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Final Fantasy XIV

For context - I've never played a Final Fantasy game before as I don't like JRPGs... or most Japanese games come to that. So as a first entry to the series (11 years after release) this generally comes across pretty well. I think if I'd discovered or played this at release it would have held my interest for a lot longer. As it is now, it's still a decent MMO if you can cope with the whole anime thing and the age. It does things slightly differently to the other 2010-era MMOs and there's a ton of content.

Pros

  • Interesting classes
  • Runs well
  • You only need one character, and they can become any class - no need for alts
  • Multiple ways of getting around. There's a teleport network, you can hire mounts to take you between towns automatically (like flight paths), then there are also ground and flying mounts at higher levels
  • Loading screens are really quick
  • Gathering and crafting are entire jobs (classes), not just side-professions. That's good in terms of detail, but also means you can't run around in your normal combat clothes looking for ore
  • The translation is generally pretty good, although still a bit weird in places. Difficult to tell if it's just unfamiliarity with the language, or deliberately stylised

Cons

  • Some of the NPCs often have names like someone fell asleep on the keyboard. For example, Merlywb, Sejkmqweqf, Ddakjflkajq and Baramadacszydsada
  • While the whole "do everything on one character" is a unique idea, it does have some drawbacks. You're always the same character - no alternate appearances or races. It also means you basically have to ignore all the side quests to 'save them' for all the other classes you can be, because you need the sources of XP
  • The login and account management system is truly awful
  • All the servers are full. To the extent that it's literally impossible to create characters most evenings
  • Key information like "how does potency work" (the main way that damage is referred to in-game) is completely hidden from the players. People guess at what's been changed each patch, but there's no explanation in-game or from Square Enix
  • If you start a few alts to see how the classes work before picking one, you'll notice that all the quests at the beginning are the same regardless of which area you start in
  • Coming from WoW, it's really odd that the world is not all one map; it's a series of small connected instances. So if you want to travel from one place to another manually, you have to pass through a series of instance loading screens
  • I've always hated the Japanese-culture names for animals & NPCs. What the hell is a 'Chocobo'
  • The housing plots are a real limited number. When the game has been running for 10 years, there's nothing left to buy. It's a terrible idea to handle it like that in MMOs. Should be instanced and available for anyone who wants to pay for one, like Wildstar.
  • No official addon support
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