I started playing this game back in 2021 when I was tired of every other game I had been playing thus far. Me and my friends knew we wanted to play an MMO but couldn't agree which one we wanted to pick up and grind. I had played Star Wars: The Old Republic and WoW and my friends really hadn't, so i had my eyes on one of the two I had previous experience with. However, my friends were looking at this game instead and talking about how good it looked in comparison. So we made a deal to try all three and stick with the one we liked the most. Needless to say we ended up sticking with FFXIV because of how truly amazing and different it felt. In the time of playing this game so far, i have had the pleasure to experience some of the best story, combat, and community that i have ever experienced in a MMO or other game for that matter.

I won't lie, the story started out rough for me, because in the base game (A Realm Reborn) it can feel slow and very unimportant with not a huge sense of urgency for the player. However, once you get to the climax of the base game story and move into the first expansion (Heavensward) the story seems to pick up pace rapidly with an explosion of interwoven plots and in a lot of ways continues this way all the way to present day with it's most recent expansion (Endwalker) and likely will continue this way moving forward. My only problem with the games story telling, which is entirely subjective, is the fact that in the early game especially and throughout the rest of the game a large part of the dialogue is not voiced and has to be read. I merely do not like reading so it effects more more than it will effect others, however, whenever a moment comes that a cutscene is voiced, you can almost always bet that it will have you utterly captivated with the flow of narrative as well as the astonishing music of this game.

Next I want to talk about the combat. FFXIV has the unique title of mine to be able to say that i have returned to this game in the past just because of how much I missed the combat. To me, for an MMO it is incredibly fluid and engaging, of course it does depend on the class you play. However, almost every class I have played so far has kept me engaged and having a good time while playing it. Something else that I love about FFXIV that I have not seen another MMO do so far to my knowledge is that in the game if you decide you want to play another class, you don't have to make a new character and start all over, you just have to go unlock the class you want to play, level it up and then you can freely swap between the currently 20 different combat classes in the game as you wish (not including the 8 different crafting classes and 3 different gathering classes). This is probably one of my favorite parts of FFXIV as a whole because it allows me to basically never get bored for a majority of the game, if i am getting tired of a class, i don't have to start a character completely over and go through the story again, i can just freely switch and get to use a different combat class while keeping all my progress.

Lastly I want to talk about the community. When I say that this game has a community like no other, I genuinely mean it. I have played a lot of different online games in my time with many different groups and communities within them. However, none have ever compared to the truly amazing community that FFXIV has. This game has the most kind, welcoming, and helpful community I have ever seen in a game. Currently in my time on this game I have have done around 500 instanced based activities (raids, dungeons, or trials) and in all that time I could probably only count on 1 hand the amount of remotely rude/offensive people i have run into, and even at that, if someone is rude the rest of the team will immediately shut them down. Plainly said, the FFXIV community does not tolerate toxic people from everything I have seen. The game has a rich player economy in which you are able to buy and sell items on a market board, and this trade is fueled by the crafter and gatherer classes. This economy is the lifeblood of the game for most players and it is really something special if you ask me.

So this has been my long talk on FFXIV, I am still playing the game now and working on my mentor status'. I hope that this was informational for some people looking to get into the game the same way i was two years ago. The game is without a doubt the best MMO i have ever personally played, I am sure there could be better out there, but until I find it, this game has everything I could ever need and more. If any new players are looking to get into the game, i genuinely recommend starting with the Free Trial, it lets you go really far and gives you a great idea of what the game has to offer. Also if you are looking for help in game, I play on Crystal, Brynhildr and my name is Byzon Hardin, feel free to message me or send me a letter any time and I will happily try to help any new player however I can!

Safe travels adventurer!