Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Today I review a game I've been playing since the beta phase 3, and from day one launch. Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn.

Yoshitaka Amano drew the game logo. Look at it. LOOK AT IT!!

Enter the Epic Cinemating Opening!!

Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn is a improved version of the original Final Fantasy 14, most known from the many bugs and horrible gameplay. I personally didn't play it, but I read about it and watched gameplay videos so I can't enter in any details for that reason.

Despite the bad reputation that the previous incarnation, known around as version 1.0, when Square-Enix announced the revamped version: FF14: A Realm Reborn, I was curious. The company had gone such measures to clean its good name, so when it was available I signed up for the Beta phase 3, and eventually pre-ordered the game and acessed it on the early access phase.

As I loged in for the first time, and watched the opening sequence, I was still sceptic. Sure the opening was great, and epic like most of the Final Fantasy franchise, but will the game be as good as they wanted to show it? As the character creation screen appeared, half of my doubts were gone. Already at the character creator screen we could have a taste of the game's ambient. While I was modyfing my character, I could swap the background to be in various areas of the game, and have a taste of the graphic ambient before even playing. I even hadn't played the game and was already whispering "damn this looks beautiful".

In the game there are 4 races:

The Hyur: the human like race of Eorzea. The Hyur are a race not originally from Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV, having migrated there and brought their technology with them. There are two types of Hyur, the Midlanders and Highlanders.

Midlanders on the left and Highlanders on the right. The Midlander is the main character in the game presentations.

The Elezen: The elven like race of Eorzea. They are the race that has lived in Eorzea the longest and co-exist peacefully with the other races. There are two types of Elezen, the Wildwood Elezen and the Duskwight Elezen. As in other mmo's they are comparable to City elves and Dark Elves, and as such they aren't really on good terms.

Wildwood Elezen on the left side and Duskwight on the right. Hey is that Drizzt japanese cousin??

The Lalafell: The hobbit-like race of Eorzea. The Lalafell are a race from the seas south of Eorzea and the race consists of the Plainsfolk, which live in thatched-roof homes and have great hearing, and the Dunesfolk who live in the desert and herd animals.

Dunesfolk on the right side and Plainsfolk on the left. Small and cute. I don't like them.

The Miqo'te: The cat-like race of Eorzea (as a JRPG wouldn't have cat-like characters). Like Hyur the race is an immigrant race on Eorzea. They are two types of Miqo'te: The Seekers of the Sun and the Keepers of the Moon.

The Seekers of the Sun on the left and the Keepers of the Moon on the right. A must have character of the most hardcore of otakus.

Roegadyn: the fourth race of Eorzea. The Roegadyn are a race from the seas north of Eorzea. There are two types of Roegadyn: the Sea Wolves and the Lohengarde or Hellsguard.

Sea Wolves on the left and Hellsguard on the right. They just scream tank characters right?

As I usually start with the most human like race so I went with a Midlander Hyur.

Then I had to choose a Class. There are 8 in the begining: Archer, Lancer, Gladiator (a kind of swordsman tank class), Conjurer (the basic kind of healer), Arcanist (the basic kind of summoner), Marauder (a tank class), Pugilist and Thaumaturge (debuffs and damaging magic). These classes are levelud up by completing quests, and can be upgraded for advanced classes called Jobs. These are Paladin, Dragoon (a classic Final Fantasy class), Monk (as in other Final fantasy series it's not a healer class, but a kind of martial artist), Bard (buffer and archer), Warrior, White Mage (the advanced healers, as in other Final Fantasies), The Black Mage (the advanced wizard), Summoner and Scholar (buffer and healer).

These classes are called The Disciples of War and The Disciples of Magic (if they are mainly magic based skill classes). There are also two more disciple classes.

The Disciples of the Hand: Armourers, weavers, carpenters, goldsmiths, alchemists, culinarians and leatherworkers. They are crafting classes, and gain experience by crafting materials, enabling them to craft different items as they level up. Each class has specific items that they craft.

The Disciples of the Land: Botanists, Fishers and Miners. They are the gatherer classes and level up by Gathering.

Durign the beta phase 3, I played as a Gladiator, but on the launch as I had done some research before and I always liked the dragoons from other series, I went with Lancer.

Depending on wich class you chose, you'll start in one of the three capital cities of Eorzea. Each capital has its own Grand Company, kind of an army, and eventually you have to join one, but it doesn't influence the storyline.

Ul'dah - Ul'dah is a city-state known as the most wealthy of the city-states, ruled by a Sultanate. It's the home of the Gladiator's, Arcanist's and Pugilist's Guild, if you chose one of this classes, this is where you start. The Grand Company of Ul'dah are The Immortal Flames and the beastkind that threathens this area are the Amalj'aa, who whorship Ifrit, the Lord of Inferno.

Gridania - Gridania is  located on the Aldenard continent. It is located in the midst of the Black Shroud, a dense forest also known as the Twelvewoods that serves to filter out those hostile toward the Elementals and those in cooperation with them. Gridania is by far the most unified of the city-states. It's home for The Lancer's, Archer's and Conjurer's Guild, and if you chose one of this classes it's where you start. The Grand Company of Gridania is The Order of The Twin Adder and there are two beastkind to this area, the Sylphs who whorship Ramu, The Lord of Thunder, and have a peace treaty with Gridania, and the Ixal who worship Garuda, the Queen of Storms.

Limsa Lominsa - Limsa Lominsa is an independent marine city state of Eorzea. Located on the southern coast of the island Vylbrand, Limsa Lominsa is a bustling port and pirate hideout. It's home for the Marauder's and Arcanist's Guild. It's Grand Company is The Maelstrom. The two beastkind of this area are the Kobolds, who whorship Titan, The Lord of Crags and the Sahagin who whorship Leviathan, The lord of the Tide.

The opening depicted the last event in the 1.0 version, Eorzea was in war with the Garland Empire, and the Empire unsealed the Primal (God-like creatures that thread in aether, that is what composes everything in Eorzea) Bahamut (what's a Final Fantasy title without the king of wyverns?) and unleashed hell on the land. It was stopped by the Scions of The Seven Dawn, an Order dedicated to study Aether and it's disturbances, and a group of adventurers, later called The Warriors of Light. The story starts 5 years after this event, now called The Calamity, and it seems that no one can remember the face or the name of the Warriors. As I was a Lancer I started in Gridania. The initial sequence is the same for every class, changing only which zone and wich beast kind are introduced. As I stepped in Gridania I was sent to the Adventurer's Guild of that City, The Carlile Canopy. The start of the story revolves around doing quests in the starting region of Eorzea you have chosen, and the Guilds that you join. It's very easy to change classes in this game, first you have to sign up on it's guld and then you just have to switch weapons to change class. You only gain experience points to the class that you are though, so if you are a lv10 Lancer and join the Conjurer's guild, when you change to Conjurer you'll be lv1. As you level up a class you gain new abilities (as any mmo) and unlock additional slots for skills from another class (advanced jobs only let you equip skills from 2 specific classes, while basic classes like lancer let you choose from any basic class that has a skill compatible with it). This lets you have lots of strategies until you get an advanced job.

Until level 15 you can play solo but as you advance in the story, you will be required to enter parties to clear dungeons. The game has a function to pair up players randomly by class called The Duty Finder, or you can make your own party of 4 and enter the dungeon. It wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game if you didn't have a party. Usually it isn't a problem solving them with random people, as almost everytime they explain it to newbies and are very accessible. It has been a plus for me in this game, the community is very accessible and fun, and as I like to play solo, it isn't a torture to go on a party for dungeon raiding. The Duty Finder only had a problem at the beggining of the game, as the levels were too concentrated on specific zones, there wasn't a healer or a tank for a specific dungeon for long periods of time. Today, as the levels are more dispersed, it hasn't been an issue.

Eventually while you're questing you are aproached by the Scions of the Seven Dawn, and start researching various aether disturbances, leading to the unravelling of the plot and eventually the Empire and The Primals. The Primals are the most threating force on Eorzea, they are summoned by their worshippers and influence living being to worshipe them. But (surprise!) you are immune to them, and become a key in the war against them.

The world of Eorzea is appealing to the eye, and each zone is unique and feels alive. The weather is always changing varying from sunny, cloudy and even having storms, and also the usual day/night cycle.

Coerthas, the north part of Gridania. It always remembers me something out of A Song of Ice and Fire.

La Noscea - the area around Limsa Lominsa.

Me chilling with my chocobo on Costa Del Sol, a part of La Noscea. Final Fantasy fans might remember this name from Final Fantasy 7.

Mor Dohna, the end game zone and where the last part of the story happens. A nice view of the Coil of Bahamut, one of the End Game Dungeons.

Thanalan, the desert area around Ul'dah.

The Black Shroud, a huge forest area around Gridania.

The FATEs ( Free Action Time Events) also give dynamism to the world. I still remember my first fate, as I din't yet know what it was and a crowd of chocobo riders passed through me, as the message 'A FATE has been detected nearby' appeared on the screen. They are 'Free to join quests' being killing hords of mobs, killing a special monster, heck even special Primals such as Odin, that level up every time it is defeated. I got lucky to fight it once, as he is a world boss. I wasn't lucky to be one of the 400 (yes 400 players) victims of his Zantetsuken, instant killing everyone in the FATE.

ODIN!!! *shakes fist in the air angrily* I shall have my revenge!

As I stand in lv47 and the level cap is 50, I'm reaching the end game now, and  the thing that has been bothering me the most in the game has appeared. The Exp gained is small. It takes a lot of time to level up. That can be normal if the dungeons were the most exp rewarding events in the game, you would get exp and loot, but they aren't. The most exp rewarding events near end game are FATES or Levequests (repeatable quests you can take) and they get grindy and boring as they are always the same events. But, gotta grind to end that game and get the final Drachen armor! 

Yes it's my character at the moment, a Lv47 Dragoon. And yes the lack of a full set annoys me as much as you, but the next part is only obtainable at lv50. Damn you Square-Enix!

It had some issues in the launch too. There were a lot more than the expected number of users and the servers were always full or kicking players out, having SE to upgrade them and refunding free play time to all users. Lately there were an issue with a critical Lag, but it seemed solved, or at least for me it has. Not a good start for a subscriptioned game.

In the incoming update (2.01) it will include PVP of 4 vs 4, housing and access to the Crystal Tower, a 21 player instance dungeon. I'm looking forward to it, and how depressing it will be to have 21 random players doing it by Duty Finder if you're not part of a Free Company like me (Free Companies are the Guild system of FF14). Well, that's a part of the fun I guess, whining about cooperations of strangers xD.

Graphics 5/5 - I play the PS3 version and, and unfortunatelly on 520i definiton, the game looks amazing already. As agame that runs on PC and will be launched for the PS4 (for free if you own the ps3 version), it will be even more appealing to the eye. I got to get a new TV...

Gameplay 3/5 - The crafting is easy, and as I said I play on a ps3 and playing with the controller is fairly easy. It doesn't bring anything new to the mmo gameplay and it annoys me that on the beta while plugged with a keyboard, I would have a pc hotbar hub and later it was removed. What the hell SE??

Sound 5/5 - The OST is astounding. Every zone has its own theme and battle theme, variants of the main one, the FATES have one too, Levequests too, and there are specific boss theme songs.

Sadly the full version and the Titan's Boss Theme are out of youtube. A sad day indeed.

Longevity 4/5 - As a MMO that will receive future updates, it has the potencial to have a great longevity, and if you like grinding you have a lot of classes to level up.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn deals a critical hit of 17/20.