In Final Fantasy XIV, there is currently a special event active. It is the Festival of Rebirth, celebrated in honor of the anniversary of the MMORPG’s reboot, and this year it is particularly moving.
This is what the event is about: The Festival of Rebirth is an annual event in Final Fantasy XIV, where players and developers come together to celebrate the successful reboot of the MMORPG.
The first version of FFXIV was released in a catastrophic state and had to be completely overhauled. This was a massive amount of work for the developers, and they did not know if the game would eventually be successful.
This is what happened at the festival this year: The Festival of Rebirth begins this year where the previous summer event left off. Players are to help clean up the beach after the party and find bottles with letters addressed to them.
These letters were clearly written by various developers and teams to the players. This includes messages from:
- Community Team
- User Interface Designer
- Sound Designer and Composer Masayoshi Soken
- Story Team and Lead Banri Oda
And several others. In them, the developers express their gratitude for the fans’ loyalty to the game through good times and especially difficult times after the reboot.
These letters are written in a role-playing manner, and the devs refer to themselves as “storytellers” or “humble landscape painters.”
This is what Irie thinks: As someone who experienced the unplayable 1.0 version, the reboot, and all the expansions, the Festival of Rebirth has always been associated with a lot of nostalgia for me. However, this year I particularly enjoyed it and tried to find all the bottles with letters, even though collecting trash is not a very exciting quest task.
For outsiders like me, it is always difficult to gauge how much fan feedback reaches the regular developers. Even though Yoshida is the head and face of Final Fantasy XIV, he certainly does not do all the work alone.
I often think about the smaller devs from the individual teams who all contribute their part to the bigger picture. They get little spotlight and are always amazed or even burst into tears when, for example, hundreds of people cheer them during the Fan Festivals.
I found it very nice to read through this bottle message and get some insights from the individual developers and teams, learning that they see the fan art and read the stories that players create for FFXIV. It was very touching.
Where can you find the quest for the event and what do you get for it? If you have not done the event yet, you can quickly and easily catch up.
- Quest Name: A Mysterious Letter for the Festival
- NPC: P’oyano
- Location: Eastern La Noscea X: 36.8 / Y: 26.2 (Teleport Sun Coast)
- Requirements: Level 30 with any combat job
- End of Event: September 17
As a reward for completing the quest, you will receive the companion Shardworld Y’shtola. Additionally, you can purchase the artworks from the patches of Stormblood for your house or apartment from the event NPC.
