Square Enix, Inc. exhibited at the "Tokyo Game Show 2023 " (TGS 2023) held from September 21 (Thu.) to 24 (Sun.), 2023, at the company's booth. 14), an online game operated by Square Enix Co. Among the booths, I participated in the "Roulette of Rapture," which was particularly popular, and there was even a line of people waiting for a cancellation. In this article, I will report on my participation in the "Battle Challenge: Roulette for Ruin," which was one of the most impressive events at the FF14 booth.
Outline of FINAL FANTASY XIV
As mentioned above, "FF14" is one of the online game titles provided by Square Enix Co. It is one of the numbered titles in the popular "Final Fantasy" series, and is a long-running title that was launched in 2013. Strictly speaking, "FF14" was launched in 2010, and while users around the world had high expectations for the game at the time, many were disappointed by how far it fell short of their expectations. However, under the leadership of newly appointed producer and director Naoki Yoshida, the old version of FF14 was shut down and replaced by a new title, Final Fantasy XIV: New Eorzea, in 2013. This year, 2023, marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the "New Eorzea" service, and the seventh major patch "Golden Legacy" is scheduled for next summer, making it one of the most popular online games in the world. I am also a player of "FF14" and have been playing the game since the fourth major patch, "Red Lotus Liberator," and have been a Warrior of Light since then.
At the booth, there was a LEGO-block reproduction of "Crystallim," a city that will appear in the fifth major patch, and will serve as the player's base of operations.
The impressive architectural style and the purple trees commonly seen in Lakeland were clearly reproduced down to the smallest detail.
At the entrance of the booth, Mr. Colonel Sanders, well-known for his collaboration with "Kentucky Fried Chicken," was wearing a Black Mage costume. We can only hope that Eorzea's Chocobo is safe...
Participating in the "Battle Challenge: Roulette for the Battle of Ruin!
I've already said a lot about the "Battle Challenge: Roulette for the Battle for Destruction," one of the events at the FF14 booth, but the main focus of this article is the "Battle Challenge: Roulette for the Battle for Destruction. The "Battle Challenge: Roulette for Ruin" was originally an event in which attendees could play "Contents Roulette: Roulette for Ruin," one of the in-game contents of "FF14. The "Roulette" is a FF14 content in which 8 players challenge bosses and randomly challenge other players' completed battles to earn bonus rewards once a day. This is the kind of content that I am used to online, but to actually do it face to face in real life is a very new experience for me.
The author started to line up in the waiting line. This content was available by reservation only, and after 12:00 pm, people could join from the waiting line only if there was no one with a reservation. The line was already so long that I had given up on participating, but luckily I was able to join the event.
We were led to a special roulette game with eight warriors of light, whose names we did not know. The three newest bosses, "Golbeza," "Rubicante," and "Barbaricia," were chosen to be challenged in the hall. The one I will take on is "Lubicante. The name is familiar to FF4 players, and it is the fire boss that appeared in the main story through FF14's star system.
Real role consultation, let's begin!
Now, if you are online as usual, you can enter the battle once the content is determined. The matching function called "content finder" automatically selects players with the necessary roles for the party, so without thinking, "2 tanks," "2 healers," and "4 DPS" are gathered and the battle can begin immediately. The battle can begin immediately.
However, this is the real world, and the people gathered here are warriors of light who do not even know the roles they normally use, let alone their names. The role consultation was probably going to be difficult... but surprisingly, the eight people who gathered were all very strong, with one tank, three DPS, and the other four willing to do whatever they wanted. The healer role could be divided into two main categories, "pure" and "barrier," and the DPS category could be neatly divided into "melee," "remote," and "magic. It was impressive that eight people who had never met each other before could be so smoothly and smoothly divided into different roles in real life.
FF14 users have always been known to have a high level of tolerance, so much so that there is a legend of people who, despite being in the game, would ritually form a queue and take turns digesting "content that became extremely crowded immediately after the patch was implemented. It is not difficult to imagine that the high level of FF14 users' awareness was the reason why they were able to make their own announcements, consult with people whose names they did not even know, and smoothly decide on their roles at a place where it would normally be difficult to meet face to face. If you want to know more details, please look up "Battle for Lau Burn".
The line was still moving forward, despite my excitement. Finally, it was time to challenge the "Battle of Rubicante.
I was guided to a monitor with a keyboard, mouse, and gamepad.
FF14 boasts an excellent UI that allows players to freely edit the in-game HUD as much as possible, not to mention the placement of skills. Players who are unfamiliar with the game will be surprised to see how different the HUD layout can be, even when playing the same game. The HUD has such a high degree of freedom, but of course, the default settings in the venue are the same. However, the "Battle Challenge: Roulette" was designed with such a deep UI system in mind, and players were allowed to edit their HUDs as they pleased for five minutes from the time they took their seats. While it was difficult to create macros (which exist in the in-game system), it was enough time to recreate the HUD that one is used to.
I edited the system to a configuration that I was familiar with, and then I set out to challenge the battle against Rubicante!
Although a few people lost their lives due to the intense gimmicks such as "Gekifu Hi-Yenryu" and "Gekihan Red Ruin Claws," the battle was cleared without any difficulty.
The Warriors of Light who had gathered at the event understood the gimmicks well, indicating the high quality of the current players.
As a participation prize, we received a "FFXIV 10th Anniversary Postcard" and a "FF14 Hand Ball Mascot Bomb" with a sticky texture as a commemorative gift for clearing the game.
We look forward to TGS2024!
The author reported on the "Battle Challenge: Roulette for Ruin" and personally found it to be a very satisfying experience. Both "Battle Roulette" and "Rubicante" were familiar contents and bosses that I often play, but actually meeting other players in a real venue gave me a fresh experience. Before taking on a strong enemy, the players were very careful to divide up the roles and discuss the situation with each other, and to be considerate of other players, sometimes even giving in to each other's needs. The majority of FF14 players enjoy cooperating and interacting with other players and are respectful of others. The "Battle Challenge: Roulette for Destruction" allowed me to directly experience the spirit of these players, and I was once again impressed by the high level of FF14 content.
When photographing the adorable "Chocobo & Mowgli," the photographers around us showed a willingness to give way even in the midst of the crowd. The fact that this kind of "real content that requires cooperation with other users" was successful can be attributed to the good manners of FF14 users.
In the summer of 2024, a new large-scale patch for FF14, "Golden Legacy," will be implemented. Perhaps we can expect to see a large booth for "FF14" again next year at "TGS2024". I hope that next year's event will be similar to this one, with content that will allow us to directly interact with the users. The booth was a wonderful experience that made us think so.