Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. Its first version launched for Windows in September 2010, but its troubled reception and technical problems led Square Enix to replace it rather than merely patch it. Producer and director Naoki Yoshida oversaw the relaunch, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which opened in August 2013. The reboot begins after the Seventh Umbral Calamity, when the elder primal Bahamut devastates Eorzea at the Battle of Carteneau. Players enter as the Warrior of Light, an adventurer whose Echo grants unusual resistance to primal tempering and glimpses of others' memories. A Realm Reborn sends the Warrior through Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'dah before confronting the Garlean Empire and the primal threat facing the city-states. Its main scenario culminates in the Praetorium and the battle against Gaius van Baelsar and the Ultima Weapon. The game's later expansion stories are structured around numbered major releases: Heavensward (2015), Stormblood (2017), Shadowbringers (2019), Endwalker (2021), Dawntrail (2024). Heavensward takes the Scions to Ishgard amid the Dragonsong War; Shadowbringers transports the hero to the First and casts them as the Warrior of Darkness. Endwalker resolves the Hydaelyn and Zodiark arc that began in A Realm Reborn, bringing the player to the moon and the edge of the universe. FFXIV's job system allows one character to change combat roles simply by equipping different weapons or tools. The base game includes disciplines such as gladiator, lancer, thaumaturge, and conjurer, while jobs include paladin, dragoon, black mage, white mage, and warrior. Later additions include dark knight, astrologian, machinist, samurai, red mage, gunbreaker, dancer, reaper, sage, viper, and pictomancer. Crafting and gathering are full disciplines too, including carpenter, blacksmith, culinarian, miner, botanist, and fisher. The game uses a global data-center structure, with subscription access rather than a free-to-play business model. Major encounters include eight-player trials against primals and other bosses, plus alliance raids built for twenty-four players. The Crystal Tower series became central to Shadowbringers, while the Binding Coil of Bahamut explores the aftermath of Dalamud's fall. Composer Masayoshi Soken wrote much of the score and continued work during cancer treatment, a story Yoshida publicly discussed in 2021. Nobuo Uematsu also contributed themes including "Answers." Frequent free patches advance the main scenario and add dungeons, trials, raids, and side content between expansions. The game supports PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, macOS, and Xbox Series X|S editions.