Final Fantasy 14 (online game) - after returning and a bit further in

I am a big fan of MMO's (and yes I am going to try Path of Exile, just downloaded it) and like most people I have fond memories of Final Fantasy just in a general sense. I think it probably wins the prize for best RPG franchise in the world, ever. However, there are some really frustrating parts of this MMO that just make me unreasonably angry.

I recently came back because a family member suggested we play this together and I enjoy that sort of thing. It had been long enough that I forgot completely how to play and i suppose that is one of the good things about this game. It is almost impossible to lose early on. I don't know if this is necessarily a good thing because you find yourself just hitting all the buttons and not really having any sort of strategy. I guess that comes later. The game did "dupe" me a little bit because a big part of the reason why I was coming back was because if you buy the game (which I had already done a few years back) you are now entitled to unlimited playtime up to level 35 - which is not max level but it takes a long time to get to that point.

However, i am now finding out that this does not apply to me because i was already grandfathered into my contract-of-sorts from when i purchased the game years ago. So for new players this is a grand idea, but for me, it doesn't apply. The only way i could get this would be to buy the game again $20 and start over with the really boring intro stuff that is only mildly exciting when you are brand new.

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Combat is intuitive enough, some would argue too simplistic as the enemy attacks for the most part are easily avoided unless overwhelmed. Again, i am sure this changes later. I went through a dungeon today and i don't think anyone was employing any sort of strategy and if they were I don't think it would matter because nothing was hitting hard enough to really kill us.

Which brings me to my next point.

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Being in a group, which is most easily accomplished by entering dungeons, is the best part of the game. Wandering around solo, such as is the case in virtually any MMO, gets boring pretty fast. So the idea is to get involved in dungeoning as soon as possible and this is where Square-Enix has done terribly.

In order to gain access to the dungeons you need to be a certain level (which is fine) and you need to be able to access said dungeon in a geographical sense (also fine) and this is where requirement number 3 comes in and it has to be one of the most annoying aspects of any MMO that i have ever encountered.

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You have to go on a certain number of quests in order to gain access to the dungeons at all. This incorporates, unfortunately, a bunch of walking around and delivering this parcel to this person in a far away land, sitting through long load times because you are traveling to speak to someone a thousand miles away for some reason, and more often than not you have to report back to the person a thousand miles away that sent you there in the first place. Do this for about 20 completely useless quests and FINALLY you will have access to a dungeon.

The fact that the map system in this game is universally hated and it is just a lot more confusing than it needs to be. I don't know anyone out there that think that getting a "take this to that guy" quest is a good thing. It is mindbogglingly boring and I can't really imagine any particular reason that it would be put in the game other than to force you to see more of the map. The problem is, most of these portions of the map that you are forced to explore are completely devoid of other players because other than these mandatory quests, there is really no reason to ever go to these parts of NPC land.

Urgh! Well, i suppose the good news is that you can get a guide pretty easily on the interwebs that assists in getting it completed as quickly as possible.

All in all, i still say that since this game is only $20 for (kinda) unlimited amount of playtime, it is still one of the better MMO's to get involved in at the moment, particularly if you enjoy the music and characters typical in the FF world. Just be prepared for some annoyances at low levels because lord knows there are plenty of them.