There's a two week trial to play the game. There is a free trial on Steam...just gotta type in "Final Fantasy XIV" and then it'll finally show up as a "Free Demo." Also when looking at reviews to get to know the game, ignore anything under 100 hours. They don't know what they'e talking about.

As it says for me, I've logged 440 hours at the time of this review (Thats bound to change very soon though). I'm downright addicted to FFXIV. Yes, there are points in which the game is tedious. Yes, there are certain things that make me sigh. And yes, the few cutscenes that are voice acted are terrible as the VA's suck.

First things first. Some of the negative reviews says the game is SUPER grind heavy. That's both FALSE and TRUE. It doesn't take long to get a single character class to 50 (Present max level though the DLC/Expansion that comes out this spring will raise it to 60 while adding an entire new area, new dungeons, raids, bosses, and 3 new classes). What takes long is getting your max Item Level Gear which is...130? I'm not too sure on that myself. I haven't hit ilevel100 yet on my main.

More on the Grinding. You can hit max level in under 2 weeks of moderate gameplay for one of your classes. That's not long compared to some other MMO's. Of course most other MMO's don't allow you to level EVERY CLASS in the game on ONE CHARACTER without the need for alts. What makes the game 'Grind heavy' is the fact that there's 9 Combat Classes and 11 Crafting/Gathering Classes. That's a total of 20 (Well 22 technically but those two share the same exp pool as its base class) different classes to get to level 50. On one character. And yes, there is a benefit from leveling all the classes. You can 'Cross Class' certain skills to other classes. Giving them benefits of different skills.

Some of the early dungeons are pretty boring but they're not really meant to be like really great. They're basically tutorial dungeons. Letting you learn the mechanics that you'll see extremely often in later, harder, and significantly more fun, dungeons (and raids.)

The crafting/gathering system is a love-hate thing. Though that's true of most every MMO. One of my Free Company minions focused almost exlucsively on the Crafting and Gathering Classes and almost hit 50 on all of them within only a few weeks time. If you're dedicated and manage your exp sources right (Levequests and crafting/gathering level appropriate stuff) your crafting/gatherers will level fairly quickly.

There's two different subscriptions too. So all those peope ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about "Its 15 bucks a month" are bullshitting you. 15 bucks a month is for the premium subscription that simply allows you 8 characters per server for a max of 40 throughout your Data Center. The Base Subscription, which is like...12-13 bucks? Restricts you to 1 character per server and a max of 8 in your data center. I'm not sure on the price as I have the premium subscription myself. The base subscription is cheaper then, say, WoW's subscription. And its worth it since you don't really need Alts. (I just really like the game. >.>)

As people will say, the game looks very nice. The music is fantastic (But what did you expect? Its a FINAL FANTASY game!). The story is interesting. Gameplay? I like it. It's solid. There's not really much to say about it. It's an MMO...Oh! I saw one negative review talking about monsters "Auto attacks" and there being to avoid getting hit by them unless it uses a move that creates a 'zone' that you want to get out of...that's not true. You can avoid getting hit by a monsters auto attacks if you STAY OUT OF THEIR RANGE. Which is understandably hard for a Melee Class or a Caster Class. But the Archer has no problem literally kiting a monster without ranged attacks around in circles. Ya just gotta becareful not to leash them...as they'll become invincible while they retreat back to their spawn area.

What else to say...what else to say...

Hm...JUST TRY THE FREE TRIAL! ITS FREE.

There's a two week trial to play the game. There is a free trial on Steam...just gotta type in "Final Fantasy XIV" and then it'll finally show up as a "Free Demo." Also when looking at reviews to get to know the game, ignore anything under 100 hours. They don't know what they'e talking about. As it says for me, I've logged 440 hours at the time of this review (Thats bound to change very soon though). I'm downright addicted to FFXIV. Yes, there are points in which the game is tedious. Yes, there are certain things that make me sigh. And yes, the few cutscenes that are voice acted are terrible as the VA's suck. First things first. Some of the negative reviews says the game is SUPER grind heavy. That's both FALSE and TRUE. It doesn't take long to get a single character class to 50 (Present max level though the DLC/Expansion that comes out this spring will raise it to 60 while adding an entire new area, new dungeons, raids, bosses, and 3 new classes). What takes long is getting your max Item Level Gear which is...130? I'm not too sure on that myself. I haven't hit ilevel100 yet on my main. More on the Grinding. You can hit max level in under 2 weeks of moderate gameplay for one of your classes. That's not long compared to some other MMO's. Of course most other MMO's don't allow you to level EVERY CLASS in the game on ONE CHARACTER without the need for alts. What makes the game 'Grind heavy' is the fact that there's 9 Combat Classes and 11 Crafting/Gathering Classes. That's a total of 20 (Well 22 technically but those two share the same exp pool as its base class) different classes to get to level 50. On one character. And yes, there is a benefit from leveling all the classes. You can 'Cross Class' certain skills to other classes. Giving them benefits of different skills. Some of the early dungeons are pretty boring but they're not really meant to be like really great. They're basically tutorial dungeons. Letting you learn the mechanics that you'll see extremely often in later, harder, and significantly more fun, dungeons (and raids.) The crafting/gathering system is a love-hate thing. Though that's true of most every MMO. One of my Free Company minions focused almost exlucsively on the Crafting and Gathering Classes and almost hit 50 on all of them within only a few weeks time. If you're dedicated and manage your exp sources right (Levequests and crafting/gathering level appropriate stuff) your crafting/gatherers will level fairly quickly. There's two different subscriptions too. So all those peope bitching about "Its 15 bucks a month" are bullshitting you. 15 bucks a month is for the premium subscription that simply allows you 8 characters per server for a max of 40 throughout your Data Center. The Base Subscription, which is like...12-13 bucks? Restricts you to 1 character per server and a max of 8 in your data center. I'm not sure on the price as I have the premium subscription myself. The base subscription is cheaper then, say, WoW's subscription. And its worth it since you don't really need Alts. (I just really like the game. >.>) As people will say, the game looks very nice. The music is fantastic (But what did you expect? Its a FINAL FANTASY game!). The story is interesting. Gameplay? I like it. It's solid. There's not really much to say about it. It's an MMO...Oh! I saw one negative review talking about monsters "Auto attacks" and there being to avoid getting hit by them unless it uses a move that creates a 'zone' that you want to get out of...that's not true. You can avoid getting hit by a monsters auto attacks if you STAY OUT OF THEIR RANGE. Which is understandably hard for a Melee Class or a Caster Class. But the Archer has no problem literally kiting a monster without ranged attacks around in circles. Ya just gotta becareful not to leash them...as they'll become invincible while they retreat back to their spawn area. What else to say...what else to say... Hm...JUST TRY THE FREE TRIAL! ITS FREE.