When comparing Realm of the Mad God vs Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn, the Slant community recommends Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn for most people. In the question“What are the best MMORPGs on Steam?” Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn is ranked 1st while Realm of the Mad God is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn is:
The combat in FFXIV is incredibly polished. It requires quick, real-time decisions and reactions, as well as a plan for how your team is going to take on whatever you're fighting. Like many games, it begins as simply hitting your attack buttons and waiting for your abilities to be ready again. FFXIV, however, has taken it a step further and has implemented complex combos and other interactions. These other interactions often have wildly different end results, so you must decide how best to use them.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Fast-paced combat
With a spell and a weapon equipped you aim and shoot at enemies and dodge their incoming projectiles. Sounds simple, but it is not when you have over 100 different missiles coming at you.
This is the essence of Realm of the Mad God (RotMG). You are supposed to evade enemy attacks and strike back yourself to countless numbers of enemies. Just as when you feel that you have beaten the last enemy, another one starts firing at you. All of this comes varied as different enemies, have different attack patterns, projectile speeds and intricacies to them.
Pro Easy to learn, hard to master
The game is built with 8-bit retro style in mind. Such design choices made the game feel and look simplistic, and not overwhelming right from the start.
The game is simple to pick up with a helpful tutorial aiding you at the beginning of the game. A few minutes in you will find yourself accustomed to controls, interface and the abilities of your character.
If you play for a while, you will encounter more dangerous enemies that will force you to flee and to face them once again until you are able to fight against them properly.
Pro Huge fights
Realm of the Mad God features massive fights that occur between players and Oryx's minions. Some of the most exciting and terrifying enemies are not beatable alone and it requires co-operation between the players. As a result, you will see yourself teaming up with other 85+ strangers and trying to beat the boss.
Pro Permadeath
Permadeath is what adds spice to this game that makes it what it is. If you die, you lose your beloved character and all the items you had with you. You start over again.
This is what draws you in to play more as you want to get back where you were.
Pro Variety
The game offers multiple settings, hundreds of different items and monsters. Over a dozen of different classes with different powers, abilities, perks and playstyles are available to try out.
Pro Combat is very in-depth
The combat in FFXIV is incredibly polished. It requires quick, real-time decisions and reactions, as well as a plan for how your team is going to take on whatever you're fighting.
Like many games, it begins as simply hitting your attack buttons and waiting for your abilities to be ready again. FFXIV, however, has taken it a step further and has implemented complex combos and other interactions. These other interactions often have wildly different end results, so you must decide how best to use them.
Pro The story is incredible
Most MMORPGs don't offer much in the way of a story line, but that is not the case with FFXIV. The story will span the entire world, and is completing it is actually a requirement to get into most of the game's content. However, it doesn't feel like you're being forced into following a story you don't care about, the characters get into your head and you begin to feel like an actual hero.
It's very well written, and can be listened to in multiple languages if you prefer that.
Pro An absolutely stunning game
Final Fantasy XIV is gorgeous. The developers clearly put a lot of time and energy into creating all types of climates, ranging from harsh, desolate deserts to untamed, icy wastelands. The cities and villages in this game are vibrant and alive, while the cinematics can be dreary and depressing.
Apart from the landscapes, the spells and abilities of this game will take you by surprise. Every ability is animated very well, and has gorgeous pixel designs to pull you even further into the game.
Pro Play all classes with one character
You don't have to create a different character for every single class. Your one character can be every single class. Each class has a specific weapon (bow for archers, daggers for rogue, axes for marauders, etc.), and you just equip that weapon type and your character switches classes. Each class starts at level, so you have to level each class you want to play, but there are numerous ways to get exp so it feels a little less like a grindy chore.
Pro Plenty of side-quests to keep the player busy
For those that would like to level their character without having to d a lot of grinding in dungeons or the main story, There is quite a lot of side-quests on offer in this game. So many in fact that the player could level up through mainly side-quests if they liked. Every area the player reachers will see plenty of NPCs that will offer a new quest to go out on (an even sometimes multiple quests), which not only means a ton of content but an actual story to the game (that is different from the main quest) that can keep the player involved without feeling like they are repeating the same things over and over again.
Cons
Con Pay-2-Win
The game uses "Coins" as a currency to purchase both cosmetic and fundamental items to the gameplay. Coins cannot be earned and are only obtained through real-world money. Although you can grind your way to all of the items without paying, it will be harder and will take longer than paying a few bucks for one of the best items in the game.
This can be felt when you have to pay to not run out of vault space (permanent storage for your items) or have another character slot without sacrificing your initial character. Moreover, in the Nexus (game's town safe area) you can buy one of the strongest items in the game.
A prime example of this would be maximizing pet skills which help you in combat. It takes months taking skills to the maximum level, if you are not willing to spend any money. On the other hand, if you pay a significant amount of money, it will take you less than a day.
Con Sometimes lags
There are various issues that can cause lag within the game. For some tips in dealing with it you can read here.
Con Glitches back to the main screen
During massive brawls, where there are a lot of enemies and other players, the game starts lagging and glitching. Worst case scenario, the players are sent back to the login screens.
Con Repetitive
In order to take your character's skills to the highest levels or obtain strongest items in the game, it will require grinding. Grinding means doing the same thing over and over again to gain something of value. This is where repetition comes in.
Usually, this is felt when players are trying to make their characters strong enough to compete with end-game content (strongest bosses). This requires maximizing the skills and obtaining items which sometimes could take a while. For instance, the chances of getting one of the strongest bows in the game "Doom Bow" is 1%.
Con Pay to play
The game itself has a base price of $19.99, but also has expansion pack prices that could be added on top of that. This is just to get the game, once purchased the player will also need to pay a monthly subscription of $12.99 to continue playing the game, which can add up over time making for a pretty steep investment for some.