The Mog Log Extra: Unboxing the Final Fantasy XIV collector's editions

I barely ever buy the collector's edition of any game. That's not to say I don't like the idea, but it's hard to justify the increased cost for the same game, especially when the included bonuses aren't all that good in the first place (I don't know who decided that collector boxes should come with statues that add $100 onto the box price, but I don't like that person).

The original Final Fantasy XIV collector's edition, however, was one of the games on which I spent the extra money. Not just for the heck of it, but because of early access, which was tied to the special edition back in the day. So when Square-Enix sent us a review copy of the new collector's edition, I knew that there was only one thing to be done: I needed to offer an unboxing review of this new edition.

I freely admit the following was filmed with my phone, and my camera work is not all that great. Neither is my narration, since I worked without a script and haven't actually done this before. No apologies are made for the addition of the cat. As mentioned in the video, this was a complimentary copy of the collector's edition provided by Square-Enix, which is being used for this video specifically. I already own the game, after all.

With all that in mind, enjoy the video!

Now that you've enjoyed that, let's talk about a few things that I didn't have in the video but are still relevant to the discussion. First of all, after the video was finished I extricated the soundtrack from its plastic covering (with the aid of a backhoe) and listened to it. It contains all three main city themes and several pieces of outdoor music, all of which sounds very nice. I'm sad that there weren't more tracks from 1.0 that still feature in the relaunched game, but you've got to sell the full soundtrack somehow.

As evidenced by the video, the art book does not like to lie flat on any given page. That having been said, it does cover quite a bit of ground -- all classes and jobs are represented, as are several of the major adversaries and a variety of locations. The video notes that I had opened to Ala Mihgo's section, but that page also contains some artwork from Ishgard, which is equally fascinating.

I also sat down and watched the movie, and it was exactly what I thought it was. Helpfully, the whole interface is laid out like a book, with several relevant bits hither and yon to click for further elaboration and some of the cutscenes from the launch version. The cutscenes flow... well... about as well as you would expect from in-game scenes that were spliced back together specifically for this footage. But it's still good if you hadn't played these quests before or just want a comfortable recap of what happened back in the day.

My overall evaluation remains more or less the same, though. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy XIV, this is a nice collector's edition. As for what I'm going to do with it... well, I don't know yet. I own the game, after all, so probably some sort of giveaway. Let me get back to you on that.

From Eorzea to Vana'diel, there is a constant: the moogles. And for analysis and opinions about the online portions of the Final Fantasy series, there is also a constant: The Mog Log. Longtime series fan Eliot Lefebvre serves up a new installment of the log every Saturday, covering almost anything related to Square-Enix's vibrant online worlds.