Played the beta test and a bit of the live game in the months before it shut down. It was just as awful as everyone said. Gameplay was laggy and trash boring grindfest.
However there were a few upsides. The music was great, most of which was carried over to ARR. The models, textures, and animations were all fantastic but they had to be downgraded for performance reasons in ARR. It attempted to be a true successor to legacy MMOs rather than an online action game or JRPG experience as ARR went on to do.
There's still a yearning for a more holistic MMORPG experience that those older titles offered but hasn't been satisfied since, as evidenced by the interest in Classic WoW and OSRS. Unfortunately FFXIV 1.0 failed to achieve that.
However there were a few upsides. The music was great, most of which was carried over to ARR. The models, textures, and animations were all fantastic but they had to be downgraded for performance reasons in ARR. It attempted to be a true successor to legacy MMOs rather than an online action game or JRPG experience as ARR went on to do.
There's still a yearning for a more holistic MMORPG experience that those older titles offered but hasn't been satisfied since, as evidenced by the interest in Classic WoW and OSRS. Unfortunately FFXIV 1.0 failed to achieve that.