Stories of EORZEA
A new section of the official Japanese Final Fantasy XIV site has just opened up, called Stories of EORZEA. Here, writers of various genres have official blogs provided by Square Enix where they can write about their in-game adventurers. So far, six members have uploaded their first post, and you can read about them below. These are not direct translations of their blog entries, but brief summaries of what they write about.
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- Natsumi Iwasaki - Lalafell Thaumaturge - Iwasaki writes for Yoshidamasaki Inc. and has been a Final Fantasy fan for 23 years. He's playing XIV as a journey to experience the future of gaming. His first entry focuses on character creation, where he discovers the developers took particular care in making sure one does not accidentally delete your character. Why is this a big deal? Well, Iwasaki says that it's these minor, overlooked details that really show the quality of something. If you go to a restaurant, check out the bathroom -- a place you typically don't see. If the owners took the time and effort to make it nice and presentable, you know the food will be good because it shows they go the extra mile. Since even a function like "Delete Character" gets such careful treatment, Iwasaki believes it speaks well for the quality of this game.
- Kayoko Saitou - Elezen Gladiator - Saitou is a manga artist who has enjoyed Final Fantasy games since her youth. Her character's name is Cocoan Cranberry, but as she says, "you can call me Cocoan!" Saitou seems particularly enamored with the /laugh emote, and her first FFXIV comic pokes fun at Cocan discovering just how bombastic the reaction is when used. You can check out the image on her user page.
- Taiyou - Miqo'te Pugilist - A freelance writer and designer (and fan of RPGs) Taiyou's main goal is to fill up the 200 spaces in her Friend List with new adventuring pals. Upon first arriving in Limsa Lominsa, she was captivated by a breathtaking sunset. As players busily ran around her looking for equipment or mobs to fight, she simply stared off into the distance and took in the sights. She's got a long way to go to max out her Friend List, but she provides a short clip on her user page where she meets her first candidate.
- Akiko Satou - Lalafell Conjurer- Satou lives a life juggling housework, her writing, and a love of adventure. Despite a hectic lifestyle, Satou is excited to see what FFXIV can offer given her limited play time (about 2 hours per day). She plans to "take a little journey each day," and began her first one in the desert city of Ul'dah. Satou even described how the progress bar while downloading the client felt like waiting on line at customs, evoking the uncertainty and excitement of entering a new country. Everything's an adventure for her!
- Hisanori Kogure - Elezen Archer - Kogure is on a journey to forge his own path in Eorzea. However, with all the options available to him in the Armoury System, he's just not sure what that path might be yet! The one thing he does know is that he'll build it with his own two hands. Whether it's cooking his own food, crafting his own equipment, or simply staking out a private spot to sit and catch his breath, Kogure wants his Elezen, Azurite Millionarms, to be a truly self-sufficient adventurer. Sure, there's darkness and evil looming over the land, but hey, he'll get to that when he's good and ready.
- Furue Urushino - Roegadyn Gladiator - Urushino is a serious scholar with a Masters in Law, research experience in Social Sciences, and aspirations to be a writer. She is an old-school role-player to the core, having been introduced to the genre through traditional pen-and-paper RPGs. Her blog entry reads like an excerpt from a samurai's diary -- heavy kanji usage, old dialects and done completely in-character. She even eschews the modern-looking katakana script and uses hiragana for non-Japanese terms like Eorzea, Limsa-Lominsa, Roegadyn and Sea Wolf. It adds a lot of depth to the portrayal of her character as a solemn, fish-out-of-water Samurai quietly exploring the new land around him.