FFXIV Trials of Bahamut Escape Room Event

Escape Rooms have really taken off in the last few years. Several opened up near me in Northern California in 2012 and 2013 -- San Francisco has over half a dozen, Sacramento has three. I confess they did not appeal to me overly much, as they sounded like they would involve a lot of arguing and frustration depending on how competitive you and your friends are, or you, your friends, and the strangers you get paired with.

The addition of themes (Agatha Christie mysteries, pirates, a 1920s speak easy) and franchise elements gave them a more unique appeal -- there have been two special Attack on Titan Escape Rooms as well as a Legend of Zelda Escape Room called Defenders of the Triforce but nothing in my neck of the woods that made me want to spend $30-$160 for 60 minutes of group puzzle-solving.

That is, until Trials of Bahamut, the Final Fantasy XIV-themed Escape Room was announced for San Francisco.
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Although I cut my teeth on the Nintendo and Super Nintendo consoles, I had no idea RPGs existed until Final Fantasy VII came out and I’ve spent hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours (and dollars) of my life on the Final Fantasy series’ various incarnations. Although I would have been on board with any generic Final Fantasy content, I have been playing Final Fantasy XIV fairly regularly since its successful relaunch as A Realm Reborn and given the recent release of Final Fantasy XIV’s second expansion, Storm of Blood, using this particular FF as a basis seemed like a solid idea.

My husband and I got together with two other Final Fantasy XIV-playing friends and made a reservation for a 9pm game following the hullabaloo of San Francisco Anime & Cosplay Festival, as we assumed the venue would be in the New People building across the street where Real Escape is located.

Trials of Bahamut was not going to be an everyday escape room, however, as we realized we were headed for the historic Regency Center, home of the iconic Regency Ballroom concert venue. I’ve spent a lot of time in and around the 109 year-old temple-like edifice waiting in line to see Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, VAMPS, and several Western artists but I had never been beyond the ballroom and Social Hall SF. Turns out there’s an even more gorgeous ballroom above the concert hall and this was where 25 tables were set up with FF gear and several tables and banners displayed retro SNES-era blue Final Fantasy menus as well as the entrance to a life-size dungeon made of faux brick and lit by blacklight.

Kind of puts you in the mood for a rendition of Aria di Mezzo Carattere, the opera house sequence from Final Fantasy VI

Each table had a large map, a locked book (a “grimoire”), a small treasure chest, a plush moogle, several puzzle worksheets, and lanyards and cards featuring classic FF Jobs and and FF14 art: paladin, white mage, black mage, bard, ranger, and thief. Technically ranger and bard wouldn’t be in a party member since in FF14 rangers become bards and thieves are just low level ninjas but that’s fan nit-picking.

Each would-be escapee chose a job and received additional cards with printed abilities that helped solve various puzzles. Keeping in theme, the abilities all corresponded to actual abilities and spells throughout the FF series.

Once everyone was seated, a video was projected on a screen that consisted of FF14 footage explaining the backstory, fully voiced and with the original music, as well as a special cutscene using the FF14 assets where the familiar leaders of the various playable “grand companies” or factions implore the player to prevent Bahamut’s rebirth. Mog is introduced as a comedically cowardly but wily sidekick who can assist with your quest, albeit not in combat. Then it was time to stop Bahamut in 60 minutes!

The “escape game” itself wasn’t as simple as “Complete these and you escape/win.” Initially we had to unlock the grimoire, which contained more puzzles but also additional ability cards, giving you the feeling that you had leveled up your job -- satisfying as both a game reward and an RPG fan. Unlocking the book led to unlocking the chest, which contained more ability cards and additional puzzle pieces.

Each participant gets to play as an iconic Final Fantasy job.

Although many of the puzzles were paper-based brain teasers, which I feared would be either too easy or too obtuse to be fun, many of them involved interacting with props and scenery in the dungeon and talking to costumed “NPCs,” actors in costumes. The generic costuming and the actors’ lack of familiarity with the setting was the low point of the event, especially since Real Escape utilized top-notch cosplaying fans like the team behind Queensguard Cosplay for one of the special Attack on Titan events, but everyone involved was essentially in character and no one gave too much away or seemed unhappy.

My favorite puzzles involved obtaining physical items from the dungeon -- classic items you receive from iconic FF enemies -- which were used in incredibly creative ways to solve puzzles printed on paper. I can’t go into too much detail as we were kindly asked not to spoil anything.

We were one of many groups that lined up to face Bahamut with only a scant few minutes remaining. We almost didn’t make it, as our initial solution to the final puzzle was wrong (again, I can’t give any details but it was pretty appropriate for something based on an MMORPG) but we came back to the dungeon entrance with everything we needed and just barely managed to defeat Bahamut!

Afterwards we were treated to another custom cutscene celebrating our victory and the winning groups were announced. Roughly 65% of the teams managed to triumph over Bahamut, which seems like a reasonable number -- not too hard, not too easy. Following this, the winners who barely succeeded in time were granted the honor of a celebratory photo with a large Bahamut banner and a selection of props.

Our triumphant raid group got a helping kupo from Mog.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience for both hardcore Final Fantasy fans as well as people who only had a passing familiarity with the series. Real Escape will be showcasing Trial of Bahamut in Phoenix, Houston, Orlando, Chicago, and New York from August through October so if you’re curious about escape games, a Final Fantasy fan, or both, I’d say it’s worth the $35.

​- Laura