Final Fantasy XIV: ARR: A fun MMORPG I'll never play again

On 08/25/2013 at 01:24 PM by NSonic79

My brief foray into a Realm Reborn

When I was heard that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was coming to the PS3 I didn’t cross my mind to give it a try. I didn’t bother with Final Fantasy XI on Xbox 360, so why bother with this new release. I saw what happened to the first version of FF XIV when my brother downloaded this title only to see how his laptop could handle the graphics. What I saw didn’t inspire confidence and helped me think a little bit less of what had become one of my go-to RPGs. True my love for the series started to falter back with Final Fantasy VIII (plus I was still hung up on Tifa back in FFVII) but I still held onto hope that there was some spark in the series. But after seeing what I saw on my brother’s laptop I didn’t hold much stock in me actually getting this newer version of this console MMORPG anytime soon.

But then I kept hearing from other gamers, which were in the game’s beta, that it was actually a very good game. They kept speaking of its praises on how much had changed for the better. Though gamers were vague it sounded like the rebuilt the whole game from the ground up. That somehow this version of FF XIV was worth the trouble. Yet despite this I didn’t bother in reading up on more of what is now known as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. That was mostly thanks in part to Final Fantasy XIII, also known as to me a good waste of $60. That was the Final Fantasy title that made me swear I wouldn’t buy a Final Fantasy title at full price ever again. And for the most part I’ve been true to my word; I neither’ve yet to play the sequels to FF XIII nor am I excited for “Lightning’s Return”.

So with that said why would I even bother speaking about this Final Fantasy title? Besides the fact that the previous mentioned FF tiles are based on XIII, I’ll have to say I was starting to get curious about this next console Final Fantasy MMORPG. I kept hearing good things from other players that it made me wonder if I was indeed missing out on something. I started reading the news about what SquareEnix was doing to make nice for the errors and mistakes that were made with the original build of FF XIV. Reading on how SquareEnix was taking the fans complaints to heart made me all the more curious on what exactly did they do to make this new Final Fantasy Realm being Reborn worth playing. It was then that my love for Final Fantasy started to rekindle again. Not into a full blown burning passion mind you, but if it gets me to consider downloading all the Final Fantasy titles being offered on PSN….

When I finally upgraded my PS3’s HDD to 1TB I decided to throw my hat into the ring and request a beta access for FFXIV: ARR. I kept reading up on how other bloggers I followed were forming groups and server meeting sites I decided why not give this beta a try. The closest thing I’ve ever come to playing a console MMORPG has been Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe back in the day. Though not exactly MMO in the exact definition of the word it’s the most experience I’d ever had. And since there is still no word on Phantasy Star Online 2 I figured I might as well try out FF XIV: ARR if I can. I was lucky enough to score a Phase 4 beta access in the middle of August and after letting my PS3 download for two whole days straight I was finally going to be able to play this game on my PS3. I had planned to make the most of it for the beta was on my weekend off. I gathered enough gamer fuel to keep me going, informed MysticalMist of my intentions, fully charged my PS3 controllers, connected my wireless keyboard to my PS3 and read up on some previews of the beta as the game was performing its final patch updates.

When the time finally came to create a character I hit the ground running to make the most of my time. After hitting some roadblocks with overfilled servers and the basic tutorials I began my trek into this new reborn realm. And after it was all said and done I have to admit it was the best time I ever had in a Final Fantasy title in a long time. Just like PSO and PSU after it I found myself losing track of time as I explore and hunted in the two different realms I frequented. I originally started out in trying to level up my character fast enough to gain access to better weapons/armor but that evolved into a personal quest just to get different equipment to make my character look DIFFERENT from all the others. I saw so much white and red wearing garments that I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t care if my blue colored items were less protective than non-blue colored items for I wanted to create an online IDENTITY! Never have I had that strong of a determination to do such for an online persona before. I never got this determined with my Spartans in the Halo series or in PSO/PSU. Yet here I was trying my best to make “Nights Sonic” into a blue wearing, sword/axe wielding human that would stick out like a sore (dare I say bruised) thumb in a crowd of beta testers.

The only downside I have to say about Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is that despite it being an MMORPG, I had the hardest time trying to meet/play/interact with people in game. All the people I tried to help in the game with their battles, be it personal or FATE encounters, I never got so much as a thank you or any chat dialogue whatsoever. It was as if everyone was in a mad dash to try to experience and explore all that this game had to offer. Yet they were forgetting one of the main features of an MMORPG: TALKING! Even when I did try to initiate contact to have a dialogue with other players it didn’t last long. I’m not sure if I was doing this right, as if players preferred to use headsets than keyboards, but many a player I ran into didn’t feel the mood to talk, or form a group, or go on quests to aid others that were having trouble with tougher enemies. It makes me wonder if it was because the chat functions in this game were a bit cumbersome. I guess I’m to use to the standard chat bubbles that appear in PSO/PSU then having to go through a couple of steps to say hi to someone with a control pad and keyboard combination. Gestures I was able to do which was nice.

Though I didn’t get a chance to play with many people I have to admit I had more fun than I figured I would with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It kept my interest, there were lots of places to explore, quests where numerous and relatively easy to complete and the game actually gave itself a measure of depth that I hadn’t experienced in an RPG in quite some time. Even after my weekend of play I felt like I had only scratched the surface of what this original diamond in the rough game had to offer. It made me envious of all the other beta testers that had more time to play this game.

So then I bet you’re wondering why this blog has the title of “A fun MMORPG I’ll never play again”? Well as much as I’d like to continue playing this game when it’s officially released I don’t see myself able to do this for a few reasons. One of the reasons has to deal with the realm of my free time. Though I no longer have a working Xbox 360, thus freeing up some of my free time, I still don’t have enough free time to invest into an MMORPG right now. I have so many other games and writings to do right now that I doubt I’ll be able to balance playing an MMORPG as well. I’ve finally worked out a decent schedule in my life to do all the things that have to be done and what I’d like to do. So adding an engrossing game like Final Fantasy XIV: ARR to my already busy life would be very difficult, I was lucky to have a weekend to actually play this game!

Another reason has to deal with the lack of me being able to find friends to play this game with online. The allies I know who play this game play during their own time schedules, a schedule that usually conflicts with my own. This situation is really no one’s fault in that sense. We can only play when we are able to. Some can play during the afternoon, some can only play in the evening, and some can only play for an hour while others can go all night. It’s the same reason why I have such a hard time playing with allies on PSN/XBLA, my life schedule is so erratic that I can’t commit to an exact time to play online. And seeing how hard it was for me to make friends in the beta my hopes of finding a dedicated group of people to quest with are not that high. I’m lucky to play with others at the spur of the moment than planning a meet up time.

The final reason is probably the main reason why I don’t see myself playing this game anytime soon. I can’t justify the monthly access fee to play this game. The first two reasons help strengthen this justification: if I don’t have the time to fully invest into this game and I’m unable to find allies to play this game with then what is the point in paying a monthly access fee to play a game that expects you to invest the time to play with friends online? Sure I could play this game alone for a time but where is the fun in that? Even if I did enjoy myself playing this alone there was always that urge in me to try to branch out and meet others in the game to go on quests with. That is to be expected in an MMORPG. Though I do see myself playing this game alone from time to time, I can also see myself trying to find other players to quest with to no avail due to reasons previously mentioned above. Plus I’m already having a hard time trying to justify paying for Netflix and possibly Xbox Live Gold given that I don’t watch Netflix as much as I use to and that my Xbox 360 is still KIA.

In the end I really wish I could continue the quest that “Nights Sonic” began during the beta 4 testing. But despite having the money to buy this game I don’t see myself having the time, patience and cash flow to continue in this MMORPG. All the elements in this game are there that would I’m sure give me hours upon hours of gaming enjoyment. It’s just too bad that my life is what it is right now that wouldn’t let me enjoy this game as much as I like. Call it priorities, call it finding excuses, call it hating on the Final Fantasy franchise if that’s what you want upon reading this. All I have to say is that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has somehow rekindled my interest in Final Fantasy again. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a game I could see myself buying at full price and playing hours on end. Yet given my current standing in life this game will sadly just be what was mentioned in the title: a fun MMORPG I’ll never play again.

A shame to because the game is really quite good.

Ta-ta

“N”

Matt Snee Staff Writer

08/25/2013 at 01:28 PM

yeah i gave up on this one too.

NSonic79

08/25/2013 at 03:10 PM

I know how you feel . It's a fun game too but I can't just see how I could play it. For now I guess it's just up there with "never play again." At least I was able to experiance it and helped contribute to the beta test by playing it on my B/C PS3 so that's something.

asrealasitgets

08/25/2013 at 01:47 PM

I was going to write this exact same blog.

I played a lot of the beta and the people there needed to communicate because they didn't understand how the game worked or the game forced you to group with other players for solo dungeons. So some people didn't communicate because they were playing on PS3 and didn't know to plug in a keyboard. The game makes it way too easy to solo through all the content now, no communication required which a lot of us in beta griped about. I can imaging that's what's going on here. No one needs to communicate because they are busy leveling quickly in early stages. I did the same thing.

An alternative to finding groups is to join linkshell/guild outside of the game and find people to meet to play with who have a similar schedule as you. It's an extra step, but these people want to play with other people and there is a lot of recruitment. There are also time cards that you can purchase if you don't want your credit card renewing monthly. So you have like 1 month free, add a time card and you can get through a lot of the game content that way. The game caps at level 50, so it won't be hard to finish the story at least in a couple of months.

I will be playing this game, and it is biting my wallet too, but I'd rather play this than many new games, except for Wind Waker HD.

08/25/2013 at 03:18 PM

Dont' let me stop you! The more the merrier in sharing their FF XIV: ARR beta stories. It'll be just like sitting down at the coffin and coffee to swap quest stories.

I'm glad to see people did speak up about the communcation functions. though I did see most people trying to communitcate with gesture commands it was mostly just to joke around. I only met one or two people actually use the geasture commands in the way they were meant to be used.

didn't know about the timecard function. I might see about that given how I think I'll be doing the same wtih Xbox Live Gold by only buying a month (I don't remember if they still offer that) or a 3 month card and play online as need be. Not sure about the joining up with guilds. I'd prefer to join up with allies on the various game blog sites taht I frequent, if only to keep things consistant. I'm already having a hard time trying to visit PSOWorld and maintaining my allies list on there as well.

08/25/2013 at 06:35 PM

It's unfortunate, but if you want the traditional MMO experience (friends, socializing) ARR isn't that game. It's gone the way of other current MMOs and made it unnecessary to talk to each other to finish the game. Players wanting a social experience need to group up prior to game start. Some guild websites, communities are really welcoming and helpful and focus on different aspects like Roleplaying, events, leveling, etc.

That's my advice. I've done it in the past and it was fine. Met some nice people in game this way. I might jump in and out months at a time with Time Cards though.

08/26/2013 at 01:32 PM

That's a shame. That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed playing PSO/PSU back in the day. Just being able to meet new people in game, seeing if you got along, the thrill of the quest with an untested team/or questing with a loyal crew at your back. Sad that this game no longer requires it.

I guess the only way to rekindle that fire is to take that extra step and join one of those *groan* guild groups. Not sure if I'll get use to it, but if I want to have that experiance in the past I guess I have to go the distance.

ThatKidOverThere

08/25/2013 at 01:58 PM

At one point I really wanted this game, but playing an MMO would detract from my other gaming time!

08/25/2013 at 03:19 PM

I can relate. i'm getting geared up for my Halloween Gaming this year and I'm sure playing htis game would take a big chunk out of my game time, let alone my monthly blog write ups features.

daftman

08/25/2013 at 05:56 PM

Regardless of any other factor, I won't play an MMO with a monthly fee. FF XIV sounds good but...it has that monthly fee. I've never liked MMOs much anyway. The only one I've really gotten into is Guilds Wars 2. My wife and I played it a lot for the first few months of the year but haven't touched it since spring and that's ok because it's subscription-free.

08/26/2013 at 01:29 PM

I've heard that stance from other gamers when it comes to MMOs. Though it makes me wonder how that is feasable given how they charge that fee to justify to pay for server costs. It's something I've always wonder if there is a major difference than just paying the fee or not with certain games whether they are free to play with microtrasactions or just free to play.

It's one of the issues I'm grappling with given how I'm sure I"ll get into PSO2 though it's free to play with microtransactions. I respect your choice and stance but after playing this game I have to say you might be missing out.

Dandichu

08/25/2013 at 10:37 PM

I would be playing now, but all of the server limitations have me pulling my hair out. I only got a few hours into early access- which was enough to get over level 10 and have me *not* want to start my 9th Miqo'te on another server. Ugh! x(

08/26/2013 at 01:34 PM

Limited access even with early access? It makes me wonder how exactly SquareEnix was planning to maintain server worlds since the two I went to were completely different in geography and quests. That's alot more server activity than normal if each world plays a different geographical location. I guess even the might SquareEnix can't escape the server issues of the likes of Diablo III and SimCity, and that's not even with DRM is it?

Super Step Contributing Writer

08/26/2013 at 08:36 PM

Yeah, some things are just more fun with a community. And I've never tried an MMO, that would be the main draw for me.

08/27/2013 at 02:25 PM

You know the odd thing about me is that I'm usually not the first to want a community experiance. it's why I don't do so well on gaming/hobby websites that have a sense of coming togther. Too much of a loner I guess, yet if I'm given a game like PSO/PSU or this game I can't wait to try to use all the community communication features to experiance what an MMO could truely offer.

I know it's rather odd.

PixlBit