MMOwN3D Ep. 1: Fashion Reject Punches Crabs

Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs and I go back a long time. My interest began with Final Fantasy XI. A few of my friends were heavily invested in the game and eventually convinced me to give it a try. I loved it. In spite of all grinding, waiting for parties, and repetitive tasks, I really loved playing FFXI. Even now, I get a bit homesick when I listen to the Ronfaure music or the San d’Oria theme. My linkshell (/shout to KillerSeeD/SeeDElite/NBK) was a wonderful group of players with which to waste the in-game hours. Even though I never reached the challenging endgame content, I still had a lot of fun with the game. Eventually, however, the linkshell disbanded and most of my friends stopped playing, so I ceased my involvement as well. I didn’t possess the patience to continue through the game on my own.

After college, when I finally constructed a gaming PC, I tried a few other MMOs. While Star Trek Online was a fanboy fantasy come true, I wasn’t invested enough in the story, world, or gameplay to stick around for long (though piloting my own starship was amazing). Not long afterwards, I felt drawn towards epic fantasy again, so I tried Guild Wars 2. I also found GW2 fun, but because your character accrued skills quickly and early, I lost some of my interest in leveling. That and I became more interested in other titles (probably LoL). I’ve logged back into GW2 a few times, but never for very long.

Most recently, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn piqued my interest. As I discussed in my previous post, FFXIV: ARR appears to be a successful remake of the disastrous FFXIV, and the hype surrounding the game made me extremely excited. After reading reviews and community commentary, I wondered if all along I had wanted another Final Fantasy MMO. So in spite of Square Enix’s embargo on digital downloads pending upgrades to their serves (which have been unstable since launch), I managed to get myself a copy of the game to see if it could scratch the MMO itch I barely knew I had.

MMOs are impossible to review in one sitting, so instead I’m going to chronicle my adventures and thoughts about the game as I play through it. Plus, I thought of a great title for the series and just had to use it. Here begins the MMOwned OR MMO w/ N3D (MMOwN3D) saga!

* see what I did there?

MMOwN3D Episode 1: Fashion Reject Punches Crabs

FFXIV:ARR begins just like any other MMO: with character creation. You choose from five species (the same ones that were in FFXI but with different names) and create a beautiful creature for you to romp around the world of Eorzea. Really though, I think I could make an ugly character, but it would be HARD. The options for character customization were quite varied, impressively so for an MMO. After playing a Tarutaru in FFXI (the ancestors of FFXIV’s Lalafell), I decided that this time I’d go with something more dignified: an Elezen (read: Elf). Named Asmodeus because that’s what my FFXI character was named.

Blonde with red highlights… you know, dignified

Since I played mage classes throughout my entire FFXI experience, I chose a much different starting profession this Asmodeus: a Pugilist (read: Guy Who Punches Things). I also select a few other attributes for my character, such as his birthday and patron deity, neither of which appear to matter much yet. In the subsequent cutscene, I received an introduction to FFXIV: ARR’s story, and, shockingly, it has to do with crystals, the apocalypse, massive eidolons (or primals, in FFXIV parlance), and a young group of stalwart heroes. It’s almost like I’m playing a Final Fantasy game. Yet before I get to the epic world-saving, THERE’S NOOB STUFF TO DO.

Your starting class determines the city in which you begin, and as a Pugilist, my adventure began in the desert metropolis of Ul’dah. The game immediately directs you to the Adventurer’s Guild where you receive the first of many quests designed to familiarize you with the game. In typical MMO fashion, said quests consisted of killing a certain number of creatures, talking to a certain number of people, or clicking on a certain number of spots on the ground.

In which I “welcome” travelers to the Weaver’s Guild (alternate caption: ‘Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.)

Unsurprisingly, early leveling and questing in FFXIV: ARR is a bit monotonous. With only a few skills, basic enemies, and access to a single class, the early levels are easy and uneventful. For example, the Pugilist “combo” at early levels is literally pressing ’1… 2… 3…’ in order over and over, then throwing in a 5 or 6 if you want to win especially hard or if you fear for your life (this is rare). Yet such is the way of the MMO. Luckily, the sights and (especially) sounds of the game are gorgeous and captivating, even in the desert of Thanalan outside of Ul’dah. Admittedly, I have the PC version of the game with the specs cranked to their maximum level, but, if you can do that, it works WONDERS.

Sure, it’s no Skyrim or Crisis, but the areas are expansive and pretty (and sound amazing… thanks Nobuo!)

While the quests of the early levels are moderately similar whether they are main or side, you can start enjoying some of the more fun content once you reach level 5 (which takes two hours at most). Specifically, I’m referring to FATEs (Full Active Time Events): timed quests in which anyone near enough on the map can participate. These events typically involve slaying either a large group of enemies or one big nasty beastie (and sometimes both).

Such as this Giant Enemy Crab

Not only do FATEs earn you oodles of experience (apparently FATE farming is the fastest way to level in the game), but also they bring you together with a bunch of strangers to beat down a mutual foe. Guild Wars 2 also had this mechanic, and it was one of the things I loved most about the game. I’m glad that FFXIV: ARR picked up on this concept because FATEs are a marvelous implementation of it. Also, despite of the phrase “FATE farming,” challenging FATEs and other forms of leveling doesn’t feel terribly grindy… at least yet. In comparison, FFXI forced you to party up and fight for hours to gain levels after level 10, so I’m pretty damn glad that FFXIV significantly changed the formula.

Of course, FATEs are not the only places where you challenge large enemies. The main storyline also draws you into fights with especially nasty foes, such as the Clay Golem I recently fought.

Well, at least he LOOKS impressive… because I killed him without going under 75% health.

As silly as I think it will be, FFXIV: ARR’s storyline is, at the very least, involved and motivating. Yes, part of it is that you reap significant rewards from completing main story quests, but that was also the case in FFXI, in which I barely completed any story quests. It didn’t help that FFXI required you to get help from higher leveled players for most story quests, a requirement that FFXIV: ARR doesn’t appear to have.

Of course, this is an MMO, so there are often extremely funny moments, both intended and unintended.

Like this guy’s name for example.

Unfortunately my Asmodeus, much the game’s hilarity comes from the armors and outfits he’s forced to wear. Yet another sacrifice in the name of high stats…

Well I couldn’t ever possibly look more ridiculous than this!

…Fuck.

While I’m still acclimating myself to how to play the game, I’m very satisfied with the user interface and controls. The screen looks pretty crowded at times, but I’m rarely confused about what’s on it. The camera and player movement is a bit wonky at first, but I love that I can customize the UI and hotkeys to my heart’s content (not that I’m obsessive about it… definitely not…). The only big annoyance is the targeting system. Trying to click on an enemy when it’s surrounded by other players is super difficult, and the “tab to target” mechanic doesn’t always select something nearby (or anything attacking you/your party).

With some of my early quests out of the way, it’s time to move on to the more complex and challenging tasks ahead!

Onwards to adventure… AND A NEW PAIR OF PANTS PLEAAAAAASE.

MMOwN3D Ep. 1: Fashion Reject Punches Crabs

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