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FFXIV Review
monochrome19
Member UncommonPosts: 723
I've been playing FFXIV for a while now and with the upcoming release of the xpac, Heavensward, I thought now would be a good time to collect my thoughts on it for anyone interested in playing it.
Jobs (The Final Fantasy equivalent to Classes):
FFXIV has a pretty standard build in terms of its class structure, you have the typical holy trinity setup, but unlike other games you can be any and every class, all you need to do is change your weapon and you can go from tanking to spanking in a second. Also, unlike other games, you wont find all the necessary abilities for your class in that Job alone, instead, you'll need to level multiple Jobs in order to make one viable. For instance: Jobs like Summoner and Black Mage lack offensive cool downs so if you wanted to receive a buff to your damage you would have to also level the Archer class in order to receive the cross class ability. Truthfully, I dont really see the point in this. In my opinion, upon reaching max level in any game, with any class, your character should be assumed to be a "master" in their craft, I dont see how it benefits a mage to learn to shoot an arrow. But, overall, I think each Job is unique and offers a satisfying experience to anyone that plays.
Score: 4/5
Combat
Unlike other games that have a 1 second global cooldown, FFXIV has a 2.5 GCD. To players like me (people that have played any MMORPG, ever) this is a nightmare. Combat drags at a snails pace and is generally underwhelming. By the time I start casting I'm already spamming my next 4 spells. This is especially annoying for me since I play SMN and it interferes with my DoT rotation. I have to remember to start casting DoTs a lot sooner before they wear off instead of spamming my filler. Since I main a Warlock in WoW, I figured SMN would be a good fit. I was wrong. Compared to the fluidity of an Affliction Warlock, Summoner feels slow and clunky.
Another big element to combat is telegraphs. When an enemy is about to release a big attack a bright red telegraph will display on the ground to warn you. If you've grown accustomed to paying attention to cast bars, telegraphs are bit underwhelming, but not bad at all. The only downside to them is that if you are experiencing high latency, even if you move out of the telegraph, you will still be hit. Which in certain situations can be disastrous, but has less to do with you, but FFXIVs internal clock.
Once you reach max level the speed does pick up a bit, but for someone like me, its still too slow. However, there are classes like the Pugilist, that specializes in hand to hand combat, that I have simply fallen in love with. Overall the combat is hit or miss. Some people will like it, and others will dislike it.
Score: 2/5
PvE
I should go on record and say I HATE PvE. For the life of me I could never understand why anyone would subject themselves to such mind-numbing repetitive b.s. in any game. In previous games I would literally fall asleep during raids and other PvE content. It just couldnt hold my interest, it offered no challenge. "Here, memorize this strat and spam this rotation to win." That basically sums up PvE in any MMORPG I've played.
Why am I saying all this though...? I love PvE in this game!
Admit it, whenever you play a game you go from quest hub to quest hub and never read the quest content. It's okay, I do the same thing. However, all of that changed when I played this game. For the first time in my life I genuinely enjoyed PvE content, but it had less to do with the actual combat and more to do with story and other neat little elements.
In FFXIV, your "newb island" treatment last until level 15 and during this time you will have to complete various story and class quest before you can proceed onward. Let me just say I love everything about these quest. The characters are a bit 2-Dimensional and the accents can be cringe-worthy but I like it, I really really like it. Its well-written and superbly done. One of the coolest things to me was certain quest required the use of emotes, and while this may seem like a small thing, having to walk to the end of a cliff with twilight baring down on you and /peering across the expanse is magical. It really allows you to slow down and soak in the lore, the moment, and the world. It feels real. Its an emotion/experience I've only ever come across in one game, my first MMORPG, WoW, but not nearly on this scale.
Once you reach endgame, well, even before then, the PvE content offers a very difficult challenge. Things like World of Darkness will have you on the edge of your seat and interested with unique mechanics. Unlike, WoW or most MMORPGs you have to know what you are doing, not just the tank and healer, everyone. Its completely possible for one person to wipe an entire raid if they dont grasp the mechanics 100%. This increases the challenge and intensity 100 fold for me. Once you outgear something however, its thoughtless faceroll content.
My only problem with PvE is, there is very little content in this game if you dont like story quest and are done with fate leveling. If you're a hardcore raider (which I'm not) you're gonna hit a brick wall and not have much to do. It's easy to buy gear and begin challenging endgame content whenever you want. Upon making it to 50 and getting ilvl 90 gear from my guild I was ready to do just about everything. This was within a day of making it to max level by the way. Secondly, assuming you cant afford gear or have a nice guild like myself, prepare to cry because the grind in this game is PUNISHING. My firm belief is because there is so little content the creators made the grind extremely exhausting. For instance: in raids like World of Darkness you may only acquire one piece of gear per week. So basically, you have very few options for PvE and you're locked behind a barrier for content. This is infuriating because I'm paying and being barred from continuing. You will most likely have to buy more game time to continue to gear your character.
Also, if you've played other FF games you will notice things like ripped models and while the typical person wont notice this, it was a bit off-putting to me. Add to this the monotonous grind and it can get pretty bad. There is so little content that you will have to farm the same battles multiple times in varying modes. Its annoying. I already defeated the primals and now I have to defeat them several more times? No. Outside of this there are things like the hunting log that allow you to kill legendary mobs for rewards.
Score: 3/5
PvP
I am a diehard PvPer. I take my PvP very seriously in whatever I play. With that being said, if you find yourself with a similar mindset, this isnt the game for you. The PvP in this game is atrocious. It takes HOURS for a que to pop, the gear grind is punishing and pointless, and a good majority of the community dislikes PvP so you may be alone in your love for this.
PvP is an unbalanced broken mess and its not rewarding at all. Casters are so powerful that in order to counter their insane burst the system allows for any attack to interrupt their cast. The PvP abilities are useless and have huge cool downs. Limit Breaks can one-shot you. Half the PvP content is inaccessible because of a broken que system.
I am not inclined to go into detail about this, I encourage anyone whose curious to do their own research about this particular subject because as I said PvP in its entirety is bad, there's nothing else I can say. The devs refuse to address the community about it and have said so themselves it isnt a high priority, this is NOT the game for anyone that is a fan of PvP.
Score: 0/5
Community
Everyone in this game is really nice and supportive, even to a complete noob who doesnt know the mechanics of a fight. Its a very calm, refreshing, and enjoyable atmosphere. I've met people who have gone completely out of their way to help me, gear me, and provide me with supplies at no cost whatsoever but a smile. I love these people. My only gripe is the rampant fanboyism that runs through this group. If you say anything less than remarkable about this game or anything FF-related they will behead you.
Score: 4/5
Music
The music is epic. Hands down the best you will find in any MMORPG on the market. I remember hearing about how some of the sound designers would take prolonged treks through the mountains to capture the sound of birds and other wildlife for the game and it really shows. I seriously doubt you will ever find music this beautiful. My favorite is the Gridania night theme, it sounds like ... home. The epic violin solo in World of Darkness gets honorable mention.
Score: 5/5
Graphics
The graphics are amazing, a feast for the eyes. The spell effects are a bit garish in large doses but its one of the prettiest games I've played. Excellent animations, environments, and gear. The character creation is meager so it doesnt offer a lot of customization however.
Score: 5/5
Misc
If you dont like PvE or PvP much there are still some things to do. This game has one of the largest RP communities I seen and they have all sorts of events for prizes and such. Besides that, the Golden Saucer was recently introduced with Chocobo racing and Triple Triad. You can also buy a house and decorate it quite extensively, and each server has its housing prices adjusted for that economy, its a nice touch by the devs and show that they are paying attention to some things at least. And the coolest thing? Player marriage. And if you're a fan of it, same sex marriage.
5/5
Crafting
I love the crafting in this game. By far the best in any game I've played. But remember my comment about being a master? Well the same thing applies here. If you want to craft you better be prepared to level every craft. Otherwise you wont be able to make the best/4 star stuff. For me, this is a complete deal breaker, as much as I love weaving and botany I refuse to level other crafts that I am not interested in. But if this isnt a problem for you, crafting in itself is a very intricate and interesting experience.
Score: 4/5
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Ultimately, I guess you want to know if the game if worth the sub price? Yes and No. For some, yes. For others, no. Final Fantasy does a lot of things good, but does just as many bad. If you like what you've heard I'd say start right now, you wont regret it. However, if you're a bit hesitant I'd say wait until the xpac is released and there is more content/fixes. This is by no means a bad game, it just has a few bad elements. The biggest thing however is this, unlike other games on the market FFXIV has something they dont: potential. In its current state the is pretty flawed and its understandable if you dont like it. However, if the devs steer the game in the right direction (which is questionable at this point) and put out quality content, this game could be one of the last Subscription games on the market and have a long lifespan.
Final Score: 3/5
Comments
I still think they should change the way the 2.5 second cooldown is handled.
Make a ATB bar on screen that does the same exact thing, and people will praise it for being more Final Fantasy.
Which makes one really realize how trained or ingrained we are with certain things and how the 2.5 seconds is nothing if you think little of it and just accept it as it's own construct of how the game works. Granted, I agree that casters are lame when it comes to this. Monks, Ninjas and Dragoons are the real classes you want to play if you want to feel how great the "ATB" feels, and oft times seems too quick with how many rotations you have and need to perform depending on the time, situation, mechanics, boss, personal buffs, group buffs, party positions and situations, your positions, etc. It's really overwhelming at max level and in stressful situations (hardest encounters) until you master it. Not to mention incredibly punishing to have to wait 2.5 seconds to perform a stun if you made a bad judgment call on what rotation you need to do -- or even up to 7.5 seconds as you have to follow it through due to combo chain potency (even up to 20 seconds with Ninja if you mess up a hand symbol to be able to cast a Ninjitsu / mudra). In addition, many melee classes have a half dozen "off the global" attacks that you have to use immediately after and inbetween combos and rotations once you decide what is best to maximize DPS (all the while making sure it's safe to do so and you're not in the way of a mechanic or AoE).
xD
Though I do believe they're working on updating the Skill Speed stat so that it actually does something.
I think its perfect how it is. Everyone keeps forgetting that you can fit 2-3 off GCD spells in between the 2.5 GCD (assuming you have good latency/no mudra lag/no fps lag) which makes combat a lot faster.
Played-Everything
Playing-LoL
As someone who's played since the 1.0 beta and through all the ups and downs, I wanted to respond to your review.
- For the class/job system, I like being able to play everything on one character. It annoyed me in WoW having to make a character for every class I wanted to experience, especially having come from FFXI where they do things similar to how they do in ARR. The major flaw I feel that exists in the game right now is the class system seems to be limiting things, and I think SE is realizing this as they're totally skipping attaching a class to the new jobs releasing in Heavensward. Beyond level 30, classes really don't add anything anymore. They're just an antiquated idea that's sticking around to give people the illusion of choice when it comes to cross-class abilities, but when it comes down to it there's not much choice in which abilities you choose.
- The battle system is absolutely a make or break thing for many people. I've played FFXI and WoW, so I've been on both extremes of combat pacing. ARR fits in between these two games. It's hard for some people to get into it early into the game because it seems some people expect to have 20 abilities within the first 10 levels. ARR gradually builds this up and by level 30 you have a decent array of abilities, and by level 50 you're seeing the whole picture. When you're doing some of the hectic fights, such as in Binding Coil, I feel that the battle pace is right on point for all the mechanics you have to deal with. It just feels like molasses early on when you have 3 abilities to use and skill/spell speed isn't really a factor at that point. I will say that NIN and MNK are definitely top choices for people who feel like they have to press more buttons faster than others.
- As far as PvE content goes, I feel like there's plenty of it but only so much of it is relevant at any one point. Every patch cycle they add a new dungeon, 2 hard modes of previously released dungeons, a new Primal (story and Extreme modes) and a raid. This doesn't include main story and side quests which are unique experiences. When it comes down to it though, the new dungeons are only good to be run randomly once a day for the daily bonus, you can only run the raids once per week or until you get your weekly loot while it's relevant, which leaves you to spam the Ex Primals to fill in any gear gaps you have.
They've done a pretty good job in making old content relevant by incorporating it into the relic weapon quest, but this quest in and of itself is a pretty major grind going through it the first time. It's a bit easier doing it after the first time, but most people after they finish one it's not an experience they want to go through again.
- I won't really touch on PvP much, but it should go without saying that Final Fantasy games traditionally have been about telling a story, so the PvE experience is going to be at the forefront. The devs put in some PvP to appease those who wanted to try it, but you can tell it's not at the top of their priority list. I personally did some BGs and Arena in WoW, but I'm not a PvP person at heart, so the lack of PvP in ARR really has no bearing on me. I've never stepped foot into Wolves' Den because I don't like Arena style PvP. I have done the BG equivalent in ARR and I felt it was pretty fun, but for the competitive PvP type of person you shouldn't go out of your way to get this game if that's your thing. That being said, the devs are really good at listening to player feedback so they may make tweaks to PvP in the future.
- I don't really have much to add on to your other points. As you mentioned, the graphical and musical quality of the game is superb. The community is pretty friendly. (although it is rather segmented due to most people sticking to within their FC to accomplish things) The crafting system is very detailed and takes a lot of time and money to completely master it; the same goes with gathering. There's plenty of side content in the game that you could spend an evening just doing it. (the Gold Saucer is especially popular right now)
I think Heavensward will address some of the issues that the playerbase has, such as the openness of the world being expanded upon due to the dimension of flying being added. I personally hope to see them revamp the entire class/job system across the board, as well as being a bit more creative with gear itemization. I've played enough of SE's MMOs to know that a grind will always exist behind some artificial barriers, because there are those who given enough time can complete everything and SE wants them to continue to subscribe every month.
There should be a cutoff for reviews, unless it is directly aimed at a new content drop or expansion. At this point, I don't think anybody who has heard of this game is in the dark on what it is about. Unless this is a PR stunt, but I wasn't under the impression that it was in need of a PR push.
Having said that, it was a very good review, just seems to be about a year late.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
A decent review, disagree with a few things.
Combat I would give a 3/5, simply due to the fact when you factor in the abilities in between spells it is not 2.5 secs between attacks at endgame. Honestly the flow feels pretty good when you are doing fights that require constant movement.
It is not as fast as WoW and not even close to the button spammy action mmos, but then again that is all personal preferenance. Fast =/= better. The battle systems at endgame works very well for the design of the content.
Early in XIV's levels the combat system is garbage, been the major complaint and turn off since it was launched. It is slow with minimal skills and the fights are mind numbingly boring, this is the only time you have a 2.5 sec cooldown between abilities. So Pre-50 2/5 post 50 3/5.
The main issue I have with the battle system at endgame is every class is the same, much like Wow it is follow the optimal rotation from fight start to end. 1+2+3 => 4+5+6 => random buffs/debuff => repeat for 10mins is not my idea of a good battle system. No real teamwork involved outside the standard healing by healers and tanking of the boss by the tanks. No ones actions really effect anyone else is I guess what I am getting at.
PvE content wise I agree with 3/5, there is just limited content in general at endgame that is relevant. For a non-casual player it is simply not enough to fill in the void between patches. Pre-endgame there is more then enough to do, yes you run out of quest if you try to level everything on 1 character but that is no different then any other mmo. Grind wise unless you are talking about relic weapons there is not really a grind in XIV. Everything is low man, 100% drop rate, extremly short spawn windows on open world things, limited lock outs. you can be a brand new player at 50 get into a good free company and be Ilvl100+ in less then 2 weeks. Hell if you are good you finish all the games content every week in 7hrs (this is a lack of content issue though not a grind issue). Game has about 1/50th the grind of XI and EQ, I do not see much difference between XIV and WoW in terms of grind.
Model wise I do not see why this matters personally. Any mmo that is in a series has mobs that are duplicated. WoW does it and EQ2 did it. XIV borrows from the series which is nearly 20 games large now, as a ff fan I do not see this as a negative at all. There are new things in XIV and all the older models are redone in HD more or less.
PvP sucks and as bad it sounds it probably should in a ff game. This is a final fantasy the PvE better be king and the majority focus... or they have failed simply due to what game this is. No one should play FFXIV for a PvP experiance. You should play it for the PvE with PvP to kill some time when you are really bored. The majority of players in the game do not even care about PvP at all, if the devs where to spend alot of time making good pvp, most the players would be pissed they spent it on pvp. Simply put FFXIV is not a pvp game it is a nearly Pure PvE focused mmo. I am in the camp where PvP in a mmo does not matter 1 bit though. If I want my PvP fix I will play LoL which is multitudes better then any mmo on the market in terms of pvp.
Community I would give a 3/5. Everyone has mememe syndrom and it is actually very hard to find people who put the Guild/Group > Themselves in this game. It is the change in the times and probably partially due to the duty finder. It is better then alot of mmos though. But say compaired to its predessesor XI. The community in XIV is a complete joke, it is about the same as WoW's community honestly.
Crafting/gathering I would give it a 3/5
Mechanics wise 5/5 easily one of the best crafting systems in the genre. Purpose 1/5...... crafting is for entree level endgame only, and has little purpose while leveling because you get the same gear coming from every little quest you do. the majority of crafted gear is for vanity purposes only. The first tier of endgame gear in each major patch cycle tends to be equivalent or better then crafted gear (Depending on if you over meld it or not)
Great System Horrible implementation into the games economy which I would also call extremly weak compaired to other mmos.
I would agree the game is painfully average. It is doing so well because most the other mmorgs in the genre that were recently released (last 5yrs) are very subpar and too many mmos are venturing too far away from what makes a mmorpg a mmorpg in most peoples minds.
For people looking at the game, simple as this.
If you liked WoW and love Final Fantasy Games, try XIV you will most likely like it. It is a highly polished WoW clone with alot of Final Fantasy Elements throughout the ages thrown in.
If you want PvP stay away, if you want action mmos stay away, if you want a sandbox mmo stay away, if you are bored with WoW style mmo stay away.
Stopped reading after this: "Unlike other games that have a 1 second global cooldown, FFXIV has a 2.5 GCD"
Coming from FFXI I think the gameplay is way too fast leaving no time for strategy or teamwork like FFXI had with weapon skills and skillchains and magic burn.
I wish they made FFXIV like FFXI and keep all the wow trolls out of the game cause right now it's infested with them and community is not even close to what it was back then.
I couldn't have said it better.
Sadly you are representing simply another type of baggage altogether. You're no better than the OP.
I think that would be perfectly fine if it were to review the new content that came out since the previous review.
This particular post would have been just as valid if posted 1 week after launch. Subtract 1 from the year, and it would have been the same. It could have reviewed anything from the new Primals, new Coils, new story elements, you name it. It just didn't make sense to me why this type of review happens so far from release.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
I think that would be perfectly fine if it were to review the new content that came out since the previous review.
This particular post would have been just as valid if posted 1 week after launch. Subtract 1 from the year, and it would have been the same. It could have reviewed anything from the new Primals, new Coils, new story elements, you name it. It just didn't make sense to me why this type of review happens so far from release.
That is true. But I would take this format over the typical ranting/white knighting posts any day hehe.
Oh most definitely.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars