I am writing this review with much sorrow. Being an immense Fantasy XI Online and MMORPG fan, Final Fantasy XIV did not turn out the way it should have, and I was expecting more. I covered Final Fantasy XIV extensively on MyGaming, and I was really looking forward to it. Sadly though, there is far more wrong with FFXIV than is right with it.
There are also the additional issues that South African consumers may encounter when creating a game account thanks to the hell that is Click and Buy.
First off I would like to point out that you will need an intense amount of almost inhuman patience to play this game. Everything is a grind or a test of patience, either by design or by fault. It is not all bad however. There are some truly great ideas encapsulated within the game. Sadly, many of those great ideas are held back by wracking problems, and subsequently they fail to reach their full potential. So let’s dive into this review and see what joyous adventures and what agonizing challenges await us, the players!
In this the 14th iteration of the Final Fantasy franchise, (the 2nd MMORPG) you are thrust into the beautiful land of Eorzea. Five distinct races inhabit the world and make up the roster of player characters. First there are the Hyur, a human-like race. Then there are the Elezen which resemble elves, but with longer limbs. Next you have the adorable child-like Lalafell. Finishing up the roster are the hulking Roegaydn and finally the feline inspired female, Miqo’te.
Final Fantasy XIV offers eighteen classes to play. Seven are the combat classes ranging from the axe wielding Marauder’s to the spell tossing Thaumaturge. Overall I felt the classes to be uninspired compared to the contemporary choices available in other MMORPG’s.
The rest of the classes constitute either gathering or crafting classes. What is interesting, and likely the best feature of Final Fantasy XIV, is that you can switch between all the classes simply by changing out your weapon or tool. This is further augmented by taking skills acquired from one class and using it on another, making for interesting skill builds. The downside, I found, is that I spent far too much time in low-level areas leveling up everything I wanted or felt I needed. Still, I love this mechanic to death.
Another strong point of Final Fantasy XIV is its visuals. If you have a sufficient PC to run it on maximum the world is truly beautiful, ranging from lush forests and sunlit fields to port towns caressed by a glinting azure sea. Character and monster models are generally a feast for the eyes and are nicely detailed. Sadly I found the engine did not scale very well with a lower end to medium range PC, and can seriously stutter in certain situations – you have been warned.
The sound effects do an adequate job, but I have always failed to be impressed by sound effects alone. The musical scores however, envisioned by Nobou Uematsu composer of the majority of Final Fantasy games, is where it shines. Any fan of the Final Fantasy series should recognize many of the staples such as the victory anthem.
Now we get into the harsh bit. Final Fantasy XIV is a very broken game as it stands right now and should mostly be avoided. Perhaps in time they will fix many issues. However, that is no excuse for a game to be released in this state. Any game, even an MMO, should be largely complete at release. FFXIV like a paid beta-test in preparation for the proper release on the PS3 next year March.
My two biggest complaints come in the form firstly the lack of a consolidated function to buy and sell to other players. Secondly, the “laggy” user-interface makes the simple tasks such as navigating the numerous menus a painful and drawn out affair.
The primary means to buy and sell to others requires the use of the Retainer System. You hire a NPC Retainer which does your selling for you in one of several instanced areas. The issue here is that everyone has one, and having to browse through all of them one at a time spanned over many areas is very time consuming. The “laggy” user-interface does not help either (I will get to that soon).
Unlike in other MMORPGS’s one will very seldom acquire armor or weapon rewards from quests and absolutely nothing from killing creatures that I have seen. The primary means of acquiring new gear is through other players who craft them. Now you may think, “Well I should craft then for my gear and skip the Retainers!” Well, it is not that simple. The crafting system is very tedious (or rewarding depending on your stance), and requires items created from other crafting classes which you will have to buy. So you will still end up browsing other Retainers endlessly searching for what you need.
Now let’s look at this hopeless user-interface where every action which requires opening a screen (of which there are many) takes several seconds to load. Almost everything you do requires opening multiple screens which lag for several seconds. Simple tasks become tests of patience and endurance. Just selling your junk to a vendor may take 10-15 minutes.
There are many more problems I could mention, such as the character model pop-in, where only a very limited amount can be onscreen at any given time. Then there is the control scheme. Little thought went into making it PC friendly, so whip out a controller pad before you get too frustrated.
Now to the issue of quests (known as Guildleves), do you enjoy questing? Well too bad, you only get 16 (8 combat / gathering, and 8 crafting) every 36 hours! There are Behests, which are like small events at outposts that pop-up every so often, but I always seemed to miss them. After that all you can do is grind and grind and grind some more. Great…
Then there is the gathering and crafting which are needlessly time consuming. Each uses a mini-game, and the “laggy” user-interface makes an appearance yet again, making it rather tedious.
Lastly what should be a simple process of managing items in your inventory is utterly impossible right now. Go figure.
In Short
This game is pretty horrific right now. Square-Enix seems to have learned little from their previous MMORPG outing. However MMO’s evolve and grow. Some even manage to bounce back. I do think this game has some great ideas, but it is marred by its endless and needless faults. Go play another MMO for now. Maybe when the PS3 version hits, the game will have gotten its s**t together.
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