Eorzea Reborn

I finally got into the Final Fantasy XIV beta last week. A Realm Reborn is pretty much exactly what I thought it would be. Classic Final Fantasy MMO with a slightly modern flavor to it. It is however, nothing that is going to impress the new generation of jaded MMO gamers. I say that with a touch of sarcasm, but I believe that FFXIV will likely endear itself to the MMO gamer that started playing the genre before World of Warcraft. While the game has many of the modern nuances of quests, solo gameplay, and most of the modern conveniences of today’s MMO’s; it also harkens back to the Everquest era of party-first gameplay.

One thing I noticed right off the bat, is that FFXIV has a tutorial that is surprisingly newbie friendly. The game takes the first 30 minutes or so running you around the town trying to get you to understand how various systems work. Which is to say that for a veteran it can be a little tedious; the couple of levels you will accrue however should stem the tide of irritation quite nicely. More than any MMO I’ve played in the last few years, this is definitely the MMO to break in your significant other to the genre.

Is FFXIV the next big thing? Somehow I don't think so. It is however, a careful love affair of all the things we have loved over the last couple decades about the Final Fantasy series. In trying to give it a familiar yet new feeling, SquareEnix may have accidentally gave it exactly what it needs to carve out a niche of a strong gamer base.