Until now, if shyness is a part of your personality even when playing online video games, ‘Final Fantasy XIV’ may have been a game where you just looked at the title screen and not much else, since dungeons had to be done with other players. Or that was the case until now, because finally, you can complete the game entirely on your own, relying solely on NPCs.
Alone, all alone, all alone
Patch 6.5 of ‘Final Fantasy XIV’ has come with a built-in surprise: it patches the entire game to have a team of non-playable characters accompany you, allowing you to complete dungeon missions without fear of messing up and disappointing the rest of the MMO group (and getting yelled at through the microphone, one of the things I fear the most in the world).
You’ll have to stay connected all the time, yes, but the game will feel more like one of the franchise’s classics. Whether it affects the quality of the experience is another matter, of course: after all, ‘Final Fantasy XIV’ was designed as a fully social title, and it remains to be seen whether victories with NPCs will feel as epic as in a group. All that’s needed is an offline mode so we don’t have to worry if Square decides to cut costs by shutting down the servers at some point.
It’s worth noting that with the latest expansion, ‘Endwalker,’ the first major saga of the game has come to an end, spanning approximately a decade. The next one, ‘Dawntrail,’ is set to launch in the summer of 2024 and will introduce a new story, perfect for starting fresh even with this change in the MMO‘s perspective.
Although it had a rough start, there’s no doubt that the fourteenth installment of the saga has been a massive success. ‘Final Fantasy XVI,’ however, might have a lot to learn…
