I don’t play on Steam. Ask for Hrs.

Overview:
I love this game, I cannot explain how much of an incredible feat of the MMO genre this is, & I wish I played sooner. I’ve played my fair share of MMOs, F2P or B2P, but this tops everything. I have never felt a game be so deserving of a sub-fee in my life. It cares about the story, the characters, the narrative setup, & the payoff first & foremost. It is remarkable both in terms of visual style & musical choices, & remains a good, quality, & remarkable product.

While ARR isn't particularly special in terms of storyline & gameplay, probably because they had to work with 1.0 to relaunch FFXIV but that's a story you can look up on your own, virtually everything beyond that - including Heavensward which is a part of the free trial - steps up the quality immensely, leading to an unmissable experience. You owe it to yourself to go through the journey the game places in front of you. You will not leave it the same person you went in. I often find that there are two kinds of FFXIV players, ones who never made it past ARR/ARR Patch content & the ones who are a walking billboard for the game.

Because of this, it is very difficult for me to get people I know to play it with me & bond with me over it. Not everyone can give it the benefit of the doubt & believe what I, the MMO, FF, or FFXIV community has to say. Not everyone can also have the discipline to finish ARR content, even if the free trial is the most accessible it’s ever been. Yes, it's an amazing game. Yes, you should play it.

If you do give it a go, it will reward you. If you love good storytelling, this MMO is the one. If you want to give an honest review on this game, I’d advise finishing Heavensward Patch content first.

FFXIV Context:
I played under the preconception that FF games are known for their good stories, world-building, music, & immersion in the worlds that they craft for stand-alone entries. So knowing this made me think that FFXIV would crank this dial to an 11 since there would be so many possibilities in the writing due to the nature of MMOs. This MMO is one of the few very popular MMOs that has an overarching story across expansions, ties together well with most of its content & does not sunset that content. FFXIV was so popular, Square Enix had to stop selling the game & lock people out of the recent level 60 free trial.

The Review:

-{Story}-
This is the best story in a game I have ever played & I'm not exaggerating because its emphasis on storytelling is a standout feature, as it is a FF game first & foremost. Most MMOs always fail to captivate the player of the story in general. A lot only have a main story in the base game. FFXIV is very unique because the developers put so much development & depth into this story & game that it just makes you enjoy it. It is deep, engaging, & expertly crafted. Not only that, the other major content contributes to the main story making it even more interesting & feel more grand in scope. The Main Scenario Quests feel like an epic tale rather than a gameplay design choice to level your character. This game builds a world & storyline across all the expansions rather than a bunch of expansions you play through & then forget about. For example, something that has happened, or you know about, in ARR will be relevant in future expansions.

This is the longest story in all the FF games & this is probably the only MMO that can potentially make you cry just from the story. That is how good it is. Most of the villains are also not 2 dimensional, actually have a good purpose, & have depth. The kind of villains that would spark people to make "<name> did nothing wrong" content. On the other hand, the story is a bit mediocre early on & only really gets going in the first expansion Heavensward. However, the developers did, recently, cut a lot of content from ARR, making it not as grueling as it used to be & did it without cutting out important plot points that would be relevant in future expansions. If you are a lore & world-building person then you are going to love it no matter what. As someone who enjoys immersive lore, I found myself drawn to the rich atmosphere of Eorzea & its diverse characters. Technically you can skip all the cutscenes (& rewatch them in an Inn or your house), & even buy a skip to Endwalker if you want to, but I'd recommend against it considering how much of a role the story, immersion, & character development play in this game. The story might be a bit bland & lengthy in its early stages, but it becomes one of the better parts of this game. You can tell that this story is someone’s life work & every detail is accounted for.

-{Community}-
The community is amazing from certain perspectives that are much better than most MMOs. What makes this community so unique is just the cycle of players who are willing to help new players. Yes, this is normal in all MMOs but in FFXIV we aren't forced to help new players, instead, we choose to. That's what makes this community so nice. Not all Communities are perfect or imperfect but the majority of this one is decently kind. So much so that the game has won the Best Community Award multiple years in a row. One of the first things I would do if I were to play this game all over again for the first time is to be involved in the community sooner. A strong community is what keeps an MMO alive & keeps you, as the player, engaged. This is the best MMO where I have actively engaged with the community, participated in a guild, became social, participated in community events, attended venues, live performances, & done content all the time with people that I would now know to be my friends. The game has a vibrant fan community with Reddits & Discords as well, & the attitudes are mostly always warm, positive, helpful, & accommodating. Especially when asking questions & seeking help. People are usually forgiving of mistakes in dungeons & boss fights & won’t try to start fights.

-{Gameplay}-
There is an insane amount of content this game has to offer even without the expansions, solo & group. What’s great is that it doesn't feel like I am always left behind grinding to catch up. This is a very “my pace” kind of game. The most notable content is the Gold Saucer, Maps, Deep Dungeons, 24-man Raids, 144-man instances, Dungeons, Trials & Extremes, Savages, Ultimates, etc. Once you start unlocking more content through the main story you will probably find yourself deviating from the main story at times or a lot with the friends you made along the way. It is a slow start in combat, but they only start improving when you start leveling up more & getting better gear. What intrigued me & got me interested the most was the ability to have all classes under one character. The flexibility in character customization, reducing the need to go through the same content again, is a game-changer. It encourages exploring different playstyles without the need for multiple alt characters.

If you find yourself at the endgame, just keep in mind that this game is easy to learn but hard to master. This game has a target audience of casual players to hardcore raiders. Normal Content is relatively easy to pick up but there are also Extreme/Savage/Ultimates which take a while to get down; also some classes are harder to master than others. This content is where the combat reaches its true potential. If you don't believe me, look up someone completing the Omega Protocol (Ultimate). Yes, the mechanics can be really cool & very satisfying.

-{Conclusion}-
Have your friends play with you & show them this review. I promise you that you will not regret playing, it is a must-play. Catch up with the main story & do the plethora of content with your friends. Who knows, you might find yourself getting in the conversation of lore, story, & start theory crafting with others.