Yes, it's me again with my Final Fantasy rambling, but since there seems to be an interest or at least good reception for my weird Final Fantasy facts in the Members' Corner, I thought I would make this a regular thing. I can't make as many videos as I would like, and this past year at Just About reminded me that once I loved writing articles in my native language, so maybe it's time to give this a try in English. If you ever have enough of me and my little obsession for this franchise, just file a petition for the staff to start a Final Fantasy community and lock me in there.

Lately I've came across so many articles which were either clickbait, written by someone who doesn't know much about the game, or was about such a generic topic, that it was clear it was just written to meet a quota. I don't know much about the hardships of online game journalism, but it's shocking for me that from the same person I can find an absolute top quality article, which is praised by other creators in the FFXIV community, and another which has a misleading, clearly clickbait title, which almost made me not want to read the article, which was actually not that bad, just had one unfortunate phrase in it to grab attention... but would probably backfire when it came to try to catch the attention of veteran players.

So I decided to launch this series and see if I can do any better. I'm not a full-time creator, so I'm not doing this for the amount of clicks or to receive any kind of reward. I just want to share my love for these games with others, maybe get new players to try out the game and to teach those who are just getting started and missed out on a lot which now counts as history. And I believe Just About is the perfect place for such content, even if it reaches less people (for now...) than some other journalist portal would.

Now after a bit lengthy explanation let's get this show on the road.

Happy 11th anniversary Final Fantasy XIV!

I'm a few days late with the celebrations, but had to wait for Friday. FFXIV or to be precise, A Realm Reborn (also referred to as 2.0) was released 11 years ago to resurrect the original, doomed Final Fantasy XIV. The gap between 1.0 and 2.0 has been woven into the story to make the reworked game the continuation of the original story, by having a devastating calamity which reshaped the world. Each year around this time The Rising seasonal event remembers those who were lost in the calamity and celebrates the realm reborn.

The event is usually orchestrated by the Wandering Minstrel, who is a sort-of cameo character of producer and director Naoki Yoshida, who can be found at a major city for each expansion and the player would usually visit him to unlock endgame content such as Extreme Trials and Savage or Ultimate Raids. What makes this event special is that towards the end of the quest the player is always pulled into a waking dream or hallucination if you like, where they meet the actual Naoki Yoshida, who has a few heartfelt words to us, the players. I really need to find out who is chopping onions in the house every time I do this seasonal quest.

The event's starting location has always been Ul'dah, but to my surprise this time there was no quest there, so I actually had to check the event announcement post, and found out that it was in Limsa Lominsa. Both of these city-states are starting locations, depending on what class the player is starting as, and not sure if it's the same for everyone, but I always felt a sense of belonging to my starting city, Limsa Lominsa, home of some pirates turned into privateers and leading an honourable life. At least most of them. So I was excited to see what this year's story was going to be about.

There is always a celebration display in each starting city and in the housing districts as well for every seasonal event, and this time the story takes us through how the city of pirates prepares the grand fireworks display. We meet characters from our sprout adventure days, and hear the locals talk about what the celebration means to them, who they have lost and what are their hopes. It made me more emotional than I like to admit, but this event just added to the magic which was the entire Dawntrail main story for me: all the lore, all the new character and all the little details of world-building. I might be a raider and might enjoy decorating my house ingame or do any sort of content with my friends, but the main thing what brought me into this game and what makes me still play is the story, and I will happily take any crumbs thrown at me feet. While I did enjoy the event in previous years as well, somehow having it being held in my starting city, it felt different, it was more personal. These characters were the one sending me off on a long journey of adventures, it felt great to return to the city my character hails from, and bring people together to work on that fireworks display.

The quest mentions that other city-states will be hosting future celebrations, so I really hope we will see The Rising and other seasonal event at new locations, and see how it touches the locals all across Eorzea.

After completing the quest, stay around the area, it might not be easy to spot if there's a crowd of players, but at the same spot where you spoke with the Wandering Minstrel, there is a marked location again, and if you are eager for further lore crumbs like I am, or enjoy having a conversation with characters you have not seen in a while, I suggest to click that shiny mark on the ground!

I have a few ideas what I want to write about and show you during this weekly series, but if you have any requests let me know and I'll see what I can come up with. Yes, it will include other Final Fantasy games as well, but a lot of the content will be from FFXIV as this is my main game. Any feedback on the format, content, balance of text and images, length etc is much appreciated as always ^^