AWP plays Final Fantasy XIV and fights a maintenance boss or two on his first day. (A short FFXIV review)

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you might have read my saga to buy the game. I visited no less than 10 stores multiple times asking if they had the game on PC (because my thoughts on anyone who buys an MMO for the console, let's just say their elevator doesn't go all the way to the top), and it was basically a string of "we don't have it" and "it's sold out."

Keep in mind, folks, this is the only game I need to complete my collection. I have every game for the series. I've copied the older games to emulators because I did give my money to SquareSoft and Square Enix. I've done this longer than some of you have been alive, and yes, as a kid, I actually liked these games better than Mario. I was given a Sega Genesis so I wouldn't climb cupboards in my house, and frequently claim I could have been a mountain climber by now if it were not for video games.

That aside, here's my character as a fresh level one. I inadvertently made my toon look like Tidus from FFX, according to a friend. He also forgot I also inadvertently made my toon also look like Vaan from FFXII:

Fun fact: I made this toon a Thaumaturge (a magic user), while Tidus and Vaan are more Thief-type characters, which makes my choice a bit more confusing than it should be.

Anyways, first hour in, I get hit by maintenance. No problem, I just go out and get some stuff from Safeway. I come back and play for a bit, and get hit by maintenance again for a total of three maintenance hours during a time when people are playing the most. Am I mad? Not really. I probably would have been more pissed off if I had bought the game on its original release date (August 27) and tried to play then.

The gameplay is somewhat good. Not bad, but good enough to keep me interested. The only games that I play on a regular basis have been reduced to multiplayer first person shooters and WoW, so this is a pretty big achievement on the game's part. My expectations weren't sky high to begin with, since the JRPGs are far better, but it exceeded them on some level.

Getting gear is pretty straightforward. You do quests, you get gear. A fun part of the game are the FATEs, which basically involve you killing enemies with a ton of other people, and you get rewards commensurate on how you did in the battle. Think of them as world bosses. They're not extremely hard, but if you're level 10 like me, you'll probably think they are.

I get a lot of bag space to begin with, which rules. I haven't actually done any instances yet, and I'm not even max level yet. I'll write a full review once I get to know the game a bit better.

Current Grade: A-