So, despite being a life-long Final Fantasy fan I held off on playing this, partly because MMO, partly because it sits after 13 and before 15, both games I'm not convinced by. I was missing out! This is a beautiful game, a classic Final Fantasy story, and hours and hours of enjoyable content.

It can be played as a single-player game, really. But why would you, when the community is so lovely, welcoming. Unlike many MMOs I've played, it makes no sacrifices in other areas to 'support' the MMO concept. It's familiar, for anyone who's played MMOs before, but there are many QoL features that really avoid it feeling like the MMO hurts. For example, the cities are busy with players, even the 'low level areas' aren't deserted. It has so many interesting and interlocking systems.

At time of writing I've played 400 hours, and I've yet to get to the point where the new free trial ends, so, if you have any interest in the world of Final Fantasy (and make no mistake, this IS a FF game with many callbacks, and a classic FF story), you should give it a go.

Yes, it does have a subscription fee after the free trial. Yes, it does have a cash shop. However, there's a 'cheap' subscription which should be fine for most people (limits you to one character per server, which, given you can do every job on the same character, and there are plenty of different servers if you want alts, seems like no restriction at all!), and the game is absolutely NOT pay-to-win - the microtransations are for cosmetics and 'account services' only (world transfer, for example).

I mentioned before you can play every class on the same character, and you should try a couple, each class plays differently, they're very much in the FF tradition of customisation. The character models are lovely, the outfits gorgeous, and the environments breathtaking.

I think this is not only one of the best modern FF games, but also the best modern MMO.