The high ups from XI may have had a hand in the game but most of the brunt work for design, art, and programming was all out sourced from what I've read.

Thats terrible....no wonder its turned into such a mess!

What the feck is the XI team doing then? Making FFXVI ?

FFXI I assume since that game is still supported and has been for the last five years.  :-p

ouch...

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/final-fantasy-xiv-online/critic-reviews

"It's a travesty to release an already mediocre game before ironing out all the kinks in its broken interface and having enough content to keep it interesting. It honestly feels like the PC version is just the beta test for next year's PS3 version." 2.5/10 from Game Revolution

"It may be hard to believe, and painful to accept, but the last "official" chapter of Final Fantasy is a huge disappointment, and it not only becomes the worst chapter of the saga, but also one of the worst MMORPG we have played in a long time. It's obvious that Square-Enix is no longer what it used to be." - 5/10 from Merristation

"Final Fantasy XIV is in no way, shape, or form ready for commercial release. We suppose there is potential down the line for the experience to improve with patches and tweaks, but that doesn't justify why the game is in such shambles at launch." - 42/100 from Game Trailers

wow, didn't really expect the scores to be this low.

thanks added

Though its not very fun to add these scores.

More reviews in:

PCGamer -- 30/100

GND -- 3/10

I remember when this game was used in fanboy wars... SE deserve all the rage and criticism they can get, you can't sell a game in alpha stage, and that is what it seems they are doing by the reviews. Shame on them!

1up Review in

D Plus

Translated to 33/100 by Metacritic

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?pager.offset=2&cId=3181961&p=1