Final Fantasy XIV Online (2013)

I really told myself I was gonna try to push through the Post-Stormblood quests quickly so I could jump into Shadowbringers. A couple of hours of gameplay later, I discovered The Diadem and my love for the gathering/crafting system made me kiss that plan goodbye. It ended up being a bit grindier than I expected, but I managed to get the body armor piece I wanted. Now I'm ready to jump back into the MSQ! I'm sure I won't get distracted again. :P

I’m honestly surprised it took me so long to get to this game.

I’m somewhat of a Square fanboy, having played FF 7, FF 10, Kingdom Hearts trilogy, and Chrono Trigger. Plus, I am no stranger to MMOs, having previously played WoW and City of Heroes. Turns out nothing is stronger than the lure of the free trial.

This is the best-looking MMO I’ve ever played! So far, the gameplay is fun, addicting, and very similar to Wow. The battle animations are noticeable better than those in Wow. I’m a lowly level 15 conjurer but looking forward to the level grind.

This seems awfully dull and clunky as a game from the new player perspective. Sounds like from others' comments that it's one of those that you have to invest a lot into to get to the good part. I don't think I'll be willing to do so, as I'm playing alone, and the slow combat and lack of a traditional Final Fantasy party of characters to get attached to is not helping.

That being said, the game has a sort of nice atmosphere, particularly in the social/sanctuary areas, and mildly satisfying loop of frequent quest completions and level ups that makes it a good relaxation game. I could see myself fiddling with it a bit in the future if I am tired and want a time waster, but I don't think I'm an MMO person.

I'm up to level 25 and about to choose a Grand Company.

I'm not an MMO guy at all and I'm even less of a fan of games that explicitly take post-Wrath of the Lich King World of Warcraft as their main source of inspiration. So, compared to the kinds of games I usually play, the combat and the movement mechanics are about as interesting as listening to paint dry. At its best, there are some good mechanical ideas and some small moments where a well-timed decision can turn the tide of an encounter. At its worst, the game just kinda plays itself. I've heard that the combat gets better later on in the game, but as of now, there's not much to it.

However, bolted onto this super traditional WoW-like is one of the best-written, most genuine, and most interesting JRPG stories I've seen in years. It does suffer from the typical MMO problem of "YOU are the super special unique savior of the world. ONLY YOU. Pay no mind to the thousands of people standing outside this door who are exactly like you.", but once you get beyond that you have a bunch of memorable characters and some great themes about unity, altruism, overcoming tragedy, and combating hate and prejudice. From what I know and have experienced, the stuff that takes place in Ul'dah is by far the most fleshed out and complex exploration of these ideas. Released in 2013 and therefore mercifully untouched by the current bullshit gamer trend of crying profusely every time a big mean developer puts a politic in a video games, the sequences in Ul'dah center entirely around the massive income inequality, greed, government corruption, and poor treatment of refugees that plague the city. This is all handled shockingly well. All of three of these things are portrayed as unforgivable obstacles to the final goal of unity against a larger evil, and they cause a majority of the problems that a player who starts in Ul'dah will face. You beat the hell out of people who harass refugees, run afoul of government corruption and only barely escape its clutches while a comrade of yours is thrown into exile, and fight against a version of Ifrit whose summoning was facilitated by a slimy merchant who was only out for money. It never makes excuses for Ul'dah's problems or accidentally tries to justify them like a lot of other media that tackles these issues. It also does a great job of showing that the player character, while powerful and more than capable of writing various small wrongs, is powerless to enact large-scale change due to how deep the corruption and prejudice goes. The effective use of these social issues that very directly mirrored that of the real world even in 2013 takes the narrative well beyond your typical "FIGHT THE EVIL EMPIRE AND ALSO SOME MONSTERS" story. You're not just stabbing bad guys. You're stabbing bad guys in hopes that your kingdom will live to see some positive social change. Good stuff.

tl;dr gameplay meh but story good and it do politics good too