Final Fantasy 14 can largely be played like a traditional JRPG, but as a social and party-based MMO, it fundamentally wasn't designed to be played alone. That hasn't stopped one MMO player from testing just how far they can go while playing truly solo, forgoing battle and trading support from other players and NPCs wherever possible, to continue along the most punishing path they can run.
While always a fan of playing games in weird ways and an FF14 master for now, Rath Games tells 12DOVE that the inspiration for this challenge comes from an entirely different MMO. The streamer looked back to their time watching the Old School Runescape community tackle one of that game's most punishing modes to begin to imagine what a solo Final Fantasy 14 challenge might look like.
"I based the main rules for the run on Runescape's Ironman mode – no trading and no assistance from other players," they say. "For Final Fantasy 14, though, that doesn't really pose a big challenge, so I had to take away more things to make this something difficult – something worth doing."
"No NPC support, no quest rewards, and minimal NPC purchases was my way of doing that. By avoiding shops and quest hand-outs, I'm forced to make my own gear and really push the limit of what I can do. Then, after the first three dungeons were still too easy, I took on the Level Sync / Silence Echo rule out of wild curiosity. I wanted to know if it could be done."
An ironman reborn
Around 240 hours later, in terms of playtime, the answer steadily becomes clearer. Rath has cleared Final Fantasy 14's A Realm Reborn - essentially the base game - to the point of taking on the first trial after the grand Ultima finale fight, and they're yet to regret any of the self-imposed rules they've set out for themselves.
"The run has been an incredible experience," they tell us. "There are so many tiny forgotten pieces of content I never knew about, like status potions that can only be used on mobs level 50 or below, mechanics in dungeons and trials I had never seen. It really opened my eyes to how much I missed.
"I wouldn't say I regret any of the rules. If I didn't have the minimal NPC purchase, field crafts would have been easier to get, but it really just comes down to time spent, y'know? I'm pretty happy with what I have now."
While crafting knowledge gets you over some of the hurdles of Rath's solo run, there's little to be done about the time sink of trying to complete four- or eight-player content by yourself. As one of Rath's latest videos illustrates (above), completing the Ultima bout required plenty of trial and error to nail a battle plan. Each attempt also consumes plenty of resources, leading to more time spent out in the open world replenishing your stock as part of preparing for another swing at a dungeon or its boss.
"They are 100% of the problem," Rath says. "I had expected the Trials to be the main difficulties, but dungeons have been so much worse. Batraal and the Black Eft will be in my nightmares for months. I mean, from unlocking Castrum to taking down the Black Eft was somewhere in the ballpark of 60-80 hours. Brayflox was a solid 10-20 hours of preparation.
"Really, the only easy one in recent memory was Aurum Vale, of all things. Most, if not all, of my challenge run up to the last video has gone into dealing with dungeon bosses, I'd say preparation for them is somewhere near 75% of the total time spent."
Why do we stumble
But what happens when you fall afoul of your own rules? As Rath explains in their latest video, they unknowingly set themselves up for failure the second they locked in one of FF14's Jobs. Wanting to eventually take up the class of Warrior for ARR content – a favourite of the community for challenges due to its ability to eat damage and heal itself up – they started as a Marauder, starting them in the city of Limsa Lominsa. That's a problem.
Before unlocking the airship that takes you to neighbouring territories, you must complete a quest involving fetching a level-five helmet. That should be simple enough, but you can't do it in Limsa without breaking Rath's rules - while starting in Gridania or Ul'dah would give you access to the means to make that helmet, Limsa only allows you to get one through an NPC purchase or quest reward. Rath does allow for the odd purchase in their ruleset if there's no other way through something, though things got complicated down the line when, actually, there was another way.
To right the wrong, Rath leans on what has characterised the run so far – a big ol' time commitment. As punishment – and a break from the 240-marathon – they set up a new character to create a video on how things would appear had they done things right.
Don't worry about the run itself, though. With their conscience clear, the character of Solo Only shall continue their arduous journey.
"It's a small detail and not a huge loss that would make me restart, but I thought it was worth going back and seeing how we could have done things better," they say. "There are a few other things like that I want to do at some point, but that's for another day."
Looking ahead, I ask Rath if they have a shot at completing the run by the time Final Fantasy 14's next expansion Dawntrail comes out next summer, given what they've learned on their run.
"With the time it's taken me to get this far, no way," they reply. "I'd say if I'm lucky I'll be in Stormblood by then, but we'll have to see."
