What is special about FFXIV?

[mathewhayden]

I'm playing FFXIV just a few weeks so I want to ask you for your opinion. What is special about FFXIV?

In my opinion ffxiv is great because of graphics, style and the story. But I dont know anything about Endgame and what people can do except the story.

Thanks for everyone who wants to help me.

[Banshee Prince]

It's Kawaii.

[Gutler]

I'm playing FFXIV just a few weeks so I want to ask you for your opinion. What is special about FFXIV?

In my opinion ffxiv is great because of graphics, style and the story. But I dont know anything about Endgame and what people can do except the story.

Thanks for everyone who wants to help me.

Huh thats funny because in this thread you posted in 2 months ago you said you've played the the game for years so which one is right?

[Granyala]

All MMOs are essentially the same. Pick a setting / art style you like and have fun.

[Justpassing]

Beacuse weeaboos and furries.

[Faroth]

When I first played A Realm Reborn, my summation review was thus:

"Much like Blizzard did with the original release of WoW, Square Enix has taken all the things that work in other modern MMOs, put their own interpretation and polish on it, and released a fantastic MMO, but with a traditional JRPG feeling storyline."

For me, what makes it special is the story and the depth of lore that's put into so many different aspects of the game. How many MMOs go back to the previous expansion's content and update flavor text dialogue based on players completing the main story of the new expansion?

But what really sets it apart for me is the quarterly patch cycles adding ongoing story elements, new dungeons and raid encounters, new non-raid content, and new crafting items every time.

[IntellectuallyChallenged]

The graphics are great. The story is rich, as expected from a FF title. But after playing every FF from the first release, I just can't bring myself to do it any more. Personally, I burned out on FF after somewhere around number 8 or something like that. But many of these guys are much younger than I am, so they haven't had 20 something years of it. Or however long they've been making them. I don't recall.

[thilicen]

Well the world and the story are both excellent, the gameplay itself never impressed me enough to go far into the expansion.

[Faroth]

The graphics are great. The story is rich, as expected from a FF title. But after playing every FF from the first release, I just can't bring myself to do it any more. Personally, I burned out on FF after somewhere around number 8 or something like that. But many of these guys are much younger than I am, so they haven't had 20 something years of it. Or however long they've been making them. I don't recall.

I've been playing since "II" (really IV) was released in the US. After XII and XIII, the storyline in XIV has been a breath of fresh air. Heck, perhaps even since VII since that was the entry that started to move towards sci-fi/fantasy more and more (with the exception of IX, which seemed like a love letter to the classic games).

[The Kao]

FFXIV scores high in story and graphical fidelity, and it has those exaggerated landscapes and loving detail everywhere. End game content and a world feeling alive even if you just pass through are still a bit behind other MMOs. It can be really grindy at times when when you try to max every combat class, all the gatherers and crafters (which you can do on one character). Possibly too grindy for some. But it keeps all of its content relevant that way, which is just so, so good.

One point that stands out is difficulty. It's not super difficult but the game doesn't go out of its way to make any of its aspects super easy for you. Something WoW gets wrong time and again. Be it dungeons (both leveling and end game), raids, or just playing your rotation at max potential, it all requires you to play properly and concentrated. You could say, throw the average WoW player into FFXIV and they will hit rock bottom fast. In FFXIV you mostly find players that are actually able to play at this elevated level because the game doesn't give you much of a choice while still treating you fair, which makes it kind of a nice and solid experience.

[land]

For me the killer feature is not only being able to play alt classes on the same toon but also being forced to do it in case you want to get jobs. I'm a big altaholic and an mmo that embraces that is a big thing for me. Having a blast leveling all kinds of alt classes now, also loving the insane xp boost from having a lvl 60 class.

[Deleted]

It does a lot of things right. A lot of which is probably the best in the genre.

Don't play it for PVP though, really bad.

[land]

FFXIV scores high in story and graphical fidelity, and it has those exaggerated landscapes and loving detail everywhere. End game content and a world feeling alive even if you just pass through are still a bit behind other MMOs. It can be really grindy at times when when you try to max every combat class, all the gatherers and crafters (which you can do on one character). Possibly too grindy for some. But it keeps all of its content relevant that way, which is just so, so good.

One point that stands out is difficulty. It's not super difficult but the game doesn't go out of its way to make any of its aspects super easy for you. Something WoW gets wrong time and again. Be it dungeons (both leveling and end game), raids, or just playing your rotation at max potential, it all requires you to play properly and concentrated. You could say, throw the average WoW player into FFXIV and they will hit rock bottom fast. In FFXIV you mostly find players that are actually able to play at this elevated level because the game doesn't give you much of a choice while still treating you fair, which makes it kind of a nice and solid experience.

I agree to that part of being spot on the difficulty. Even while leveling and doing leveling dungeons/trials (aka raids) some of them can actually be pretty rough on your "meh" player, which is cool. You will wipe and try to improve, at least I do. Faceroll isn't always as fun imo.

Regarding grinds, I like how they have a very similar system to the old justice points/valor points, aka law/esoterics. I was a big fan of grinding dungeons to get JPs (law is not weekly capped) and slowly build up valor (eso is 450 max a week), which grants me a piece of high ilvl loot every couple of weeks. I don't need to be raiding to get pretty good gear, I just need to grind my VPs and hunts (for upgrades). Really like that personally.

[Granyala]

For me the killer feature is not only being able to play alt classes on the same toon but also being forced to do it in case you want to get jobs. I'm a big altaholic and an mmo that embraces that is a big thing for me. Having a blast leveling all kinds of alt classes now, also loving the insane xp boost from having a lvl 60 class.

Same here. WHM as main currently leveling Dork Knight (53) and AST (38).

It's really fun to have all classes and crafts on one char because I tend to get VERY attached to my characters.

[arisoh]

Huh thats funny because in this thread you posted in 2 months ago you said you've played the the game for years so which one is right?

How do you even remember things like this lol.

But on topic, the graphics and story are awesome, at least right now (I <3 Ishgard).

[Sorenthaz]

The fact that it had failed before and then was completely rebuilt from scratch. Seriously no other big name publisher beyond Square Enix would have the stones to admit that they screwed up and will dump the resources required to build a new incarnation from scratch. Naoki Yoshida is an amazing guy to pick that mess up, decide to redo everything, and then takes on the roles of both the head producer and director of it.

Gameplay-wise, I like the flow of combat and how it's a bit more slower-paced and strategic.

Being able to play every profession/class/job on a single character is nice too, because I'm not that big on alts.

The art style, music, etc. is all very Final Fantasy and the game pours out so many references to past games. It's well-established in the roots of its IP and isn't unwilling to pay homage to the Final Fantasy games before it.

Also the PvE is top notch and rivals WoW's PvE imo. Every dungeon feels fun and unique and it's not soulless like RIFT nor facerolly like most other themeparks.

XIV just does so much right in my opinion and there's a lot of fun things to discover and do in the game. Though it can get tiring to play solo because it really is meant to be enjoyed with friends and others. And I'm not a fan of how incredibly linear the leveling zones are. There's pretty much no point to go out and explore until later on, and even then it's kind of meh-ish.

[Faroth]

The fact that it had failed before and then was completely rebuilt from scratch. Seriously no other big name publisher beyond Square Enix would have the stones to admit that they screwed up and will dump the resources required to build a new incarnation from scratch. Naoki Yoshida is an amazing guy to pick that mess up, decide to redo everything, and then takes on the roles of both the head producer and director of it.

Adding to this, I think it's worth noting that Yoshida didn't task his team (which is fairly small it seems) with rebuilding the game from scratch, but they did so while simultaneously supporting 1.0 and continuing to build the story that climaxed in the most impressive wrap up they could offer. Everywhere in Eorzea during 1.0, the second moon got progressively larger and larger while the storyline unveiled more of the Garlean's plan to summond Dalamud to Eorzea culminating at the Carteneu Flats as shown in the Answers video that served as the final cut scene of 1.0. It's also the first half of the opening cut scene for A Realm Reborn.

So essentially they were still supporting an MMO while simultaneously rebuilding it. And it's also unique that the English localization team caused Japanese players to get a little upset because English players got more story and lore. So now the localization team works in coordination with the Japanese team rather than just translating.

[Gutler]

How do you even remember things like this lol.

But on topic, the graphics and story are awesome, at least right now (I <3 Ishgard).

Not a memory thing really just an eye for suspicious posters if you check his profile there is a very rmtish site in his biography.

[Malackai]

Same here. WHM as main currently leveling Dork Knight (53) and AST (38).

It's really fun to have all classes and crafts on one char because I tend to get VERY attached to my characters.

An other WHM here as well. finally started leveling a DK its 42 atm. never played a tank class before so its different :P
I love the fact you can simply do everything on one char. I have never been much of an alter in WoW my alts where always low level before I gave up.
And it helps if you have a friend that started to game to give motivation for leveling an other class.

I tend to get attached to my chars as well I had the idea to change my main to Au ra but when I got to the char screen I could not go through with it >_>.

I love this game for its story.
The feeling the environments give and the the ambiance in this game. for example I was fishing in oakwood last night it was a sunny day the whole zone was vibrant and alive the sound of the water, the rattling of the rod (it makes a noise if you use a lure instead of bait) I went complete zen mode.

And I love the fact you can do things in your own time without feeling you need to rush things. Of course there are some things capped (eso, savage loot, etc) but for me personally it doesn't feel to be constricting on my game play so that helps a lot.

[Zafire]

I just started playing two weeks ago and I'm loving it. The battle system feels like a simplified version of WoW's. DPS still have rotations, there are DoT's you need to keep up, long CD buffs that make you more powerful for a short time, etc. The battle system is a bit slower paced, with GCD's being 2.5 seconds. In all, I like WoW's better but I still like FFXIV's.

The thing that really stands out for me the most is the story. It's really, really good for an MMO. It feels like something out of a single player game, at times. It feels immersive. An example would be dungeons. You have to go to the dungeon in the main story before it will let you run them in the duty finder. It kind of forces you to do the main story in this sense, but there is a reason why you have to quell every dungeon. There is a story behind it. You also know where every dungeon entrance is. It's not like WoW where you queue for a random dungeon and get thrown into a place you're not even sure about its origin.

Class quests are also nice. You get them every five levels, and they fit in with the overall "theme" of the class you're playing. Rogue has one quest where you have to throw daggers at birds, and if you don't they eventually overwhelm you. There is another where you have to stealth around guards and find/kill targets. That kind of thing is sorely missing from WoW and WoW refuses to do class-only quests which is really too bad.

I'm not trying to say FFXIV is better than WoW (I'll probably go back and forth between both), but it's easier to explain why I like it by comparing it.