Listed: 5 Reasons You Need to Play Final Fantasy XIV .

Last week on Listed we poured one out in memory of Final Fantasy XI after the first of three content patches released that would wind the game’s decade long story to a close. Fortunately, that great legacy is carried on, if only in spirit, by XI‘s successor, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. While much of what made XI amazing isn’t present within XIV, A Realm Reborn is an incredible MMORPG worthy of recognition. This week, we’re counting down 5 reasons you should—assuming you aren’t—be playing this wonderful game.

 

The Group Content is Incredible

MMOs live and die by their content, specifically their group content—dungeons, raids, and other typically instanced battles. Final Fantasy XIV is a game that takes the lessons learned from decades of MMO design and implements them with such a careless ease it borders on remarkable. From level 15 onwards, players will be met with over 40 dungeons, raids, Primal battles, and more; all of them are glorious.

The group content in Final Fantasy XIV is nothing if not masterful. The boss battles are challenging and require a surprising amount of coordination and skill, especially their extreme mode varieties. Dungeons are varied and interesting, often telling self-enclosed stories that reach into the hard mode variants. They often employ unique mechanics for the party to tackle, and bosses require skillful execution of maneuvers and timings. If you love MMOs for their group content, then Final Fantasy XIV offers nothing but the best of the best.

The endgame raid, The Binding Coil of Bahamut, is the ultimate test of a party’s skill and resolve. The fights are painfully challenging, but they always feel fair, and the sense of accomplishment you have when you are finally victorious is intoxicating.

 

The Graphics and Music are Absolutely Breathtaking

Final Fantasy XIV is the rare game that’s both technically and artistically impressive. The environments are absolutely breathtaking. Hundreds of games are capable of wowing you, but XIV is a game that continues to do so even years after its launch. Watching the sunset as you race across the dusty plains of Eastern Thanalan, the spires of glowing crystals stretching skyward in the distance, is a truly remarkable site that never fails to amaze.

Punctuate those moments with a soundtrack that never fails to move you, with songs that can range from achingly gorgeous to dramatically climatic, and what you have is a game that will stay with you for years. There is so much attention and craftsmanship applied to every corner of Eorzea that the whole world feels like it was built as a love letter to the entire franchise.

Spend a sunny afternoon running around the seaside town of Limsa Lominsa and see if you can make it the whole time without once thinking, “wow, this is incredible.”

 

The Developers are Dedicated to New Content

In a time where many are questioning the validity of the subscription model, Final Fantasy XIV stands as remarkable argument in the favor of. Coughing up money each month to play sucks, but I never once felt cheated by handing over my hard-earned cash to Square Enix, as the developers have provided a staggering amount of new content. Content patches arrive roughly every season, and so far to date, each one has been a massive addition to the game.

Introducing a neverending stream of endgame content, but also expanding horizontally with personal housing, chocobo raising, and more, Final Fantasy XIV always feels like an incredible value. Yoshi P., the director of the game, truly feels like he lives and breathes Final Fantasy, I mean, the man cried during his apology for the game’s launch woes. It’s hard not to get swept up in the passion he and his team have for Eorzea, and you will always feel like you’re in good hands.

 

There is So Much to Do In and Out of Combat

A lot of MMOs feel very combat-centric, and in listing what Final Fantasy XI did right in last week’s column, I praised how the game had as much of a focus on community and storytelling as it did on combat. Final Fantasy XIV has been readily taking pages from its predecessor’s playbook.

With each new content patch, Square Enix has introduced whole new elements to the gameplay that afford players a wealth of opportunities outside of combat. Easily the biggest and most recent was the introduction of the Manderville Gold Saucer in patch 2.4. The Gold Saucer, taken from Final Fantasy VII, is the Las Vegas of Eorzea; a massive casino full of exciting mini games and of course, the addicting Triple Triad card game. Triple Triad isn’t just another mini game, but a fully fleshed out collectible card game with countless hours of strategizing and card hunting for those willing to pursue it.

Housing is also a massive system that inspires free companies (guilds) to work together to build their perfect headquarters. With an astonishing amount of furniture that can be crafted or dropped from bosses, free companies can style their house to perfectly suit their needs. Furthermore, Square also added chocobo stables that allow you to train your chocobo and feed them fruits to change their color.

All that doesn’t even mention systems like delivering mail for a moogle, hunts, treasure maps, one of the most involved crafting systems available, materia melding, sightseeing logs, challenges, and more.

 

The Job System is Unique and Innovative

The job system has been a staple of plenty of Final Fantasy titles, but XIV takes it to exciting new places with the inclusion of disciples of the hand—the crafting classes. Before, jobs were combat oriented, but with Final Fantasy XIV, players can hang up their swords and pick up a chisel and set out to become master craftsman.

Describing the depth and nuance of crafting would likely take me a whole article to explain, but suffice to say the system is deep and rewarding. Gone are the days of pushing buttons and watching meters fill. Crafting is as involved as combat, requiring timing, knowledge, and just a little luck.

The greatest part about the job system is how broadly it encompasses every aspect of XIV. You’ll never need to roll another character, because any time you’re wanting to freshen things up all you need to do is swap your weapon to become an entirely different class. Not only that, but there are plenty of benefits to levelling multiple classes, most important of those is having access to some of their abilities to help complement out your own. Furthermore, once you level a class to maximum level, you receive an instant boost to monster experience gains for all other classes you level, allowing you to level other classes much faster.

 

Final Fantasy XIV is a great game. While it departs significantly from its predecessor to give an experience far more akin to standard MMOs of this generation, XIV does so with such conviction and aplomb that even the most generic aspects of its gameplay feel fresh. If you’re tired of feeling cynical about MMOs Final Fantasy XIV is just about the best cure as there is. The community is warm and inviting, and the game is the perfect way to fall in love with MMOs all over again. With Heavensward due this June, Final Fantasy XIV looks like it’ll only be reaching higher and higher.