Review: Final Fantasy 14-1 (PC)

As you can guess I am a huge Final Fantasy fan.
I am also a long time FF-11 player. I really dig MMOs and Vana’Diel sucked me deep into it.
Therefore it was just natural that I pre-ordered FF-14.
Boy was I disappointed!

The game is visually really nice and got some sweet spots and the story sounds interesting.
However, the slow and awkward battle system, the lacklustre crafting system and the fact that the classic FF jobs are completely missing turns this into the least enjoyable experience.
The battle system is the worst here. If this would be a good one then the rest wouldn’t be big issues anymore. But all together make it a mess.

The soundtrack is also not the best and very disappointing for the great Nobuo Uematsu. While the soundtrack isn’t horrible or such it still fails to deliver the known quality or the proper Final Fantasy feeling with some exceptions.

While my Lalafel character can look cute at times I just don’t feel attached to him yet.
To make a comparison: I was hooked to my Tarutaru from FF-11 from day one.

The game is currently under heavy re-design and will face a relaunch later (FF-14-2 anyone?) this year.
I plan to look into it again once the improved and bigger new version 2.0 arrives and maybe then it will hook me up.

Summary (as of Version 1.x)
Gameplay 2/5
Visuals 4/5
Soundtrack 3/5
Story 2/5