Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn - Life After Death And Beyond

I had previously dabbled in other Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs or MMOs) such as MapleStory, but the first one I really put any real time into was World of Warcraft, thanks to my involvement in the MMO documentary, Second Skin.

It's all a blur, but apparently I played WoW from  2008.08.24 to 2010.02.27. From 2008.08.24 to 2009.04.28 as a Night Elf with the Alliance, with the guild No Options, of which several of the fellow subjects of Second Skin were members. From 2009.06.14 to 2010.02.27, I played as a Blood Elf, which is aligned with the Horde as opposed to the Alliance, and I was in the guild alea iacta est, where several internet celebrities, like Veronica Belmont, were members. While I did enjoy playing with No Options, the Alliance faction is entirely too goody-goody for my tastes. The Horde is darker and grittier. In WoW's expansions, the Horde is more like the "anti-hero faction," than its "evil" role in earlier Warcraft games.

I ended up quitting WoW cold turkey due to other obligations as well as a crappy computer. Not to mention 30GB seemed outrageous for a PC game to me at the time. Still sort of does. Afterwards, I tried other MMOs, including Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine and DC Universe Online, but none really kept my interest like Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn. The main thing that attracted me to FFXIVARR is that it's cross-platform. PlayStation 3 users can play with PC users, and vice versa. Finally, an MMO I can play with everyone else regardless of how bad my PC is.

I purchased the PS3 version of FFXIVARR on 2003.09.17 and was invited into the Free Company (what guilds are called in FFXIVARR) Death's Hand on the second day I played the game. In Death, we had good online numbers (ie: 20 members on at  once) and were helpful. Fast forward to around December, everything began to go downhill once one of our members died. I had other obligations, so I took some time off.

When I returned, Death was in shambles. Our leaders either went on hiatus or flat-out deleted their characters. Our numbers had dwindled, both in members and online. Whereas we had 20 members on at once, now we only had like 5 on. Quite a few of my friends left Death for other FCs and the lack of members made me look for a new FC myself. I found out, while running around in-game, that a few former members of Death were now in Lifestream for various reasons.

I talked to a few of them, was invited in and joined Lifestream a couple days after New Year's 2014. Life has the numbers Death had originally. Joining Lifestream was like a family reunion of sorts as there were a lot more former members of Death in the FC. Our unofficial slogan between former Death's Hand members is "Life After Death." That slogan isn't too far off either, as I've accomplished more in Life than I ever did while in Death.

I had heard of close-knit guilds, such as the legendary Syndicate before, but I was never a part of one until I joined Lifestream. It's only been about a month or so since I joined, but within that time, I've come to grow attached to my fellow guildmates. A huge part of the connection, in my opinion, is the fact we use Mumble, which is a program similar to TeamSpeak and Ventrillo, where users can actually talk to each other using microphones. Even I, who am unable to talk, have figured out a way to talk and interact with the other members using text-to-speech. The fact that we can interact both outside and inside the game helps to make a more solid bond between members. As far as Lifestream goes, I say that "FC" stands for "Family Company," because frankly, I do consider Lifestream like a second family.

There are multiple aspects of FFXIVARR that I like, but there are 2 in particular that I'd like to focus on. The first is the importance of roles. As in most games, there are 3 major roles -- tank, damage per second or damage dealers, and healers. Tanks are supposed to keep the enemy's attention, therefore saving the other members from taking damage. Damage per second, or "DPS" and healers are easier to explain. As the role name implies, the goal of DPS is to inflict as much damage as often as possible while the enemy is focused on the tank. Healers, true to their name, heal the other members. While there is more to each role, that is the general gist of it.

FFXIVARR makes the importance of these roles even more apparent than in other games, because not only do you need to have these roles filled in order to go into dungeons, but if players of one of these roles fall in battle, the entire group will more than likely die. As a result, each member should know how to effectively fill their respective role, and the game gives players ample opportunity to get accustomed to their role. My experience in FFXIVARR has also allowed me to better plan ahead not only in other games, but in real life as well.

The other aspect that I like is you see how everything is connected. Like in other MMOs, there is more to do than just fight. There are also professions or trades, which can be separated into 2 groups: crafting and gathering, both of which are fairly straightforward -- crafters make stuff while gatherers collect things. FFXIVARR lets you see how these trades and the fighting are connected. For example, miners (gathering trade) dig up metals, ores and such. They can sell these to blacksmiths or goldsmiths (crafting trades) who in turn use the materials to make better armor and weapons for the fighters, or better tools for other trades. Fishers (gathering) can sell the fish they catch to culinarians (crafting) who turn the fish into status-enhancing meals for fighters and other trades. Fighters can also come across materials for crafters while fighting. I find it interesting and nice to see how everything is connected.

For all these reasons and more, I believe that picking up Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn was one of the best gaming decisions I've made in a long time. True, it took me a while to figure out and get used to my control method, but I plan on staying with the game for as long as it's supported, expansions and all. I will also get it on PC and PS4 as soon as possible.