The Richness of Final Fantasy XIV's Story

I think I've decided at this point that I'm simply going to write about Final Fantasy XIV every day. It's a big game in which there's just a whole lot to do. I'm still progressing steadily through the storyline, eager to finally get to Heavensward content. Honestly, the amount of quests ahead of me is a tad overwhelming, since I'm fully three expansions behind. But it's also really exciting, until the inevitable point that I get burned out.

I'm still in the post-A Realm Reborn part of the story. The Scions of the Seventh Dawn have migrated from the Waking Sands in Eastern Thanalan to the more remote area of Mor Dhona. New primals have been uncovered in the form of Leviathan and Ramuh, and rumblings of an Ultima Weapon successor, Omega, have begun. Yugiri, a representative of a group of refugees from the country of Doma, has come seeking help from the leaders of the various cities, particularly Ul'dah in Thanalan. Meanwhile, a nefarious merchant by the name of Teledji is fomenting rebellion by playing the oppressed lower class against the wealthy elite of the city, all in the effort of turning a profit.

The story is complex, and if I'm being honest, it all starts to become pretty difficult to keep track of. It is interesting, though, and definitely the MMO story to which I've paid the most attention. Unlike World of Warcraft or other MMOs of that nature, I don't skip any quest dialogue at all, and I never skip cutscenes in dungeons or raids the first time through, potentially much to fellow group members' dismay. The developers clearly spent a lot of time crafting this story, and although there's a ridiculous amount of content to sit through, I feel like I'd be doing the game a disservice by disregarding it.

Beyond the quality of the story itself, it's a lot of fun to see all of the references to previous games in the series that the game includes. The country of Doma is of course a direct reference to the Doma of Final Fantasy VI, from which samurai Cyan Garamonde hails. Appropriately, it is the country from which the ninja and samurai classes in Final Fantasy XIV originate, even if it is possible to acquire these classes from within areas included in the base game. Another good example of a callback to Final Fantasy VI is in the magitek armor that plays a big part in the final encounter of the base game, where players are afforded the opportunity to pilot these mechs in combat. The magitek armor was famously piloted by protagonist Terra Branford while being controlled by the Empire.

I'm also really excited to try out The Crystal Tower raid dungeon, even if I'm apprehensive about the difficulty of getting a huge group together for what is very old content by now. It's evidently a reimagining of the entirety of Final Fantasy III's final dungeon, which really does sound incredible. I've heard bits and pieces about other content included in the game, too, such as a section devoted to Ivalice and Final Fantasy XII in general, which sounds fantastic, but at this point I'm not doing much more research. There's a lot of stuff out there and I'd be happy to be surprised by it.