Final Fantasy 14 - A Review of the new most played MMO in the world 

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"But fighting a train as the first boss is just weird for anyone that haven't played the original game" Bad example on this one, I have never played a single ff game before 14, and I was so excited to fight a train.

I’ve never played FF14 online ever in my life, but I sat and watched all 2 hours of this. You actually made me want to start my journey. Thank you for your content.

I never touched a final fantasy game before this, but after watching both hours of this video I decided to give ffxiv a try. Currently about 250hrs in post stormblood/pre shadowbringers and I've honestly never had this much fun with a game, let alone an MMO. Genuinely glad you decided to make this review and offer so many people who otherwise would never be aware of this game an introduction! Love your videos, honestly this one acted as somewhat of a gateway to your channel!

Just here to say regarding older content being super easy, they have addressed some of it with patch 6.1, and it is so much more enjoyable now. Got the ultimate weapon fight in a roulette the other day, and was able to (for the first time) hear the entire song and get halfway through the Ultima cast. Really hoping they continue to update older content like that.

As someone who has only played FFXIV as my FF game I can only disagree on not liking the omega and eden bosses or feeling disconnected. I found them really enjoyable and getting a glimpse of the older games was fun. Seeing peoples reaction when they saw these and got nostalgic was wholesome. I like them and their very unique mechanics.

I'd classify the endgame as: 1. Economic - Crafting, Gathering, or farming rare items for sale on the marketboard 2. Fashion Fantasy XIV - Collecting glamour items or decorations for housing. 3. Raiding - doing end-game content while it's relevant and challenging. 4. Social - Building RP venues, running events, and so on.

Strong agree on the bizarrely limited number of faces in FF14 (especially for a game that focuses so much on you having a singular protagonist character). Really weird that this has never been changed, especially given the massive number of other cosmetics. I frequently run into my character's many twin sisters (like Rowena).

I really appreciate that you aren't just willing, but never fail to go into the emotions evoked by games. Too many on this platform get lost in the objective facts about games without focusing in on how that can make a player feel (though they've definitely got anger covered). It really makes your channel stand out, and I respect you a ton for it.

Comfort games really do have their place, the way they feel like home, being centered and at peace in them and their tasks, their communities, our memories in them. Whilst I myself am not really an MMO person the later part of the video really captures that feeling I get from my comfort games.

Just started Heavensward. The new Expansion start, at least for that, is slightly on the slogging side, and the wonderment gets strained a little but, so far I'm really enjoying it. Some of the AAR and pre-Heavensward Storyline are great. And people in my FC are telling me that AAR is the weakest, so, its like, if I think thats great, I'm in store for something special. If folks see this comment, stick it out, find a good FC, and talk to people, it makes this game even more incredible. Even if your shy, a lot of people in FF14 are pretty accepting, and understanding.

I really wish that SE would do more of something similar to the Delivery Moggle questline where you simply travel around the world and talk to various random NPCs. It made the world so alive and live-in as opposed to the massive empty zones that you rarely revisit.

Man I remember trying to load into ul'dah on release day and the absolute mess the launch was, then reading about (Nobu, maybe?) breaking down crying and apologizing for how bad it all was. Thats when I knew this game was going to be great one day. And now it is. Or has been? Just came back today. I'm really happy for all the devs. They deserve this And yeah. Ifrit used to be way different. My fondest memory is the healer for our group dropped but I was playing arcanist so I healed and had carbuncle in the off tank role, back when carbuncle had actually use, pulling enmity when the tank got low and I was waiting for pot cds or cool downs. What a fun fight that was

No game has made me feel every single possible emotion multiple times throughout the experience. Final Fantasy 14 is an immaculate video game that can only be described as a journey

I agree with a lot of your criticisms, but I do feel the need to point out a minor overlooked aspect, when you were discussing larger scale 24-man content and wanting to make challenging stuff they actually have experimented with that and I honestly find it some of the more refreshing stuff they've put in. Namely BA and DRS. Granted those aren't as easily accessible as an alliance roulette.

You're probably the most fair and open-minded videogame video essay/review channel on this website and I've been watching video essays for so many years lmao. I love your channel!

It's been almost a year ago or so since Endwalker released and I still can't get over how good the story for this game has been so far. I honestly didn't think it was possible to write such an incredible story within the format of a video game let alone an MMORPG of all things. I honestly had such a hard time getting through the first expansion, but man am I ever glad I stuck with it! I have never been so emotionally invested in a story before.

I haven't related to a video this hard in a long time. As a relatively recent 14 player, and a retired WoW player that started in Wrath of the Lich King: I understand everything you're saying on another level.

That whole final section really got to me. That feeling of having a home to return to, a world that you have all these memories and stories about, I know it well. So many games over the years that I have played, I've had those moments of reflection, of remembering the good times whether it be in an MMO or any other genre. Memories of playing Halo 3 with friends, of my first time using cheats to spawn in all kinds of things in Age of Empires 2 or GTA. Could I go play those games again now? Yes. Would it be the same? Never again. But FFXIV has been an exception to the rule. I mostly play the game to raid and have done since I started in ARR and when a new raid tier comes out and I get into it with my friends to learn the fights, it is just like those other times when we did it last tier or 2 years ago or 4 years ago etc. All those old moments and memories are still fresh and aren't fading away into a distant past of 'better days' lost forever. The story of the game also does this so well. To explain my favourite moment of the new expansion without giving any spoilers... It was a song. A song that was in a cinematic years ago that I thought was so awesome and amazing that I decided to try out this MMO called Final Fantasy 14. I have always loved that cinematic and that song and know it by heart... Then they break it out in a huge story moment and the lyrics clicked for me and the meaning of it went to a whole new level. That old memory, the old day gone by moment of me being so amazed at a cinematic that I bought the game had been brought back and heightened to a ridiculous degree. 8 years of investment into this world and loving the story. 8 years of looking back and listening to that song, and somehow they managed to make me look back at the lyrics in new ways that I had never thought of before, with fresh eyes and a new incredible moment born from my old one. Never has another game even come close to doing the things that FFXIV does to me. But I hope that one day, they will.

Your 1:02:30 part about Ultima is spot on. I remember fighting the MSQ fight and feeling extremely lukewarm about it but then I somehow randomly unlocked Minstrel's Ballad Ultima and it was quite literally the most exhilarating time I've had with the game for the 60+ hours I've had with the game up to that point. The fight being actually challenging, the music, everything just felt right for the first time, It finally cemented that feeling that I've found something special since WOTLK. now over 6 months later since the fight mentioned and I have over half the jobs at 90, full blown mentor, completed current savage tier and many previous savage content amongst other things and I'm having a blast.

01:35:49 "Dungeons don't feel like real places we're exploring." Unfortunately they tried doing more unusual dungeons like "The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak" or "Cutter's Cry" that had a little more forced exploration and a less obvious direct path to take, but players just end up finding the most efficient paths regardless. I think Toto-Rak might even be among most players' least favorite dungeons if you ask them. It's also interesting to note that both dungeons I listed had equivalents in 1.0, so perhaps their less-direct quality was due to that, being based off of dungeons that were originally VERY large and vast and required exploration.

I far prefer the focus on story where it doesn't require much actual gameplay in the MSQ. Because I can freely choose to do gameplay when I want to and just enjoy the story otherwise. One of the biggest downsides of ARR to me was the amount of times the story was interrupted so I could kill some things with my whole 3 abilities and the sheer amount of dungeons. Out here in Endwalker I can enjoy the best story the franchise has ever told, but take a break and play a different job and just do whatever I want.

Re: The story standing between them and "endgame". Much of the game, and its 10 year history, is evergreen content. ARR least of all, in terms of tuning and some meh dungeons, but I run Crystal Tower at least every week, for currency or EXP. Players not at the "end" are not left behind.

To be honest, I clicked on this video fearing what my favorite game critic will have to say about my favorite game, and I did not expect I would end up almost crying by the end. Well done.

People have such nostalgia for things like "spamming in chat all day hoping someone will notice" but they absolutely never remember that somewhere along the way people stopped responding, stopped participating, and things sucked. The newer systems came BECAUSE things sucked at some point. The population dropped, things changed, people didn't want to, and we got faster instanced systems. They also seem to not remember that "social" aspects of these periods of time weren't even real. You shouted over and over, found a group, and then blasted through dungeons in silence anyway. Same thing, different style. People remember all of the crazy down time in between where they DIDNT HAVE A CHOICE and "made friends" and "socialized" but that wasn't part of the game, that was a result of how slow and tedious trying to play efficiently was. I remember. I don't love the overpaced instanced lack of social systems we have in some games, but games should focus on giving us TOOLS to socialize and have fun, not attempt to cater to the old idea that sitting around doing nothing was some amazing enriched environment. It wasn't. We can't get that back. It was a positive result from a complete time waste of a system, and we didn't have a choice.

In a Realm reborn we were trying to finish our relic weapon quest by killing titan since it was the most advanced thing out, and my friend was a dragoon. They had like 2 second jump animations that would eventually get shortened A LOT over time, so he kept dying. My friend and I bought him a cake and put the words "Dodge the bombs bitch" on the cake. I also remember when leviathan came out and we all played in the same room on our ps3s, but my friend and I bought ps4s because we the lag for the leviathan slap was unreal and the twintania bombs was so bad. So my friend (the dragoon again) would watch my screen so he knew the position of the bombs and the leviathin slap. Good times. Excited to see this, even though I haven't played it in a couple years.

"Everyone has a vault of happy memories associated with this game" ...and a VAULT of sad memories too.

Great video but you focused so heavily on the combat experience. One of the most amazing things about FFXIV is how many non combat things you can do. Crafting and gathering are involved systems with lots of side content, diadem, ishgard restoration, collectables, ocean fishing, relics, expert crating. And these things are relevant in the end game as well.

The whole encounter with ShB's last 5.0 boss, and how the music plays into it. How I'll always cry when that guitar riff kicks in during the cutscene. EW is good, but it's not yet matched that moment for me.

I would highly recommend Baldesion Arsenal and Delubrum Savage, as these represent Unique 24+ man content that represents actual themed location, punishing mechanics, and can reach a challenge level similar to Extreme Trials. Its hard to find a group at times, but I think it will be a very eye opening experience on what this game can do. I would also argue that the Challenge Floors of Palace of the Dead and Heaven on High provide a true dungeoning experience with different map layouts, punishing exploration and a few unique rewards. Eureka as a whole, which is required to unlock Baldesion Arsenal, represents a more challenging open world experience, and Bozjas Critical Engagements can also be very punishing open world activitys, Its Duels provide a unique experience as well. These are all entirely option activitys, but have unique rewards of many spades. I cannot recommend this content enough to people who desperately want something different in the game. I will also add Blue Mage content represents a very unique experience as well, and breaks the homgenization loop we've grown used to. I agree that we could use a *LOT* more of this kind of content, but its not completely absent from it.

this was my first ever mmo and also my first ever ff game! i was SO overwhelmed at the beginning, but i just kept telling myself "once you understand it will all be worth it." and im so glad i stuck to it, because this game is my absolute favorite and the community is so amazing! i would be at a totally different spot in my life had i not played this game and met the people i did. ive made life long friends and even my partner through my very first FC on this game. ill forever be indebted to this game and its community ♥

People always forget that ARR was developed in 2 years while maintaining FF14 1.0

Your channel is the only one that can keep me interested in a 2 hour long video of a game I've only ever been mildly interested in and can make me feel so guilty about not being more invested in it since release. The payoff from watching your videos are so satisfying and I hope you never stop making them.

The music is so good that just hearing you talk about how the music makes you feel nearly made me teary eyed. What an incredible game, I'm hoping it continues to get better and better.

I agree in almost all of your point except story pacing and patch cycle that you find it predictably boring. I think this a greatest strength of FFXIV that you know exactly what to expect and it does not waste you money and time.

something very smart about the job system is that there job specific stories for each class including none combat classes, its not nearly as fleshed out as anything in the main story but it is a nice way to give extra context to the world and classes and at times it does have genuinely great moments and payoffs for those who pay attention and continue it all the way to Endwalker

You deserve to be awarded a medal for this video. This is a lot of quality content from beginning to end

Haven't finished the full video, definitely disagree with the lack of interaction in duty groups. They're only as quiet as you allow them to be. I always tend to strike up conversations and in eight of out ten cases, people are receptive to it. I believe "conditioning" from World of Warcraft plays a large part into that.

I couldn't disagree more about the leveling experience, to me it's infinitely better to level your first job through the MSQ and have all the extras for trying out other jobs, and the ARR patches are great after the pruning.

I think your perspective on a lot of these topics differs quite a bit than a newer player who would traditionally be looking for a game review, and because of this I disagree with a decent amount of points made in this video. That being said, I seriously respect the quality and dedication you've clearly put into this, and appreciate your outlook of trying to point out that FF14 isn't perfect, with constructive feedback on what could be done better.

This whole review was amazing. And as a wow player since original TBC that stuck with blizzard through goods and bads always pushing for the cutting edge, i really sympathize with you and thank you for the fair comparisons. Now in short, I ll give you my experience in ffxiv and what i found here compared with wow and why now i would chose FF over WoW everyday, adding to your arguments. First i started playing it for ultimates, raids and dgs. And as enjoyable i found them, and quite diverse flashy and challenging, i really loved the satisfaction you get from a smaller group. Everyone has to do something, isnt RNG 3 ppl out of 20 get to do a mechanic rest just blast. We were all as good or as bad, felt more relatable to each other, and as you said cozy/intimate atmosphere. However.. as pleasant as this was, this wasnt the real reason for me sticking to it. Eventually raids were cleared and alts geared. What now? i really started exploring the game.. and aside of PotD, crafts/gather, side quests like Hildisbrand and such, i started to interact more and more with ppl, actually socializing more and more than i did in wow. And to my surprise i found ppl are really nice and opened minded and i dare to say happy to socialize back. Speaks alot when players are happy they tend to share that happiness with other players, compared with, where my wow experienced were most of them felt frustrated.. as i did. Didnt have the mood or time to interact with someone after grinding my borrowed power for the last 2-3 even more hours a day and then raid afterwards. Now coming back to FF, the social part grew up on me and eventually got into housing and its RP. i know, i know most ppl think of ERP. No, some different and pure. Actually tailors or blacksmiths opening their small appartment or house as a shop, trying on the outfits on manekins, previews of carpenters masterworks etc. And it didnt stop there, i found out theaters, where a small or long show was presented, house arranged like a theater or cinema, my mind was blown; Bards playing as an orchestra, amazing performances sometimes long for even few hours; whole guilds/statics/fc coming together to wish someone happy birthday at the FC house while actually holding a party, same thing with weddings; casinos and Nightclubs that were hosting 1-2 or 3 DJs and we were all listening to him/her on twitch while socializing and dancing with your partner or grp of friends, all taken care of the hosts + security,bartenders,dancers, all in a house that was actually shaped as a nightclub or casino. I was simply in awe and amazed and i wanted more and more of it. And all this happening and revealing itself to me at start of covid period, left me really impressed. So impressed actually i took it 1 step further and became one of the DJs in these clubs, making me continue a hobby that i always loved even when the real life clubs were closed. For this ff will always have a special place in my heart. So i came to FF to farm raids and dgs and reputation and ended up doing that but also farming glams and emotes and growing my friends list with wonderfull ppl, while exploring the game and riding the wholesome moments together. Amazing simply amazing from my pov. FF as a game has the tools and resources and an awesome community to keep you and itself happy for many years to come with our without "newest" content released, and i am honored and humbled to be part of something like this. And as wow goes.. while i am still playing it and somewhat attached to my guild there, but i ve never experienced something similar in it while playing it for 15 years. And if i were to choose now 1 from the 2, would be FF without hesitation. ♥ Take care NKB, will deff binge watch some of your videos. Glad i found you buddy. /bow

I think your way of categorizing endgame lacks to mention ffxiv's enormous RP/socializing community and how a lot of the game's systems and new releases directly support it (half the emotes exist for RP purposes only + now fashion accessories + dungeon explorer mode etc) and WHY someone would want to gather collectibles outside of completion, but i understand how that might not be something someone focused stricly on raiding might think about. many people's "endgame" is treating the game like Second Life, since the game does such a great job at supporting that, and i think it's also a big part of its success. cool video otherwise though

Regarding interacting with the world around you going away after ARR, that applies only for the MSQ. You can still interact with the world with the gathering jobs and leveling secondary combat jobs while doing side quests.

Great video! So glad that they fixed up story dungeons in ARR to address your critique surrounding the weight of the fights!

I think you missed a core, vital aspect of FFXIV and that is it's absolutely MASSIVE RP (including eRP) community, and the fact that a crap ton of players play FFXIV purely for cosmetics and customizations, be it their character, their chocobo, or their house. (Not to be confused with collectors, which I feel are more like complete-ists.) Several people in my FC have tons of alts solely to have different "characters." Characters that then have different vibes to them, aka, would wear different glams. They would run raids over and over just to get a specific piece of gear/glam. The extent that a lot of people go to just for a house is insane. There's tons and tons of Discord severs solely for the buying, selling, and decorating of houses. There's also the fact that you can get married in game. People will host events/parties at their houses (like art parties - the art community in FFXIV is also huge,) or turn their houses into bars and clubs. So the social aspect of the game is ginormous, even though you repeatedly stressed that it can be played alone...that's extremely rare for most people to do. Whether it's joining an FC, joining linkshell groups and Discords in order to know when certain fates or hunts spawn, etc. You typically end up forming bonds with people, even just casual raid ones (or more hardcore ones like "statics" for raids.) So yeah, I would say that the "aesthetics/RPers" are the 4th group of people/players. Having said that, I completely agree with you about everything else. I would add that I really hate the tasks where it's basically a wild goose chase where you're made to go talk to one person, then another either at the other end of town, or a different place entirely, and they keep sending you to different people for you to just chat to them. It's bad enough having to do that sort of thing where you're just clicking through chat while being able to stand still, let alone where you sent all over the place for the same exact effect.

MMOs are one of the hardest games to make. In the end when you started to talk about the music you got me and yes it is one of the reason I love the game. And yes for me too is a home I can return to. What a great review, just wanted to say thank you for making it

1:36:15 "Square Enix never felt the need to experiment a little with them [dungeons] and create something outside this one standard template" They did experiment, they came up with the MSQ dungeons that everyone loathes and have to be bribed with copious amounts of XP to run.

The level of uncomfortable-ness? In that sponsorship made it hilarious. Thank you for the laugh. Love the content man!

This video is a gorgeous testament to the beauty of MMORPG's. Well done, you've earned my sub through and through.

I havn't finished watching yet so idk if it has been mentioned but I think one factor that contributed to its success is FFXIV has an expanded free trial which 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.

They do have harder 24 man content. There was Baldarsian Arsenal in Eureka and even more so Delubeum Reginae Savage 24-48 man content.

It'd be interesting to see you do a followup since you spend so much time on The ARR Problem which they've recently fixed a very large handful of the stuff you were talking about, with the trusts and the final dungeons being broken up and such.

Came back to this video just to watch Never's take on the Manscaped ad again. It's so beautiful. Just like MMO players.

I don't particularly find the "glacial nature," cutscene heavy story with a lack of player agency to be something bad that I put up with. I actively like this type of game, and I don't know if I'd have stuck with it if it were faster paced and branching. I lose my interest quickly in games like that.

It's uncanny how you've put all the criticisms I've personally had with the game into words. This game really is special, and your video is testament to that.

one of the best thing about collecting mounts is that they usually play the boss music they drop from when you ride them

I am really glad that I took my courage to start this game. Having a blast - the feel trains in the story is exceptionally good for this genre.

Great review. I fully agree with most of the things you said and mostly agreed with the rest. The only things I would have liked to mention were Bozja and Eureka. The place where they tried new experimental content (like more demanding bigger group challenge you said the game lacked Delubrum Reginae (Savage), or demanding solo fights). Sure, it's not wholly unique, it's still meant for ffxiv fans, and the gear it gives is mainly meant as glamour or for jobs you neglected to gear so they can have it as well. Still, at least for me, they were pretty fun, quite long-lasting content bits.

Jesus Christ, I've been playing for three years now and literally jumped out of my chair in surprise at the Ultima Weapon theme. I had no idea!

It’s great to be watching this video over a year after it’s released, and see that the developers have actually worked on many things you mentioned! Fixing ARR, harder dungeons (criterion), so on and so forth

I've never played a final fantasy game before and have minor experience with mmos in general, but after starting this game a few days ago man I'm having a blast and cant remember a time that I've felt so good playing a game

This is one of the best, honest, fair, and grounded reviews of the game I've ever seen. Somehow you've managed to capture what I consider to be the essence of the game and communicate it in a way that is not only easily understood, but felt. From another die-hard FFXIV fan, Thank you.

That last part really got to me. When you said "the future is bright" I got teary eyed. FFXIV has been my home for so long. It's the place I return to when I'm sad or stressed. Every I teleport to Ul'dah is like receiving a warm hug, when I hear the day theme I feel invigorated and at night, I'm soothed by night theme. It feel pointless to get so emotional over something like a game, but it is this community, the developers and the content that makes this game so memorable and enduring. Thank you!

What you're saying here at 01:15:15 about a lof of important pre-Heavensward context in post-ARR quests is often why people who skipped to get the Heavensward are often the ones who don't understand why some people feel so strongly about Haurchefant and his importance in that expansion, since so much of his introduction and buildup is in post-ARR content. Same is true for some other plot points, but he's one of the most noticeable to me.

I come back to this video of yours every so often, man. And the end bit about memories gets me emotional every time. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I was absolutely gutted when I saw the issues you'd be having with age restrictions. I really hope they are sorted now because your videos are among the finest on the platform and it's cultural robbery to prevent the world from having more! So far this video hasn't disappointed at all. Another booming success and one that I'm going to enjoy watching (albeit in sections haha)

Thank you for this! I tend to agree on most points, and it really is as concise of an in-depth critique one can make with a game as expansive as FFXIV. One more thing that I feel you glossed over in the story part is the actual accessibility of the lore compared to WoW. For WoW if you want to know things and whys and wherefores you have to go outside of the game. Read books and so on. It wants you to already know who all those characters are and why they matter. FFXIV delivers all it's cosmic and personal lore in game. And while that does tend to lead to lengthy pieces of exposition, they have gotten so good at them with the last two expansions I'm actually looking forward to the lectures. Ascian and world lore delivered by Emet-Selch I would say was a personal highlight for me in Shadowbringers. P. S. I actually shed a tear in the end when "Our Song of Hope" started. Beautiful work.

59:30 as someone who's never played a game with this sort of targeting system or way of moving the character around and who has to look at my hotbar a lot to see what skills I'm using I really really appreciate the way ARR dungeons are more about easing into getting comfortable with all of that stuff, like, yeah I get to sastasha or whatever the first dungeon is called and like I (a conjurer pre lvl 30) only have like, stone, aero, and like a single target heal, but up to that point I never had to use those skills while also managing teammates healthbars or being mindful of aggro and juggling all of the skills together so I can effectively heal AND damage, so when I did start unlocking trials, then full party content, then alliance raids, then hard/extreme stuff (I'm still in the post ARR before Heavensward), I've felt adequately prepared now to learn that content because I'm not looking at my hotbar as much, I've been given ample time to explore my skills and figure out what their place is, and I don't feel like I'm fighting with my character or the camera to make more precise movements and move where I want to go

something i'd hope you mentioned was how a lot of extra content way later in the game sends you back to early game areas, keeping the areas that would be 'empty' in other games nice and lively. also wonder what your thoughts are on the new variant dungeon. i think it's a huge breath of fresh air an i really hope we see a lot more of them in the future.

Fuck man that ending with the song of hope part, so well said and edited. I loved the analysis of why FFXIV has worked out as well, I tend to agree.

Story is why I loved Guild Wars 1 and it’s expansions so much as a teen. Story is certainly what stays with you in the end.

How...did a *review* video...make me tear up multiple times? This was so good. Spot on, interesting, and insightful

There is something about FF14 that's just so cozy and homey like no other game to me. It gives me that feeling of when I was a kid logging into an MMO for the first time and feeling immersed in a new home, but it gives me that feeling every time I log back in. Everything from the music and art direction, even down to the soft looking menus and UI being pleasent to look at.

I just have to mention The Secret World as the MMO that also put the story and the world above everything else. And it was / is truly outstanding in that regard.

I don't think "too much story" is a valid criticism. The overall enjoyment of story exposition is personal so you can't generalize what you think is a good amount of exposition to what you think is common sense. The user reviews tells it all. It's also arguable that much content had to be cut because endwalker was supposed to be two expansions - but Yoshi and the team decided that it'd feel better to merge the content in one expansion, which explains the pacing feeling very slow at the start (where they probably had a lot of content already written and developed) while if feels very fast in the last zone (where they probably had more drafts than finished works). Also, It's a bit disingenuous to say that the story plot is too convoluted. The story builds up organically most of the time and the game takes its time to explain why and how each macguffin works. The fact that the you can notice in the later expansions that there's always a theme that is expressed multiple times in different forms and point of views just makes the message at the end much more vivid and sincere than in other games.

The music is actually what drew me into this game. So good.

Keep coming back here. So well done

I think the problem with experimenting with dungeon design is that with large open world dungeons, people just optimize routes and skip most of the dungeon anyway so it’s not really an exploration unless you and your whole party are doing it for the first time. Else new players want to explore and old players want to save time. Reasons to explore aren’t great either as there will always be better gear the next dungeon or side quest. Having large scale “dungeons” like Eureka or Bozja are fun but Eureka is dead nowadays and Bozja is mostly for EXP. They just streamlined dungeon design as they did most of the troublesome but more complex mechanics throughout the game. Some people see the complexity as fun (like back when aggro for mobs was actually something you had to think about and work around) but players then started to find ways to ignore mechanics in pre-fight rituals. Devs saw this and just streamlined that part of the gameplay. I think more boss variety (RNG mechanics and less obvious telegraphs that require you to pay more attention) would be fun though, which they have been doing.

I always appreciate when you upload, voice is so calming and I love how these are hours long. Thank you for making these!

This video is genuinely INCREDIBLE. Really amazing work covering the game and I loved watching the entire video. 11/10 amazing work :)

Good work. Enjoyed this while starting a new character. Only made it into Stormblood before, and am now committed to making it to end game before the next expansion!

Another aspect that's wholly unique to XIV is the deftness with which they've woven the story of the project as a unicorn comeback into the marketing and brand persona of the game itself. At this point it's hard to evaluate the game without also thinking about the team behind it. The combination of it being a project that should not have succeeded, much less become a keystone in propping up SE, and the ongoing level of detail and transparency the team provides in customer communication are what make the fan ardor so resilient. E.g. heaping praise on a $12/mo live service game despite hours-long service delays with no resolution in sight. Every criticism is softened and every accolade amplified by this "tempering" effect.

Just started playing it, now your review comes. Thank you for your bizarrely well researched and beautifully delivered reviews, NNB!

The main issue for most new players is having to play through the story to get anywhere in the game. While other MMOs are based on pure level and gear progression, FFXIV is based on story progression. It's a chore for a lot of people because they don't like story focused MMOs but want to play the rest of the content.

I should note that 1:02:30 Ultima problem is not an issue anymore - In 6.1 final dungeons/trials sequence of A Realm Reborn was completely redone, and you cannot skip Ultima cast anymore ;)

This was a pretty great and surprisingly heartfelt video. I really should give FF XIV a try. I bounced off of ARR a few years ago and never gave it another chance, but maybe this time I'll try to stick through it into Heavensword.

This was a joy to watch. Your insights and perspective, your ability to mix the good and bad make all of your videos a unique experience. Thank you for your work.

The boss themes really are fantastic. The soundtrack as a whole is great, but the boss tracks are dewfinitly where it really shines. My personal favourite is 'Wayward Daughter', Tsukuyomi's theme, but there are countless others. The lyrics are often great too.

Using the Hildibrand theme for your manscaped ad is the most genuis thing I've ever seen

I really like this nuanced take of ff14. We really need it tbh. However I do disagree with the lack of mention to rp in the endgame section. Even if it isn't for you, endgame in ffxiv isn't just raids and I think that's a big strength it has at least to people like me who doesnt care for any other mmos...

Endwalker having the Warrior of Light in the same pose as the FFXIV "OG" boxart was such a good bookend, an utter masterclass of a game and a story.

I.....actually watched thru the whole thing. Nice video! Haha, interesting that the final battles problem you mentioned had been fixed already

I miss the old Praetorium. You know, the one where you would set aside a full hour and a half of your day and playtime to queue up for "Main Scenario Quest Roulette" when you got together with 7 other people to complete the longest instance besides the 24mans at the time. when you got to use the magitek armour and there was always that one person that fell down the ramp out of the area and lost their armour (its okay i was that person one time) the one where it took time to kill Nero, where you could stack on Gaius when he used his AOE bleeding effect attack and the healers just spammed medica II the one where you could stand in the middle of the ultima weapon's first phase arena and dodge the "weight of the world" attack in the exact middle. the one where each time ultima weapon casted "Ultima" you always got a little spike of anxiety because you remember that one time where you didnt kill it fast enough. the one where it was hilariously easy to kill Lahabrea after killing the ultima weapon. OR the old castrum meridianum where you had to turn off the spotlights ASAP or youd TPK where you killed the black eft and there was that one person who didnt know to go down the trash chute. where you went off to find the magitek barrel and another person got lost getting back where you pulled literally all the enemies to those 4 lined up cannons and then played target practice with the enemies while the healers desperately spammed "Cure" over and over again where you had that epic battle with wave after wave after wave of imperial troops as Cid broke down the blast door where you raced to the searchlights and ignored all the enemies in the last area to proc the boss battle early. where you had to wait 8 hours until the magitek claws carried the ammo up to the cannons so you could kill livia sas junius. maybe im a nostalgic person, maybe i think about this differently from other people but i really loved doing that every day, it never got old.

This was pretty dang great. FFXIV being a "Home you can return to" put words to a feeling that I've had ever since I started in 2.0 and periodically came back every expansion. Great analysis. One thing that I found interesting is your comments about the post expansion MSQ's for each expansion. One thing about how it's structured is that you essentially get to experience a highly condensed version of that expansion's endgame (albiet much easier). Then again, I'm probably in the minority on that opinion, but I'm kind of saddened that they cut the MSQ quest down in that regard, since the post-ARR quests were a great time to level additional jobs, experience all the trials, work on the Coils Raid, etc. It's probably the same reason that I also think the MSQ being enough to fully level one job is great, since it gives you the opportunity to play other classes for the additional variety.

HEY Love your channel, this channel makes me think the hardest about topics I actually care about, so thanks for making your content, please don't stop anytime soon!

Wow I completely agree! Crazy to see this video go over a lot of stuff I had on my mind and more. Great vid man well done!

Am so glad you mentioned music, though it's not just the boss encounters. I went to the FFVII Concert at Royal Albert Hall last year and couldn't help but wonder how incredible it must be to hear Nobility Obliges live. Cracking video though mate fair play

Really nice to hear another vet's opinion(I have been playing since 2.0 launch and cleared every piece of content available ultimate/blue mage raids/DR savage) about some of the game's factors. I do disagree with you on a few things and found the overall tone of the video to be negative but that's fine with how much positivity the game gets from newer players now. There is harder 24 man content within the relic zones so that seemed a little off as part of your criticism for that not existing especially since it's not even particularly new in implementation of it's earliest form. But overall I do like your suggestions for ARR content and some of the critique in smaller factors. I think the XIV team does try more risks than you made it sound like they do they frequently just end up as smaller scale projects or side activities at the end of the day. Dungeons were reduced in scope in the amount of the game they took up so things like relic zones, deep dungeon, blue mage, etc could elaborate on some of that alternative content that might offer unique or different types of challenge.

8:37 the point about QoL features like Dungeon/Duty finders reducing the importance of in-game community really hits home! Prior to FF14 I had only ever played F2P MMOs which often lack these types of convenience features (since anything convenient needs to be locked behind irl purchase to turn a profit, of course). One thing that those games always seemed to have that was missing for me for a long while in FF though was just... a more open/broad social aspect, I guess? I was amazed that I was able to play for hours and hours through the MSQ slowly making my way to level 35 or so without really needed to interact with other players at all outside of a "hi" and "gg" in dungeons. I set my sights on finding a compatible FC around that time because it very much felt like if I didn't go out of my way to find a social group to be a part of, it just wouldn't happen in this game. I luckily found an amazing FC shortly thereafter, but that sentiment still holds true for the most part. I know basically no one outside of my FC which is kinda sad lol. The price of convenience

Honestly as someone who's only Final Fantasy experience prior to 14 was Kingdom Hearts, Crisis Core, Dissidia, and Advent Children, I loved the Omega fights. It's just cool taking part in fanservice and fighting all these iconic villains that were pulled from the history of Final Fantasy.