Square Enix has confirmed a Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn release date of August 27 on PC and PS3, but should you give it a second look? We think so, and here's why.
A new dawn
Good grief, Final Fantasy XIV was dreadful. Released back in 2010 on the PC only, it was an embarrassment, not only to the MMO genre, but to video games in general. Featuring terrible lag, unnecessarily complicated menus, and bland, empty landscapes, it was fundamentally broken. Three years, millions of dollars and a rehauled dev team later, and it's a completely different story. In fact, the current version of FFXIV is so different, Square Enix has aptly renamed it 'A Realm Reborn', and, having had hands-on at a recent event, we can confirm that this really is the case.
The Fixer
Taking over a sinking ship is no easy task, but Square Enix made a smart move in electing Naoki Yoshida as the new captain. This is a man who admits to spending many sleepless years playing Ultima Online, EverQuest, WoW, Rift, Tera, Guild Wars 2, and even became the 1st ranked PvP champion for Dark Age of Camelot. Naoki knows MMOs, and his passion and innate knowledge shows in A Realm Reborn.
Jumping Jack
In A Realm Reborn, you can now jump. No, really. The fact that you couldn't in the original shows just how broken it was. But no longer! Small details such as character movement have been finely tuned, demonstrating just how much scrutiny every aspect of the game is being put under.
Action Time
A crucial feature to MMOs is the hotbar - a row of 12 icons mapped to various keys that quickly allow you to move, act, and more importantly, emote. Adapting this mechanic to a DualShock is a tricky business, but one that Yoshida's team has nailed. By holding down either trigger, the face buttons and D-pad become the hotbar commands. Furthermore, tapping R1 will cycle through hotbars, which you can customise to your heart's content. Simple, and tactile enough for rival keyboard purists to appreciate.
Dude looks like a lady
: There are five playable races in FFXIV: the human Hyurs, elfy Elezen, tiny dwarfish Lalafells, giant Roegadyns and cute, cat-like Mi'quotes. Frustratingly, three of these races were originally gender locked, meaning you could only play as a male or female. No more. Now you can star as a hoomin woman, a sexy man cat thing or a humongous lady troll. Yes.
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