I'm just curious as to which I should devote more time to. Can someone give me an informative non-biased comparison and personal recommendation therefore?

Vann and I have had a talk like this before on these two games. This is mainly going to be about TERA since I haven't delved enough into FFXIV to give a proper informative response but maybe if Vanndril pops in, he can explain it.

I play TERA and almost solely warrior, so keep in mind the inevitable bias. The main reason I enjoy it being that I don't like auto-attack MMOs that feel all point and click-ish. It's a personal preference that has probably come from the years of spending time playing straight-to-meat-and-potatoes arcade games.

The main shining point of TERA is, of course, its real-time combat system. Of course that isn't to say that it isn't flawed in some aspects, but it's engaging enough and requires a good deal of approach and coordination with teams when taking down boss monsters. There is no guard/block/dodge-chance. It all revolves around taking advantage of skill-invincibility windows and actual guarding which will always block the attack (unless your gear is under-leveled). You can't get too comfortable though, being careless with those skills can potentially gridlock you and leave you vulnerable during cooldowns so you want to have an idea for a rotation of defensive skills. The game takes a good deal of skill in this regard and the intensity of boss fights can really test you and your team's endurance.

The main problem I have with this though is that if you're tanking the boss and pulling aggro, you're going to be right up in front of him. There's a set behaviour on the boss where if RNG decides it, the boss will displace and move to a different location. This particular behaviour renders its collision hitbox non-existent and, thus, it will be able to move THROUGH you. While doing this, it will rapidly deal damage to anything that is inside of it since damage is dealt every set amount of distance it covers (the bosses are large so I guess you could say every "step" it takes, it will deal damage). This behaviour is very sudden and there is no real charge-up animation. It's not a really well-designed behaviour for a boss and the fact that every boss can do it annoys me. It can catch people off guard and can really screw a team badly if it ends up moving through light classes like cloth armour users (priest, sorceror, mystics). Since cloth armour users generally have a low balance modifier and a low defense, they can easily get knocked down from this attack. Not only that, they are still vulnerable during the knock-down animation and their balance modifier is drastically lowered during knock-down so they can repeatedly get juggled for high damage.

So shining point + bad design aside... let's talk about the rest of the game.

When you first play the game, you get the usual initial-shock factor and I found that it lasted me a lot longer than other MMOs. The visuals are a real treat that add to it and the music is fairly ambient that help blend the experience together. However, after the shock wears off you quickly find yourself in another typical K-MMO quest-fest. You realize that you're not exactly exploring but that you're being guided to the next area via a quest. It follows the formula:

=> Reach x Level
=> Go back to Velika, Allementheia, etc. for a new story quest branch
=> Quest takes you to a town in a new region which piles quests
=> Finish every quest to unlock a new quest which requires you to speak to a new person at a camp further into the region
=> Arrive at camp and get a new pile of quests
=> Repeat until you reach the instances for that region

What doesn't help is that the quests are pretty much boiled down to "Kill x amount of enemies", "Gather x amount of resources", and "Obtain x amount of items by killing y and z enemies" with the occasional "right-click x to do y". It's all largely filler and it becomes a tedious chore. It feels like there could be depth there, but it lacks just that. This usually happens after you get a taste of your first intense boss monster around Lv18 followed by your first instance run around Lv20. The entire time you're killing monsters, you're constantly wondering when will the next boss/instance show up.

After a while of playing, you'll notice enemies get re-used as well. They just have a different adjective before their name and sometimes re-skinned into a different colour which apparently governs what level they are. Enemies you first fought at level 10 could suddenly be level 50 and because of that it feels jarring to just fight the same beefed up enemies that have the same attack animations you're already familiar with, the only difference being the damage, defense, and health parameters ramped up to scale into their appropriate level. This is also done for boss monsters.

The level-cap is probably like the half-way point for your character. Level 65 (it was recently raised from 60 in the expansion) is where the gear broadens. The game basically becomes a grind-fest for running instances to get good gear drops to run more difficult level-cap instances. And then there's the matter of enchanting it. From there, that's pretty much the entire game after that, not including PvP.

There are other systems like alliances dailies, and gear crafting, etc. but those I don't feel the need to make a mention of since they're not really big in the game.

Despite the game relying on its engaging yet over-appreciated combat system as the glue to hold the rest of the game together, I do like what EME has been doing. The game has never seen a day of Pay 2 Win (unless you count slight bonus XP gain but level cap will eventually come and gear governs the at that point). Most of the pay stuff is for cosmetics on making your character (see: lolis) look cool and even then, those can be bought with in-game gold from other players via the brokerage.

Lastly, the game's community is pretty active in socializing so thankfully if it's Friday or Saturday night, Global chat can get pretty NSFW in discussions and can help numb the grind (I'm surprised the mods never do anything -- actually are there even any mods that are supposed to moderate the chat?).

----


Final Fantasy FFXIV. I can't say too much about it since I've only delved like 20 hours into it during my trial but from what I've played, I find it very much enjoyable.

This is coming from someone who dislikes auto-attack MMOs because "it isn't engaging enough to keep my interest". I found that for the amount of polish that went into FFXIV's interface, I was able to really get into it despite the lack of engaging combat.

Though one thing that bothers me is that your skill attack animations overlap your auto-attack animations. That and the map being absurdly difficult to use for navigation in a city.

Play PSO2 instead :I

Hey, wait a second. LillyTank... Didn't you already try FFXIV once long ago? Wasn't it you I played with for a short time, alongside Changer? :P

I suppose I should add my bit to this. I'm going to spoiler the whole review except for the conclusion, though, because it's HUGE.

First, some information about me and my experience with the two games.

I'm a wannabe professional game designer, and I'm attending college for a tangentially related degree. As such, most of my viewpoints on the quality of these two MMOs will come from that perspective. While I will definitely not claim to be unbiased (because <<www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMU1_-_4WKg|pure objectivity doesn't work for reviews>>), I tend to be quite close. I'll also attempt to stick the reviews of the game mechanics and features, rather than actual game content, or this review will go on forever.

I played TERA upon its English release, and stuck with it for a little more than a month. However, during that month, I played for at least 5 hours per day. I can safely say that I have at least 150 hours of TERA under my belt, albeit the release version. I have only jumped into TERA once since it became F2P - not because it is F2P, but mainly because I found the PvP to be unforgivably grindy, and I primarily PvP in my MMOs.

As for FFXIV, I played it since A Realm Reborn, patch 2.0, was released. In fact, I participated in the last 3 phases of the beta testing, as well. I am currently taking only my third prolonged break from the game, and I fully intend to return, at the latest, by the release of the next expansion (probably sooner, as I'll inevitably play it over my college's summer break). I have clocked at least 600 hours into FFXIV:ARR, and tend to keep up with the patch notes and changes even during my prolonged breaks from the game.

__________________________________________

First, let me speak of what I recall about TERA...

As Mugi explained, TERA's main draw is its real action combat system. As one who has played nearly every MMO on the market, I can say that TERA has the most unique and engaging combat system, bar none. It may not be perfect, but the combat is designed so well that, for me, it made up for the lackluster parts about TERA. Which, unfortunately, is just about everything else in the game aside from aesthetics.

TERA is pretty. There's not much else to describe it as. The visuals are well done, although a bit aged by today's standards. Even so, they continue to impress, and the scenery amongst the various zones of the game can be breathtakingly beautiful to behold. The music, too, it well done, but it's nothing spectacular. I can't recall any themes from TERA, which goes to show that the themes are just not catchy enough to be memorable.

Now, let's move on the the rest of TERA. I'll sum it up in a simple way: when I played, and I can't imagine it changed all too much since then, practically every feature of the game I haven't yet mentioned is unpolished, clunky, and lackluster.

The overall plot of TERA is excruciatingly simple or otherwise underwritten. I'm the kind of MMO gamer who reads all the quest text and reads up on the game lore, and I did so with TERA as well. While fascinating the few times you learn something about a race's culture or history, the rest of what I read was bland, cliche, and just...boring, overall.

The design of the quest progression in TERA is also a point of contention with me and the game. There is a point in the main story quests - multiple points, actually - that require you to complete a dungeon with a party of players. That's not so bad, honestly, except for one problem - it is absolute hell trying to find a party for these dungeons in TERA! Most players do these dungeons once, maybe twice, then ignore them. That means that, unless you can find four other players at that part of the story that also need to run the dungeon, or a high level friend to run you through it, then you're going to be spending a long time in the queue, or in chat looking for aid. It took me hours to find a party for the dungeon, and that was when the game was new in English! That said, dungeons in TERA are generally fun and exciting, much due to the awesome combat system.

I can't much speak of endgame for TERA, as I experienced very little of it.

I recall that TERA's crafting was excruciatingly simple and boring, but I also vaguely recall something about that being changed at some point. So, ultimately, I can't speak of this, either.

All in all, TERA is a mediocre game with an excellent combat system which more than makes up for its mediocrity. As far as F2P MMOs go, I consider TERA one of the greatest, even if I no longer play it. And I would highly recommend at least trying it once.

__________________________________________


Next, I'll speak of FFXIV:ARR. Naturally, I'll have more information on this than TERA, as I've played this for far longer.

To me, one of the greatest draws to FFXIV is its polish. After the initial release of the game nearly bankrupted Square Enix due to its general terribleness, they did their damnedest to recreate the game in better form from the ground up, and it payed off big time! Final Fantasy XIV is the most successful subscription-based MMORPG to come out in most of the last decade. Where as most subscription-based MMOs released in the last decade quickly found their player bases dwindling and were forced to become F2P, FFXIV has started strong, and only grown since then.

Anyway, back to the polish. FFXIV is polished. I mean, really polished. Its UI, its features, its art, its music, the combat, the animations... Everything is just very well designed. While no feature in FFXIV is outright perfect, each and every feature was obviously crafted with the utmost care and with the user in mind. In general, the polish of the game and its features can be described as "above average", with the occasional "amazing!" thrown in.

Now, onto specifics.

First, I want to talk about crafting in FFXIV, which is probably one of its biggest draws (or most frustrating drawbacks, depending on your perspective). In most MMORPGs, crafting is simple. Simple, and anyone can do it with little to no effort, though, or time. But this is not the case with FFXIV. In FFXIV, each crafting profession is exactly that - a profession - and has its own class to level through and with its own set of progressing gear as you level! The actual act of crafting is also much more in depth than in most MMORPGs. It involves the use of abilities in proper order and a little bit of luck, and even heavy strategy. Using the wrong strategy to craft a particular piece of gear can cause you to fail the crafting attempt. Similarly, using the right strategy to make the most of your crafting abilities for a particular crafting attempt can cause you to not only succeed, but grant your resulting crafted item bonus stats or effects (known as High Quality versions of any given craftable item). I won't go into detail on exactly how it works, as it would take me nearly 5,000 words to sufficiently express its complexity and depth in design at higher levels, but just know that FFXIV's crafting is nearly as in depth as its combat.

Which brings me to my point of...the combat! FFXIV's combat system is a lot like most other MMORPGs in that it's a targeted global cooldown system. You target an enemy, dodges and critical strikes are handled by virtual dice rolls (aka RNG), and you use abilities limited by your resource pools and the global cooldown. What stands out in FFXIV's combat system, though, is that the global cooldown is a whopping 2.5 seconds long. Most MMORPG's have 1.0s global cooldowns, so 2.5s slows the pace of FFXIV's ability usage quite a lot...but that's not a bad thing! FFXIV managed to make that slower global cooldown into a feature. Due to the longer downtime between abilities, each ability you use and the timing in which you use them actually matters. If you use an ability right before your enemy starts casting a spell, you'll be locked out of your interrupt/stun (on some classes) for the duration of the global cooldown, so the enemy can get off that deadly cast. Due to moments like this, you'll find yourself questioning whether to use an ability right away or to hold off for a second and interrupt that upcoming spellcast - a layer of strategy MMOs such as WoW generally don't hold.

Another aspect of FFXIV's combat that stands out from MMOs with similar combat systems is the combo system. Certain abilities gain additional damage or effects depending on what ability you used directly before them. And some abilities lead into 2-3 different potential follow up combo abilities, and so on. This gives the combat less of a "mash the button" feel and more of a tactical one. At any given point, you'll need to decide which combo to complete, and even if you want to complete the combo or forsake some damage in order to start a different combo due to changed circumstances. This adds yet another captivating layer of strategy to the combat.

Also note that the large global cooldown on abilities does not makes combat feel any slower than most other similar MMORPGs, in large part due to abilities that have large cooldowns of their own that can be used during the global cooldown period. You will find yourself interleving GCD ability and off-GCD large-cooldown abilities throughout combat, which makes the combat feel more fast paced and engaging.

Leveling in FFXIV is also a breath of fresh air. Unlike the usual quest-based leveling system, FFXIV has various methods of gaining EXP. You could hunt bounty targets with your Hunting Log, complete FATEs (procedural generated timed zone events), or complete weekly objectives that grant EXP and monetary rewards. Of course, there's also quests, if you like the more traditional method. And those are only some of the methods of gaining experience.

FFXIV's Class system is also interesting, in that your character can be any class and can change on the fly. In addition, you must level each class individually - you could be a level 50 Gladiator while being only a level 23 Lancer. Each class can borrow special class abilities/spells from at least two other classes, which allows you to customize your playstyle of any class to your liking. Then there's also Jobs, special upgraded versions of Classes that have 5 additional Job-specific abilities and additional bonus stats, but are more limited in which skills and how many skills they can borrow from other classes you've leveled.

Of course, even FFXIV isn't without its downsides. For one, just like TERA, parts of the main story require you to queue for particular group dungeons. Even if the effect of this is eased a bit by parties being only 4 members large as opposed to 5, it's still jarring to suddenly have to spend hours in a queue or looking for help. And, since high level characters are scaled down in instanced content in FFXIV, you can't even get run through my a high level buddy.

As nice as FFXIV's leveling and multi-Class system are, the combination of the two cause a huge problem. There are enough quests in the game to level 1, maybe 2 classes to the level cap, bounties for the Hunting Log are limited, and the weekly goals only progress you so far per week. That means that, after your second class on a single character, for the other 6, you'll pretty much be forced to resort to grinding FATEs to level. While you could roll another character to avoid this issue, this also limits what your main character can do, due to each class being able to borrow abilities from every other class that you've leveled on him/her.

And, possibly the biggest issues with FFXIV:

1: It starts off slow. I mean, really slow. You'll be rotating between 1-2 abilities to kill things for around 15-20 levels per class, and combat only really picks up the pace around level 40.

2: THE BIGGEST issue to new players is that FFXIV has character creation locked on all servers 99% of the time. That means that you cannot create new characters on a server, even if it's your first character, during the locks. The best way to create a character is to design it, save the design, and create the character on the server of your choice by waking up at ~1-3 AM EST, doing it, and going back to bed. That is just about the only time ever day character creation unlocks for popular servers.

I could go on, but I feel I said enough. I'm starting to wonder if you'll even read all this, given how long this damned review is.

__________________________________________

All in all, both TERA and FFXIV are great games. In overall quality, FFXIV wins out, but TERA's engaging combat system is not to be underestimated.

Keep in mind that TERA is F2P, and that FFXIV requires a ~$15/month subscription.

I highly recommend you at least try both of them.

If you decide to try FFXIV, play on the Diabolos World (Server) in the Primal Data Center. Maybe we could meet up someday. :3