Overview
For those who didn't know FFXIV was terrible....super terrible, for a MMO it implemented one of the WORST game mechanics ever that crippled the hard core and was confusing to newbies (see: fatigue system), it was ambitious but bland, the combat was DEAD slow and the locales were hella confusing. So SquareEnix in an effort to recoup the losses literally RE-MADE the game....it was a good idea.
Story
So long story short in the world of FFXIV call Eorzea there are the usual FF tropes. Chocobos, moogles, threat to the entire planet kinda thing...but here was the kicker....at the end of the Original FFXIV (called 1.0 from here on ) the bad guys win...as in the whole continent gets explodified and only a small percentage of the populations survives there's evidence of that battle all across the game world so your player is the one who will save Eorzea and all that jazz. Fight against the Primals like Ifrit, Garuda and Titan as well as the despotic Garlean Empire.
Gameplay
The game play really isn't revolutionary by any stretch its clearly borrowed alot from games like WoW and that not a bad thing here. You have abilities that can combo into one another spells that have added effects on other spells and the typical tank-damage-healer setup is present. But thats where the similarities stop really with WoW. When it comes to parties and exp you can solo i have seen well into 20 before even touching the mandatory story group instances, and with random events called FATES, dynamic battles that just pop up in the game world, exp is never hard to find.
Combat isn't the fastest in the world, nor is it the most complex. It is however deep enough to get fun out of every battle and you won't find yourself running through zones as much as you usually would, monsters aggro alot less so when you do get linked its usually a quick fight. Even better news is that leveling is no longer the GRIND fest that it was in FFXI or even 1.0 it took people years to reach max level but now there is so much to do you wont max out to fast, but if you want to...it wont take long. The targeting system is kinda suspect though, its very easy for you to cure the mob by mistake if you dont have macros set up (which are easy enough to make)
Quests range from fetch, to "kill this" to "talk to that person" and usually provide more than enough exp, making it an intensive to quest as well as party up.
Lastly, crafting is its own class so you can choose not to do it at all and still have a very fruitful experience BUT with crafting as its own class it gives more reason to do it as its another accomplishment and you can begin making useful items almost RIGHT away.
Design
This is where i felt FFXI dropped the ball and 1.0 was stretched way too thin. But ARR is amazingly beautiful, the ambient sound is marvelous some of the zones like Mor Dhona, Eastern Thanalan, and La Noseca are just wonderful to look at. The 5 playable races all have unique feels to them and all have jobs that seem like would be natural to them (Elves seems like they would be the best archers, Lalafell the best mages) but the difference between them is negligible. The best part is also the music, with selections that range from arraignments of old classic FF themes to all the new stuff the sound is just soo good and appropriate some times. My only gripe is that the battle effects can be a bit much at times with all the flashes and laser light emitting from players, its even worse when there's an alliance or a big FATE going on.
I think the game is worth a try to any FF or MMO fan. I can answer just about anything about it...
For those who didn't know FFXIV was terrible....super terrible, for a MMO it implemented one of the WORST game mechanics ever that crippled the hard core and was confusing to newbies (see: fatigue system), it was ambitious but bland, the combat was DEAD slow and the locales were hella confusing. So SquareEnix in an effort to recoup the losses literally RE-MADE the game....it was a good idea.
Story
So long story short in the world of FFXIV call Eorzea there are the usual FF tropes. Chocobos, moogles, threat to the entire planet kinda thing...but here was the kicker....at the end of the Original FFXIV (called 1.0 from here on ) the bad guys win...as in the whole continent gets explodified and only a small percentage of the populations survives there's evidence of that battle all across the game world so your player is the one who will save Eorzea and all that jazz. Fight against the Primals like Ifrit, Garuda and Titan as well as the despotic Garlean Empire.
Gameplay
The game play really isn't revolutionary by any stretch its clearly borrowed alot from games like WoW and that not a bad thing here. You have abilities that can combo into one another spells that have added effects on other spells and the typical tank-damage-healer setup is present. But thats where the similarities stop really with WoW. When it comes to parties and exp you can solo i have seen well into 20 before even touching the mandatory story group instances, and with random events called FATES, dynamic battles that just pop up in the game world, exp is never hard to find.
Combat isn't the fastest in the world, nor is it the most complex. It is however deep enough to get fun out of every battle and you won't find yourself running through zones as much as you usually would, monsters aggro alot less so when you do get linked its usually a quick fight. Even better news is that leveling is no longer the GRIND fest that it was in FFXI or even 1.0 it took people years to reach max level but now there is so much to do you wont max out to fast, but if you want to...it wont take long. The targeting system is kinda suspect though, its very easy for you to cure the mob by mistake if you dont have macros set up (which are easy enough to make)
Quests range from fetch, to "kill this" to "talk to that person" and usually provide more than enough exp, making it an intensive to quest as well as party up.
Lastly, crafting is its own class so you can choose not to do it at all and still have a very fruitful experience BUT with crafting as its own class it gives more reason to do it as its another accomplishment and you can begin making useful items almost RIGHT away.
Design
This is where i felt FFXI dropped the ball and 1.0 was stretched way too thin. But ARR is amazingly beautiful, the ambient sound is marvelous some of the zones like Mor Dhona, Eastern Thanalan, and La Noseca are just wonderful to look at. The 5 playable races all have unique feels to them and all have jobs that seem like would be natural to them (Elves seems like they would be the best archers, Lalafell the best mages) but the difference between them is negligible. The best part is also the music, with selections that range from arraignments of old classic FF themes to all the new stuff the sound is just soo good and appropriate some times. My only gripe is that the battle effects can be a bit much at times with all the flashes and laser light emitting from players, its even worse when there's an alliance or a big FATE going on.
I think the game is worth a try to any FF or MMO fan. I can answer just about anything about it...
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