This time last week, I was surrounded by thousands of other Warriors of Light at the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival in London. It was overwhelming but incredible. From the opening keynote that treated us to the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Viper job reveal, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Vana’diel raid crossover announcement, the Final Fantasy🌺 16 event collaboration, to the closing concert by T𝕴he Primals on Sunday, every second was memorable.
The venue was decked out to recreate multiple areas from within the game, including the three starter cities Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa, and Gridania, as well as a sneaky little slice of the Gold Saucer. Each area had a range of minigames you could participate in, from fishing to mining, and there was even Cactpot! The decorations were superb. Everything was on point, right down to the ambient music.
My friends and I often took a little break in the Gold Saucer, chatting while the music played and soaking up the vibes. If you looked aroun⛎d, you’d see cat and bunny ears and tails everywhere, as so many people were in full cosplay, which added to the feeling of being ‘in the game’. It’s something I’ll never forget, and I am so grateful to have been able to attend.
The sense of community and shared enthusiasm was palpable. Bumping into FF14 players from around the world whom I’d previously interviewed for🐲 Community Spotlight articles was lovely. There was also a Warrior of Light exchange organised by fans, where everyone met and swapped stickers, stamps, and keyrings of their WoLs. People were making funny game-related WiFi names, taking photos with one another despite being strangers, and putting up silly meme signs in the toilets. I meant it when I said every second was memorable, even peeing. Co๊mmunity spirit was at an all-time high, and you couldn’t help but smile just being there in the thick of it.
It was incredible to see the Final Fantasy 14༒ team — both devs and voice actors — walking around the event and taking the time to chat and snap selfies with attendees. All of the Square Enix team and PR were just as excit﷽ed as we were and they helped us with getting group photos and encouraged us to participate in different things while there. The staff member in charge of the archery minigame was especially living life in his role of archery teacher, so kudos to him.
The effort put into the event was particularly noticeable. Beyond the impressive set and schedule, the attention to detail was impressive. There was a quiet room for anyone who needed to take a break from the cr♉owds, a cosplay repair and changing room, and set seating sections for those with disabilities, while security was on top of everything and staff members were constantly trying to ensure everyone had the best experience by giving realistic queue times and generally being as helpful as possible. Even during The Primals’ concert, there was more than one reminder for people not to push forward to ensure no one was getting squished up front.
A large part of what made the event so enjoyable for me was having my Free Company there with me, and it was both hilarious and heartwarming to take part in challenges together. My personal favouites were the fishing challenge, which was especially fun as we often do ocean fishing together in the game, and the battle challenge, which we managed to scrape through to victory, despite most of us being dead for the win. Sorry to the random guy who joined to ensure we had a team of eight, but a win is 🌠a win, right?
While doing the Doors of Amdapor, which involved choosing doors in quick succession and hoping to choose the correct one and not a Diabolos door, we defaulted to our usual go-to — spinning. As it's all luck as to whether you choose the right door or not𒉰, why not? When we do Treasure Maps in the game and end up in the likes of The Excitatron 6000, we'll nominate a player to stand in the center and spin until we say stop to pick the door to go through next. It was hilarious to recreate this in the real world, and we won. Go, Team Bread!
Despite having all these wonderful people around me and all the exciting panels and minigames to check out, I suddenly became eager to play FF14 right then and there. I can’t remember the last time I was that excited ♌to play. It’s most likely as far back as the launch of Endwalker.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the time I spend with my friends in the game, but I can’t recall when I was last itching to log in and play. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t up to date with the main scenarꦆio quest until last week, but playing 🗹had begun to feel like a chore. I was logging in and doing things out of obligation. Even catching up on the storyline was done to ensure I was as ready as I could be for Fan Fest. Checking out new content became necessary for work for guides and features, and attending community events is also work-related. When did I last play for fun? But that’s all changed now.
Fan Fest was like a tonic for my wearied💦 Warrior of Light, and my enthusiasm and excitement has come rushing back. Even though there’s a while to wait until Dawntrail launches, I’m finally happy again at the thought of logging in, chipping away at some of the older content, and reconnecting with my char♏acter.
