Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn – Expectations

I haven’t played much of any MMO in about eight or nine months, since I put down Guild Wars 2 and DC Universe Online. Both were excellent games, especially for MMOs, but my Jack Russell-like attention span kicked in and I moved on to other less-time intensive games. Since then I’ve spend about 30 minutes in the Neverwinter and haven’t felt the need to try anything else MMO-wise.

Until now. During PAX, one MMO was consistently talked about, praised and referenced – Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Aside for FFXIV’s connection issues (more on this later), I didn’t hear a single negative thing about the game, which is rare for almost any game, much less an MMO. This, paired with my recent playthrough of Final Fantasy VI, kicked my old MMO addiction into high gear.

Unfortunately, the day before I decided I suddenly wanted to try an MMO again was the day that Square also made a decision – close digital downloads for FFXIV until more servers could be added and their already paying customers were able to connect. While I think this was a great move on Square’s part, it left me waiting over two weeks with my expectations rising. It gave me a lot of time to think about MMOs I’ve played and just what I really wanted out of FFXIV.

Who cares about chocobos? MAGITEK ARMOR MOUNTS!

GW2 and DCUO really spoiled me when it came to MMOs. They each had interesting play-style choices (active dodging, adventure-game style click-to-fight), a way to avoid the downsides of the Trinity (‘the trinity is dead,’ compensating buffs), and a unique flavor (a large, beautiful world, the huge scope of the DC Comics universe). The lack of some of these things was what made me spend 30 minutes and only 30 minutes in Neverwinter (though Charles has done a good job convincing me that maybe that was a mistake); nothing about Neverwinter jumped out at me.

Really, though, my expectations of Final Fantasy XIV all come from it being Final Fantasy. Sure, I’d be interested in any MMO with interesting mechanics and a good flavor, but Final Fantasy is a household name among nerds, a dynasty of gaming and the series that many of us cut our teeth as gamers on. When I think Final Fantasy, I think interesting leveling systems (everybody can shut up, Junction was great), lots of combat and epic stories.

With other MMOs, it’s rare for me to come to the table with very many expectations. ‘Don’t be WoW,’ has been about my only criteria – which is, since WoW’s release, actually been pretty difficult for some MMOs. I want more out of FFXIV, though. The nice thing is that I think Square-Enix wants the same thing, and it’s great to see.

Way back at PAX 2010 I played one of the first demos of FFXIV (pre-A Realm Reborn). FFXIV Version 1 was pretty, but that was about all it had going for it. I hated the control scheme and UI, and beyond that, nothing else about the game jumped out at me. I wasn’t the only one unimpressed with Version 1 and it became pretty obvious something had to happen or FFXIV was going to become yet another quickly dead in the water MMO. Square-Enix didn’t take long to kill FFXIV Version 1 and begin work on A Realm Reborn. It’s looking like that choice, while risky, ended up being an excellent move.

The destruction of FFXIV 1.0 was due to a bad case of Bahamut, because Final Fantasy.

I think that in that choice to end Version 1 and rework the game into ARR, we really see that Square-Enix is thinking about regard for the franchise. Final Fantasy hasn’t been doing so well in fan regard for the last few years – FFXIII and its sequel are some of the most unpopular Final Fantasy games of all time. And while Square’s sexulization of FFXIII main heroine Lightning pisses me off something fierce, I do think a lot of details for the FFXIII trilogy-closer, Lightning Returns, make it look like a pretty sweet game (stuff like the ability to kill ALL MONSTERS in the world and get rare loot for doing so, a near-constantly ticking clock that forces you to manage what you do as the world marches towards apocalypse, replayability with new game plus, etc).

FFXIV: ARR proved to be far more popular at launch than Square was expecting, leading to some extreme server problems. Server log-in issues persisted but it only took a few days (four days after early access, one day after full release) for Square to make what had to be a hard choice for any large company – cut off digital sales. This is of course, as I mentioned, right when I decided ‘I should play this game!’

It’s taken about two and a half weeks for Square to reopen digital downloads and as I said, I’ve been thinking a lot about FFXIV in the meanwhile. As I sit here, finally able to download the game, I think I’ve come to the conclusion, in a very generalized way, about what my expectation for FFXIV is and why I bothered having any expectations for yet another MMO in a long series of MMOs.

‘Because Final Fantasy’ is a really good reason, sometimes.

Square-Enix was the company that taught me what ‘RPG’ means. I want FFXIV to be a great game because I want the Final Fantasy series to start feeling like it did the first time I heard Liberi Fatali or One Winged Angel or Dancing Mad. I have expectations for FFXIV because Square has done a great job in making me excited for an MMO again and in making me feel like they give a damn about people paying them money.

What it comes down to is that I (and many, many other fans like me) just want Final Fantasy to be awesome again and maybe, just maybe, FFXIV could be a step in the right direction.

Come back in the near future for a follow-up and we’ll find out if Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was able to live up to any of these expectations or if Hannah has YET ANOTHER MMO to rant about.