Elizabeth Henges and Returning to Eorzea | Winter Spectacular 2020
Before I started this piece, I decided to check my playtime in Final Fantasy XIV, and I had 901 hours put into the MMO. By the time you all read this, I wouldn't be shocked if I added another 30 or 40 hours to that timer. In fact, I'm writing this piece while fishing in the game, dredging up the game's aquatic life for money and glory.
Final Fantasy XIV is a game I’ve played for many years, starting with the base PS4 edition all the way back in 2015, but this year is the year I've finally let the game fully engross me. For the longest time, I was drawn to the title not because it was an MMO, but because Square Enix took the time to make it so that you could play it alone. The plot played well into the notion that you and you alone could save the world as any single-player Final Fantasy would, and FFXIV managed to have some of the series' best writing, at that.
There was, of course, multi-player content to be had with the game's dungeons and trials (boss battles), but the developers made it easy to hop in with a party of random people, and the community was usually nice enough to explain mechanics or Raise you when you died. This is how I completed the base game and its three expansions, which is at least 150 hours of content on its own.
But 2020 was a different year. I mean, that's probably the most obvious statement you could make about a year like this one. Honestly, ‘different’ is putting it too lightly. But as 2020 threw everything it could at me and everyone else, I found solace in Final Fantasy XIV, in a way I couldn't with any other game.
Ok, you’re all lovely but this island just ain’t big enough for us all.
When lockdowns began taking place around the world in March, we all looked to one game, in particular, to take our mind off our collective pain--Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Most of us thought it'd be the perfect game to pass by the few weeks we'd have in lockdown, and then get back to work in April or May like normal. If only.
While I jumped on the Animal Crossing train at first, after about a month or so I fell off. Tiny frustrations with progression and other mechanics trumped most of the fun I had with the title, and friends started moving onto other games as well.
But April was a bad month. Depression reared its ugly head and I couldn't bear to work on anything beyond my one steady gig. I needed something to take my mind off the state of the world and of my life, and I turned to that game that I’d quietly been chipping away at for years, Final Fantasy XIV.
I've written in the past about how FFXIV is comforting in its grind, and in April, the grind was just as comforting as ever. But, things were also different this time around. I had played almost all of the main storyline content alone, but this time, I was helping friends level up. The pandemic and the fear brought on by freelance gigs falling apart made it so that all my friends needed something to distract them from everything.
Gang’s all here.
Being able to help my friends level up and get through some of the notoriously boring content of A Realm Reborn gave me something to look forward to when I didn't have the heart to do anything else. Helping one of them through a story dungeon or wiping out a random low-level enemy mob was way more enjoyable than anything I did in Animal Crossing. It felt like I was actually helping them with something, instead of showing off my increasingly boring island.
My significant other managed to stick with the game past the long onramp and Final Fantasy XIV is still the main game we play together to chill and chat. When you are thousands of miles apart during a pandemic and travel is impossible, you both need something to connect with, and FFXIV has become that connection. We’ve both shared plenty of fun stories and experiences in the game, that in 2020, we couldn't do in real life.
Liz’s in-game wedding.
I have no snarky comment this is just lovely.
From the fun and somewhat embarrassing in-game wedding we threw, to the time I accidentally killed him while out on a date, to the times he's gotten me killed in a dungeon while learning to tank, this MMO has become a solid part of our relationship. It's the game we go to when we're too tired to do anything else, because there is always something to do. Even when our main community fell apart, FFXIV continued to be a place we went to escape.
We were even able to find a new community in the game. Even if some of my friends were playing FFXIV, there wasn't really a sense of community there--the Free Company we were part of didn't really do anything together. When it came time to move on, I bit the unfortunately expensive bullet of a World Transfer and moved servers, where some long-time friends and colleagues had a Free Company of their own.
It was worth every penny, as it was the first true community in FFXIV that I belonged to. Everyone was friendly and took the time to teach mechanics and features I ignored for years. Sometimes we'd grab drinks and grind for new mounts, doing low-stress content while simply enjoying one another's company.
When none of us can meet up, these excursions are more than welcome. What meant to be just another 60-day grindfest became an active subscription. I don't play every day, and sometimes I take weeks-long breaks, but that's the beauty of Final Fantasy XIV--I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything when I take a break, and when I do log on, I can choose to do whatever I want to pass the time.
So now that it's officially GOTY season, as I look back at the year, Final Fantasy XIV is the most defining game for me. Even though I've enjoyed catching up on my backlog and have played some excellent 2020 titles, my time in Eorzea stands out as the backbone of my entire year. In spite of the over 900 hours spent and the general distaste for MMOs, FFXIV has provided me experiences that no other game could, especially in 2020, and I'm thankful for it.
Better days ahead.
