I mean it's pretty bad that the 14 team had to actually play WoW after 1.0 failed in order to get a grasp of modern MMOs. While Japan is obviously the primary market, a FF MMO(well game in general) is a worldwide product. The teams at Square really should be paying attention to western game developers. Of course I guess that would upset the poor animu tards here.
Regardless with 14 and even Lightning Returns, I honestly think we are seeing a turn around. These games won't be trendsetters like previous FF offerings, but they may be good modern games.
And that's what 14 is. I'm Level 26 now and I've been playing a few hours ever day since last week. I'm finding it to be a solid and well made mmo, but that's it. Truth be told, there's nothing quite standout about it except maybe the job system. But things are executed pretty well and it honestly feels like a real FF game and an oldschool FF at that in regards to it's story. The quests or rather bland for the most part, but there's always something going on in the game and never have I felt like I don't have much to do. The Fates are frequent, leveling quests are pretty abundant, and you can always switch jobs. The game keeps you busy and most of the content is good enough.
What I'm liking about it is that it honestly feels like a FF game. The story is nothing great, but it's got cool moments and some the cutscenes have been entertaining. Boos battles and dungeons have been fun, very fun actually. The game world is beautiful and quite interesting and well the game just looks very appealing art wise.
So I think they turned it around and made a pretty good modern FF MMO. But so far that's all they have done.
I'll probably continue playing it though.