I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again. My wife and I, along with my brother, had been playing Final Fantasy XI since Xmas 2003. We finally deactivated our accounts back in March of this year, making it just over 8 years played. FFXI drifted from one of our favourite games over the last few years after they introduced Abyssea.

We remember the excitement we had when starting out on our first day. The awe and wonder and when we we’re sucked into the opening story. That feeling we had when we took our first step outside of Windurst.

Years later our love of the story and lore has never faded, but the gameplay has suffered (in our opinions).

Along comes 2005 and Squeenix unveils Rapture. Everyone wondered what they were thinking and what would come next. Fast forward a few years and they reveal that Rapture is really, Final Fantasy XIV. Everyone is… well not shocked really, this is Square, but what the hey. The point is, we were excited about a new MMO again. Also since co-op is mostly all I care about, this was the first time in a while I was excited about a game I could play along side my brother and wife simultaneously (or other friends if they could/would play dammit).

Moving forward once more and I pick up my copy of FFXIV on the North American release date. A month or so later it goes “free-to-play” and rightfully so. It was basically maybe BETA quality, leaving a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths. Like soap… and poo…

I still played for a while, joined shortly after with my brother. I built a new rig in early 2011, which helped a lot but the gameplay was still clunky and slow. We were in the midst of the game being totally redone, every patch saw improvements and additions. Tweaks left, right and centre.

Then Squeenix released this video a couple of weeks ago…

Dear sweets-ness-ing gawds. Say what you will about the game and/or the company, they sure know how to make a cinematic cut-scene. This video single-handedly renewed my interest in FFXIV.

We are now waiting patiently to see if at least one of the three of us can get into the Alpha Test which I believe started on November 28th! No luck with the first round of invites sent out on the 26th but Monday December 3rd is the next wave!

Our spirits are high, our patients tempered with how long it’s been already (and how long we’re waited for other games). Anticipation is through the blooming roof!