Square Enix and Level-5 announced a collaboration between Final Fantasy XIV and Yo-kai Watch during the Final Fantasy XIV Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXIX stream back in late April. The collaboration includes the appearance of 13 popular characters from the Yo-Kai Watch series as weapons, minions, an equippable Yo-kai watch, and even a flying mount. The event went live on July 26, 2016 and is currently in full-swing. Accompanied by a free login campaign, the cities of Eorzea are positively jumping with old and new adventurers alike.

A quick quest in one of the starter towns unlocks the event and any players level 15 and up are able to participate. The Yo-Kai minions (little companions mostly for aesthetics) are easy enough to obtain; complete F.A.T.E.s (Full Active Time Events), which are open-world events that occur spontaneously throughout the world of FFXIV, with the Yo-Kai watch equipped, and players can obtain a Yo-kai Medal, a currency used to purchase minions. Once all the minions are purchased, players will be able to obtain an event exclusive mount. As mentioned previously, there are also 13 types of weapons to obtain, one for every combat job in Final Fantasy XIV. These too, are also purchased through another event limited currency, legendary medals, which is a random drop in F.A.T.Es. Fight alongside the minion, collect enough of the legendary medals and players can purchase the weapons from the event NPC. Keep in mind though, the currency for weapons are not a guaranteed drop so a bit of a grind is to be expected. The challenge for the weapons is not unrewarded though; obtain all 13 weapons and a second flying mount, the Whisper A-Go-Go – a majestic glowing version of the first mount, can be unlocked.

With the amount of grinding involved, some might argue that this is not a fun event, chore-like even. 76 F.A.T.E.s later (this is the amount needed to purchase all 13 minions), I found myself with an adorable mount – the Whisper Go. This did not happen overnight of course; in-fact, it took around 2 nights, running F.A.T.E.s with friends casually, chatting, with plenty of breaks in between. I am on my 5th weapon and while the constant F.A.T.E grind can get a little dry and the random drop rates of the legendary medals can get a little discouraging, I am in no way bored or of this event just yet. In conjunction with the free login event, it is impossible to deny that this event has brought life back to the starter zones of Final Fantasy XIV. New adventures with green sprouts next to their names (an icon indicating the player is a new adventurer) are joining forces with high level veteran players to get these time-limited items. Returning players taking advantage of the free login campaign too, are leveling new jobs, or possibly re-exploring the maps of Eorzea.

The collaboration is currently live and will be on-going until October 3, 2016. The free login campaign is for players with a previous service account and is on-going until August 30 2016, 11:59 PDT, for a maximum of 120 hours at initial login.

For full details, check out the event page here.