Rising From The Ash - Like A Phoenix

June 28, 2017 7:32 PM

With the (mostly) successful launch of the game's second major expansion, Stormblood and a player population second only to reigning genre king World of Warcraft, it is easy now to say that Final Fantasy XIV is a well executed and successful MMO. But the game reaching this level of success is an amazing story of how a game that was panned and derided at its original launch in 2010 was brought back and remade into the title we see today through an incredible multiyear process built on the dedication of the development team. To showcase what that effort took, crowdfunded documentary team NoClip went to Japan to speak with key members of the FFXIV development staff in their three part documentary on the game's fall, death, and subsequent rebirth.

The first part, One Point O, discusses the game's rocky birth and disastrous launch in 2010, as well as the efforts to repair it, culminating in the reins being handed over to producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida, and his proposal to repair the existing game to rebuild trust while building a completely new version behind the scenes being adopted by the Square Enix executives.

Part two, Rewriting History, discusses the stabilization efforts during the 1.X period to win back the fandom, as well as the impact of the Fukushima earthquake on the efforts, and the decision to end the game not with a whimper but a bang, burning away the ruins of what is now called Legacy with dragonfire in an event now known as the Seventh Umbral Calamity ingame.

The final part, The New World, discusses the launch of the new FFXIV, now titled A Realm Reborn, and the much more successful reception it received. The further expansion of the game with the two expansions - Heavensward and the aforementioned Stormblood, as well as what their succedd in reviving the game meant for the members of the staff.

If you're curious about what the issues and events of Legacy looked like from a player perspective, Speakers Network has an excellent six part documentary on this:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
They have a spinoff available as well, Reminants Of A Realm, in which they discuss features from Legacy that were retained in some form in ARR, as well as features that were left out.

Other Links:
End Of An Era - this was the video that played when the Legacy servers were deactivated, showing players the Seventh Umbral Calamity.

A New Beginning - an extended version of the above, this adds a coda that shows the changes to Eorzea after the Calamity, as well as the players arriving in it. This video served as the attract video for A Realm Reborn.

Flames of Truth - a short video that initially played during the game's first high end raid, showing what happened during the Seventh Umbral Calamity.

Heavensward Trailer - the video in this sans the introduction at the start served as the Heavensward attract video.

Dragonsong - one of the two main themes of Heavensward.

Stormblood trailer - this also serves as the Stormblood attract video, and showcases two jobs - the longtime mainstay Monk, as well as the newly introduced Samurai.

Revolutions - the main theme for Stormblood.

posted by NoxAeternum (16 comments total)

Rising From The Ash - Like A Phoenix

I haven't played the MMO but I was expecting more like a chocobo.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:45 PM on June 28, 2017

Beat me to it! I had an FFXIV post half-composed, but work intervened and I never finished it.

I'll add The Fall and Rise of Final Fantasy XIV, a six-part series looking at just how everything was just utterly wrong in the original FFXIV from the players' point of view. It differs from the Noclip series in that the Noclip series is an insider, developer's perspective.

It's all pretty cool to longtime FFXIV players, as names like Yoshi-P and Koji Fox as familiar to us as in-game characters, perhaps even more so.

I haven't played the MMO but I was expecting more like a chocobo.
You don't need to have played the MMO to have used Phoenix Down. You just need to have played a Final Fantasy game. :)
posted by satoshi at 4:17 AM on June 29, 2017

Upon further exploration of the links, i see that the series I mentioned is already covered in the OP. My bad! Take my link as a handy playlist version :)
posted by satoshi at 4:21 AM on June 29, 2017

I adore the Final Fantasy series and this game is amazing. I've been playing for nearly two years now with my fiancée. We've made so many great friends all around the world. If you like Final Fantasy games, I would absolutely recommend it.
posted by Braeburn at 4:58 AM on June 29, 2017

How is the subscription plan for this game? I was tempted to try this out but when you have games like Elder Scrolls Online and Black Desert Online, it's hard to put down money in any kind of a monthly plan.

There's something to be said about the Final Fantasy universe/story that you join and I'm sure it's entertaining. It looks great. I just cannot rationalize a monthly subscription when there are other MMORPGs out there. Really wish this game was free, but I do not see that happening any time soon.
posted by Fizz at 8:50 AM on June 29, 2017

The thing to remember is that the game gets a major patch that adds significant amounts of new content every 3-4 months, so you do see your subscription being put back into the game. To give you an example, here's the patch notes for patch 3.5, the last major patch prior to 4.0 (Stormblood). It's easy to dismiss the game because of the subscription fees, but I've found that it's very much a case in "you get what you pay for" here. And if you want to see if you'd like it, there is a free trial, though it does limit some things you can do.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:39 AM on June 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Thanks NoxAeternum. I'll keep that in mind. Is the registration/subscription process convoluted or difficult? How has it been in your experience?
posted by Fizz at 10:03 AM on June 29, 2017

It's pretty straight forward. Once you have the client installed, it will ask you to make a Square Enix account if you don't have one (this contains your payment info and authenticator details). You can have your subscription paid by reoccurring payment (and you can get a discount by paying up front for more months), or purchase game time cards. (I've bought game time cards from Amazon on occasion, because they've had deals where qualifying game purchases got you in game items, and one qualifying purchase is a game time card.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:20 AM on June 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hmm, if I get bored with ESO, I may consider a trial month. Thanks NoxAeternum :)
posted by Fizz at 10:45 AM on June 29, 2017

What a cool way to wipe the slate externally and keep things consistent in-game!
posted by stinkfoot at 11:06 AM on June 29, 2017

What a cool way to wipe the slate externally and keep things consistent in-game!

There's even an in-game holiday for remembering the Calamity and memorializing the relaunch, called The Rising. They always do something cool for it - I'm curious what this year will bring.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:13 AM on June 29, 2017

I haven't played the MMO but I was expecting more like a chocobo.

So, I debated a bit about the title, but decided to use Phoenix, because Phoenix plays a major role in the Calamity. So first, a bit on the metaphysics of the world. On Hydaelyn, the world the game takes place on, with a large enough suffusion of aether and a strong enough supplication, godlike beings called primals (also known as eikons) can be summoned. Now, primals are a major threat, because they a) devour aether, depleting the land, and b) can force people to worship them through a process known as tempering. (Since tempering is irreversible and the prayers of the tempered can sustain primals, tempered people are a threat, and it's policy to kill tempered individuals.) The Warrior of Light (that is, you) possess a trait called the Echo, making you immune to tempering. This is why you wind up being called the Godslayer or Eikonslayer, because "deity extermination" becomes part of your oeuvre.

So, after Louisoux failed to seal Bahamut, the massive amounts of aether suffused the battlefield, and the prayers of those who wished for succor turned him into a focus for a primal summoning - transforming him into the primal Phoenix. He then promptly ripped Bahamut's heart out, which should have caused the elder primal to dissipate, and Louisoux then intended to return his aether to the land to rejuvenate it. Now, that did happen in part, but Bahamut, being an exceptionally pissed off primal due to being imprisoned for millenia, tempered Louisoux and fled underground to allow the technology of his prison to regenerate him. But there was a partial restoration, which allowed the recovery of the land faster than in prior Calamities.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:40 AM on June 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

In related news, Netflix will soon be airing a Japanese live-action show based on a blog written by a guy who played with his father (so father-son bonding via MMO). Japanese title is Hikari no Otousan, which is variously translated in English as Father of Light, Dad of Light, or Daddy of Light (a pun on Hikari no Senshi, Warrior of Light, your title in the game).

I've been playing since 1.0 (although I quit after a few months since the game was pretty bad, and started again with 2.0), although I've been able to maintain a more relaxed pace than I did with its predecessor (FFXI, which I played an unhealthy amount). FFXIV is a much more casual-friendly MMO than FFXI was, thankfully.
posted by thefoxgod at 1:58 PM on June 29, 2017

FFXIV is one of the friendlier communities I've joined and it's very simple to find a group to do quests and collect stuff too. I've played on and off since 2013 so I've missed out on some of the drama b/t patches which is good. I always return during an event or an expansion since they end up adding tons of QoL and small changes to streamline gameplay.

The downside is there are lulls in b/t major and minor patches so if you just do pay-as-you-go plan it's the most affordable option vs buying 2-6 month subs. For example, I treat it like a 1P JRPG w/tons of random NPCs in town and rarely interact w/strangers other than the guild.

Also, MMOs are always an acquired taste since there's always the toxic gaming community overall that's magnified within reddit and in-game chat.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 10:57 PM on June 29, 2017

Also, I should mention that the game is a love letter to fans of the series. There are so many references to prior titles - we got to fight the Warring Triad in the last expansion, the first 24 man raid was based on FFIII's Crystal Tower, the upcoming 24 man raid is titled Return to Ivalice (and people were positively giddy when that got announced), and so much more. The localization team also has fun with puns, with FATEs (basically limited time quests that pop up on the map) with titles like:

It's Not Lupus (you fight a giant crab named Cancer)
Tarantula Hawk Pro Stinger
Olympus Has Pollen
Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammoth

The flavor text for so many items and quests tend to be hilarious (though sadly, the erotic piercing leve from Legacy did not survive to ARR.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:34 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, if you've never played a FF game other than FFXV you will be be fine because I missed 95% of the in-game reference and I still had fun. I just collect minions and mounts.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 1:48 PM on June 30, 2017