Square Enix held the third of it's Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festivals in February in Frankfurt, Germany. (Previously in Las Vegas, and Tokyo.)
Myself and RA:N Editor Onyx Goggles, bring you this part one of a photo-walk coverage of the event, which celebrated Final Fantasy XIV, delved into more detail about the upcoming titanic MMO expansion- Stormblood, and featured panels by developers, artists, and even an appearance by legendary composer, Nobuo Uematsu!
Some of the area around where Frankfurt's Fan Festival took place.
FFXIV Fan Festival was hosted on February 18th and 19th at the Festhalle Messe in Frankfurt at the area shown above.
You can see quite a bit of monitors set up that were running FFXIV. The festival had several events that featured challenges for players to take hold of a randomized character to complete certain tasks and work together with other players to complete trials in FFXIV.
You can't see it too well in this photo, this shows Fan Fests schedule for the first day. Attendees got a nice bag of loot that included a replica of the in-game Quest Log or Journal which guided them through the event's lineup and more.
A Behemoth bull-ride was set up.
I absolutely love how the Festhalle's ceiling looks combined with Fan Fest's lighting.
Miqo'te Dragoon cosplay.
Astrologian cosplay.
A shot from the main area's floor, you can somewhat see the Samurai class on the main screen. Samurai was announced to be the second playable new class for the upcoming expansion.
Miqo'te mage, I really like this one.
Continuing the tradition of other Festivals, fans set up a memorial dedicated to some of the fallen characters in Final Fantasy XIV that have died in the game's story.
The main story of the game has had memorable characters that fans have grown attached to, such as Lady Iceheart and Lord Haurchefant who're most notoriously loved by fans among others.
The Las Vegas Fan Festival's fan character memorial had a Lord Haurchefant that grew over time with gifts, snacks, and other bits as the show went on.
The tradition of the autograph wall at FFXIV events continued, allowing players to sign their character's name, sign from their free company or server, or leave a picture to mark the big signing wall.
This wall was made for the Frankfurt Fan Festival, I imagine it is full of (mostly) names of players from EU servers. See anyone you recognize?
Here we have a Monk cosplay.
Miqo'te cosplay with the starting race gear.
Bard cosplay.
Here's a closer shot of the Behemoth bull-ride.
Mini-games like Crystal Tower Striker were present. The game involves a hammer and whacking as hard as you can to get the lights to rise on the tower. It was something similar there at Fan Fest.
Miqo'te cosplay sporting the spring dress from FFXIV. I feel that she did an excellent job nailing that specific hairstyle from the game.
The menu for food served at Fan Fest. Sorry the shot is so small, but it says:
Chili con Marmot - Chili con carne with a bread roll
Dark Pretzel - Cheese pretzel
Dravanian Paprika Chips - Paprika chips
Popoto Tacitos - Tacitos
Ul'dahn Peanuts - Peanuts
Pearl Chocolate - Chocolate bar
King Thordan was about. Very good cosplay, and you could see him doing the Manderville dance, just like he does in game when no one is watching.
King Thordan really wanted to play "Time of My Life", a dance-move memory game from FFXIV.
The main stage. I love how they integrated the 8-bit characters onto the lower screens.
'Any Way the Wind Blows' is yet another game played at the Gold Saucer in FFXIV, most similar to the game of red-light/green-light.
The creature, Typhon, blows gusts of wind at anyone in the wrong place as everyone is stopped from movement, eliminating them, as those not in the way move on.
It looks as if they created a way to play the game here at Fan Fest involving an electronic color floor.
The magitek armor used by the Garlean Empire, set up for photo ops.
And just as I said, the memorial began growing.
Players taking on challenges in FFXIV.
An art gallery was set up, showcasing art from the game.
You can see Omega Weapon on the lower left, the new primal Lakshmi in the center, the primal Ravana in the lower right, promotional art for patch 3.5, and the smaller ones are Astrologian cards.
This wall showcased the art for the new job coming in Stormblood- Red Mage.
The art of Estinien used for Patch 3.3, aka Revenge of the Horde.
When Musicians Collide was a special panel featuring Composer and Sound Editor, Masayoshi Soken, and infamous composer Nobuo Uematsu, as they talked about their work and inspirations.
Uematsu had initially worked on the FFXIV soundtrack for the failed 1.0 version of the game. Since, Soken under some tutelage and working closely with Uematsu (protege maybe??) has long since taken the FFXIV soundtrack to new heights.
FFXIV also won an award during Fan Fest from Guiness world records for having most original compositions, at over 300 pieces. Fans and players of Final Fantasy the world over know that the series is known for it's beautiful music and adrenaline pumping battle tunes- Final Fantasy XIV is no different, filled to the brim with memorable songs (many vocal).
This panel was very special, as the other Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festivals did not feature Uematsu or this particular panel.
Soken had mentioned working with Uematsu during a music panel at Las Vegas's Fan Festival in 2014, but this event truly officially fleshed out their work together and how their styles have both equally contributed to making FFXIV's soundtrack so unique and memorable.
One of the hosts was dressed like one of the new heroes for the upcoming expansion!
Soken (42 years old) is a very whimsical fellow, often known for his personality as being more than just a composer- a Final Fantasy fan and someone who's really lighthearted and down to earth. Soken is even sometimes seen riding on localization and co-lore builder Koji Fox's back with an almost child-like demeanor. He's also known to crack a lot of jokes while keeping a straight face during events, and always has some surprise up his sleeve. Here in this shot, he's attentively sitting and listening as the translators speak Uematsu's words of wisdom as the event rolled on.
Just before the panel ended- you can also see Koji Fox on the right next to Soken, as Uematsu smiles big in front of our camera and in sight of hundreds of loyal fans.
Another shot from a few feet back.
Stay tuned for more of our Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival Frankfurt 2017 coverage (that's a mouthful isn't it?!) coming up at RA:N.
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