yeah I would say atmospheric puzzler defo fits it more, although undoubtedly with metroidvania elements. I did enjoy what I played of it but ended up not finishing it as I got frustrated with controls.
Sounds interesting, I do think I'd like it then!
I've actually always wanted to get into FF14 but haven't yet! How would you recommend it?
It's a lot of fun! It's the first and only MMO I've ever gotten into it but I've really enjoyed my time with it, especially as someone who enjoys long grinds in games. It's really accessible for new people because of the incredibly generous free trial and combat isn't too complicated so it's not hard to learn the basics. I started playing because I thought character creation was cool and heard I could be a catgirl, but you can basically do everything in the game on one single character like levelling every class or not worrying about quests or content being race- or character-specific. It does genuinely feel like it has something for everyone a lot of the time and there's still cool things I'm learning about it to this day after hitting (current) max level on basically every class and playing for about 3 years.
Opinions on the details vary heavily, but most people would say it takes a long time to get to the good parts. Common opinion is that the base game A Realm Reborn can be boring, but that later expansions are some of the best experiences in all of Final Fantasy. In my personal opinion, the game was good, but not great, until around the Level 60-70 range, where it felt like they were creating boss fights in a more engaging way, more classes started to unlock their better and cooler looking skills, and the story began to feel more compelling to me.
I think there's lots of content in the earlier levels that's still enjoyable and the game is still good before it gets to "the best parts", and that shouldn't scare you away!
This is a great video about the topic if you're interested in learning more. Besides, the free trial includes over half the entire game for free. If you ask me, there's no reason why you shouldn't give it a shot. There's also the option to just purchase an item that lets you skip through the earlier parts of the story if you're interested, which I don't recommend, but is an option people should know about.