Let's not beat about the bush. Final Fantasy XIV was a collossal failure for SquareEnix. When it released in 2010 it was butt fucked by pretty much every critic who played it criticising pretty much everything about it. Here's a reminder of how bad the game was. http://youtu.be/YalPV3cgI78 Anyway they're now re-releasing the game with a new story, in a new world, and a new title, Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn. In a press release, producer and director Naoki Yoshida said, “Since announcing our plans for the future of the title last October, we have been working tirelessly to include all of the elements that we have promised in FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn. This new title not only becomes a symbol of a completely new FINAL FANTASY XIV, but also marks the beginning of a new stage as the latest title in the FINAL FANTASY series. I hope you’re looking forward to it!” He didn't say anything about having fixed the things wrong with the game, which was everything apparently. I like the way he hopes we're looking forward to it. Of course he does, if this bombs too he'll probably be on the street sucking dick to make ends meet. Here's the launch trailer, but it's just cut scenes, no gameplay. http://youtu.be/MthTZ3vjKgc The last good Final Fantasy game was 10 years ago. How hard can it be to not fuck up a great franchise?
I hardly believe any verdict made on Final Fantasy MMOs. A while ago I was interested in getting back into FF11, which I hadn't played since 2007 (this was last year when FF14 was non-subscription). I still think it'd be cool but unfortunately it's still like 17 bucks a month for 3 characters. Well anyway they'd changed EVERYTHING about it! I think what they did was QUITE genius. I don't remember the details but they basically make grinding irrelevant while a solo game is made relevant (if you played it on release it was VERY grind heavy and soloing was near impossible passed lvl20!!). They listened to the fans in XI I have no reason to believe they won't sooner or later do the same with XIV. It'll still be quite expensive though I'd bet.