“Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.”
This, but unironically.
The playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-NfYo05PuXuX92Ws8nNMjTXceoVGZ6Z
Other Reviews:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-NfYo05PuVI5VxB88LalpyGchW1qvvF
source
You forgot that the Empire also kicked a salad, and it probably made you nose breathe.
Story is the weakest in ARR, noted. Get ready for it to pop off.
ARR is a lot of world building, so except for peoples like me who enjoy pure or nigh pure world building it's not going to be as enjoyable of a story part as whatever follows (since what follows will use that world building to actually have a more highly paced story). That being said I still think that they should do something about the crappy parts with the company of heroes before Titan, and the silly part with the crystal needed for the ship.
For the whole "in 24 men raids everything die so fast you don't see the mechanics", it's only true for those mandatory 3. All the 24 raids you'll see later are way, way more enjoyable. You actually see and have to do mechanics; but it's not tuned hard so even if you fail the rest of the raid will usually not wipe. So you get to learn and enjoy the mechanics, the epicness of them, the fantastic music and so on, while not feeling bad or responsible for screwing up, since you'll just get rezzed and carry on. Until you're the one carrying newer players =).
Don’t worry about future patch quests being as long as ARR. The dev team listens to the player base and shrunk down future patches to 4-5 quests. Plus they’re always going back and improving ARR for newer players cause before 5.5 patch it was 30% longer, and adding the duty support system to all the story required dungeons.
If I remember correctly, the JP version does use more traditional spell naming conventions, but they made the English have the numbered way which can be even more confusing (cure 3 not being a strict upgrade to cure 2 for example).
I loved your analysis of the game/story so far! Great work putting this video together and I definitely think you're on to something with this long-form review style. I'm very excited to see more videos from you covering FFXIV!
new to ffxiv?.. imo start as a dps class like Pugilist (Lancer starts too slow).., it's easier to switch from dps to tank (than other way around,.. seen tanks having more trouble getting used to dps, once comfy with the beefy build & safer rotations of tanks.., dps rotations are more complex later, in good way though, still they all, tanks, healer & dps, have their own strengths / weakness)
..
that said ARR is very slow on all accounts, hold thru.., story, characters & even voice acting gets (way) better later, .. besides ofc the action / battles..
– ARR 2.0 story is D-C,
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– ARR 2.1-2.5 is C-B (very end is A though..)
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– HW jumps up to B-A/S
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– and it keeps that quality in Stormblood (more or less)
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– than switches up to A-SS in Shadowbringers & Endwalker (the last 2 expansions)
1st mmo? Look forward to real "raiding" (and look forward to the story later, it keeps getting better, oh boy..)
Eorzea is a single continent the size of Europe, won't tell you what the world itself is called though.
There was an interview with YoshiP last year about how Square gave him the Okay to use the naming suffix on all the spells but he got scared and went with numbers instead because he was going to have to at some point come up with new suffix once players got to higher levels and he didn't want that responsibility.
Really good explanation of the game. Covered a lot. Well done 👍
Do the Coils, thats the real MSQ in ARR.
Wait until you do the Hildibrand questline 🤣 It starts at Lv50 and it continues up to Endwalker. It is needed to be completed into Endwalker because that’s how you unlock your Endwalker Relic Weapons. And the story gets amazing later on as people have said. Everything you witness in ARR will be make sense and be cleared up with story elements tied later on, too.
totally feel that… the MSQ is so tedious to get to the point lol great story when you get to it
That was a pretty good video and summary of ARR. Would like to see more for sure. Maybe smaller/shorter videos on parts of the story as it goes along, also whatever classes you might be playing and any differences in dungeons and so on. Best of luck!
Ah, another joins the realm reborn. Looking forward to what you think of the story, haha. Ha… cries in Heavensward, in Shadowbringers, and Endwalker
PS You've been at this awhile if you managed to get to Steps of Faith while it was still a proper trial huh?
PPS I play 14 too sometimes, so if you want to friend me I can help you through. Granted, I don't play a lot right now (because both my time and money are in short supply), but if it's something that sounds fun hit me up. (I really need a reason to level some other jobs).
You convinced me to start the trial which is interesting considering I've never played an MMO at all (my patience is short so I tend to get bored quickly). I'm in Limsa too!
This SCH main was about to protest that all classes look badass as you level them. 😀 Me and my level 90 SUPER SPRINT spell are not the flashiest things in the game…
Def get coils done, imo, before HW patch. Find a friend to one shot everything. Yes the game Can be understood without it, but it's tied to A Lot. Furthermore, this game is great about recognizing the optional stuff you did do after the fact, so that's always a nice bonus.
This is good.
Dude, you are in for a ride. What everyone told you about the expansions and building on story in ARR… don't worry. You're about to understand.
As a guy who started the free trial with no MMO experience in October 2021, my thoughts on the game:
Free trial – If this game's trial wasn't so generous, I wouldn't have attempted it in the first place… and I DEFINITELY would not have bought it, as I'd have stopped around the time of Good King Moggle Mog.
Story – ARR is AWFUL until you hit the Ul'dah refugee stuff, which, as you said, REALLY ramps up. Although ARR lays A LOT of great groundwork for the rest of the game in lore and character work, the core narrative is horribly paced and those characters I would come to love start off annoying the heck out of me. It is best to think of the story as a long-running TV show: it has wonderful high points and horrible low points, and the first season is pretty bad… but once it connects, the highs are so high that even a bad season or episode won't ruin it. My opinions of the highs and lows are very different from those of other people (I am the one person in the world that doesn't like Shadowbringers and considers a quest about negotiating a trade agreement to be the best thing in the game), but everyone will find something to like.
Gameplay – I thought it was really awful in ARR. As SCH main, I was stuck mainly pressing one button (healers don't have attack rotations) and the power creep has made dodging mechanics at level 50 or below kind of pointless. But the fights get more complex as you go, and by the time you reach Endwalker you'll have some pretty gnarly stuff in even the easiest content, and I fell in love with the almost rhythm game style dodge mechanics (which I gather is pretty normal for MMOs, but this is fresh for me). It is seriously addictive, wildly fun stuff.
Community – This is my first social game of any sort. People went out of their way to help me when I was on free trial, but being unable to send tells made communication difficult. I still mostly play single player, but I recently joined a free company and have had a lot of fun doing silly things like going to Halloween parties or taking pictures with Santa. (He's a hrothgar. Not many people know that.) The community is always very nice and happy to help, and I've had a lot of fun being a goof and just playing around with people, or helping newbies out in early game content. Some say that there is a "fake positivity" to the game, but sometimes I've found that it is enjoyable to just hand a minion to a newb or give them some gil and wish them luck, and that sort of mindset seems to be something that extends to the player base as a whole. I'm no stranger to being a toxic internet jerk myself, but this game and the people in it make me want to be nice, and I don't consider this to be "fake," but rather something that the players and devs have engineered to make their own time as enjoyable as possible. Even in rough raids, most people are kind and help out with tips and team communication in between wipes.
In no other game would you come to the foot of a mountain atop which stands one of the main villains of the current story and find a troupe of dancers in platinum gold shorts and tank tops performing before your brush with destiny. Little things like that are stamped indelibly into my mind as part of the story, as that is how I experienced it. And little things like that are not possible in a single player game, so I appreciate the opportunities the MMO medium affords.
Side content: There is sooooooo much and I've barely scratched most of it. Sidequests (and sidequests and sidequests and sidequests), hunts, PVP, chocobo racing, crafting, gathering, harder difficulty versions of trials and raids, lots and lots of unlockable bosses and raids in their own sidequests (many of which are among the high points of the game storywise), sightseeing – a lot of it I haven't touched at all, and that's okay. The game is a theme park with lots of attractions, and I'm enjoying the ride.
All in all, this has become arguably my favorite video game. The main content is engaging on both the story and gameplay levels, and there is a lot to do if you just want to take it easy as well.
so the reason we have the moogle king trial is because at that point in time when they released it, japan had just suffered the tsunami that created SUCH DEVESTATION. they were supposed to release Titan, who causes earthquakes, and leviathan who causes tsunamis. so they slapped together king moogle mog.
now that you have finished ARR; it only gets better
Dude, the story of ff14 is generally considered by many to be the best ff story. Just wait
Lol at saying Alisaie not important until a sidequest of all things lol
Think of it this way when End Game was current the current End Game Raids were the Big Finale Ending of the current story arcs.
ff14 is a killer single player game that opens up to a multiplayer game at endgame. You seem to be paying attention to the story, and I think you'll find it enjoyable soon enough!
Loved the review and retrospect. Minfilia truly is a Peach analogue. And you got me to burst out laughing at all the various Ultima Weapons (the one with feet! 😂)
Great video, glad you're having fun and hope you have a good time in your roulettes and such 🙂
that was amusing as hell, i chortled at the "the one with feet!" for the Ultima Weapon. Love to see your video for the end of Heavensward! or more honestly the one from the mid point, the one about three quarters in, then the 5.0 ending, then the 5.3 ending… 😛
I've now been aykng for a year and definitely shared your view on the ARR story. It really is slow and whilst it's great world building, that just isn't my bag. I really struggled with the story up until around about level 40 and then once the patch quests start setting up HW, it was more interesting.
The story definitely gets better, although I'm not the huge fan of it that a large part of the community is. I think it's better in hindsight. Once you finish an expansion and look back on it, the main plot and big events stand out and they are very good. Whilst actually doing it though…. Lot of fetching and dialogue and parts of each expansion do feel pretty grindy and like filler content. Saying that, it's well worth experiencing and I'd say that I'm really, really not a narrative/story focused player so my opinion needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
The world, jobs, content and characters though…. It's what has kept me completely hooked for 12 solid months. This is easily my favourite ever game and that's with me only getting about half the enjoyment from the story that a majority of others do. I don't think the story is all that essential to loving the game. I'm almost done levelling all the jobs to 90 and I love the job diversity and feel to them all. There isn't a job I don't like, though I'm luke warm on melee dps as a role. There's so, so much content, covering such a variety of tastes that you can play 14 in a ton of different ways, at a ton of different paces and get your own enjoyment and experience from it.
Always love to see new player experiences though, so I look forward to more of your videos, this was a really good watch 👍
yeah admitedly 2.0 is kind of a drag uintil near the end of it all. but hey its all foundation for something m,uch greater. i dont regret it at all. started december 2020 and now got 8k hours
Im always so excited to see new people make it through ARR. This story is incredible.
No seriously, when people say the story is better in the expansions, they are not kidding around. Everybody says this in ARR and takes it back later. You really haven't seen what the writing team can do prior to just before the beginning of Heavensward and later into the meat of that expansion. ARR is the weakest story in the game by a country mile until right before it ends.
As a veteran player, I enjoyed hearing your take on something that's so nostalgic for me.
I highly suggest completing the Coils, it helps to explain some clarification as to what happened during that fateful battle at Cartineau. As well as provide a big ol' lore bomb~
The subsequent 8-man raids for each expansion afterwards are also just as intriguing and interesting story-wise. Also- I recommend completing the 24-man raid stories for the expansions, too. Those are fun! 😁
I do hope you make a video regarding your opinions of Heavensward, I'd be interested in seeing and hearing your thoughts. Also to see if you're hyped for Stormblood 😉
cool
The story drags a bit during arr, but it gets its pacing issues sorted out later on. If you enjoyed the patch content story you are just fine headed onward. Its not perfect, still is an mmo but it gets much much better, you are already through the slump and I hope you continue to enjoy your time here