Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.5 - Growing Light Signals the Beginning of the End

A decade in the telling

by Khayl Adam Tue 26th Sep 2023

Final Fantasy XIV is a behemoth of a game at this point, as players who have stuck with it from launch can well attest. Now, more than a decade later, with four expansions under its belt (not to mention playable on three generations of PlayStation consoles), the end of the story that started back in 2013 is finally in sight.

Patch 6.5 is a two-parter (with the second coming in 2024), but starting from 3rd October, players will begin the final phase of this long-running story arc before an apparent fresh start begins in Dawntrail. This means new main scenario quests, an additional dungeon, an alliance raid, and a whole host more.

Famously impenetrable, finding a way to get on board the Final Fantasy XIV train is getting a little easier from this point as well; Growing Light will expand the MMO's free offering, meaning you can play up to level 70, now taking you through the Heavensward and Stormblood expansions... provided you can find the time.

Are you up to date with Final Fantasy XIV? Are you prepared for Growing Light, or does the prospect of a new beginning in next year's Dawntrail hold more appeal? Let us know in the comments section below.

[source youtube.com]

Khayl Adam is Push Square's roving Australian correspondent, a reporter tasked with scouring the internet for the richest, most succulent PlayStation stories. With five years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.

1
lacerz
Tue 26th Sep 2023

I left just as the first progression was coming out. It’d been about a year, starting the trial on PS3 before finding a spot with the PS4 version. The controller difference was game changing. The center pad really helped!

It’s just so much content.

2
Nem
Tue 26th Sep 2023

Umm... yes, i am up to date. But, the story ended when the expansion launched.
The patch cycle is telling let's say a side story? That side story will come to some sort of finale now, but it will probably not conclude completely with the patch.
Anyways i won't be resubbing now. Will wait until dawtrail is close to launching.

FFXVI had a bad impact on FFXIV's content pace and this expansion is about one year late.
Hopefully they won't ask YoshiP to make another mainline game in parallel.

3
Kienda
Tue 26th Sep 2023

FF14 is a game I have always wanted to play but never found the time.

I love MMOs. I played World of Warcraft from launch to Mists of Pandaria and I still play Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online.

With ESO and GW2, I can leave for a while then jump back in with their expansions and feel like I’m not left behind. WoW was great but it was such a time investment, I was raiding and just couldn’t keep up after having kids so I quit it cold turkey. I feel FF14 could be the same, not because of the gear grind but the story grind.

Like I said, I’ve always wanted to play this, just haven’t felt I can invest the time.

Anyone got experience on whether I could just enjoy it gradually over time or is it that massive as the comments above suggest?

4
Darude84
Tue 26th Sep 2023

Ugh, I so much want to play this again but it just feels too overwhelming in combination with my backlog. I left somewhere at the start of the first expansion (and have bought expansions 2-4 as well) but can’t get a grasp on how long in total this will take me. Probably years, non stop?

I did LOVE it though, so I’m still in doubt.

5
Mintie
Tue 26th Sep 2023

@Kienda it is massive, buuuuuuuut you could slowly play through the free trial which covers a massive chunk of content and doesn't have much in the way of restrictions. One of the biggest bits of advice I can give someone is to play it at your own pace, don't feel like you have to rush through anything or that you have to do everything.

6
Lavalera
Tue 26th Sep 2023

@Kienda The game is massive, but you can enjoy it at your own pace especially if you don't do end game raiding. There is a lot of story content in the game and most of it can be done solo with NPC parties. The advantage of that is that you can easily take a break in the middle of a dungeon when real life calls without feeling bad for your party members. I took several long breaks in between playing and can always easily pick it up again mostly because of those npc parties.
The whole Main Story Quest is kinda large though, If you want to finish it entirely it will probably take you a few 100 hours to get through all expansions.
Personally I am playing the game on and off. When i am waiting for new games to release or when i feel like progressing the story or just level some new characters. It is perfectly suited for the casual playstyle.
You can always try out the free trial and see how that goes when you are interested in it.

7
Mintie
Tue 26th Sep 2023

I'm up to date and I am ready to feed Zero some more delicious food! I'm willing to bet that Ryne and Gaia adopt her and give her some Coffee Biscuits!

8
johncalmc
Tue 26th Sep 2023

I played the entirety of Final Fantasy XIV this year right through to Endwalker and owning a house and all that. It took 595 hours. It was also totally worth it. If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything, as George McFly would say.

9
RubyCarbuncle
Tue 26th Sep 2023

I played the entire main game and the first 2 expansions. After that I grew bored of the game due to its extremely repetitive gameplay plus I was finding it expensive too having to pay €65 for 6 months making it €130 a year. The Community was friendly in the beginning too and helpful but the longer I played the toxicity started to show its ugly face. It's not a bad game, Jesus no far from it it's just not for me anymore.

10
MinervaX
Wed 27th Sep 2023

Lord I love this game... the story just feels so epic... an MMO like no other.

11
MinervaX
Wed 27th Sep 2023

@Kienda This game is indeed massive, but its like no other.

If you are starting for the first time, you can take advantage of the free trial that lets you play from level 1-70, experiencing the launch game, and 2 expansions worth of story. Thats a gargantuan amount of story.

Unlike most MMOs, this one forces you to play the story linearly. There is where the grind can come in. You cant just level up to the cap via some quick leveling scheme and then do the newest expansion content, you actually have to play the main story questline all the way through. It's a fantastic story, mind you. The last two expansions have been just fantastic storytelling.

Although the first release (realm reborn) is a bit rough, the story starting with Heavensward through Endwalker form IMO the best Final Fantasy story to date.

Anyways, given how much content there is in the "free trial" I would suggest just playing it that way. You can play it casually, you wont need to grind for gear ever. Only reason to grind for gear is if you want to do the current hard-mode end-game raids, and even then, only if you want the best gear.