A Full Final Fantasy Fmarathon (Community Edition)

[Fynn]

Guys i am still not done with XIV lmao

But I am on Endwalker, so I should have some final thoughts written out sometime this year

[Wolf Kanno]

Nine months later...

[Fynn]

I know. You could have a full baby in that time. So if you just got pregnant, that’s probably not enough time to catch up on FFXIV lmao

[Fynn]

How do you even begin talking about something like FFXIV? I've spent nearly a year catching up to something a lot of people have been very invested in for a very long time. I've burned a lot of my life on this. I've also barely really scratched the surface.

I do not regret this experience.

Maybe saying I scratched the surface is selling the stuff I actually managed to do short. I have finished all of the currently main story content, which at the point of writing is up to patch 6.5, so I've finished Endwalker, as well as the post-Endwalker scenario (aside from the three or four quests we'll get in 6.55, but that doesn't concer me right now). I've finished all the raid series, trial series, alliance raids, some job questlines. Basically a lot of what would normally be considered the "main story" in a regular game, I guess.

There is a multitude of quests that all add to this game's already gargantuan lore. This includes tribal quests, which I have not even touched, because I didn't even craft anything, ever. I never had to. I had good friends looking out for me while I continued this odyssey.

I could list statistics like this for a long time, but it still wouldn't really mean anything. Again, how do I even talk about a thing that has consumed a good chunk of my life for the better part of a year?

FFXIV is good. It is very good. I was told the beginning would be rough, and it was, in a way. I've played XI for two months, but this was the first time I actually sunk my teeth into a current. active MMORPG. It was rough because everything was overwhelming. But as I made my way through A Realm Reborn, a patchwork of scraps left over from SE's apocalyptic disaster that I was told by everyone else was the worst bit of the game and that I would need to endure it.

And yet I was sucked in. Part of it was the company. At this point it should be mentioned that I was accompanied by a whole bunch of people who helped me feel welcome in this large world. Shauna and Matt's free company Wonderous Fails (or WonFa, as we all call it) was delightful, helping me learn the ropes and giving advanced tips when push came to shove, even allowing me to embarrass myself during high-end content later on. They said I did good, though. And then there are Formy and Mr. Carnelian, who weren't even planning to play XIV, until I told them I'm gonna do it last year when I met them during their wedding and asked if they'd like to join me. And then they agreed, despite, like me, having very little to do with MMOs. Last but not least, I would be remiss not to mention Adam, our long-banned fellow EoFFer Doomgaze, a veteran of the game who happened to be looking for people to play with. And so a fairly steady light party of four was born, though of course we joined up with other people from WonFa (shoutout to Jess and Jinx for being very helpful guides during our initial few dungeons), especially for things that required more people, as well as the many people we've encountered only once through random chance using Duty Finder.

The other thing that kept me going were the little things. Let me make myself clear - while the story and characters in XIV is quite good, the entire structure of it is quite mind-numbing. It is quite unavoidable since that is the general structure of an MMO, but going from quest to quest to do all those little minor things and reading novels-worth of text just to advance the story a little bit was tough. But then we had little moments that got enhanced by this, like when, after a brutal attack from Garlean forces a bunch of people got killed, you were tasked with carrying every single one to the cart to give them a proper burial. The action bar filled up quite slowly for Roegadyns, but very quickly for Lalafells. You got to feel the weight of the events through your own actions, and little moments like that in the game really made the story shine at some points.

I won't go into detail with every expansion, but I will say it's remarkable that they managed to keep the story going so well for so long while making it more exciting and well thought out with every entry (with the exception of maybe Stormblood being just alright, but that's still a commendable effort). Shadowbringers in particular stands out as an incredible paradigm shift in terms of story direction and character writing, though honestly, every expansion feels like it adds more depth to this world and the people that inhabit it. In fact, I'd say I probably chose the best moment to speed through this game, as Endwarlker truly does feel like an excellent coda for everything that has come so far.

So this is probably it for me until Dawntrail comes out this summer, which I am very much looking forward to. For now, my lovely Hrothgar alter ego will take some much earned rest while I continue this marathon, probably starting XV after New Year, because I need a break too.

P.S. Y'shtola is the best Scion. #sorrynotsorry

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm happy you finally reached the current end, and found a new game o love.

[Psychotic]

Yeah it's p good isn't it hey remember that time we did the stone vigil and i showed you my hippo

[Fynn]

Of course. It was lovely to do it with you

[Fynn]

We are so back

Time to finish up this fmarathon thing. FFVII Remake continues to be outrageously expensive even during steam sales, so FFXV is definitely the final game I’ll be covering for this marathon. It feels like it’s been a while since I did this, but that’s honestly simply because XIV took nearly a year lmao

So I’ve started FFXV! And by that I mean just barely started since I’ve just arrived in Hammerhead. Thanks to my new GPU, the game is running much better and at higher settings than when I played it the last time, so I have to say it’s gorgeous! The tutorial felt a bit clunky, but I’m starting to feel the combat again and I’m reminded of just how cozy it feels. The boys are also a lovely gang and I really enjoy their interactions.

Honestly, I’ve always held XV in high regard so I’m happy to get back to it, but also kinda sad this marathon is almost over. It’s honestly kinda hard to believe I actually reached this point