That recommendation always came with a caveat: “Look, Final Fantasy XIV has one of the greatest stories in the entire series! But uh, you just gotta power through the first 50 hours of A Realm Reborn.

With the release of last week’s patch 5.3, it’s finally here, and the wait has been worth it.įor the longest time, it was difficult for me to give FFXIV a wholehearted recommendation to friends. It was easily one of the most highly anticipated changes for the game since the 2.0 launch, and for good reason too. A year ago, Square Enix announced that a rework of the A Realm Reborn storyline for Final Fantasy XIV was in the works.