FF14's Island Sanctuary adds animal petting and the community's in love

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 14 patch 6.2 has arrived, with new story quests, a new dungeon, and the next step of the Pandæmonium raid series, but the community's got only one thing in mind: going to the Island Sanctuary and petting the animals.

Island Sanctuary gives you a tropical farm to enjoy, effectively giving your character a slice of the quiet life akin to Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, or Stardew Valley. One of the activities on the island allows you to capture local animals and send them to live on your pasture. In that pasture, you can activate "Pet mode" to wander around and show affection to your livestock.

FF14's developers clearly know how eager fans are to hang out with their fuzzy friends, judging by the in-game tutorial text. "The Pet feature allows you to lovingly pat your animals. Enable Pet mode from the islekeep's index and select the animal you wish to engage with. While your soul may experience rejuvenation from patting happy animals, this has no practical effect on gameplay."

Sorry, Final Fantasy 14, but my raid performance is at least 15% better when my soul is rejuvenated. That's a practical effect. We're used to patches buffing job abilities - this buff applies directly to me.

Fans are already declaring Final Fantasy 14 "the best game" in the wake of petting fantasy sheep, as if the game's critical acclaim, award-winning expansions, and free trial with no restriction on playtime weren't enough to turn all its players into evangelists.

Don't miss any of the best MMORPGs - if you can tear yourself away from your island long enough, that is.

CATEGORIES

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.