Eorzean Evening Post: Am I Really That Grumpy? .

I noticed that my post from last week, about the emptiness I’m currently experiencing after patch 2.55 ended the 2.0-story, didn’t get much love on Reddit. Having written about games for 10 years, I know that you can’t always please everyone and you’re always bound to annoy someone. But in this case, I really wanted to respond, since I think it comes down to a misunderstanding.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I blame myself for that for that misunderstanding. I don’t think I was clear enough. So I want to straighten one thing out. I don’t blame the game itself. It all comes down to my feelings, to my experience. There is a ton of content in Final Fantasy XIV, I haven’t experienced all of it, and it’s a bloody fantastic game. The whole thing about not being able to do a mental time warp is my problem, not the game’s. I understand why it sounded like I did to some, and for that I’m sorry.

I’m not whining about poetics not being uncapped as such. As I tried to explain in that last post, the uncapping of poetics is purely symbolic. I don’t have as much time to play as I used to (even if one thing that took up most of my playtime now is over and done with, finally), I know that I won’t have time to cap poetics every week. An uncapping would symbolically mean that I could, if I suddenly and miraculously found the time, get that weapon faster. The two weeks I mentioned? Yeah, that was stupid. It was a number taken out of my nether regions, without much thought.

All that can be explained pretty easily. But one thing that kept coming up in the Reddit thread is that I’m grumpy, that I’m just complaining about Final Fantasy XIV and that I don’t really like it and perhaps would be better off playing something else. I was surprised about that, to be honest. If I have come across that way, and I guess I could be read like that, I am truly and honestly sorry.

A bit of history

Since I have this soapbox to stand on (and it is an op-ed, which seemed unclear to some), I guess I might use it to tell you all how much I actually love Final Fantasy XIV. It has some flaws, which I’ve written about before, but I still think its one of the best MMOs on the market right now, especially in the theme park-genre.

I recently went back to poke around another theme park-MMO I used to play quite hardcore, but I simply couldn’t do it. It made me realise, again, just how high quality Final Fantasy XIV is. How smooth it is, and beautiful it is and how the giant puzzle that is the game is so damn solid.

I started out, as most of us, in World of Warcraft back in 2005/2006. Since then I’ve played too many different MMOs to count, constantly jumping between them to find new worlds, new homes. So far, very few has offered up that home, a place to live in, a place I want to constantly come back to. Few MMOs have enticed me all the way to level cap, for example. I hate leveling, in any MMO. Final Fantasy XIV, with its story, was the first in a long time where that part didn’t bother me.

I think I had my character around level 25-30 when I realised that. How grumpy I’ve been about levels in the past, but how it didn’t bother me here. Anyone that follows me on Twitter, or know me in real life (and care about games), can probably attest to that. But in Final Fantasy XIV, I didn’t even think that much about it. The world had me sucked in, the story and the characters made me forget about the constant chase after more experience points. Once at cap I settled into that classic hunt for new gear that we’re all (well, most of us) so obsessed with. It wasn’t until I tried to get my friends to play with me that I really thought about how traditional the process was. And to be honest, I never really cared that much personally.

Single player, multiplayer

Yes, the story is very important to me. But no, I have not forgotten about the fact that we’re playing a MMO, that it isn’t the be-all and end-all of the game. I have written about my plans for Heavensward before, how I really want to raid when the expansion finally comes around, for example. I wish I raided already, and (as I mentioned last week) had that story – and the overall raid experience – to keep me occupied. I’ve raided hardcore before, in both World of Warcraft and Rift, and miss those days. I love my FC, they are great people and I love hanging out with them. Sadly, I’m on a US server (Cactaur), playing from the EU. That does complicate things when it comes to the social side of the game. (Yes, that’s also part fishing after an active raid LS with European players on Cactaur)

At end-game, there is so much stuff to do in Final Fantasy XIV, especially since the introducing of the Gold Saucer, for example. I’ve started to poke my head into Triple Triad, which I thought I’d write more about over the next few weeks (I’m up to a whooping 28 cards by now, trying to hit that magical 30-card mark). And I do kinda want a perfectly bred Chocobo at some point. Then there’s crafting, which I’m a bit intimidated by, to be honest.

The story might make me feel weird, and at times empty. That doesn’t stop me from logging in, though. It doesn’t stop me from loving Final Fantasy XIV in a way that I haven’t loved a MMO in what feels like ages. Heavensward looks like it could potentially be one of the best expansions for an MMO we’ve seen in a long time.

So, yeah. I’m sorry that I’ve come across as grumpy. I will try to do better. It doesn’t mean I won’t criticize the game, or point at its flaws, but I’ll try to do better when it comes to tone. I am personally so damn tired of the “cynic games journalist”-trope, which has been done to death by now. It’s never been my intention to even come close to that. I promise I will do better. Sorry, guys. I wouldn’t be doing this every week if I didn’t love Final Fantasy XIV, just like you.