Realm Reborn's main story quest really felt like a Trails Of story where 80% of the game is fluff and pretty tedious but the ending sinks its hooks in you and you have no choice but to continue on with the expansions to see where it goes.

I don't know if I'd recommend XIV but I'm definitely hooked. Its one of those "it gets good after 100 hours" kind of experiences. In the long run I have a feeling I'll be going "I should have played a bunch of other games in that time instead of spending all this time playing this" but we'll see.