[wigglestyx]

Ah, summer in Vana'diel—a season of scorching days and sweltering nights that will have you working up a sweat just standing around in your subligar.

But don't just stay cooped up in your Mog House casting Waterga on yourself until the cool breezes of autumn blow in. Why, you'd be missing out on one of the liveliest celebrations of the year!

Hark!
Don't you hear the powerful swoosh, boom, and crackle of fireworks in the night sky? The joyous strains of a summer melody in the air?
That's right, friend—the Sunbreeze Festival is just around the corner!

Read on for the cool, refreshing details!

[wigglestyx]

When

The festivities will begin on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 1:00 a.m. (PDT) and run until Monday, August 17th at 1:00 a.m.

Where

Fireworks displays, Sunbreeze dances, and other festivities will commence each day at nightfall in the following locations:

West Ronfaure / East Ronfaure
Southern San d'Oria / Northern San d'Oria / Port San d'Oria
North Gustaberg / South Gustaberg
Bastok Mines / Bastok Markets / Port Bastok
East Sarutabaruta / West Sarutabaruta
Windurst Waters / Windurst Walls / Windurst Woods / Port Windurst
Eastern Altepa Desert / Western Altepa Desert
Rabao

Fun and Frolic

Not content to merely soak up the ambiance? Fear not, for the locations below will feature delightful games with a chance to win exclusive Sunbreeze Festival prizes!

Southern San d'Oria (H-9) / Port Bastok (K-8) / Windurst Woods (K-12)

*Fancy yourself a mini-game master? This year we have a special treat for you! Earn yourself a HQ yukata via one of the aforementioned games, then participate once more while decked out in your new duds, and you'll qualify for an advanced mode offering increased challenge and reward!

Piscine Pursuits

It just wouldn't be a Sunbreeze Festival without everyone's favorite event—the thoroughly gratifying goldfish scoop! Players may test their skills of aquan acquisition at the following locations:

West Ronfaure (G-11) / South Gustaberg (E-8) / East Sarutabaruta (H-8) / Rabao (F-7)

Trade your catch to vendors and you'll accrue points—commensurate with the variety of fish you've snagged—that can be redeemed for a veritable host of valuable prizes!

Item Vendors

Did you miss last year's Sunbreeze festival? Are you dying to get your hands on a stylish yukata to complete your collection? Just pay a visit to one of the vendors in the areas below!

Northern San d'Oria (D-8) / Port Bastok (L-8) / Windurst Waters (G-10)

This is a rare opportunity to acquire items you may have missed in past events—don't pass it up!

[Prothescar]

Yay, been looking forward to this for a long time.

[Corrderio]

This is probably the best holiday event SE ever made for the game. The mini games are fun, and the fireworks are fun every now and then.

Sucks SE can't make the other events more like this. I'd give my right you-know-what for them to make the easter event more fun than the whole 'OMG CAN I HAS THIS LETTER EGG!? LOLOL!"

[Aleera]

I wonder if those butterfly/cricket/glowfly items for their respective cages will be rewards this year in addition to the goldfish sets. They're about the same level synth as the goldfish tanks are, I kinda hope so.. I'm gonna spam the event and make a ton of glowfly and butterfly ones.

[Icerat]

Yay!, my favorite event. Fish scooping and fireworks

[Xani]

When will they make the bottom half of the clothing ; ;?

[The_Pew]

I can't wait. I can hardly remember any of the prizes or items you can get from this event.

[Deo2]

Odd, I wonder why the dat lists show a new pair of yukata with goldfish scooping ability (Otokaeshi/Ominaeshi) when a set already exists (Lord's/Lady's).

I can only hope that the wiki dat miners just assumed these are body pieces and SE is finally giving us some shorts/pants to go with the older sets (/hurray double goldfish scooping ability ).

Ref: Update list

[pathwriter]

This is probably the best holiday event SE ever made for the game.

There's a reason for this: SE didn't make this event. Way back when FFXI was JP only, the players organized an in-game summer festival. They repeated it the next year and SE joined in by making fireworks available from vendors (they couldn't be crafted yet). Since then, it's become an annual event.

A lot of its success, I think, is that it offers no real in-game benefit. It's just pure fun with some traditional Japanese festival decorations and music, instead of tedious and "clever" minigames that become frustrating fast and are ultimately only completed (at least by some people) to get an extra Warp stick or Sneak-enchanted boots.

[Deo2]

I liked the chocobo race hosted by players that rode birds from sandy to bastok through rally checkpoints.

No reason we couldn't do that with raised chocobos and drive them ourselves. Just needs a sponser, alot of 'screenshot judges' at the finishline, and probably do laps in a single zone circuit (reduce variables like player's machines). We could even use npc chocobos as 'pace cars' and 'cameramen'. Oh! and do a timed AM1 nuke on a weak monster for the starting gun/light.

[Xani]

I like this idea...

[Corrderio]

There's a reason for this: SE didn't make this event. Way back when FFXI was JP only, the players organized an in-game summer festival. They repeated it the next year and SE joined in by making fireworks available from vendors (they couldn't be crafted yet). Since then, it's become an annual event.

A lot of its success, I think, is that it offers no real in-game benefit. It's just pure fun with some traditional Japanese festival decorations and music, instead of tedious and "clever" minigames that become frustrating fast and are ultimately only completed (at least by some people) to get an extra Warp stick or Sneak-enchanted boots.

Ahh, that makes sense then.

[Xani]

I spy with my little eye...

[Aleera]

Stalker!

[Alisha]

i remember the first one of these i did where they had the thing where you roam around dungeons with perma sneak/invis. too bad at the time i wasn't a high enough level to make use of it to access coffer chests. i remember a ninja using it to mine ifrits.