FFXIV, How Do I love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways

It’s been about a month since Final Fantasy XIV officially released. I felt it was time I did a review of what I enjoy of the game. Currently I have three level 50s and will have a fourth by the end of the night. My top four classes are as follows.

• Dragoon 
• Warrior 
• Carpenter 
• Botanist 

Battle

The battle system is really fun; it’s a good mix of action and turn-based. The majority of your skills are on a global cooldown, making you think about what your next skill should be. Every class has its combos so it’s not just a ‘skill crap shoot’ or a ‘spam the same attack’ concept. There are also skills that are outside of the global cooldown such as Brutal Swing from Warrior and Leg Sweep from Dragoon.

There is also the telegraph system that will let you know when some of the heavier damage attacks are about to hit. I really enjoy this battle system. Getting hit by big attacks is dependent on whether you can move out of marked areas in time. The battle is very involved for all classes, so you can’t be trying to do things outside of game while you’re in the big fights.

Story

Like any Final Fantasy, there is a detailed story in FFXIV. I won’t get into too much detail due to spoilers for those who actually enjoy the story–however I’ll set a foreground. A Realm Reborn is set five years after the “Calamity” from the original Final Fantasy XIV, and all three city-states are still rebuilding.

You are dropped right in the middle of an ever-deepening threat to the world and are relied upon by the story NPCs. In a nutshell, it’s a classic RPG archetype of everyone looks to you to save them. There are many shocking twists throughout, some off-hand references to other things, and a generally epic feel to the story.

Crafting and Gathering

The true grind in the game is in these two areas. The crafting and gathering classes are a pain to level. The game does offer you ways to speed craft once your first craft is level 10, but at the cost of much of the EXP you would have earned if you had done it yourself. Crafting experience is reflected by the amount you have increased the quality from when you started the craft. Quality granted from using the high quality items is not calculated in the experience bonuses.

Gathering is the worst grind of the game. Sure you can use leve quests to speed level, but if you’re leveing a gathering class odds are it was for the materials. You don’t get materials if you are doing leves, so you are defeating the entire purpose of the class. During gathering I generally feel like I am beating my head against a wall–luckily the wall is giving materials. This is the thing I hate most about the game, but it’s a necessary evil in my opinion.

All in all, I give this game a 10 out of 10. I really enjoy the game. I’m really impressed with everything that Square Enix has done with this rerelease. If you’ve played the game, let me know what you think of it in the comments below. Also if you have any questions, or guide requests leave them below as well.