Eorzea - what it means to me

[Flapjack]

Hi everyone.

 

Today has been the longest day ever, hasn't it?  This will be the last day we will spend without the world of Eorzea at our finger tips.  We are excited for the future. It is so close, but just out of our grasp at this present moment.

 

While I have been brimming with excitement today, I have also taken today to do a bit of reflection.  Reflection on this game, the journey it has been to get here, and what this game, this world, this entire Final Fantasy franchise means to me.  True, after today, Eorzea will be the norm in people's lives.  But today, and for these last few hours, we have a very unique perspective on this game that may or may not vastly change over the lifespan of this game.  

 

I thought it would be a good idea to have a spot on these forums where those feelings were immortalized.  Feelings written down that can be looked back on and reflected upon in the future.  When we are frustrated with a patch, or annoyed with SE, we can look back on these posts and see the true reason we are playing this game.  We can read our own words as to what this game truly means to us.

 

I will start:

 

Like many, Final Fantasy VII on its release was my first exposure to this franchise.  Before that, I had never even seen a final fantasy game.  It didn't take long after the journey into the reactor to realize I was hooked.  Over the course of the few months that I played that game, I had no idea that such an intricate world could be contained inside a video game.  The Final Fantasy franchise was a spark that grew in me.

 

Fast forward to the release of Final Fantasy XI.  My excitement to find out the final fantasy universe was coming to life in an MMO realization was more than I could handle.  I pulled weeds and mowed grass for months to be able to afford it, and begged my dad for months to help me with the subscription fee.  I played for about 3 months...until some of my friends found out.  I was belittled and ridiculed by them for playing such a "gay game".  My sister would tease me every time I played about how I would never grow up if I spent all my time in a fantasy world. The constant pressure from my peers drove me to quit the game, and put final fantasy behind me all together.

 

And then...I grew up.  My love for Final Fantasy never died.  And now, sitting on the brink of something great, it is stronger than ever.  I had always secretly played Final Fantasy games in the past while growing up, but I kept them hidden from my friends.  This game, this world that is about to open its doors to me, is a symbol of my adulthood, and the perseverance of my childhood that never died in me.  It is a testament of devotion on behalf of Square Enix to people just like me.  There is a world of love and passion sitting 7 and a half hours away from me.  Countless amounts of man hours went into making this world so people like me, who spent their childhood hiding their passions, could be who they truly are. 

 

I sit here, a 28 year old man with a career, a house, 2 dogs, and a lovely girlfriend.  By all standards, I have grown up.  But I look at this screen, at the images drawn on the sides of this box.  Images of Ifrit and Leviathan to the left, and adventurers to the right.  The images of fantasy.  Images of non-existent entities that I still carry such passion for from the deepest part of my heart.

 

When I step into this world in just a short time, my age goes out the window.  The ridicule and teasing of my childhood is gone.  I will be stepping back into my childhood, to my first experience with FFVII.  Into the love that I had, that has never faded.  I will be heading down into that reactor with Cloud and Barret once more.  What was once a spark, will burst into a bonfire.

 

May this bonfire ever burn, in the light of the crystal.

[Xha'li Moui]

I first found Final Fantasy with X, and though I never beat it(damn you Seymour to the 7th hell), I fell in love with the franchise picking up earlier games and even getting a PSP primarily for Crisis Core.  Sitting here now, less than 7 hours before launch I'm glad I decided to give FFXIV a second chance after the disaster that was 1.0.  May its fire burn bright, and may we stay ever in the light of the crystal.

[Desmond Aryll]

Wow Flapjack, that was beautiful.

 

I confess that I share many of the same sentiments. Although I cut my teeth on FFVIII. Up until that point I was all about adventure games and Madden. I had never played an RPG. Then I saw the TV commercial for FFVIII with the jaw dropping opening FMV. I went to my local video game store and bought a copy with no idea of what Final Fantasy was all about. 

 

I booted up the first (of four?!) discs and sat down. The first chance I got to actually do anything, Quistis was asking for my name in the infirmary. I didn't know I was supposed to be role-playing so I did what I always did when I was asked my name. I put in my own real name.

 

After that, everyone would refer to me by name. Whether it was to go to Timber and argue with Rinoa or try and save Selphie's Garden. It was a revelation. In short I felt like I was actually playing a part in how the events unfolded. By the time I got to the end my perspective on what video games could be was forever changed. 

 

I've played every FF since then (with the big exception of FFXI). Nowadays,  whenever I heard the level up sound bite in the betas I still feel the same sense of excitement I felt when I was a kid.

 

It's been 14 years since that fateful day and I am confident that I will continue to feel the same connection to this series that I started in Balamb Garden.

 

In FFXIV I see the potential for me to continue making a difference in the world, except that this time, when I go out there, other people will acknowledge my presence there. I'm so ready.

[Ari Kagon]

Very beautiful indeed. 

 

For me, it's more than just the games themselves, it's the story behind the "Final Fantasy" name.

A lot of people who play the games don't know the significance of how it came to be.

I have a link for anyone who would like to read.

 

The story alone teaches us that even if we  are struggling, we should never give up on our goals because that one last try could really turn things around for the better.

[Jove]

It's truly amazing how games can influence you like that, I mean of course books, films, music can do the same but with a game you're so much more engaged. I have a terrible memory, I can hardly remember anything of my childhood, yet I can recall with ease a lot of games I burned through at a young age. I'm pretty sure my earliest memories are playing with Lego and playing Sonic.

 

I got into Final Fantasy with VIII, I had a demo of it with a Playstation magazine and straight away the opening cutscene blew me away, it was so unlike anything I had ever seen before and appealed to me on a level not many games have (a close second would be Resident Evil 2, 3 and Metal Gear Solid). So of course I had to own this game and until I saved enough money to buy it, I had rented it out a few times from a nearby video store (heh videos, I also remember playing FF8 looking at the beautiful cutscenes and my 11 year old brain kept thinking "why aren't movies on disks?").

 

I still remember vividly my first play throughs, starting with Garden, taking the SeeD exam, running away from that godawful robot spider and well... a lot happens! It was my first RPG and I just couldn't believe the experience it was giving me, I pretty much died from joy after finding Esthar (which is a name I always give to my first Civilization starting city) and then holyfuckingshitwe'reinspace!!!?? Not to mention flying about endlessly in the Ragnorak (the love child between Dragoon armour and a spaceship) in pure joyful bliss. Everything about the game was so different to what I expected from a game and appealed to me on such a deep and profound level, from the presentation, art style and music, so much the music. As for the story? I had no fucking idea what the hell was going on as a kid but I didn't care (turns out it's fate, preemptive persecution of witches and so much time travel wibbly wobbly that would make Doctor Who scratch his head).

Final Fantasy VIII is what inspired me to start drawing, to want to make games and ultimately opened my eyes to the fact that fantasy just doesn't need to be swords, magic and dragons and that sci fi can be more than spaceships and aliens. It's ridiculous how much it influenced me back then and still holds a grip on me today, I'll still load up the OST and suddenly get an overwhelming amount of feels from each song.

 

Of course back when I first played it I identified with Squall somewhat, having a rough and lonely childhood myself, it would be pretty accurate to say I was a complete loner and couldn't integrate with the social groups in school. Of course now I'm older and well, maybe not wiser, I think Squall is a complete jerk and Laguna is obviously the best character in the entire game.

I actually found out a while after I finished 8 that a couple of "friends" in school were fans of 7, it was pretty crushing to find out that they thought 8 was complete bullshit and they'd never play it because "it wasn't a sequel to 7". That was my first introduction to the whole FF game rivalry thing, which back then, 8 was definitely on the losing side and what confused me even more was that I had read up on the previous series and found out that they had all been completely different worlds, so I just couldn't understand all of the hate. Most FF games are awesome for different reasons.

 

People are confusing.

 

Anyway, since VIII I've played a fair share of FF. VI is my second favourite, the first time I became aware of "magitek" was in a game called Guardian Heroes on the Sega Saturn, which had these huge red mecha automations powered by magic and were extremely cool. So when I loaded up VI and saw the magitek armour, I flipped my shit at how cool it all was and of course, it's one of the finest made Final Fantasies. Although for a decade now I can't say that I know anyone IRL that is also a Final Fantasy fan.

 

So what does Eorzea mean to me? Hopefully a great Final Fantasy game that captures the magic of the previous games, although I feel that in this case, that magic is going to come from playing it with others, especially you guys.

(Ye gods that might be the corniest thing I've ever said)

 

Did I mention the music was really awesome?

 

[Dravus]

I've always been fond of RPG's. I practically grew up playing them during the golden years of the PS1 and PS2. As a result it isn't much of a surprise that I ended up tackling every Final Fantasy game that happened to be released for those two consoles. My first experience with a Final Fantasy game was with FF7, which proved to be an excellent introduction to the series and kept me entertained for quite some time. It isn't my favourite FF game, though - FF9, FF12 and FF Tactics appealed to me much more as they're almost specifically tailored to my tastes. The latter two in particular. A special mention goes to Vagrant Story since it's set in Ivalice and is essentially part of the FF12 and FF Tactics experience.

 

I've also gone back and played some of the older FF games, which also proved to be entertaining in their own way. FF6 was incredible, especially since it fleshed out all of the main characters in a memorable manner. I didn't get around to playing FF11 due to being distracted by other MMO's, but I suppose I'm making up for that now by playing FF14! FF13 didn't do much for me, though - it felt too linear and the only redeeming quality for me happened to be Jihl Nabaat given how intriguing she came across as compared to the main cast of characters. I'm hoping that future FF games go back to the roots of fantasy rather than gritty modern/futuristic realism.

[Firae]

man flapjack what an amazing post! i couldn't ever say anything as beautiful as that but for me my ff journey's began on the SNES with FF IV ,VI which are actually the 2 games that got me into RPGs in the first place.this game with so many throw back to those really show's how far FF and it's fans have come including my self. sorry for such a short post but there's not much i can add to what's already been said.

[Gideon Aryeh]

You all make me feel so old. My first rpg ever was the original FF on the NES, I think it was really FF3 in Japan. At first I wasn't too crazy about it but I liked the monk class (nunchuks, Square where are my nunchuks? I want them back). I nearly beat the game before having to give it back to a friend. Then later a SNES came out and I bought FF2 aka FFIV. Omg I was hooked forever, geat game great story, character deaths that made me scream in front of my tv (Palom and Porum!). The biggest badass I've ever seen in a game at the time: Kain MF'in Highwind. Yeah that MF'n part is really not in his name but my god does it belong there. Speed up to later where FFVI came out and the story of that game and its character roster still to this day is the absolute best out of any FF game I've ever played or seen. The soundtrack the story, the exploration just everything. Fifteen characters, all of them interesting. All of them. The best soundtrack imo in all of the FF games. That game sucked in hours of my days. I remember my mother coming into my room and hearing the map music and saying "That is really nice music".

 

Just good times man. It makes me smile as an older FF gamer to see so much love given to FFVI in FFXIV:ARR. I didn't really like the others aside from VIII as I felt they were too railroaded, and the worlds were not as open as the previous NES/SNES versions. I got to try V on emulator and fell in love with that one too due to the fantastic jobs system. The story wasn't the best but with classes like Geomancer and Chemist you didn't care. I also eventually got to try FF Tactics on PSP though I missed the original PS debut. Another classic that I will love forever. Square had me so mesmerized that when I found out about FFVII going to the PS and not the N64 I told my friends "Where Square goes I go". I really feel bad for you guys that missed their SNES classics like FFIV, V, VI, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, really go back and try to play them if you are able. That was Square at its finest imo.

 

Now lets all collectively wish for a mmo based on the Xenogears, Chrono or Secret of Mana series!

[Moondoggie]

It's nice reading all these stories. I think it sums up why we play video games. They are an escape from our own lives and no matter what sort of day you had. You can have the worst day at school or work or an argument with loved ones and you can switch on the game and you can get lost in another world and for that time your troubles just melt away.

 

It's funny unlike most who will be playing this game i'm not a long time Final Fantasy fan. I had friends of course who had Final Fantasy VII and VIII back in the day and i saw them. A close friend of mine is a big fan of the franchise. But i was not so much of a gaming enthusiast back then i preferred table top RPG's and comic books for my escape. The first Final Fantasy i actually completed was XIII which a lot of long time fans would kill me for liking. My friend can not understand why i would like Snow lol.

 

I became an PC  RPG fan through playing Baldur's Gate II and Neverwinter Nights and more recently over the past year or so got the MMORPG bug playing Tera Online. My guild friends talked about playing Final Fantasy XIV and after checking it out and hearing good things about the beta i decided to pre order the game.

 

 

There is just something about the world Final Fantasy creates. It's what an RPG should be a beautiful world of color and magic with memorable characters and music and a deep fulfilling storyline. Time to start a whole new adventure.

[Noble_Einherjar]

I think I would ramble on way too long if I talked about what FF means to me as a whole. The story of what Eorzea means to me is long enough.

 

Back in 2010 I built a new computer just to play FF XIV 1.0. And it was such a letdown on almost every conceivable level. I felt like the extra money I shelled out for the Collector's Edition was a complete waste. Bitterly, I eventually told myself I was glad to have spent the money to be able to experience first-hand such a failure, such a blemish on the Final Fantasy legacy.

 

But it was FF14's abysmal launch that took me back to Vana'diel, the world of FFXI. I had always loved FFXI a lot, but the game's soul-crushing difficulty, obtuse objectives, and countless hurdles and roadblocks always kept me from enjoying it like I wanted. Well .. hah .. FFXI is still quite hard, even though I consider myself rather hardcore. But by this time, a lot of things had been put in place to make the game more solo-friendly and easier over all. I started a new account because the account I made at FFXI's launch many years ago was long gone. I bought the Ultimate Edition and started all over on a new server.

 

With things like the Fields of Valor, I was able to make progress in Vana'diel at an even clip and explore the world and the story like I had always wanted to. It was a great time. *engaging sappy mode* And it was here that I met my current girlfriend, who I've known for about three years and have been with for two. If FF14 had not been so terrible the first time around, I never would've met her nor would I have explored Vana'diel and taken a lot of the story campaigns to completion.

 

I never thought FF14 would amount to anything. I never thought SE would be able to salvage Eorzea. I never thought, with SWTOR and GW2 around the corner, that the community would survive. But Yoshi-P and his dev team, and the fans that supported FF14 since the beginning, have accomplished the impossible. It's been so fascinating to watch ARR's development--the level of transparency has blown me away. In a way I'm humbled by the dedication the 1.0 players showed, because now Eorzea is a place I will be proud to call home for a long time to come. That 1.0 CE purchase was money well-spent.

[Ari Kagon]

*engaging sappy mode* And it was here that I met my current girlfriend, who I've known for about three years and have been with for two. If FF14 had not been so terrible the first time around, I never would've met her nor would I have explored Vana'diel and taken a lot of the story campaigns to completion.

 

 

This right here is why it doesn't matter that I don't enjoy WoW anymore, it will still always hold a special place in my heart because that is where I met my current boyfriend, Selsix.

It's always nice to see someone else find love on a game. /end sappy lovey dovey stuffs.

[Naunet]

This right here is why it doesn't matter that I don't enjoy WoW anymore, it will still always hold a special place in my heart because that is where I met my current boyfriend, Selsix.

It's always nice to see someone else find love on a game. /end sappy lovey dovey stuffs.

 

MMOs are a social hub just like any other location in real life, and bonds can form just as easily, especially when you're interacting regularly with these people. I met Twinflame in WoW over five years ago and will always cherish my memories of the time we spent roleplaying together and interacting OOC. I never would have guessed that I'd be six months away from marrying him today!

[Jove]

This right here is why it doesn't matter that I don't enjoy WoW anymore, it will still always hold a special place in my heart because that is where I met my current boyfriend, Selsix.

It's always nice to see someone else find love on a game. /end sappy lovey dovey stuffs.

 

MMOs are a social hub just like any other location in real life, and bonds can form just as easily, especially when you're interacting regularly with these people. I met Twinflame in WoW over five years ago and will always cherish my memories of the time we spent roleplaying together and interacting OOC. I never would have guessed that I'd be six months away from marrying him today!

 

Wow, you met people you like in mmos?

 

(Joking! Also congratulations Naunet )

 

I've had the opposite experience really. I used to play EVE a lot and introduced my ex to it over a year a go. We had an absolute blast, met some amazing people in game and out of game, including some of the CCP developers. We were fairly known space pirates in our area and our guild was quite infamous for small fast hard hitting ships, like a wolf pack. We were complete villains and shot people on sight. Best experience I've had in a long time with an MMO, but when we split up it all just kind of felt "meh". EVE is very much a social game that features spaceships and when that significant social other left, it felt totally stagnant.

 

Although I couldn't see that happening with XIV, which is quite a different beast and I think joining this community first has done wonders for my experience already.