Over the last decade, Final Fantasy 14 has transformed from a failure to one of the most-played multiplayer games in the entire world. A huge part of that success is how FF14 has broken the mold of MMOs, striking out in new ways that have clearly attracted millions of players. Over a decade after the relaunch of A Realm Reborn, FF14 shows no signs of stopping, and if you find yourself tired of the usual MMO fare, it might be the right choice for you.
With a huge main game and multiple expansions starting FF14 might seem like a daunting task, but so much of what the game does differently revolves around attracting new players, or those wholly unfamiliar with the genre. Here are some of the major ways FF14 differs from other MMOs.
A Story to Rival the Single-Player Games
Final Fantasy’s most defining feature has always been its story, and FF14 carries on that tradition with gusto. In fact, it’s fair to say the story is one of the major focuses of the game, which is fairly uncommon in the world of MMOs.
Set in the land of Eorzea, FF14 tells a sweeping tale about the Warrior of Light, a chosen hero with the power to see into other people’s souls using something called “The Echo.” Despite being a multiplayer game, FF14 has a core cast of characters that serve as the party. These characters grow and change in fascinating ways alongside your Warrior of Light, building deep complex relationships with the player.
While each expansion has a new story, each one is basically the next step in a larger narrative. What makes FF14 so compelling, however, is the deeply human and emotional themes it consistently tackles. Heavensward tackles religious fervor and the cycle of revenge, Stormblood shows rebellion against subjugation, Shadowbringers deconstructs the nature of heroes, and Endwalker asks big questions about the meaning of life itself.
While these core themes permeate the stories, the grand sweeping tales also do a great job of fleshing out the world with lore and politics, making Eorzea and the rest of the world feel like real places. At the same time, despite being a multiplayer game, FF14 has a core cast of characters that serve as the party. These characters grow and change in fascinating ways alongside your Warrior of Light, building deep complex relationships with the player. Seeing these characters grow and change across each expansion is a delight, especially when coupled with the larger themes present.
While the main story is riveting on its own, FF14 also has dozens of side stories that tie into that overarching narrative, or help develop side characters even further. Nearly everything in the game has some kind of story or narrative purpose attached, and the tales found within the MMO rival the best you can find in the Final Fantasy series.
You Can Play Final Fantasy 14 Solo
Despite being a massively multiplayer game, you can play through a surprising amount of FF14 solo. If you want to dive in and experience the story, there is a wealth of systems to let you do that with as little interaction with other players as possible.
The majority of story-related dungeons can be completed using Trusts, which are NPC characters that act as your party members. Of course, the majority of story quests can be played solo on top of that. This means you have a massive world and riveting story with hundreds of hours of content to experience. Doing dungeons with NPCs means you can also take your time, soak in the story, and even experiment with jobs and train your skills.
The only times you’ll need to strike out are whenever you do 8-man content, like the boss-fight Trials. But if you don’t know anyone playing FF14 you can always use the game’s matchmaking to take these on, and the Roulette system means there are always players looking to help with content.
Of course, if you find that you want to get more social and engage with more multiplayer content, like Alliance Raids, those options will always be there waiting.
You Can Do Everything With One Character
One of the major differences between FF14 and other MMOs is that literally everything in the game can be done with a single character: every quest, every job, every dungeon. In FF14 you can learn every battle job and crafting job with just that one character, and swap between wherever and whenever you want. This means you won’t need to craft multiple characters to see every class, or side with different factions.
On top of that, all of FF14’s content is designed to be as easily accessible as possible. This means if you want to play everything as a DPS job, but avoid Tank and Healer entirely, you can do that. The matchmaking and party systems in FF14 are built to make getting through content as easy as possible, and again, that includes if you just want to play the game solo.
Jobs/Classes Only Have One Build
Final Fantasy 14 features dozens of different jobs to choose from, and there’s a lot of variety baked into the actual individual roles. However, each job has a specific set of skills that will apply to anyone and everyone who plays it. Unlike other MMOs, there aren’t any alternative builds you can construct, or different ways to play a specific class. So if you’re playing Dragoon there’s one set of skills, you learn those, and that’s it.
For some players, this might count as a negative, but for anyone who might not be well-versed in MMOs, it means you won’t have to juggle trying to choose different builds or options, but can focus on learning the core ins and outs of each job. It also means you’ll have more opportunities to try out different jobs and find whatever you like best.
It Plays Great on a Controller
MMORPGs have traditionally been seen as PC-focused experiences, but more and more have started to make their way to consoles over the years. In that regard, FF14 has nearly every other MMO out there beat with its controller support.
Playing FF14 with a controller is every bit as viable as playing with a mouse and keyboard. Square Enix has put a ton of thought and time into making that a reality, with minimal time and learning required from players.
By default, you have quick access to 16 different actions when using a controller, by setting actions to the left/right trigger and then D-pad and face buttons. Past that, there are little additions, like the Cross Hotbar, that you can use to add even more actions. Other elements, like cycling through allies for healing, have also been given intuitive button presses that are easy to use.
You will, of course, need to spend a bit of time learning jobs and getting used to setting up your hotbars on controllers, but the FF14 community has created countless videos and guides to advise new players on setting things up. If you’re hesitant to pick up FF14 on consoles because of having to use a controller, don’t let that be a worry at all. Just keep in mind you still may want a keyboard if you’re planning on chatting in-game a lot.
Final Fantasy 14 Respects Your Time
There are hundreds of hours of content to wade through in FF14, and catching up is always going to be an undertaking. That being said, the MMO does a fantastic job of respecting player’s time, making sure that you always feel rewarded or engaged in some way.
Outside of the main story nothing in FF14 is mandatory, and you can always engage with every piece of side content as much, or as little, as you want. The game liberally makes sure that you don’t have to waste dozens of hours grinding to get to any content unless you’re looking to do the absolute hardest raids available. If you want to follow the main story you’ll gain all the levels you need simply by doing story quests and dungeons, and some of the more “grind-y” side quests are still worth doing because they have unique stories or mechanics attached. On top of this, you can acquire new gear in a multitude of different ways, from new raids to purchasing on the market board. This means anytime a new patch is released you should have an easy time leveling up your jobs to stay relevant.
Apart from that, the development team has been vocal about how they want players to take breaks, with director Naoki Yoshida previously saying it’s “okay” to not play the game every day.
There’s always new content to play through with a new patch, but FF14 isn’t going to soak up your time every day or even every week. You can stop playing, come back months later, and be able to jump right back in.
Old Content Stays Relevant
One of the remarkable things about FF14 is that you can go back and play virtually any piece of content released. Any piece of content from when the game relaunched as A Realm Reborn to now, is still accessible, and more often than not changed or enhanced. The only exception to this rule is timed season events or collaborations, like the Fall Guys collaboration or the crossover quests with Final Fantasy 15. More often than not, though, times events tend to come back later down the road.
Other than that, Square Enix has made a deliberate choice to not block off any old content or make it inaccessible. In fact, the development team has taken liberal steps to update old story quests, raids, and more, so they fall more in line with what you’ll find in current updates for FF14.
Daily roulette rewards make it easier to find parties for old content, but even if you’re unable to find matchmaking you can take on older content with a tight group of friends, or even solo it after you’ve leveled a bit.
The Developers Genuinely Listen to Fan Feedback
One of the core reasons FF14 has been so successful over the years is the transparency and dedication the development team has shown. There’s a reason director and producer Naoki Yoshida is lovingly referred to as “Yoshi-P” by the community. There are other MMOs out there that do a great job at addressing feedback, but in many ways FF14 has set the precedent for the last decade.
Every few months Yoshida holds a “Letter From the Producer” livestream that goes in-depth on all the changes or additions coming with each patch. More often than not, during these segments, Yoshida and other members of the team will directly address player feedback.
There is, of course, always a balance that needs to be struck, as Yoshida and his team simply can’t adapt or change everything players want. But over the years there’s been a meaningful change to player housing, differences between jobs, more solo options, varied content like the cozy building sidequest Island Sanctuary, and more.
In a 2017 interview with Newsweek Yoshida summed up the development team’s philosophy by saying it wants to “make sure that we are growing this game together, and the development team is not the enemy of the players. We all love Final Fantasy 14, and we just want to come together as allies. The communication should be going both ways, not unilaterally.”
FF14 still has problems and things that can be improved upon, but it’s the perfect MMO to pick up if you’re looking for something that has had meaningful change in the past and will likely continue to have even more.
Hayes Madsen is a freelance writer for IGN.
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