My friends have been begging me to play with them for ages. I've resisted the entire time, & said that "MMO's aren't my thing" for years. I finally gave in once one of my friends explained to me how robust the free trial is.
So I thought, sure, why not? I'll give it a try. If nothing else, I'll make fun of it for a few hours & move on. I downloaded it, made my character, & embarked. One of my friends said to me before pressing start: " Be careful, this game will get hooks into you before you realize it." & my reply was something of a scoff & an eyeroll.
Hour 1: I landed in Gridania. My first impressions were that it's cozy & nice, but fairly boring. I was largely unimpressed with the generic fantasy environment, but continued on regardless.
Hour 5: After a headache of trying to figure out how to join my friends, I finally figured it out, & we all joined up to do some quests. To my disappointment, it was generic NPC fetch quests, such as delivering mail. I told my friends "this is the game that you all feel is so addicting?" And everyone essentially replied with "just wait." So I waited.
Hour 12: The endless fetch quests continued & I was still in Gridania, delivering mail, & battling mushrooms. My friends said that I should focus on getting access to the airship. That was next on the agenda.
Hour 15: I began making progress in the MSQ. Slowly, but surely, I found myself getting interested in the lore. I was slightly intrigued by the fact that my character keeps having these weird visions, & what's going on with these calamities.
Hour 25: I get access to the airship, & I'm off to another city to do more fetch quests.
Hour 35: I'm granted access to glamour, retainers, & Grand Companies. Hold up. Is this game cooking? I'm having something that resembles fun.
Hour 70: Deep in the MSQ, need to find out what happens next, & beyond excited for what the next dungeon holds.
Hour 100: "Let me just run this dungeon back really quick, I need to get a rare drop to make a piece of gear."
Hour 250: I discovered the Gold Saucer & now I can't leave this Mahjong table until I've obtained Fenrir.
Hour 350: I finished Heavensward & I'm ready to proclaim this as the best Final Fantasy that Square has made.
Hour 500: I finished Stormblood, & I'm aggressively reaching for my wallet to purchase the full game with every existing expansion.
tl;dr
This game is pure, distilled, peak in digital form. I simply cannot believe that it took me this long to give it a chance. The on-boarding process was quite rough for me personally, since I felt the desire to do every single quest that the game inundates you with upon landing. But, once I started just playing the game & going towards what I, or my friends, deemed interesting it quickly became one of the best gaming experiences that I've ever had. I've made a ton of new friends as well thanks to this amazing community. FF XIV has, hands down, one of the most chill communities. Almost every single person that I've interacted with has been incredible.
I made this post in the hopes that someone eventually comes across it while searching & is trying to discern if this game is worth playing. The short & simple answer is an unequivocal yes. After ARR, the game is just banger after banger. Square is on a generational run with this one.
submitted by /u/EliteEffect
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Continue reading...
So I thought, sure, why not? I'll give it a try. If nothing else, I'll make fun of it for a few hours & move on. I downloaded it, made my character, & embarked. One of my friends said to me before pressing start: " Be careful, this game will get hooks into you before you realize it." & my reply was something of a scoff & an eyeroll.
Hour 1: I landed in Gridania. My first impressions were that it's cozy & nice, but fairly boring. I was largely unimpressed with the generic fantasy environment, but continued on regardless.
Hour 5: After a headache of trying to figure out how to join my friends, I finally figured it out, & we all joined up to do some quests. To my disappointment, it was generic NPC fetch quests, such as delivering mail. I told my friends "this is the game that you all feel is so addicting?" And everyone essentially replied with "just wait." So I waited.
Hour 12: The endless fetch quests continued & I was still in Gridania, delivering mail, & battling mushrooms. My friends said that I should focus on getting access to the airship. That was next on the agenda.
Hour 15: I began making progress in the MSQ. Slowly, but surely, I found myself getting interested in the lore. I was slightly intrigued by the fact that my character keeps having these weird visions, & what's going on with these calamities.
Hour 25: I get access to the airship, & I'm off to another city to do more fetch quests.
Hour 35: I'm granted access to glamour, retainers, & Grand Companies. Hold up. Is this game cooking? I'm having something that resembles fun.
Hour 70: Deep in the MSQ, need to find out what happens next, & beyond excited for what the next dungeon holds.
Hour 100: "Let me just run this dungeon back really quick, I need to get a rare drop to make a piece of gear."
Hour 250: I discovered the Gold Saucer & now I can't leave this Mahjong table until I've obtained Fenrir.
Hour 350: I finished Heavensward & I'm ready to proclaim this as the best Final Fantasy that Square has made.
Hour 500: I finished Stormblood, & I'm aggressively reaching for my wallet to purchase the full game with every existing expansion.
tl;dr
This game is pure, distilled, peak in digital form. I simply cannot believe that it took me this long to give it a chance. The on-boarding process was quite rough for me personally, since I felt the desire to do every single quest that the game inundates you with upon landing. But, once I started just playing the game & going towards what I, or my friends, deemed interesting it quickly became one of the best gaming experiences that I've ever had. I've made a ton of new friends as well thanks to this amazing community. FF XIV has, hands down, one of the most chill communities. Almost every single person that I've interacted with has been incredible.
I made this post in the hopes that someone eventually comes across it while searching & is trying to discern if this game is worth playing. The short & simple answer is an unequivocal yes. After ARR, the game is just banger after banger. Square is on a generational run with this one.
submitted by /u/EliteEffect
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...