Final Fantasy 14 Anniversary

To celebrate the upcoming Final Fantasy 14 Anniversary, I'm curious to hear everyone's favorite moment they've experienced in the game (1.0 and onward).

Also as a fairly new player to the game, I'd be interested in hearing what the rest of the FF14 Community has been up to the last 365 Days, and also any suggestions on what I should strive to check out (as I was not part of 1 or 2.0 anything is welcome) in the next few weeks.

Happy Anniversary FF14, and let's hear your stories General Discussion.

Well, we're still waiting for information about this year's 'Rising' event (which is the anniversary event that occurs around this time), although I think last year's 'Eighteenth Floor' (the Developer's Office) would be a hard act to follow. ;)

Anyway, as for my favourite moments in game, both 1.0 and ARR:

1.0 - both shutdowns (the first or real shutdown with the lead-up to the Calamity, it was just so darkly apocalyptic, it really did feel like this world was coming to an end and no matter what we did, it was doomed... alas, I was booted off the server half an hour before the end and couldn't log back in, so all I could do was idle on the launcher watching the 'time to impact' counter wind down to zero, and then see the login panel disappear and replaced with a download link to the 'End of an Era' trailer on Youtube. And my jaw hit the floor. ;)

And the second shutdown on New Year's Eve 2012 after the servers had been reactivated for a month or so was another thing I won't forget, but because it was so poignant, putting 1.0 Enki to sleep in the Inn Room in Gridania for the final time, it was just so sad that this game was going away for good. Yes it was broken, had a terrible launch and despite Yoshi's valiant improvements and tinkering to the game, a lump of dung is still a lump of dung no matter how you try and dress it up, but I still shed a tear for it's passing...

ARR: where do I even begin? Participating in the *cough* Alpha *cough cough* and Beta tests was a major highlight and hooked me well and truly.

But story wise, I don't think anything can beat the end of 2.55, the banquet scene and the... resulting flight to Ishgard... I was just so shocked SE pulled this off (of course there was more to that then met the eye, but we didn't know that then). And despite what some players have said about it

(that "we should have been able to fight back blahblahblahblah"), it did make perfect sense we decided discretion was the better part of valour and fled rather than be captured or vainly trying to resist - we became the Warrior of Light after all for our virtue and willingness to do temper both martial prowress with restraint and diplomacy - beating down the Crystal Braves and Brass Blades who were chasing us down would only have served to condemn us of the guilt they were already labelling us with.

Either way, the 'bloody banquet' still is my favourite scene/part of the game. :D

A close second would be the 'Grand Melee' during 3.2 -

it was hilarious seeing the best of the Grand Companies sneering at the haphazard Ishgardian contingent... until my character struts in wearing full House Fortempts armour... I could almost hear their jaws hitting the floor. :p And the one on one fight with Raubahn, it just seemed so.. right to fight him (although that's more because my character is a gladiator by training, when Emmanellain squealed "that it's just the two of them in there!", I actually shouted to the screen in character; "Don't worry! He and I are gladiators! This is just like old times on the Bloodsands!" :D And fight we did. :D

Amazing stuff. It's going to be a hard time to beat that in 4.0 and beyond. :D

And I cannot forget a more personal event that is special to me - my character's wedding to my boyfriend's character. We had both been waiting nearly ten years to see our characters officially marry since we first met in FFXI (in both FFXI and here in FFXIV we both play miqo'te girls), so for SE to allow same-sex marriage here in FFXIV, we were just so thrilled. And all that waiting paid off, seeing them walk down the aisle together. And amazingly, how the scene handled our characters' facial reactions... it suited their personalities perfectly!

Thank you so much SE!

It's probably hard to pin things down to a single most favorite moment for me, but top contenders would be clearing Titan EX, buying my first FC house, getting NIN to 50 (I had been waiting for it since relaunch), finishing my first Zodiac Weapon Zeta, and finishing Kannagi (I have a soft spot for Kannagi because of FFXI).

• Discovering level sync. What? You mean I can actually tank without overgeared players just taking off and clearing whole rooms before I even get started (And not even giving me a tip for the free ride to the dungeon :mad: )? Awesome!

• Discovering the crafting system. A nice refreshing change from the assembly line crafting systems they have on other games. This one's got some depth.

The Hildibrand series. I can't help but laugh at the sheer silliness.

Doing stupid stuff with fun people is the best. Otherwise... three things really stood out to me.

First, the sky is beautiful. And the sky in Heavensward still makes me stop to watch once in a while.

Second, seasonal events. The Rising was amazing, but a few others were cute too. Like the Valentione's Day when we helped Yellow Moon.

Third, death is a thing here, and it kicks me in the gut.

From major characters to minor ones like the thieving orphan girl, or obscure ones like the two adventuring groups when you're a newbie busy trying to learn how the world works. Games don't usually push you to look at it.
As patches roll out and quests move along, you watch as the world changes and a better or more exciting future looks like it could happen. But then people die. People you know, not even villains. They didn't have to. Not everyone gets to have a happy ending. And that's a reality that I try not to look at.

edit: added spoiler tag

My number one, hands down, no questions asked, do not pass go, do not collect $200 best moment of all time in Final Fantasy 14 was the entire sequence of rescuing the Scions to escaping the exploding Castrum on our rebuilt Magitech armor.

As someone who's first and favorite Final Fantasy was VI this section hit me right in all the feels. Nothing they've done afterwards has been as memorable or as emotional to me. Heavensward has been a blur to be honest. I hope the next expansion will bring back some of the magic that I just couldn't find...or at least give me a class I don't find completely miserable to play...

BTW: As soon as it's possible to solo the final Castrum and Ultima weapon on Paladin I'm SO going to fantasia to look like Celes Chere and rip that place a new one just for the EXTRA feels!

Normally, what I like from Final Fantasy series are the epic battle. And this one is not different. I love the desing of trials and raids, specially Nael, Bahamut or Thordan to name some. Also the landscape is beautiful, even if is not the best of the graphics, even with this limit, they look wonderful with a good level of detail.

One thing I like, is how our character is represented. In similar way like other games, like the The Legend of Zelda or Pokemon, our character is "mute". Well, not really mute, as we can see him/her talking in cutscenes, but we never hear their voice (except emotes and animations), which make our character represent us better, allowing us imagine what she/he is saying, how she interact with others. This feel like our character represent us, on cotrast to other MMO games like The Old Old Republic, where our character has a preset dialogue voices, that maybe won't suit us, and don't make feel it the same as a "mute" character. I didn't like how the 3.1 and 3.2 put our character as observer of the story, but on 3.3 she return strong, and I hope in the future, devs don't forget who are the main characer of this story. Us.

My favourite moment was when I switched server. It was a tough decision, but living in Europe and playing on Balmung (was on Balmung in 1.x as well) just wasn't working out anymore. I moved to Phoenix after first checking it out with an alt, and met some great people there. Eventually joined a small FC and had lots of fun.

A few weeks ago, a lot of the FC members met up in RL, which was quite the experience since there were people there from 5 different countries.

Having recently returned, my favourite moment came at the end of 2.55, which I experienced last week! Seriously those scenes seemingly completely changed the game and upped the stakes, they were fantastic! It's just a shame that so much of it was backtracked on in HW to swiftly return us to the status quo, man they could've done so much more with those plot threads!

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To celebrate the upcoming Final Fantasy 14 Anniversary, I'm curious to hear everyone's favorite moment they've experienced in the game

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beating T9

My most memorable FFXIV moments are:

Beating Nael van Darnus aka "the White Raven" and the following hero's welcome at the Lotus Stand in Gridania.

Watching the End of an Era video after the v1 servers shut down. By far the saddest moment, and I was literally in tears watching it.

For myself.

1.0 - The White Raven Fight. Truly felt epic. Even more so with the clunky controls back then. It was by far the toughest and fun fight at the time.

1.0 - Imperial Storyline that lead up to the White Raven fight. - Breaking into the Imperial Strongholds to try and fail at stopping the calamity. The hopelessness that even when you'd win a fight (complete a quest) you were still just delaying the inevitable. Really enjoyed it.

The majority of the Job Artifact Armor quests.. remember having to sneak past lv99 Treants to get to the boxes/coffers for my WHM AF and praying that the big baddies didn't turn around at the last second. (or heck having to rely on an entire group to get a piece, reminded me of how FF11 quite a bit).

The server shutdown. My hubby and I kept getting disconnected but managed to get on and fight the "good" fight.. (aka lag central) in Mor Dhona against the imperial forces that just kept getting tougher and tougher adds out then boop. Disconnected and we see the End of an Era video.

The Great Goobbue wall of Uldah! Was absolutely hilarious and I remember it fondly even though we couldn't see how far the line went due to the limitation on draw/character distance ;p

2.0 and onwards.

The entire rescue of the Scions and Ultima fight.
The bloody banquet.
Tam-Tara Deepcroft HM (the story behind it).
The 1 v 1 in the "Grand melee".

Getting not only a house for the hubby and I but completely Moogle-fying it up ♥

And lots more. To much to list.

Mine all come from 1.0

The conclusion to The White Raven story: That final cut scene brought me to tears on so many happy awesome levels. It was the one time in Eorzea where I really did feel like a hero. I still have the cut scene recorded and saved forever.

The Server Shut Down Event: I remember trying so hard to stay connected that day, I tried to stay to see the end with all my friends and the people I loved to pieces. Alas it didn't work so well. It ended on a happy note because I was able to sneak back in fives minutes before the End of an Era. I ported out of Mor Dhona as fast as i could and went to La Noscea. I quickly ran to my spot in game. The one spot where no matter if I was happy or sad I would sit there for hours just looking at the ocean. I made it there with just around two minutes to spare for one final goodbye.

The People: I could go on and on about good stories. From the fun RP moments I had. To the eight hour Ifrit and Moogle farms with another good friend. Sure the occasional bad apple would arise, but it was few and far between. Near the end of 1.0 when SE said it would need to start billing and a very good amount of players dropped off. The ones that were left you just could tell they loved the world and wanted to stay part of it vs who really didn't. Once billing started what was left were some of the nicest people I can remember and I'll never forget the fun times and stories we shared during that last year.

Favorite moment was my 1st encouter with Odin: I was sitting in Limsa when all of a sudden everyone started shouting and FC chat was all riled up "Odin! Odin! Odin!" I didnt know what was going on so I followed FC mates to N.Shroud and there He was surrounded by dead players and riding a sweet mount fighting around 50 or so other players, it was glorious but my 2nd encounter was hilarious because what I was expecting was another epic battle with Odin and what I was greeted by was....Lala Odin >.< I could not stop laughing seeing Odin as a Lalafell cutting down players on his little mount lol good times good times.

1.0 hands down right before server shut down.

Also right before heavenward story. Escaping and such.

lastly completing my one man FC other laughs when I managed to save enough gil from 1.0 do to cokes. Large estate, max airships, and one man in it lol. Now my FC has better stuff than those who laughed at me. I've even gotten offers to sale it but have turned them down. Goes to show you, you don't need a FC with stuck up people just people who are willing to have fun and help out without being put down.

-Hanging out with my friends in Camp Drybone and taking screenshots near the end of Beta 4

-Saving up for our FC house. 3 of us bankrupted our characters to buy a small plot in Mist. Then we found out we needed more money to actually build the house lol

-Going through ARR ex primals and Coil undersized with my friends once Heavensward was released. Felt great finally getting to beat t9 together. :)

-Hildebrand.

-The 2.55 banquet for many reasons mentioned already by others

-The scene in 2.3 with our character facing down Nidhogg similar to the Heavensward opening movie. The music in this scene and that battle were just amazing

1.0

--Entering the Good King Moggle Mog XII trial for the first time after spending thirty minutes nervously sneaking past lvl 99 treants, and then immediately wiping because everyone was laughing too hard.

--Beating Rivenroad story mode in 1.0.

2.0

--the return of Hildebrand.

--Getting a house with my FC.

3.0

--Finally entering Ishgard.

--Nidhogg and the end of the Dragonsong war.

My favorite moments for me thus far:

- Defeating Gaius Van Balsar and saving Thancred (I was a freshman to FFXIV; felt super proud for my character)

- Beating all 2.0 primal EX fights to collect ponies and achieve Kirin

- Hildebrand series (super hilarious seeing my character act kinda goofy)

- Entering Ishgard for the first time (the pre-release day of Heavensward)

- Finding my first S rank hunt

- Beating Sephirot EX on my character's birthday

- Whooping Nidhogg's ass and ending the Dragonsong War (I got teary eyed before battle; we've come so far T^T)

- Achieving my 230 relic weapon (that step was long as hell, but I had the patience to complete it ^^)

- Getting the glams, minions, and mounts that I always wanted

Besides those, I really did enjoy the anniversary events because the game made it this far because of us :) WE AWESOME!

Seeing the end of era trailer when 1.0 went down.

My wedding:
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...e3&oe=581158AF

It was huge and we had full house haha

Doing FCOB with my boyfriend

Back in 1.00 very early in the game when I got my first cut scene and my hempen clad Conji girl showed up in the cut scene. I made sure to have distinct new stuff on for the second one and sure enough, it was 'me' in the cut scene, not a cookie cutter, prefab.

It was then, I knew there was something distinct about FF14.

Not a huge moment but a nice fourth wall break by Thancred. Don't remember which quest it was but he asks you to do something for him and says immediately afterwards something along the lines "and you are going to do your usual silent nod in agreement aren't you." Gave me a good laugh.

The end of 1.0. All of it, Rivenroad, Living on a Prayer quest, goobbue walls, the craziness everywhere. It really felt like something epic was happening.

Loving all of these responses, definitely interesting to see what other stuff I should check out (either in-game or through videos for some events no longer available).

Keep it up guys!

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Originally Posted by thejthar

Not a huge moment but a nice fourth wall break by Thancred. Don't remember which quest it was but he asks you to do something for him and says immediately afterwards something along the lines "and you are going to do your usual silent nod in agreement aren't you." Gave me a good laugh.

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How is that breaking fourth wall? He references usual response in game, not anything outside game.

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Originally Posted by Cakekizyy

How is that breaking fourth wall? He references usual response in game, not anything outside game.

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To me it looked like a fourth wall break as it seems he has become aware that we never talk in a cutscene. He's aware that whenever someone asks us to do something we just nod our head in agreement with whatever the character talking to us about and give no feedback like a real person would do.

One of the defining moments in the game for me was on Cid's airship, towards the end of the 2.0 story.

After rescuing the Scions from the Castrum, Alphinaud stood before them and gave a speech about hope. Keep in mind, before then, Alphinaud had been your typical, stuck-up and cynical young-man archetype. I explicitly remember thinking, 'wait, when did you start actually believing in the hope stuff!?'

It hit me at that moment that I was witnessing a very rare kind of character arc in this day and age. In so many stories, you see the young idealist being shot down by 'reality' and becoming more cynical. Alphinaud had essentially gone through the reverse, starting as incredibly cynical, and growing to become genuine idealist. That moment essentially cemented Alphinaud as my favorite FFXIV character, and the FFXIV story in general as a very good one.

Keep in mind this was *before* 3.0 and Heavensward. Before then, people had a lot of hate towards him. But me, I grew to love him more and more, another favorite moment being his speech towards the end of 2.3. He had grown to genuinely love the people of Eorzea, in a way not unlike his grandfather.

This arc becomes even more impressive and unique during the HW storyline, which explicitly took a turn towards dark fantasy, complete with Game of Thrones references. Most of the time, the story becoming 'darker' means the characters become more cynical. Not for Alphinaud. The events only strengthen his resolve, and at the end of 3.2 and through 3.3 he essentially plans (and does!) to partly rebuke the darker story by saving a certain someone. How many characters these days come out of a dark fantasy story with more optimism?

And this is just a fraction of the things that add up to Alphinaud being, not just my favorite FFXIV character, but one of my favorite fiction characters in quite a while.

TL;DR Don't let Alphinaud's pre-3.0 attitude fool you. He's one of the, if not the, most well-developed and well-written characters in FFXIV, and an *extremely* well-done character in general. He's worth paying attention to. And don't worry, he gets his head forcibly removed from his ass by the time the 3.0 story starts.

Mine was the beginning of Version 1 and seeing my character walk up the steps to the deck of the ship...was quite magical.

Also the funny victory music going off in Alpha because they had messed up so every time somebody levelled up it was going off none stop!

Beating Ifrit and seeing piles of bodies piling up outside and then the final battle and the last goodbye...i feel a lot of the game died at that moment was quite amazing to be part of it though.

14 Hour Broadcast is coming up later tonight! Happy Anniversary 14!

Well as I have "Zero" 1.0 or even any 2.0 alpha/beta XP at my disposial & that my sentements about the betrayal at the Ul'Dah banquet of 2.55 & the Grand Melee in 3.2 were basicly covered by the 1st reply on pg1 (would love to re-fight that battle) I shall say I have 3 remaning:

1) Meeting Hildy's mom... you can feal the fear threw the 4th wall from Goldbert in that moment
2) the 30-50 story for DRK (didn't believe the hype at 1st, the lv50 fight is now in my top 5 FF14 solo-battle's I wanna re-fight, right under the "Grand Melee" of 3.2)
3) thou it may suck to remember, the death of that 1 guy in the Vaults MSQ moments (even thou I have trouble type/spelling you'r name you sir are 1 NPC we all shall miss... untill SE brings u back as a Zombie, then we shall have nothing but a "Facepalm" for you & SE)

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Originally Posted by Alisa180

TL;DR Don't let Alphinaud's pre-3.0 attitude fool you. He's one of the, if not the, most well-developed and well-written characters in FFXIV, and an *extremely* well-done character in general. He's worth paying attention to. And don't worry, he gets his head forcibly removed from his ass by the time the 3.0 story starts.

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You're absolutely right! I love Alphinaud as well because he's changed soo much throughout the game so far. I'm like super protective of him like an older sibling looking after their younger brother XD

My favorite moment was starting out pre launch in 2.0. I played some of 1.XX, but I hated it (more due to my lack of having a PC that could run it properly at lowest settings at more than 12FPS before overheating).

2nd favorite moment was learning that I actually enjoyed White Mage/healing in general than Bard. Leveled WHM up on my alt, then made it my main job on my main character until Astrologian came out.

Least favorite moment was the error 3102 debacle at 2.0 launch. Got locked out of the game for several days.

I demand new Egis as gift! lol

Watching Haurche-boy become an eleze-bob during 3.0. Never understood why everyone loved him so much.

Anything Hildi related. Never fails to bring a smile to my face even when I'm having the worst day.

Especially the Greg scenes. lol