Square Enix has teamed up with guitar maker Fender to create a limited-edition official Final Fantasy 14 Stratocaster.
Created as an homage to the MMORPG, Fender claims the guitar was designed to capture "the originality, style and emotion of the game" through various visual design features.
It sports an all-black finish, with some blue and purple translucent body segments meant to invoke Final Fantasy 14's light and dark crystals. A tone pot switch, which Fender calls a "break limit" in reference to one of the combats. capabilities of the FF14, it also allows you to daisy chain the bridge and middle pickups for a tonal change.
His neck, meanwhile, features a meteor-shaped inlay in another nod to the series, and the back neck plate is engraved with the FF14 logo. It even comes with an exclusive set of "sharded" picks, a certificate of authenticity, and an art card.
However, the Fender Stratocaster Final Fantasy 14 will set you back quite a bit. You'll have to shell out £3,499 / £3,199 / AU$6,499 for the instrument, which was originally revealed back in May of last year, but has finally gone on sale now.
a thing of beauty
As far as limited edition video game accessories go, this guitar isn't too bad. It's sleek, minimalist, and even the quirkier parts of the design, like the odd glass-effect edges of the body, aren't too flashy.
Como jugador de Strat, me encantaría probarlo. The C-shaped neck suits me well, and while I'd prefer a maple neck, what single-coil guitarist wouldn't want the ability to add thick, humbucking tones at the flick of a switch (or pulling a mate)?
However, its price does it a disservice. An American original Fender Stratocaster will set you back $2099,99 / £1849 / around AU$2946, which means you're paying almost double for the Final Fantasy brand. Some of the electronics inside will be different and possibly better if they match your tonal palette, but I think you're better off spending the same money at the Fender Custom Shop for a fully customized instrument.
I'll stick with my Mexican Strat for now. Maybe I'll grab some Final Fantasy stickers to stick on his body. I'm sure it's going to be really cool.