I am astonished that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn became one of the most successful modern MMORPGs. The original version of FFXIV was, in most eyes, a train wreck. Almost everything that could have gone wrong did. It seemed impossible for Square Enix, who had already gained a negative reputation, to go back and rebuild an almost broken game into an exceptional one in a timely manner.
As someone who ended up liking what became of the original Final Fantasy XIV before the 2.0 reincarnation, I’m glad that the revamp pays respect to what Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 was. Much of the content that was created in 1.0 was repurposed. Dungeons and primal battles of old still exist, although some of the original designs are left more intact than others. They even kept the players’ progress, but used mass amnesia as an excuse to start everyone on equal footing in the story.
I stopped playing about a year after the release of 2.0, but at that point most of continued main plot still referenced and used many story arcs that started in the original Final Fantasy XIV. Some loose ends still haven’t been addressed. But as an MMO, there will be plenty of opportunities for them to pull from 1.0’s the extensive lore.
All of this could be looked at as something the team had to do to keep their following, reduce development costs and create a coherent world. What makes it more endearing than that is an understanding of the original game’s strengths. Instead of burning Final Fantasy XIV to the ground with no regard to its past, they knocked it over and rebuilt it reusing the debris.
I actually like the standard edition box art better than the collector’s.
