PSA: If you own Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on PS3, or if you’ve pre-ordered the PS4 version from select retailers, you can now start playing Square Enix’s fantastic MMO on your new console.
As a player of A Realm Reborn on all three platforms, my experience on PS4 (primarily during last weekend’s Phase 2 beta) stands above the rest. With the right configuration, the DualShock 4 can have you doing crafting, raiding, questing, and everything in-between with comfortable ease. Plus, the PS4 version looks fantastic–on par with the PC version’s maximum settings, with a consistently solid (or even great!) framerate to boot.
AND you can Remote Play with PS Vita, taking your quests and progress on the go.
Even if you don’t already own the PS3 version, you might be interested in picking that one up. It’s currently $24.99 on Amazon, versus $39.99 for the PS4 version, and PS3 players get a free license transfer to PS4 until December 31, 2014. You’ll lose the ability to play on PS3 with this option, but playing on PS4 is the whole point, and it’s a good deal cheaper than buying the PS4 version outright.
The free character transfer involves selecting the option from the PS3 version’s launcher, syncing your character data to the cloud, hitting up your Square Enix account page on the Final Fantasy XIV Mog Station, and selecting the PlayStation 4 Upgrade option. If you’re a new player, you’ll need to log into the PS3 version at least once and create a character so it can be synced to the cloud. Previous players (for example, coming over to PS4 from PC) need to log in on PS3 to sync their character data, as well.
Of course, if you’re just buying the PS4 version and have pre-ordered the title, you should already be set with an early access code.
You can find several PSU editors in Eorzea, too. I’m Brielle Beaudonet, an Elezen Warrior, on the Excalibur server. Associate Editor Ben Shilabeer-Hall and Senior Editor Tim Nunes play on Ultros, where the PSU forums’ official Free Company (guild) also resides.