I think all of you may have heard of an MMORPG titled “Final Fantasy XIV”. The moment you hear this said title, one might say “fail”, “boring”, and even “rushed”. A lot of these words can even be heard from the mouths of people who have not even played the game! Since this game’s release on September 21, 2010, its failure has led a game with so much potential into the realm of the free-to-play list. It simply did not deliver, and even the developers agreed it wasn’t worth paying by the month to play. Sure, it’s a pretty game on the right machine, but it simply was not ready to launch when it did.

But finally, after a long wait and a series of minute patches that never should’ve been needed in the first place, Final Fantasy XIV is finally getting the mother of all updates: Patch 1.18, or what most fans would call it, the “Golden Patch”. Set for release on July 21^st, this extremely large patch is the start to a great number of fixes and additional player content that fans have wanted ever since release. This patch allows for higher-level players to finally immerse themselves in more challenging endgame raid content with epic boss battles instead of just hunting higher level rabbits in some distant land, smack in the middle of nowhere. A video that shows one of the new instant raid dungeons can be found [here].  Also, with the addition of auto-attack and the removal of the stamina gauge, a lot of abilities are being adjusted to the change, some of which will be made “more job-specific and situational”. With that said I believe players will now be able to strategize their unique abilities and skills in fast-paced, turn-based combat rather than treating it as a sorry-excuse for an action-rpg.

[Images via FFXIV ZAM]

Patch 1.18 is only the beginning, and according to an interview with the developers, future updates down the road intend to revamp the graphics for mage spells (they definitely could be prettier!), remove the ability to make all spells area-of-effect (which is one of my biggest complaints) allowing for more situational spell casting, throw in an arsenal of new “class-specific” abilities (Finally the Marauder won’t have my spells!), and even add additional classes (Summoner/Pet class please!). Most players do not expect the development team to pull off such a game-changing patch, and with good reason. A great deal of us had to spend a large sum of money on computer upgrades in hopes of playing this amazing game with amazing content and amazing graphics, the works! But instead, we got an amazing let down. Despite this, a lot of fans, including myself, are giving FFXIV another chance and it is indeed changing into the MMO it should be, or moreover, should’ve been. As for how long it will take to revamp everything, who knows… But with this patch coming in, and many more to come (talks of Patch 1.19), Square Enix can finally begin to focus on adding additional player content rather than FIXING the game!

That said, the new development team led by Naoshi Yashida, or as the fans know him, Yoshi-P, did nothing to betray our trust. They’ve done everything they said they would, and regardless of the amount of time it’s taking, it is indeed happening. This game has been taking shape for months and although the launch of Final Fantasy XIV turned out to be a colossal letdown, this “new and improved” development team has given me no reason to be pessimistic about the game’s future.