I don’t always post. These days I’m so busy with life that I forget this site exists, but I’m feeling a lot of emotions today, so I need to get it out.
In May of 2014, I had to under go a minor surgery to get my appendix removed. While recovering, I picked up the game my husband was obsessed with; Final Fantasy XIV. I joined a great FC that had a lot of helpful players that taught me the ropes. I ended up getting my own console and account and started playing with my husband and his crazy FC mates.
In 7 years, I have fought multiple baddies, lived through an incredible story, and celebrated with fans around the globe during Fan Fest. This year was shot live for everyone around the world for free. We all excited tuned in for the big announcements about the new expansion and watched the musical Genius Soken play the otomatone and the piano (“Do you know... La Hee?”). Players across the globe enjoyed a free concert and enjoyed watching the developers dance to a meme. But the biggest shock of all of Fan Fest came at the close.
Millions of fans watched our loved Director and Producer, Yoshi-P, sob on stage as he told fans around the world about how his best friend, our musical director, and fan favorite, Masayoshi Soken, had spent the past year battling cancer and his first big outing was Fan Fest. “I’m just so happy to have my best friend back,” he sobbed to an empty theatre. Fans around the world were shocked and sobbed with him. Fans began showing an outpouring of love and support for Soken, who said that the community gave him hope and showed him the healing power of video games.
I know some people will never read all of this. It’s a lot. But this community of 22 million strong reached out in the best ways they knew how and it blew me away. Art, music videos, pictures of raid parties screaming “WELCOME BACK SOKEN!”, pictures of whole servers getting together to form hearts and “Soken” created by players standing together. It was enough to make anyone cry. This community has helped me through so much, from battling depression to helping me when the pandemic was at it’s darkest and I cried because I was so tired of death being around the corner, it was a light of hope in the darkness. So, this is my way of saying Thank You, to the Dev team, to the producer, and everyone who worked so hard and tirelessly. Thank you. I love all of you and this community.
So, to quote my favorite song from the 5.x series,
“Finding hope. Don’t lose hope.”
blakekathryn
gamechangershow
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
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