Final Fantasy games are some of my absolute favourite video games of all time but I’ve never tried the online MMO versions of the games. Final Fantasy 14 is one such that I hadn’t tried before but when we got our PS5 earlier in the year I decided to give it a try. I think I got the starter pack which included a free trial as well as the main base game and all the expansions up to Shadowbringers. I’ve since preordered the next installment – Endwalker – which comes out in November. I have no experience with MMO games like this, so I didn’t really know what I was getting into and it was a pretty steep learning curve. I don’t consider myself bad at video games but I’ve never really had to play with other people before and for the most part it’s been pretty fun.
I think I started playing in May but it took me a *very* long time to actually get into it and I’ve certainly made some mistakes along the way. It’s been a good view months of playtime now for me and I’ve finished the main story quest, have joined in on some endgame raid content with other players – discord has been really helpful for this and I’ve started levelling up all my crafters/gatherers. I have a nice collection of mounts and minions too. I don’t have a lot of money – crafting can be a pricey part of the game if you want to level up quickly rather than *actually* crafting the stuff you need (Oops) but you know I’ve had a really lovely time. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so into a game for such a long time. I think maybe six or so weeks is my limit but Final Fantasy 14 offers so much content, so many things to do and collect that it has kept me interested. I also actually really love the social side of playing this MMO game. I wasn’t sure at first and it took me a very long time to start speaking with others and regularly joining in on content – mostly because I wasn’t levelled up enough to join in.
I can easily see why some people have been playing the game for years and I am really loving all the buzz and excitement about Endwalker coming out next month. There are tons of new players on the server, the game I believe has become the most profitable of the Final Fantasy franchise and I can see just why people love to keep playing. It’s fun, it’s full of emotion, the story is great – particularly post level 50, and as I said there is just so much to do. Even at this point so many months in I have loads of side quests left to do, a whole bunch of jobs/classes to level up and still haven’t unlocked every dungeon and raid in the game.
The game starts off with making your avatar or character and there is a bunch of different customisations you can make. I went with a female Au Ra which is a sort of human-dragon hybrid with a tail and selected the job Arcanist as I usually like to be a magic caster but I quickly found out that dungeons require you to play with other people and you need to do them to progress the story. As a magic caster, a DPS (damage per second) role, which is very popular and has lengthy queue times, I kind of got stuck and changed my role to Marauder which later turned to Warrior and became a tank player. This is where I really learned to play the game and basically I messed up a lot of the time and probably made some people pretty annoyed. Thankfully, someone took some time to teach me how to play it and I had a much easier time in later levels.
As you progress through the story and unlock more areas (this game is huge!) you unlock more jobs and roles to play. My main job now is back being a DPS because honestly that is what I do best and have become a Machinist. I feel like it’s probably the role I know the best now and can manage to play relatively well. The introduction of Trust parties (NPC dungeons) at higher levels helps limit queue times although the dungeons do take longer and I have picked up some mechanics for certain fights relatively easily. Being in a Free Company (a guild as such) has been really good. There are a lot of members but everyone is pretty chilled and there are regular runs for high level content, help with getting in game mounts and all sorts. I really like it, the people are friendly and helpful which makes all the difference with a game like this.
I don’t know how long I’ll keep playing the game for but I haven’t gotten bored yet which is a good thing for me!
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