Final Fantasy XIV – Somehow things aren’t going well between us
The Initial Situation
Final Fantasy XIV was a revelation for me in 2014. I played it incredibly happily. Especially the possibility to learn all crafting professions and all classes with one character blew me away at the time. I had to try that out. At first, I played less in depth, more broadly. I was satisfied with level 40 in the main profession and brought all classes and professions to at least level 20. I assigned each class its own armor set. When a new item was available, I checked if I could use it with this “Twink class”.
Then it was announced: “Heavensward” is coming. Because I wanted to delve into it, I leveled a profession, Bard, to 50 and realized how many quests I still had to complete to truly enter the new expansion. Every story quest that had been released in the patches needed to be completed – dungeons, raids in the raid finder, all in fast-forward. It was rather tedious, like having to binge-watch the old Star Wars movies before they let you into the newest one.
I managed to hold on bravely, but when I finally arrived in Ishgard, Heavensward had already been out for quite some time, and I logged out at level 51 after the first steps and never logged back in.
I haven’t played Final Fantasy XIV for about half a year.
The Technical Re-entry – Problems, Problems
I can only play FF14 because some “5 days for returners” program is running, otherwise I would have to get a subscription for 13€. Final Fantasy XIV is still Pay2Play, making it rather unsuitable for returners.
The technical entry is challenging. Square Enix has forgotten me. Nothing of mine is saved.
In Final Fantasy XIV, I need to enter my “user ID.” I don’t know it. I somehow find it, start the client, and instead of logging into the character selection screen, I am logged into a “choose a server” screen.
I don’t know why, whether it’s due to new computer parts or Windows 10, but Final Fantasy XIV doesn’t recognize me. Although I have access to my character after manually choosing the Realm, the hotbars are somehow messed up, and the worst part: The saved 30 equipment sets through which I can switch to all classes and professions are deleted. A nightmare.
How does it feel?
In practice, Final Fantasy XIV is heavily reliant on teleportation. You click on a quest that tells you where to go, and then you teleport to the nearest village and tackle the quest.
I complete two started quests and unlock two of the new classes (I already had the third). Each time I get 4 items into my already overflowing inventory, which I urgently need to sort (Due to all the crafting and twinking, it is totally overloaded and with 3 new classes, it finally becomes a nightmare).
I mentally collapse and think to myself: You should have only played one profession from the start. This is terrible.
With an airship, I then go to the first “real” zone of Heavensward, where I complete two quests, get some pants into the overloaded inventory, and then quickly log out. Before I can play further, I need to sort my inventory properly.
How’s the inventory?
My inventory in Final Fantasy XIV is a nightmare. There were still a few slots free, but due to the quests and the starter gear for Astrologian and Machinist, they are full again. I really need to sort it properly, then I still have to search and save the gear for all the “other classes”… it would be too much work to re-enter.
Final Fantasy XIV is simply not suitable at the moment for players who want to try many classes with one character. I keep noticing this.
The play style I chose in 2014, “In the breadth, not in depth,” is fun for me, but the technical side of the game throws brutal obstacles in my way. And with Heavensward and three additional classes, it has simply increased.
What about skill points?
In three-quarters of an hour, I’ve only completed three or four quests. Nothing has changed.
Conclusion: Personal struggles – It’s not you, it’s me!
Players with another play style, whose character is in a better situation, will surely have fun with Final Fantasy XIV as well.
I always find it difficult to delve into the strongly “interconnected narrative” of FF14, with countless NPCs, of whom the game thinks I know who they are and should be interested in their story. I joyfully skip the cutscenes; I never really got into the lore when I first played.
I feel like the inventory system in FF14 is really a nightmare for my play style because it still has to accommodate the PlayStation 3 – a complex game like Final Fantasy XIV requires, in my view, a much simpler and larger interface and inventory system.
Somehow, I’ve felt with Final Fantasy XIV for a long time that I should start a new character and “reset,” then maybe I could follow the story better, but the game is totally unsuitable for that because everything has to be done linearly – and questing through to Heavensward again… meh.
After the rather disheartening re-entry into Final Fantasy XIV, how is it going with Guild Wars 2?
