About Last Weekend
On Sunday morning, I woke up to my body reminding me of my age. Throughout the weekend, I mentally refused this reality throughout my time at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest.
Honestly, I do this often, accepting that I’ll pay the price later. So I’ll happily stand in a pit over two hours before a single hour rock concert of FFXIV music begins, with only a brief moment of sitting when I saw others plop down because that hurt worse. I’ll pump my fist with a silly little light stick attached, even though that’s a behavior I’ll never do at any other show in the states.
I’ll attend the entire event solo, something that would terrify me twenty years ago. I’ve grown wise enough to realize we’re all the same group of wonderful nerds that have this game in common. I’ll make friends, even if only temporary in lines. I’ve found that I now put other anxious solo attendees at ease by striking up conversations.
This may sound strange, but I’ve grown in my adult years with the Final Fantasy MMOs and I’ve watched them grow with me. It started the outright, to-hell-with-your-time grind mentality of Final Fantasy XI and evolved to Yoshi-P standing on stage saying his development team should really respect players’ free time even more for Final Fantasy XIV to continue to succeed, despite over a decade of proven success with their current formula.
That later piece will stick with me for quite a while. Instead of continuously milking the cash cow that FFXIV undoubtedly has grown into (after saving the game from an absolute disaster of a launch over a decade ago), Yoshi-P and team decided to build a new foundation: daily goals to weekly goals, a complete re-haul of the battle system, and a massive on giving the players much more individual customizations than we ever thought possible.
The final piece reflects this community perfectly. Every FFXIV Fan Fest sees players of all races, genders, and a sizable LGBTQIA+ presence. We joke that the glamor (aka, the custom armor looks) is the real endgame, but the reality is that we enjoy the custom reflection we give ourselves in this virtual world. The dev team understands this on such a deep level, that the trailer of the new Evercold expansion, used gender neutral “they/them” pronouns for the male stand-in of the player character just so every player could feel represented.
When I decided to put FFXIV back into my Extra Life rotation, I honestly worried if it would “fit” what I do. After attending this Fan Fest, I see that picked the perfect time. The main story will settle into its new major arc. The new weekly rewards will fit in perfectly for stream planning while keeping me current without much extra off-stream effort. Even the upcoming expanded regional matching has given me hope that my ultimate dream of bringing more Extra Lifers into streams is now possible.
Heroes, as you can likely tell, I have massive amounts of passion and love for this game. I’ve tried to find a way to bring that to y’all through my Extra Life streams. Admittedly, I’m still trying to figure it out, but after this weekend, I see that goal in sight.
I hope you continue to join me on my Tuesday FFXIV streams, including this Tuesday (hopefully I can swing an earlier time, watch the socials) when the new story patch drops. I can’t wait to guide y’all through what awaits in Evercold in January while we all make a big changes for all kids!
