69-year-old Final Fantasy 14 streamer gets surprise visit from Final Fantasy creator

Well, if you’re after a wholesome dose of dopamine, you’re in the right place. A 69-year-old Final Fantasy XIV streamer has received a surprise visit from the creator of Final Fantasy.

Japanese streamer pocochii was visited by series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. As reported by Dexerto, Sakaguchi seemingly stopped by to offer encouragement to the streamer who was embarking on a Pandaemonium Anabaseious Savage run in Final Fantasy XIV. If you’re unfamiliar with the franchise, this raid isn’t for the faint of heart. Pandaemonium: Anabaseious is the most recent raid tier introduced in the 6.4 patch. It tasks players with four new fights, with Savage offering the most intense difficulty. You need an item level of 630 or higher to enter, and it can take several hours to complete. In other words, it’s not easy.

Take a look at the latest trailer for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Streamer pocochii was just preparing to embark on their first attempt when Sakaguchi popped into the stream chat to send their well wishes. According to Dexerto, Sakaguchi’s message translated to, “Nice to meet you, I’m Sakaguchi.” Obviously, pocochii was lost for words at the sudden appearance of such an icon. The duo dove into a discussion about how far Sakaguchi himself had gotten in the raid tier. Sakaguchi said, “Just the fourth [fight], around the same point. Let’s do our best.”

Pocochii then finally began his raid attempt, after what I'm imagining was a pretty cool and motivational pre-attempt pep talk. Sakaguchi later took to Twitter to confirm that it was actually him that stopped by and not just an imposter. He wrote (via Twitter Translate), “I just visited the ‘69-year-old game commentary’. Just in the first half of the 0th floor, the progress is the same. I have to do my best too.” I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Twitter Translate isn’t 100% accurate there, but the general sentiment stands.

In related news, Final Fantasy XVI recently released to very positive reviews. In our own review, GAMINGbible’s Richard wrote, “Final Fantasy XVI is truly an epic adventure. It has a fantastical story, over-the-top character performances, a sublime soundtrack, epic boss battles and it looks gorgeous to boot. Seriously, what’s there not to love about this game? It doesn't matter if you’re a veteran of the series or a newcomer like me, Final Fantasy XVI is one of 2023’s most brilliantly extravagant adventures and a sure-fire contender for Game of the Year.”