smooth rock

This evening, many around the globe gazed upward to witness the meeting of two heavenly bodies: Jupiter and Saturn. Known as a Great Conjunction, this event occurs once every 800 years and is an astronomical spectacle that wont appear again for many, many generations — should we be so lucky. A cosmological display for the ages.

But… for Final Fantasy XIV players, this evening bade farewell to a phenomenon unlike any other: smooth rock. For you see, unlike the planets of our solar system, fated to meet again in the night sky of some distant, unknowable future — smooth rock may never again be.

They came in droves to witness the otherworldly surface of a cliff face in the Central Shroud, mounted on magical snowmen obtained from recent seasonal festivities in nearby Gridania. Nearby hrothgar performed wild feats of animal husbandry to mark the occasion. Oh, if only Starlight could be graced with such an event every year…

The advent of smooth rock is not the only notable rock-related event for the series: it follows the discovery of cool rock back in 2015:

While the maintenance to apply a hotfix to the game continues, rendering viewings impossible, smooth rock may ever live on in the memories there to witness it — just as the Calamity of the Seventh Umbral Era.

Of course, while it may be a bitter consolation prize for those who missed the once-in-a-lifetime event, Final Fantasy XIV did release it’s fourth major update following the Shadowbringers expansion: Futures Rewritten. In it comes the continuation of the main scenario, a new raid that caps off the Eden scenario, a trial versus the Emerald Weapon, and more.

You can check out more of that in our summary of the latest Letter from the Producer Live broadcast here.

Final Fantasy XIV is now available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, and Mac.


About the Author

Tony Garsow Tony joined Nova Crystallis in 2015, and has spent more than a decade writing in the Final Fantasy community. He also contributes to the Nova Crystallis Twitch and YouTube channels, where you can watch select gameplay highlights, previews, and streams.

Comments