Greetings adventurers,

Yoshida recently posted a blog highlighting Valentine's Day & White Day in Japan, and we wanted to share his words with you!

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Hello everyone, this is Naoki Yoshida, Producer and Director of FINAL FANTASY XIV.

Today is White Day in Japan, a day where we return our favors to those who sent us gifts on Valentine's Day. As such, I'd like to dedicate today's post as a thank you for all the Valentine's Day gifts that we received on behalf of the characters that appear in FFXIV.

We wanted you to hear the characters' joyous voices again as we did last year, but the development team is currently entering the final phase of production for the upcoming expansion, Shadowbringers.

As bittersweet as it may be, our duty is to deliver the feelings of your beloved characters in the form of a new adventure and story...!

And so this year, I'd like to personally provide you with a quick look at the heartwarming gifts we received for Valentine's Day.

First, take a look at this mountain of chocolates and other sweets! We received so many that we weren't able to fit them all in one booth, so this isn't even a full representation of the sweets we received!

Many of these presents also came with beautiful letters. Thanks to the efforts of the project management team, letters addressed to specific characters were labeled with a sticky note, so the development team would be able to personally take a look at those.

Gifts that were addressed to the development team were placed in a separate area. We also received many heartwarming letters, and our members had smiles on their faces as they stopped by this table to read them in their spare time.

A number of them teared up as they were reading. For their sake, let's pretend I didn't see them...

A large number of heartfelt gifts were addressed to our characters. We made sure the messages were shared to be read by both the scenario writers and development team. Of the various characters that received personal gifts, I was personally intrigued that Papashan and Teledji Adeledji received letters from different groups of people. Are elder Lalafell characters unexpectedly popular...?! (I found it humorous that the letters to Teledji Adeledji were split between those that were addressed to "Mr. Teledji" and those that were addressed to "Mr. Adeledji". )

Thank you for the truly wonderful Valentine's Day gifts again this year!

Though we delivered your affections to the characters, the sweets were shared by the members of the development team. (The battle over them was quite a sight...)

Our team will continue working with a renewed sense of vigor and determination to bring you all a truly amazing experience in Shadowbringers!

-FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer and Director, Naoki Yoshida