While the Final Fantasy series is known for its more than a dozen sweeping singleplayer games, there are a couple of massively multiplayer online RPGs, too. Between Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV, which is the Final Fantasy MMO that you should play?
This honestly comes down to your personal preferences in the end, but there are some factors that can help determine your answer. Here are some of the top-level pros and cons of both games that you should know about.
What are the pros and cons of for Final Fantasy MMORPG FFXI?
When it comes to FFXI, these are the benefits of playing the original MMO in the franchise that it has over its successor:
- A complete experience: You can play everything from start to finish right now without worrying about new content that outdated or changes too much.
- Freedom: This game is known for its immense amount of content and gameplay freedom
- Classes: Though they share classes, this MMO has the edge in terms of making the classes feel more interesting
- Challenge: This is a much harder game and it shows
On the other hand, there are some negatives you should know about:
- Graphics haven’t aged too well
- Gameplay is a bit clunky at times
- Story isn’t too impressive
- The community is passionate but small
- You can only play on PC
- There is no permanent free version
What are the pros and cons of for Final Fantasy MMORPG FFXIV?
When it comes to Final Fantasy XIV, which first released in its current state in 2013, these are the elements that you should consider:
- Breadth of content: There is so much varied content across the board you can find here, from housing to the Gold Saucer
- Ever-growing story: The plot generally gets larger and better as the expansions go on
- Characters: Some of the best characters in the franchise are here
- Freedom to change and play every job
- Massive community, even outside of major patches
- Permanent free version
- Plays somehow perfectly on a controller
- Both console and PC options
But not everything is perfect, even with arguably the best MMO in gaming. Here are some of the issues:
- Repetitive, predictable, and sometimes even stale new content
- The story seems to be on a sharp decline after Endwalker
- Job class changes happen too often
- Jobs feel quite rigid and too similar to one another
- Housing system is outdated and frustrating
- Much of its foundations are built on FFXI’s ideas (such as most of its jobs)
Which Final Fantasy MMORPG Should You Check Out?
In the end, the choice is up to you on which Final Fantasy MMO you should play. However, I would tell almost everyone to check out FFXIV. It is the much more fun game to play these days and it still looks pretty great.
Plus, you can’t beat its entirely free version. Though you can only play to a certain point, it is a massive amount of free content and jobs you can enjoy without ever having to pay for the game or a subscription, so there’s no reason not to check it out.
