Sarah’s Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest Experience

Day 1

Let’s just start off by saying that the weather was way better in Los Angeles than the previous Fan Fests in Las Vegas. Yes, things like hotels were more expensive, but I would take that any day over the 100+-degree heat. Even Yoshi P (Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida) said he was melting!

I arrived about 8:30am for the 10am keynote to get a good seat. Just walking into the stage area, it felt a lot bigger than in previous years in Vegas. I was in my Pictomancer cosplay, which was a bit chilly, but better than being too hot. It did get warmer as the keynote went on, though. It truly was jam-packed and longer than a normal keynote. I was intending to post updates on social media like normal, but the internet was garbage inside the convention center so I just made notes on my phone, and was at least able to use Discord. That said, I also forgot to get the media-only WiFi information, so that’s partly on me.

Most of the keynote people loved. There was lots of cheering and clapping, especially with the Evercold trailer. However, when it came to showcasing the Reborn/Evolved modes, the people around me didn’t appear to like it, especially after Yoshi P announced that all new jobs will be only using the Evolved mode. I think it was the initial shock of changing things that really set people off, but after talking through it with people, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be as big of a change as some people think. I was able to meet up with a lot of my friends from Twitch chats and Final Fantasy XIV, and after we all talked about it, I think it will be better. As someone who plays on a controller, this might be of particular benefit to me. I have my own rotation, and I have no idea if that’s the “correct” Pictomancer rotation, but with the evolved mode it might allow for more flexibility.

 

“Hear… Feel… Think… Jollibees…”

 

After the welcome ceremony, I went with a group of friends to Jollibee, which was holding a Final Fantasy XIV collaboration for Fan Fest. Even though the Roulette Game Show looked fun, we were all very hungry. We arrived at Jollibee and it fortunately wasn’t that busy. I think we only waited about a half hour. We wanted to go to this exact one, because we were told this was the only one that was fully decorated. I was amused at G’raha Tia being on the trash cans eating a sandwhich. This seemed to be the best time to go, since outside of Fan Fest people were saying that the lines at other times were many hours long. I got the $21 box to get my fancy emote. I only ate the sandwich there, but it was delicious. I really liked the sauce, and it came with the good reminder that no chocobos were harmed in the making of the food. We were wondering what they were going to do with the decorations after the event was over. I would’ve loved to take one of the aetheryte lights and put it in my room.

We made it back to Fan Fest around 3pm, and I wanted to see some of the developer panel to understand the Evolved mode a little better, but then I got distracted by shiny cosplayers and friends. Unfortunately, by around 4pm my feet hurt so bad I could not walk, which is partly the price I paid for wearing my cosplay shoes, and I ended up going back to my hotel to put on my sneakers before coming back. I was able to get back just in time to watch the “Glamoured to Life” cosplay walk for around twenty minutes before having to go to my meet and greet. I am glad I was able to see some of the streamers I watch walk, including my favorite scene I was able to see: Sultana drinking from the goblet on stage. The crowd reaction was great. She came out and pulled out the cup, at which point you could hear the gasps and the air leave the room. Then she went to drink, to which everyone immediately screamed, and then stood there for a second before giving a thumbs up. That got a lot of cheers.

 

Various cosplayers around Fan Fest

 

When I got to my meet and greet, I am surprised how fast and easy it was. At bigger cons, these things are a mess and you often have to wait hours to meet your chosen guest. However, at Fan Fest you simply had to line up fifteen minutes before your appointment, and then go through relatively fast. I was able to meet Jason Charles Miller, who originally voiced Raubahn Aldynn in A Realm Reborn, but is perhaps better known for performing the vocals in the theme songs for Shadowbringers and Endwalker, plus “Unleashed” from Dawntrail. He was very nice and I even got to chat with him a little bit while my photo was taken.

The Piano Performance with Keiko and special guest Amanda Achen was out of this world. As always, Keiko has a beautiful princess dress for the performance. The sound and stage quality was fantastic. There were some camera issues, where the shot stayed on Keiko for a very long time even when Amanda was singing. I’m chalking that up to technical issues, hopefully. I’m so glad I was able to see the stage from my seat so I could see Amanda singing. Luckily, it wasn’t most of the concert, so I was able to watch the big screens on the sides of the stage.

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Day 2

I was able to attend a portion of “From Tacos to Tenders: Serving up the Lyrics of FFXIV” with Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. The man is hilarious, and I love listening to him talk about the game, the antics, and how he comes up with lyrics. This panel showed how Square Enix really listens to its players as well as showcasing famous misheard lyrics to some of the songs from the game. One of the most misheard lyrics is from Ultima theme, with players chanting along with “big fat tacos” instead of “Beat, the Heart of Sabik.” Typing it out, it seems like a bizarre mishearing, but you’d have to hear it. He then had fans come up on stage to write new lyrics to “eScape”, which the audience voted on. The winning set of lyrics was actually changed for the Primals live concert at the end of the night! VTuber IronMouse was a special guest during this panel and gave a small concert at the end which was actually really good. I had never seen her before, but I liked her performance.

As much as I wanted to see random Q&As with Yoshi P, I hadn’t yet got the chance to play any of the games yet. I heard a lot of them were capping lines at 4:30, so wanted to get as much done as possible, though I am sad I missed the question about the butt slider.

I started with Run Alpaca Run, which is pretty much a carnival race horse game where you roll a ball into various holes: think of a mini version of Skee-Ball. I did not win, but it was still fun. I wasn’t able to get into the Crystalline Conflict Palaistra Challenge, as the line was already too long, and it’s not something I got into in-game, so it’s hard to compare the physical game to the digital area. I did try the Pelupelu Pitch, which is another carnival style game of ring toss. I am also terrible at this game and scored zero points, but it was still fun. Next was Mica’s Magical Maneuvers, which was a reaction-time based game. Sticks drop suddenly and you have to grab them before they hit the floor. Metem’s Limit Break Challenge was another carnival-style game I did not partake in, because of my tiny, sensitive hands. It gives participants one opening and a single punch to score big DPS; I watched a guy punch a score of 649, which was pretty high compared to the others. However, I did try the Arcadion Slam to try out for the Solution Nine Yans; shooting hoops with a basketball that couldn’t go wrong, right? Wrong! In my haste of trying to make baskets in competition with other people on a time limit, the ball bounced off the rim and hit me in the face. Luckily, it didn’t leave a bruise or a bloody nose, just hurt pride and some redness. Last but not least, Ride the Rhythm was the most popular game at Fan Fest. The line was always long, but it was definitely the highlight. This was basically a disco floor that people had to dance on, but with elements from a boss fight, complete with area of effect squares, tankbuster circles, and a stack marker. It was really cool to see boss mechanics from in the game come to life in person. There was one thing I didn’t get to do but I wish I had: the photo spot with G’raha Tia on a gondola. That was probably the second most popular thing at Fan Fest. I did get a photo at Aunt Tii’s Tacos in Tuliyollal, though.

 

Assorted photos from around Fan Fest

 

Having Fan Fest modeled after the latest expansion, Dawntrail, and showcasing its main areas like Solution Nine and Tuliyollal was done really well. There were lots of photo opportunities with the giant “XIV” letters, well known landmarks like Aunt Tii’s Tacos, different Solution Nine areas such as a lounge and bar, and even a photo op with Honey B. Lovely, everyone’s favorite boss. (Alright, not everyone’s, but she was pretty popular.) The only thing I would’ve liked more of was an expanded Solution Nine lounge with more couches and chairs, as they were always full of people, meaning many had to sit along the walls or on the floor.

The last hurrah of the evening was a concert from The Primals, the official band of Final Fantasy XIV lead by Sound Director Masayoshi Soken since 2014. The members are Masayoshi Soken, Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, GUNN, Eikichi Iwai, and Tetsuya Tachibana. Last Fan Fest, people brought their own light sticks for the Primals concert and this year Square Enix decided to sell them at their merch station, which made it that much more fun and I was able to get one of the last light sticks before they sold out. There were multiple colors to choose from on the light stick to match the songs the Primals were playing, and everyone in the crowd seemed to be on the same page. The concert began with the “checking member status” display on the video screens, as one would see waiting for a dungeon to fill in game. The band began “Open Sky”, followed by “Scream”, “Ride the Rhythym”, “Not Afraid” (with special guest Yoshi P), “Unleashed”, “Shadowbringers”, “Absolute Tyranny”, “A Long Fall”, “Rise”, “eScape”, and finally “Under the Weight”. I was surprised when the concert ended as I was enjoying it so much I wasn’t ready for it to end.

 

The FFXIV Requiem Café

 

Before I left Anaheim, I was able to visit the FFXIV Requiem Café. There was not a lot of merch left, and all the pastries and some of the drinks were sold out. I was able to grab a New Adventures drink, which had a sprout bookmark in the whipped cream atop a refreshing mint citrus soda, and the Scree! ice cream drink. This was a brown sugar milk tea with chocolate drizzle topped with a toasted marshmallow cold foam, gold lustre dust, and a serpent gummy. Both of these were VERY delicious. The inside of the café was magical and wondrous, with a fake giant tree that looked like a weeping willow with a few seats inside. It had a TV showing some story quests, as well as many cardboard stand ups of our favorite scions. The store was decked out with gaming computers that had the free trial loaded up for people to play the game, along with a post-it wall for gamers to leave their mark. I wish I could take the tree with me and put it in my house!

Overall this year’s Fan Fest was yards above the Las Vegas one in 2023. The weather was much nicer, there was a bigger space that was laid out much better, and there were better food options. As always, thank you Square Enix for putting on these events!