If you're basing your score on launch server issues either wait with posting an opinion or you shouldn't be playing MMOs at all. This is launch, every single game has it's issues (hello WoW launch and every single expansion pack), they get smoothed out and eventually are gone and remain forgotten. Hardware, even nowadays, ain't sci-fi tech; it has it's limits no matter how much money you put into it. There is a reason we're not travelling at light speed yet.
You think they're sitting there /point laughing at people that can't get in? Seriously..?

On to the review; this game has one thing I've never felt in any other MMO so far, and of those there has been plenty. I don't need to be max level to enjoy, or need to rush to cap. The game has a plethora of choices, jobs, quests, instances, FATEs (which are great fun), crafts, zones, monsters, hunting logs, guildhests, new levequests; you name it. During leveling you unlock many extra things useful for your character; mounts, retainers, dyeing, melding.. so you don't get it all at start, or only at the top level.

The graphics are great (and that's where a lot of MMOs lack), with a huge optimalization boost when it comes to performance (compared to 1.0), and the music is superb.
Fighting is dynamic, boss fights ranging from a typical tank and spank to doing it the whole way around with precise tactics. Random events with XP and item rewards will often distract you from your current engagement, and the main mission storyline expands to hundreds of quests.

In short Yoshi-P delivered a game from a true MMO fan for MMO players.

For a Final Fantasy fan? 10/10 and a must. If you still remember 1.0 forget the horrors, this is a new era.
For a MMO fan? 8/10 and you should really give it a go, plenty of friendly things you'll find.

For a wingnut who cannot comprehend the fact of hardware limits on launch? A lollipop and a punch in the face.… Expand

The way they are handling the server issues is reprehensible. One can understand that launches and early access and all that generate a form of excitement and usually there will be lines to play. But what SE is doing is they are LITERALLY NOT ALLOWING you to create a character OR play the game until....get this.. the amount of concurrent login's decrease. What the hell? that's not a solution. SE's solution to the issue is just tell people who paid money to Piss off until sometime next month.… Expand

bad storytelling, boring fighting Routine ,quest hub based ,boring mmo Standard classes .Server maintenance everyday, Log in Queue ,disconnects after instances. game state is awful.

15 Years MMO Veteran, this is the best online experience someone can experience atm.
Amazing graphics, Great Storyline, Wicked User Interface, Oldschool combat reminiscent to Final Fantasy.
This game is extremely polished for a launch title.
Get it now!

In one sentence Very epic fantasy world with talkative NPC and boring quests.

I'm a big Final Fantasy fan boy, so big, I'm like a windmill when it comes to FF series. I have FF7 (ps1 & pc), FFTactic (PS1, PSP, iPad) just brag a little but FFXIV is very boring from the get go. I don't plan to waste my time with this anymore.

Pros Very nice graphics. Detail character customization. Moderate graphic power needed. Very nice details on every little things. The details of dungeon and buildings almost makes you feel like you actually got lost in a big castle. Nice physic. Quick travel points in towns.

Cons I have been playing it since early release and I must say that quests are very boring and NPC talks too much that if you read everything they say you won't get anywhere. Game play becomes click on NPC skip everything, go to another place click on another NPC skip everything and quest done.

There are no motivation to do the quests until now. Compare to SWTOR the quest are very boring (SWTOR is not the best MMORPG out there).

Quick travel in town is very nice to save time but you need to remember all the awkward names of the travel points to get to the right place. But quick travel in town is free and unlimited. I wonder why they didn't make the quick travel menu into map oriented.

Map detail are very nice but quest related icons on map are very confusing. They try to be epic, I get it but the game play and quest are very boring compare to that epic theme. SWTOR is more fun to play than this.… Expand

FFXIV came back from a dark place called V1... Now, it's a great game with plenty of features picked in every today's MMO improved and Final Fantasylized !
I'm not objective, i can't be objective because i'm a huge Final Fantasy Fan but FFXIV is designed for us, and for that i'll give it a big 10

The main issue I have with FF14, is that it plays like any other MMORPG out there, the same formula MMO players have seen has been recycled, again. I enjoyed playing for some time, however, if you are someone that has played other MMORPGs, you will see that you are playing the same game over again, there are many free to play games out there in where you can invest less money and have a very similar experience, for example the quest formula that is found in many other games, comes back to FF14 with no real change, you will see a lot of "Kill 10 squirrels and come back for a reward... now go collect 10 furry tails.. which are found by killing squirrels .
There are also many problems with the servers, you can have quite a good time if you are able to log in, I played both on the PC and PS3, and the PC obviously out stands the PS3 version, as in the console the game runs around 25 frames.… Expand

Been playing since Alpha. I must say that everything about this game is excellent. The combat took sometime to get comfortable with. It is unfortunate that this game will receive bad reviews because of the login problems but a majority of those have already been addressed. This is your standard MMO launch. There are plenty of options for jobs to play, engaging storyline, the graphics are above average for an MMO. A Final Fantasy every FF fan must play.… Expand

This game...
Where can I start?
Conceptually it's not a big deal, but as one takes it in bit by bit, as one does with the modern MMO, one begins to realize the where this game shines is in the how.
The execution of the ordinary in such a way that it becomes extraordinary.
While it had some issues in logins, (I never personally had the problem for more than 3 minutes,) due largely to the fact that Square Enix did not expect the scale of NA/EU MMO players.

I like that, it gives me good feelings about the future of this game.

Oh the story? Just give it a little time, it will turn into one of your favorite FFs as well as one of your favorite MMOs.… Expand

Despite the early access problems I've had the most fun here since WoW 1.0-1.5. There's just so much to do and probably the first time ever I don't feel like I have to level my main class or job to 50 to play the game to it's fullest. I've spent countless of hours crafting and fishing because it's just so entertaining by itself. Ok, you have your basic quests of kill/fetch or stuff like that but it doesn't diminish the full experience. Additional ways to gain experience are introduced all the time and generally only a small portion of my experience comes from the basic questing.

If you are having a hard time to decide whether to try it, I strongly recommend you do. It's just 20 euros and by that price it's a steal. Best MMO of the decade.… Expand

Another MMORPG deserves a devastating failure and become a ghost town after free month.

Worst combat system I've ever seen with only a few skills avaliable and 2.5 sec GCD

They don't have a queue and game sends you to main menu when the world you are trying to enter is full. Seriously if you are so dumb do implement a queue at least send me to character selection screen and I won't have to click 10 million times to try again.

0 specilization, you can even level every class with 1 character lol.

Maps are horrifying.

Spell and attack animations are disgusting, you just shoot a simple arrow, your hands glow, there are bursts of light, explosions, you are surrounded by gusts of wind and everything, WHY? why does everything have to explode?

Unskipable cutscenes, why do you even have cutscenes if you are not going to have voices in them?

Itemization is bad, item bonuses are negligable.

Only good thing about this game is interface and enviroment graphics are beautiful.… Expand

First of all, most of the negative reviews are from the server issues the game had during the early access weekend prior to launch. This is not indicative of the final product.

This game is nothing short of spectacular. The fact that the development team took a failing game, and made it what it is today in only 2 years is a miracle. The graphics are by far the best in the genre, the world design is among the best in any game, period, the sound design is something you must hear to believe, and the writing is phenomenal. This game deserves more than its tainted name allows it. On top of everything I've listed, the game is just plain fun. This game must be experienced to be fully appreciated. This is how Final Fantasy used to be, not what it currently is. This game is a love letter to the entire series. It has characters, monsters, equipment and activities from many numbered Final Fantasy games, and they're only adding more. This will be one of the only MMOs out right now still being played in 10 years.… Expand

Avoid buying this game. When the servers ran into capacity problems Square chose to limit login availability and disable queues rather than fixing the actual issues. It's been 4 days without any fixes, and the only announcement made has been that more servers will be added to the japan data center, which is the one that has been mostly problem free.

At this point, it has become clear that the publisher hopes that many people who bought and paid for the game will give up on playing saving them the expense of adding more servers.

The game is unplayable right now for a large portion of the user base, and there appears to be no solution in sight.… Expand

Very great game. Finally, a MMORPG that put's an emphasis on "RPG". Way to go Square Enix, I think you just revived the franchise for me! This game delivers everything Final Fantasy and then some!

This game is amazing. Those who are giving it a zero are just complaining about the server issues, which every mmo has. Just give it a week to pass through. The game is spectacular, and people are judging it harshly way too early.

I rarely base part of my opinion of a game on the customer service of the company if I can help it. But in this case, the customer service has been SO bad that it makes me drop my rating of the actual game. The game itself (what amount I got to play of course...so take it with a grain of salt)? 8-9. Customer service? 0. After over 1000 minutes on hold total and being hung up on multiple times by their machines as well as by their chat, I am still even now wondering why they never contact me about ANYTHING to tell me what's going on.

A week in I got hacked. My fault. I didn't have an authenticator. I realized the only other thing I'd use the same password was my LoL that I hadn't played in a few months. Went checking and discovered about their being hacked and passwords lost. My account was "terminated" by Square-Enix with admittedly a VERY rude accusatory e-mail that ACTUALLY says, "Unfortunately, you have shown yourself to be unwilling to follow the rules of the FINAL FANTASY XIV community. If we find that you have created another FINAL FANTASY XIV service account, we reserve the right to terminate that account as well".

But that's not the bad part. It's the fact that I spent a couple weeks TRYING to get in touch with them. 3 hours waiting on hold then...suddenly it hangs up on me. This happened more than once! What? I even got a message from their chat after I waited in the que that their were no representatives available which instead gave me a form to fill out. All of these events early in the day well within their hours. Oh and that form? Waited over a week and NEVER got a response. So I started trying to contact again and after a couple attempts FINALLY got through.

I found out from him my account spammed chat with gold-seller site information. But that was my only transgression. Okay, sounds like what they'd do with a hacked account. But it turns out he can't do anything. He told me he'd "escalate" my problem for the investigation group to look at and that they'd get back to me. Well that was weeks ago. I haven't heard a SINGLE thing from them in that time. After a month and a half from when this started, I STILL haven't gotten my account back. I may have to write this off as money I wasted purchasing a game in the first place that I'll never really get to play. Glad I bought the collector's edition for the extra goodies! TOTALLY WORTH IT! Ha ha.… Collapse

I have been playing this non stop since I got the early access. This game is incredibly fun, addictive, the scenery is beautiful and the gameplay is fantastic. The servers may be full at times but you gotta keep trying to get in and when you do, it'll be one of the best experiences ever. All in all, get this game.

This game has definitely come a long way since 1.0. It's definitely a very beautiful game and it seems to have pulled a lot of the great elements from other MMORPGS. Only issue that is really irritating is the current accessibility to the game. Ever since Early Access and now into launch the game is not accessible to most of the community due to 1017 error "Server Full" and no stable queuing system to allow people to enjoy the experience. But that's typical launch stuff...even though we'd hope developers would have found ways to mitigate this now in 2013 since MMOs have been around for over a decade.

Graphics: The graphics are beautiful and the landscapes are very well done. I catch myself looking around the world quite a bit when I am traveling and enjoying the scenery. The animations are very well done and the spell effects are intense, very colorful and very well done. Overall I can't complain about the graphics in this game and they are some of the best I've seen in an MMO

Travel: Travel in this game is fairly simple. The game is broken into a multitude of zones like most MMOs. There is a system of crystals you can use to teleport around (for a feel), chocobo rentals to take the scenic route, Mounts to ride at the later levels, air ships to carry you across continent, and the never old 'charlie brown" method of one foot in front of the other. Overall the travel is great and the game seems accessible. Tons of ways to travel and none take you the hours that 1.0 used to force you to travel.

Leveling: Like most MMOs you have your standard faire of quests to get you to max level, the new FATE system ala Rift/ GW2 public questing, levemetes (limited daily quests), and your hunting log (kill quests on specific creatures through each of the zones). Let's not forget the story line quests with epic cut scenes and large amounts of that Final Fantasy dialogue. Overall you'll have plenty to keep you engaged while leveling your jobs.

Jobs/Class system: One word, Awesome. You'll be able to play each job with a single character. No more need for alts, unless you're moving servers, since you'll have access to the full experience on one character. At level 10 you'll be able to learn other jobs, so you'll quickly be able to move to something else if you are not a fan of your initial job pick.

Combat: A little slow for my tastes at first, but I got used to it and now I love it. The entire game has a 2.5s GCD on abilities. This slows down your need to button mash and allows you to concentrate more on mechanics and keep your spacial awareness in check. Most classes have combo chains to pull off with your abilities which add some depth and choice into ability use. You'll also be able to bring in a limited amount of abilities from other jobs to augment your job's feel and fill in some gaps. Limit Breaker in groups is also another cool feature. large "finishing moves" that can be executed by one member in the group at a crucial moment in the fight. The limit breakers vary by job and each has a distinct effect. Overall I've been very happy with the combat system.

Dungeons/Raids: Dungeons are 4 man and follow the holy trinity (Tank/DPS/Healer). Overall the beta content was pretty solid. The first three dungeons were more of a learning experience for newer MMO players, introducing new mechanics in each. The Ifrit fight at 20 is where the difficulty starts to get turned up and it really checks your spacial awareness. Raids have been announced by the producers but I didn't get a chance to see those, but I'm optimistic that there will be a real challenge in them.

Overall I've had a great time with the game when I've had access. Unfortunately the problem is that I haven't had access as much as I'd have expected through Early Access and now launch. I'm not going to rate this review on those issues, because that will be solved. I will say it's damned annoying and that I really thing SE dropped the ball on this, but they did put out one helluva nice game.… Expand

This game is much improved over the previous version. The graphics are nothing short of amazing and the world is a wondrous place to explore. There are some issues with server stability, but they are working those out. The gameplay is fun and not all arcade- like when compared to games like GW2 or Tera. This is more in line with a true RPG. I highly recommend it.

The game itself gets a 10 from me. It's absolutely amazing. The most fun I've had in an MMO in a very long time, but the problem is, there are quite a few errors that SE can't seem to fix that prevent me and many others from actually accessing the game. Though the game has just launched, it has taken them over a week to fix the errors, and every time they supposedly fix it, another error or the same error pops up.

But anyway, the game is amazing. If you can get past the errors, get logged in and stay logged in, it's an amazing game.… Expand

not sure who they hired to run and maintain these servers but they should be fired now. bad launch is bad and this is worse. Also combat is at snail pace at best and quest hubs? really. well nice try but they have a ton of improvements before this game is even alright at best

The game itself is incredible as it is absolutely amazing. The architecture of the game is very well structured. Nice music on the background. The graphic is astonishing and the gameplay is quiet interesting in a way that it'll make you play for hours. The element of the game is a mix of final fantasy 1-13 (which is a very positive thing). The content is quiet big even though the game is quiet new. The launch isnt as smooth as we thought it would be but that is because there are more people that are playing than expected. overall its a fun game to play and have not got any pay to win like many of the mmo today.… Expand

While this game does not re-define the genre or drive it into the next generation, it does the things we have grown to love about the genre right. With a track record of amazing content in the companies first MMO, FFXI, this game does have incredible potential to become another 10+ years MMO for you to enjoy.

The amount of detail and care not only in the visual aspects is astonishing with a grade of attention to detail that will amaze you. Animations are beautifully done with incredible detail to textures going so far as to display seams and fabric texture. Even on medium settings the game is beautiful and runs smooth even on older PC's.

The UI, especially the custom one for controller is the best i have seen so far. Everything is very polished and works as expected. The care that was taken to make this playable on both PC and consoles is astonishing and it pays off.

The games heavy focus on story telling will no doubt bore and even scare off a lot of impatient gamers that just want to get to the end for whatever reason. The story itself is beautifully told with an extremely extensive main story line, we are talking almost a hundred quests and just as many cut scenes. If you add the class specific quest lines for all the jobs and the side quests you are looking at a couple hundred for sure.

Content is abundant and you will find yourself overwhelmed at the options you have in this game. There are a dozen or so dungeons, special fights called Primal fights, dynamic events, special guild missions, grand company missions, leves (contract missions) It would be too much to list everything here.

Crafting is a huge part of the game and considered a class like warrior not just an add on like in many other games. The best gear does not come from quests or loot, it's made and enhanced by crafters. They are an essential part of the game without them the higher level and harder content could not be beaten.

Of cause the game is not perfect, it shares the same issues as most "themepark" and gear centric MMO games. The basic enemies are not very smart and they are spread out in the world according to level and areas they inhabit like a Zoo. Questing or any of the other activities can become a grind if you decide to grind them. The game however gives you so many options that you should never find yourself doing just one thing over and over.

Overall it is a very enjoyable game with great potential given the track record the company has with Final Fantasy XI, the genres biggest game with content that will literally take you years to finish.… Expand

This is not a Bad game at all, they have alot of issues about they servers, but they just started... Grafics are amezing, nice selection to create your character with saving options if u wanna play with the toon in another realm. They have a nice intro to Final Fantasy world for ppl just start this saga. Questing its ok for now. Im pretty sure they will improve more things in time. The system is ver easy to learn. We must give them more time to make a complete review about this game.… Expand

first off final fantasy meets WoW clone
second, you cant even log in on launch day because the servers are full, no queue, just a message that says servers are full, try again later.
you can spam the menu 100+ times to try and log in never works, or put you in queue
this is NOT a small problem or a early launch problem, this problem has been here since beta FACT ask anyone please

I originally bought the collectors edition of 1.0. I was disappointing with the game as I could not really
"get in" to it. After upgrading various components of my PC (to even play the game), I found it buggy and generally dull.

I am very happy to say that version 2.0 is quite the surprise. It has the same feel and engagement that I felt in FFXI and is an all around joy to play. The story line is engaging and unique, the battle system has been fine tuned and is feels like a FF game. I enjoy the Free Company concept and the new Auction House system is well implemented. But most of all, the community is were the game already shines (at least on my server).… Expand

this game is next level bad, do not give them a second chance. you pay money for this game and you honestly cant play it because errors after errors after errors the white knights will say these are "little bugs" or "all mmo have problems at launch" the fact is this problem was in beta they never fixed it they said they wouldnt rush the game the second time its obvious they did on the US/EU side… Expand

This game has been amazing so far. I'm only level 11 right now but I have been playing since the phase 4 beta test. Besides the server log in issues which is only because the game just started out the game has been a phenomenal play. The story is good, the way SE recouped and worked the story from final fantasy XIV version 1.0 is awesome. In game wise I haven't had any complaints yet!. Look forward to playing this game to the end which I haven't done with any other MMO so far.… Expand

Took part in Closed Beta which went as most Betas go until Phase 4 Open Beta when everything started falling apart at the seams under Stress Testing. Ever since the Open Beta concluded, it has been nigh impossible to login to play the game between constant Error Messages, multiple Emergency Maintenance windows every day (each spanning 1-5 hours), and imposed population limits with no Auto-logout of AFK users. For the past four days they have been "Live" you haven't been able to create a character, join any of the existing Servers or play. From what I experienced during Beta, the game is worthy of a FAIR rating, typical of an MMO from 10 years ago with a fresh coat of paint (the graphics are probably it's greatest asset). Considering all the other MMO options out there, it probably isn't much to write home about or be excited over unless you are a Final Fantasy fan. With all of the problems this game has been experiencing the past several days my suggestion is to save yourself the frustration and your money, and stay far away from this game until Square Enix can resolve their Server Capacity issues.… Expand

Avoid buying at all costs. The game is wonderful IF you can get logged in. The North American and European servers have been suffering since open beta and have been largely unplayable for a large portion of the community. The Japanese servers have been fine until launch, and at the slightest sign of population issues, they announced new servers for them, and still no relief for the other half of their player base. If you are in North America or Europe, save your money, Square Enix views you as a second class citizen. Their xenophobic has taken new heights with this release.… Expand

Coming from a 1.0 original purchaser who never played version 1.0 for even one hour, and had my box gathering dust for about 3 years:

Do play this. It's fun, immersive and well-executed from a software perspective. Hardware (i.e. servers) need some work yet, but nothing that can't be fixed in the coming days weeks.

Proud Digital Collectors Edition owner of FFXIV: ARR!

Way to go Square Enix selling a game that you can't play. Error upon error the last four days. No action from the team behind the game only empty words and apologises. I would recommend anyone to stay away from this game unless you like giving away money without getting the promised service. You'd think they would do better as it's the second time they try launching the game but no, very disappointing.… Expand

What an achievement, they've managed to take a game that was literally the worst MMO I've ever played and turn it into one of the best I've ever played. Square is back. The job system is genius and a refreshing take on classes in mmos, content is challenging even for hard core players post level 30, and the world is addicting as hell.

Besides from all the normal launch problems with every MMO; this game is beautiful shaped, great game play and amazing story so far. This game will steal your heart

Amazing game. Sure they have some problems with the launch, like every other MMOs but when you are in, this is one of the best experience out there! You will love it if you give it a chance.

A marvelous game. As someone new to MMOs, I expected to be overwhelmed by features and interface elements. Thankfully the tutorial was helpful and clear; I felt comfortable using the different features.

Gameplay is not difficult but battles are enjoyable. Monster models, true to the series, offer entertaining art styles and names.

Graphics are superb. This is simply an astoundingly beautiful game. I find myself stopping regularly to take screenshots of the landscape.

The crafting system is intuitive and fun yet deep and useful. It's certainly more involved and richer than in any console RPG that I've played. You have so many opportunities to craft what you want and to approach it from so many different classes.

The user interface can be a bit clunky at times, but it offers a good amount of information through various menus.

I'm incredibly satisfied with the game and have enjoyed my time in Eorzea. I hope you will take a spin too.… Expand

I GIVE UP after trying to log in for 2-3 hours of spamming the log in the past week, just avoid this game.

People who are in the game, refuse to log out because they know its impossible to get past the character screen

If you can get around the server congestion issues, this is a great game. It takes a lot of the traditional Final Fantasy elements (cute creatures, long, in-depth storylike cutscenes, job system with unique outfits) and combines them with the World of Warcraft themepark system. This is the MMO of choice for anybody who has ever enjoyed JRPG's. In terms of difficulty, the grinding is minimal and not difficult, while the solo instances are sufficiently challenging (I have not done a group dungeon yet). One of the good things about this game is that you can train for every profession, including crafting professions, so there is no need to create a horde of alternative characters unless you enjoy creating a mix of races and genders for your characters.

I will not rate this game based upon the server problems, which seem to be basically fixed judging by my play last night. The only thing that keeps this game from being a 10 is its current lack of Player vs. Player. I'm not a big fan of PvP, but it's something every MMO that releases should try to have. Square Enix says they will add it in a future update. I would also like to see vanity slots so that you aren't forced to wear something ugly and can design your own outfit (although dyes help with this somewhat). SE also says they will add vanity slots in a future update. Other than these minor qualms, the game is a lot of fun and should be played by anyone who is either a fan of challenging themepark MMO's or JRPG's.… Expand

Game is being fixed and progress is being made. Servers are opening up more and character creation isn't such a contentious issue now (create your character offpeak times)

The game itself is the best MMO i've played since WoW. It follows mmo traditions but brings enough to the table to feel fresh all with a slick UI and fantastic story.

First mmo i've played that doesn't feel like a wow clone. Ignore the wow clone comments (See Rift for an example of a wow clone). I'm sure these people would call every FPS a Doom clone, right?… Expand

This is undoubtedly a Final Fantasy game. Fans of the series will more than likely feel right at home with the amazing musical score, incredibly graphics and deep character development. The reason this game doesn't get a personal score from me is that it lacks in many areas that other Final Fantasy games are strong in. The early game story for example is yawn inducing and incredibly contrived, it gives you all the tools to "Feel special" but avoids any opportunity to step out of that bubble. It features a rather deep Level system that would at first glance appear to allow a player freedom of choice as to where and when they develop their character. Want to be a humble Fisherman? Tools are there. Want to be a Dragoon capable of feats beyond even the great Kain Highwind? Tools are there. Problem is, regardless of your path, if you follow the story (a staple in all FF games) you will be on the exact same path as every other player. I guess I question why do they personalize the story rather than leave it open to willing participants.

The expected "Party" system is MMO standard. Which is fine but they relegate certain functions such as the incredibly fun "Limit Break" system to a "decide when the group as a whole wants to use it" rather than a personal feat of increased effectiveness to be used at the best possible time. You have an extremely restricted early game party set up which creates a great deal of problems for finding a group as most classes, this is easily fixed too. WHY on earth can my Arcanist not heal for a dungeon when she has an equivalent heal to a Conjurer? In fact, at early group stages, the "Group Finder" will not even find you a group unless there is an available Conjurer. Tank classes are sparse as well, totaling 2 early game. Out of a total of 8 potential starting classes, you HAVE to have a Conjurer, Marauder/Gladiator, and any of the other two.

Even with all else been said, the game has incredible ups. Class development is fun, spending money on merchant gear feels effective and true to the series core. Each class is unique and has a play-style that is more advanced and rewarding once mastered than it first appears. You can get your own Chocobo and summon it to assist you in combat much akin to a FFT(actics) helper. The game gives you a constant carrot. The zones have a ton of seemingly random events, called FATEs. Evolving "Jobs" such as Warrior, Summoner, Black Mage etc is fun and rewarding, you have to earn each and every ability rather than simply buying them. Each weapon corresponds to a play style and subsequent Job, you can multi-class by earning levels in other weapons and socket them into your current role.

This is a new game, it is full of flaws. Do your best to look at them closely, because if you have paid any attention to the development cycle of this game you will know just how far Square Enix is willing to go to make this an experience to please you. I promise you none are so game breaking that they would prevent you from enjoying a good classic style MMORPG with a load of content to chase before they add more.

Give it a shot.… Expand

This game is quite good as far as MMOs go on launch: amazing IP, great graphics and aesthetic, lots to do, a great sense of discovery and wonder, in depth crafting, and more.

However, I can can't help but feel that the WoW-esque hot-key MMO with endless fetch quests has seen its day. The game play is good, don't get me wrong. It just feels like I've done this all before, and that's because I have. It's the exact same formula that has dominated MMOs for years, and frankly it's getting a little tired.

The game is definitely worth picking up if you haven't gotten your fill of the classic MMO theme-park experience, or if you just love the Final Fantasy franchise so much you can overlook the dated game-play. If you're bored of WoW and it's clones, you won't find much new here. All in all, this game is a good take on a tried and true (and a bit played out) genre.… Expand

Haven't been this attached to an mmo in a long time, the final fantasy world intrigues me more then any other, so far this is just an awesome game, there is so much to do i get confused :D

Constant server outages, massive queues for logging in, and the inability to even create characters. The game as it stands right now is unplayable. These problems have been going on for days and have not improved since early access. Even as of the official launch, it is almost impossible to get in an play the game.

When you can play, the graphics are decent and the story line is above average for an MMO, but the game is very derivative of World of Warcraft. The Job system is one outstanding innovation, but as for the rest we have all played this game before. Combat and character movement is slow, and targeting is cumbersome. There is no active dodge. Visual indications of character responses are text only (like dodge or parry very 2005). PVP isn't in the game yet. Overall a little disappointing given that they had 3 years on top of the original game release to try and get this right.… Expand

If you played 1.0, you may believe you know what this game has to offer, but the further you get the more this game offers you beyond your expectations. Chocobos can level up; grand companies allow you to earn additional currency towards great stuff when you complete levequests and FATEs, among other things. The lag in the interface has been resolved with the brand new UI too.

If you didn't play 1.0 this game is a huge improvement over the original, which received poor reviews. The voice acting is not the best it could be, but that's not a deciding factor for me and an MMO. The maintenance some reviews comment about is sure to pass, and was prevalent in early access during the days prior to release, so in my opinion should not be relevant to the user score here unless it continues (which so far it has not).… Expand

Just GREAT, the server issue will end soon. no crash so far. some difficulty to login at peak hours but nothing to compare at Sim City Failure. The Duty Finder is best tool ever for a MMORPG

I played FFXIV Ver 1.0 and was let down. I thought that I was going to be disappointing again. Man I'm glad I was wrong! This is easily the most immersive experience ever. I can't wait to play this using Oculus Rift! I'm excited for an MMO again and that's saying a lot because I've played almost literally all off them since Ultima Online and Everquest were the big things in MMO gaming.

Graphics: Amazing, looks better than any other modern MMO.
Story: 10/10 I'm incredibly excited to see what happens in my story.
Gameplay: Next Gen FF Engine with a Twist. It's everything I've grown to love in modern FF games.
Difficulty: Hard enough that a seasoned MMO player will find difficulty balanced and very rewarding.
Others: Yeah launch was a mess but the servers are totally stable now. Not one hiccup yet!… Expand

Aside from a few log in issues i couldn't be more happy with the game, the fact that you can do everything you want on just 1 character is amazing for me, i went from having to grind on 8 different chars a week on wow to focusing on 1 in FF, i pray this game will bloom for years to come.

Fantastic Game. Great class system. Great graphics. Multiple subscription options for those who are power users or casual users.

I highly recommend this to any gamer who enjoys great graphics and a great story.

It's true they are having server load issues at the moment, but that doesn't change the quality of the game itself.

I gave it a low score mostly because of it is abysmal costumer service during launch and early acess. After all, they are no strangers to the number of game codes sold and should planned accordingly.

With that behind, there are still some game breaking bugs in it. In high crowded Fates (like open world bosses), your target disappears, your party mates are also gone making it close to unplayable. Very bad culling coding. Also, when you reach 50 and wanna do an instance, it is most likely you'll wait for an hour even if you already have a full team. Instance servers doesnt have enough room for player load.

Game starts off boring and slow. Voice Overs are horrible and many in game translation.

However, game starts to pick up around lvl 15 and it only shines from there. You can cross class skills, dungeons are smart with a scaling difficulty and the world is just beautiful.

Crafting is different in a way, you actually have to know how to react to certain conditions in employ proper skills to make it work.
It is surely a great game to try, if you can put aside the slow start and the said game breaking bugs.… Expand

I have been playing this game ever since version 1.0. I participated in the ARR Alpha, and all 4 Beta phases. This game has come a long way in a very short time, it has maintained the lore of previous FF games and built upon them with its own story. Combat mechanics are friendly enough for new players while still offering a challenge for seasoned MMO gamers. Partying and grouping are seamless and dont seam like a chore. The game walks newcomers through the basics and slowly lets go of your hand as you progress through the ranks. It helps attract new people to MMO's who traditionally wouldnt try this type of game.… Expand

The only thing, the ONLY thing that is holding me back from buying a month's sub now is error 1017. I get it, there's a lot of players. I genuinely enjoy my time spent in the game. The multiclassing is really fun and I've had a blast playing with all of them. Crafting is both rewarding and engaging. The world is colorful and vibrant and there's nary a moment of lag to be had. The game is fun, and that's the most important part. It just launched, so it's entirely reasonable for many servers to be full.

BUT WHY THE HELL IS THERE NO QUEUE SYSTEM!!

Did we suddenly go back to 1995 or something? Just telling me "We're sorry you can't play, please try later" and not giving me ANY way of knowing when a good time to come back is is just asinine. I spent the entirety of Sunday periodically checking every 10 to 30 minutes to see if I could get in. Nothing at all, couldn't play that day at all. Not to mention that meant I sat around my computer not doing much of anything because I had no idea if there would be space on the server in the next few minutes or not. It's all a load of bullsh*t.

And then there's the updates on Lodestone. They update relatively regularly, which is nice. HOWEVER, the updates they post are simply repeating what they said the last time. There's been 4 different followups to the congestion post today, and each one has literally been the exact same post, word for word, followed by another apology. It's infuriating.

At the end of the day, I enjoy playing this game. If SE doesn't get their act together on this though, I for one will not be dumping any more money into this aging locomotive.… Expand

The new version of Final Fantasy XIV does what it set out to do extremely well. It might not line up with my own preferences, but within its intended goals things are executed elegantly and enjoyably. There's been some difficulty with the servers, but given that's a transient issue that's already being rectified I don't think it's something I want to include in my lasting review score.

Simply put, while I've got one or two complaints (the lack of speech bubbles for chat, for instance) my summary would be 'I feel like I'm playing an MMORPG out of an anime'.… Expand

I've played the game back in 2010. Not for long tough, it simply had too much issues. I looked forward to the relaunch, especially since i've had some crystas still stored. However, it runs smooth except for the login issues. For me, the problem is that i don't know what they've done in this almost three years except polishing. The game still feels like the original from 2010 and let's be honest, it wasnt already very innovative back then. It pretty much plays like all the mmos from the 10s. There may be people who really like that, i however find it rather boring. Compared to newer mmos like Guild Wars 2 or even Rift, it can't convince me. The overall design in gameplay, storytelling and art style is just too worn-out and dull.… Expand

Tried this out for the first time this weekend, and found that many of the complaints I'd read on forums/etc were unfounded or exaggerated. Our household decided to pre-order the game and try it on a whim, since it looked fun and was on sale. None of us really had high expectations, and we're all MMO vets so none of us are stupid enough to be shocked by a few server troubles (which have been blown out of proportion). We've gotten a lot of play time in and have all had a grand old time. It's great to feel excited to rush home and level again, and to explore beautifully crafted worlds. The combat is very fun, though not as action MMO-y as more recent games like TERA or GW2--but this is balanced by the depth of the combat and the depth of the content available.

Definitely going to be playing this for a while.… Expand

Excellent game. Perhaps not as deep as FFXI or as action packed as WoW, but it offers a happy medium that I think people are really going to enjoy for years. This is the first time I've truly been excited for an MMO since vanilla WoW's release. There are some server troubles at the moment because I don't believe Square thought the game would be this popular.

People will get over launch issues if the game is good (vanilla WoW had an INCREDIBLY rough start, for example-- rougher even than XIV's release). People will not get over launch issues if the game is shallow/uninteresting/boring (like Diablo 3).… Expand

The game is very fun! The only reason I don't mark it as a 10 is because of the overpopulated servers, which seems to be the origin of all these negative user reviews. I mean, it's not very fair to bash them for that, they're trying to fix said problems now. This is a great game to play with friends!

Yo jugué en el primer FFXIV hace 3 años, y ese juego era totalmente infumable, aguanté 3 meses hasta que lo dejé.
Ahora con la ARR en la beta muchos jugadores decían que el juego había cambiado muchisimo y estaban encantados, claramente Yoshida se ha esforzado al máximo y ha puesto toda su ilusión en ello.
El juego actualmente tiene problemas típicos de login pero una vez entras no hay l no hay lag, y funciona todo perfecto, para mi merece un 10, en 3 años han conseguido hacer un juego desde 0, que pasó de ser una mierda a ser algo placentero de jugar.… Expand

Launch day is technically a success. All North American, and European region data center servers was completely full. Such a issue is not surprising as this happens to almost every MMO on its launch day. However, despite the log in issue, the game play of this MMORPG is the must enjoyable by far.

Give the game a chance, let the developers optimize their server to compensate the massive load, and you'll find yourself in a true medieval Final Fantasy world. It is by far the most fun Final Fantasy title I've played yet.… Expand

It's an amazing game for sure... if you could ever log in and actually play it. 1017 Errors, 90000 errors, errors errors errors...

Poor execution from SE and they should have taken more steps when "Early Access" weekend showed that they didn't have enough servers.

Great game, everyone just needs to stop about the server issues, EVERY MMO fails to meet server demand on launch day. If you are rating the game a 0 simply because you can't play then your review is only really a complain and not a review. Have some patience.

Absolutely horrible service from SquareEnix. Many new and old players on NA/EU realms have been completely locked out of their characters; forcing some to start over from scratch on Japanese realms that are receiving preferential treatment. Entire guilds are being are being splintered and online friends lost. Community managers and developers say almost nothing to calm the already violent seas of angry customers. Lastly, a toxic, white-knight community that chases people away if they are in any way critical of the game. Even though Yoshi and pals went out of their way to promote this game abroad and attract and retain new players, they and the FFXIV have done the complete opposite. SquareEnix has no business developing MMOs at this point. They should stick to one-player RPGs and resist shoe-horning Toriyama's pink-haired imaginary wife, Lightning, into everything they do.

Don't waste your time, let SquareEnix die.… Expand

Temporary server hiccups due to overwhelming amount of players logging in. Otherwise a great MMORPG in the Final Fantasy franchise. Way better then version 1.0.

I have played this game through beta, early access, and now launch. The game is beautiful, has a good storyline (if you like Final Fantasy stories), and has a much more active battle system that becomes more intuitive and complex as you level. Many people have commented on the server issue; however, the development team has announced as of today that the server capacity will be increased and the restrictions will be lifted for all servers (not just Japan).… Expand

I've been looking for something to replace WoW for a while now, and it's FFXIV. I had a ton of fun playing through the Beta and in to the initial game. The graphics are stunning and I'm enjoying the story very much so far. I have no criticisms at all of the actual game, but I'm detracting a point from my overall rating because the server issues have been very difficult to manage so far. I realize it's because they weren't expecting the game to be such a big hit since the first version tanked, but as it is, it's incredibly difficult to get into the game at all.… Expand

A launch so utterly abysmal, it makes Diablo 3's seem smooth. I will not give this company more money via a subscription after this display of obvious, and objective ineptitude. Do yourself a favor and find something else to play, trust me.

iam sure it would be a great game, prolly way better than 1.0 but who would know. early access was a joke missed 2 out of the three days and now its launched and still cant play cause of world lock out. great job SE you guys are def the smartest out there. pass on this one at least iam only out 22 bucks

Launch day, nothing but error 1017, I will update my score when the game is actually playable. For now its a Alpha phase piece of garbage. Unplayable because they disabled Queuing, they don't force disconnects so nobody ever logs out. Japanese Servers get all the attention for fixes while the EU/NA regions get looked over. Poor Customer Service, Poor Networks, All around Poor Experience.

One of the worst launches I have been a part of for an MMO. The account creation system is a total mess. The servers are a mess. And to top it all off, they started locking character creation for the server that me and a friend started playing on in early access, so now none of our friends who didn't preorder can play with us. This is almost as bad as 1.0. At least I could play 1.0 when it launched however...… Expand

Been playing since Beta Phase 2. Really enjoying the game, it's my replacement for WoW. There is a lot of interest in the game causing some server stress, but once you log in everything is flawless. It's also fun to boot!

Been playing since 1.0 and I must say Yoshi and his team have done an amazing job. There are so many things to do in this game, the aesthetics are amazing, the music, feel, and charm just draw me in and make me want to keep playing. Though the launch issues have made things a little rocky, that's to be expected for any MMORPG release.

I have never seen such poor handling of full servers preventing login. I purchases early access on the 24th and expected some issues to arise. 1 to 2 days of server issues is understandable, but 3 days is pretty extreme.

I feel bad giving the game a 4 because it is fun to play. But the customer service is terrible. The company doesn't have login que's or any update as to when the server issues may be fixed. The company needs to get a lot better at addressing their customers with more informative updates.… Expand

Do not buy this game yet.

The company running it have locked the servers without stopping sales, so if you buy it you will not be able to get online at all.

This aside, I found the questing to be very boring, and the combat to be probably the worst I've seen in an mmo. The story is ok, as is the music and graphics but there are are far better mmos out there that you can play for free. Avoid this mess of a game.… Expand

Probobly one of the most solid and most fun MMOs I've played thus far in my 13 years of online gaming. It's polished and carries a nice depth to it. The combat flows really well and the only downside I can see with it is that many servers are locked out. And not being able to login have easily been fixed given a little time or waiting in the que, I got in after about 10 minutes in que.

Really enjoyed my time so far as well as the community.… Expand

Is this better than the 1.0 version? Absolutely. However, it basically just went from terrible, up to mediocre. It's an amazing difference by comparison to the old one, but comparing it to more recent MMOs, it lacks any and all substance. It's basically just the skeleton of a modern themepark MMO because it has your basic functions like quest hubs and boring combat, but absolutely nothing past that. These kinds of MMOs don't cut it anymore with a more and more particular MMO audience. There's nothing special here other than Final Fantasy styling, so it is basically babby's first MMO and most likely forgotten entirely with in a few months.… Expand

Now that the majority of the kinks are fixed, it is a really enjoyable game. There is plenty to do and the and I can not see running out of things to do for a while. If you are a fan of the Final Fantasy series or just curious, buy the game play it for 30 days the decide. The story feels like a number FF game and wont disappoint.

Restricting access to the game and not allowing people create characters on the same server as their friends.

You'll either be fighting the login screen, keeping your character online AFK for more then 12 hours to keep your spot or trying to explain to your friends that rolling on a different server is okay.

I love the game but my one gripe is a huge one. You cant play due to massive amounts of people idling. Scared of logging out because they know they will not get back in. If an AFK out feature is not put in place this will continue to happen in my opinion.

I want to like this game I played FFXI and it had some great qualities. FFXIV is simpler, but very beautiful, and I'm prepared to enjoy it. I'm level 14, currently.

However, Square has completely mismanaged the launch of the game. As of the time of my writing this, the game has been offline a considerable amount of the past four days (pre-launch leading to the day after launch.) When the game isn't officially down, they still won't let players log in and they disabled the queue, so the only way to get into the game is to sit and spam a login button for hours on end.

And this is supposed to be the game's big comeback. This is supposed to be how they renew consumer faith in their product after their miserable launch in version 1. Instead, we get some of the worst decisions/feedback I've ever seen from a development team. It's the second day the game has officially been out, now, and I still can't log in to play. Square has made no announcement to resolve the issue; it has actually gotten worse over the past four days. All they've done is turn off the login queue, essentially telling us that we can't play, but thanks for the money anyway.… Expand

Congrats SE, you screwed the same game, TWICE. This is the worst launch ever, you are not even giving answers in your forums. You are a disgrace to the awesome company you used to be.

PS. I am sure Blizzard is laughing to tears.

You want to know why I give this game a 10 you may think that I'm a fanboy and this game is overrated.. No!

Square Enix did a great job, FFXIV:ARR is just beyond what I have expected.

First of all, the graphics, many reviewrs said that the graphics are great and it doesn't kill your system... well yes this is absolutely true and simply the best graphics for an MMO so far. Its so smooth and light, back in 1.0 I had troubles running the game at max graphic options, now I'm running the game Max and Its so smooth and fast. what else graphic effects the best I've seen so far, the effects are magical, you would really enjoy them. I give graphics 10

Gameplay there are A LOT of things to do to keep you busy with this game, like TONS of quests, levequests, hunting logs, FATE, guildhests and many more.. the combat system is good, although it uses the Global Cooldown system and its my first time trying this system, I find it OK.

There are many dungeons to do and every dungeons needs a different strategy! its engaging and you will need to put more focus into it. I can keep on talking about how amazing this game is but I won't finish.

The only problem the game is facing now is the login and server issues, and these issues are bound to happen, SE just announced that they will increase the capacities of NA and EU servers. Its all a matter of time until these issues are fixed, so I really can't judge the game based on these issues, I'm here for the game.

I surely guarantee that you will enjoy this game, and you won't find a better community in any other game like FFXIV:ARR

Please forgive my english though … Expand

All the zeroes you see in the user reviews are just people upset that they can't log in. Ignore them and look at the many glowing reviews about the actual content of the game. FFXIV:ARR takes the things I liked about several past MMORPGs and mixes them together into a cohesive experience with a great world, compelling main story reminiscent of your favorite single player JRPGs, A huge variety of content even at launch.

Considering the login issues and such were caused by the massive number of people trying to play this game, I'd say that's a testament to the game's success. Square Enix has successfully turned a bomb of a game into a blast.… Expand

Log-in limits aside (and yes, they put Queues in during early release) the game is fantastic. Amazing even with all the changes that were done.

On the Log-in issues: the final server capacity upgrades will be done by early this coming week. And frankly people giving this a 1 because of it... I hope they come back to change this when the problem is fixed. Oddly enough, the log-in issue is pretty much the only thing complained about, everything else is amazing.

Consider that if you're looking at this game.… Expand

I'm sure this is a great game. Can't say as I'm locked out of being able to play because my account (NA made during FFXI)) and my physical copy of the game (EU) are in different regions.

Square Enix's solution (after 2 days of trying to contact them to resolve the issue). Too bad, make a new account (and be unable to play with my son and my partner as their server doesn't allow new characters), or buy a new digital copy (but we have closed sales).

Request for a region transfer.....we don't do that.
Yep I say 0/10 based on the total lack of Customer Support for people region locked to the wrong region.… Expand

Combat system is slow, lacks customization and interesting skills, like 20% more damage for 20 secs with a 3 min cooldown. The class mechanics are dumb down. Quest hub system with an insane amount of fetching quests and a boring linear story line.

Class system forces you to level alts if you want to improve your main. Crafting system is the same old recipe based system with annoyances like minigames or switching professions before you can gather. The whole leveling experience encourages solo play, because of class/guild specific quests and a huge amount of solo tiny instances that your friends can't come in.

Graphic style depends on your tastes, it has a photo realistic environment with cartoon looking characters that in my opinion looks very odd. UI is horrible, very bright lights everywhere and it looks confusing against the background. HORRIBLE map system and useless minimap, you need to keep your map open and use it as a proper minimap. Seriously the worst map system I can think off right now... Animations are bad... spell effects are worse.. might be a taste thing but Square Enix LOVES to make every single spell look like fairy fart. If i cast a fire spell, lots and lots of fairy like particles all over. Excessive use of glow on EVERYTHING. Not everything has to glow like navi in Zelda... Class system is the trinity with a heavy requirement for DPS classes and just 1 tank and 1 healer. I don't have to explain why this outdated design is horrible.

Over all the game (I don't use this term lightly) is a wow clone with a worst combat system and a Final Fantasy reskin. If you LOVE every single FF ever then you might get a kick out of it. But the fact remains this is an outdated game with horrible design choices on a sub fee that is only getting this many reviews because of the Justin Beiber phenomenon. Fanboism.… Expand

Forgettable MMO. Without consideration to the login difficulties that may (or may not) be fixed soon, the game is still a painfully boring grind right from the onset. Quests I assumed were just early game tutorials for MMO newbies like emoting in front of an NPC continued well into the later part of the level grind. I played a Thaumaturge, Arcanist, Archer and (briefly) a Black Mage and all four were very simple and boring. Combat is just so clunky and weird, most abilities have slow casting times, there's several abilities that are uselessly weak, and with no talent customization it basically means that you'll probably have two useful abilities that you use in almost every situation.

I can't speak of how the tradeskill disciplines are in this game, except that I can safely assume they're probably useless given that I had no difficulty in either instances or solo for any pre-level 50 content wearing nothing but random quest rewards, many of which were 10+ levels under my current level.

Instead of traditional talent trees for class customization, this game offers you the ability to borrow select abilities from your other leveled classes. But the cross-class skills offered are very limited and some are completely useless (weak spells, or spells that have no real synergy with your primary class) or functionally identical to other abilities that this "customization" is really just an illusion and amounts to nothing more than mandatory alt level grinding. You also unlock an attribute point every level that you can appropriate into the stat of your choosing. However, because it's semi-permanent, this mechanic actually works against the design of being able to switch to any class on the fly because it means that classes that don't benefit from the attribute you chose are always going to be weaker than your primary class. A subtle (yet fundamental) oversight in this game's design philosophy, but one of many that permeates the game.

Maps are a mess, I have no real perspective on what the world looks like because the world map looks awful and is difficult to navigate so instead I just found myself fumbling through menus to fast travel everywhere.

The FATEs are a familiar mechanic to those who've played GW2 or Rift, and virtually all of them are either mindless AoE fests or turn-ins.

Group play is pretty bad. The group finder mechanic functions great and is very intuitive and easy, but the instances themselves are mind-numbingly boring. Every instance is padded with indistinguishable trash packs, every single one feels exactly the same and there's no real sense of danger because they pose no risk to the party. Special attacks from mobs have very clear reticules indicating dangerous zones and give you ample time to move and react- not that you really need to, because most of them do negligible damage. In fact, I ran two instances (once at level 18, once at level 35) without a true tank at all. Even if you somehow managed to wipe (which I've only done twice, both due to a DC, in about 30~ instance runs, all with PUGs), it just sends you back to the beginning of the instance where a teleporter instantly returns you to the place you died. The limit break mechanic is meaningless, the meter fills up very slowly so you typically only get to use it maybe 3 times per instance.

All this said, the instances are still the part of the game where it shined the most- select boss fights (Ifrit!) were the most memorable and challenging affairs the game provided, but they were so few and far between that they really weren't adequate payoff for the painstaking tedium needed to access them.

Graphics are decent. I feel a little shorted playing this game at max settings compared to Guild Wars 2, which seems weird because I've heard of people complaining about the system requirements, which suggests that this game doesn't really accommodate a wide range of machines like you would reasonably expect from a modern MMO.

All in all it just feels that Guild Wars 2 eclipsed this game in almost every way. As a veteran FFXI player, the nostalgia factor was endearing for a little while but wore off quickly. Without it, I can't actually think of a reason why someone would choose this game over its big name competitors, particularly so when at least two of the superior MMOs are free to play. Grindy, mediocre and outdated but not a complete waste of money.… Expand

the game is an amazing game, their inability to do login queues and boot players who are idle is absolute garbage, unfortunately it doesnt matter how good the game is, in the end it is still going to fail because of the horrible horrible login issues that in this day and age 2013 should never have happened, it shows that while yoshi has a good crew of game designers, the SE game developers are still below sub par. this will probably be my last SE game I ever play… Expand

Fantastic game from SE, it is really a blast to play. That being said if you don't have to patience to deal with launch week issues and the possibility of not being able to play on the server you want when you want then wait on purchasing this game, until next week when SE stated they are updating the datacenter's to handle the load.

Amazing MMO in all aspects, with a nice lore Final Fantasy related. The work done rebuilding this from a "dead" game is just titanic, I would like to thanks Yoshi P and dev team for his work. Music and artistic apects are the best in genre, period. Also the main storyline is very well conducted, with tons of video secuence very well done.

Just for the release there is a lot of content to do, achievements, logs, missions, quest, crafting, amazing primal battles against Ifrit, Titan and Garuda, lot of dungeons...

Don't be afraid and try the game, its a very good one.… Expand

This game has been completely reborn in every sense of the word from it's previous incarnation. The game eases you into the style of play that it has to offer but as soon as you feel like you're in firm control, everything accelerates and keeps the game fresh and engaging. While the North American and European servers did have issues from the open beta and early launch, it says a lot about a game where the major flaw that it has is it's own popularity. I look forward to seeing this game thrive and the adventures it will bring us through.… Expand

A phenomenal game. This is the kind of MMO that MMO players have been waiting for, for a very long time. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a gorgeous game with a well made engine. It's so good that people are clamoring by the thousands to play.

There have been server issues (which is common among every MMO launch), but it's anticipated they'll be resolved in a week and then there will be literally nothing that would make this game less than a 10.… Expand

Game is a ton of fun. Probably one of the smoothest, most complete MMO's I've ever played at launch. Despite what anyone will tell you, this is a completely different game than 1.0. Play the game for yourself and find out.

First of all I love FF (specially FF VI). I wish I could love this game, I really wanted to, but FFXIV:ARR is far from being the perfect MMO. Many people will downvote my review as they're doing to all the negatives. But before buying this game take some time to read all the negative reviews, they don't lie! Pros: - Nice graphics - Decent character customization (not perfect though, we only have 4 faces for each race)
- Yay! it's Final Fantasy!
- You can have more than 1 class in the same toon.

Cons:
- Voiceless and very long cutscenes (some can be skipped though)
- Dull quests: a) Click on a NPC, read the wall of text, then b) find the other npc and read another wall of text (sometimes hand him some items, one by one...zzz...) or c) kill x mobs/fetch x props and d) turn in your quest to quest-giver NPC); Quests are not interesting and I didn't find any motivation to finish them.
- Boring combat: It's just button-mashing and the global cooldown is huge which turns out a very slow combat;
- Story is flat and not motivating;
- Mapping system is frustrating and unfriendly. There's an Aethernet system to teleport to different locations, though it's not map based: you'll have to learn by heart all the destination names. Mini-map is useless as it doesn't help at all and the icons on maps have not hovering texts. It's like you have to spend quite a time in order to learn all the names and locations very well if you don't want to get lost (which is quite easy if you're just starting).

All in all, FFXIV:ARR is an outdated system with nice and fresh graphics with not too much Final Fantasy on it you won't find those moving stories we are used to see in the series. It's an MMO made to be also played on a console that's why some game design options can look bad on a PC. But, if you're new to MMOs or you just played some bad quality ones, perhaps FFXIV:ARR can be a good game for you. I'd prefer worse graphics with a better gameplay and story, and a more friendly mapping system/UI.… Expand

Don't waste your time on this. Should you ever get into the game. You will face a ton of problems and shortcomings. Especially content-wise. Have fun fate-grinding your way to 50, waiting 3+ hours for a group if you are a damage dealer only to find, at the end of the journey, that there is pretty much no endgame content. Once you finish the main story endgame consists of farming 3 bosses in hard-mode.

There is no pvp either. It will take them months to add another 3 bosses that you have already done in normal mode to farm in hard-mode.

Repetitive and boring. It might take 2 or 3 expansion packs until this game is worth it.

IF they have fixed their server-architecture by then.… Expand

I played this game for awhile on a Japanese server, since the NA/EU servers are locking most people out. Game is essentially unplayable, hence the low rating. I will amend this rating assuming that they fix the issue at some point.

As far as the game itself goes, once/if you actually get to play it: It's no FFXI, which was infinitely more original and fun to play. FFXIV is as generic a regurgitation of modern western MMO's as i have ever seen. No originality, no voice overs, no challenge/skill needed, music is even lack luster for a FF game. The gane was obviously developed this time around based on PS3 specs, and an easy cross platform development. When the graphics are cranked the whole way up, it looks like a decent ps3 game, nowhere near as good as a game developed for PC. This game was developed to please the post wow generation imo.… Expand

A veritable phoenix risen from the ashes of a terrible initial game. This game is excellent, and once the login issues are resolved, hopefully everyone can begin to enjoy it

The game us unplayable at this time. You cant even log in to make a character. If you do get logged in, you end up getting booted by some error and then have to take 4-8 hours to be able to log in again. Worst launch of an mmo ever.

Let's see. This is their second time launching this title. Did they learn anything from their first launch?

Hrm. 25 servers for Japan. 25 servers for the rest of the world. Oh. The rest of the world is filled with people unable to play. I, myself, have played a combined two hours since early release started. That's 2 hours in 6 days. On Sunday, I literally pressed 0 on my number pad for 7 straight hours without getting in.

Compounding this issue is that there is no afk timer, and anyone who does log in never logs out because no one wants to play the login roulette to get back in. Walk around the server. See a hell of a lot of afk players at aetherytes. Each one preventing another person from logging in.

Character creation has essentially been stopped since the official release, so if you didn't have early access...you can't even create a character, never mind trying to get in the game.

The producer just wrote a letter apologizing over all this. I get that apologies mean a lot in Japan. In the rest of the world, actions mean a lot more. It's also just incredibly 'wtf' when he says they had no idea so many people would be trying to play the game. Considering these issues started immediately in early access, which required pre-ordering the game, they obviously had an idea of how many people were going to try to be playing the game. For someone who's been given a lot of brownie points for being 'honest' with how bad 1.0 was, he sure is shoveling a lot of poop today.

I suppose words like 'worst' are entirely subjective. In my opinion, bugs are largely meaningless, unless they completely inhibit a person from playing. What's more important is whether a person is even able to play. 2 hours in 6 days. I can not think of a single MMO in existence that had this poor of a launch in that regards.

Oh, did I mention their queueing system only queues like 40 people? Meaning that for all intents and purposes there is no login queue? So you have to just keep trying to connect over and over again until you win the lottery and happened to be the first person to click join when someone in the game actually logs out (rather than just goes afk)?

What a joke.… Expand

I love this game, however Square Enix has handicapped all of the youtubers who were helping me learn how to play and be good at it. They removed the ability for youtubers to make video's about this game ruining all the work that these people put in to help new players. I'm Sorry Mr. Happy that is terrible and an awful thing for them to do. I'm sorry that all the work you put in and planned to put in and the hours upon hours upon hours of time that you spent learning how this game works in order to make great tutorial videos and make a little bit of money off youtube as compensation was all ruined by this horrible company that loves to screw people over. (see any final fantasy on ios as proof of their evilness 15 dollars for a nes era game on ios get real Sqeenix you suck get with the times you cox suckers)… Expand