So here's the truth: thanks to all those pesky connection issues you've probably heard so much about if you've been following Square Enix's rebuilt MMORPG, I'm not as far along in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn as I'd like to be. My Roegadyn archer's currently sitting in a Gridanian hotel room at level 37 out of a level cap of 50, although I plan to get that number up past 40 before I get some sleep tonight. If all goes according to plan, that is. Earlier in the week the server booted me for a maintenance test, and the dreaded error 1017 kept me from logging in for another seven hours. That’s not making things faster. (Read part one of this review in progress here.)
But here's an odd thing: around this point in an MMORPG review is when my initial enthusiasm has dimmed and I start to see the cracks; in this case, though, I find myself wanting to play even more of A Realm Reborn. Maybe that’s just wanting what I can’t have, but on the other hand I just witnessed a development in my character's storyline that honestly took me by surprise (sorry, can’t spoil it), and I'm eager to continue leveling so I can find out what happens next.
Even the side questline for the Archer's Guild is managing to hold my attention, as the latest developments have revealed a bit more depth than I expected when I struck out on my journey. I've seen a handful of complaints that criticize the way the story forces you to click past each new segment of dialogue before you can advance, but for me that's part of the charm. A Realm Reborn wants you to slow down and hear what it has to say, and most of the time (in the best tradition of the series), it's worth hearing (or reading). At times, even with the absence of choice, I've felt more connected to the events unfolding around me than I did with the tailored narratives in Star Wars: The Old Republic.In stark contrast to most MMORPGs you see these days, A Realm Reborn actually requires you to complete most of the level-appropriate four-man dungeons in order to advance the story. I've played through eight now, along with two single boss-based "trials," and I've consistently been impressed by the way Square Enix ramps up the group coordination requirements for each one. Presumably, that tactic's meant to prepare all players for raids once they hit 50, and it’s doing a fine job of it.The first, called Sastasha, consists of such mindless tank-and-spank battles that I'm having a hard time recalling them, but by level 28's Haukke Manor, you’ll find groups running around extinguishing lamps on boss fights before engaging adds and attacking the boss itself. Even the "Duty Finder" (A Realm Reborn's name for what would be called a Dungeon Tool in World of Warcraft) is a treat, as I don't think I've ever had to wait for more than 15 minutes for a dungeon to pop up, even as an exclusively damage-dealing class. Dungeons have always been one of my favorite elements of MMORPGs, and after the strong showing I've seen so far, I'm eager to see what lies ahead.
Indeed, at this point most of my concerns with A Realm Reborn deal more with so-called quality-of-life issues than any one core aspect of the gameplay. You can't hide quests or select which quests you want visible on your sidebar, for instance, which one resulted in my having to finish a quest 10 levels below mine just because I couldn't abandon it and get it off my screen. There's also no easy way to ignore or report other players (such as by clicking on their names), which has become a problem ever since the gold sellers have started showing up in force in the capitals. Worse yet, they tend to send their ads through private messages. A option to link items in chat would also be nice, as would a related feature that would let you see what a piece of gear looks like before you buy it.
If I do have a problem with the core gameplay, it's that the many unlockable "guildhests" in each zone, and even the dynamic FATEs, increasingly strike me as little more than disguised grinds. That's not to say I don't have fun doing them – particularly the FATEs – but after partaking in so many I've started to believe their quest structure merely hides the truth that you're simply going out into the world and killing swarms of enemies, much as you had to do in the 1.0 version of Final Fantasy XIV. It's also during the FATEs that I discovered A Realm Reborn's seriously flawed tab-targeting system. Most of the time, it seems to select everything except the target right in front of me.Again, though, I'm really having fun here, and am eager to play more. Due to the delays, you can expect to see our final review sometime next week. In the meantime, if you want some more direct impressions, I sometimes link to Twitch feeds of dungeon runs I'm participating in on Twitter, so you can keep an eye on my progress there.
