A Year in Eorzea

On March 22nd, 2021, I created my very first character in Final Fantasy 14. She was a Seeker of the Sun Miqo’te with blue hair and dark amber eyes. Her name started off as the same as one of my characters from World of Warcraft but I eventually changed it to D’azri Estrela as I left WoW behind. When I started playing FFXIV, it was something I played on the side and I was mostly playing World of Warcraft when I had time to game. A lot has changed in a year as I no longer play WoW and have no intention of ever returning to that game. FFXIV and Eorzea are where I live now when I have time to game and I’m quite happy with my choice!

I remember FFXIV looking so beautiful to me when I first started playing it. The character creation was so much more detailed than I’d experienced and the world itself was far more realistic looking than I was used to in the game I’d previously played. And the music! I loved the music! I still love the music and all the other details of FFXIV, which is why I have almost 20 characters to date. Yes, I know that I can have one character be all classes in FFXIV, but I love to play different races and genders and see how they behave differently. I have a veritable army of characters now and they all have their own personalities and backstories.

When I started playing FFXIV, there were a couple of my gaming friends from WoW playing it and I’d join up with them occasionally for quests. There were some friends from WoW that I never imagined would play FFXIV, but amazingly enough, they did eventually come to Eorzea! It’s lovely sharing a world I love so much with friends who also enjoy it.

Just as WoW did for many years, FFXIV has helped me navigate some challenging times in my life over the past year. Gaming is my escape from reality at the end of a long workday or when things have gone awry as they tend to do. I can always find something to do in FFXIV such as questing, continuing the MSQ, crafting, gathering sightseeing, running dungeons, etc. No two days are ever the same in FFXIV and I’m happy to always have something fresh and interesting to do in the game.

Some of my characters have even come out of the game and into fanfiction stories I’m writing, but I’m not ready to share those yet. As with WoW, my FFXIV fanfiction involves only my original characters and not any major characters from the game. I know lots of people “ship” their characters with NPCs from the game and I certainly understand that and find it very interesting. But that sort of thing just isn’t something I want to write about. My characters do what I expect (for the most part) and I don’t have to worry about messing with major character lore and causing issues. I do however drool over some major NPCs in-game quite often while playing.

One of the many things I love about Final Fantasy 14 is how much the creators and developers of the game obviously care about it and value their players’ input. They’re always making quality of life changes and taking insight from players to improve things and add new things. From everything I’ve heard and read, FFXIV will be in existence for many more years to come and I imagine I’ll be playing it for those years and enjoying the experience of everything that comes along.

In celebration of my year in Eorzea, I created a music video slideshow featuring most of my FFXIV ladies. I say most because the day after I finally finished the video, I create a new female character. It’s just as well she didn’t “make the cut” because she’s one who deserves her own story and eventually her own video. But that’s a story for another day. I will eventually make one for all my FFXIV boys too. For now, here’s my video! I hope you enjoy seeing how far my ladies have come and how they continue to develop. I know I’m having a blast!