Well after promising myself I wouldn’t spend too much time on Final Fantasy yesterday, I ended up saying on it until 4am. Doing what, exactly? Planning a wedding! Sort of.
I don’t really know how long it’s been now, but a friend I met on Twitter around November last year accepted my invitation (suggestion?) to try Final Fantasy XIV. I’d probably talked about it too much to the poor guy between our planned Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate sessions and playfully hinted that I wanted to introduce someone new to the game that had sapped my of so many hours over the last few years.
Anyway, somehow we struck a deal citing should they ever manage to achieve the Level 60 cap and hit an average gear item level of 200, we’d get married in-game. Purely platonic, mind you. It’s just a really cute quest line that allows you to rent out the game’s huge church and go through a ‘Wedding’ event cutscene with a selection of our nearest and dearest in-game friends.
They actually achieved the criteria some time ago now with the ‘Deal’ cropping up in conversation every time I’d forgotten about it. So we finally got around to going through the motions really late last night once my Breaking Bad binge was done and I’d watching Now You See Me again in preparation for the upcoming sequel.
So how did it all play out? Well, after donning the Platinum Wristlet signifying our ‘bond’, we were told how the idea first came along. Something about how a calamity much like the fall of Dalamud from 1.0 happened further back in the history of Eorzea. Around the 3rd Umbral(?) Era. The incident caused a period of strife among the people until a couple managed to stand together and come out on top – presumably advocating the idea of ‘Stronger together’. Considering it was Louisoix Leveilleur and the people’s prayers to the Twelve that saved them from Bahamut’s wrath, it seems only fitting that our first path on this journey was to traverse Eorzea and pay our respects to the symbols of the Twelve Deity of Hydealyn’s beloved kingdom!
And so, rather than buying generic bands from a vendor, we went to a good friend – who’s house we stole in the last post – and requested they make our rings. I saw it as the game’s way of asking someone to be the ‘Best man’ of the wedding – so I’m thankful they gladly did us the honor! Immediately after, we set out on our late-night journey across the continent making sure to mark each major step with a photo.
Step 1.
Learning about the church overlooking the Black Shroud for eons. It was a beautiful place I fondly remember coming across on my really early travels in this game. Back in 2.0 I’m not even sure if Yoshida has even mentioned the possibility of weddings – he most likely did, but I can’t quite remember. Either way I was totally unware, so seeing this place on the map buried behind the snaking log paths of the Bramble Patch made me really curious as to what it was there for.
So you can probably tell I was really happy to hear it was to be used for the eventual in-game weddings!
Gridania and the Black Shroud has always been my favorite area of the game. I’ve had a thing for forests, rivers and the sights and sounds that come with them since my really early gaming days. Most likely due to the magical beginning moments of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – my first Zelda game and really one of my earliest — and fondest — gaming memories.
Step 2.
Immediately after traversing through my favorite area, we trailed straight into Cameron’s; the city-state of Limsa Lominsa and the surrounding areas of La Noscea. It went from day to night more times than I can imagine with the sun setting near Camp Bronzelake yet the beaches of Costa del Sol practically noon-high. We spent a little too much time on the beach and ended up on a boat in the middle of ocean when we tried to get back into the city.
Made for some good shots, though!
Maybe you can tell why I opted for a slideshow for that part…
Step 3.
Thanalan! A bit of a desert region. Lots of sand, unused railroads, cacti and rocks. Nothing much to see here!
We did spend a little time getting to know the refugees, though. Pete to the left wasn’t really too keen on talking face-to-face.
Though I guess it did lead into the last few areas rather well. Don’t get me wrong, Thanalan has it’s fair share of sightseeing spots (and the Gold Saucer); but apparently this leg of the trip wasn’t the one to give us the grand tour.
Step 4.
Mor Dhona and the snowy hills of Coerthas! The only downside to this one was purely down to the route. For some reason we had to follow straight from Thanalan into Mor Dhona – but skip the Mark of the Scholar there in favor of heading into Coerthas first. The two marks in Coerthas couldn’t have been further apart, either!
So in all we had to walk through 5 zones just to go and backtrack again.
I’m sure it’s all worth it in the end, though!
Final Steps of Faith.
After the long journey across Eorzea to gaze upon some tattooed rocks we decided to rest. It’d been a good 3 hours or so and seeing the sun rise at 4am threw me off a bit. I’m happy Cam stayed up so long to complete this part of the quest all on foot – the way it was supposed to be! I’m sure he was quite sleepy by the end, so I’ll have to apologize for that…
Fast-forward to the following evening and there was still work to be done. Claribet – our lovely wedding planner – was waiting on us to deliver the blessed rings from our travels to store for the day of the ceremony. With that we were ushered into the chapel – a place I haven’t seen the inside of in my 3 years on this game – and was immediately stunned (not by enemies). It’s a beautifully designed hall welcoming anyone who wants to go through with this sort of thing. And with us being on the upper-tier of the quest, we had the task of picking out colour schemes, entrances and, of course, the music to be played before and after the ceremony. It took a little while – with an ironic disconnect on my end causing Cam to think I’d left them at the alter – but we finally ironed out the little details and set the date.
Honestly, it’s a shame to hear people just doing this quest-chain for the gifts. I like to think the late-night walkabout we went through to pray to the shrines gave us both a chance to get to know each other even more than we have these past few months. I’m super proud to see Cam come from a confused Level 1 to a person eager to test themselves against the final frontiers this expansion has to offer. I’m happy to finally have someone who’s willing to give it all a shot, and I’m humbled to be going through with a plan I never thought would actually happen.
Oh and… surprise flashmob! I guess we set our date just as another was going ahead. The wheel keeps spinning.
Josh Judges | Gaming / Tech / Pop Culture / Garbage 