The past and present of Final Fantasy have finally met. Hironobu Sakaguchi, director and co-writer of the first Final Fantasy, started playing Final Fantasy XIV for the first time back in September. The father of the franchise basically returned to check in on his grandchildren.
Now Sakaguchi is cruising through everything FFXIV has to offer. Last week, he began the game’s first expansion, Heavensward. Considering he began his journey on September 27, that means it took Sakaguchi only 16 days to finish all of A Realm Reborn: a process which was recently expedited, but is still quite a feat.
物語は急展開。
ほほぉ〜 そうきますか・・・
いいね、この孤立感。さらに、やる気が増す。
いざ、蒼天のイシュガルドへ。#FF14 #FFXIV pic.twitter.com/imRjggsbqQ— 坂口博信 (@auuo) October 12, 2021
What’s surprising is that he tweeted about finishing Heavensward only two days later. Yeah, Sakaguchi finished the original expansion in record time, cruising through the story of grand houses, dragons, and Ishgardian politics in a fraction of the time it took him to complete the base game.
良きエンディングでした。
それにしても、毎回「つづく」がデカいｗ#FF14 #FFXIV pic.twitter.com/Rc0r32Sbpn— 坂口博信 (@auuo) October 14, 2021
Since then, Sakaguchi has slowed his pace a bit. He’s done a few duty roulettes, participated in the true endgame, and posted some comparisons between FFXIV monsters and their original Final Fantasy counterparts. Sakaguchi isn’t living entirely in FFXIV, though, He did take some time out to attend his daughter’s wedding.
As of this writing, he’s firmly in the middle of the “Dragonsong War” scenario, which takes place between Heavensward and the second expansion, Stormblood. Recent tweets show him facing off against Hraesvelgr in Sohr Khai and The Griffin in Baelsar’s Wall. As of his last update, Sakaguchi had reached Gyr Abania, meaning he’s begun the Stormblood questline. At this pace, he’ll almost certainly catch up by the time Endwalker rolls around.
Speaking of the upcoming expansion, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is coming to PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on Nov. 23, 2021. Early Access begins on November 19 for those that pre-ordered, however. Be sure to check out all of our preview coverage related to Final Fantasy XIV in the run-up to the launch of The Linkshell, our Final Fantasy XIV vertical coming soon! A small bit of that coverage can be found in the links below.
You can also check out the rest of our coverage of the media tour:
- Tank Changes and All New Job Actions to Level 90
- Healer Changes and All New Job Actions to Level 90
- Melee DPS Changes and All New Job Actions to Level 90
- Ranged/Magic DPS Changes and All New Job Actions to Level 90
- Tour of the New Zones — A Walkthrough of Old Sharlayan, Garlemald, and Thavnair
- An Interview with Director Naoki Yoshida on the Last Decade of FFXIV
