When Final Fantasy Online was released a little over two years ago, it was met with an enormous amount of backlash and criticism. Many long-time fans took to forums, blog comments and posts about how disappointed they were with the state of the game at launch date. From the atrocious menu system, the unimaginative combat and huge amount of grinding it took to be even the least bit competitive in the game; it seemed the Square Enix had mucked up any real chance of making a valuable entry into the MMO market. Such was the case until they decided to completely reboot the game, giving it a massive face-lift both in terms of playability and environment. The new titled, aptly named, Final Fantasy XIV: a Realm Reborn, is set to be released on August 27th. The last few months I was lucky enough to be part of the various beta phases, once again throwing myself into the world of Eorzea and seeing what lied in store for me this time around. With the recently removed NDA restrictions I felt now was as good as time as ever to share some of my initial impressions of what Ive encountered thus far. The character creation process is much of the same as most MMOs of the moment. You have slew of races to choose from as well as a large number of customizations including facial tattoos, countless hairstyles as well as a starting class. Right now, available starting classes include the Pugilist, Gladiator, Marauder, Archer, Lancer, Conjurer and Thaumaturge with developers just releasing news that upon the August release date, three new classes would be added to the game (the Arcanist, Scholar and Summoner).
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After creating your character, players are given the standard tutorial faire, from how to interact with NPCs to how to properly navigate your character from one point to the other. As I made my way through the starting area there were a number of occasions where I received a message telling me that a cut scene was either intentionally withheld to avoid story spoilers or that a cut scene was meant to be placed here but that it hadnt been completed yet. All of these little tid-bits came in a welcomed sharp contrast from those first few moments of Final Fantasy Online. Already in the first 15 minutes of the game you can see the large amount of work the developers put in to separate themselves from the previous installment of the game. The starting town was a bit overwhelming at first, but once I familiarized myself with the layout it got a lot less massive. Essentially, there is a central hub where you could bind yourself for future quick-travel, do shopping and selling, and then three smaller adjoined areas, mainly for the games different classes and crafting profession to call home. Each of these areas has a number of fetch quests associated with them that mainly served as a starting point to understanding crafting and crafting professions. To which there are several (the Miner, Botanist, Fisher, Carpenter, Blacksmith, Armorer, Goldsmith, Leatherworker, Weaver, Alchemist and Culinarian). Along these lines its important to note that the game is zoned, meaning while you can explore each area pretty liberally, you are limited to a certain space, each separated by a brief loading screen. Because of this, the game did at times feel very linear. Go here, kill X amount of these monsters, deliver said parcel to said NPC etc While this isnt necessarily a bad thing, repeated use of this questing archetype could lead down similar bumpy roads like that of Tera or RaiderZ. However, this isnt to say that these environments arent completely stunning. Running even the beta version at max graphic settings saw me constantly stopping to do a few quick zoom arounds to take in the amazing detail that was put in to these environments. To the bubbling streams to the perfect falling autumn leaves, the landscape of Final Fantasy a Realm Reborn is quite easily one of the most beautiful to date. Each zoned area has a number of unique features that made it stand out from the rest in what could have otherwise been a pretty monotonous landscape. From rivers that lead to grottos, a large distinct tree or mountaintop, the game practically invites you to scale these unique features to take in each awesome vantage point. As for combat, the pace is much faster than before. Keeping in line with other MMOs available right now, I found I was able to kill the appropriate amount of mobs in a reasonable amount of time than I was able to back in the days of the original release. Combat takes place through a series of single skills, combos and limit breaks. As of beta phase two, the game had yet to introduce the latter and the number of combos available to my Thautmaturge was pretty sparse. Hopefully at release this portion of the game will be a bit more fleshed out as the combat did quickly grow repetitive as I constantly attacked enemies with my same blast of wind and occasional mass of rock over and over again. The beta version had three different instanced dungeons available for play. Due to time constraints and minimum level requirements, I was only able to make it to the first instance called the Tam-Tara Deepcroft. Unlike other instances in MMOs, you only have a certain amount of time to complete the run before the mission fails. For Tam-Tara, we had an hour to make our way through the various mobs, encountering a few sub-bosses along the way until we made it to the final boss of the area, a creature known as Galvanth the Dominator who sort of looked like a Cthulhu inspired sorcerer. Even at lower levels it was nice to see a certain amount of sophistication to this boss fight. Our party could not simply just tank and spank the boss like many entry level dungeons that other MMOs have you doing. To break up questing there were a number of times when I would be out in a zone completing a task when I would suddenly be made aware of a nearby F.A.T.E (full active time events) that just started. Think back to the rifts that would open while questing in Rift. These F.A.T.Es saw me and a few other adventurers working together to either collect a certain amount of items or slay a certain amount of beasts. In the end and depending on your rating, I would receive an award based on my participation in that F.A.T.E. The F.A.T.Es that I encountered in the beta version had little variety outside of kill X amount of these things quickly. They too closely resembled a regular quest to make it stand out at something unique. In Rift, these events had phases and stages. Perhaps this is something they can improve upon as the game gets closer and closer to launch date. Overall, my time spent in Eorzea was pretty solid. Gone are the convoluted menu systems and the notion that you had to pound 1 to win battles. Instead, I was treated to a beautifully rendered world, a deep level of character customization and crafting and enough side quests and achievements to keep even the most diligent of fans interested. Are you or someone you know active in the Final Fantasy a Realm Reborn Beta? What are your thoughts on the game so far? Id love to hear from you below.