Are you ready to test Final Fantasy XIV?

When Final Fantasy XIV was revealed one of the first things that was announced was a beta test. Within a matter of weeks a beta application went up on the main FFXIV site, but nobody has received any word on when the actual beta test would start.

Well, that is....until now.

Via the official Final Fantasy XIV twitter page the beta has been announced to start on July 10, 2010. Holy shit! That's this saturday! Since i'm not one of the lucky ones who have been awarded a Beta Key yet i'm not entirely sure if they have been given out, but I can assure you that when/if I do get one I am going to be all over this. Final Fantasy XI and I had a love-hate relationship for quite a while. I seriously loved the game world that Square had created, but I absolutely loathed the leveling system and the asinine partying requirements just to take down a simple goblin. Given my history with the first FF online game I wasn't really too sure if I was going to pick this one up.

However, after finding out what was going to be available in the collectors edition of Final Fantasy XIV I have pretty much relinquished my caution for the game and have prepared myself to pre-order it as soon as I possibly can. Honestly, I have no idea why I'm so excited over this game. Is it because the majority of the crap that Square has released lately has been absolutely abhorrent and this game actually seems to hold some level of potential? Could be.

Either way the beta test starts this Saturday for both the EU and NA versions of Final Fantasy XIV, so for those of you with a beta key you wont have to wait much longer before you can hop on a Chocobo and ride off in to the sunset.