Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn – As We Play

Platform: Playstation 4 / Playstation Vita

Version: 2.2

The truly great franchises, the ones that have learned to adapt to the rapidly-changing videogame market, are the ones that remain relevant and are still entertaining us fifteen, twenty, even thirty years down the line. It’s true some have burned out and faded away despite multiple reboots and re-imaginings, but there are some that, amazingly, never left and still continue to inspire us. One such franchise is Final Fantasy.

Is it because Square are unafraid to change the characters each time and the worlds the stories are set in? Perhaps it’s because they’re willing to change up battle-system mechanics, in-game exploration, and sub-systems. Whatever it may be, Final Fantasy continues to defy expectation and always stands the test of time.

The franchise has actually found a new sweet-spot in the MMORPG genre. The games were once renowned for being solid, single-player only affairs, yet when Lightning returned earlier this year, sales suggested not many people cared. However, the subscription count for Final Fantasy XIV is a whole other Blitzball game. And now comes the first major new release of an MMORPG on Playstation 4, a generation that promises console gamers the chance to get closer to this genre than ever before. Is this the game to kickstart that new-gen revolution?

Having played many MMORPGs, I can tell you that Final Fantasy XIV isn’t vastly different from most others on the market. It’s not a drastic evolution from your World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2 or even The Elder Scrolls Online, in that the games handle in very much the same way. But the game has its own unique selling points and quirks that make it an authentic Final Fantasy experience.

The first thing that becomes abundantly clear is that the game has a story to tell and isn’t afraid to fill it out with vintage FF cut-scene after cut-scene. As has always been the case, a front-line cast of characters will gradually weave their way into the game’s narrative, each one offering something different from the other.

The voice-acting is, unfortunately, pretty dreadful, but the scripting is up there with some of the best we’ve seen in a Final Fantasy game. And even though you will spend at least 15 levels wandering around Thanalan, a pretty generic opening environment if ever there was one, you will become accustomed to the wider world through description and depiction with the ongoing narrative.

I quite like the way Final Fantasy XIV sets things out. Around the early levels, it’s entirely possible for you to just wander around the main city of Ul’Dah, performing duties for people, whether they’re guildmasters or fashion experts. This is a nice way for new-starters to get used to roaming around a city, figuring out what is expected of you in an MMO and how progression works. A bit too much hand holding, maybe, but that said, there’s a surprising amount of information to take in and it does take a while for everything to click. Don’t be surprised if you’ve got to level 10 and you’re still not entirely convinced that this is for you.

Fortunately, the game is all about making everything accessible and convenient and once you’ve set off exploring, it is so easy to move between the different parts of the rather-sprawling opening region. In games like World of Warcraft, you set your Hearthstone to one point and can only head back there and once every hour. Final Fantasy allows the player to attune to different areas of the map and teleport to those areas as many times as they like.

Players still have one set lodestone, which is an automatic ‘home-point’, and this can still be used, but the ease of getting around the map is altogether very satisfying and easy. It definitely looks after MMO newcomers, but also rewards those of us who were then when the genre was a lot less convenient.

Graphically, the power of PS4 really makes FFXIV sparkle. It’s visually stunning and a real beauty to behold. The high definition suits Final Fantasy and the game looks as good as it might on a high-end PC. The PS3 version looked and felt great, but there’s something about playing FFXIV on PS4 and Vita that feels more graceful and elegant. With only some slight frame-rate dips here and there, it’s all very smooth.

Final Fantasy XIV does really to keep things fresh through one playthrough. In other MMOs, you have to roll different characters and classes – keeping them confined to one player, accessing them through your main online sheet in order to get a feel for different abilities -but in FFXIV, you can actually level up classes individually, and change your gear and fighting set, so can chop and change on the fly. It’s a wonderfully refreshing way to keep allegiance with one character, and continue to invest your time on one rather than splitting your time across multiple players.

And the best part? The end game is now vast and varied. There is an absolute ton of content once you reach 50. Once the main story arc is completed, there are link-ins, side-quests, and other large areas to explore. Final Fantasy XIV doesn’t lock up and close shop once you DING for the final time. In fact, it’s just getting started.

It’s not all chocolates and roses, though. The controls really are a bit of a convoluted mess on PS4, and even after 20-odd hours at the helm, you’ll still find yourself getting confused by how to navigate from one area to the next. The touch-pad on the Dualshock 4 should make things better when compared to the 3, and to a point, it does. The touch-pad works as a half decent mouse pointer and it navigates around the screen pretty well. But when you’re trying to click on something, getting it to do what you want is a bit like trying to trap a spider in a glass jar. Some tweaks and fine-tuning would almost certainly solve this. A smoother interface would almost certainly enhance the experience. True, you can plug a mouse and keyboard in and play the game as you would on PC, but for out of the box play, FFXIV definitely takes some getting used to.

To be honest, I found the chat area pretty much a no-go area while using DS4. It just doesn’t seem worth the effort half the time, and for an MMO, communication is key. Square definitely need to encourage that and improve the PlayStation user relationship with the chat box.

The map waypoint system is also pretty poor and could do with some tweaks and refinement. Select somewhere on your map and it’s not altogether clear where you’re heading or how to get there. Some further highlights and adjustments would definitely

And then there’s Remote Play, which is both the most wonderful idea for an MMO in the history of forever, and also the most frustrating. The touch-screen ability of Vita does make the Final Fantasy experience genuinely fresh and interesting. You can drag the mouse pointer around, similar in style to the DS4 touch-pad, though I would love to be able to just tap the screen and be able to access any area of my front-screen with ease. I understand this is probably never going to be possible, as the Vita just effectively ‘mirrors’ the PlayStation 4 model.

I also wonder what benefits a Second Screen could offer players. Maybe put a dynamic map on the Vita while playing on the TV or perhaps make a full touchscreen menu available to the player at all times, so they can tap a button and access everything with ease. For something as menu-heavy as this, I think it would be a massive boost for the game, and equally make the Vita/PS4 combo all that more attractive.

I also found the text-size a bit small, and the pairing connection can be hit and miss, which obviously doesn’t make the experience ideal for dungeons and timed missions. For simple questing, crafting, wait times, and grinding, however, this is an absolute godsend. We just wouldn’t recommend tanking Ex on the crapper.

My main gripe with the game is the logging in screen. It’s far too easy to be locked out of your account and this can often result in speaking to technical support. I was advised that Sky (one of the most popular broadband providers in the UK) can present some serious problems for the game as it changes IP addresses often. If Final Fantasy XIV is accessed from multiple IP addresses, regardless of whether they get the details right or not, the game blocks your account and forces you to reset your password. I lost game time while fixing these issues.

Speaking of game time, the process for obtaining it isn’t as easy as it could/should be and may be off-putting. Players can purchase game time from the store, as well as items that can be used in game. This would be a lot more convenient for PS4 players if it were a system they were already comfortable with, rather than going through a browser and Mogstation. It would also just be a much easier, stable process than the one currently in place.

The good stuff:

  • Remote play is absolutely wonderful
  • Beautiful graphics
  • Entertaining gameplay
  • Awesome end-game content

The bad stuff:

  • Logging-in screen can be a logistical nightmare
  • Some frame-rate hiccups
  • Current game time system can be convoluted & off-putting
  • Dualshock 4 touch-pad needs to be better at clicking on things.
  • Menu navigation is a bit clunky and could benefit with syncing up with Vita

Final Analysis:

Final Fantasy XIV is a fantastic ambassador for MMORPG gaming on consoles. When it works, it works really well, and aside from some control issues, I think many gamers will finally get hooked in by the wealth of content and goodness on offer. Lightning may have struck three times, but not a single one of those occasions was as entertaining and enthralling as the content on offer here. We look forward to seeing how the game evolves in the months to come.

Technical Competency – 6.5/10
Graphic Quality – 10/10
Sound Quality – 8/10
Network Stability – 9/10

Overall – 7.5/10

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