I've been playing Final Fantasy XIV since I joined the game last year and ever since then I have put in many, many hours exploring the world of Eorzea and experiencing all the free trial has to offer.
I love this game, the story is fantastic, the music is some of the best I've heard, comparing favorably to single player games and the gameplay is engaging and fun.
The Free Trial:
Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.
What is Final Fantasy XIV?
Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, MMORPG. Developed by Square Enix and originally Released in 2010, the game was critically panned for the numerous problems it had when it launched from a mix of hubris and complacency. Having an MMORPG fail is bad for the huge financial investment they take to make, but especially so for an MMORPG connected to the prestigious Final Fantasy series of Japanese RPGs, a numbered entry in the series no less.
Square Enix had to work on damage control, so they put together a task force to determine the game's problems and fix them. Bringing on Naoki Yoshida to manage the project, a colleague who had worked in another department, the game's problems were identified and a plan was drafted. Patch 1.0 (The old version of the game) while simultaneously working on a completely rebuilt version of the original game, 2.0 (The version of the game we play now), to get it ready in 2 years.
On 11 November 2012, 1.0 went out in a fiery blaze with an incredible CGI trailer (Probably my favorite CGI cutscene in any game) as the elder primal Bahamut razed Eorzea to the ground.
Now five years on from the Seventh Umbral Calamity as Eorzea strives to rebuild itself, an adventurer arrives in Eorzea.
A Realm Reborn
Hydaelyn, a vibrant planet blessed by the light of the crystal. Amid azure seas, encompassing the westernmost of the Three Great Continents, there lies a realm embraced by gods and forged by heroes. Her name...Eorzea.
- Narrator, A Realm Reborn Opening Movie
2.0 or A Realm Reborn released for PS3 and PC on 23 August 2013, two years of tireless work paid off. The game was well reviewed, quite a reversal of fortune from 1.0.
Today, Final Fantasy XIV is one of the biggest MMOs around, ever since the release of A Realm Reborn, the game has seen an expansion every two years, Heavensward in 2015, Stormblood in 2017, Shadowbringers in 2019 and Endwalker in 2021 (Albeit with some delays due to Covid)
Starting Out:
You have to first choose a physical data center, NA, EU, JP or OCE, you will then select a logical data center in that region, in NA for instance, you have Aether, Crystal and Primal.
Within one of the logical data centers you will then select a world to play on. Like Jenova and Faerie in Aether.
Currently, players can only play with others on the same logical data center, so players in Aether can't play with those in Crystal, in the upcoming patch 6.18 though, data center travel will be released so Aether players can travel to Crystal to play with their friends.
You start off by your journey by customizing your character and choosing your race (whatever race you choose doesn't matter) and starting class.
Every starting class is assigned a city in which the guild for that class resides.
The bustling economic hub of Ul'dah in the desert landscape of Thanalan.
The marine city state of Limsa Lominsa situated next to the Rhotano Sea.
And the forest nation of Gridania, a nation coexisting with the elementals of the Twelveswood.
And once you get to 60, that's it, no prestige or anything, you'll probably be fine for gear as well as at 50 and 60, there's a job quest that will give you a c 50 or 60 gear respectively.spectively.pectively.ectively.ctively.ively.ively.vely.ely.ly.y.es.
Gameplay:
Final Fantasy XIV uses the traditional tab targeting system for MMOs, you select an enemy and select from a list of skills on your hotbar to execute an action.
In the overworld you get to explore the world of Eorzea as you follow along the main story quest line or do side quests and guildleves to gain exp.
Once you get to a level 15 quest, you will unlock your first dungeon, dungeons are instanced content in which you group up in a party of 4 with other players (or with AI companions in the duty support (up to 2.0 Dungeons at the moment) or trust system (Shadowbringers and Endwalker).
You will queue up for a dungeon in the duty finder and wait for the game to match you with a party for the dungeon.
A party of 4 is made up of 1 tank, 1 healer and 2 DPS.
From the FFXIV playguide: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/game_manual/pp/
Each role has a part to play in the party, from the tanks making sure the enemies attack them, the healers making sure everyone is alive and the DPS making enemies go down as fast as they can.
This system extends to trials and raids which have a party of 8 players and alliance raids which have three 8 player parties in a 24 player raid.
At level 30, you unlock your job quest to upgrade your class, so Thaumaturge becomes a Black Mage and Lancer becomes a Dragoon and so on. (Astrologian, Dark Knight and Machinist are already jobs)
Overall the game is great fun, every job in it's specific role (tank, healer, melee dps, ranged dps, casters) feels distinct from each other with different play styles. For instance, Black Mage is a very stationary caster, you want to be standing still as much as you can as you have long cast times for your spells. Whereas, Summoner is a lot more mobile with fast cast times and many instant cast spells.
A comparison of Summoner and Black Mage at 60. (Blacked out parts are spoilers)
It's not incredibly hard in any regard as most dungeons, raids and trials are tied up in the main story quest line where they need to be easy enough to allow players to clear the content, it does get better as you get to higher levels though as the developers can throw harder mechanics at the player as they get more familiar with the games mechanics.
Story:
You play as an adventurer arriving in either Ul'dah, Limsa Lominsa or Gridania. You of course seek out jobs from the adventurer's guild as well as learning your new trade. Eventually you catch wind of trouble brewing and offer your skills to help tackle the problem.
After a battle, you find a mysterious blue crystal, transported into a swirling blue void you are met with the presence of the mothercrystal, Hydaelyn. She grants you her blessing as her champion and besieges you to banish the encroaching darkness of the Ascians.
You also start experiencing visions of past events. This is an ability to see into the memories of others, called the Echo, granted to you by Hydaelyn.
Eventually the Scions Of The Seventh Dawn, an order consisting of brave men and women from the city of Sharlayan who seek to preserve the future of Eorzea catch wind of your talents and formally invite you to be a part of their order.
Their current concern are the Primals, godlike beings summoned through fervent worship and aetherial crystals, their presence a blight on the realm. Your skill and your gift of the Echo would help combat the Primal threat.
And thus you set off to combat the Primal threat and the machinations of the Ascians.
Yeah, this is a chosen one story, the trope has been so heavily used that it has likely become a building block for many fantasy stories and the like. I happen to think though that Final Fantasy XIV handles this trope well.
One of the main advantages to have a protagonist be the chosen one is to have the events of a piece of media center around them, this is one area FFXIV uses to it's advantage. As the Warrior Of Light, you get to meet and interact with characters that are integral to the world and story at large, from city leaders to commanders alike.
This gives weight to your actions as there are huge stakes, you get to be involved in affairs that befit your status and the writers can write fights against beings of insurmountable power without it feeling like a cop out.
With your placement within the Scions Of The Seventh Dawn, you get to see characters develop throughout the story, while you won't be getting TV show levels of character development, characters do change throughout the story and sometimes will reference events past and how they reflect on it in the present.
While not perfect, the story in A Realm Reborn is great, it serves as a good introduction to the world and characters you will be interacting with and helps to setup plot points for future expansions. They recently updated the end of base A Realm Reborn, no longer is it an anti-climatic slog fest, now it is actually fun and somewhat challenging to reflect the end of a game.
Post-A Realm Reborn, from patches 2.1 to 2.55, is pretty solid as well. It can feel like a bit of a slog to get through, though to be fair, patch quests are released several months from each other so playing through them all at once wasn't the original intention. Post-A Realm Reborn gets really good at the end where everything pays off to lead into the next expansion.
Heavensward
Yes, ever do our aching souls march Heavensward, As they've done for so long.
- Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Trailer
Expansion trailers contain spoilers.
Heavensward is incredible, this is a mostly spoiler free review so I am not gonna spoil anything but if A Realm Reborn was the appetizer, Heavensward is the full course meal.
It does everything better than A Realm Reborn, the story is better paced and the quality never dips even into the post-Heavensward story line, the maps you can explore are just fantastic with their large scale and locales which you can traverse. The gameplay is more fun as the designers can start throwing advanced mechanics at you.
Add in some very cool cutscenes and strong emotional moments and it's no wonder why some players still consider Heavensward their favorite expansion.
After experiencing Heavensward, I am invested now, I am probably going to sub eventually to continue the main story quest line.
Music:
Music is in many ways a big part of what sells the atmosphere and the story of a game, a lot of the music in games have helped to make my experiences of those games more memorable.
The music in Final Fantasy XIV is fantastic, I would go as far to say it measures up to single player games.
There are many orchestral tracks as you would expect from a fantasy game but at least up to Heavensward there are a few tracks in other styles like rock and metal as well.
Everything from the city state themes to the battle music all give a sense of adventure and danger in the world of Eorzea.
How bad is the grind?
This is about the leveling experience in the free trial where 60 is the max level
This is a big point of contention for both MMO veterans as well as people who are new to the genre. Grinding exists in any MMO, Final Fantasy XIV is no exception. So yes, there is a grind but it's not as bad as you might think.
Final Fantasy XIV is built on it's main story quests, those main story quests have a minimum level you need to be at to do them. Dungeons, trials and raids also have a minimum level you need to be at as well as a minimum gear level you need to have.
So sometimes you need to grind your level up or get better gear to do that quest or dungeon. If you're playing along with the main story quests, you shouldn't have an issue with your level or gear besides maybe grinding a level or two. You can always buy gear from the shops if your gear is underleveled.
Even without the exp from the main story quests (if you're leveling a second job), the game still gives you several options to grind and if you use them all it shouldn't take too long, You're not going to be grinding for weeks on end to get to 60, probably just a day or two would get you to 60.
And once you get to 60, that's it, no prestige or anything, you'll probably be fine for gear as well as at 50 and 60, there's a job quest that will give you a chest containing 50 or 60 gear respectively.
Is this pay to win?
No, Final Fantasy XIV is not pay to win, a cash shop exists but everything there is purely cosmetic and does not give you a gameplay advantage.
The only things you can pay for are your time, you can pay to skip past the story of expansions or level your job to max level. (for the furthest expansion you have I think)
The community discourages players from using these options and for good reasons.
An expansion skip will leave you very confused about the story as each expansion builds upon the last while a job skip will give you a whole bunch of skills you don't know how to use as you didn't level the job to understand them.
These options only really make sense for people who simply don't care about the story or for those leveling alternate characters.
You still need to learn your job to get through the content in the game.
Conclusion:
Final Fantasy XIV is a great game, the story is fantastic, the gameplay loop is fun and the music is incredible. The free trial is likely one of the most generous free trials in any game, letting you experience a whole lot of content to decide for yourself if paying a sub is worth it.
You can download the free trial on PS4, Steam or directly from the Square Enix Website.
Further Reading:
This should probably be a prerequisite before playing the game, The three part Final Fantasy XIV Noclip Documentary series on YouTube, it details the development of the game from the start to the present (of 2017), a great documentary full stop.
Watch the, A New Beginning, CGI trailer on YouTube, despite being 9 years old, it still is an incredible trailer, from the music to the shots, it never gets old. It provides context for what happened at the end of 1.0 so you won't be spoiling yourself. (Note, Don't watch Flames of Truth, as the name suggests it contains spoilers, End of an Era is just the first part of the trailer)
Watch or read a new player guide, while you're gonna probably be able to get to grips with the game, there will always be intricacies that you won't understand until you get into the game, thus a new player guide will help you with that.
This guide by stal is pretty good, though the job play styles are outdated due to the guide being made during Shadowbringers (Endwalker is the latest expansion), there are still some useful tips for new players.
You can also refer to this very comprehensive guide (This is current to Endwalker), You probably don't need all the info there for now but you can refer to it anytime the game tells you something you don't understand.
And that's it, if anyone has any questions about the game or my experience playing the game just leave it in the comments below.
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