As one of the most popular game series of all time, it comes as no big surprise when Final Fantasy inspired designs crop up in awesome collaborations and crossovers. From animated movies and manga series, a mobile spin-off game and more pieces of memorabilia than you can imagine, Final Fantasy seems to have planted a foothold in almost every single entertainment and leisure industry.

Fans of the RPG game who are also blessed with a love and taste for music will be overjoyed to welcome the newest collaboration to their collection; the Final Fantasy XIV Stratocaster.

Teaming up with Fender Music Corporation, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Square Enix has designed and released an electric guitar that captures the gaming world of Final Fantasy XIV (from hereafter written as FFXIV).

The head, neck and hardware are all black, whilst the body features a graphic resembling two different coloured ‘crystals’ to express ‘the balance of light and dark’ – which is one of the themes that is regularly touched on in the FFXIV story.

Trail your eyes up the rosewood fingerboard to the 12th fret, and you’ll notice an inlay depicting the meteor symbol from the FFXIV game.
The FFXIV logo and the edition number are engraved onto the neck plate, only adding to the guitar’s premium feel and complete with a slim C-shape neck, the Final Fantasy XIV Stratocaster will sit comfortably in the hands of any player.

The guitar pickup is equipped with Fender’s V-Mod Single-Coil Strat®, which ‘adds a modern essence to the classical tone, and allows the guitar to be adaptable to a wide range of music genres.
The guitar also features a push-push pot, which has been tentatively named the guitar’s ‘limit break’, as it allows the player to ‘unleash’ a thick sound resembling that that a humbucker pickup would make by pushing it.

Accompanying the guitar, is a vintage-style hardshell case that features both the FFXIV and Fender logos, as well as a special booklet containing a numbered certificate and an original edition FFXIV illustration card designed by the game’s developers, Square Enix.

The guitar will also be added to the game from 25 May 2021 as an available instrument/weapon for bards, meaning that the guitar can be enjoyed in game play alongside the real thing. More details about the addition of the guitar to the game will be added to the Patch 5.5 website here.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Stratocaster

Suggested retail price: 396,000 yen (tax included)

Includes guitar, vintage style hard case, original certificate and artwork designed by Square Enix.

In Japan, reservations for the guitar will be available to be made from 25 May 2021, with shipments and over-the-counter sales scheduled to take place around late October 2021.
For overseas fans, the guitar will be made available for reservation in the latter half of 2021, with shipments beginning in early 2022.


By - Connie Sceaphierde.