A Very Rude Awakening!
Most players will be either pleased or displeased to hear that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is not as casual as first speculated. Naoki Yoshida spoke about how everyday and progressive missions (like main story quest) will indeed require some level of effort and strategy. By no means does the newly adjusted content warrant a pillow to lay ones bobbing head down for a long desired sleep.
BETA Phase 3
Being purely bias I will say that the game encourages a better level of play than most MMOs offer even after you reach endgame. I’m personally a hardcore competitive gamer and a progress junkie. The fact that I had to retry a level 15 quest multiple times made me feel challenged and engaged from the very beginning. The best part about the entire ordeal was when you finally beat the fight and realize how challenging it was then collect your rewards (they weren’t cheap about the rewards either.)
From reading the forums and the bickering in world chat you could almost taste the salt from the tears of anguish. That alone on a more social level creates a better MMO community in my opinion. Once people start to ask questions and look to other players for information about content, it creates a network at a social level among thousands of players. This way information is more readily available and progression as a whole community enriches the game.
A Message To The New And Old
Some people are under the impression that the game will become easier than it used to be before Yoshida took over the Final Fantasy XIV project during the first build of 1.0. Some have the idea that because Square Enix is implementing similar content found in popular casual games, it will become a mirror image of those casual games. No…
I recall the first build of Final Fantasy XIV to be very challenging at times, the new game shows signs of a competitive environment just like it did in its early stages. Like its predecessor Final Fantasy XI, there are elements of people friendly, fan service content that will keep less active players happy, and there are also elements of competitive, strategic, time consuming content that will encourage progression and an effort to play at a better level than your every day player. So whether you’re a less active player or someone who lives for the game, it offers a comparable experienced for both niches of the Final Fantasy MMO community.
