Final Fantasy 14 players are getting incredibly creative and role-playing as Bridgerton-era characters.
Final Fantasy 14 and Bridgerton isn't an obvious crossover, and it's one that you never knew you needed until you see it. Over the past few days, hordes of Final Fantasy 14 players have been dressing themselves up in elaborate ballgowns and flashy suits to partake in the '#FFXIVBridgerton' hashtag on Twitter, effectively cosplaying regency-era characters.
You can see just a sampling of some of the cosplay and dress up in the tweets just below. Since a lot of players are focusing on the Bridgerton-era balls right now, they're effectively having to cosplay with at least one other player at a time to make it seem like they're in the midst of a more populous event, which has got to be a challenge for some.
𝐷𝑎𝑦 2 - 𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑙Lady Juliette, resplendent in her finest gown, arrives with her mother, Baroness Geneviève. The sight of their entrance has caught the discerning eye of none other than the mysterious Lord Dorian Ashcroft. #ffxivbridgerton (1/3) pic.twitter.com/aujPOYTu56June 5, 2024
.·:*¨༺𝒥𝓊𝓃𝑒 𝟥: 𝒞𝒶𝓁𝓁𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒢𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇, 𝐼𝓉 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒, 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒻𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑜𝓃.·#ffxivBridgerton pic.twitter.com/2jLPmCwP8zJune 5, 2024
𝑫𝒂𝒚 2 - 𝑩𝒂𝒍𝒍 🏹𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. #gposers ⬩ #ffxivBridgerton ⬩ #hexmods ⬩ #vivimods pic.twitter.com/QYejAthHMgJune 4, 2024
If you're wondering where this hot new trend stems from, look no further than the tweet below. The whole Final Fantasy 14 and Bridgerton mash-up has been a fan-led event, co-ordinated over the dates in the tweet below. Today, June 5, we're on the 'Promenade' section of the event, but tomorrow, June 6, we'll probably see a lot of players taking to the grassier areas of Square Enix's MMO for a picnic.
You are cordially invited to participate in the FFXIV Meets Bridgerton Event hosted by ourselves June 2-June 8, 2024. Please review the prompt list below. (Text version and additional details in comments.) pic.twitter.com/P3ANuKBMUbMay 7, 2024
June 7 is where things get spicy. There's some sort of scandal afoot - that's right, this isn't just a cosplay event, but an entire ongoing storyline that players can work in atop their cosplay to tell one big overarching tale from Bridgerton. I've even seen one Twitter user going so far as to publish their own Lady Whistledown Society Paper to give their story an area of scandal.
Final Fantasy 14 and Bridgerton have more shared history than you might think. Actor Jonathan Bailey gained international attention for his role as Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton, in the Netflix series in 2020, but he's been playing fan favorite cat boy G'raha Tia in Final Fantasy 14 since 2017's Stormblood expansion. He's set to return later this month in the Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail expansion on June 28.
Even after finding that international success, Bailey doesn't want to step away from G'raha Tia. "I'm aware of how important this character is to so many people," the actor said an interview earlier this year. "I was so determined to not step away from this character that, when I was doing [theater show] Company, I had to record this in the day for about a week while doing eight shows at night."
