listen, this game sucked SO BAD on release for 1.0
This video greatly sums it up but there’s so many other essays out there that discuss how bad it was. BUT, Enix wasnt willing to simply drop it after they put so much money into it, they brought in Yoshi-P, the guy behind their Dragon Quest MMORPG, to help fix this. The team put in so much effort and work to repair what was done and to repay players who stuck around through these times, adding features and functions 1.0 lacked. However, despite the work to repair 1.0, it wasn’t enough, which led wasn’t to a rather iconic end.
In patches leading to its end, the Red Moon Dalamund became an ominous beacon in the sky that slowly grew in size and players would learn the Garlean Empire intended to use this for nefarious means. and boy did they, in the final hours of the game, it was like hell on Earth. Dalamud had broken through the clouds and was an oppressive sight on the horizon in all zones, day or night. The weather was broken everywhere. A distorted version of a song known as Answers played just about everywhere, monsters of strength beyond what players had spawned, soon spawning at gates of safe locations and even in those safe zones themself.
Many players’ accounts cite many withdrew to their favorite cities while just as many made for a pilgrimage to a major location — Mor Dhona — in their best gear, waiting for the end to come together. Imperial troops would soon flood the area, some sporting level 100, until, all at once, everyone still connected to the servers received a message simultaneously: “Confound it! We’ve lost contact with the main host!” Something had gone horribly wrong with the Battle of Carteneau Flats.
And then, there was nothing.
The End of An Era had come.
I think it’s absolutely INSANE how they made the closing down of the 1.0 servers with a bang a canonical event in the lore to the story so they could destroy everything and build the 2.0 version of the game up from the ground up. 1.0 is not remembered favorably by players, critics or the team behind it. But, it did lay the groundwork for an incredible ten-year journey.
A year later, rising from the ashes on a shoestring budget after its predecessor’s failure, was A Realm Reborn ( 2.0 ). The path towards A Realm Reborn began during the patches for 1.0 were being pushed out and thanks to the canonical event of the land being nuked and warped by the events at the battle of Battle of Carteneau Flats, it made for a perfect excuse to completely alter everything and give it a new look. A Realm Reborn also gave new race options in the form of female Rogan, previously only seen on a late patch NPC in 1.0, and male Miqo’te, only previously known through lore and off-handed mentions at that point.
I personally think a lot of FFXIV’s critical success comes from how open the team is with their players. After 1.0’s disaster, they began doing Live Letters to inform players of updates/reworks to jobs, new content, new gear. Anything new. They’re doing everything they can to keep the players in the know because they care. ( THE COMMUNITY HELPS TOO OBVIOUSLY!! )
That being said, as mentioned, ARR was built on a shoestring budget, so while it wasn’t the best, it was an incredible step up from what we previously had. It did, unfortunately, lean more into MMORPG than its Final Fantasy roots at the time, but that would change over time with the patches leading to Heavenward and Heavensward itself, you could really feel the Final Fantasy thrumming through it at that point. I can recognize and acknowledge that it’s not going to be for everyone and to wait for it to get good it so suck. A lot of players cite it gets better for them post Garuda battle as the plot REALLY gets rolling and I think the recent work to trim down the fat and improve the 2.0 experience helps bring in new players.
Regardless, FFXIV would improve with each and every expansion, the scores the game received would only get higher and higher with the most recent expansion, Endwalker ( the finale to the ten-year saga of the Hydaelyn vs Zodiark arc ), coming in at 92 on Metacritic and reaching 9.0 user score.
I honestly do not think I can do justice to explain how good this game experience has been. I’ve genuinely had fun playing it and I enjoy watching other streamers experience the game, even those who are not familiar with Final Fantasy and/or previous players of WoW, its more than just a good Final Fantasy. It’s a good story that tugs at your strings and somehow made me burst into tears when an NPC asked me: “Tell me this and tell me true. Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile?”
Yes. This journey has been nothing but wonderful, and I would love nothing more than to offer it to others.
IN SHORT
( please understand that back in 2019, when i started playing, the trial only lasted until lv30, but i was so into the game at that point i did NOT CARE that i had to pay a sub, then they updated the trial experience to all the way through Heavensward and respective patches and only recently it’s been updated to play though Stormblood ( 4.o ) and it’s patches. )
also this is propaganda to do the bard job
you gotta
StarstorDandee
Drake Inferno
What is dad? 
