FFXIV: A Realm Reborn – The PS4’s First Great RPG and MMO

When Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn released on PC during August of last year it surprised a lot of gamers, including myself. Despite the derivation of MMOs for the past decade, A Realm Reborn managed to be something special, something… memorable. It was just what Final Fantasy and MMO fans needed.

Square Enix is now ready to share that experience with the PS4 crowd. For some people it will be yet another reason to get a PS4. For everyone who plays it, it’ll undoubtedly be not only a highly recommendable MMO for the platform, but a deep RPG experience to be drawn into. Why? Well, there are several reasons.

Uncompromised visual splendor

As with every other numerical Final Fantasy release in history, A Realm Reborn is gorgeous. Character models look so good you’re incentivized to acquire new gear if only just to see how good your character will look with new armor equipped. Vistas are pure eye-candy, stopping you dead in your tracks.

A PS3 version released last year that somehow managed to run this game, although at diminished quality. The PS3 simply wasn’t enough to do the game justice. Thankfully, the PS4 version will run it at 1080p and 60 FPS, making it a very enticing option even for those who have been playing the PC version.

Share your experience with friends

Instead of telling your friends about what you did in A Realm Reborn last night, why not show them?

The PS4’s streaming capabilities and easy screenshot capturing means you can seamlessly share the highlights of your journey with your friends and the online world. There are already tons of forum threads around the internet where people post glamorous photos of their characters and Ansel Adams-esque photos of the environment. You can join them and make your most memorable moments in A Realm Reborn last forever.

Content-packed at launch

I happened to love A Realm Reborn at launch, but it suffered from a lack of content during its first few months—something just about every MMO struggles with, to be fair. Since then, two major patches have been released in the form of 2.1 and 2.2. Each of these two patches were so significant that they had a massive page dedicated to their patch notes.

While there’s a lot to take in with these updates, especially for newcomers, all you need to know is that these will be included with the PS4 version’s launch, and they add a ton of new stuff to engage in. For example, Leviathan was recently added as a boss fight. Not only does that mean there is a new boss battle, but there is tons of new gear to earn. Get used to it, because Square Enix has been on the ball with its A Realm Reborn updates.

A Final Fantasy adventure

Let’s be real here, it’s going to be at least another year before we see Final Fantasy XV. If you’re like me, you’re probably experiencing Final Fantasy withdrawals. Thankfully, A Realm Reborn is a great Final Fantasy game.

In A Realm Reborn you’ll listen to the unforgettable tracks composed by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu while riding chocobos around the world. You’ll equip materia on your equipment to improve its stats. Final Fantasy XIII‘s Lightning was even added to the game as part of a quest where you can acquire her costume.

It won’t stop there, though. Square Enix will be adding more Final Fantasy fan service to the game as time goes on. 

Designed with a controller in mind

A Realm Reborn‘s PS4 version isn’t just going to be a cheap port. Square Enix has carefully designed the game from the ground up with controller input in mind. Playing the PS3 version, I was shocked at how well everything worked once I got used to the button mappings. The PS4 version will be even better due to the DualShock 4’s touchpad and more ergonomic shape.

Shared servers…

Already playing the PC or PS4 version? No problem. PS4 players will share servers with the other folks. In the case of veterans that means you can play your geared out level 50 Bard on the PS4 whenever you feel like hanging out on the couch. Or, if you have friends who has been trying to sell you on the game for months and you’ve kept saying no, you can join them.

…but you can start fresh

New servers will be added for the PS4 launch. If you want to race with others to be the first to hit level 50 and clear endgame content, you will want to seriously consider this option.

Remote play

Being able to play such a massive MMO like A Realm Reborn on a console is one thing, but did you know you can play it from a PS Vita, too? Remote Play will be supported at launch, giving you the option to play the game from anywhere. As you might’ve guessed, this feature is exclusive to the PS4 version.

Buy Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on PS4 now!