The MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV is one of the largest and most popular in its genre. A player on Reddit has recently gained attention for quitting the game. The reason? It is simply too little MMO.
What is the player complaining about? A post in the MMORPG subreddit recently went quite viral and gathered over 330 comments within just 24 hours. A heated discussion arose about what drives a former fan of Final Fantasy to feel this way.
He writes that he loves the MMO aspects of FFXIV, but they are simply not easily accessible. To play the things that are meant to be fun, you have to slog through hundreds of quests, which the thread creator Cumulonimbus has labeled as boring and too easy.
He mentions that he spent nearly 150 hours in the MMORPG and has only just played the beginnings of the first expansion, Heavensward. He only really had fun in the Crystal Tower, as he describes.
But instead of taking this experience as an opportunity to continue playing to have more such moments, he set the game aside. He writes that it annoys him to hide such a good quest line behind a mass of main quests. Which, according to him, aren’t even that good.
Where is his problem with the story? In detail, he is dissatisfied that Final Fantasy XIV not only prioritizes the “RPG aspect over the MMO aspect” but even feels as if it places the “TV series aspect” above everything else.
At the same time, he criticizes that the story, at least at the beginning, does not offer enough. He argues that the main quest and thus the story are really good but are not well told. Too many annoying side tasks interrupt the actually good story and prolong it unnecessarily, according to the thread creator.
To at least score points on the gameplay side, the main quests and dungeons are then also too easy. “If you just want to tell a story, just make a Final Fantasy series,” he writes in his last point.
“I only play FFXIV for the story”
How are people reacting? In fact, the user receives a lot of support in the comments but, of course, also some backlash. However, the latter often argue that the story will get really good later on. His general frustration with the base story, namely A Realm Reborn, can even be understood by fans of the game.
Some people also point out that you can pay to skip parts of the main story, to which the thread creator wonders why “MMO content” is hidden behind a main quest and not behind a certain level.
What are people saying? To give you a sense of the mood, we would like to present some of the comments that have come up under the post (via Reddit):
- TheVagrantWarrior writes: “It’s not an MMORPG. It’s much more a visual novel with MMO-lite gameplay.”
- Puppetmaster says: “There’s a psychological decision behind it. If a person plays through the whole long story, they’re more likely to build a connection to the game and sign up for a long-term subscription. […] I personally only play FFXIV for the story and enjoy it.”
- Varnn writes: “FFXIV is designed to be played by Final Fantasy players who have never touched an MMORPG before. You best catch them with the story. […] And to answer your question as to why everything is locked behind story instead of level – Spoilers.”
- rtrs_bastiat says briefly: “Then the game is just not for you, that’s okay. It’s not for everyone.”
So far, there hasn’t been a clear point to the discussion, feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO how you feel about Final Fantasy XIV and the statement of the user, we look forward to your opinions!
