Final Fantasy XIV was closed after the "End of an Era" event that marked the devastation of Eorzea by Bahamuth and set the stage for the upcoming release of A Realm Reborn. Then the servers were temporarily reopened to allow active players to get a little more out of the game before the curtain finally closes.

Today Square Enix announced that the servers of the game will finally go dark for good on Monday, December the 31st at 6:59 AM PST.

I guess the date has quite the symbolic value, as Final Fantasy XIV will die as the year wanes and the new year that will see the birth of A Realm Reborn begins (of course we still don't know when, during that new year, the new game will be launched). Interestingly enough, the announcement came today, when the Final Fantasy series celebrates its 25th birthday.

All things considered, it's been a good run, and I will miss the exotic streets of Ul'dah, the tall platforms of Limsa Lominsa and even the forest labyrinth around Gridania (ok, I won't miss that one all that much...), even if we can still reminisce together in my The Story So Far weekly column, that will see a new episode tomorrow.

Moving on to A Realm Reborn itself, today Square Enix shared a snapshot of the 3D Model of the Behemoth Chocobo Armor that will be included in the new game. It's still missing its textures, but it definitely looks quite imposing already.