The first night, two friends and I decided it was time we learned to fish. We found a delightful spot, in an old port, and cast our nets blindly. We expected the entire event to last all but a few minutes before we were going to get bored.

I think it was three hours later than we finally decided it was time for bed. That’s three hours and about twenty levels.

Fishing in Final Fantasy XIV is a simple thing. You stand near the edge of some water, and click the cast button. When you see an exciting exclamation mark above your head (and a quick rumble of the controller for those who are playing properly) you click the button to reel in the fish. Depending on level, bait selection, location and luck, you get a fish of varying quality, or no fish, just disappointment.

Sure, as you progress through the levels, there are more skills, bait and in some areas weather is a factor, but the basic loop never changes.

It’s strange, then, that the three of us spent a whole Sunday night doing the same thing over and over, and having a delightful time.

The second time we played (the following Sunday) was even more exciting. The Moonfire Faire event was on. This meant that there was a brightly coloured and exciting ‘pool party’ on a large wooden boat. We played with the slides and cannons and failed at the jumping puzzle before actually doing the event’s quest (to get some rather nice clothing items) and then, well, we were on a boat, over water… so, we fished.

We fished for so long that the game told us to move on because we had extracted all the little sea critters, which was fun.

While we fished, many pool party goers stopped to inspect us and occasionally clap. As odd as it seems, I think we became quite interesting to people because we were there for so long, I think some people thought we were an event attraction. ☺️

It’s moments like these which you only get in MMOs. No other genre allows for this kind of thing to happen, and it’s symptomatic as to why I keep returning to this game.

The Black Mage in the room

Since returning to Final Fantasy XIV a couple of months ago now, I have not played my most levelled job, the Black Mage. I have levelled a Summoner, Fisher, Miner and Archer to around 40 but not even cast a spell as Black Mage.

When I came back, I did so with the intent of playing with and mastering controller input rather than a keyboard and mouse. This is because my main (and only) gaming device is an ROG Ally (unless we are counting my fantastic Miyoo mini, which we should because it’s awesome!)

It felt strange to start getting familiar with the controller using a high-level character, it, oddly, felt better to do so with a level one character and skill up as I went along. This meant I was only dealing with one or two skills at a time, being added as I levelled.

Now, though, I am familiar enough with my controller input that I think it’s time I return to the mage life. It feels strange, as, in some ways, I’ve not progressed since returning to the game and switching to Black mage again is a step towards the elusive MSQ.

Happy questing.

I have spoken before, about how I used to be very into video games. However, about eighteen months ago, began slowly losing interest. For a long time, thinking I was ‘done with them, forever.’ Then I realised that I was missing out on good gaming time with my daughter and decided, somewhat impromptu, to get an ROG Ally.

I am honestly not sure if it was playing Battlefront 2 with my daughter, or remembering how much I liked the South Park RPG (The Stick of Truth), but I realised gaming wasn’t ‘over’ for me, I had just been doing it wrong. I played through the Stick of Truth, enjoying it as a nostalgic throwback to the first time I played it.

I think one of the myriad of things which turned me off gaming was engaging in gaming news, playing games I didn’t really like because they were supposed to be good, or someone had told me it was going to get good at the ethereal, ‘x hour’ mark.

I the most pithy way I can think to say it — I enjoyed gaming when I was enjoying games, not engaging with games as a topic.

recently, I have been playing Battlefront 2 with my daughter a few times a week and chipping away at RPGs before I go to sleep, and, I am having a rather nice time.

I gave some thought to when I was most happy with my gaming time over the years. When I really, deeply, thought about it, I had literally no negative memories, and a pile of positive ones, about Final Fantasy XIV.

You see, I didn’t stop playing FFXIV because I wasn’t having a pleasant time. I stopped because I was running a YouTube channel and it was destroying my content grind. My channel was in no way about Final Fantasy or MMOs. It was about Linux gaming and relied on doing something different every video, or stream.

But, you see, I have not been a YouTuber for quite some time. Actually, for a long time now, I have considered myself to be a writer. So, why wouldn’t I play FFXIV?

There’s a rather nice pre-made Mac port someone on GitHub put together. It also works on the Ally with no fiddling at all. There really was no reason not to at least have a check-in with the game. Sadly, the only way I don’t seem to be able to play is via GFN, though. This is because Square Enix likes to punish people for enjoying the game before it was on Steam, by only offering those with Steam licences the choice to play the game on GFN. ← I am somewhat annoyed about this, as you can likely tell.

I installed, resubscribed and loaded back in.

Oh my gosh! FFXIV is basically a dopamine drip.

I have been playing with some friends once a week and solo about twice a week for the last month.

While it is somewhat eating into my writing time, I have been quite a grumpy fella lately and an occasional break from my normal habits are likely good for me.

I didn’t go directly back to FFXIV either, I stopped off at World of Warcraft for a day or two (partaking in their trial) and quickly realised it was not engaged in it.

FFXIV stands out from other MMOs due to its strong story and, for me at least, its striking aesthetic. Instantly upon logging back in I was told, via a prompt in the upper-right corner of the screen what, and where, my next main quest mission was to be found.

This stands apart from World of Warcraft which made basically no effort to remind me where my character was in the main story, or, if indeed, there even was one.

I am not a ‘story guy’ in games. I far prefer to focus on mechanics and only take in enough of their story to have a rough idea why I am doing the things I am. Final Fantasy games always manage to pull you into the story, by having a darn good one.

XIV is no different in this regard. Even thought I didn’t recall the minutia of the plot, knowing there was one (and it is important to the world I spawn into) was enough to make me have a reason for my levelling, a reason to do the things the game asked me to do.

Whereas, WoW left me in the world without giving me a reason to explore it. I knew full well the endgame was the only major reason to be there. In FFXIV, the journey feels like it matters, rather than the destination, and, this made a massive difference to my engagement levels.

I intend to update you again soon on my progress in the game. Because I want to play mainly on my Ally, I have had to learn how to play with a controller. I think this has been a chronicle worthy event for me.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress ☺️