Final Fantasy XIV Online

2025-11-29
I think I played 200+ hours of vanilla FFXIV before I realized the story was terrible. I either came to while I was fighting the final boss for the 41st time and realized I had no idea where I was, who they were, or why I was fighting. Or maybe it was when I was somewhere in the Stormblood expansion and tried to recruit some friends to get into the game. In the process I tried to speedrun the MSQ with them and the sheer onslaught of absolutely mundane quests, yawn-worthy plot, and forgettable characters wore me down.

At some point when I first played FFXIV I engaged my MMO-brain and tuned out all sensory information that didn't focus on gaining experience. I mean I did the same thing with WoW and I remember a similar moment in that game where I was talking to some sort of time traveling dragon in a cave and they're telling me to go to Mt. Hyjal. And I'm like, "Wait. Like from Warcraft 3?" And then I'm remembering that the only thing I remember from that game is Arthas killing his dad after shoving a possessed sword up his ass and becoming Turbo Satan or something.

That is all to say that it's a testament to how good an MMO it is that Realm Reborn can stand on its own legs as a Final Fantasy game despite having what amounts to a solid 4/10 story. I stayed for an ungodly amount of hours because of the gorgeous environments, the incredible Masayoshi Soken soundtrack, the engaging interplay of crafting, gathering, and fighting, and of course the delightful community. Where else are you going to show up to a main city center to find a full band of player characters playing Bohemian Rhapsody (admittedly probably using the MIDI player but you can play it for real with a keyboard too if you're a boss). And it's not just the music, it's the fact that almost everyone you meet will be helpful and kind in a really genuine way. People would explain dungeons and bosses or gift me resources and weapons all the time. Totally alien--and utterly refreshing--to a guy who cut his teeth getting ganked by level 60 Rogues in STV.

And really my favorite part of the whole thing: the entire game can competently played on a console with a controller on the couch. Believe it or not I initially subbed on my PS4 when it first came out and my mind was blown that I could play lounged out with a beer, awash in Eorzea's sights and sounds blown up on the big screen. The craziest thing is how good the control scheme is such that I was able to out-DPS people in raids.

Of course the real wonderful thing about FFXIV is despite having such humble beginning narratively, it manifests into one of my favorite stories across all media in Shadowbringers. And yet the core of the vibes and the community were there from the very beginning, and really that's why I kept coming back.