Need guidance, ESO or FF:XIV ARR?

Drakircen

Evening community,

  I have come here with a great question, I know there is much hate around one of the games, ESO in particular, but I want a sincere answer from all if you can.

  First in my wishlist of an  MMO, I am a Bioware junkie, I love good stories, dramas and romances, that's what gets me atached to a game is the character and the story, I loved Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion & Skyrim's main and side quest stories, some felt like filler but the great majority made me feel emersed, as well as Mass Effect 1 to 3 (w/o ending), Dragon Age 1, 2 (Just for the timespan thing, loved it in Fable I, loved it there as well) and Inquisition, immersion are the characters, the background and the boice acting.

 Besides the Story and the immersion, I love PvP, when it is well placed, I loved the thrill of playing Lineage II and just having that PK/Karma system, where you could lose all that grinded armour, it felt there was a real consequence to murdering people, I loved it, besides the great community there was.

 Now turning to the games at hand, FF:XIV ARR, since it is the game I am playing trial, the game from what I read, heard and seen, is quite vast, filled with great and numerous community, great features, such as housing, crafting, dungeon, FATE, social (marriage & guild), and great story from what I heard. But from what I played, main story and side quests feel like a grind, I am lvl 13, which is still early on I know, but the voice acting in english is rather strange and mostly detaching, and the japanese version, is well, japanese, although I've watched many animes, I can't play with that voice over 'cause I feel so detached from the character and the story (I don't know why, I've loved FF X, X-2 and VIII) then there's almost no voiceover quests, which makes me feel even more detached from the story, i just find myself reading so fast, that i skip some of the conversations, and feel more like go here kill 3 mobs, go there dig something up (which the animation is throwing a sparkle in the air) and go somewhere else put an animal in the bag (sparkle in the air animation), even the main story-line doesn't have voice over o.O, and also the PvP from what I've heard is non-existant, and the battles don't feel epic but a sparkle battle, and I love Final Fantasy, which is unsettling for me to have such opinion.

 Concerning ESO, I've only played beta, it did have voice-over, of main quests I think, which gives much more immersion (blame Bioware for having this precedent with SWTOR), but there were sooo many bugs, I mean, I tried grouping and was so frustrated I just gave up and did another thing, the world felt empty, there weren't too many players, but I've heard even though the 700k subscribers, it feels in majority empty, I've also heard the main story and sidequests are forgetable, which is a great downside if it is true, but being in Elder Scroll universe it cannot be at least somewhat interesting, it has great PvP from what I've heard and quite epic, which is a great upside for me, as well as quite passable graphics, but if it does have a small community playing it will be a great downside for me, as I like to group up and PVE and PVP, and also solo some thing, and the upcoming Justice System, seems to be a like the Karma System I loved so much in L2, but I haven't played since beta, I am not sure how it has evolved...

Can someone offer insight and advise preferably on one of these games, with the following things I do enjoy in an MMO?

 

 

Menacerx

I cannot comment on FF14 too much as I have not played it in months.   But when I did play the combat was slow, the story was meh but the graphics were sweet.  The game is ok, and I do come back to it from time to time.   

 

I am a current subscriber to ESO and I think the game is great.  Its come a long way from beta and release.  Most of the bugs are gone.  I am leveling an alt right now and have experienced zero bugs to level 16 on Ebonheart.  I do not think the game ever feels empty.  There are always people around in the cities and leveling zones.  All npcs are fully voiced.  The side quest stories are ok I guess, but the main story is pretty good.  The combat is different, but I really like it, best tanking in a MMO to date for me.  

 

And ESO is $20 on steam right now.  Not bad.

 

Menacer