Best Video Games of 2014 – Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn – PS4 Release

Square's MMORPG goes head to head with World of Warcraft as the perfect casual game for fans of the genre.

Final Fantasy 14 is not a new game. It was originally released in late 2010 for the PC, with a promised PlayStation 3 release in the future. Unfortunately the game was plagued with problems, primarily due to the mandate from top Square officials that stated the game must play radically different from Square’s current MMORPG, Final Fantasy 11. This caused the game to try quite a few new things that ultimately did not work out, and had the limited player base asking for a sequel to Final Fantasy 11 instead of the game they were playing.

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Fast-forward to August 2013 and Square Enix re-released Final Fantasy 14 as a pseudo-sequel. The new game, entitled Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, released on the PC and PlayStation 3 simultaneously, with a promised future release on the PlayStation 4. It was almost completed revamped from the initial release and was exactly what many fans had wanted from the original. It wasn’t Final Fantasy 11-2, but it was a happy median between Final Fantasy 11 and World of Warcraft.

More forward in time yet again to April 2014, when Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn finally graced the PlayStation 4. With the PS4 release came the ability for console players to see the game how it was meant to be experienced. While the graphics on the PS3 were decent, they were nowhere near the quality of the visuals on a good PC. You can argue about the differences between the PS4 and PC graphics, but for most people they’re virtually identical. In addition, the game runs at a brisk 60 frames per second, and is one of the best-looking MMORPGs on the market.

What makes Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn so good is the fact that it’s easy to pick up and play. If you don’t have a lot of time to put into an MMORPG, Final Fantasy 14 offers numerous ways to play for an hour or so at a time and still get a lot done. You don’t need the best gear available to hold you own in dungeons or instanced battles, and there are enough classes to offer a wide variety of play styles.

Unlike most other MMORPGs, you only need one character in Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. You can switch between any of the classes at will, taking each to the current level cap of 50. There are currently 10 jobs to choose from: White Mage, Scholar, Black Mage, Summoner, Paladin, Warrior, Monk, Dragoon, Bard and Ninja. Some are healers, some are tanks and some are DPS jobs.

In addition, while there are multiple servers for the game, it doesn’t matter what platform you play on. All of your important character data is held on Square’s servers, which means you can switch between PC, PS4 and PS3 at any time and your character will be ready to go. Like Final Fantasy 11, the game also features cross-platform play. That means people on the PS4 can party up with people on the PS3 or PC with no problems at all. It’s just about everything you could want in an MMORPG and the first expansion is due out in early 2015 to continue the fun.

Once you dive into the game, be sure to use Prima’s resources to decide if you should get a relic weapon, how to beat the Extreme Primal fights against Ifrit, Titan and Garuda, and how best to play each of the main jobs!


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Author
Bryan Dawson
Bryan Dawson has an extensive background in the gaming industry, having worked as a journalist for various publications for nearly 20 years and participating in a multitude of competitive fighting game events. He has authored over a dozen strategy guides for Prima Games, worked as a consultant on numerous gaming-related TV and web shows and was the Operations Manager for the fighting game division of the IGN Pro League.