This is a review of the game in its entirety
_____________________________________________________
It really is tragic that a lot of Final Fantasy fans won't touch this one because it's an "MMO". It's really not. This isn't Ultima Online, it's a single player JRPG that you can play with friends. I don't mean that as an insult by the way, I think it's great that anybody with the time to do so can pick this game up and experience what is easily the best story in the franchise. And I really do mean anybody - most of this game is talking to people instead of wading through an endless train of random encounters, and it's all the better for it. Combat is instead saved for highly-polished instanced content like dungeons and trials, which more often than not impress both visually and mechanically.
With all that said it is important to acknowledge the main reason more people haven't played this game: A Realm Reborn. The vanilla campaign of FFXIV that is infamous for its insufferable pacing, horrendous voice acting, and an overreliance on filler combat scenarios to pad out the runtime. You know what other game is like that though? Final Fantasy X, and when that game ended I didn't get to play a kickass story about dragons afterwards. Yes, A Realm Reborn is bad, but only in a way that's expected from the brand, and once you get through it you're rewarded with quality storytelling on a scale that's rarely seen in video games.
_____________________________________________________
It really is tragic that a lot of Final Fantasy fans won't touch this one because it's an "MMO". It's really not. This isn't Ultima Online, it's a single player JRPG that you can play with friends. I don't mean that as an insult by the way, I think it's great that anybody with the time to do so can pick this game up and experience what is easily the best story in the franchise. And I really do mean anybody - most of this game is talking to people instead of wading through an endless train of random encounters, and it's all the better for it. Combat is instead saved for highly-polished instanced content like dungeons and trials, which more often than not impress both visually and mechanically.
With all that said it is important to acknowledge the main reason more people haven't played this game: A Realm Reborn. The vanilla campaign of FFXIV that is infamous for its insufferable pacing, horrendous voice acting, and an overreliance on filler combat scenarios to pad out the runtime. You know what other game is like that though? Final Fantasy X, and when that game ended I didn't get to play a kickass story about dragons afterwards. Yes, A Realm Reborn is bad, but only in a way that's expected from the brand, and once you get through it you're rewarded with quality storytelling on a scale that's rarely seen in video games.