I remember when I first got into WOW (World of Warcraft) it was at my first year in University and I loved the game! Such a big community and so much to do and I never thought I would find anything similar to it until Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I had just gone through a long period of Destiny and Destiny 2 - I even did a post on Destiny 2: The Reveal - when they announced everything that would be going on in Destiny 2.
I bought this game at the start of last year. Used up the 30 day free subscription and played it on/off and wasn't really interested - I just thought it was another grinding game (which it is, don't get me wrong). I then really got into it around October last year and started playing every night and now I'm in love!
Now I'm not going to list and compare the differences between WOW and FF but what I will say is a BIG difference is that in World of Warcraft you choose a race and a class and that's it ... yes you can have more than 1 character on your server but they are separate to each other. In FF you can have 1 character and be everything! If you want to be a Black Mage or a White Mage or a Rogue or a Lancer or a Summoner you can! It will take some time levelling them up but so does WOW. One other big difference is the professions ... in WOW you get two and you normally pick the two that go with your class. In FF you can do them all and they all intertwine so you might need something for cooking which you can only get if you go and farm it from a patch of grass etc etc.
For me these two things are the biggest differences and I hate restrictions so for me in a fight FF would win over WOW any day! I mean as I said above - levelling each profession and class will take time but so do most grinding games anyway!
As I type this there in the base game and two expansions (I don't think the first one is classed as an expansion as there wasn't anything before it I think).
- Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
- Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
- Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
The games themselves are relatively cheap (writing this on Sun 21st Jan 2018 - A Realm Reborn is £9.99, Heavensward is £15.00 and Stormblood is £25 these prices are all from Amazon UK) however it is a subscription service and I pay £8.99 a month to play the game too.
As I write this post I am nearly at the end of 'A Realm Reborn' but even though I'm at the end of the story there is so much still to do ... such as levelling up my Disciples of the Hand and Land (professions) and other classes that I've started, you also can join a grand company and do quests for them to get seals and then you can level up within their ranks too. There are hunting logs and gathering logs to fill up which get you experience and seals too. You can also find and join a 'free company' which is basically a guild or clan which have other players. I recently joined one and the owner is amazing he/she (not sure yet) - I've never had so much help before or seen a guild that talks and interacts so much! When I first joined FF a random person added me to their free company and I just accepted but they were so quiet, hardly anyone was ever online and if you asked a silly "noob" question you got sarcastic answers back ... not the point of a free company I don't think.
Now I've watched a couple of "let's plays" on YouTube and one thing that sticks out is the amount of time and effort people put into their character creation. I mean the list is extensive - you can choose skin colour, hair colour, highlights for your hair, size of woman's breasts and they even have iris size, jaw size, variations in tattoos and their colours ... as I said the list is extensive!!
There are 5 different races in the game (I think they have just added a sixth for Stormblood):
- Hyur (human race)
- Miqo'te (cat-like race)
- Elezen (elf race)
- Roegadyn (troll-like race)
- Lalafell (dwarf race)
Each race can then have a clan so for the Hyur - you can choose to be a Midlander or a Highlander. There isn't any effect in the game - the Midlander just looks smaller and has paler skin and the Highlander are more well-built and have tanned skin.
The game then breaks the classes down into four disciples:
- Disciples of War
Gladiator
Pugilist
Marauder
Lancer
Archer
Rogue
- Disciple of Magic
Conjurer
Thaumaturge
Arcanist
- Disciple of the Hand
Carpenter
Blacksmith
Armourer
Goldsmith
Leatherworker
Weaver
Alchemist
Culanarian
- Disciple of the Land
Miner
Botanist
Fisher
Once you have then achieved mastery in a disciple of war or magic you can then specialise in a new skill: Paladin, Monk, Warrior, Dragoon, Bard, White Mage, Black Mage, Summoner, Scholar or Ninja.
I currently play on the Ragnarok server so if you are on that server and see this post - please add me or message me and let me know - it would be cool to hang out!
