Over the years, I’ve enjoyed a lot of time gaming in the world of Final Fantasy XIV since a friend recommended that I try it back in February 2019. Since then, it has become my primary game that I play as often as I can and have built deep friendships with fellow gamers, who I continue to game with to this day. From my time playing through all the expansions, engaging in the variety of fights and events, to raiding with my FC, I developed a deep appreciation for the depth of game, how engaging it is, and how it both guides & pushes you to improve your gaming skills. It’s from these experiences and interactions with fellow FFXIV gamers that I started to learn about the Director Naoki Yoshida (aka. Yoshi-P). I learned from the community how much they respected him and his team. From there, I learned about the history of the game; from it’s rocky start and it’s near failure, to how it was saved by Yoshi-P. It was a dramatic turn-around and it now solidly claims the title as the #1 MMORPG worldwide. Wow, what a ride!
For those curious about the tumultuous journey of Final Fantasy 14, check out the Documentary by NoClip, listed in the Documentary Section of the FFXIV page. It’s an enjoyable watch.
Now, 5 years later, Naoki Yoshida is probably my favorite Game Producer and when I heard he was chosen to lead the next numbered Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy 16, I was definitely on board.
Despite not being much of a Playstation person and having only owned an old PS3 to watch DVD’s with… once I heard Yoshi-P’s new game was exclusive to the PS5 for a good long while, I knew I had to bit the bullet and get an entire new $$$ system just to play one game. Well, check out the PS5 trailer below and you might see why I was interested…
The period of hype around the game launch coincided with a busy time during my kids school life where I was tromping around the forests of NorCal chaperoning a camping field trip for my kids. It was at this time when I received an urgent Discord message sent to me by my gamer bud… that the pre-order for the FF16 PS5 bundle is launching soon. I saw the message and I knew exactly what I had to do… Dispatch an urgent text to my SO: GET ME ON THAT PRE-ORDER ASAP! (And this is one of the many reasons why we enjoy such a happy marriage… my SO did his part and pulled through.)
And a while later I returned home, exhausted, worn-out from cooking and cleaning at the camp, filthy from hiking, fatigued from driving kids hours and hours, doing my duty to chaperone these adorable, yet rowdy kids… but my sacrifice was rewarded. I came home to find a shiny pristine FFXVI PS5 box waiting for me at home.
After a few short days more of waiting for the actual game to be fully released…. my journey in Valisthea began. I cleared the calendar, shut off the distractions, loaded up the Discord, closed the door and commenced the adventure! And it turned out to be a fun ride. Though no game will ever be absolutely perfect… this is definitely one of the most enjoyable games that I’ve ever played, with a story that is on-par with movie-level of quality.
SPOILER ALERT – DON’T SCROLL DOWN IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED
MY FINAL FANTASY 16 ACHIEVEMENTS & GALLERY
Now it’s time to show-off some achievements…. Please mind the SPOILER nature of this video and the gallery below. DO NOT SCROLL FURTHER if you don’t want to be spoiled.
These achievements are my first play through on Action Mode and I did not engage in the Chronolith Trials yet. I wasn’t aware these trophies were a thing until I got a few, so I didn’t attempt to collect them, these are just what I organically found on my play-through for fun.
FINAL FANTASY 14 (FFXIV) AND FINAL FANTASY 16 (FFXVI) COLLABORATION
So back to Final Fantasy XIV… which recently just concluded a much anticipated crossover with Final Fantasy XVI… since both of their Producers strangely shared the same name, Yoshi-P. This time I was the the one to do a service for my “SO” and earned him the event rewards by doing the fight for him while he was out a camp chaperoning yet another kids school camping field trip. We swear we have some of the luckiest kids, lol.
Here’s the fight that I did for him (by this time it was my fourth fight, since I also did it for two other friends, lol.)
And that marks a pause in my FF16 journey for now… as I get ready to fly out shortly to Japan and Taiwan for a month. When I return I’ll continue the FFXVI NG+ (Final Fantasy Mode) and try out the expansions.