I’ve FINALLY beaten Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn! Today I’m sharing my thoughts on the base game, from the story to the questing and battle mechanics. I will be continuing on Heavensward next, which I’ll try to beat before Final Fantasy XVI comes out on June 22nd!
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If you'd like to follow my progress through the game, I'll be making pretty regular updates with my thoughts and reactions along the way on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
https://twitter.com/resonantarc
https://www.instagram.com/resonantarc/
https://www.tiktok.com/@resonantarc
Very cool! Really glad you’re giving the game a go. As a long time player, you’re right. The mundane quests do remain all the way through Endwalker, but they do improve a little over time. Also the ratio of story & cutscenes to grindy quests improves. If you want to try something very different, try black mage. No 1-2-3 combo exists there and it’s all about swapping between fire and ice magic phases. Shadowbringers is truly the peak of the story telling.
if you watch Shadowbringers and Endwalker instead of playing them then you're a fool
Mike, the storyline does get better and better, as well as dungeons, classes, and bosses, but the questing stays like that basically until Endwalker where they shake things up a tiny bit. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, I promise you that the game is still with crappy MMO quests in Heavensward, Stormblood and Shadowbringers and still fairly strong in Endwalker.
The music is another story. That 100% lives up to the hype
Ffxiv is honestly the best ff game when it's all said and done. Just the sheer amount of content and story is beyond amazing
I honestly didn't take much from the ARR main game story but for me the patch content on the way to Heavensward was so much more enjoyable, with some political intrigue and genuine character moments, I started to finally Get It
If you can tolerate ARR, you will love Heavensward. HW is my favorite expac
The funny thing is, the combat in ARR is a far cry from what endgame looks like, because there are so called "abilities" in this game that aren't tied to your global cooldown. That means, while you got your standard combination and wait to be able to press the next button, you got basically free damage buttons that don't interrupt your combo to weave into your rotation. And the higher you level up, the more buttons you'll have to deal with.
This means, the game starts you very very slooooooow only to go into overdrive at a certain point where you really need to know what you're doing to make the best out of your class, which is especially important if you do dungeons with NPCs, because you will always be the one setting the pace in terms of damage with the AI.
Anyway, I hope you'll be having a great time in Heavensward and perhaps beyond that. The writing and gameplay gets so much better from here on!
I'm very similar in my tastes when it comes to MMORPGs. Quests are dull, gameplay is meh unless you have a dedicated group that does hard content, and there's a lot of running around doing mostly nothing. I also don't really appreciate a game that tries to keep me playing forever, especially since I "hate" mmos the same way an alcoholic might "hate" alcohol. It poisons my brain. That being said, I did play around 600 hours of WoW because my friends needed a 5th party member for Mythic+ and honestly, FFXIV is so SO much better when it comes to that last point. Don't get me wrong, it still uses some of the same psychological tricks but never to the extent that WoW does, and it feels much more rewarding and less like a chore. Now some points and tips I'd like to make:
– I don't know if you've only finished 2.0 or all the way over to 2.5. If it's the former, try not to be discouraged by how slow it feels. The story, IMO, gets better in the patches but the dullness gets cranked up. It can be hard to keep up with it, especially when everybody and their mother has told you Heavensward is so much better and you are stuck doing fetch quests all over the world for 10-20 hours.
– DO NOT skip the raids. They're supposed to be side content and you WILL have what feels like a complete experience by just doing the MSQ but… The raids add so much to the main story that I would honestly prefer them to be mandatory. Heck, Crystal Tower (the 24 man raid in ARR) is already mandatory, with good reason. From HW onward, completing both the 8-man and 24-man raid is as simple as queuing up for the normal raid and get it done for story purposes (well, that and unlocking it from the blue quest). The only one that could be a problem is the ARR 8-man (The Binding Coils of Bahamut) since there is no "normal" mode for it, it's just a hardcore raid, and almost no one will queue for it. A lot of important plot is locked behind it, though. You CAN go in with a group of friends and try to do it legit if you enjoy hardcore content and banging your head against the wall for a few days but… You can also just get 2 or more lvl 90's to help you do it unsynced, either your friends or just making a party finder group (a lot of random people are happy to help, usually). Also, while you COULD just watch the story on youtube, I recommend you actually do it, since dialog changes in some MSQ scenes if you've done side content.
– I'm sure everyone has told you about how much better the story gets after ARR. For the longest time I refused to play an MMO just to get a decent modern FF experience and, to this day, I still resent a little bit that I have to. However, what everyone has told you is true: It does get a lot better after ARR. I think you and I are looking for similar things in FF games (might be completely off though) so I'll add a caveat to that from my perspective and what I personally like in FF games. Yes the HW story is really good, but I didn't get "hooked" until 3.3-3.4, then Stormblood comes and it feels like a dip in the story, a "transition" if you will (still, do the raids!). It wasn't until Shadowbringers that I finally thought to myself: "wow, I really am playing a GOOD FF game, might even be the best". Everything I want from an FF game started to happen in Shadowbringers and it continued in Endwalker. So yeah, it is a lot to ask of someone but I don't think you can fully grasp how special this game is until ShB and IMO it is absolutely worth the time investment.
– A lot of people have probably pointed this out, but: do the Dark Knight questline. If you want more FF in your FF and enjoy comedy and silly stuff, do the Hildibrand questline too.
– Music is the one thing that does not miss in any mainline FF game, glad you enjoy it. Still, it gets waaaay better down the line.
– Gameplay gets a lot better too, not just when it comes to your toolkit but mechanics too, even in normal content. This game is very good at building upon your previous knowledge and adding stuff. Fights are also great at teaching you WHILE you are doing them and progressively getting harder. At some point, you'll be doing a completely new fight and things will just start to "click", very satisfying.
Well, that was an essay of a comment wasn't it? wouldn't blame you if you decide to just skim through it or even skip it. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say: We would love to see some of your raw reactions to some key story moments. I really hope we can get some of that.
I hope that Heavensward grabs you! It'd be great if the XIV video in the retrospective series had the perspective of seeing, if nothing else, the entire Realm Reborn -> Endwalker arc through. The story just keeps getting better, in my opinion, and a lot of that is the way that it builds upon itself in continually interesting ways.
CBUIII is hard-carrying Square Enix.
As someone who's caught up and absolutely loves FFXIV and it's story, I 100% agree that the MMO aspect harmed my early perception of the game (and I've always played MMO's growing up). I played with my friends and enjoyed the early story but my friends skipped everything and wanted to just play for the raid + to get to Stormblood since everyone told us that ARR is 'bad' so I ended up dismissing the early story and rushing through ARR to keep up with them.
I ultimately decided to play at my own pace during Heavensward to fully immerse myself into the story and it was a much better experience. I'm currently caught up years later and play with my friends but I do think a lot of the FOMO that comes with the MMO design + the community giving a '10 commandments' for how to play the game and what to expect harms the early game for so many people.
I hope you continue to find enjoyment in the game at your own pace! Looking forward to seeing your progress. Enjoy Heavensward (It 100% lives up to the hype)!
I was so excited when I saw you posted about it. I truly believe FFXIV is something special, it's the reason why I'm very hopeful for FFXVI.
i honestly hated playing through a realm reborn and large parts of stormblood. but the last 2 expansions, shadowbringers and endwalker are, in my opinion, the best stories in the FF series. despite the limitations of having to be told through an mmo with the boring quest design, the narrative pulls its weight SO hard and redeems the whole thing. even as a pretty jaded JRPG player, some of the story moments had me totally speechless and in awe of how fucking cool they were
I found playing through the game that, while the questing experience does improve a fair amount with each expansion, improvements to the narrative’s pacing really make the questing a lot easier to stomach. ARR can feel like you’re doing 15 chore quests between each significant story beat or dungeon, but later the writing does a much better job at making each quest feel like an important task that you need to do (even if it is talking to three NPCs or killing five monsters).
I just found progression was too slow for me, ended up grinding hard to get through and burning out though I was playing by myself for the most part, and not a huge fan of MMO battle systems. Hope it works out better for you!
Oh, so you can play dungeons with the NPCs? I was wondering when that solo update was coming and clearly missed it. Guess I'll have to jump back in at some point. I stopped playing because I'm not social either and having to get a team for dungeons slowed me down when I wanted to get my fill and those instances halted things. I'd run into people that would blast through story quests because it was their 20th time doing it and would leave you in the dust. Near the end of A Realm Reborn was kinda ruined as that happened and I and another player were stuck because we didn't know how to get the key to the Magitek walkers.
Other times you'd get people that'd be pissed you didn't know how to do a certain quest (mine was Garuda, confusing as heck on a higher difficulty and quit it for later). I stopped before the crystal tower thing where you have a big quest and bosses ahead. Getting behind in drawing and other games and didn't feel like another quest experience with other players.
I miss your older videos, before this format 😕
While I LOVE FFXIV: ARR for its class system & story — which is decent enough, I am discouraged from playing it for the mandatory dungeons early on. Like Mike, I am not a social person…at all.
I tend to prefer playing solo, even in MMORPGs.
TBF they made the game accessible enough that you just have to know the bare minimum, but if you want to optimize your damage and output and access the extreme/savage dungeons, skill rotation factors in heavily. How you weave your off global cooldowns in between your global cooldowns, that sort of thing. I kind of understand what you mean by them playing similarly, but each of the jobs "flow" differently.
Having mostly played the game as a tank, it has enough variety to choose how you want to perform as a tank.
Paladin is sort of like a Magic Knight, where you'll have skills that consume MP so you manage your rotations building up to that. It's pretty much a jack of all trade in terms of the tanking role.
Warriors have insane self sustainability, and you can actually alleviate some of the burden from the healer from how insane its lifesteal is.
Dark Knight has the best damage mitigation skill (although unfortunately is only available at level 70), which also provides the job a huge damage boost. I personally think it is the most resource based class, so managing that is essential in performing well.
Gunbreaker is just a DPS job masquerading as a Tank lol, it's probably the most busiest class in terms of how much button presses (skill rotations and weaving) you'll be doing.
Was it ever explained why the NPC people forgot about the heroes of 1.0? I don't mind spoilers, I might have missed it while playing
If you're looking for challenging gameplay at your level, I'd recommend trying the Binding Coil of Bahamut. It's a level 50 questline that gets you into material so tough, it's not even a part of people's daily roulettes.
FF14, the complete "Main story arc" going through from ARR to Endwalker, is easily one of the best stories in the series. But I think you have a bit of a misconception about the developer intent in pushing you through ARR. The MSQ is the core to all the game. Theyre not rushing you to end game. The MSQ is intended to be the main way of levelling up. They dont want to gate you into doing side content just to be at level to do the story. The STORY is the main focus.
Alright, a fellow FFXI music fan. Thank you 🥰
Totally agree that ARR's story and worldbuilding aren't nearly as bad as people claim them to be. Some (spoiler free) things that change in the expansions that address some of the issues you pointed out: (1) the characterization of the scions is MUCH better, significantly boosting story quality; (2) the job mechanics start to round out, making differences between how jobs play more noticeable, and (3) boss mechanics get more complex, making the game progressively less mindless, especially when combined with increasing job complexity.
You're right that the quest structure doesn't change, though.
Mike pretty much read my mind when it comes to MMOs. Can't stand them unfortunately but probably a blessing in disguise given the time investment required.
I also just really don't like "create-a-character" elements in games because it allows the story experience to be too open-ended and unfocused to accommodate that and I never get the same feeling of emotional investment out of it. I much prefer a defined character and world written in a way that I don't have input into.
I didn't expect this, lets go! It's going to be a long ride but so worth it. I remember struggling to get through some parts of ARR when I first started, but eventually fell in love with the game and now when I go back and visit ARR's story on Newgame+ Mode, I have a drastically different and much deeper appreciation and love for how this insane journey began.
The thing that got me into playing FFXIV fully was the CGI Shadowbringers expansion trailer and how much I wanted to experience that content.
(Which ended up being more than I could have hoped for)
I know for some people it's hard to imagine the hype and praise this game gets based how it starts, but it's a hell of a journey that I hope you get something out of.
EDIT: By the way, I don't know of this will make sense to you, but did you finish the story of 2.0 or 2.5? Because ARR's initial finale is 2.0 and then 2.5 has the actual finale. This is also true of the Expansions where they have a x.0 finale and then a grand finale to that whole story arc in x.3, everything after that becomes build up to the next expansion.
Nice to hear your initial impressions on 14. The only things I really feel worth mentioning are the difference in class/job "feel" and expansion categorization schemes.
There are two ways players usually distinguish the expansion groups. The first is the "technical" categorization of base game and the patch series. The second is a "narrative" categorization based on how the patch stories feed into the base expansion stories.
Technically, you are done with base ARR but still have the ARR patches to complete. All of which is formally "A Realm Reborn" so you're technically not finish with it yet lol. You will get the final credits for ARR at the end of patch 2.5. Narratively, many players consider 2.4 and 2.5 the "overlap" period where some threads of ARR are being tied off and new ones for Heavensward are introduced. Going forward, the x.3 patch will usually mark the narrative finale of an expansion (3.3 being the "true" ending for Heavensward, 4.3 for Stormblood, and 5.3 for Shadowbringers) with the x.4 patch being the start of the narrative for the next expansion.
As for class/job feel, you're pretty much on the money that the differences between melee classes are non-existent. The job upgrade at level 30 is when they get their unique gimmick (Mudra combos in NIN's case) which introduces the beginning stages of their unique playstyles. DPS jobs get the full skeleton for their kit by levels 60-70. After that is mostly get ability upgrades and finishers 70+. Tank and Healer work differently and are an essay unto themselves.
I look forward to hearing about your experience with post-ARR (including your impressions on the mandatory multiplayer duties) and your thoughts on some of the…stark…changes at the beginning of Heavenward.
Regarding @ – 11:20 — The FF14 community (a lot of it is just twitch / twitter dynamics) is its own worst enemy in a lot of respects to that. Telling someone to rush through X to get to Y just because you know you liked Y a lot better, doesn't do the next person any favors. They may enjoy X taken are a more leisurely pace (as if it was brand new content to them, imagine that), so that when they do get to the next step, it'll be all the better for everyone because they won't have felt rushed, and also have been able to absorb the story going into it.
I pre-book a seat for 2.5 ARR Ending video here. . Thanks for your time, and thoughts.
I'm with Mike in that I haven't like a single MMORPG yet, though I keep trying them and hoping. But… I do love the FromSoft games and how they handle online co-op/PvP. I think Elden Ring is the closest I've come to the MMORPG formula, but of course that game is miles away from being a proper MMORPG. Wondering if Mike is into SoulsBorne and their online style? I seem to remember him mentioning that he's not into them
I'd say Mike has hit on a real problem that FF14 is experiencing now – class homogeny. Every class now is on a 2 minute timer more or less and so every class feels more or less the same in many regards.
Hopefully this is the one channel on Youtube that will be honest about how poor or mediocre every aspect of this game is, from the exhausting and poorly designed questing, the awful zone design, the inept and clunky job designs, the endless technobabble dialogue, and yes, even the meandering and impotent story that takes way too long to get nowhere, with the best parts about it being a hodgepodge of concepts lifted from FF4-10.
It's been said that Square Enix would have bankrupted many times over without the subscription fees from this Frankenstein's creature assembled from the parts left by their actually talented predecessors at Squaresoft. It's sad that a lot of people have no qualms celebrating the decayed, warmed-over appendages of Final Fantasy. Wow! It's the Guard Scorpion! Woah! It's a Magitek Armor! Take my undying loyalty, giant corporation!
Classes have become more and more homogenized as the game went on but tanks got hit the hardest. Current tanking is nothing like tanking back in 2015 or earlier, like aggro management is almost nonexistent. RIP heavensward dark knight.
Also, the main game content is VERY easy, if you want the combat to shine you need to do extreme/savage/ultimate content.
Also, if you love Ul'dah's theme, listen to the original 1.0 theme by Uematsu (twin faces of fate), it's so good
One thing I would like to clarify that was implied in the video is that the initial release may have seamlessly transitioned to 2.0 in the story, but it was not done in real time. There were several months between the server shutdown and Realm Reborn release.
Your thoughts are uncannily similar to my own, Mike.
I try and I try, I WANT to love it but I just can't.
The story didn't grip me, the character's did nothing for me, the world wasn't all that interesting…it all just piles up to the point me and my bestie take a step back and say "Why are we playing?".
Our main take away is the irony in saying 'It gets good at Heavensward" but evem then those posts keep getting moved.
Utter shame
I won't say the quest structure issue goes away entirely but it gets much better going forward. The MSQ becomes much more dialogue and story focused and those very MMO quests are pushed to side content that exists to level your other jobs and get cool armor and mounts. Its like, yeah you're still going to talk to 3 people for a quest but there's a reason, its a scene with weight.
Much like Mike, I'm not a social gamer either, and FF14 is frustrating to me because I'm a huge FF fan and want to experience as much of the series as possible, but I don't really want to play an MMO. Yes, most dungeons let you use NPCs to complete dungeons (though that wasn't true when I started playing), but there are still boss trials and raids that are required for the main story that you have to team up with other players for. I just don't like playing games like that. I made it all the way to Shadowbringers and was excited when it told me that all of the dungeons from then on would give you the option to play with NPCs. But… then there was a boss trial that I had to find a party for. And I had to stop. Which is disappointing, because I loved ARR, I loved Heavensward, I was a little underwhelmed by Stormblood, but was really liking what Shadowbringers was doing, but I had to stop because I just don't want to play an MMO anymore.
Maybe if they add the Trust system to raids and trials I'll pick it back up again, but for now I have to stop. The story is phenomenal and the characters are amazing, but the gameplay, as it stands, isn't for me.
We got him boiz, it's gonna be a ride
Reason why people say get past this bit, the game is unchanged to keep the experience similar, wether you started today or 10 years ago, the experience of a realm reborn is very similar, you get to watch all the improvements and changes as you get further through the game. A Realm Reborn is the worst experience you can have in FFXIV. Cause you're playing a 10 year old MMO.
Its like having to play ff I-VI first before you can see and appreciate VII. Pros of this is everyone gets the same experience so when you speak about it, the other people know what you're going through. Cons of it is you have to do dated stuff. Also the game gets more complex the further you go, slowly teaching the players the systems and rotations is probably a good thing too.
I would buy this game but i don't want to be online just to play. if only u can play all of ff14 offline by yourself or with bots instead then i'd get it.
ARR is your introduction to the characters and setting of XIV. From start to finish you are just meeting people and understanding them. That's why people say it starts in heavensward; it doesn't truly start there but that when you know everyone and the plot starts moving past the introduction.
Glad to see you playing FFXIV, Mike! I LOATHE MMOs as a genre, and my only complaints about FFXIV can all be summarized as "It's an MMO, though."
I would recommend, having had several friends go through FFXIV in recent years and having played it since about 10 months into ARR's initial launch, playing to the end of Heavensward, the full end of Heavensward (that is, right until you are about to go into Stormblood – not the 'conclusion' of the Heavensward story) and taking a break.
Stormblood is great, but FFXIV is HUGE and very, very long. Most people tire out in Stormblood and blame it when it's hour 250-350 on your video game. You're gonna get fatigued eventually. These stories, further, are designed to have long gaps between playing them. If you play through the end of Heavensward and then wait a year to start Stormblood, you're pretty much having an authentic experience!
FFXIV is great, but much of its greatness is from building upon itself. Good on you for playing from the beginning instead of getting a jump potion!
Can't wait for the eventual storytelling analysis!
Oh god Mike you gotta do Dark Knight at least for the job quests from this video it will resonate with you so much.
Please start live-streaming.
Here's the thing though….. I want you both to play it so you can discuss. That would be amazing for a couple years I imagine. Story carried me all the way through to the end through boring quests and tasks. I played this game solo pretty much but man it was worth it. I'm looking forward to more.
I'm glad you commented on the redundant menial quest structure of the game. FF14 is my most played FF game (by design), and I'm only on Stormblood, but the quest repetition is my least favorite part. I recommend catching up on podcasts, etc until a cinematic comes up. In fact I probably listened to several Resonant Arc episodes in my FF14 downtime. It's the only way to stomach these intentional time-fillers.
Moreover, the developers have clearly expedited the process getting through early game content like ARR, so they've made dungeons/bosses VERY easy like Mike said, probably via power creep, modern gear, and rebalancing. This accelerated pace obviously comes with the tradeoff of anticlimactic fights. I started in 2021 and nothing felt challenging until Ramuh Extreme, which actually required true coordination and that's when I started to understand the appeal of the co-op stuff.
I don't wanna do the thing and hype up the expansions too much, cuz the gameplay remains similar, but I will say the story gets tighter and stronger. Don't forget, ARR (the base game) was mostly a fix-up job to make a crap MMO actually playable. The expansions were when they had more stretching room. Plus, the time you've spent in the world helps naturally attach you to the arcs and motivations of the characters in it. Heavensward made me excited for more powerful moments in the future.
The most important advice I ever got is to TAKE YOUR TIME. Do what appeals to you, do not rush to catch up. Do whatever side quests appeal to you, grind whatever jobs appeal to you. Decorate your character with dye if you're one of those people (I'm becoming one, uh oh)
FF XIV and FF XII: Zodiac Age are the only FF games I've enjoyed since 10.
And I hate saying that. I absolutely adore FF, but that love can't cover the fact that I feel the quality of the series is on the decline
Ok I know I'm not supposed to tell anyone newer "how" to play FF14, so sorry to be hypocritical. But I thought you might wanna at least KNOW about the "Binding Coil" quest line which is kinda…uniquely important story-wise and lore-wise. It was the 1st series of 8-player 'raids' if I recall, and by design was not made mandatory for the main story (even though it arguably should've been).
Check it out and do a quick google search to find out where to activate it! You'll need to use the Party Finder for it though just fyi