Nintendo had a poor reputation for online stability during the Switch 1 era. Mario Kart 8 matches frequently disconnected, Mario Party online was a nightmare, and even Splatoon 3 suffered from regular issues. So I was surprised and more than a little apprehensive when Square Enix announced it was releasing the always-online MMO Final Fantasy XIV for Switch 2. After spending two weeks with FFXIV on Switch 2, though, I'm sorely tempted to put up with the extra sub and just make this the main way I play the game. Depending on how you play FFXIV, though, you might want to stick with whatever platform you're on now.

So, the basic bits first. Connection issues were nonexistent in the two weeks I've played FFXIV on Switch 2, following its Aug. 1 release. Load times are comparable to other platforms. Traveling to and from other data centers was seamless. I progressed through a good chunk of Heavensward on one of my alt characters, and did some sightseeing in Dawntrail's Tural and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of playing on Nintendo's hybrid platform.

I've played FFXIV on an Asus ROG Ally before, and it's fine. But the Switch 2 is, for me, a less clunky device that's easier to hold and has fewer chances for things to go awry. It's also where I do most of my gaming now, so playing FFXIV untethered to my computer and free to swap to Cyberpunk 2077 or Mario Kart World or whatever else took my fancy without having to even change consoles was the kind of lazy I long for in my leisure time.

There are drawbacks, of course. Draw distance isn't the best on Switch 2 in handheld mode, though how much you notice this depends on where in the game world you are. It's easier to see in open areas like Thanalan and La Noscea, where trees and other far-off objects appear and disappear in ways you just don't have to deal with on other platforms. They are far-off, though, and in less barren zones, like Dawntrail's Kozama'uka and Yak'tel, object placement hides the horizon, and subsequently the pop-in, anyway. Up close, everything looks lovely, and the graphics improvements Square Enix made when Dawntrail launched — especially the flora and foliage improvements — are noticeable even in handheld mode.

Performance is solid where it counts, though: in battle, in dungeons, and in most multi-person boss fights. Square Enix locked the frame rate at 30 frames per second. That sounds terribly low for a game in 2026 and even a bit damning when you consider FFXIV launched over 10 years ago. But it's a target the game can hit more often than not, and, for me anyway, it's easy to overlook after a short adjustment period.

Populated areas put more of a strain on things, though it depends on just how populated the location is. The hub city Limsa Lominsa in my home world on Dynamis (something of a rural backwater in terms of FFXIV population) has a middling amount of people at any given time, including a troupe of Viera performing EZ-dance routines on the walls and bedecked with fairy wings. Everything here is smooth. I traveled to the much more heavily populated Faerie on the Aether server to test matchmaking, and Limsa there was rather a different story. So many people crammed into the plaza that I could see them vanishing as the game tried managing the visual load, and still the frame rate dipped.

But I am not part of a dancing troupe regaling the plainfolk with my smooth moves and glittery wings. I spend almost no time in city hub areas on any world, so this social scenario was, at worst, a minor annoyance. Fates (FFXIV's event battles in open field areas) and other, less congested social activities unfolded with no issue at all, even with chaotic weather conditions in play like the fog in Mor Dhona.

The caveat to all this praise is that I'm not a high-level raider, and the 72-player Frontline PvP matches confuse me. I do the easy raids, sometimes, and dip my toes into PvP for fast job leveling. But I mostly play for story, crafting, vibes — all the casual stuff. If the hardcore battles are more your thing, you might want to keep playing on whatever platform you're already using.

I ran the Crystal Tower Alliance Raid again to see how things went, and minus a few brief stutters when animations literally filled the screen, everything ran smoothly. The screen-filling was a bigger issue, though. 24-person raids are chaos at the best of times, but when I played it in handheld mode on the smaller screen, I couldn't see anything other than bright lights and shifting colors. Lower difficulty and more people to carry you mean that's fine in the Crystal Tower, the game's only mandatory raid. Elsewhere? I'm not so sure this is the experience you want when you're staring down Savage Kefka.

Performance was more frequently choppy in the Frontline matches I attempted, and identifying a target or keeping track of allies was functionally impossible once the spells and combat animations started. You can, of course, turn the effects off, but where's the fun in that? I enjoy the drama and spectacle. Playing in docked mode on a decent-sized (27-inch) monitor made the visual clutter less pronounced, though.

For casuals like me, FFXIV on Switch 2 is excellent. It's stable where it needs to be and looks great, and the convenience of long docked sessions or quick handheld adventures is hugely appealing. It's definitely not the way to play for endgame challenges or dedicated socializing, but this is probably where I'll first dive into Evercold when it launches next year.