It’s not often that a real-life place I’m familiar with gets turned into a staple from Final Fantasy XIV, but today is apparently an exception to this, with London King’s Cross train station getting its very own Aetheryte.
The sculpture has appeared ahead of the FFXIV London Fan Meet on June 24, where players can come together and share stories, memories, and potentially even meet some of their Eorzean friends in real life.
When announced on June 17, the available 150 tickets to the London Fan Meet sold out in under an hour. Those who were lucky enough to get tickets, as well as those who weren’t, have been heading into London King’s Cross to attune to this real-life Aetheryte.
It must be nice for those traveling down to London to be met with something familiar from Final Fantasy XIV. Honestly, I’m a little bit tempted to head down to London myself, as this sculpture will only be in its spot today. While the sculpture is definitely not life-sized, it’s still nice to see something from a game that I love so openly placed in the real world.
However, the London Fan Meet has begun ripples of a discussion among players about the lack of notice provided. The meet was announced at 11 a.m. on a Monday morning, when the majority of FFXIV players would be at work. Even if they did manage to see the Tweet, it’s unlikely that they could get time off work with only a few days’ notice.
The Aetheryte in the area outside King’s Cross is another example of this. There are a huge number of British players who I’m sure would have loved the chance to see it, but it will be gone after today.
Regardless, this is still a pretty cool thing to know is happening, even if I can’t attend myself. And I’m sure there are a lot of confused Londoners wondering why people are trying to touch the strange blue rock, which is certainly an amusing thought.
