Back in the day when the MMO genre first launched, I really didn't want any part of it. For the life of me, I couldn't justify the idea of buying a game and then paying to play with what I just bought. I finally broke that rule to play Planetside towards the end of it's life. Years later, we live in a world where most people have grown tired of this model... enough so MMOs do not really survive without having a model to get around needing a subscription fee (usually an in-game store). But here we have an exception that survived on the fees: one of two games with a big enough name they could. So is it worth it? Well? Yes and no...
Story: Welcome to Eorzea, a fantastic land that's home to many fantastic creatures and peoples. But as one would expect, this is not a land known for peace. In fact it was just five years ago when these lands fended off an invading force known as the Garlean Empire. The war was bloody and the empire attempted to crash the very moon into the world to end it in their favor... a mistake that cost everyone dearly for what it unleashed by accident as well as what was lost in the desperate ploy of everyone to survive.
It's been five years since then, and the legends of that day are still burned deeply into everyone's minds, along with mental and physical scars, both on the land and the people. Eorzea is struggling as the nations that make it up put their best efforts to rebuilding. Unfortunately for them, time to do so is very limited.
You will enter this world as a simple adventurer looking to find excitement, fortune, and fame as you assist the people who are trying to move on with their lives, building up your reputation. And it won't be long before you gain the attention of much larger forces, both for good and for evil putting you in the dead center of it all as the Empire schemes to return and advance into the realm once more.
This basic setup will start you on a nice solid story arc that includes several diversions and even a few sucker-punches on the way to run the gammit, making for everything you would expect form a game bearing the Final Fantasy name, and to that end I really can't complain about a thing. Even that initial ending lands on a rather perfect note, wrapping up everything it needs to but still remaining open ended enough to begin the second arc... though I can not really speak beyond this point for reasons I will get into later.
For now, expect the story to be a very solid experience that was clearly crafted with skill and all the traditions this franchise is known for.
8/10
Graphics: A Realm Reborn has been around for a long time. As one of the very few MMORPGs on the PC that can still demand a monthly fee to play it, it stands as a titan of a bigone-era, and the graphics you are about to see show this. Do not get me wrong, it's not cartoony like the other titan, but it walks the line between trying to be real and taking a more anime-esque look, and does so exceptionally well.
Everywhere you look, the landscapes around you are going to absolutely floor you with just how impressive they are, from the desert lands around Ul'Dah to the port-city of Limsa Lominsa, to even the steam-punk outposts of the Garlean Empire, this game really does cover lots of world types within the world itself with little reason to complain about any of it. If anything when you consider the age of this game, it's amazing what they pulled off.
And the creatures who populate these lands also look damn good, each fitting the place they were crafted for and making it all feel that much more alive. People, if anything, is where the game stops looking impressive on a technical level, opting for a more simplistic style. They still look good, and you can see they were all made with the same passion to build this game to truly be something special and to fit the world around them. It's just clear they were given a style that befits the ability to make them more expressive instead of more detailed.
Overall, despite it's age, this is honestly one of the prettier games out there, and you will be quite happy with both how it looks and how well it runs looking so good.
8/10
Sound: And much like the graphics this time around, Final Fantasy is known for it's score, and you will NOT be disappointed. The orchestral work in this game is simply amazing and I can imagine this easily being one of those games where people put the soundtrack into their daily lives. True, it may not necessarily be something you will want to listen to on it's own on the regular, but there is a reason why this franchise has live orchestral concerts dedicated to it, and you will see why here.
Voices are also very good this time around, if relatively limited. There is a LOT of story and side-story in this game, but most of the conversation within is limited to text bubble rather then any actual lines being spoken, so don't expect it often, but expect a treat when the game deems a moment worthy of this extra ounce of effort.
And finally we have the sound effects, which, as I say so often, are pretty standard for today: sounding realistic enough, but really not standing out for anything special. Nothing is going to wow you so much as sound about as you expect them to.
8/10
Gameplay: As noted, Final Fantasy 14 stands out from the rest of it's franchise as an MMORPG instead of something more single player: something we haven't seen since FF11, and they have learned a lot since then. You will play this game in a fully 3D world from a camera behind your character which you will have free control of, clicking around to interact with enemies, allies, and objects in this world as you progress through it. If you have played MMOs in the past (like for example, World of Warcraft) you have an idea of what to expect.
For those who did not, you can expect some things to work like a normal RPG: quests and combat will get you experience points that will ultimately level up your character to be even more powerful while moving the story along, or in this case I should say stories, as you will find yourself with several smaller side-plots available as you play. Some of them are just for fun, while others unlock new abilities, new classes and jobs, or even are needed to level up your abilities in the job you are currently playing.
You see in this game you are not locked into the class you start with like most RPGs (action or turn based) seem to like to do, but rather it uses a job system allowing you to in essence change classes as easily as joining and leaving guilds. Each class has their own level they share with the jobs under them. For example, I choose to play (and stuck with) the Archanist class myself, but if the desire hit me, I could easily swap to a warrior or marauder, or any number of other classes at any time. Without even losing levels, I had access to being a scholar or a summoner as well since they were jobs placed under the umbrella of my class: each with specialized gear and abilities available and each playing different from the others. There is simply a lot of ways the game can play for you, and you are encouraged to mess around until you find what type of character works best for you.
Nor is the game going to let you just spam an attack and move on. Dungeons in particular do not favor such behavior due to a few details: level limits and bosses. The first is pretty obvious, but if you are too high leveled for the dungeons (generally referred to as Duties) you are attempting to play, the game will reduce your level to match a maximum, complete with removing any skills you might have now that you wouldn't at that point, requiring you to use your brain instead of just overthrow the enemies and boss at the end. These bosses act ass set-pieces putting together all you have learned about the game so far to figure out their patterns, actively dodging and countering attacks while you land your own. In essence they are a lot more puzzle-like and will be a part you look forward to more often then not, often even adding the element of other players if you allow it.
But this is also where the game began to falter for me, and why I am stopping to write the review now. Through the base game (A Realm Reborn) these dungeons being multi-player is optional. If you desire, you can choose to go in with NPCs generated for the event instead to make the dungeon work, and this actually works very well! Using this option I had a blast rolling through the main story and many side ones I took on just to boost what I had available. Unfortunately, after this first arc, this seems to cease being an option: in side or main story duties... and if you are either not playing one that is popular, playing as a common class that no one is looking for to complete their party, or do not have friends who regularly play and are willing to join you, be ready to wait exorbitant lengths of time for a single chance at these parts of the game. Personally I went in with a group that, over the months, seems to have fallen out of the game, so when I reached this roadblock on side missions I got annoyed, but I went back to the main game only to hit the same block on the very next dungeon... then I waited 40 minutes while setting up this very review to write before dinner and decided that was enough.
Now do not get me wrong, with the right group (or a high population) this design would work.. and if you were doing optional 40 man-raids as end-game material, I also understand there being a wait for all those people to organize. However, that wasn't the case: this was the first real dungeon of the first real expansion to the game, and I don't know about you, but I can not in all good conscience see myself subscribing a monthly fee to a game that demands such wait-times.
6/10
Bugs: For the most part, the game ran absolutely great. Early on in my time, the game did crash twice, but it required me to have quit in the inn the session before since it only happened when leaving that room. And after the first week, it never happened again. I do not know what changed, but I would call this a VERY solid and stable game.
Score: I am honestly of two minds for this game. If you are looking for a good story to play through, relax, and enjoy, I recommend just playing the trial edition since it will let you finish A Realm Reborn, enjoy yourself, and move on. You will have a great time and reach a pretty satisfying conclusion. But if you want more, you better either bring friends along who will stay with it for the long haul or join a guild, cause you literally can NOT finish this without organizing game-time with others: something I have a hard time recommending since this will require you to both buy in and subscribe for $15 a month to do.
So between the game being genuinely a great game, but hindering itself on if your friends continue playing (or you are willing to live up to what a clan will demand of you), I could easily rate this game high or low and do so with a clean justification. So I think I will just split the score down the middle and call it even.
6/10
System Requirements:
- Intel Core i5 2.4 Ghz
- 4 GB RAM
- Radeon R7 260X/Nvidia Geforce GTX 750
- 80 GB hard drive space
- Windows 10 (64-bit only)
System Specs:
- Ryzen 7 (5700X) 3.4 Ghz
- 32 GB RAM
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB VRAM)
- Windows 11 (64 Bit)
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