Thinking it might be time to try this MMO? Think again.
This game is still not ready to be played. Despite its beautiful scenery, detailed character models and the massive revamping that has been taking place for the past 8 month, FF14 is still a confusing, broken mess of a game. There are things this development team has done that seem to suggest they never made a game before; having to open a separate program to configure your controls and graphical settings is incredibly aggravating. There are bugs galore, including npc text that will stay on the screen 30 seconds after they've finished speaking, and DirectX errors up the wazoo (yes I've tried multiple driver versions and directx updates.) The voiced over cut scenes, despite some bad voice acting, are great, but the majority of the cut scenes are devoid of voice over, which doesn't seem deliberate, it seems like the voice track is missing.
The game gives you zero direction to get you started. The people playing, with 1 exception so far, have no interest in getting you accustomed to the game. The map system is a mess, the combat is laggy and doesn't take player positioning into account; frequently you can strike enemies directly behind you by stabbing... in front of you :(
Please don't mistake me for someone that wants to hate on this game. I wanted to love it, and I still want to. Its just not ready to be played yet, and it will consistently make a strong case for playing something else. Honestly I feel as if this game doesn't want me to play it, if that makes any sense. With some work, maybe a year from now, this could be a great game. The graphics are amazing for an MMO, the lore is in place, and c'mon, its Final Fantasy, all is not lost. Just don't waste any money or time on this trainwreck in 2011.