To call this a slow start would imply that it picks up before the build up to Heavensward. The entirety of ARR felt like a struggle between telling a coherent story and making sure fans got enough fetch quests for their dollar. Most players will likely spend their time questioning whether the current main story quest has anything to do with the main story. Any semblance of momentum, pacing or tonal consistency is absent. Between the narrative pretending your dungeon quests were completed without other players and a questionable story structure, it becomes painfully clear that this story does not want to be an MMO. Were this a concise narrative that focused primarily on contributing to the worldbuilding and storyline, it would be adequate at best . There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about what it accomplishes. Utilizing familiar JRPG tropes, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The scenes themselves range from decently done to what the FUCK is this voice acting.

This isn’t to say I hated absolutely every minute of the game. The towns offered enough variety to keep you interested in seeing what else the game had in store. Narrative aside, some of the dungeons toward ARR's climax were solid. Beyond that, it’s hard to praise anything about ARR that can’t be attributed to the systems that are present for the service as a whole. While I don’t hate FFXIV as a whole, I'd hardly call this a compelling introduction to Eorzea.