Final Fantasy XIV's latest patch opens up the Gold Saucer, where a hub of mini-games and activities are available. Based off the FFVII's amusement park of the same name, XIV's includes chocobo racing, FFVIII's Triple Triad, Lotteries, and more.

The full patch notes for 2.51 are here: [Link]

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Chocobo Racing!

Unless I can date a large burly dude with getting guns for hands, I don't see the point.

triple triad gonna ruin my life.

Also the music is maddeningly addictive.

Man everytime I see something posted about FFXIV posted here in the forums or mentioned on podcasts I really want to get back into the game. I am still playing WoW though :\ mostly because I have family and RL friends playing. But damn does this new patch make me want to come back.

Another "Free Login Weekend" (which is actually over a week) coming up:

Fledgling adventurers continue to arrive in Eorzea in droves, and we are pleased to announce that the realm is now home to four million registered accounts. To celebrate this momentous milestone and beckon yet more adventurers to the realm, we will be hosting a Free Login Campaign!

If you or any of your friends are currently taking a break from your adventures in Eorzea, this is the perfect opportunity to sample all the latest additions to FINAL FANTASY XIV, including the recently opened Manderville Gold Saucer. You won't want to miss out on this limited-time event!≪Free Login Campaign Overview≫

Users meeting the following conditions will be able to play FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn free of charge during the upcoming Campaign:

Eligibility

Users who have previously purchased and registered FINAL FANTASY XIV and whose service account is set as inactive during the campaign period.

*Please visit the FINAL FANTASY XIV: Mog Station to confirm the status of your service account.

Event Schedule

From Friday, February 27, 2015 at 12:00 a.m. (PST) to Monday, March 9, 2015 at 1:00 a.m. (PDT)

* Please note that a subscription to FFXIV: ARR is required to continue playing after the event period.

Client Download

If you have yet to install the game, please download the official client software.

(http://sqex.to/ffxiv_client_en)

Don't miss out on this chance to experience Eorzea in all her glory!

Yea, I will definitely be firing up the game for the free 10 days. I really enjoy FFXIV when I played. I hope you can play Triple Triad against other people!

Not to bum anybody out, but there is very little to actually do in the Gold Saucer. You can do these weird lottery ticket things, play Triple Triad, do the Chocobo Racing (theoretically - I haven't seen it yet), and that's more-or-less it. It's nowhere near as jam packed as it was in FF7.

I'm all for nostalgic locations in FFXIV, but people need to be realistic about this. I saw people in the chat losing their minds.

@randyf: Unfortunately I am not surprised. Square Enix seems to be particularly good at pulling the nostalgia strings and then completely shit the bed on execution. I absolutely LOST MY SHIT when I was first introduced to Serendipity in FF13-2... only the realize it was a totally empty mess with a couple of complete crap games. Bummer :'/

(DAT MUSIC HAD ME THOUGH ! SO GOOD !)

@randyf said:

A lot are noticing that now. There's choco-racing, triple triad, about 4-6 little mini games, and a lottery. I never expected any more or less. People are going crazy over Triple Triad though and that will have some tail to it for the time being. Right now there's not much to do other than grind out MGP for rare glamors and mounts, but it's an MMO and you don't have to try very hard to make people crazy over that stuff. As long as they back up their promise of expanding and enhancing it, it's still a great setup for an MMO. If they just leave it as is though, it will be kind of a disappointment.

I don't know I had a blast with golden saucer. First time I went in there I had a big dumb grin on my face the entire time. So much nostalgia. And Triple Triad and Chocobo races are way more in depth then I thought they would be for a mini game inside an MMO.

Honestly I never understood what people liked so much about FF7's Gold Saucer. Most of the mini-games were dumb and pointless. (That motorcycle game maybe the one exception.) Given the nature of the game the rewards were never really worth the effort either.

With that being said, most of FFXIV's mini-games are dumb and pointless, but Triple Triad is way more fun than anything that was in FF7's Gold Saucer. Also I've only dabbled with the chocobo racing, but it seems more engaging than the way FF7 handled it, given that the leveling and breeding aspect seems more in-depth and immediately rewarding. Two things in a whole amusement park doesn't seem like much, but it's still enough to keep me coming back more than I ever did in FF7.

Really loving Chocobo Racing and Tripple Triad but i have noticed that as TT gets more popular the DF queues have started to get longer as a result. Double edged sword springs to mind lol.

I don't know about TT, but I'm hitting that Chocobo Racing pretty hard.

It's a pretty solid start I think. I never played Triple Triad in the brief time I played 8 (I think I remember liking Tetra Master more?) but yea it's kind of addicting. More specifically, collecting cards (or anything) is addicting. Also soul crushing because the drop rates on cards from NPCs or various duties is abysmal. To be expected though since it is an MMO.

The environment is great. The music is great. They just kill it with the fan service in this game. The four little mini-games though are pretty much pointless, which is a shame since they have a nice presentation. The lottery things are cool.

Just started on Chocobo Racing tonight and it seems pretty fun. I'm not a fan of the slot/lane design as I think they could've just done normal free movement but apparently was done because of latency stuff. Regardless, I'm still having a bunch of fun with it and love the presentation. Haven't even begun the training and breeding aspects yet.

Overall, a great start. They really need to get in some mini-games on the level people were expecting. Like the snowboarding or other things from FF7. It doesn't have to be those specifically, but stuff on that level. And they absolutely need a Battle Arena. I'm sure all of this is already being worked on for the future.

Final Fantasy XIV continues to impress patch after patch.