MMO enthusiasts will tell you all day long that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn doesn't exactly reinvent the genre's wheel. But what producer Naoki Yoshida and his team do, they do well. After the game's weak beginning back in 2010, they poured heart and soul into this year's relaunch in a short amount of time, and it shows. MMORPG veterans and newcomers alike have found an element or two they love about Eorzea, be it leveling multiple classes, crafting or gathering materials, helping friends through dungeons or running endgame content for the best equipment.
While XIV is by no means perfect (housing prices, anyone?), it didn't see as great a drop off rate as many games of its kind suffer through after the first month or so. If the recent 2.1 patch is any indication, Yoshi-P has a few tricks up his sleeves to keep players around in this blighted realm, and we can't wait to see what else he has in store for us in 2014.
Poor Path of Exile — if we had been comparing it to the original version of FFXIV, this would have been no contest. But they just had to go and make a new, amazing version. Still, we won't let that take away from Path of Exile's greatness. If you love hacking and slashing and are looking for something to play with your friends, PoE is a ton of fun, and being free makes it that much easier to convince your friends to join you there.
