s. It's wretched. There are not enough quests, they limit the "guildleve" (eg: quests) you can complete to 8/3x hours. That being said there are good points to the game, the combat is slower (think pre-eq1 days slow) which I enjoy as a nice change of pace and I find it interesting and a bit more tactical since agro shifts very easily between members, it is largely a sandbox and the role-play community is great (besaid), the crafting system doesn't have formulas you learn, you must find or lookup the recipes and learn them through experimentation, which I find to be spectacularly fun. The class system has both horizontal elements that are generally only seen in skill systems and vertical elements you see in level based games and they mesh well together. The graphics are bar none the best on the market present, the sound is stellar, and the fmv are completely unmatched. That being said ffxiv, because of the speed, difficulty of crafting, and horrible ui will turn off about 60% of people off the bat... and unless the major issues with the ui are corrected soon they will drive the game into a small niche market which would be a sad occurrence because the game has good potential. If you're optimistic about the ui changes being made soon, I feel its an acceptable buy, otherwise hold off, watch, and wait. It has good potential and I find it fun, but the ui overshadows almost everything else.… Expand
  52. Knyteguy
    Sep 30, 2010
    6
    I think it needs some polish, but I personally like the core gameplay here. Definitely is fun, despite its flaws. I like the retainer system, the graphics, the sound and music (which are amazing!), the cinematics, and the the story so far (story is really good!). I don't like the user interface, the controls, and the lack of content currently missing from the game. I'd hold off onI think it needs some polish, but I personally like the core gameplay here. Definitely is fun, despite its flaws. I like the retainer system, the graphics, the sound and music (which are amazing!), the cinematics, and the the story so far (story is really good!). I don't like the user interface, the controls, and the lack of content currently missing from the game. I'd hold off on buying now, but reconsider in a few months after some patches.… Expand
  53. Exiledraven
    Oct 16, 2010
    6
    The game has potential, but as of now there are definitely some serious flaws that make the game rather frustrating to both newcomers to MMO's and veteran players. The UI is probably one of the most standout problems, since it's so unintuitive (Only 1 menu open at a time, no key-binding? Really?) and has some annoying lag issues, as well as a pretty lame targeting system in battle (MostlyThe game has potential, but as of now there are definitely some serious flaws that make the game rather frustrating to both newcomers to MMO's and veteran players. The UI is probably one of the most standout problems, since it's so unintuitive (Only 1 menu open at a time, no key-binding? Really?) and has some annoying lag issues, as well as a pretty lame targeting system in battle (Mostly the reason behind me dying while fighting). Another major problem is the Market Wards, which have random player-made shops hosted by 'Retainers'. This system would be fine if there was some organization, rather than randomly named, and randomly stationed shops in a room. While these aren't essential features, the game does not have any jumping or swimming. For me, I can deal with them not being included, but I can see how it takes away from the immersion aspect of the game. As for questing... well, I don't really count the current 'levequest' system as questing. Basically, all it entails is you being told which mobs to kill, then you get Gil and other rewards for doing so. These quests repeat, so you end up killing the same monsters over and over. You're also only allowed 8 of these quests a day, so afterwards you can either do local quests, which are for crafting professions, or just grind. Main story quests only come at certain ranks, so if you're a Gladiator, you won't be able to continue the main story until Gladiator rank 10, which is separate from physical level. As for the good... the graphics are amazing. For any MMO currently out, it is without a doubt the best looking game out there. Everything from character models, equipment, to the cities and fields are very detailed. However, there is also a drawback from this, since even at lower settings, many computers will still be unable to play the game smoothly. The music in this game is also a plus. It's very fitting for the game and Final Fantasy in general. In my opinion, I think the songs have more personality than the last few FF games. (XIII, XII, XI, X-2) Another positive thing is that Square Enix seems to be taking an extremely active role in fixing this game's flaws. Although it would have been nice to have the game released without so many obvious problems, itÃ¢â… Expand
  54. ottomatic
    Oct 2, 2010
    6
    This game could have been really something, but it has far too many problems to make it a game that I would strongly recommend, especially when so many potentially more enjoyable games are coming with the next year or so (The Old Republic, TERRA, Rift, Earthrise, World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2). For whatever reason the developers of this game decided against including basic qualityThis game could have been really something, but it has far too many problems to make it a game that I would strongly recommend, especially when so many potentially more enjoyable games are coming with the next year or so (The Old Republic, TERRA, Rift, Earthrise, World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2). For whatever reason the developers of this game decided against including basic quality of life systems that worked for their previous MMO. There is no mail system so if you or a friend needs an item for crafting, or for whatever reason, you need to meet up at the cost of either time or precious anima (point system that regenerates painfully slow). Which leads to another problem. Travel is limited and can be time consuming. Yes the environments look great, but one quickly grows tired of it after having to run from city to city. And hey, maybe when you get to each city you might want check out the local economy. Or not. There is no auction house system and the centralized marketplace for each city is a disorganized mess made up of player bazaars.

    Some of the 10 reviews (really, a 10? That has to be in eqaction to the 0/1s) make mention the game doesn't suffer from lag. That's ridiculous. I'm on a server where the population barely tops out at 2400 (kind of low for a new major release. Make of that as you will.) and it seems like the game can barely handle it. Even when the population well below the 2000 mark the controls and laggy UI is still noticiable.

    Let's say you don't mind any of that. In fact, you probably think Square Enix is onto something here and you want to enter the world of Eorzea. One thing that has to be said is that if you come into this game looking for at least some decent action you're going to be very disappointed. As I mentioned earlier there is no auction house, and if you don't find what you're looking for in a bazaar, guess what? You're crafting! You don't want to? Everyone's doing it! I mean everyone. I guess they have to though. Oh, did you know there's a fatigue system in the game? You didn't? Basically, you can only level a class for so long until you get diminishing experience points then it's either switch classes (yo, crafting class. You can't resist.) or take a break. For those of you who would rather take it slow and just craft or gather materials in the game's world, you might actually like this game. If you can stand the laggy UI. For those of you who twitch angrily at the thought of having to craft, having the length of your playtime decided for you by someone else, archaic controls and slow interfaces, poor design choices ("Oh, god, Activison is readying Cataclysm! Put it out now!) and at the thought of having to sit through a typical Oh-soJapanese-it-hurts fantasy story, you should seriously pass on this.    … Expand
  55. Sunshinetrooper
    Oct 3, 2010
    6
    Satisfyingly different, promising but rough around the edges, that is how I would sum up FFXIV.

    Pros: Beautiful game Excellent macro system Variety Multiclassing and Multiskilling Saves equipment on exit *g* If you get that reference.... Doesn't patronise the user with how to do everything A true TEAM game, its all about the partying and working together Story Cons UI is currently    Satisfyingly different, promising but rough around the edges, that is how I would sum up FFXIV.

    Pros:
    Beautiful game
    Excellent macro system
    Variety Multiclassing and Multiskilling
    Saves equipment on exit *g* If you get that reference....
    Doesn't patronise the user with how to do everything
    A true TEAM game, its all about the partying and working together
    Story

    Cons

    UI is currently clunky, it takes getting used to. Lag in battle with animations, not horrendous just annoying
    Accessibility of information is not easy, all the info on the game is out there but finding it is harder!


    Summary:

    This game has alot of potential and is very different to WAR/WOW/LOTRO which will put off many people I'm guessing. However if you stick with this game you are rewarded with variety, open ended game play and generally a fun time.

    Do note, this game is about working together with others, forming a linkshell/company (guilds), it isn't a solo affair and why should it be, it is a massive online multiplayer game- go out and work with others!

    6/10, currently losing points due to the bugs which i'm confident will be patched!    … Expand
  56. Wildarms567
    Oct 4, 2010
    6
    Pretty much all of the reviews are accurate, albeit the scores themselves are scewed. All the problems that they complain about in the low score reviews are there, as well as the good points from the high reviews. The crafting system is robust and involved, requiring players to write down the recipes they learn from leaves(or look them up online). The graphics are top notch, and I have yetPretty much all of the reviews are accurate, albeit the scores themselves are scewed. All the problems that they complain about in the low score reviews are there, as well as the good points from the high reviews. The crafting system is robust and involved, requiring players to write down the recipes they learn from leaves(or look them up online). The graphics are top notch, and I have yet to experience any graphical hiccups on my rig. The game IS casual friendly, but not in the way people usually use the term. Basically what they meant when they said casual in reference to this game, were people who don't have the time to play very much during the week won't fall hopelessly behind. The way the game is set up is so that the casual player will progress almost just as much as the hardcore player. You can freely change jobs at will by equipping the jobs weapon type, and you can mix and match abilities from different jobs, which can turn out to be interesting later on down the road. Now for the cons, and my oh my are they abundant. First and foremost is the menu system. Anything you do in the game requires you to go through a menu, this wouldn't be so bad if the game wasn't so unresponsive. From combat to menus there is a huge lag time between when the player clicks an action and when the action is carried out. For combat this kills twitch gameplay where well timed moves can win the day, as all you can do is pray that your moves will go off in time to save you. For crafters this means over half the time spent crafting is done sitting through menus waiting for the next option to load. When a game is so reliant on crafting as a gameplay feature this is unacceptable to me. While we are on crafting we have to also include the market system. It's obvious they wanted to hamper RMT's with this game, but IMO using the free to play style player markets was not the correct way to go. Basically you or your hired retainer can sell items on you, and there are several market wards set up to house all the people who want to sell things. Problem 1: It is an unorganized mess, players are all just scattered around in the different markets along the main walking path. There is no search feature as of yet ( but one is being implemented later I hear) so finding a specific piece of gear or mat can take hours on end of searching through endless people only to discover no one is selling the mat you require. While I do not like the AH system that permeates most MMOS the FTP market system is even worse and I do not understand why they thought that would be a good idea for this game. The anima system allows you to teleport to locations you have been before, but don't get excited because you will blow through your points in around a week if your seriously lving a job, and you only get one point back every 4 or so hours. I hate when developers try to extend play time by doing useless things such as this, and to all the people saying this all was done by design think of it this way. Does it contribute to the gameplay or is it just there to be a timesink to milk more money out of the subscribers? The chat system is also incomplete at this point with no global chat and people only talking to buy/sell goods. The guild system is also incomplete at the time of writing, with the companies they were talking about not yet implemented. There are not many quests in this game as of yet, and you will find yourself doing the same ones every time your able(like a 2 day wait before you can do leaves) once you have finished you tri weekly leave quests, you will spend the rest of your time grinding till they reset again, which will be a pro for some and a con for others; I will leave it to you to interpret if thats good or bad. Lastly are the glitches, which while can be fixed I am doing this review on the state of the game currently not based on promises of the future. So far I have experienced a great deal of glitches in gamepley from mobs constantly resetting and regen hp while still hitting you to people appearing dead on my screen and not being able to target them, which is devastating if you are trying to heal people (I am a healer). For the past week I was not able to send tells and people in party chat and linkshell chat were coming up unnamed. This is something they addressed a week ago, but then came back again a few days later. Sometimes the quests do not update, especially if you kill a fleeing mob on a guildleve before he gets to the ambush location. Basically to sum up, This game does show promise, but only if they listen to their player base and fix some of the numerous gameplay problems. If you are thinking of buying this I would wait a month or two and see how the dev team responds to problems with the game. early adopters are sure to have a frustrating time out of the gate on this one.… Expand
  57. Ragnarok07
    Oct 11, 2010
    6
    I'm not going to say that this game is good, right now it deserves a 5. BUT i feel this game is a diamond, of course unfinished, unpolished and still in the facade of a rock (an ugly rock). the game has extreme potential and lets face it: square never aimed to storm the market of pc mmos... this game is for the ps3, everything in it screams for a console and a controller, so what didI'm not going to say that this game is good, right now it deserves a 5. BUT i feel this game is a diamond, of course unfinished, unpolished and still in the facade of a rock (an ugly rock). the game has extreme potential and lets face it: square never aimed to storm the market of pc mmos... this game is for the ps3, everything in it screams for a console and a controller, so what did square do? A six month extended public beta ( let's call it gamma :) ) until the console version comes out. I believe that in the ps3 version they will have taken all the feedback about gameplay issues, bugs, exploits, balance, lag ect and they will deliver a version of FFXIV as it should have been....... but all this sadly to the expense of thousands of people,who had their hopes up for the pc version, serving as guinea pigs (including me) . So to all who still ponder, wait. Wait a few months and buy the ps3 version and if you don't own one, wait until the ps3 version comes out then buy it for pc, it will be a different game… Expand
  58. Leorio
    May 17, 2012
    6
    The changes made over time to the game are really starting to show, although it's got a bit to go before it lives up to the final fantasy name. With a complete overhaul due late this year to coincide with the ps3 release, making it one of 3 MMORPGS playable on PS3 in English, things are starting to look up for Square Enix's biggest investment.
  59. reclinemusic
    Oct 7, 2010
    5
    I played FFXI for a long time. I was very much looking for an updated version of this game, with better UI and keyboard and mouse support... that was basically all I was looking for, not asking for much. On the graphics front, its top notch, and my fairly old computer does ok. I have a core 2 duo, 9800GTX+ and 4 gigs of RAM. I run at a fairly low res, but with high textures and such,I played FFXI for a long time. I was very much looking for an updated version of this game, with better UI and keyboard and mouse support... that was basically all I was looking for, not asking for much. On the graphics front, its top notch, and my fairly old computer does ok. I have a core 2 duo, 9800GTX+ and 4 gigs of RAM. I run at a fairly low res, but with high textures and such, so it looks good. The UI and controls for kb and mouse are a step forward, I must say, at least I'm using my mouse to look around and move now and am clicking on things more than tabbing, like in FFXI. Battles are actually fun this time, much more fast paced without the auto attack. One thing that is going to suck for me is no auction house. Having just started, I haven't had the need to upgrade a weapon, but I know this time will come and I'm going to be frustrated. Hopefully my linkshell or shouting will help a little bit. I can't see square not implementing some sort of ward search or AH feature.

    I have high hopes for this game's future, but for right now its tedious. I'm going to keep playing though.    … Expand
  60. IhlinaFrost
    Oct 10, 2010
    5
    If there's one positive thing that can be said about Final Fantasy XIV Online, it's that it's fairly different from everything else on the market. Those looking for a change of pace from typical "quest grinders" may find something refreshing in FFXIV, however, in it's current state, it's difficult to recommend this game to anyone. While certainly playable, critical elements of the gameIf there's one positive thing that can be said about Final Fantasy XIV Online, it's that it's fairly different from everything else on the market. Those looking for a change of pace from typical "quest grinders" may find something refreshing in FFXIV, however, in it's current state, it's difficult to recommend this game to anyone. While certainly playable, critical elements of the game seem as though they were designed to keep people from doing exactly that. Arbitrary limits impede player progress, furthered by the cumbersome interface, lag from extra-continental servers, and the deliberate pace of play. Whether a purposeful attempt to level the playing field between the "casual" and "hardcore", as Square Enix has stated was one of their missions, or simply a stopgap measure by the company to keep players from rushing through content too quickly, the result is punishing for those seeking to invest more than a sparse few hours at a time into the game. Ironically, those seeking to accomplish anything in quick sitting will likely also find disappointment, as the plodding pace of play becoming blindingly obvious. FFXIV seems best suited for those with plenty of time on their hands, but are unwilling or uninterested in playing the game obsessively.… Expand
  61. Swampy
    Oct 14, 2010
    5
    Firstly FFXIV has some interesting a worthwhile ideas.. and the character flexibility, that's not tied to specific classes is right up with some of the best mechanics to appear in the genre. The crafting system is top notch and much more than the usual sideline or afterthought as seen in so many other games. The graphics are first rate, of a quality probably usually reserved for firstFirstly FFXIV has some interesting a worthwhile ideas.. and the character flexibility, that's not tied to specific classes is right up with some of the best mechanics to appear in the genre. The crafting system is top notch and much more than the usual sideline or afterthought as seen in so many other games. The graphics are first rate, of a quality probably usually reserved for first person shooters rather than MMOs. And that's it for the good stuff!

    The problems then... there is little to no actual content, I've yet to divine an actual reason for wanting to do anything in the game, other than to grind the requisite 10 levels for each chapter of the so far weak storyline line to be revealed. There is no incentive or story to carry a player along through this game, there is nothing other than grind.. and even that is limited by an arbitrary cap. It's not like you can grind mobs for gear drops either, because there doesn't appear to be any other than crafting materials. Crafting is one of the high points of the game to a degree, but even that has been screwed up by some crazy thinking/design.. 'recipes' appear to be so out of whack with character level and progression, low level 7 items requiring level 11 skills, and level 20something ingredients to make is just insane. I'm not going to try and describe how shambolic the UI is! It needs to be witnessed first hand as I couldn't possibly relay how badly designed it is, and while the game is very pretty the engine appears to be very poorly optimised!

    All in all, as it is I couldn't recommend a purchase of FFXIV.. maybe in 6 months to a year if Square Enix get's it's rear in gear and listens to what the community is telling it then it may well prove to be the success some of it's better points indicate it could be!    … Expand
  62. Kyrgsh
    Mar 5, 2011
    5
    Checking in after six months, the game's most obvious flaws have been corrected. It's possible to search a centralized list for specific items sold in "market wards" (the game's version of an Auction House). Gaining SP (the game's version of XP) in parties has been tweaked. The most recent patch (3 March) introduced traditional NPC quests. The game remains free of a monthly fee, and theChecking in after six months, the game's most obvious flaws have been corrected. It's possible to search a centralized list for specific items sold in "market wards" (the game's version of an Auction House). Gaining SP (the game's version of XP) in parties has been tweaked. The most recent patch (3 March) introduced traditional NPC quests. The game remains free of a monthly fee, and the game box is available heavily discounted from retailers.

    The game still rates "average" even in this fan's eyes, though. Those new NPC quests I just mentioned do not award SP or gil (money)! Even the monsters killed on an NPC quest don't give SP/gil. Imagine finishing a quest to kill ten foozles in WoW, for instance, and not getting XP or gold from either the foozles or the quest. The sole way of advancing in the game remains killing countless mobs outside of the NPC quest structure. While that design decision is baffling in and of itself, the general attitude of _both_ development teams (since the original one was "reassigned" late last year) seems to be "grinding=advancement, and lore=background only." How that will ever translate into paying subscriptions is beyond my limited knowledge.

    In conclusion, I wish the gamers (and developers) the best of luck, but if you're not a devoted fan of Final Fantasy, this game still does not deliver anything other than an average experience.    … Expand
  63. benfreefly
    Oct 4, 2010
    4
    There are some pretty polarizing reviews of this game. Anyone that rates it a 0 or a 10 should be immediately discounted. The reality is somewhere in-between. The game is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's also not without potential. For sure, Square Enix has their work cut out for them to make this game truly enjoyable. Here's hoping that they start listening toThere are some pretty polarizing reviews of this game. Anyone that rates it a 0 or a 10 should be immediately discounted. The reality is somewhere in-between. The game is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's also not without potential. For sure, Square Enix has their work cut out for them to make this game truly enjoyable. Here's hoping that they start listening to their player base sooner rather than later.… Expand
  64. ketsurui
    Oct 4, 2010
    4
    Huge disappointment. If one buys games like this for the graphics, then look no further. If one buys games like this for the gameplay and lack of frustration, look elsewhere. Square is dead.
  65. Redorb
    Oct 4, 2010
    4
    *Good Things:*
    --FANTASTIC GRAPHICS.- Stunning visuals which make the world and its creatures amazing to look at.
    --MUSIC.- The music brings back a lot of nostalgia from the old days of FFIII (US version) and FFVII. --BATTLE SOUND EFFECTS.- Not great but decent and make you engage in combat. *The Bad:* --USER INTERFACE.- Clunky and most importantly SLOW! For instance, there is no    *Good Things:*
    --FANTASTIC GRAPHICS.- Stunning visuals which make the world and its creatures amazing to look at.
    --MUSIC.- The music brings back a lot of nostalgia from the old days of FFIII (US version) and FFVII.
    --BATTLE SOUND EFFECTS.- Not great but decent and make you engage in combat.

    *The Bad:*
    --USER INTERFACE.- Clunky and most importantly SLOW! For instance, there is no auto arrange on items. I DREAD everytime I have to think about selling something as it takes litterally 5-10 minutes to sell the junk in my inventory. Crafting and gathering literally becomes a chore which makes taking out the trash and doing the dishes around the house seem pleasant in comparison.
    --COMMERCE.- An MMORPG is only as good as its ability to make your character look awsome and feel powerful. One of the best ways for that an RPG can do this is by constantly positively incrementing a character's gear. FF XIV completely and totally FAILS at this. Levequest rewards very very rarely offer any gear rewards at all, this in itself woudln't be a problem if there were other ways to get gear without spending hours and hours searching the "retainer" wards for gear. Of course you can always craft your own gear, meaning you need to be a blacksmith and and armorsmith and a goldsmith and maybe a carpenter (depending on your class); I don't need to tell you how that will go over for you since you've already read about the UI. It is possible... to get gear using this system but honestly who has the time to spend it wasting away in some video game while they are NOT having fun? The commerce system; the most important part of any MMORPG, in this game is all but broken.
    --USER HELP.- I have been playing games for years. I will be the first to admit I'm not the best at them, but I can hold my own and can kick some butt sometimes. This game however trully made me feel like a newb. Something I have never really felt before. This is not in itself a big problem as humility is probably good for me :P. The real problem is that every 5 minutes I have to alt-tab out of the game so I can figure out how to do ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING. How do you follow someone else? Alt-tab, you can't follow someone. How do I party up with someone who isn't next to me? Alt-tab, you can't party up with someone not next to you. Where can I find a thaumaturge weapon in Gridania so I can switch to that class because after walking around for an hour I couldn't find it? Alt-tab, Gridania doesn't have a thaumaturge's weapon. How do I use sythesis? How do I resurrect my character? How do I use macros? This list goes on and on and on... Oh get this... When you alt-tab out of the game the game automatically crashes. WOOT!!!! This is a common bug btw. It happened on my windows 7 and my windows XP machine.

    This is the first review that I have written for a game ever. However, I felt soo personally compelled to warn the public about this game that I have written this one as well to pop that negative # up one more click. I love video games. I love RPG's. I love MMORPG's have played them for years since Ultima Online came out when I was in High School. I am borderline hating this game. Now I know some people are going to think (or say) "go back to WOW you fanboy". And maybe they have a point. I liked WOW I really really did. But then I liked Ultima Online and LOTRO and AION and EQ and Asheron's Call. All I am saying is that if you have not bought this game and you are reading this review please please do yourself a favor and ask yourself how much free time you have and how much you are willing to give to a video game which rewards you little for the amount of time you put into it. If you have a LOT of free time and like grinding away and don't mind a slow UI then this is the game for you. If, however, you are like the majority of the worlds populace please please look elsewhere for your entertainment. For instance Starcraft 2 just came out, so did Civ 5, Fable 3 comes out in 3 weeks.    … Expand
  66. xukiza
    Oct 4, 2010
    4
    1. Sold as solo/casual - hardcore grind
    2. No quests or significant content - only guildleves on a 36 hour cooldown and not enough teleport anima to do the ones from the other cities every 36 hours to get 8 battle quests.
    3. random skill point and exp rewards 4. no point to grouping 5. world feels dead and empty. 6. Literal copy and paste landscape - I mean you will think you are in the    1. Sold as solo/casual - hardcore grind
    2. No quests or significant content - only guildleves on a 36 hour cooldown and not enough teleport anima to do the ones from the other cities every 36 hours to get 8 battle quests.
    3. random skill point and exp rewards
    4. no point to grouping
    5. world feels dead and empty.
    6. Literal copy and paste landscape - I mean you will think you are in the same place you just walked through 10 mins ago - it's literal copy and paste.
    7. No decent market system
    8. Forced crafting essentially
    9. Time sink annoying repair system
    10. Forced to play most of the other classes to be competent.
    11. Did I mention the grind after the teens is horrific. Go back to Aion, it's a joke after FFXIV.
    12. UI is the most horrific experience of any PC MMO to date
    13. Game is designed around horrific barely hidden time sinks to artificially slow your progress.
    14. Partying is pointless
    15. Guild leves are boring
    16. Crafting requires knowing several other crafts to make most anything.
    17. No real story
    18. Not enough mobs to even make grinding viable.
    19. Mobs don't scale properly - some own your face off as blues, some reds are soloable.
    20. No way to travel when anima is low - i.e. no chocobo, airships etc

    Goods:
    1. Game looks beautiful
    2. Combat itself, if you burn mana etc, is really fun, some cool animations (seismic shock for example)
    3. Having options for lots of classes on one character is a cool idea.
    4. Crafting has potential
    5. Combat has potential
    6. Economy has potential
    7. The game world has hints of possible good things down the line
    8. If the above issues are fixed the game would be pretty awesome.

    Overall, tons of potential locked in a sucky, time wasting, broken mechanics package that sucks your will to play and turn on the game.

    For the price and monthly sub, I recommend you give this a pass.    … Expand
  67. Kuroki
    Oct 20, 2010
    4
    I love Final Fantasy from FFVI - FFXIII, I've collected almost all its goods and its action figures, played the console games and its online games.... and FFXIV is just excited me... well it was... until it launched...

    OMG SE really need to change this grinding mode.... Not every player is hardcore player! to think i will have hours doing quest kills X number of monster etc etc etc and    I love Final Fantasy from FFVI - FFXIII, I've collected almost all its goods and its action figures, played the console games and its online games.... and FFXIV is just excited me... well it was... until it launched...

    OMG SE really need to change this grinding mode.... Not every player is hardcore player! to think i will have hours doing quest kills X number of monster etc etc etc and hours again to do other quest... and more hours in high lv to grind..... thx SE you really ruined my mood to play FF.... i really hopping FFXIV would be different..... guess not... AND DONT SAY I'M NOT A FF FAN BOY 'coz i do.... but NOT for this FF series.... i rather wait and play Guild Wars 2 FTW    … Expand
  68. Xaxxus
    Jul 10, 2021
    4
    Have not even played the game yet. Because I literally cant even figure out where to download the client.

    The FF XIV website is probably the worse user experience I have ever seen. It seems as though they are actively trying to stop you from playing their game.

    Also you have to buy the game more than once if you want to play it on mac and windows.
  69. Robbaz
    Oct 7, 2010
    3
    I played the beta and also tested the game once more at launch. And i all can say is... Only buy this if you are a final fantasy fan or really enjoy asian mmorpgs. Since this is insanely boring and the most linear game i ever played! I mean common! They copied the terrain like 6-10 times at some places! The most entertaining in this game is the spelling errors. The overall combat is veryI played the beta and also tested the game once more at launch. And i all can say is... Only buy this if you are a final fantasy fan or really enjoy asian mmorpgs. Since this is insanely boring and the most linear game i ever played! I mean common! They copied the terrain like 6-10 times at some places! The most entertaining in this game is the spelling errors. The overall combat is very very very slow as well even once you get several abilities it's still slow and some of the controls are just simple horrible! And remapping them wont work since it's the game it self that is played in such a odd manor!

    This game will never be fixed.    … Expand
  70. Velendris
    Oct 15, 2010
    3
    Pros:
    -Excellent Graphics
    -Excellent Music
    -The design of the class system is new and original

    Cons:
    -Unbearable laggy interface
    -Boring guildleves (Main storyline is good however)
    -Too much walking, incredibly inconvenient
    -Market system is a joke
    -Crafting is insanely complex and hard (No recipe lists, level 5 items need level 20 materials, etc.)
    -No bosses, no real endgame content
  71. Aepervius
    Sep 30, 2010
    3
    Too long do not read : poor UI, poor gameplay, pretty graphic. To be honest, I have to admit I am not a fan of FF14. I am OTOH a fan of various type of MMO (from UO, to AC, EQ, AC2, WOW, AION, Conan, LOTR....). I like to explore, level a few class , solo quest. Oh boy, this game fail on that on all level. Graphic : they are very good. From time to time I stop to watch at the environment.Too long do not read : poor UI, poor gameplay, pretty graphic. To be honest, I have to admit I am not a fan of FF14. I am OTOH a fan of various type of MMO (from UO, to AC, EQ, AC2, WOW, AION, Conan, LOTR....). I like to explore, level a few class , solo quest. Oh boy, this game fail on that on all level. Graphic : they are very good. From time to time I stop to watch at the environment. You need a good graphic card, but the result is excellent. Not much to say. UI: HORRID. They very very obviously made this game with console in mind, and quickly rushed the PC version. I can give numerous example of this. As a mage, I have to click/hit a key to cast a spell. But instead of hitting the target, I have to click a second time (only mouse) on the target other wise the spell don#t go out. The map CANNOT be scrolled with the mouse, you have to use the i,j,k,l keys, it can't be zoomed. UI is clunky you can't hit a key shortcut you have to open a main menu, hit inventory to see what you got , and a different menu (top one can't remember how it is called) to ready a weapon. Havign a single inventory and double click to equip unequip ? Not for FF14. Lookin at inventory take a LOT of time many seconds, it is as if UI and the rest was located on the server. Changing action bar is clunky and takes many seconds too. Also to switch class, you have to go in inventory (takes seconds) or use macro ! If you heard of the rest system , well it really is stupid. Not only they limit to 8 quest (battlequest) and 8 work order (crafting) but also it refresh only once in maybe 36 hours. Do your quest in 5 MINUTES, then wait 36 hours to be able to to remove it from the lsit and do a new one !!! And the limit after which you earn NO XP (faitigue system) is invisible. So you have to guess. Gameplay : I had a lot of fun with the various classes (except mage due to clunkyness) but the crafting / mining miniga,me is Much MUCH too slow. You have to click in a menu to begin gather stuff, then click a second time in a menu to "strike" "chop" etc... Why ? They could have done it a single click. And the wait time are horrid. Crafting is also laggy and you can only craft a SINGLE itme at the same time (I did not see a way to craft stack at least). But worst is that there is *NO* receipt book ! You have to note them, and manually add ingredients (not even counting that crafting talke ingredients from many other craft skills). And the menu are too deep. Click on a SINGLE material slot to add a material, do it for all material, then click craft, then click on what you want (if there is only a single possibility you still MUST click that one) then confirm , then confirm again somehow , then start. For a single item I hestimate it could be anywhere around a single minute. Also levelling is sloooooooooooow. I haven't been able with normal play to go above 7 levels in 24/48 hours before "fatigue" kick too much. But it felt slow, because you have to stop after a while because you get ZERO XP in that skill. The trick I use is to switch various fighting class, and once I am finished with the last one, level a bit the first one. But it is sub optimal. It forces you to do sutff you might not want to do, or just stop playing for 24/36 hours. There is no auction house, only single vendor which takes hours to "load" the UI, and you can't search among them. When I tried to find an overpriced item , I had to manually click 12 vendors, then I gave up. There were , I dunno, 40 vendor each side. And you can't preview or know what they sell. The payment system is not good, but I don't count that in the review.

    Bottom line : STAY AWAY. Rushed. Clucky. MMO technology wise, older game 15 years ago got much of that right. FF14 did not.    … Expand
  72. Lans
    Sep 30, 2010
    3
    The best way I can describe it is if somebody took out all the good things about FFXI and made the problems even worse. Some lag and bugs are to be expected at launch so I'm not even counting those against it. Partying is broken due to the way skill gains are awarded and an exp bug that has been in for a long time since beta that prevents some people in groups larger than 2 from gainingThe best way I can describe it is if somebody took out all the good things about FFXI and made the problems even worse. Some lag and bugs are to be expected at launch so I'm not even counting those against it. Partying is broken due to the way skill gains are awarded and an exp bug that has been in for a long time since beta that prevents some people in groups larger than 2 from gaining SP. The market wards are a complete joke and you have no idea if the item you are looking for is actually for sale anywhere. The lack of content is appalling. The one saving grace could have been the story but even that is falling flat (maybe the others have better but Limsa's is pretty lame up to 20). The UI is quite possibly the worst out of any PC game in the past decade. No drag/drop, clicking on things typically doesn't do anything, and you have to go thru more menus than an old DOS MUD to get anything done.

    Not even sure this game has potential anymore. It HAD potential, but given that it's release and they haven't accomplished anything of significance and made so many bad decisions already I don't think they can dig themselves out anytime soon. The graphics and music are nice but the rest of it can hardly be classified as a game.    … Expand
  73. jmegapac
    Sep 30, 2010
    3
    This is possibly one of the worst MMO's to be released relative to other MMO's of its generation. The main story line so far has been blend. The game was touted for its engaging plot and immersive environment. The main quest starts then quickly disappears for a while. The player is left to figure out what to do (the only thing left to do is grinding guildleves and crafting, aside from aThis is possibly one of the worst MMO's to be released relative to other MMO's of its generation. The main story line so far has been blend. The game was touted for its engaging plot and immersive environment. The main quest starts then quickly disappears for a while. The player is left to figure out what to do (the only thing left to do is grinding guildleves and crafting, aside from a small number of quests). I'm fine with allowing players to explorer the world and figure out what to do. But there's nothing to do but grind here! Then there's the environment. A large portion of the world is narrow, twisted valleys connecting rather small main zones. Sure, it takes a while to walk from one area to another. But all you see is narrow paths that twists and turns. You generally don't see a vast area to explorer.

    Perhaps the lack of content can be understood, since the game just came out. However, the issue with UI is unforgivable. SE has had almost a decade to look at and experiment with UI. There are plenty of other MMO's that have shown how a good UI could be implemented. SE decided to completely ignore that and implement an archaic system of accessing practically everything via a main menu. You want to equip an item? Go to the main menu and open equipped item window. You can't just select an item from your inventory and equip it. You have to select a body part in equipment window, select an item from an inventory list that shows up, then click the equip button. Did I tell you that the inventory list is not sorted?

    There are plenty of other issues that made me cancel my subscription. You should be able to find them easily online. I'm not the only one complaining about them. My recommendation is, the game has potential, but it may not be realized for another year. Save your money and play some other MMO until then.    … Expand
  74. santiagodraco
    Oct 1, 2010
    3
    Ok, so here's the real deal._____________

    First off, graphically, sonically and aesthetically the game is great. If games were scored on looks alone I'd give this one an 8/9._______________ Well, games are like books, don't judge it by it's cover. And what's inside isn't prose it's gibberish.___________ I cannot comprehend how anyone can give this game a 10. It simply isn't    Ok, so here's the real deal._____________

    First off, graphically, sonically and aesthetically the game is great. If games were scored on looks alone I'd give this one an 8/9._______________

    Well, games are like books, don't judge it by it's cover. And what's inside isn't prose it's gibberish.___________

    I cannot comprehend how anyone can give this game a 10. It simply isn't rational. First, the combat mechanics are frustrating in the extreme. To give you a taste, lets say you are running around in ANY MMO you can think of and you engage a target. You can move around, reposition yourself or your camera easily, like a normal shooter for example. Not so with FFXIV. When you engage you "LOCK" to that encounter and movement becomes severely hampered and your cameras up down view is frozen. Yes, you heard me, you can no longer change the camera Y position. On top of that tabbing... tabbing targets ANYTHING including yourself and other players and NPCs and target mobs.... how frustrating do you think it will be to have 2-3 mobs putting the smackdown (oh and even con mobs can kill you pretty easy) only to find that you cannot fight them because you keep targeting everything OTHER than the mobs attacking you. It is the worst combat implementation I've ever seen in any game to date._________________

    Now lets talk about the world. It's big. Big and pretty. And repetitive. And virtually empty. If you are expecting the rich and full environments you are used to in games like WoW, EQ, EQ2, Aion, etc then don't get your hopes up. You'll be running quite a bit looking at grass and bushes and trees with little else to create any sense of story or immersion.________________

    Oh, and don't forget to avoid that 2 inch drop off! No you can't jump! How dare you ask! Go around! What do you mean it's only a 2 inch piece of tile on the ground? Of course you can't walk over it. What do you think, this is the real world? You're in our world now and you'll play by our rules of physics! No jumping and no stepping up or down!______________

    Quests. I have to ask, what quests? Other than the main "story line" (which btw seems completely unrelated to the stylish opening sequences) and a couple of sidelines I don't know what quests there are, if any. For one I am pretty sure they are few and far between. But for another you are forced to talk to every NPC (and I mean EVERY NPC) just to see if they have a quest, or if they are your next step. It's so outdated and frustrating that you'll give up questing altogether pretty quick.______________

    Guildleves... a very very sad replacement for leveling quests. They are meaningless, in far to short of supply and add absolutely nothing to the story of the game. At least in WoW the "kill x or gather y" quests were often written into a series of storyline related activities that made them somewhat meaningful. Here guildleves are like going to some kind of soda machine and pressing a button for a refill, only to find out that you've had your limit on refills for today._____________

    Now lets talk about UI and add further to the interaction mechanics discussion. Remember the combat lock and camera note above? Well the same applies for talking to NPCs. First you have to successfully target them, once you've done that and then navigate a few menus just to begin dialog (yeah get used to menus for everything) you'll be locked into that encounter until you click away (don't miss!) to end it. Hopefully that works. So no, you can't simply move away to end like you can with every other MMO under the sun.___________

    And how about that snappy UI! Well there's nothing snappy about this one other than hitting the logoff button.______________

    Storyline interaction? Very short paragraphs of text in a very small window with a very small arrow on the bottom to scroll. You'll have no idea where you are in the dialog, how far you have to go, nor any way to go back OR see the overall context of the dialog. __________

    Expecting NPCs to talk? Interact as you walk by with nice general voiceovers? Nope. _________

    I can go on. As you can gather from my post the game has me pretty seriously dissapointed and very frustrated that SE has taken a game that had such enormous potential and has completely ruined it due to their apparent arrogance and complete disconnect as to what the vast vast majority of gamers are looking for out there._______________


    I really think that SE should purchase the rights to the "You're in our world now" slogan since it so aptly exemplifies the attitude SE has taken to the player base in the introduction of this game to the market.    … Expand
  75. CaptElephant
    Oct 1, 2010
    3
    As a long-time fan of FFXI I was disappointed by FFXIV. It's a pretty substantial step backwards from it's predecessor, despite coming out 7 years later. Overall the game feels unfinished and rushed, the UI is very slow, combat is badly designed and content is sorely lacking. It certainly may become a quality game after a year or so of patches, but currently it's pretty terrible. Save yourAs a long-time fan of FFXI I was disappointed by FFXIV. It's a pretty substantial step backwards from it's predecessor, despite coming out 7 years later. Overall the game feels unfinished and rushed, the UI is very slow, combat is badly designed and content is sorely lacking. It certainly may become a quality game after a year or so of patches, but currently it's pretty terrible. Save your time and money for something better.… Expand
  76. Lawrens
    Oct 2, 2010
    3
    FFXIV is an incomplete game, for that I have to give it a 3/10, it is extremely hard to give a game anything higher than this when initially the game has little to offer, and to add to that, whatever it has to offer is nothing but a horrible experience.

    The game starts you off with a few introductory cutscenes, then off you go doing levequests: quests which offer no story or plot, but to    FFXIV is an incomplete game, for that I have to give it a 3/10, it is extremely hard to give a game anything higher than this when initially the game has little to offer, and to add to that, whatever it has to offer is nothing but a horrible experience.

    The game starts you off with a few introductory cutscenes, then off you go doing levequests: quests which offer no story or plot, but to run around fulfilling random generated objectives, which is all just running to point B to kill a certain number of mobs, you get money and sometimes items as reward. You get 8 everyday and a half, some new ones opens up, and some are just repeats, it also helps you gain levels and class ranks since you have to fight a lot of enemies.

    The above sounds great and fun, but there are a few problems with the mission structure and balance itself:
    Problems:
    Skill points distribution: you get skill points from attacking enemies/heal/etc, this is so far a bit broken as the chances of you getting skill points are not very consistent, there are occasions where you could get really low amount of skillpoints from fighting strong monsters, even if you're to group with a few other players, which leads to the problem where soloing is a better and faster way to play. Difficulty balance - Low level leve quests were also too easy for a group, monsters die in 2 hits and you get no skillpoints at all, and for some quests it is also very easy to do at 3-4 stars even when you're 5-6 levels below the suggested rank. While certain quest have mobs with aoe attacks that could oneshot you.

    Lag - With the partying system, when the lag is bad on your server, there are bugs where you can't target your party members, can't reinvite, and invite taking tremendously long to process (or not process at all), this gets better as the server load is lower, but the targetting issue still exists, sometimes you can't see your party members hp. Lag leads to a lot other problems, abilities gets congested, with the long animation your character do, it delays a lot of your abilities.

    Surplus - This isn't as big of a problem as other players make it out to be, but it is a mechanic that a few might find annoying as it is there to restrict your playstyle and how you want to spend your time. You really can't progress on just 1 job alone, and if you like running around on your highest level job, you will eventually run into surplus - which gives a penalty to the skill points you gain, this isn't a problem if the game wasn't that much of a grind but the skill points required to level at lvl20s is really high, what SE doing here is to restrict people from progressing and forcing them to level other jobs and crafts, if you like that, it is ok, but there is a limitation to the freedom given.

    Crafting itself is more interesting but also tedious, the animations are too long so most of the time it would take 5minutes just to do a craft, imagine having to unequip all your gears, change to your crafting tools and having to access item box to repair them one by one, which leads to the problem of inventory space, and gears swapping, you have to type out lines and lines of macros so you don't have to unequip every piece of equipments by hand when you change jobs.
    The lines of macros is also limited. For a game encouraging you to switch between like 10 jobs, it is an annoyance as you also have to reset all your actions/abilities. Fighting enemies - Some enemies have weird pathing which they will run around and regen itself to full. Sometimes you can't engage your party members' target with a message "Target can not be engaged". Targetting is also extremely hard and you have to tab through a lot of targets.

    There are other issues people have already listed, most will run into problem that leads to another, the core of the game is great and the classes/ability mix is a great system, but there are too many problems that hinders a player's enjoyment. There's nothing to do but grind, there are a few cutscenes every 5-10 ranks.

    It is clearly an unfinished game with restrictions grant upon players so they won't progress too fast inorder to buy time for them to fix/implement new features. If you take a look at their site, they are still "looking into improve" many aspects of the game instead of already having the right idea and releasing patches. Most of the updates/maintenance are all bugs/glitches related that should've been fix during the beta phase, the menu and UI lag infact still exists and I'm not sure how people could tolerate it.

    The game has only been out for 2 weeks, it doesn't sound fair to judge the game at its current state, but it is also not very fair for consumers to be paying 60 dollars for an incomplete game, and for a better experience they have been encouraged to wait until they fix all the problems, for a game with a subscription fee, it is a really bad business practice from square-enix.    … Expand
  77. Aquakitty
    Oct 2, 2010
    3
    I gave this game a chance.

    The Good Graphics are pretty The Bad Punished for teaming, xp drops significantly for no reason Groups of 11 people attacking Ladybugs Repetitive, gameplay and mobs are the same at L 20. I am still killing marmots. Terrible UI Everything looks the same No auction house, you have to click people individually to see what they are selling (usually junk), there's    I gave this game a chance.

    The Good
    Graphics are pretty

    The Bad
    Punished for teaming, xp drops significantly for no reason
    Groups of 11 people attacking Ladybugs
    Repetitive, gameplay and mobs are the same at L 20. I am still killing marmots.
    Terrible UI
    Everything looks the same
    No auction house, you have to click people individually to see what they are selling (usually junk), there's not even a place to put a title of the contents of your "store" like back in Lineage 2.
    Levelling is like molasses
    Chat system is primitive

    Summary: Someone on here wrote the game is a breath of fresh air, I disagree, it is more like a wiff of rotten fish my dog rolled in. The game is a step back in every way possible. Bad chat, UI, archaic and repetitive. Slow.    … Expand
  78. defive
    Oct 6, 2010
    3
    Empty. Souless. Unfinished.

    Stay far far away from this disaster. Worst UI in MMO history, massive empty world filled with nothing except cut-and-pasted terrain. Utterly boring quest system, hilariously broken economy (no ah and no way to search retainers).. I could go on and on.... Be very clear if you buy the PC version of FFXIV - you are paying Square-Enix for the 'privelige'    Empty. Souless. Unfinished.

    Stay far far away from this disaster.

    Worst UI in MMO history, massive empty world filled with nothing except cut-and-pasted terrain. Utterly boring quest system, hilariously broken economy (no ah and no way to search retainers).. I could go on and on....

    Be very clear if you buy the PC version of FFXIV - you are paying Square-Enix for the 'privelige' of beta testing their PS3 release.    … Expand
  79. metro_cube
    Oct 12, 2010
    3
    The good:
    * Powerful graphics engine
    * Flexible class system The OK: * It has decent music * It has a new take on crafting and gathering in MMOs The Bad: * Everything else I really cannot even begin to list the problems this game has. In nearly every way except for graphics, it is a massive step-back from even SE's previous MMO title (FFXI). The User Interface is terrible and sluggish.    The good:
    * Powerful graphics engine
    * Flexible class system

    The OK:
    * It has decent music
    * It has a new take on crafting and gathering in MMOs

    The Bad:
    * Everything else

    I really cannot even begin to list the problems this game has. In nearly every way except for graphics, it is a massive step-back from even SE's previous MMO title (FFXI).

    The User Interface is terrible and sluggish. It takes multiple confirmations and clicks to perform even the simplest tasks, such as moving items from your inventory to your retainer (bank). It will take you upwards of 10 minutes to just sell your vendor trash.

    The terrain is copy-and-pasted to such an extent that it will make those who complained about WOW's copying of caves die of shock. Areas just feel bland and lifeless.

    There is absolutely no reason to do anything in the game (except for it's own sake) because the game has no content (only 8 copy-pasted kill quests every 36 hours, no end-game to speak of, etc).

    There is absolutely no sense of progression in the game. Many dozens of hours in and you're still traversing areas that look exactly the same (literally because they are) and still fighting Moles and Rats; monsters that feel like they should be reserved for characters under level 5.

    The item durability system is absolutely terrible. It is impossible to repair your gear up to 100% without the help of an outside player, or you spend hours trying to work through the terrible crafting interface and retarded recipe design philosophy (a level 2 recipe requires level 15 recipe reagents from the same craft) to level up your own crafting skill.

    Your character will even get stuck on 2-inch high walls (I am not even joking), and have to walk around them.

    There are dozens of features that should have been implemented by release, but are still absent (Chocobos, AH, Airships, Company System, etc etc etc).

    I could go on forever but hopefully you get the idea. This MMO is in no way shape or form ready for a commercial release; it's barely in an Alpha state right now. I cannot recommend this MMO to anyone, but I can recommend you avoid it like plague.

    If it is not dead in a year, check back then and see if it is finally out of pay-to-play Beta.    … Expand
  80. bil
    Oct 12, 2010
    3
    I can't believe I spent $50 dollars and updated my video card for this crap of a game. This game needs at least another 6 months of development but I guess they figured they could charge people to play a beta (if you could even call it that). Yes the only reason I bought it was because I love most FF titles but this is just a big turd wrapped in a popular brand name.
  81. keegander
    Oct 14, 2010
    3
    Possibly the worst MMO I've ever played and definitely not worthy of its Final Fantasy name. The graphic, music, and cutscenes are the only redeeming qualities but you won't even enjoy them since you'll be aggravated by almost everything else about the game. MMO thrive on making its players feel the need to better their character, explore the world and do battle with the monsters itPossibly the worst MMO I've ever played and definitely not worthy of its Final Fantasy name. The graphic, music, and cutscenes are the only redeeming qualities but you won't even enjoy them since you'll be aggravated by almost everything else about the game. MMO thrive on making its players feel the need to better their character, explore the world and do battle with the monsters it harbors. The problem is that character development doesn't go farther than just giving new attacks with the same animations, the world is repetitive (cut and pasted) and lacking interesting vistas, and the combat is unresponsive, boring, and simplistic and you'll probably spent more time doing battle with the interface than monsters. The time spent just waiting for menus to appear is just staggering. It will take a major overhaul just to make this title enjoyable.… Expand
  82. scwmortise
    Oct 13, 2010
    3
    In a word "unfinished". The game seems to have been rushed out, to reach shelves on time and quite clearley needs a lot of work before its ready for retail release. Some of the crafting in the game seems like, it could really work, forcing the economy to buy and trade but sadly this method just usually involves people selling items for ridiculously inflated prices. The game also feels likeIn a word "unfinished". The game seems to have been rushed out, to reach shelves on time and quite clearley needs a lot of work before its ready for retail release. Some of the crafting in the game seems like, it could really work, forcing the economy to buy and trade but sadly this method just usually involves people selling items for ridiculously inflated prices. The game also feels like a complete console port and almost no effort has been made to hide it, hence the use of the crummy menu system to do anything and the almost complete lack of any customisation to the controls. With some work this could be a real contender in the MMO market but as it is, very little has changed from beta, and still many of the major bugs exist. Its a total joke that this was released at full retail price. I know several people who brought in early to the colectors edition, seeing the square enix brand and after the fantastic games they have released in the past I couldnt fault them, sadly they were betrayed by a company with a big reputation. I hope this hurts square enix, I hope it hurts them a lot and scares other companies into thinking about releasing unfinished junk into the market.… Expand
  83. Carmillia
    Oct 14, 2010
    3
    Funny to see people complaining about people rating 0 this game and yet they rate it with max score of 10 talking about objectivity.I have been playing many years FFXI and other MMOs but I have to admit that FFXIV is not up to the expectations, specially having so many years of experience. The whole system is very slow, the crafting system is an improvement: can get you exp AND craftingFunny to see people complaining about people rating 0 this game and yet they rate it with max score of 10 talking about objectivity.I have been playing many years FFXI and other MMOs but I have to admit that FFXIV is not up to the expectations, specially having so many years of experience. The whole system is very slow, the crafting system is an improvement: can get you exp AND crafting skill levels, however it is far too slow and makes it kind of boring (too many windows to have to be opened before actually get into the craft itself). The fact that you can set abilities from another job to you mage allows to customize the type of characters you want and make it unique, which can be good and kind of frustrating for people that like class specific. The party system, however, is a fail as everyone is just doing is thing on his own and not really relying on each others class specificity. The lack of quests is another bad point. The fact that you have to spend hours looking around bazaars in the hope to find what you're looking for is a time sink and very annoying. The auction house should have been implemented and the excuse of avoiding RMTs doesn't make any sense because they will be some anyways (already seeing them appearing) and they tend to actually put the economy down because of the massive amount of items they bring into the market so that it differs from overpriced items sold be players. A step back from FFXI in my opinion instead of an improvement (they could still have made a different system but keep players-friendly users). Now, instead of having the stress/fear of being killed while running to you grinding spot (and the time it took also to reach it, which all together made a nice experience until you could move faster with teleport/chocobos), you can just teleport around to go grind but have to spend hours just to try to gear you up. I'm not even telling about the uber rare piece of gears, just basic equipements are just a pain in the a.. to find. i think that just the use of an AH or a similar system would decrease player's frustration a lot. How the skill/exp gain in a party has still to be adjusted so that it is not just 'soloing with a group of people' and more based on cooperation (teamwork, yes please!). A function to sort inventory also should have been there from the start. The lag and/or slowness should also be worked out so that it doesn't take 10/15 just to sell the junk in the inventory (because you don't want to spend 1 hour putting those into your bazaar...). I am not far into the game yet but I kind of regret the huge maps where you can just explore the world and not series of tunnels leading to small areas. The graphic although are very very nice and deserve a thumb up. Not much talking in the '/shout' chat for the moment going on but this seems just a matter of time. No problems with the linkshell system, works like a charm. Don't indeed expect a game taking you by the hands (NPC with marks on their head to say HEY I have a quest for you), you have to talk to NPCs to actually see if they have some available (as far as I know, none anyways so far). So in the end, because of the problems of the system, the only enjoyable thing is to grind/guildleves and crafting a bit until gets too boring to wait 5s to 10s between each windows to open (and 5 minutes to craft one item). I would recommend to keep an eye on how it evolves but not to play right now if you are currently playing other MMOs that you like. If you seek a new MMOs to play, give it a shot (or go to a friend's place playing it) but surely do not expect the big revelation or the MMOs of the century. Take it as a new firm trying out to make a MMOs.… Expand
  84. ghoststrykre
    Oct 16, 2010
    3
    I went against the flow here and crossed my fingers that the reviews were wrong and biased... Yeah well I paid dearly for that. Truthfully, there IS a good game somewhere deep inside this devilish little game.. Unfortunately, the minds employed at Square Enix have proven again that they can create great concepts, but don't think through the consequences.

    User Interface: AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL.    I went against the flow here and crossed my fingers that the reviews were wrong and biased... Yeah well I paid dearly for that. Truthfully, there IS a good game somewhere deep inside this devilish little game.. Unfortunately, the minds employed at Square Enix have proven again that they can create great concepts, but don't think through the consequences.

    User Interface: AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. It is slow, clunky, tons of menus, no tutorials to tell you how to use it, and you constantly need to search fan sites to figure out how to add weapon skills, change equipment, etc. Once you understand it though, its not so awful, but WOW its bad.

    Combat: Really kinda fun, but slow and honestly has a sluggish feel to it.

    Crafting: I honestly don't know.. See the markets section.

    Markets: This is where Square Enix had a swing and a miss. FFXI was nearly ruined by gil sellers/RMT's. So Square Enix decided that they would create this retainer system and have no auction house whatsoever. Basically this means, there are items for sale on individual NPC's that must first be loaded (and there's thousands of them) before you can browse their wares individually. No search feature.. Say what? NO SEARCH FEATURE. I searched for over an hour for a freakin' hammer to become a blacksmith in the Market Ward (actually the Fieldcraft Ward since the update hit). I finally found it only to discover that the moron who was selling it wanted 30,000 gil for the crappiest hammer. WHAAtT?! So basically, you have no money, no hammer, and can't do anything. Resulting in the need to find a gil seller. OOPS SQUARE ENIX! Exactly what you were trying to avoid just got encouraged by your process. I applaud their effort to innovate, but internet technology needs about 10 years for this to work as it should, and even then it'd be a pain because the user interface is so terrible. How did this get past the idea board?!

    Verdict: People said the lack of tutorials made this game exceptionally difficult. I, a savvy MMO player thought i'd be fine.. Nope, I was wrong. Even with a quad core processor, 4 gigs of RAM, and an EVGA nVidea GTX 460, the game can't run above 30 fps. The programming is just baaaddd here. So, I think this game has the potential to eventually fix itself. Square Enix said that major updates would be released once every 3 months................. WTF?! In all fairness, SE extended the trial period to 60 days instead of 30.. but that was just because they knew their game was busted as all hell and players were cancelling subscriptions and returning the game as defective. The 60 trial will return to 30 for new registrations after October 25 though. I do not think I want to spend money waiting for Square Enix to fix such basic problems as the UI, the map, the markets, and more. They aren't even going to fix the UI with programming, they're just gonna split zones up onto multiple servers and hope it helps. Really, this is an insulting excuse for an MMO, and for a Square Enix product. I think it'll be over a year before this game is really fixed to the extent it should be. Square Enix has officially become an awful company, incapable of looking out at consequences ahead of their decisions, and completely content with releasing bad products. They even admitted FF13 could have been better (that's a whole other can of worms), the 60 day trial affirms they know this FF14 is garbage, and I'm pretty sure this ruined me ever buying FF13 Versus. Buyer BEWARE! This product is not prepared for market. Consider in one year when it is less than 25 dollars to buy (if SE ever goes that low. they don't even know how to properly price old games).

    I will say this, if you have 4 to 5 friends willing to figure this out together.. Maybe you'll have fun. But playing this alone, and trying to get involved in the community.. omg, near impossible.

    This review boils down to a great quote by the comedian Lewis Black: "So I took a spoon.. and I shoved it in my a$$.. because, if I'm gonna hurt this much... I'm gonna do it to myself."    … Expand
  85. Loury
    Oct 19, 2010
    3
    Square Enix's recent venture into the MMORPG realm has fallen flat on it's face. Being a SE Fanboy myself, i had high hopes for this game, sadly the clunky User Interface hampers any hopes of doing anything in a quick manner. Getting to your inventory alone takes forever, as you have to wait for the server lag to open your menu, then you have to wait for the lag once more, just to openSquare Enix's recent venture into the MMORPG realm has fallen flat on it's face. Being a SE Fanboy myself, i had high hopes for this game, sadly the clunky User Interface hampers any hopes of doing anything in a quick manner. Getting to your inventory alone takes forever, as you have to wait for the server lag to open your menu, then you have to wait for the lag once more, just to open your inventory.

    Issues are still everywhere, with casters having the biggest one I've found; Sometimes your spell will just not cast. In a game with no auto-attack, a spell being devoured by the lag spells death for a caster. The lack of an Auction House is easily overlooked, as most games lack an AH at their release, but the Market Wards, SE's main way for players to sell their wares via Retainers, is a cluster mess of annoyance. Walking in alone, you wait for a minute before the Retainer NPCs load, and you proceed to go through each bazaar, hoping to find the item you seek. Crafting in the game is fun, for a whole five minutes. Once you realize to make anything, you're required to branch out into 5 other crafts, the weight of their system really comes crashing down. To make a single cloth armor piece, it requires the yarn to be made into cloth, the cloth is then made into back piece, front piece, and sleeves (if it has any). along with any materials from other crafts. Seems decent, right? Wrong, if it requires a dye, you have to find the dye to buy it, or go find the material to make the dye yourself (an Alchemy synth) most require leather, normally dyed. so you're picking up Leathercraft. Nothing is ever middle of the road in this game, you spend hours upon hours crafting to make a piece of gear.

    Leveling in the game is a joke, at the start you gain ranks and physical levels like there's no tomorrow, but after hitting rank 10, the learning curve steeps up so drastically you're spending the next couple hours praying you gain SP off a mob. and at 20? well, i hope you enjoy your day long grind sessions. Mob scaling is done so poorly, a blue dot next to the mob's name is meant to mean it's easy prey, something you can kill without an issue, while a red dot means it's very stronger than you, and it's best you don't mess with it. Yet, a blue dot monster can easily kill me, while some red dot monsters are quickly skewered with my spear. FFXIV has great potential, but the rushed half-arsed release that Square did, has greatly damaged the public's belief in their game. I cannot suggest anyone goes out and buys this game right now, but i do suggest you keep an eye for updates and forums to see how people's attitude changes. Maybe come PS3 release, Square-Enix will have gotten their rears in gear enough that the game's actually something to positively write about    … Expand
  86. JP1
    Oct 21, 2010
    3
    As a former player of FFXI, I was really looking forward to this game. I really wanted to like it, and I was totally ready to love this game. However, after playing it for a few days, it became immediately obvious that almost no progress has been made since 11 came out so many years ago.

    On the plus side, the graphics and sound are stunning. There is some repetitiveness in the    As a former player of FFXI, I was really looking forward to this game. I really wanted to like it, and I was totally ready to love this game. However, after playing it for a few days, it became immediately obvious that almost no progress has been made since 11 came out so many years ago.

    On the plus side, the graphics and sound are stunning. There is some repetitiveness in the graphics, but the actual visual experience is amazing. The game compares pretty favorably with the best looking MMOs out there, and as usual, the music of Final Fantasy is incredible.

    The class system which allows you to swap classes on the fly and steal bits and pieces from multiple classes is a great idea, and opens up a lot of potential for creativity. You can tune a character to work exactly how you would like them to, and end up with something which feels pretty unique.

    Unfortunately, that's about all I can say I liked about the game. In many other vitally important areas, the game failed spectacularly. It feels as though the developers of the game worked in an isolated chamber, without the benefit of seeing any of the improvements in MMOs which have come out since then, and without anyone questioning the design decisions made in FFXI.

    The economy of the game is based on a retainer system, in which players essentially set up bazaars to hawk their items. There's no auction house or trading post to scan for the items you want, you'll be coming here if you want something you can't make yourself. So if you want a new sword, you're going to zone into a room chock full of hundreds of retainers. And if you want to find a sword, you're going to have too look at them one by one, until you find a guy selling what you want. I can't imagine how this idea made it through any kind of design meeting. And in an economy where almost anything you ever want is made by players, this is not going to to be a minor annoyance, but a constant chore.

    Navigating the UI in the game is perhaps the most terrible, painful experiences I've had in an MMO. Menus are entirely server-authenticated. I don't know if this was to prevent exploits or just a bad design decision, but it means that whenever you press a button, you'll have to wait a short time to see the result, maybe a quarter of a second, maybe a couple of seconds on a slow connection. If I were going to put this into a game, I would design the UI with this in mind, to make as few calls as possible, but instead, many task in the game require many, many menus, and many calls to the server. Crafting an item frequently takes navigating a half-dozen menus and opening and closing your inventory 4 or 5 times. The tiny lag on every menu action adds up, and makes everything take so long as to be incredibly annoying.

    The levequest system one of the more painful questing systems ever put into a game. You pick up levequests in a large town, go to the correct location at which to do them, and start them up. You complete whatever goals are set for you, and you get the rewards. However, you only have a dozen or so of these quests available to you at any given time, and you can easily finish them off in a couple of hours, and then you're simply out of content until these levequests reset 36 hours later. And unfortunately, these quests are not interesting or epic. Most of them are simply requests to kill X of a specific mob and come back. Once you're done with these quests, you're simply out of stuff to do other than grind.

    And you're not allowed to grind for too long, or else your XP will begin to fall off. If this happens, the only way to gain XP at the normal rate again is to switch classes, or simply not gain XP for a while. This leaves the game in an uncomfortable state in which you can't play for very long periods of time without running out of things to do, but you miss out on opportunities to level your character as best you can without logging on for at least a couple of hours each day. It's hard to figure out what audience this game and its mechanics were intended for.

    The game keeps many of Final Fantasy XI's annoying quirks. Storyline quests which are available to you are very limited and unmarked. You have to stumble upon the correct person while you are the correct level in order to find out if you can make progress. Most fast travel is either not yet available, or you are heavily limited in your use of it. This would be less of an issue if the maps were smaller. But some maps and cities are simply gigantic mazes, with ridiculous amounts of dead space. The menu system is unique to FF games, and painful. Even as a former FFXI player, it took me over half an hour to figure out how to equip new skills.

    I can't recommend FFXIV at all in its current state. At best, it is a 'wait and see' game, and I'm not too hopeful that the issues will ever be resolved.    … Expand
  87. AmyHalf
    Nov 24, 2010
    3
    The graphics are fantastic and-- always my favorite-- the character creation had enough options to keep me happy.

    There was NO sort of tutorial to get me going and the wikis weren't much help, either. I had to talk to all of the NPCs to finally figure out what was going on/what I was supposed to do. The "guildleve" system is interesting but I still prefer vanilla quests. I was    The graphics are fantastic and-- always my favorite-- the character creation had enough options to keep me happy.

    There was NO sort of tutorial to get me going and the wikis weren't much help, either. I had to talk to all of the NPCs to finally figure out what was going on/what I was supposed to do.

    The "guildleve" system is interesting but I still prefer vanilla quests. I was bothered, too, that I could only find SIX to begin with and when finished was on my own again to run around aimlessly (which I did -not- do) until finding something and I certainly wasn't going to create another character (what, a Miner? ha) to take up the rest of the time.

    The fact that I make crafting-only characters is bizarre to me, too. I like being able to do all sorts of things with one character. It's just weird to me to login to JUST craft. Maybe that's just me.

    Fortunately I bought it at a discount and WON'T be paying a monthly fee when the free-trial period expires. They really should make this a F2P game and call it a day.    … Expand
  88. framerunner
    Mar 5, 2011
    3
    This game is pure graphics, nothing more.
    There is almost NO tutorial and you have to find out and guess the controls by yourself.
    And let's not talk about the UI...
    FF XIV is pure fail in my eyes and the only reason it got 3 Points from me is:
    Graphics = 2
    Final Fantasy = 1
  89. UWHusky
    May 25, 2011
    3
    Short and sweet:
    Pros: -Fantastic graphics, but it seems this is all they spent time on during creation of this game.
    -Good sound/music. Cons. -Horrible user interface. -No auction house. As it stands it is virtually impossible to find items that you wish to buy, and just as hard to sell them. -Horrid lag, even with a very good computer and a great internet connection. -SE lost a    Short and sweet:
    Pros: -Fantastic graphics, but it seems this is all they spent time on during creation of this game.
    -Good sound/music.
    Cons.
    -Horrible user interface. -No auction house. As it stands it is virtually impossible to find items that you wish to buy, and just as hard to sell them. -Horrid lag, even with a very good computer and a great internet connection.
    -SE lost a point just for the fact that they have ALREADY CREATED an online game, and you'd think they would have learned some of the mistakes they made from the past game. Instead they tried to start from scratch and just mucked it up. Played for a free trial and dumped the game. Waste of money.    … Expand
  90. StoryBored
    Aug 31, 2013
    3
    Well, I have to say I've had every error that anyone has encountered on this game up until now. Unable to login, instances crashing and dropping me, the game crashing unexpectedly and being unable to log back in, limited full servers and poor connectivity when I do connect. I understood at the end of the Beta, I even understood during the early access, but now we're several days into theWell, I have to say I've had every error that anyone has encountered on this game up until now. Unable to login, instances crashing and dropping me, the game crashing unexpectedly and being unable to log back in, limited full servers and poor connectivity when I do connect. I understood at the end of the Beta, I even understood during the early access, but now we're several days into the actual release and STILL several days away from a *potential* solution.

    I wish I could expand more upon the gameplay so far, but getting up through level 20 so far is the standard MMO fanfare. Good graphics, a familiar interface, lackluster story and characters, and quests you can play with your friends. Most of what this game has to offer is no different at all from what it's competitors have except the FF name. Nothing besides the graphics so far indicating the game is anything other than average, and all the issues I've experienced have dragged the rating far below that. Avoid this game like the plague AT LEAST until mid September 2013 and even then, proceed with caution.

    There was not a sufficient amount of testing and preparation on this game by the development team, period.    … Expand
  91. JonnyBigBoss
    Oct 4, 2010
    2
    It has been about four years since I began waiting for this game. Originally known as Rapture, the game was said to be the next generation of MMORPG. I would like to preface this by saying I have played more than half of the Final Fantasy titles and beaten them, and on the other hand, I have played a handful of MMORPGs including FFXI.

    The Good: - Graphics: The game looks fantastic.    It has been about four years since I began waiting for this game. Originally known as Rapture, the game was said to be the next generation of MMORPG. I would like to preface this by saying I have played more than half of the Final Fantasy titles and beaten them, and on the other hand, I have played a handful of MMORPGs including FFXI.

    The Good:
    - Graphics: The game looks fantastic. Characters are alive and beautiful, and the armor in the game is incredibly detailed. I'd say this game has the best graphics of any MMORPG to date.
    - Sound: While not one of the better Final Fantasy soundtracks, the music is definitely solid. Sound effects from attacks to footsteps are very convincing and add to the atmosphere of the game.

    The Bad:
    - Performance: This game simply isn't optimized. Many players, including myself, have powerful rigs but still chug along. Granted the graphics are great, but the scalability is deplorable. If you don't have a recently-upgraded PC, don't bother.
    - Interface: I think the best way to sum this up is to say the decade-old Final Fantasy XI had a better UI. Navigation of the interface is unbearable at times, and adds minutes of wasted time. The game has been developed with the console in mind, so navigation with a controller is optimal, but is still incredibly tedious and archaic. You can't sort your interface, and everything seems to take twice as many steps as it should. Want to sell some items? Well, you'll have to go through a handful of dialogue boxes just to sell 1 item. Games for the last few years have been using what we call the "right click" on the mouse. Why doesn't this game in 2010 have it? Oh, and targeting is incredibly bad.
    - Lag: Inputs take seconds to execute. This adds to a "clunky" experience both in combat and out. Yes, the game is new, but Square Enix should have at least allowed client-side interactions. Everything needs to be communicated to the server in Japan meaning everything you do has to be registered on the server before it executes. Frustrating to say the least.
    - Gameplay: To enter combat, you have to press a button to take out your weapon. This leaves you standing in 1 place for about 2-3 seconds while your character pulls out your weapon. Animations are slow and must be completed, so if you want to use abilities quickly in combat, good luck. The combat isn't very fun either. Abilities aren't very interesting or varied, and interactions are clunky.
    - No tutorials: This game makes you feel lost, very lost. Square Enix doesn't seem to have taken the precautions to help people figure the game out. When crafting items, there are no recipes, so you'll have to use pen and paper. During missions, you'll be left guessing who to talk to. Instructions are nowhere to be found. Heck, nobody even tells you how to switch classes, you'll have to refer to the internet for that.
    - Controls: No key mapping for the keyboard means you're stuck with some ridiculous keybindings set by Square Enix. Controls are easily the worst in any MMORPG in the last decade and reek of 20th century.
    - Content: Chocobos are in the game but no way to ride or interact with them. Grinding. Lots of grinding. Quests with no purpose. You can't see your party members on the map. Very few search options ingame. No /invite command. The list goes on and on.
    - Market system: No auction house. If you want a specific item, you'll be left begging in /shout and searching through hundreds if not thousands of bazaars to find the item.

    This game is inconvenient. Very inconvenient. It feels like a game from over 10 years ago but with modern graphics. This game was advertised as being welcoming to casuals, but running around takes ages and the combat is slow. Leveling takes an eternity and the lack of direction is evident. This is the most disappointing game I've played in years. I don't recommend it to anyone.    … Expand
  92. Liszt
    Sep 30, 2010
    2
    I bought the game simply because I'm a fan (but not so much anymore) of the Final Fantasy series. I was hoping FFXIV would be a step forward from FFXI (as I really didn't like FFXI at all). Unfortunately, it isn't. In fact, it almost feels like a step back. Yes, graphics are nice, but the UI is just horrid. Everything feels clunky and slow. Developers certainly didn't haveI bought the game simply because I'm a fan (but not so much anymore) of the Final Fantasy series. I was hoping FFXIV would be a step forward from FFXI (as I really didn't like FFXI at all). Unfortunately, it isn't. In fact, it almost feels like a step back. Yes, graphics are nice, but the UI is just horrid. Everything feels clunky and slow. Developers certainly didn't have user-friendliness in mind when they planned FFXIV.

    Lack of quests and content is also appalling. You get around 15 minutes of playable content every 36 hours (Guildleve system). There is no auction house as of now (I don't know if one is planned), so getting new items and trading is a NIGHTMARE. Believe me.

    For hardcore fans only, and even then, I'm sure SE just hurt themselves badly by releasing this unfinished and incomplete product.    … Expand
  93. Ferrsai
    Sep 30, 2010
    2
    I'm going to give this game a score of two. I think this is a fair score considering they didn't F up two things. Graphics - AWESOME! 10/10

    Stability - Pretty damn good here for me and a couple of friends of mine. I crashed once, but I think it was my fault. I crashed hourly during Age of Conan's launch. 9/10 Everything else (i.e. the bazaar system, leve system, macro system,    I'm going to give this game a score of two. I think this is a fair score considering they didn't F up two things. Graphics - AWESOME! 10/10

    Stability - Pretty damn good here for me and a couple of friends of mine. I crashed once, but I think it was my fault. I crashed hourly during Age of Conan's launch. 9/10

    Everything else (i.e. the bazaar system, leve system, macro system, equipment/character level progression...) Sucks big. I understand it takes a little time for the market to mature and such, but other than that I don't see a game overhaul happening to fix the other things I don't like. 0/10

    I wouldn't recommend this game, there are more mmo titles just around the corner. As a side note, this doesn't surprise me, I thought FF13 sucked too.    … Expand
  94. sams
    Sep 30, 2010
    2
    This is a most definitely "wait and see", or "skip entirely". Major problems exist, caused by the game not containing the basics of an mmorpg. The UI issues can almost be forgiven. The terrible performance can be overlooked. But the lack of content, missing of core systems (even the map doesn't work properly), terrible billing system, and complete lack of direction to this game is theThis is a most definitely "wait and see", or "skip entirely". Major problems exist, caused by the game not containing the basics of an mmorpg. The UI issues can almost be forgiven. The terrible performance can be overlooked. But the lack of content, missing of core systems (even the map doesn't work properly), terrible billing system, and complete lack of direction to this game is the nail in the coffin. Do not buy.… Expand
  95. Sliph
    Sep 30, 2010
    2
    Wow i don't even know where to begin.

    1. The UI is a joke horribly slow and confusing 2. Overall controls are sluggish it feels like im slogging through water trying to move my mouse " and NO i dont want to play with a frikin controller I shouldn't HAVE to" 3. Spellcasting is overly tedious , I have to target mob, select spell, hit enter, hit spell agian ..just to cast a spell?! WTF?! 4.    Wow i don't even know where to begin.

    1. The UI is a joke horribly slow and confusing
    2. Overall controls are sluggish it feels like im slogging through water trying to move my mouse " and NO i dont want to play with a frikin controller I shouldn't HAVE to"
    3. Spellcasting is overly tedious , I have to target mob, select spell, hit enter, hit spell agian ..just to cast a spell?! WTF?!
    4. Crafting is horribly slow and painful and so much downtime waiting for menus to popup
    5. Fun Factor = 0 NOTHING in this game is fun to do, everything is a CHORE everything requires insane amounts of time to do mainly because of the horrid ui and controls.
    6. Con system, Has anyone actually figured out how to con mobs yet? Should it be this difficult to figure it out?
    7. Combat, slow and boring it makes me want to fall asleep its so boring
    8.Quests are tedious and boring I don't even know where to begin
    9. forming a guild/linkshell is a pain in the ass. Do you have ANY idea how ridiculously hard it will be to invite people to a large guild if you have to meet EVERYONE in person to actually do it?
    10. Chat system is horrible is it even possible to reply to someone w/o having to type there name out all the time ? Should it be this hard to figure it out?
    11.Death, It took me 10 minutes to figure out that when i died i had to open my menu and hit return...thats ridiculous I had to figure out what to do when I die. Unacceptable.
    12. Terrain , SO MUCH COPY PASTE its so obvious that they copied so much terrain its not even funny.

    13. The world map, we really can't zoom in or out? Really? No really?! wow....

    This is quit possibly the WORST mmo I have ever played and that's really saying something. I've been gaming for over 15 years now and this is literally the worst. Even ff11 played better than this and its not that much better. It literally makes me want to spread the word out and make sure no one ever even thinks of buying this horrible excuse for an mmo. How anyone could possible give this game a good score is beyond me. They either are complete and total FFanbois or have just never actually played a good mmo before and are basing this game off of FFXI other than that it makes no sense when there are so many obvious flaws with this game they practically scream out to you.    … Expand
  96. Alaff
    Sep 30, 2010
    2
    (sorry for Grammar, not main language)
    I really really want to like this game. I've played FFXI for 3 yrs and had a lot of fun with it. However, FFXIV is not what I enjoy. I don't feel like I want to log in because there is nothing to do after I completed all battle leves. I tired crafting and harvesting but it's so boring - take so long time to do anything and I don't like it. So I have    (sorry for Grammar, not main language)
    I really really want to like this game. I've played FFXI for 3 yrs and had a lot of fun with it. However, FFXIV is not what I enjoy. I don't feel like I want to log in because there is nothing to do after I completed all battle leves. I tired crafting and harvesting but it's so boring - take so long time to do anything and I don't like it. So I have War and Magic to play. I have no choice but to grind mildessly , run kill , run kill errrr I just wonder I am playing RAGNAROK ONLINE 2010??? ... Also the skill up is buggy somehow or it's broken... I am Conjuror I suppose to skill up by casting magic such as Thunder , .. etc but belive it or not , after running around for 2 hour I've found that the best way to get skill up is spamming Spirit dart until enemy die even I use cure while fighting is not gain any skill point ... it's so strange and stupid I feel. Also, I feel sorry for those who don't have active Linkshell or Friends. They have no one to talk with! Nobody talk anything even in the Aetherite camp. Grats whoever get into LS and have a group going .. oh did I mention, as a Conjuror, in order to gain class skill in party as much as other melee class, I have to spam spirit dart as well! becuz I can't cast spell. I get aggro immediatly from only 1 heal or 1 nuke or 1 MPrecoverSkill - I've play EQ1 EQ2 FFXIV and I think I know by now the aggro system for caster or healer or Do FFXIV use other rule for aggro management ? If so they should have it in manual or something. Furthermore, why there's no Dev team or Community manager that communicate with player. Why SE never talk with their players? Where is official forum? All they have is Feedback system which won't be responded and E-mail system that takes about 3 days to get Copy-paste answer ... I can go on with so many disappointed things in this game. Sorry I feel very bad now I invest so much money to play this game. I bought a new computer i7 960 / GTX 480 / etc just to play this game and I thought at that time my money is worth it. Even in Beta, my friend told me it's better to use Controller and I bought it immediately in hope many things will be fixed when its released but it's isn't .... Map , Bazaar , Trade , even selling item to NPC is terrible .. slow and too much unnecessary progress... and WHY in the world I had to assigned the drop to myself when I am soloing ? I just don't understand... This is much worse than EQ2 Launch ... sorry for FFXIV fan ( I am also FF fan too but I had to speak the truth)    … Expand
  97. k3nt0456
    Oct 1, 2010
    2
    The game has made absolutely no improvements to the genre, every major feature is incomplete or riddled with bugs or downright bad in it's implementation. You'll find yourself dropped into an unfamiliar (by mmo standards) world with absolutely no technical guidance and UI that seems straight out of a '99 console game; all of this while running code so poorly optimized for the PC that itThe game has made absolutely no improvements to the genre, every major feature is incomplete or riddled with bugs or downright bad in it's implementation. You'll find yourself dropped into an unfamiliar (by mmo standards) world with absolutely no technical guidance and UI that seems straight out of a '99 console game; all of this while running code so poorly optimized for the PC that it makes GTA 4 (a notoriously bad console port) seem like the holy grail of solid FPS.

    All of this is truly baffling coming from Square-enix who should have had previous MMO experience. If you've played ANY mmo before get ready for some serious WTF'ing; if you've played FFXI and were hoping for the next-gen group based experience you'll be so furious you'll write a negative review on Metacritic.    … Expand
  98. Jabborwacky
    Oct 2, 2010
    2
    I've played this in both the open beta and on release, and I've never seen a game that has come out with so many flaws and problems. Just like FFXI, the entire basis of the game is the advancement of a linear storyline... and that's it. The game boasts impressive in-game art, graphics, and cinematics, but the gameplay is boring and repetitive. Once you get through your first few startingI've played this in both the open beta and on release, and I've never seen a game that has come out with so many flaws and problems. Just like FFXI, the entire basis of the game is the advancement of a linear storyline... and that's it. The game boasts impressive in-game art, graphics, and cinematics, but the gameplay is boring and repetitive. Once you get through your first few starting quests, you are left to do repeatable daily quests in one of three categories: Battle, crafting, and gathering. So basically you are left doing daily quests in a very similar fashion to World of Warcraft's endgame play, only that is what you will be doing for the entire length of the game. To make matters worse, the combat controls make working in a group a pain, as they do not allow for point and click casting. A redundant target select is built into the game so that people with gamepads can keep their eye on one target while healing people around it, but this only complicates PC controls.
    The crafting in this game is a carbon copy of the Final Fantasy XI crystal crafting system with an unintuitive mini-game added on top. You have no recipe list, so you must look up all the recipes online at their website and you also have no way to tell if the item is too difficult for you to craft at your given skill. This also means you must manually put in all the materials for the item into a grid of boxes before you start crafting. Once at the mini-game, new players will be left scratching their heads in frustration as they vainly try to learn the crafting mini-game with a complete lack tutorials. Sure, if the player is smart enough to pick up the crafting tutorial quest back at the city he will have something to work with, but the tutorial fails to explain the intricacies of the game, such as what the pretty light on your crafting tool represents. Also, when you fail at making an item, all the ingredients you meticulously collected are destroyed, only adding to player frustration. The gathering mini-game trades the frustration for boredom, and is just as unintuitive as the crafting mini-game. Thankfully the introductory gathering quest is helpful here, but "hot and cold" mini-games belong in the realm of things to do on long car trips when we don't have advanced electronic devices available to us, not in a video game. At least not in the unintuitive, and rather dull application it is applied here. The player market is a mess as well. Square went with a Bazaar system as opposed to an Auction House, and since the economy is mostly player run (think like 90%), this ends up creating a convoluted mess. You will be stuck searching through an army of retainers (the npcs that player hire out to put their stuff on) for close to an hour before finding what you want. The costs will also be either out the roof or ludicrously low due to their being no way for players to gauge the marketplace in order to set a good price for their goods.
    The game's physics engine is a rip straight out of Final Fantasy XI as well, meaning poor interaction with the environment and no swimming or jumping. You are guaranteed to always be on the ground in this game. The only improvement that this game boasts over its predecessor is the fact that it allows for solo play. This is nothing to be proud about, however, since that has been standard issue in MMOs for at least the last 5 years. So basically we have a game system that is a carbon copy of the Final Fantasy XI system with the only difference being repeatable quests and solo play. The only thing to look forward to is the storyline, but we've moved far beyond linear stories with games such as Baldur's Gate, Dragon's Age, and Fallout. Nothing to be proud of here folks, and certainly not worth wasting your money on. Pretty graphics give this two stars, but ancient game-play mechanics on top of endless player frustration gives this a 0 in game-play category.
    2 out of 10 for this one folks.    … Expand
  99. maettsy
    Oct 3, 2010
    2
    Still playing, level 25 atm.
    Rushed release, anyone who doesn't think so isn't 20+.
    SE needs to rehaul a lot of things, long time fan of their franchises but terrible choices here.
    Anyone who defends moronic decisions around their designs is in denial.
  100. p0ltergeist
    Oct 4, 2010
    2
    The graphics are the only redeeming quality to this game. The game is missing everything that you would come to expect from a modern MMO. And worst of all, there is nothing to do but GRIND. The VAST majority of quests are just "kill X of monster Y" or "Collect X items by killing monster Y". And even then, you can only do a tiny amount of these quests because they are locked out on a 48The graphics are the only redeeming quality to this game. The game is missing everything that you would come to expect from a modern MMO. And worst of all, there is nothing to do but GRIND. The VAST majority of quests are just "kill X of monster Y" or "Collect X items by killing monster Y". And even then, you can only do a tiny amount of these quests because they are locked out on a 48 hour timer. Trust me people, steer clear of this game until AT LEAST the first expansion. If it even makes it that far.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
27
#27 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
49

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 26
  3. Negative: 13 out of 26
  1. PC Games (Russia)
    Mar 21, 2011
    50
    Positively, there is nothing to do in Final Fantasy XIV at the moment. It's not even close to a completed product. [Feb 2011, p.82]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 15, 2011
    40
    MMORPG with great potential is sunken by fatal bugs and errors – first comes a catastrophic interface followed by the absence of player-to-player communication. [Issue#199]
  3. games(TM)
    Jan 11, 2011
    40
    For hardware nuts, Final Fantasy obsessives and PS3 owners, FFXIV does offer a fairly distinctive MMO experience. [Christmas 2010, p.94]
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