I have been putting off this review for the past month, hoping that I could find some interest and fun in FFXIV, but I am giving up at this point. To be brutally honest, I feel kind of cheated about this game. Square had a good opportunity to make a beautiful and interesting game, but instead released a half finished game that is not really worth the time and money that I am spending.


To be fair, there are a few things that I like. The variety of choices that is included in character customization is wonderful. I really enjoyed making different characters and tweaking their looks. I enjoyed it so much, I would just keeping making characters over and over if that was the only thing to do. I also am in awe of the gorgeous scenery and cut scenes in the game (another reason I enjoy making new characters over and over.) There is an enormous level of detail put into the art in this game and it is the only reason I keep coming back.


The list of what I don’t like is unfortunately more extensive and is best presented in bullet points.

• Getting anywhere is time consuming and tedious. There is too much open, empty space in this game. Sure, the scenery is pretty, but that doesn’t alleviate the boredom after a few hours of playing.
• Combat is also very tedious, partially because enemies are few and far between and most because there is not a large variety of enemies in the game. I can only kill so many star marmots before losing interest in combat.
• Gathering isn’t so bad…just a little time consuming. I guess I don’t have much to say about gathering, which says something about gathering. Meh.
• Crafting is completely annoying. First, you have to find the right ingrediants (which are either scattered across the entire world or extremely expensive). This often involves a large amount of work to track down everything needed, plus having a bunch of friends who specialize in other crafts. Then, you have to make the parts of the item–spin the thread, make ingots, etc–and hope that doesn’t blow up in your face. Then, assemble the thing, once again hoping that it does blow up in your face. In the end, it is usually less expensive to take the time to search through the markets (see below) and buy the item. Plus, things like this happen: (http://www.arcandio.com/2010/11/ffxiv.html)
• The markets are confusing. At least you don’t have to stand around selling things yourself, but it is impossible to locate anything. You could spend an hour clicking on individual retainers and still come away without finding one item that you need.
• I can’t sort my items. Why can’t I sort my items?
• And much more….

I am aware that Square has promised to fix a number of these issues, but I really don’t feel like I should have to wait about 4 months to be able to sort my items. I would much rather have purchased a complete game in 2011. If you haven’t bought this game yet, save your money. Check on it in early 2011, maybe it will be worth the investment then. If not, try Kitsu Saga instead.