Final Fantasy XIV (2013)

Final Fantasy XIV, also known as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3 (no longer supported as of June 2017), and PlayStation 4 developed and published by Square Enix in 2013. It is a reboot of the original Final Fantasy XIV, and the third MMO in the series after Final Fantasy XI and the aforementioned original.

So far, the game has received two expansion packs, Heavensward and Stormblood, which were released in June of 2015 and 2017, respectively. A third expansion, titled Shadowbringers, will be released in Summer of 2019.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) The original's development team was completely replaced, with the new team having a much better grasp on what makes an MMORPG good.
 * 2) Good user interface, which can be customized by the player to add more hotbars and their location.
 * 3) Amazing soundtrack.
 * 4) The graphics, while not as high quality as the original, are still good.
 * 5) * However, the game having lower quality graphics gives it much more reasonable system requirements than the original.
 * 6) Surprisingly good story for an MMORPG, even more so beginning with Heavensward.
 * 7) Good selection of playable classes, including series staples like Black/White/Red Mage, Warrior, Monk, and Dragoon, as well as new ones like Machinist.
 * 8) You can play as every single class in the game on a single character, almost completely eliminating the need for alt characters.
 * 9) Good selection of dungeons, raids, and trials (instanced boss fights).
 * 10) Cross-play between all versions, allowing people to play with friends regardless of platform.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) A rather long GCD (global cooldown) at 2.5 seconds, making the game feel very slow in comparison to other MMORPGs.
 * 2) Heavily instanced, with every zone existing in its own separate instance, although zones added in Heavensward and beyond are so large that this issue is mostly mitigated.
 * 3) Slow-paced beginning, the story isn't very interesting until around level 40 at a minimum.
 * 4) Teleportation fees between specific predetermined areas that you need to unlock the ability to teleport to are annoying, especially because the main story questline sends you all over the world.
 * 5) It still uses the outdated method of subscription by paying $15 a month, fortunately Playstation Owners don't need to get PSplus for it.
 * 6) There is an extremely long and boring gap between the end of the base story and the Heavensward expansion, consisting of over 100 story quests. This gap is mandatory to cross in order to access all of Heavensward 's content.
 * 7) * This issue has been lessened as of Patch 5.3.

Reception
The game was received positively on release, with the PC version of the base game having a score of 83/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic and a 39/40 from Famitsu. Additionally, the base game, Heavensward, and Stormblood have an average user rating of 4.12/5, 4.24/5, and 4.26/5 on GameFAQs, respectively.