This Is How Final Fantasy XIV Redeemed Itself After a Tragic Launch

Final Fantasy XIV‘s redemption is one of gaming’s most incredible stories. Beginning in 2010 with the most poorly received release in Final Fantasy history, the game was soon revitalized, and since then has become one of the three most subscribed MMOs on the planet.

But this story wasn’t a matter of just flipping a switch; a lot of work was involved. This work has been documented in a new series by Danny O’Dwyer’s crowdfunded documentary brand NoClip. So far two of three videos have been released, one going over how and why FFXIV dug itself a hole, and equally as important how it dug itself out of that hole with A Realm Reborn.

If you feel like jumping to the second video, here’s a quick overview of how FFXIV’s original launch turned out so poorly:

• Square Enix was overconfident and didn’t bother evaluating competing games such as World of Warcraft.
• Its foundation was crafted on a series of scripts, which were quick to develop but significantly compromised the user experience with input latency.
• Instead of being developed by a cohesive team, it was created by a series of smaller teams that didn’t communicate effectively, resulting in inconsistencies and implementation issues.

You can view both videos below. Note that they are each over 40 minutes long.

Part 1: “One Point O”

Part 2: “Rewriting History”

Be sure to check out our official review for FFXIV: Stormblood, which earned an Editor’s Pick, here.