I first played FF XIV when the game was first launched a few years ago, and I remember being a bit lost with it at first. I had only spent a short time playing XI Online at the time, and jumping into the “new” MMO was surprisingly challenging. I didn’t quite understand the mechanics of guildleves, crafting, or battle for that matter. There was a certain tactical balance to a party that needed to be maintained to be successful in battle, or you really needed a few buffs and gear items to solo through. After getting the mechanics down, I was picked up by a friendly guild in-game who were friendly and casual. Thus, I spent most of my time socializing and chatting up with everyone in game, more so than leveling. I really liked exploring and crafting, oddly enough. I mostly played as a Gladiator class, which some players felt was a class that didn’t belong in the game due to it being a “Roman” or “other” mythology not similar enough to Western fantasy. I basically learned how to play the game, not through manuals or websites, but through advice and coaching from guild mates. I only played XIV 1.0 for a few months, then it shut down due to an earthquake in Japan, then it came back again, and I played for a while more, then it went away and was remade into A Realm Reborn.
Since that time, I’ve dabbled in other MMOs like Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Guild Wars 2, Everquest 2 and so on. Even went back to FF XI Online for a bit, but I still missed playing XIV. Even though the game was universally panned, I still enjoyed the world and players. It was “my” MMO. Honestly, I never really played MMOs before. I mostly played solo JRPGs and Western PC MMOs and kind of despise the idea of replaying the same game forever or relying on others to finish a task- what can I say, I’m a lone wolf. FFXIV kind of broke this cycle because of the community of people I joined, which doesn’t really exist in solo games, unless you join communities on forums to discuss them in blogs and so on. But again, this was in FFXIV version 1.0.
I was anticipating the release of the new FFXIV: A Realm Reborn for some time. I watched trailers, read every announcement, jumped on discussion boards and read the letters from the producer discussing the progress of the new game. Then I joined the beta in July 2013 and I was more than impressed. “My” MMO was back and better than ever! Gorgeous visuals, amazing soundtrack, fun battle system, interesting characters and areas to explore. Tons of quest to finish, items to gather, craft, classes and jobs to unlock, interesting dungeons and boss fights, etc.
When I played through the first version of the game, I relied a lot on other players to accomplish tasks, being an MMO it was expected. I adapted. Playing through A Realm Reborn, or 2.0 Beta, you would come across mandatory dungeons during your main story mode, and being mandatory, players needed to camp out in front of dungeon entrances and talk to each other to form parties to enter dungeons, it is an MMO after all. However, with this new game launch there has been a noticeable change from beta, and that is the subtraction of the need to communicate in the game. Part of this comes from the fact that there are more PS3 users playing an MMO for the first time, who don’t use keyboards, and the duty finder, which allows all players to sign up for a dungeon, be matched up with a party, and be instantly transported there without the need to find other party members through chat. Thus, no communication required in game has become the standard or new norm. Of course, FFXIV is just keeping up with the times and adapting to what every other MMO is doing now, which is accommodate solo players, thus not requiring partying, which is both good and bad. In my case it’s more bad than good.
While I understand the need to accommodate solo players in an MMO, basically play on your own time and not need to wait on others to join you to accomplish a task and vice-versa, it just isn’t right. If I wanted to play a solo RPG, there are tons out there. The reason I played FF XIV to begin with, was the community, which has disappeared. Sure, I still met up with my guild mates from the old game, but everyone is busy level grinding and crafting and don’t ever need help from anybody. I played on a Japanese server during launch due to server congestion and I got pretty far without ever needing to talk to anybody. While this seems to make the game design sound great, (I played with Japanese players without ever having to talk to them and got very far), it just isn’t right.
I actually pulled out my PS2 from storage and started playing FF XII and Dragon Quest 8 again for a while and forgot about A Realm Reborn, because frankly if I want a long grind heavy solo JRPG, I don’t need to pay a subscription to do it. There are plenty of good games in my library to play through again. I’m not putting FFXIV down in any way. It has more to do with my preference in play style. MMOs just don’t require a community to play them anymore, and that is what separates them from solo console RPGs. So what is the point? FFXIV is a really beautiful game and I recommend people try it out. I may give it another go when PS4 version launches and maybe there will be more content and server fixes at that point. For now, I’ve explored a lot of Eorzea, but it just feels too quiet and empty for me. I will play more FFXII and Dragon Quest 8 for now.
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