Terrible! I wouldn't even rank this among the mediocre. All Flash and no substance. Where's the cream filling?
I have been a fan of the Final Fantasy series since I could hold a controller, and I have to say, "Square-Enix has dissapointed me for the last time."
I would talk about the graphic problems the game has with my system, but then the fanboys would just argue that my system sucks. I can play Crysis at almost max graphics settings and 1440x900, but I guess my Alienware Aurora is a pile of junk (end sarcasm). Besides my obvious graphics hangups there, the game itself just reeks of over-production and advertising.
SE advertised the game to be the "wow" of the FF series, but in truth it's more of the same that we have come to expect from FFXI online. In fact, the latter is actually better in terms of gameplay. Here's why: FFXIV has no auction house, but they do have bazaaring. This means it takes half a century (figuratively speaking) to find anything. Then, we have the guildleve system. While it is a great idea, it was so poorly implimented that I spent 20 minutes questing, and then I spent half the day trying to figure out why I couldn't get any more quests. I then tried to grind kill mobs to make some levels and farm for loot. That didn't work out as I had hoped. For one thing, the mobs in the game are so sparse that when I found one or a group of social mobs, they were camped by other players. As I moved on I realized that in other (most) mmorpgs, the distance between mobs is at a reasonable 200-500 meters. FFXIV's mobs are distanced at 1000m in most cases it seems, as it is very hard to find something to fight.
There just isn't enough content in this game. Compared to most modern mmorpgs like Lord of The Rings online or World of Warcraft, which have hours upon hours of content, FFXIV has next to none. After I played through my levequests (including the crafting ones), I found there was nothing else to do except /yell for party invites, while I crafted to pass the time. Half a day was spent like this until I got so bored, I felt like I was going to go insane.
The only good about this game is it's graphics. This aspect of the game really stresses the processor and GPU of a PC. SE's benchmark is not an accurate estimate of how this game will run on anyone's system, and they have since made a disclaimer on that subject. If I had known before the game came out, I think I would have waited for a demo release. At any rate, I wouldn't recommend touching this game with anything less than a top of the line GPU/CPU mix and at least 4gigs of RAM if you run Vista or Win7. Some people I played with ran with mediocre cards (on the supported list) and low settings. Honestly, 50 USD (or so) isn't worth the "this might work on my PC" attitude in my opinion.
During my (lack of) misadventures in the land of Eorzea, I made some off-comment to an LS member about there being better mmorpgs out there. He promptly told me to go play them. I logged off that game, cancelled my account, and haven't looked back.
Perhaps one day SE will add content to the game. However, if the history of FFXI is any indication of SE's immovable will against players' sensibilities, I highly doubt the content will be much to look at.
*Updated review: I don't have much to add. Even with the improvements to the game, it still ranks a dismal failure. I started playing again after Jan. 30, and I have had a chance to see most of the changes, which are to say, few.
SE has changed the bazaar system by making a search list, and it is now easier to find what you are looking for. There are now clearly defined areas of the bazaar like: Battlecraft for weapons, ect. There are some minor changes to crafting and gathering, but all in all, it still remains the same, boring, tedium.
There have been no changes to guild leves (missions/quests), so count on long hours of nothing to do but craft or wait for parties. There have been no combat changes that I can see. The UI is still as clunky as ever, and coupled with the thirty frames per second frame lock when you use the mouse to look around, this game still feels like a spin off from the other free to play MMOs that are a dime-a-dozen. This is definately a game that should have been developed for console first, because an xbox 360 contoller is the way to go if you want to play this game smoothly.
Do yourselves a favor, if you like PC mmorpg's, this is one game to stay away from. I rate this piece of junk 3.0 still. I wouldn't be surprised if this game stops getting developement soon.