Is the MMO and single player FF fanbase divided?

[Aramina]

Me: I love all things Final Fantasy. I have played every FF game there is (and will continue to play every one that ever comes). I also love MMOs (have played several) so this being both is perfect for me.

My BF: He loves Final Fantasy single-player games almost as much as I do and also likes MMOs buuuuuuuuuut says it would be weird to play an FF game that was also an MMO.

My best friend: He has never touched a single FF single-player game, but loves MMOs so he plays FF14.

[The_NPC]

Speeking for myself I find FF14 an okay game, not great but not horrible eather (I've sampled WoW, hated the open-world PvP, & enjoyed White Knight Chronicles multi-player Server till it shut down) but will state I am more of a Solo-game player so I don't interact with ppl in game much as I see it as bugging someone just to ask for help/advice. As for my childhood friend who has played every single-player FF game ever... he quit FF14 over a year ago due to his dislike of "forced" team play (I understand why he felt that & why it distruped his potential enjoyment of FF14)

I can say I'm a little urk'd by the sub-style but see it as a nessesary evil since most Free-to-play games I've try'd had seemed low-lv in comparison (also see the sub as me paying for 1 game every 3 months... which most games these days arn't even worth that in play-value vs cost, so saves me the trouble of spending it on a crap game I'll beat in a day & toss)

[Vele]

XIV is my first (and only) FF game, I started playing because it seemed like a really promising MMO after the slew of f2p ones I struggled through. I'm not unaware of the franchise as a whole since my closest friend is a huge FF fan and loves telling me all about them. They seem like the kind of rpg I'd enjoy playing, too.

I don't mind the spell names either way, I, II, III is simple to follow but I'm familiar with progressive skill names being different, too (agi, agilao, agidyne).

Funnily enough this friend of mine has never considered playing XI or XIV, I guess since they're MMOs he doesn't see them as part of the main franchise? *shrugs*

[Yasuhiro]

I don't mind the spell names either way, I, II, III is simple to follow but I'm familiar with progressive skill names being different, too (agi, agilao, agidyne).

Is that Shin Megami Tensei? and for me II, III just means a better version of that spell like it was in Final Fantasy II and XI
Ara and Aga spells (Spell II and Spell III) tend to be different like Ara and Aga spellsin FF usually are AoE or in RPG terms multi target spells. That's why the naming bothers me just seems like a disservice to Final Fantasy fans and pandering to those that have no clue.

Prior to this, the only FF game I played was X-2 that someone left in my ps2. .

That's probably like the worst game to get an impression on the series glad it didn't sour your opinion on it.

[Gunspec]

Go fight a Malboro, Cactaur, or Tonberry enemy with some randoms, and you can immediately tell the mmo crowd from the Final Fantasy crowd. I mean, an aoe from a Cactaur can't be THAT bad, right? Just some lame attack called 10k needles, I'll go ahead and stand it in.

[Voltyblast]

I won't lie, I jumped into FFXIV because I was hoping it would renew my love for the franchise, as I stopped bothering with the series after playing FFXII (it was the most disappointing game for me, so disappointing that I can't play it for more than an hour!)....and sadly it didn't renew at all, so I mostly play the game for the MMO aspects until I get tired and move on. I also have other games of the franchise with me but I barely play them anymore: the burnout was too big!

I know the references for most of the "fan service" in this game but I'm more of an Atlus/Gust fan so it doesn't really affect me, although I like how the classes are inserted into the game (despite the fact I don't follow the stories). I mean come on, everyone likes ninjas and that alone is quite the seller....not for me because I'm a dirty thief but still a good seller for all those ninja fans!

[ohmRICE]

I'm more of a Kingdom Hearts fan than a Final Fantasy fan, but I dabbled in FF a little bit (VI and XII being my favorites) and XIV seemed to have a similar art direction like XII so I gave it a go.

Now I have a pile of FF games I've been slowly playing through since I never really cared about the franchise until I joined XIV! I personally think XIV is a pretty good first game to start with since it's accessible and the story is decent enough to get you interested in seeing the rest of the series.

[FunkYeahDragons]

I think I'm in the minority as a fan of classic Final Fantasy, back to the SNES days, who doesn't feel much similarity. Some aspects are the same as far as themes, aesthetics, and characters, but MMOs play differently and everything down to cutscene use is changed. During the Playstation titles cutscenes were often highlights of the game and my siblings and I would sometimes spoil it by running off to find each other when a major one came up. In FFXIV they're totally mundane.

However, FFXIV is my first MMO. When my brother told me about World of Warcraft when it was new I immediately disliked the concept, even though I liked Warcraft. I tried FFXIV because of the brand name and the fact that I had friends playing.

[Cabalabob]

I wouldn't say the single player vs. MMO, I'd say the entire series vs. FFXIV.

FFXI is an MMO too but it remains a lot more true to the series than XIV does in terms of gameplay, UI etc.

FFXIV is a lot different to the rest of the series, it made itself a lot more accessible to bring in a wider audience so it could recoup the losses of 1.0. It basically relies on fan service and homages to old games to keep its identity as a final fantasy game, since without that it's just a generic MMO with the only thing that identifies it as a final fantasy game being the job system.

[TinyMonster]

I play this game becsuse its Final Fantasy, I played every single one of them. I also played other MMOs but stopped when this one came out to play this one instead.

I still dont get why we dont get fire, fire, firaga, and so on.