We have reached the end of our journey, friends. Well, someone has — and we’ve been there to witness it. Hironobu Sakaguchi, the director of the original Final Fantasy and lead developer behind many of the series’ early entries, only started playing Final Fantasy XIV in late September. Now he’s pretty much ready for Endwalker in two weeks.
It was a move that FFXIV creative director and producer Naoki Yoshida assumed was more tentative, given the two were going to share the virtual stages during a talk at Tokyo Game Show 2021.
“We will be having a talk session over Zoom and I haven’t talked to him in a while,” Yoshida told Easy Allies during the media tour. “I’m sure Mr. Sakaguchi is very busy, so I don’t know how far he’ll get into the game. I really appreciate that he’s trying out the game.”
Sakaguchi persisted, however. A lot. In fact, he absolutely burned through every expansion, finishing Heavensward in two measly days and Stormblood in another six. The father of Final Fantasy began the most recent expansion, Shadowbringers, on October 24, and finally posted a screenshot from its ending on October 28.
ＦＦ３のワールドマップ曲だよね。
たしか植松さんお気に入りのやつ。
これもヤバイって。
涙腺にきました。#FF14 #FFXIV pic.twitter.com/9MRZP8rg0W— 坂口博信 (@auuo) October 29, 2021
Sakaguchi isn’t completely done, of course. There’s the post-Shadowbringers main scenario and a ton of other optional things to do in Eorzea. He can dive into the Gold Saucer, enjoy roleplay events, and grind out some Relic weapons if he’s feeling frisky. He could even level up some of the other Jobs or take a look at the Disciples of the Land and Hand. There’s just so much to do in FFXIV, and it’s hard for a new player to experience all of it.
For now, though, he’s crested the last mountain before we head to the literal moon in the upcoming Endwalker expansion. It’s coming to PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on Nov. 23, 2021, but Early Access begins on November 19 for those that pre-ordered. Check out all of our excellent preview coverage in the run-up to the launch of The Linkshell: our new Final Fantasy XIV vertical coming soon! A small bit of that coverage can be found in the links below.
You can also check out the rest of our coverage of the media tour:
