Final Fantasy XIV: Learning to Love an MMO

As I'm writing this it's August 2020, the world is a mess. Everyone is still trying to stay indoors and remaining hopeful about the future is difficult with a consistent stream of awful news and terrible ideas coming from governments around the globe. All in all, it's not an ideal situation to be living/job hunting in and I needed something to help me switch my brain off from all of that.

Now I have never liked MMO's, I find their battle systems lackluster, grind far too overwhelming and stories too difficult to immerse myself in. That being said, I am always attracted to them for some reason. I've tried a plethora of MMO's throughout the years; from Elder Scrolls Online, to Warframe, to Runescape and everything in between. None of them have captivated me enough to stick at it, that is, until I started Final Fantasy XIV.

---

Downloading the free trial version, starting the game up and spending a good while creating my character, I encountered some issues relating to representation. Firstly, an entire race of gender-locked bunny women, really? With their overtly sexualised appearence it's plain to see this as a very juvenile form of fantasy fulfillment.

Yes, I understand the irony of criticising a game called Final Fantasy about fulfilling fantasies however, there's a big difference when it comes to traditional power fantasies and sexual ones, they don't need to be linked and the fact that they are, is worrying in its own right.

Armour options are also built towards the male gaze, making most armour very impractical while doing so. Take my character, Oki Lampstra, below for instance; cool looking leather and steel armour and then a 'random' opening on the chest area with a bra and what, leather cycling shorts? It's unnecessary.

Body options are non existant, everyone is a sculpted masterpiece of inhuman physique. Representing a body shape that's impossible in the real world without artificially changing yourself. Needless to say that this is damaging and if this game is all about fantasy fulfillment, let me be a chunky lancer that is feared by all, what's wrong with that?

Anyway, after calming down, I finally entered the land of Eorzea, a fresh faced lancer, ready to be disappointed.

---

After trawling through the traditional beginners checklist of talking to NPC's, familiarising myself with the controls and battling small creatures that pose absolutely no threat whatsoever. Much to my surprise, I was...invested?

I wanted to keep building my character and progressing this story that I didn't fully understand even if it meant doing menial fetch quests. Which there are quite a large amount of, however, they don't crush you with annoying tasks, its a kill quest or a delivery quest that will typically bring you to an area with more quests or the 'main story' in most cases.

The big main story quests at the beginning are focused on world building, and because it's still a Final Fantasy game, the world they've built is complex. Filled with very interesting cultures and lifestyles ladened with a unique plethora of issues. Also, because it's a Final Fantasy game, it can be a difficult world to figure out for a long time if you're not totally invested in reading/listening to every piece of dialogue they offer. Even if their character names do read like jumbled scrabble letters, so good luck guessing how to pronounce some of them.

Set five years after a world ending calamity that spared very few, civilizations had to rebuild. Towns, villages and cities were wiped out with most that survived needing to pack themselves into populated cities in order to obtain the resources to pull through. This has led to refugee crises which obviously brings up its own political and cultural issues however, this doesn't seem to be a focus.

Very quickly the plot brings attention to the fact that primals (god-like entities with immense power) exist and that you need to stop them from being summoned back to the earth before they create an even worse situation for the poor people of Eorzea.

It's a basic setup and that's okay, not every story needs to be burdgeoning with intrigue and moral gray areas, however, I have heard that later expansions change this and I am looking forward to getting there.

---

Even the combat, which is your standard MMO hotbar and cooldown focused affair, is satisfying to me. Balancing cooldowns while efficiently focusing the correct targets and keeping up DPS, heals or your own defenses becomes a technical dance around the keyboard (or controller; although I cannot vouch for how intuitive those controls are). The group content is equally exciting as thats when positioning is as vital as ever. Mixing all of these elements together and accompanying appropriate visual spectacle to most fo your abilities adds to that sense of accomplishment when taking down a hyped up foe.

Fortunately, Final Fantasy XIV doesn't pressure you to immediately join a guild and focus on group content, you're free to wander around at your own pace however fast or slow that may be. The game gently nudges you in the direction it wants you to go and it drip feeds you new mechanics as to not overwhelm you while keeping things fresh. It really does convey to you that this experience is a multiplayer JRPG rather than a dedicated MMO, which of course, it actually is.

---

Spending a few hours every evening losing myself in this sprawling world, doing quests and furthering my character, listening to the magical score that instills exploration and excitement into every action you commit to. I always ended a session feeling accomplished. A rare feeling to get through real world means due in no part to my inbox being flooded with "we will not be taking this application any further" emails.

Just today I committed to getting the standard edition and the expansions, I want to see where this story takes me and continue to comfort me through the tougher days of this global pandemic while doing so. Final Fantasy XIV isn't just a fantastic game, it's a set of open arms, welcoming you into a comforting few hours of much needed escapism.

If anyone reading this is also playing through the game and wants a friend to question everything and get far too excited at little things, I'm happy to be of service.