Destiny

Final Fantasy XIV vs. Destiny

Two of the biggest heavyweight MMO's in recent years – coined as WoW killers (although everyone says that about new MMO's nowadays) – are both MMO's that have a very dedicated fan base that has helped to form its development and popularity. One is a fantasy-based MMORPG and the other is a science fiction-based MMOFPS; they're both of the same genre type of MMO's, but with different settings, environments, and gameplay to split fans of MMO's down the middle. With knowing just how popular the pair of them are – let's see how they compare, shall we?

With the pair of these games being MMO's, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the gameplay is going to be that much more important this time around because of how much time and effort that's required to play an MMO so regularly.

Starting off with FF 14 we've got the usual MMORPG nature of the genre, where you will be tasked with filling your hot-bar to the very brim with new skills and abilities to make each new button press that much more impactful. If you've played WoW or pretty much any MMO, then you'll have a pretty good idea on what the gameplay is going to look like; except with a vast array of new, stunning effects that you won't have seen before in other MMO's.

When Destiny came out, it really changed the apple-cart to some degree because it was one of the first MMO's in a long time that wasn't just a straight-up MMORPG and instead went for the FPS genre. Thanks to this change, it managed to pull in a whole new contingency of players who may be in love with the FPS genre, but never really got into the MMO side of things. But, when you consider that Destiny has nearly been going strong for about 3 years now, it's safe to say the risk that Bungie took making this game surely paid off; after all, though, who doesn't love shooting aliens in the face with some buddies – an element the game pulls off quite well.

Now, we all know that MMO's don't do story well and unfortunately for the pair of these games it doesn't change that fact. FF 14 doesn't tell its story particularly well and I almost guarantee that if you ask someone who has spent hundreds of hours in the game, they themselves won't even be able to tell you what the story is about.

This isn't so much the case with Destiny, partly due to the fact the game plays out like your typical FPS, with cutscenes, a regular narrator, and lore spread out across the place. Even though the story is told better than most MMO's, it was such a weak part of the game that once the story was concluded, many players left thinking the exact same thing, “was that it?” Story wasn't a successful part of the game, and unfortunately that's not a problem that's ever going to be fixed until the game gets a sequel.

When it comes down to the longevity of it all, both of these games manage to keep the players engaged perfectly well! FF 14 does a grand job of both PVE and PVP, as does Destiny I would say, but if you're looking for a PVP focused MMO, then Destiny is definitely the game for you. Destiny has had more development time put into its PVP and it well and truly shows, hence why the PVP is such a big part of the game for everyone.

Both of these games may be of a similar genre, but their gameplay style is completely different from one another; and yet they are both some of the best MMO's the gaming industry has had in recent years. Whether you prefer 3rd-person action games or FPS games is the only real factor that separates which of these two is better – it's all personal preference at the end of the day.