So, I haven't posted in awhile even though I just said I was going to do so more often,but I have what I believe is a good reason. . . I bought Final Fantasy XIV for my PlayStation 4. now all my free time has gone into playing that. (I'm actually writing this at work. Shh don't tell anyone) That game is so fun!
For anyone who doesn't know, Final Fantasy XIV is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game done Final Fantasy style. If you haven't played a Final Fantasy game before, why are you reading this post? The main reason I upgraded to the ps4 as quickly as I did was because I wanted to play some of it's MMOs (mainly Elder Scrolls Online). I had decided that I wasn't going to buy this game and just save up my money for ESO, but PSN got me. I saw FFXIV was listed on their free-to- play category of games, so I downloaded it only to find that it was only free-to-play for people who had pre-ordered the game under the early access incentive. After I downloaded it, I couldn't get the thought of playing it out of my head. That was when the problems began! It took me over 12 hours from the time I purchased the game before I was able to play it. Once I got past that hiccup, I have barely put the game down.
Because it is a Final Fantasy game the game has to have an in-depth story told through long, beautifully designed cinematics. To my knowledge, those two things don't usually happen in MMOs (I'm not a giant player of MMOs so my knowledge is limited). I'm not terribly far in the main questline because I have been spending a lot of time trying to level up all of my character's stats. The leveling system is something I really like. You level up each of it character's classes as you use that class. You level up your archery skill as you kill enemies with a bow. You level up your leatherworking skill as you craft this made of leather. You level up your fishing skill as you catch fish. You. . . get the idea. This is great. This is the kind of leveling system I love because there is no limit to how you can make your character. As long as you are willing to put in the time, you can max out your character's stats. However there is one major flaw that irritates me: There is no overall level for your character. You can spend 20 hours playing as an archer and leveling up your character, switch your main-hand weapon which changes your class, and then only have about 60 HP instead of the 120 you have as an archer. You might think they do this to make it more challenging to level up all of the combat classes, but when you kill an enemy as a lower level class, you get a 50% experience bonus to help you level-up faster. I just wish my character could keep his UP the same no matter what class he is.
My other major concern is with the inventory. I can only carry 100 items at a time plus unlimited crystals and gil. Now 100 items may seem like a lot, it is not. Not when you are trying to be a master craftsman and horde crafting materials. The big problem comes from the high quality items. Each item can me normal or high quality which each take up an inventory slot. This causes your inventory to fill up quickly. Now there are some measures taken to try to alleviate the congestion of your inventory. One is the armoury chest. The armoury chest allows players to carry up two 25 more slots for each equipable item. The problem with this is each class is determined by by he weapon you hold, and there are 19 different classes. If you unlock all of them, there isn't much room for spare items you've obtained but are below the required level to use. So far I have only had a problem with this in the main-hand slot. The other is the company chests. Each alliance (or guild in other games) can unlock the company chests which can be shared by all members of the company or by few depending on how the company is set up. You can store items in here which may still be available when you want them later, or maybe something better will be there. And another thing they do is allow the purchase of houses. The houses cost A LOT. Some cost as much as 9 million gil and I have 30,000. So, I am not about to go that route anytime soon. I'm a border. I need more inventory space.
I really enjoy playing this game. It isn't perfect. I feel very strongly about the negative things I just mentioned, but I still love playing it. I have had it for about a week now and feel like I am nowhere near being close to the end. I feel like I will keep playing this game for a long time. I have missed all of the tv shows that I love this week. All except Game of Thrones. The only thing that will get me to put this game down is probably a better game (like ESO perhaps?) If you have any interest in this game pick it up. And find me running around Eorzea. I don't have anyone on my friends list who plays the game and am looking for the true MMO experience of gaming with others. Hopefully I will see you there.
