A closer look at the game's rating summary

If there’s one word I wouldn’t use to describe Final Fantasy XI, that word would be “edgy.”

Immersive, intense, thought-provoking and hardcore, yes -- but not edgy.

Might Final Fantasy XIV be different?

The Entertainment Software Rating Board – a nonprofit entity which rates games and enforces advertising and privacy rules in the gaming industry – hints that Final Fantasy XIV may be slightly more grown up than Square Enix’s previous MMO enterprise.

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Keep in mind the game is only rated “T” for teens. Nobody expects Final Fantasy XIV to have anything in common with Bioshock or Fallout 3. Square Enix has a long history of making innovative games that young people can safely enjoy. I’m sure this game will be no different.

Still, some excerpts from the ESRB’s rating summary of FFXIV – which can be read in its entirety here – definitely caught my eye:

• "Some female characters are depicted from low camera angles, with lingering camera views of their buttocks."

• "Dialogue contains suggestive references; for example, 'The netmaster’s probably up in his office polishing the mast just thinking about her.'"

• "The word 'sh*t' can be heard in the dialogue."

Just to clarify, Final Fantasy XI isn’t without suggestive content. However, monsters in that game didn’t bleed during cutscenes, and nobody would have dared to call Shantotto a "cheating little whore," right?

This rating summary likely doesn’t reflect the totality of the game, but I’m excited to see whether Final Fantasy XIV has grown with its probable playerbase. Who really wants an “E” game anyway? Statistically speaking, most people who play FFXIV will be adults. We won’t flinch at the occasional bad word or suggestive cutscene. In fact, we just might like it.

Oh, and about the netmaster; clearly the woman he’s thinking about is Miqo’te.