Final Fantasy 14 just can't catch a break. Quality issues upon initial release had then-Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada claiming that the game "greatly damaged" the Final Fantasy brand, and the game was shut down near the close of 2012 to make way for the reworked Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. Now, with A Realm Reborn's August 27th release date imminent, the game is struggling with full servers during early access weekend.

This is pretty common in MMOs, especially ones that have as dedicated a following as Final Fantasy 14; what's not so common is the shutdown of other features, such as character creation, which is preventing players from so much as creating a new avatar, let alone playing as it.

A Realm Reborn's director, Naoki Yoshida, apologized to fans on the game's official forums, stating that, unless the simultaneous connection rate decreases, the maintenance crew will be unable to allow the creation of additional characters. Yoshida also asked for players' patience and cooperation as Square Enix works to restore server stability.