3 Things Square-Enix Just Did To Save Final Fantasy

3. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Doesn't Suck

As stated in the previous article, FFXIV's launch was, in no uncertain terms, horrendous. At the end of last year, however, the healing began. Square-Enix started by releasing a trailer last year that featured Bahamut obliterating Eorzea and a promise to start anew. That's just awesome. I don't think any company ever has done something quite as cool. Just imagine a game like the next Call of Duty coming out, let's just call it Call of Duty: Commando Death Squad, and totally bombing. It's unfinished, unpolished and universally panned by critics and fans. After a painful month or more of trying to fix it, Infinity Ward and/or Treyarch releases a trailer of a nuclear bomb dropping on a Team Deathmatch in progress: killing everyone and wiping the landscape clean. Then, from the ashes, rises a giant logo: Call of Duty: Commando Death Squad Returns and a heartfelt apology note from the developers. Anyway, I actually weaseled my way into the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn closed beta. You can too if you visit the FFXIV: ARR's website and sign up. I'm playing on PS3 and I only spent a little over five hours playing the game during the latest testing phase, but those five hours were remarkably fun hours. I made a cute little Lalafell, picked up the Lancer class, joined the Lancer's guild, and went around poking monsters with a spear. I discovered a few different ways to play the game as well. There's the traditional questing that anyone who has played an MMO knows all about. There's also something called a "hunting log" that gives you bonuses for killing so many monsters of a certain type which is similar to Final Fantasy XI's field manuals. While playing, you'll sometimes come across Full Active Time Events (FATE) that seemed to happen randomly while I was out in the field. FATEs pit hordes of monsters (or one giant monster, I've read) against anyone willing to step into the fight. Simply walking into the battle gets you into the quest and allows you to reap the benefits if the impromptu party succeeds. I'm fairly certain this system was pulled from Guild Wars 2, but imitation is truly the highest form of flattery in the MMO world. FFXIV: ARR is shaping up to be the game it should have been a long, long time ago.