Following its release last September, Square Enix's latest entry into the famed Final Fantasy XIV series was met with a decidedly negative response. Now in its fourteenth iteration, a game with Final Fantasy sprawled across the cover is usually indicative of a genre-defining role-playing experience. The series is home to titles that many consider to be the greatest of all time, but recently the response to Square Enix's flagship role-playing game hasn't been what the series has come to expect. The long-awaited Final Fantasy XIII was criticized for being too linear and boring, and the announcement of a second MMORPG bearing the twenty year old credentials didn't exactly set the world on fire. Rightly so, many would assume after looking at early reviews, but is Final Fantasy XIV really that bad?
If first impressions are anything to go by, then yes - Final Fantasy XIV really is that poor. Everything in this game is a struggle. Its registration process is so convoluted that players deserve an extra month of game time just for getting online. You have to look deeper to find any redeeming factor in this game, and unfortunately for Square Enix, it's going to take a lot more than the removal of subscription fees and the promise of change to keep players interested.
One thing is clear. FFXIV is not finished, not by a long shot. There are fundamental features omitted that even the most casual MMO player would overlook in other titles. There is no mail system, no dungeons and no raids. The grouping system is practically useless and mounts don't feature - not even Chocobos. For some reason ffxiv gil was rushed to release, and the damning response from both critics and players could forever prevent the game from growing. It's a shame, as FFXIV is filled with great and interesting ideas that for one reason or another didn't work out.
The game takes place in Eorzea. A large, beautiful world filled with rolling fields and jaw-dropping vistas. The graphical prowess of ffxiv gil is staggering, easily making the game a likely contender for a Best Looking MMO award at some video games ceremony. It is a truly gorgeous title - but saved only for those with the best systems. If your system isn't fairly recent then expect to crank down the settings a fair bit. Optimization is one of the many things omitted from FFXIV. The game looks dire on any settings lower than high, and even systems that meet the recommended system requirements will not be immune to the sluggish performance and random frame rate drops that littered the game's relatively short beta.
