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LTTP: Final Fantasy 14, aka this game is going to blow me away isn’t it?

FlaygletheBagel

FlaygletheBagel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,692
I've probably dumped like 50-60 hours into this game so far (who knows, coulda been way more), cleared A Realm Reborn and am about 80% of the way through the post-ARR quest grind and..... wow.

Well, first, if you're going through a hard time and you need a distraction, this game is amazing for it (not speaking from experience or anything of course). 😅 I'm not at ALL an MMO person but this game's hooked all my JRPG sensibilities and I'm really enjoying it.

As I was warned by my coworkers who are also into FFXIV, there is a TON of filler in A Realm Reborn. It basically serves the purpose of setting up all of the pieces and getting to know all the nations, the lore, & key characters, and some of those story threads are more interesting than others. There is some solid payoff to the main arc and I loved the final dungeon. But yeah, gameplay and story wise it is a wonderful podcast/shut your brain off game for the first 30-ish hours. I'd pay attention when cutscenes & story development did happen but it's given at a leisurely pace.

I will say this, I haven't even started Heavensward yet and from the final missions of ARR into the epilogue stuff I'm doing now, I am WAY more interested in the story. It honestly took me a long time to warm up to the characters but I was hooked the further in I got.

I'm loving the setup, and if the praise Heavensward-on gets for its writing is spot on this might go down in history as my favorite Final Fantasy game, but I also don't want to set my expectations too high. Looking forward to what happens next.

All in all my honest review is probably an 7.5/10? Probably weird to say after saying it has potential to be my favorite FF game, but my biggest complaint is the pacing and writing, and if that improves I don't think I'll have many complaints. I will say this, the last 10 hours I've played has more than made up for the overlong busywork at the beginning. I love this set up and I feel way more attached to these characters than I expected I would. It has a lot of potential with all the pieces it's set in place, and I'm interested in seeing where it goes.
 
kurahador

kurahador

Member
Oct 28, 2017
17,542
Change your job into Dark Knight when you starts Heavensward to get double dose of awesome story.
 
Xion_Stellar

Xion_Stellar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,285
Yep this sounds about right I do recommend the Dark Knight Job once you get to Heavensward if only for the Lv.30-50 Job Quests that are really good. In my mind FFXIV is my #1 FF game and if you ignore FFVIIR I would also say this is the best FF game Square-Enix has put out since FFXII in my opinion.
 
Ayirek

Ayirek

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,252
I really need to jump back in. I'm tempted to just start over, I don't even know how to play a bard anymore. Glad you're liking it OP, prepare to be even more impressed soon!
 
VictoryLap77

VictoryLap77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
100
I found the quests between ARR and Heavensward were a bit underwhelming considering the ARR ending cutscene. Once I got into Heavensward it was pedal to the metal though.
 
ZeroX

ZeroX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,266
Speed Force
From the 30 hours or so I've played a 7.5 is very generous. It's mind numbingly boring and repetitive and the story is glacial.

I like podcast games too, but I could just play any Ubisoft game and get better gameplay and story to turn my brain off to
 
Wanderer5

Wanderer5

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
10,982
Somewhere.
Starting to fall in love with the game after the end of ARR, and especially the crystal tower raids, which holy shit did the nostalgic wave hit hard. If the expansions gets even better, then man would this be something for sure. XD
 

GabriocheXD

Member
May 27, 2019
784
Wait till you get to that Estinien story arc on HW. So damn good. I liked the game prior to that, but that whole story arc was really awesome.
 
Mifec

Mifec

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,733
Wanderer5 said:
Starting to fall in love with the game after the end of ARR, and especially the crystal tower raids, which holy shit did the nostalgic wave hit hard. If the expansions gets even better, then man would this be something for sure. XD
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HW is really good, SB is worse and ShB is a masterpiece including all the content patches it got.
 
seroun

seroun

Member
Oct 25, 2018
4,464
If you give it a 7.5/10 while being in ARR...

The expansions for me are ShB > SB >>>> HW, I hope you enjoy them as well. And the patches in-between the expansions might genuinely be the best writing in FF series.
 
blitzblake

blitzblake

Banned
Jan 4, 2018
3,171
I always just burn out and lose interest before it "gets good", even with the preferred server double experience. I think I'm up to the choose your company stuff and it's just so meh.
 
asd202

asd202

Enlightened
Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,545
Got to around middle of Stormblood but dropped out. Gameplay doesn't grab me feels too much like worse WoW. Story is okay but I was so annoyed with Warrior of Light this, Warrior of Light that. Your character is too important in the lore I would prefer if you were an adventurer helping the main characters rather then being a center piece of it all.
 
Darkstorne

Darkstorne

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,813
England
FlaygletheBagel said:
But yeah, gameplay and story wise it is a wonderful podcast/shut your brain off game for the first 30-ish hours. I'd pay attention when cutscenes & story development did happen but it's given at a leisurely pace.
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That's what puts me off trying this game. So many people say this. But I just don't have the time (nor the desire) to spend 30 hours of my life as a game preps me for "the good parts". It's such a shame, because I hear nothing but immense praise for the latest expansions, and some of the newer classes look really fun to play.

I do take a lot of positive notes away from FFXIV's and ESO's recent revelations (took them long enough...) that the majority of their playerbase want these games to be 90% solo play with amazing stories and exploration, backed up by 10% traditional MMO content like group dungeons, PVP, and gear progression for that end game replayability. At the very least it suggests these devs will be brave enough to drop some archaic MMO tropes in eventual sequels, and follow that Destiny route of embracing a brand new design direction for MMOs built for their game's strengths, rather than looking at how WoW does it and building loosely around that model.
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,654
asd202 said:
Got to around middle of Stormblood but dropped out. Gameplay doesn't grab me feels too much like worse WoW. Story is okay but I was so annoyed with Warrior of Light this, Warrior of Light that. Your character is too important in the lore I would prefer if you were an adventurer helping the main characters rather then being a center piece of it all.
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That's the thing though, your character is the main character but there's like 50 other main characters running around at any time, sometimes in your party. You have to kind of shut your brain off to suspend disbelief with some of it.
 
Kenai

Kenai

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,183
Darkstorne said:
That's what puts me off trying this game. So many people say this. But I just don't have the time (nor the desire) to spend 30 hours of my life as a game preps me for "the good parts". It's such a shame, because I hear nothing but immense praise for the latest expansions, and some of the newer classes look really fun to play.
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It's really not that bad, honest. It's just not as good as the later parts, and isn't what most people would think of when they say "best Final Fantasy in years if not ever". 5.3's revamp helped a lot with traverse time and filler quests (and made it free to try until those good parts kick in). I'm one of those people who quits a show if it doesn't grab me by the third episode, and I am so glad I stuck with XIV over the years. It is legitimately an amazing game that keeps getting better as time goes on.
 
Chasing

Chasing

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
10,687
OP you're already a convert, you've basically described the same feelings as everyone finishing up the post ARR content, lol.
 
OP
OP
FlaygletheBagel

FlaygletheBagel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,692
ZeroX said:
From the 30 hours or so I've played a 7.5 is very generous. It's mind numbingly boring and repetitive and the story is glacial.

I like podcast games too, but I could just play any Ubisoft game and get better gameplay and story to turn my brain off to
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blitzblake said:
I always just burn out and lose interest before it "gets good", even with the preferred server double experience. I think I'm up to the choose your company stuff and it's just so meh.
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Darkstorne said:
That's what puts me off trying this game. So many people say this. But I just don't have the time (nor the desire) to spend 30 hours of my life as a game preps me for "the good parts". It's such a shame, because I hear nothing but immense praise for the latest expansions, and some of the newer classes look really fun to play.
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I hear you on this - this was my biggest apprehension about it too. I also lost almost all the love I had to the Ubi-style checking boxes kind of gameplay after AC Odyssey.

That said, this game also showed up in my life when I needed a distraction, and when quarantine & working from home slowed things a bit and I had some time to kill. Hammering away at it is something I probably wouldn't have done if I didn't have the time in my personal life for it.

That said I'm really glad I've kept chipping away at it. It's gotten much more interesting.
 
captainmal01

captainmal01

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,339
I've almost finished the Heavensward base story and I'm quite underwhelmed. With all the praise it got, I was expecting a great story but overall it's just decent. And the fact that
The Ul'dahn sultan is still alive
is such a complete cop-out and irritated me.
Maybe the patches really pick up but I'm not holding out home. Tanking is super fun at higher levels though and the music really is amazing.
 
Issen

Issen

Member
Nov 12, 2017
6,816
captainmal01 said:
I've almost finished the Heavensward base story and I'm quite underwhelmed. With all the praise it got, I was expecting a great story but overall it's just decent. And the fact that
The Ul'dahn sultan is still alive
is such a complete cop-out and irritated me.
Maybe the patches really pick up but I'm not holding out home. Tanking is super fun at higher levels though and the music really is amazing.
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Honestly I didn't like Heavensward all that much either. Stormblood is when it really got fantastic for me (which is ironic considering it's widely considered to be only better than ARR but worse than both Heavensward and Shadowbringers).

For me, Heavensward wasn't really much better than ARR because I wasn't invested in anyone or anything. I didn't care about the big epic happenings because I didn't give a shit about any of the characters. Stormblood and Shadowbringers are fantastic.
 
ZeroX

ZeroX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,266
Speed Force
FlaygletheBagel said:
That said, this game also showed up in my life when I needed a distraction, and when quarantine & working from home slowed things a bit and I had some time to kill. Hammering away at it is something I probably wouldn't have done if I didn't have the time in my personal life for it.

That said I'm really glad I've kept chipping away at it. It's gotten much more interesting.
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Yeah I'm never going to run out of more exciting games to play. I've got no shortage. Tony Hawk come out and I've got a week left on my free trial of XIV and it's just like... why put myself through it.

I also think that no game can be good enough to play if you have to invest 50 hours in before it gets to that point. Like it doesn't matter if it's an 11/10. I don't care how amazing Shadowbringers is, nothing is worth that investment when I could play 3 other great games in that time.
 
Dant21

Dant21

Member
Apr 24, 2018
842
asd202 said:
Got to around middle of Stormblood but dropped out. Gameplay doesn't grab me feels too much like worse WoW. Story is okay but I was so annoyed with Warrior of Light this, Warrior of Light that. Your character is too important in the lore I would prefer if you were an adventurer helping the main characters rather then being a center piece of it all.
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Stormblood specifically is the worst about that, and they start trying to fix it the moment the patch quests start. Shadowbringers is much better by throwing you into a place where you have no notoriety, and several things exist able to take you down. Shadowbringers story generally feels much more personal, given the characters involved and there's a revelation that
Being the warrior of light might not be a good thing, at least for your free will
. That combined with 5.3's story about your own identity, I wonder if they're going to try and move away from the whole "Warrior of Light" thing next expansion.
 
Samaritan

Samaritan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,696
Tacoma, Washington
If that's how you feel about ARR, then you're going to be blown away by Heavensward. The step up in quality between the two is enormous, and the writing only continues to get better and better.

Also, there's a wonderful thread that collects a ton of great advice for newer players you can check out here: https://www.resetera.com/threads/fo...me-tips-for-maximizing-your-enjoyment.253137/

And finally, myself and a few other members have gone ahead and created Linkshells (in-game chat rooms) for all the different data centers, so Era members can have a place to chat even if they aren't in the same Free Company. You can find more information, as well as a link to our Era XIV Discord, here: https://www.resetera.com/threads/ff...-thread-for-sprouts-and-trial-players.266949/
 
Xita

Xita

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
9,185
Glad you're enjoying it OP! I just finished base ARR myself and am working on the patch quests.

captainmal01 said:
I've almost finished the Heavensward base story and I'm quite underwhelmed. With all the praise it got, I was expecting a great story but overall it's just decent.
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I'm pretty sure this is gonna happen to me with Heavensward after all the praise haha. On the other hand I feel like I'll really enjoy Stormblood because I barely ever hear praise for it.
 
Nali

Nali

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,649
2.x is where they had enough narrative breathing room to start finally developing the scions' personalities, and the game benefits immensely for it. If that part landed for you, you're going to devour the rest of the game.
 
Kupo Kupopo

Kupo Kupopo

Member
Jul 6, 2019
2,959
Xion_Stellar said:
Yep this sounds about right I do recommend the Dark Knight Job once you get to Heavensward if only for the Lv.30-50 Job Quests that are really good. In my mind FFXIV is my #1 FF game and if you ignore FFVIIR I would also say this is the best FF game Square-Enix has put out since FFXII in my opinion.
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true even if you don't ignore it, imo...
 
Sirhc

Sirhc

Hasn't made a thread yet. Shame me.
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,050
Theswweet said:
SB story is worse but the trials/dungeons/raids are better. It also has Eureka.

Don't @ me.
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My wife and I came back late into SB and fell in love with Eureka, gave a great throwback feeling to older MMOs and was good fun. We had to grind hard as hell to get current before the final zone released, got caught up and enjoy the hell out of the final raid in there, mount was totally worth it, and breaking the system with the Eureka sets letting you pretty much solo/duo earlier zone bosses.
 
Ramsiege

Ramsiege

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,302
I've been in that filler area between ARR and HW and I'm struggling to get through it. So boring.
 
Kittens McMittens

Kittens McMittens

Member
Nov 14, 2017
4,928
Each expansion is better than the last IMO. Even ShB, which I felt got of to a weak start story wise ends up with one of the best FF stories ever, with a definite all-time great villain.
 
Silver-Streak

Silver-Streak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,007
ZeroX said:
Yeah I'm never going to run out of more exciting games to play. I've got no shortage. Tony Hawk come out and I've got a week left on my free trial of XIV and it's just like... why put myself through it.

I also think that no game can be good enough to play if you have to invest 50 hours in before it gets to that point. Like it doesn't matter if it's an 11/10. I don't care how amazing Shadowbringers is, nothing is worth that investment when I could play 3 other great games in that time.
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Just to check, when was the last time you played? Apparently the most recent patch (or the one just before it) went through and truncated alllll of the nonsense out of ARR.

(This is just my understanding, I haven't played the remastered ARR content to know)
 
TheThirstyPrisoner

TheThirstyPrisoner

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,152
Got myself all hyped up to play this game thinking I'd reactivate my dormant PS4 account (which I transferred over from PS3) only to discover that the game is now pretty much locked out of Korea.

PS4 version won't even load up, and while my OSX version seems to load with a VPN, Square Enix will not allow any kind of transaction while using a VPN—either through the game client or via the website. I was forced to return my digital code for the OSX version because it wouldn't even activate. Bummer as I've been thinking about getting back into this for months and I thought playing between my PS4/Mac at home and other Mac at work would finally allow my to put some time into it.

The super fast yet utterly useless Korean internet strikes again.
 
AgeEighty

AgeEighty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,383
Imp the Dimp said:
I love FF and I quit 35h in. Absolutely dreadful game that bored me out of my mind.
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You played not just before the recent streamlining of ARR but before a lot of other changes that made the older content quicker to get through. And you didn't make it to the better parts of the game. So, I mean, different strokes and all, but your experience isn't really instructive here.
 
JeffJeff

JeffJeff

Member
Jul 13, 2020
66
I really liked most of the MSQ in FFXIV.
A lot of people focus on reaching the "good" or "best bits or put a focus on leveling as fast as they can, but that's not how you should play the game. Just enjoy the journey at your own pace. It's quite amazing.

It stats off quite slow, but really builds on all of the relationships you establish with the NPC's.
For me, I enjoyed leveling through the different quest lines a lot more than the (hardcore) endgame content.
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,138
Grudy said:
Yeah guys if you don't enjoy FF14 you're definitely not an FF fan.
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Eh hard disagree you can not enjoy FF14 cause you might simply not like MMOs. I really don't get why people are so ardent on pretending that FF14 playing like an MMO doesn't make it a very different experience to all the single player FF games.
I say this as someone that enjoyed my time with ff14 this year having finished up to 5.2.
 
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