About Final Fantasy XIV
The finalist of fantasies.
Final Fantasy XIV is a popular MMORPG set in the Final Fantasy universe. In this game, you are the Warrior of Light, saving the world of Eorzea from various threats and making it safer for its citizens. There are currently five expansions, with a sixth, Dawntrail, set to come out in July 2024. The game has a large fanbase and a captivating storyline that will bring tears and shouts of victory through fantastic storytelling.
In Final Fantasy XIV, you can choose between 20 different jobs that you can switch out at any time, making it so you dont need to make multiple characters to experience all the jobs available. Once you reach the respective level, you can train in any job. Final Fantasy XIV can also play as seven different races: Hyur, Elezen, Miqo'te, Lalafell, Roegadyn, Viera, and Hrothgar. Each of these has two distinct factions to choose from, with slightly different stat layouts and visual differences.
Final Fantasy XIV's Story
It's raining content!
As said above, in Final Fantasy XIV, you take the role of the Warrior of Light, scurrying around Eorzea to exterminate threats to the people of the land. Through the five different expansions, you will fight mysterious villainous groups, dragons, and false gods while developing strong alliances and friendships that last throughout the storyline.
The story weaved through this MMORPG is one of the best stories in the genre. Meticulously crafted with attention to detail that surpasses perfection, the writers at Square Enix genuinely make the characters come to life, while the voice acting and visuals add to the story by immersing players into the vibrant world of Eorzea. The story is well thought out and has a reputation for eliciting a wide array of emotions from their players. Constantly catching the player's attention with carefully crafted pot twists and devastating revelations, this game will have you laughing, crying, and shouting in victory.
The negative of this, however, is that with all the lore written for this game, there is an overabundance of dialogue to read. The sheer volume of text boxes in the game can be tiring and overwhelming. This does get better as you make your way through the story, as voice acting becomes much more prevalent in the pursuing expansions. However, getting through all the dialogue may put some off the game.
Final Fantasy XIV Gameplay
Create whomever you wish!
Starting where every MMORPG starts, we will look at character creation. Final Fantasy XIV boasts many customizable features to differentiate your character from other players. There are seven different races to choose from, and within those races, you have two different clans to choose from that make minor changes to your character. After you have selected your race and the clan your character belongs to, you are given the ability to choose a height, skin tone, hairstyle, voice, and facial features, to name a few. Making your character unique and specified to your liking is easy, and after the first time creating your character, you can always go to the inn to change your hairstyle, eyebrows, hair color, and other features.
Moving on to classes, there are 20 jobs to choose from, with two more on the way with the introduction of DawnTrail in the summer. Jobs fall under three categories, as with most MMORPGs: healer, DPS (melee, ranged, and magic), and tank. There are four tank jobs, four healer jobs, six melee DPS jobs, three ranged DPS jobs, and three magic DPS jobs. As said previously, each job can be picked up after a short quest once you meet the requirements, so there is no need to create multiple characters to play every job. With all these jobs to choose from, one is bound to tickle your fancy.
In Final Fantasy XIV, most of the gameplay is doing the Main Story Quests, crossing Eorzea, and leveling your character. Peppered into the Main Story Quests are duties, which are dungeon-like PvE events where you team up with other players to beat the dungeon, and raids at later levels, which are more significant, more intense battles where you join a bunch of other players and beat bosses to a pulp. There are also professions to pick up and level, which allow you to make gear, furniture, and other items with in-game benefits.
PVP is also available for those who enjoy challenging themselves against other players, and the rewards for participating can be very lucrative. Though it is not the game's primary focus, several modes exist. The PVP community is active, and the developers always add new and exciting things to this play mode.
The world of Eorzea is vast and open, with many different cities and towns dotted along the way at strategic points throughout the map. The world is beautiful, and the developers have spent much time fine-tuning it. The NPCs you encounter along the way often have their own unique stories and backgrounds if you take the time to learn about them.
The main NPCs you encounter throughout your gameplay are well thought out and very lifelike; their ambitions and motivations make sense, and you grow attached to them as they grow and become better versions of themselves. You will be rooting for these characters in no time, and I know I developed deep bonds with them while learning about their lives and backgrounds. The antagonists for each expansion really make you hate them, and they are made with the same care and consideration, making them feel alive and unique to other games.
A con of the game is, honestly, A Realm Reborn. Getting through this tedious and lackluster start to Final Fantasy XIV is how the game loses many players. Though it is true that the game gets much better as you proceed in the storyline, A Realm Reborn is just lacking. It has boring dungeons, walls of text, and duties that are just not that fun. If you can get through to Heavensward, the game begins to flourish and turn into the game loved by millions.
That being said, a Game + mode allows you to replay any part of the game after you beat it at a harder difficulty. This makes it more fun to replay, and you can go back and see elements of the story you might have missed on your first playthrough, or that mean more when you know the whole story.
Final Fantasy XIV Combat
Beat them with your beat stick!
Combat depends on the job you choose. There are so many different jobs to choose from, each with its own mechanics and weapons. Depending on your play style, you could pick up a tank job, a healer job, or a DPS job, and within these categories, each choice has its own unique style. Once you level to 90, each job rotation has special, job-specific abilities that make the game a blast.
Leveling is the primary way to strengthen your character in Final Fantasy XIV. The gear you equip your character with also significantly helps the strength of your character. You also have job quests every couple of levels, adding and powering up your abilities while you reach level 90, each with its own storyline.
Combat focuses on rotation, regardless of your playstyle, and you will need to learn the correct rotation to improve your play. Luckily, the Final Fantasy XIV community has made oodles of videos and forums with tips and tricks on every class and job in the game. It only takes one Google search to bring up dozens of guides and helpful videos.
Final Fantasy is very well known for its flashy and flamboyant combat animations. The animations and sounds can be a bit much and can be turned off if needed, but they also bring a vibrancy to the game that other MMOs simply do not have. There are job-specific animations and sounds, and the boss animations are easy to understand and introduced slowly, so players learn about different mechanics as they level.
Final Fantasy XIV Quest System
Final Fantasy XIV is heavily invested in its Main Story Questline, one of the best in MMOs today. Square Enix takes a lot of care to weave a coherent and fascinating story, with the quests being just challenging enough to make gameplay rewarding and fun. The quests are easy to find and execute and offer great detail about the world of Eorzea, whether they focus on the NPCs or the history and politics of the governing elite.
Heavensward is where the Main Story Quests pick up, bringing new life to the game and making for exciting and fun gameplay. For instance, some quests will have you fighting literal gods to keep them from obliterating all of Eorzea. Heavensward, which is all about dragons, will entail your character playing as an emissary to bridge the mortals with the dragons to stop a great evil from destroying everything. The intense and unique storyline will leave you with your mouth open and tears in your eyes.
Final Fantasy XIV Graphics
Miqo'te's are the best waifus.
While the graphics for Final Fantasy as of this article are good, an update coming out with the new expansion will take them from good to excellent. Square Enix has spent the last few years upping its game (literally) when it comes to graphics, and now, the upcoming graphics overhaul has many people in awe.
Square Enix has always taken pride in its beautiful and fantastic worlds, and Final Fantasy XIV is no exception. With all new textures, beautiful overhauls, and a more lifelike appearance, I look forward to the Dawntrail expansion even more. Even the characters seem more alive with this overhaul, and I'm excited to see what has changed.
The graphics are very realistic, with characters having expressive emotions and fun emotes to use while chatting with friends. The world is detailed and expansive, making it immersive and lifelike in a way other MMOs lack. With the amount of work the dev team has put into this game, I would be surprised if the graphics were any less impressive.
New Content Updates
The new expansion, Dawntrail, is set to come out in July of this year, adding a whole new storyline to the already expansive Final Fantasy XIV tale. But Square Enix doesn't just give one expansion and then be done with it. No, they add more to the questline as regular updates
that further the story and help immerse you in the game. The new content is often well received, as there are always new duties, raids, and more to do while waiting for the next expansion.
There is also an Online Store where you can buy cosmetics and game enhancers, like new clothing and hairstyles, mounts and dyes, or a Hero's Journey, which levels a job up to level 80. These can add fun and save time when you are playing, so I recommend checking out the store at least once to see if anything strikes your fancy.
Final Fantasy's Developer
Top of their game.
Square Enix, a giant in the JRPG world, developed Final Fantasy. With such a big name, it is easy to understand why Final Fantasy XIV is so polished and well-organized in terms of its playability. Of course, a few bugs always make it in, but the developers respond quickly and perform regular maintenance to ensure a smooth experience for all of their players.
When it comes to listening to the community, they do listen to feedback on their official forums, primarily using the criticisms from their Japanese player base. They take criticism well, often fix issues with frequent patches and updates, and add fun items to their online store.
Final Fantasy XIV Price
Now comes the biggest pro of the game: its free trial. Final Fantasy XIV has a massive free trial, with over 200 hours of gameplay that takes you up to the Stormblood expansion. This gargantuan trial period allows you to play any job up to level 70. There is so much content that you can be confident the game is for you without ever spending a dime.
The free trial has a few limitations, mainly the number of characters you can have and the amount of gil a character can carry. You can also not use the shout, yell, or tell chat options, the market board, trade with other players, or use the in-game mail service. You can unlock all of these by purchasing the game's Starter Edition.
Once you've decided to unlock the rest of the game, you can start with the Starter Edition, which is $19.99 and unlocks all the previously mentioned limitations. Then, when you're ready to upgrade to Endwalker, it costs $39.99 if you have already bought the Starter Edition or $59.99 for both the Starter Edition and Endwalker. You can preorder Dawntrail for $39.99.
After that, there is a monthly subscription fee. You can choose from two options: an Entry subscription for $12.99 a month or a Standard subscription for $14.99 a month. There are also options for a three-month subscription for $41.97 and a six-month subscription for $77.94.
While many game developers add in pay-to-win mechanics, there are no pay-to-win elements in Final Fantasy XIV; everything you get from the online store is cosmetic or doesn't affect gameplay in any way. While there are other purchases you can make, you only need to purchase the expansions to enjoy all of the aspects of this game.
Final Fantasy XIV is available on PC/Mac, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 and recently became available for Xbox users.
FINAL VERDICT
Final Fantasy is a solid, enchanting MMORPG with a fantastic community, a beautiful world, and compelling storytelling that leaves players with full hearts and teary eyes. While this game is far from perfect, the developers spend a lot of time trying to keep it fun and engaging throughout its hundreds of hours of content.
Though A Realm Reborn is a trudge, the rest of the story has a special place in my heart and is the best storytelling in any MMORPG. With the ability to play all jobs on one character, the sheer volume of content, and the quality of the content, I give Final Fantasy a 9 out of 10.
Pros:
- Compelling Storytelling
- Amazing Community
- High Replayability
- Beautiful Graphics
- Fantastic Voice Acting
Cons:
- Slow start, storywise
- There are a lot of text boxes to read
- Can induce option paralysis
