The iconic bow and arrow is a classic weapon found in fantasy RPGs, and in Final Fantasy 14, it is used by the Bard job. One Final Fantasy 14 fan has made a special controller to play Bard, which uses a toy Nerf bow to fire off its abilities.
Super Louis 64, a former Gearbox employee, is the one building the controller. An avid gamer, Super Louis 64 is well-known for making unique controllers, from motion sensor gadgets to modified exercise equipment, for games across the industry, including Halo 3, Dark Souls 3, and Breath of the Wild.
This controller consists of a toy bow that activates one of the FF14 Bard’s abilities each time an arrow is fired from it. Super Louis 64’s recent video was a test to see if it would register the arrows firing in the first place, but his eventual goal is to have different types of arrows, each linked to a different Bard ability. By firing a specific type of arrow out of the boy, the character would use the linked ability. He expects to have the project fully-finished soon, either this week or the next.
This is far from the first project Super Louis 64 has taken on. He’s already made controllers to play the Machinist and Dancer jobs, and even ran across the Final Fantasy 14 world using the controller for Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch. Super Louis 64 even made a Buster Sword controller to control Cloud in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake–which he also recently teased he might be adapting for use in controlling the greatsword-wielding Dark Knight job in Final Fantasy 14 as well.
Fans were over the moon when they saw Super Louis 64’s newest project. With some of his videos garnering hundreds of thousands of views, the final version of the Bard controller will undoubtedly gain attention, but even the prototype of the Final Fantasy 14 bow drew tons of love. Eager to play with his ingenious toys, many asked when he would be selling copies of his virtual reality controllers–and were only half-joking about it.
While creative and fun, Super Louis 64’s Bard controller is not exactly the most optimal way to play the Final Fantasy 14 job. Many took the chance to joke about how they didn’t think the support-focused ranged DPS class’s damage output could get any lower. Obviously, the controller was built with a focus on fun over efficiency. In that category, it most definitely succeeded.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.
