newly playing: my first time with an MMORPG

2026/08/20

it's been sixteen years since the release of FINAL FANTASY XIV and thirteen since its overhauled upgrade, A REALM REBORN. despite how long it's been around, i hadn't ever touched the game. until recently, i had no friends who played it, and i've only very recently gotten into RPGs let alone ONLINE ones. from the outside, FFXIV seemed like a very daunting, overly massive, scary experience that i could never POSSIBLY have the time to get into. and then they went and announced a switch 2 port.

as much as i don't think i SHOULD be tethered to this platform, the idea of "loyalty" to any brand kind of sucks, i am also just not immune to switch ports i think they're cute. in the case of FFXIV, it's a bit shocking since the port necessitates extra server support, not to mention the vast amount of material the game already has that has to function on a new platform. square enix have been going all-in on switch 2 support, however, so porting one of their biggest games over isn't *so* surprising. and, in fact, it works very well -- about as well as it can without a keyboard -- with the built-in mouse controls being fully utilised. i think the switch 2 would excel with ports of PC games, especially those that primarily use the mouse (like THE SIMS or point-and-click adventure games). over a year since the launch of the console, it's the port of FFXIV has made the most use of its unique hardware so far. weird!

technical stuff aside, i made the decision to download FFXIV because it's free. that's literally it. if the barrier to entry was paid, i'd have to think it over some more, but no you can just download the thing. i think that's how so many people continue to get hooked on the game, to this day, because it's certainly worked on me!!!

FINAL FANTASY XIV, like all of the best video games, lets you play as a rabbit girl. it's because of this, truthfully, that i was immediately hooked -- in an MMO it's probably very important to be able to make a character and look at her during play and go "oh! that's me", which is exactly what i do while playing FFXIV.

so far, the quest of RILE TRYDANIAETH to become the best adventurer in eorzea and gain the admiration of at least a few people is one fraught with shock and surreality, which i suppose is normal for fantasy RPGs. when her journey began she was introduced to a tall lady at the gridania adventurer's guild who insisted she call her "mother". this is a classic staple of the final fantasy series.

despite her unsteady hand and anxious tendencies, rile is determined to become at least pretty good at archery to help those she encounters. while carrying out assignments of the archery guild, however, she came across a big tree with a mysterious machine -- against better judgement, she turned its crank and some kind of orb shape came out, unleashing a beam of light upon her. a ghost materialised in front of her, telling her of the hidden spirits of the land who cause mischief. she was sure she saw this in a 3DS game once.

before venturing out beyond gridania, she had a weird dream, a hazy vision of a masked man with a familiar voice. she thought it might be related to the great big calamity everyone keeps mentioning, but she couldn't help thinking how it reminded her of a cartoon about giant robots she saw back home. these distractions wouldn't do. memories of her home life came rushing back. she needed to keep moving forward.

upon arrival in ul'dah, she stumbled into a band of musicians performing a live set of music she didn't recognise. before continuing on her journey, however, she sat down to listen, and the band continued playing. a song or two later, they began to play a very familiar tune, and as the main melody kicked in she blurted out: "HOLY SHIT THEY'RE PLAYING YMO OVER HERE?". she was thankful that her fellow adventurers had good taste.

ul'dah being the busy bustling city it is, rile was sure to bump into some friends of hers, who wrote from afar encouraging her to go on this journey. each friend handed her the same letter, reading "will you accept my friend request?". she was confused by this, since they were all already friends, but accepted them anyway.

while getting lost in the city she learnt of the GOLD SAUCER, and in losing focus of her adventure she took an airship ride to it. it's basically a big casino, which she found scary, but she almost instantly got lost and couldn't find her way out. before long, however, she found the mahjong tables. eager to finally learn the game after years of putting it off, she engaged in several games with groups of strangers, and even though she still hasn't really learnt how to play she's been stuck there for days.

will she find her way out? will she be doomed to endlessly brute-force her way through a game she's struggling to learn the rules of? will that ghost who keeps following her around ever leave her side? only time will tell, as her journey continues.

since i'm only level 32 as of writing, i feel i'm gonna keep playing FFXIV for dozens of hours more, even before i'm forced to pay up for the full version. i'm sure i'll have more comprehensive thoughts with time, but i've enjoyed it a lot so far! it's really a miraculous game, but maybe i just feel that way since i've never played an MMORPG before. all of what i described did happen in-game, btw. the band thing really surprised me. i didn't even know you could perform music like that.