It’s five days away, and I’m prepping myself for the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. This will be my third/fourth (depending on who’s counting) convention I’ve ever attended, and I’m getting excited. This, though, is apparently not their first convention. So I’m here to give a little detail on what it is and why I’m excited on going.
The Final Fantasy Fan Festival is an event put together by Square Enix, the makers of Final Fantasy XIV, to celebrate the game, show love to the fans, and talk about the future of the franchise. Now, I’m going to guess that some of you are familiar at least with the Final Fantasy name. It’s either met with love and affection, or confusion, but it’s a game that started back in 1987 as Square’s last ditch attempt to make a successful video game before the company went bust (Spoiler alert: It was a success). It was with that first game, that I fell in love with the series, and from there Square continued to build on the series, keeping firmly with a fantasy theme, then branching out into sci-fi. A fun little fact is that only a handful of the games share the same universe, and Final Fantasy XIV is hinted to be one of them. But, oddly enough, this festival is not about the series as a whole, but on their latest instalment, Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV for short), their second and a half, attempt, at making a successful MMORPG. With Final Fantasy comes a very confusing history, and I promise not to bore you with all the details.
Now, as I mentioned, FFXIV is not the companies first game based on the MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) model. Square Enix first dipped their toe into the world of MMOs after the wildly popular Final Fantasy X for the Playstation 2. Final Fantasy XI became a moderate success to those looking for something like World of Warcraft in the Final Fantasy world, with a player base that at one point, exceeded two million players. As a result, festivals and conventions were created for those fans here in the US, as well as in Japan, to commemorate the XI series.
This year, the Final Fantasy Fan Festival will be celebrated in the US, the UK, and Japan, with a three day event that will have fans listening to and interacting with developers, gathering in game prizes, cosplaying, and a lot more. It looks to be a huge event that will cover not only the aspects that we love about the game now, but also talking about the future of the franchise, what to expect in the upcoming expansions and patches, and get us excited about this world that the players have truly become a part of. For those unfamiliar with the MMO, the vastness of a game like this is in the name, as the world, the characters, the history, and the stories are massive. It’s not a game for those looking to just play it and beat it in 40 hours. The game potentially can last many hundreds of hours after that and technically not have a true ending for years. It’s a fun, living, breathing, simulated world where you don’t play against the computer, but with other human players all over the world.
When the Fan Festival was first announced, I figured it would be a fairly small affair with some of the fans. Forums and websites didn’t seem to be talking about it much, so when it came to the day to buy the tickets, I wasn’t worried. Little did I know that everyone and their mother wanted to attend this event. The website that hosted the tickets nearly had a heart attack. Yet somehow, I ended up being one of the lucky few that will be going to the Fan Festival. It also seems that many of the podcasters I listen to, also got tickets, and it will be exciting to see and talk to the people who create the content I enjoy listening to.
This may not be like conventions I’ve attended in the past. This is a gaming fan festival with emphasis on the game the fans and I love so much to play. I’m looking forward to what’s in store, and I’ll have a full write up of my experience in about a week, so please look out for that. Until then, if you haven’t experienced Eorzea and the magic held within, visit the Final Fantasy XIV website. There you’ll get details on the game and even details on the Fan Festival. And if you’re going, come find me, let’s chat about our adventures.
For more details: http://ffxiv-fanfest.com/
