Final Fantasy XIV, part 3 (Hatching-tide Celebration)

3.30.20. So, I was going to write a post about game mechanics. Something lightly analytical, and maybe top it off with more screenshots of catgirl wizards just to keep the theme going.

Then, this happened:

So, ok, let's back up a second. There's this girl, her name's Jihli, right? And she's completely insane. She had a vision from some space gods to go bejewel some eggs and create a festival called Hatching-tide. So, she did that. And then she started a cult. One of her cultists explains as much:

When you first encounter Jihli, you're wandering through the forest city of Gridania. All is relatively normal, except for the Easter decorations, but that's something that happens in MMOs, right? People decorate for holidays, no big deal.

But then you follow the crowd and talk to Jihli, and her helper keeps making all these terrible egg puns, and she asks you to put on a rabbit costume... and... and...

This quest leads to you a place where you're out in the woods, dressed up like a rabbit, with a huge butterfly net and a bunch of glue-bombs, hunting chickens with a flash-mob.

I took a couple screenshots, but I think the impact is better, more profound, if instead of looking at a screenshot you just take a second, sit back in your chair, and meditate on that last sentence. Once again:

This quest leads to you a place where you're out in the woods, dressed up like a rabbit, with a huge butterfly net and a bunch of glue-bombs, hunting chickens with a flash-mob.

How wonderful! This concept? Sublime. Take it out of Final Fantasy and put it into Dungeons & Dragons, and you've got yourself one hell of a session! You could even take this concept and put it into the real world, and you and your friends could enjoy a truly baroque and nonsensical Easter celebration. This is just fun.

Up until now, I'd been on the fence with this game. I struggle with MMOs, and some of this game's mechanics - the easy difficulty, the endless fetch-quests, the grind - had been wearing on me. I'd even rage-quit once after an endless deluge of cut-scenes. However, when I stopped trying to make Final Fantasy into something else, and just gave myself over to the experience of what it actually was, the joy of gaming showed up.

And to think, I was about to write a post about game mechanics.