FFXIV Review in 2023 - Should You Play Final Fantasy XIV
In This FFXIV Review in 2023, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the critically acclaimed MMORPG FFXIV. Final Fantasy is one of the biggest MMORPGs and has been for many years, its winner of the 2022 best ongoing game and best community support at the game awards, the current expansion has a score in the 90s by both critics and players and it has the lore from a beloved franchise, Square Enix’s final fantasy. And today in this FFXIV Review lets talk about the good, the bad and overall if it’s worth playing. If you’d rather watch than read, check out the full video guide below.
FFXIV in 2023, is currently in its Endwalker Expansion. This is the huge finale of over 10 years of content. We’ve had the big climax at the end of the main story and now the game is rebuilding for its next expansion and the start of a new story.
Also just because this is a final fantasy 14 game, doesn’t mean you need to have played any other final fantasy games. They just use the same classes, terminology and lore. You can pick the story up with no final fantasy knowledge and it bridges the gap between a single player and mmorpg game really easily.
In terms of price, FFXIV has a free trial from the start of the game to the end of its first expansion, which is a huge amount of content! But then you have to buy the new expansion and subscribe monthly.
Contents:
FFXIV Story Review
The first thing to talk about in a FFXIV Review in 2023 has to be the story. All MMORPGs have a story of some sort, but that doesn’t do FFXIV justice. But it almost feels like a single player story first and then an MMORPG second.
In FFXIV you are not levelling to endgame, like pretty much every other MMO out there, you play through the story. That means every story quest from the base game, A realm Reborn and then through every single expansion. Before you can step into your first piece of endgame content.
This is where FFXIV becomes divisive as an MMORPG. If you love a good story, or you’ve played the other FFXIV games then this game is FANTASTIC. The amount of effort that goes into the FF story is unreal, You’ll laugh, you’ll get hyped and you might even cry! This game is a journey through 10+ years of story content. And it is honestly one of the greatest stories I’ve played in Gaming.
On the other side though, if you’re a big MMO player, and you want to get straight into the endgame raids, gearing, progression, then this could be a huge turn off. You need to be prepared for tons of reading, cutscenes and world building. But the world they build in the story is definitely one worth playing.
FFXIV Community and Social Events
FFXIV is well known for its amazing community and social features. And rightly so, it feels like everything the developers add in, has the community in mind. I’ve never played an MMORPG that feels as social as FFXIV. Which is why, even when there is a content drought or we’re waiting on big patches. Lots of players still stay subscribed, to do things with friends, hang out and partake and just live in the world.
FFXIV has a complete housing system, you can buy a house either solo or with your free company which is a FFXIV guild. Decorate it both the inside and outside. Some people use this as a place to hang out or chill with friends, others then their houses into shops, cafes, nightclubs and this does so much in building community.
There is a massive emphasis on interaction with others, there are tons emotes, bards can play music, there’s casual glamours like street wear and non combat clothing. The cities feel alive, with people just hanging out and chatting. That’s why FFXIV is probably the best social mmo with one of the most accepting and engaging communities.
FFXIV Combat and the Job System:
A FFXIV Review in 2023 wouldn’t be complete without talking about the amazing combat. This is a tab target combat, most similar to World of Warcraft. But with one huge difference, it takes a LONG time for it to pick up. You get your spells and abilities slowly, levelling is slow and the global cooldown is 2.5 seconds. So one of the biggest complains is that the combat feels slow compared to other MMOs
But it honestly does get better. By the end game you’re weaving buffs, attacks and this has some of the most challenging content, in the form savage and ultimate raids. Some characters are also faster than others and what it might miss out on in rotation, it always makes up for in mechanics. You’ll constantly be moving, dodging, and working on mechanics in fights.
FFXIV uses a job based system, which is essentially classes from other MMOs, except they are all available on one character. Playing a warrior and wanting to play a rogue, you just go to the rogue trainer in the city and press a button to switch between classes. This is one of the coolest parts about FFXIV, that you can level all jobs on one character.
A downside to this is, each character is role locked. Unlike in WoW, where if you’re a paladin you can be a tank, a healer or a dps. In FFIXV each job has fixed role. For example, warriors can only be tanks, paladins can only be tanks. Healing jobs can only be healers. FFXIV follows the healer trinity system of every bit of content needing a tank, healer and dps. But because everyone can do every job, most people have a tank or healer leveled, making content with friends or randoms a lot more accessible.
On top of this there is very minimal customization. In order to keep things balanced, all classes are fully fixed. No talent tree, no specializations, pretty much one end game gear set. Your warrior, black mage, bard is exactly the same as every other warrior, black mage and bard. Which makes things incredibly balanced, but a little dull.
The FFXIV Endgame Experience
FFXIV endgame content has its strengths and weaknesses. I’d say there are 3 endgames; the stuff do you on your own, pve and pvp. So first off the single player content:
Solo Content: There is a lot of solo content at endgame – There are a bunch of tribes, these are your daily quests that give you outfits and mounts for building reputation.
A huge crafter gatherer system with 8 crafting jogs and 3 gathering that cba all be levelled up. These all have full story quests too. You can be a carpenter and make items for houses, a culinarian focusing on raid food or a blacksmith making endgame gear. The gathering professions are also super in-depth, go on fishing trips out to sea, scour the world for rare timed resources.
Endwalker released an island sanctuary where you can catch and tame wild animals, grow crops and build up your island. An absolute win for anyone looking to just getaway on their own little piece of land.
PvE Content: Players looking to group up with others have tons of dungeons, multiple trials, 8 man raids, 24man raids. Rogue like deep dungeons, and more! The FFXIV Endgame really is a great experience for group PvE players and has to be one of the big things to talk about in this FFXIV Review. The quality of every bit of endgame is so high, unique written music, exciting zones and bosses.
Players looking for challenge have some of the hardest content in the game, savage raiding which is probably somewhere between heroic and mythic raids in WoW. There is even ultimate’s, which are so hard they’re only cleared by the smallest portion of the player base.
Endgame Gearing: One warning I will give in this FFXIV Review in 2023, is about the pve endgame, is set your expectations for the gearing and progression. There is only two good ways to gear, through tomestones which you get for doing normal dungeons and content, and then savage raid gear. That’s it, there’s is no open world gear, or pvp gear. And if you get amazing savage raid gear, it’s only really useful in those raids. Combined with having no talent trees, specialisations or ways to progress, you’re not on the same gear treadmill as most MMORPGs. It’s something I don’t like. But a lot of people love that about FFXIV so wanted to mention it.
PvP Content: For every positive thing to say about the group pve content, the pvp is like very meh. It exists but it’s really not FFXIVs strong point in my opinion. Theyve done a lot to revamp it in endwalker, but it feels feels flat. No open world and only limited instances content – Your abilities are stripped down so you only have a handful of spells and gear is equalized so everyone is even – which just leads to a very dampened watered down experience. Like I say it’s okay, but pvp is one of the reasons I am subscribed to both WoW and FFXIV.
FFXIV Review Summary: Should You Play FFXIV in 2023?
So overall should you play FFXIV in 2023?
I think FFXIV does a lot of things differently to other mmos and that’s why it’s done so well. But it’s definitely not for everyone. If you’re looking for an mmorpg with an incredible single player story, amazing focus on solo and social content then ff14 is the best mmo for you. If you’re looking for an intense endgame pvp experience, I’d say there are much better out there, even to say most other mmos I’ve played do it better.
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