For a week now, pre-order customers have had access to the new addon Endwalker from Final Fantasy XIV and are diligently playing through the story, which leaves many of them in tears. MeinMMO author Irina Moritz, on the other hand, has been (almost) smiling the whole time.
On December 3rd, all pre-order customers of Endwalker received access to the new content of the addon; many of them immediately dove into the story. I was also among the lucky ones who managed to escape the dreadful Error 2002.
Endwalker has sent me and other players on a journey of emotions, grinning and laughing countless times because the story warmed my heart during the cold season.
There are also spoilers for the story in the comments.
Bad Omen Before the Release for Story Lovers
The Endwalker addon faces the rather unique task of concluding an 11-year-old story. Such an event should of course unfold with plenty of fireworks and excitement.
Consequently, the director of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, made extremely ominous remarks in various interviews before the release. Players should not feel too secure that nothing would happen to the main characters in the story, according to the boss. And the launch trailer for Endwalker also gave the feeling while watching that there would be a lot of blood flowing in the addon.
Thus, some players mentally prepared themselves for Endwalker being a massacre. Characters would die left and right, there would be innocent victims, the world would burn, and we would lose many good NPC friends.
It’s an experience that FFXIV players have already gone through in previous addons. Like when the beloved NPC Haurchefaunt was killed or when the Ascian Elidibus, who was actually an enemy, was defeated. These scenes have brought some players to tears.
As part of my work at MeinMMO, I always keep an eye on the gaming community (actually, I should keep both eyes open). After all, we want to know what’s happening with gamers. And from about Sunday onwards, the first posts from players who had completed the Endwalker story started appearing in the FFXIV bubble.
People played for up to 40 hours straight because they desperately wanted to see the ending. And many of them had tears in their eyes during the journey because they were so affected by the events in the story.
Endwalker Delivers Exactly What I Expected and Wished For
Gaming as a hobby has accompanied me, like many of you, throughout my life. And while I enjoy playing (almost) all kinds of games, I particularly like them when they have a “message.” A message conveyed through the story or gameplay that, in the best case, makes me smile.
Such games include the Mass Effect trilogy, Undertale, Journey, and of course FFXIV. From the beginning, the story of the MMORPG was driven by themes of goodness, understanding and above all hope.
The hope that in the end, everything will turn out well. That despite all the problems and suffering, there are still beautiful moments in the world. And I entered Endwalker with exactly this conviction. No matter what Yoshida or the trailer suggested: In the end, everything will be fine.
I held on to this conviction throughout the entire addon, even when the situation often seemed hopeless.
Initially, one is confronted in Garlemald with the suffering of its inhabitants. The evil Garlean are suddenly no longer the ruthless conquerors and oppressors, but helpless people in need. But due to their experiences and state propaganda, they would rather die than accept help from the outside.
It seems there is no way to reach them. And yet, in the end, it is possible, even though not everyone could be saved.
When the end of the world breaks out and Thavnair is overrun by monsters, the situation becomes even more desperate. People turn into monsters and attack their friends and relatives, who in turn succumb to despair and become monsters.
But even here, there were always moments filled with hope. Despite horrific scenes, one could draw something good from the situation that helped to move on.
And every time the situation turned for the better, I celebrated and smiled like a fool. Because it was just beautiful to see that my hopes had not been in vain. And with every difficult situation that was overcome, the hope grew stronger that we would ultimately succeed.
At times, I felt like a small child because Endwalker swept me away. There was no time for tears. There were many problems to solve and the end of the world to prevent.
And although the path to the grand finale was littered with tragedies, it only strengthened my determination and my smile in the end.
I also found it great that there was no real “villain” to defeat. It was very much in the spirit of FFXIV. It showed that there isn’t one big evil cause for problems that you must eliminate to make everything okay.
The world is a complicated place, and attributing everything to one person or entity would be much too simple and disrespectful to the buildup of over 10 years of story.
I knew that the FFXIV team would not deliver a bad and depressing ending (you probably knew that too) and was not disappointed.
FFXIV – My “Happy Place”
These happy endings are one of the reasons why FFXIV has been my “happy place” for years. You probably know it: Gaming as a hobby is a form of escapism. Especially in recent years, there have been almost daily bad news about the pandemic and other issues in the world. That really brings you down.
And when you’re in gaming communities every day, you are overwhelmed with negativity. There are always complaints, anger, frustration, and even death threats against developers.
But I refuse to get angry about my hobby. What good is a hobby that only brings me bad mood and makes me upset? I might as well punch myself in the face.
That’s why FFXIV has become a kind of “safe haven” for me over the years. Whenever I notice that my mood is sinking, I log into the MMORPG and go on an exploration tour through various player houses. The sheer amount of creativity that some houses are built with is just wonderful to see.
Or I get creative myself and look for cool locations to take nice screenshots. Or I just hang out in a hub city, watch the people and listen to music. It’s just therapeutic being able to unwind in a game like that.
And especially when bad news and anger are the order of the day, a beautiful story of hope like in Endwalker can be balm for the soul. It has strengthened me in my daily endeavor to pay more attention to good things and to appreciate positive little things. That helps enormously.
And I’m not alone in this. People crave happy endings. That’s why we enjoy reading fairy tales or watching classic Disney movies. They bring positivity and beautiful feelings into our often grey and frustrating everyday life.
For me and many others, FFXIV has therefore become our “happy place” where we log in to relax. And Endwalker has reinforced this feeling with its hopeful and positive story and warmed the heart.
Of course, not everything is peace, joy, and pancakes. It’s not like that anywhere. There are problems like Error 2002, there are complaints and annoying players. But that’s okay. It’s something I can accept calmly because the positive experiences outweigh the negatives.
And in the end, as always, everything will be alright.
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