(Square Enix provided entrance and accommodation for the event.)
It’s been amazing, fantastic, Sam said of the weekend so far.
‘I’m a bard!’
I had a friend who was very persistent.
He tried to get me into it once, I bounced right off.
He tried to get me into it again.
I got to about level 40, bounced off.
I tried again, I kept playing - and I’m still playing today.
I’m still part of a free company, Sam said.
We’ve not split up, but kind of moved onto other things.
I have a few friends who are really big into raiding.
We still have a Discord where we all just hang out still.
Sam’s favourite raid is Trial with Titania, in The Dancing Plague.
I feel like for me to actually come here and experience it is kind of great.
Jump forward to 2020 [during the pandemic], I have all the time I need.
That’s what really piqued my interest.
My final opponent in the forests of Gridania was Mancunian fan Gemma.
They were plenty familiar with Triple Triad, having become a fan of the Final Fantasy series with VIII.
To date, it remains top of the ranking.
And then obviously I went back to the other ones after that.
Yet XIVs original additions to the series more than hold their own appeal.
I quite like it when they do bring in stuff from all the games.
But I also like it when there’s fresh stuff in there as well.
That’s why I fell in love with XIV - because I love story and lore, Ellie explained.
With XIV, [it was like] ‘Wait, there’s actually a story to follow?’
I love the lifestyle content, Ellie said.
Like, I’m not leaving - that’s my space!
(Helped by getting the highest score, naturally.)
Oh, I’m loving it!
Ellie said of Fan Fest.
See, it’s not my first convention.
But it’s such a nice atmosphere in comparison to other conventions, which are manic.
Filled with the hubris of a victory, I jumped on a player the next table over.
Even better, he was a man of taste, picking out Final Fantasy IX as his favourite instalment.
It’s a bit more of a general one but it still has its own flavour, he explained.
A lot of the others have a go at tell these grandiose stories and they’re all dark.
IX still has its moments, but its also fun.
Along the way came an entry into XIV, which had tailed off before being reignited during the pandemic.
I love Final Fantasy and I’d wanted to get into an MMO for ages, Matt said.
So I played it with my sibling and some of his friends.
Now I play with them and it’s great.
I love seeing the old bits from Final Fantasy pop up - the fan service.
Fighting a boss from a different game, you’re like, ‘Oh, I know this.
Let’s see what they do with it.’
And seeing your character develop is always fun.
I mean, I love XV.
I’ve been meaning to play XII, Emily told me.
That one’s obviously so famous because they have the raids [in XIV].
I mean, the Ivalice raids are good fun but very different to playing them yourself.
The Ivalice raids are Emily’s favourite Alliance raids.
While my title as Eorzeas Triple Triad master had been passed on, it was hard to feel sour.
Give XIV and its players another decade and perhaps well get there.
Until then, Ill see you in the Gold Saucer for a duel.
