For the primary time in 11 years, the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV is embarking on a completely new period for its story arc. Dawntrail units its sails for fully separate areas stuffed with cultures and histories by no means seen within the sport’s lengthy history–you can collect as a lot from the intro cinematic or the a number of Reside Letters from director and producer Naoki Yoshida the place he is talked extensively about this new journey. I had the possibility to play an early preview construct of Dawntrail, and whereas there wasn’t any main story content material, experiencing the land of Tural itself already instructed so many tales.
The event crew at Artistic Enterprise Unit III is digging deep into Mesoamerican inspirations, drawing from cultures of pre-colonial Central and South America. It is simply seen within the structure of the buildings, the topography of Tural’s varied zones, and the names for all of the areas. In the identical manner Endwalker drew from Indian and South Asian tradition to create the Thavnair area, Dawntrail’s wealthy, real-world influences are being mirrored in almost each side, and on a a lot bigger scale.
I spent a variety of time strolling the streets of Tuliyollal, the brand new essential hub for Dawntrail. Going by means of {the marketplace} filled with distributors, seeing the textiles and buildings that make up the city, and watching the NPCs undergo their animation units, establishes a way of place that has deep roots. It is not a lot pulling immediately from these real-world inspirations, reasonably a mixing of them with the event crew’s personal creativeness to make one thing wholly distinctive for FFXIV, but so acquainted to those that know a bit concerning the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and Latin America. However this would not have occurred with out the assistance of a number of teams who had the perception to assist craft Tural in all its element.
I spoke to Yoshida about how the crew approached creating Dawntrail, and he mentioned, “We wished to ship to our gamers this space the place there is a various number of values, folks have completely different views of their politics, and are attempting to come back to a mutual understanding. We began researching extra concerning the historical past behind the completely different cultures that exist in that [real-world] area, right down to even the meals and the historical past behind a few of that meals.” He additional defined the way it was a multi-team effort with their localization groups overseas and different branches of Sq. Enix to make it possible for the concepts the Japan crew had would not misrepresent the cultures it pulled from.
Yoshida continued, saying, “We went to an exterior firm, ensuring that we’re getting recommendation from them and enter on what is suitable and what may probably be a threat. We made certain we have been discussing and hashing issues out to have an applicable depiction of what we wished to point out in sure areas. So whereas it’s all fantasy and fiction, we wished to additionally make it appear very actual on the identical time, a really grounded world.”
He went on to clarify how exterior consultants suggested on preliminary materials which led to discussions of how sure issues may be misinterpreted or probably offensive. Yoshida mentioned the crew pushed to know why it might be the case in these explicit situations, and as an alternative of abandoning the preliminary concept completely, they labored to develop a deeper understanding and ship these concepts with higher intent. “We do need to emphasize that we did our due diligence, not simply internally, however then we additionally made certain to get correct suggestions and recommendation,” Yoshida concluded.
Whereas all the groundwork is essential for doing proper by its direct influences and creating one thing that is nonetheless genuine, it appears to be the crux of the principle state of affairs questline. Yoshida talked about right here that having variety in its area is important to inform its story about how completely different cultures and societies resolve their variations. And whereas that is sadly about as a lot as he was prepared to share, it is also attainable to pluck out a bit extra about what is going on on in Dawntrail from the primary dungeon obtainable by means of MSQ, referred to as Ihuykatumu.
For those who run it by means of Obligation Help, you can take Alphinaud and Krile, and the newcomer Wuk Lamat who’s the feminine Hrothgar you see within the Dawntrail intro cinematic. The dungeon begins with them chasing somebody down a river on a ship, then battling by means of jungles, caves, and ruins. Nonetheless, the twist right here is Urianger and Thancred are on this dungeon as properly, as NPCs who hinder your path by means of the dungeon, as if to antagonize you. We all know there may be some type of larger competitors happening within the story primarily based on earlier Reside Letters, alluding to what we would name a “event arc” within the anime world.
As for the dungeon from a gameplay perspective, it is pretty customary stuff for FFXIV–you battle a pair mobs of enemies, battle a boss, and do this two extra occasions. However essential dungeons in FFXIV have been by no means actually about breaking from that method; it is as an alternative concerning the spectacle and their operate as a storytelling machine. That is to not say there aren’t some enjoyable boss fights, nevertheless, firing off waves of area-of-effect assaults it is advisable dodge whereas maintaining uptime together with your assault rotation. Ihuykatumu offered an honest problem, nevertheless it was additionally an excellent alternative to check out the brand new Jobs–Pictomancer and Viper–in a full gameplay state of affairs.
Pictomancer has received to be essentially the most unserious Job in FFXIV, and I am completely digging it.
I need to say Pictomancer is my favourite of the 2, and that is as a result of its imaginative design and mobility as a magic DPS. To distill it right down to the fundamentals, Pictomancers queue up their huge assaults by drawing one of many three portray sorts, that are proven on the Canvas gauge. There’s the Weapon Motif, Creature Motif, and Panorama Motif, every of which is summoned individually, after which used to execute assaults. Utilizing these work’ assaults feed into Depiction, which helps you to then entry larger assaults primarily based on the mix of work you have used. Pictomancer additionally has a sequence of ordinary casts referred to as Aetherhue that fill the gaps throughout portray cooldowns, however in addition they feed into the Palette Gauge and swapping portray colours provides you entry to completely different spells–not too dissimilar to how Pink Mage swaps magic sorts. It jogs my memory a little bit of the previous Summoner of pre-Endwalker FFXIV as properly, nevertheless it has such a pure circulate that makes its assault rotation a lot enjoyable to churn by means of.
Pictomancer has received to be essentially the most unserious Job in FFXIV, and I am completely digging it. There’s one thing satisfying concerning the thwack of the three-part hammer assaults through the Weapon Motif and the massive injury numbers flying out whereas frantically working throughout the fight enviornment. However I additionally benefit from the steadiness between juggling its varied mechanics whereas maintaining a pointy eye in your cooldowns. It may be loads to wrap your head round due to how completely different Pictomancer presents itself, however as long as you are taking the time to know its intricacies, it will all make excellent sense in battle.
From all the pieces I’ve gathered, Dawntrail might be hitting one other theme that is near residence: venturing into new beginnings, however by no means forgetting the place you got here from.
In my dialog with Yoshida, he additionally waxed philosophical concerning the improvement crew’s journey creating new Jobs and transforming previous ones all through the years. The prevailing concept was concerning the individuality of every Job, and desirous to keep away from a homogeneous gameplay circulate between them. Viper is designed in a manner that has a number of single-button actions that change all through its rotation, however options branching paths inside that assault rotation that you’re going to need to prioritize primarily based on the fight state of affairs or what sort of buff or meter you are working towards. So, I requested if this explicit design is indicative of the place FFXIV goes with future Jobs and reworks of current ones. And Yoshida replied, “[With regards to] about how the Viper and Pictomancer are arrange, that is the individuality of these jobs.”
In terms of maintaining fight attention-grabbing and difficult sooner or later, it is not a lot about making Jobs extra sophisticated or simpler to make use of; reasonably, it will come from the battle design. Yoshida instructed me, “For Dawntrail 7.0 and the 7.x patch sequence, our objective by way of a satisfying participant expertise, we need to focus in on the mechanics and the individuality of a few of these encounters.” As somebody who recurrently sinks time into endgame content material and progressing the hardest raid bosses in FFXIV, I’ve excessive expectations primarily based on what Yoshida has mentioned and what we have seen in pre-release displays.
On the finish of the day, I got here away from enjoying Dawntrail with my ardour for FFXIV reinvigorated. I have been so wrapped up in Savage raiding and it virtually appears like a lifetime in the past once I was in a puddle of tears ending Endwalker again in 2021. At occasions, it has been as if I forgot why I fell in love with FFXIV within the first place. So, stepping out into Tural for the primary time, I used to be reminded that FFXIV has nonetheless received it and that there is a lot extra left within the tank for the critically acclaimed MMORPG. And that is simply what’s on the floor, as a result of as Yoshida has mentioned, they simply cannot say something concerning the deeper story, and from what we have seen concerning the futuristic metropolis of Answer 9 and secret know-how buried beneath Tural, I am additionally reminded that FFXIV is all concerning the wild twists and turns alongside the best way.
FFXIV has resonated with me a lot over time for the way it at all times made me replicate by myself life, whether or not that be about friendships, preventing for one thing higher, or confronting mortality with a courageous face. One among my favourite items I wrote for GameSpot was on Shadowbringers and patch 5.3’s story, and simply how a lot I really like G’raha Tia and the characters who embody such highly effective narrative themes–now right here he’s consuming tacos within the streets of Tuliyollal. And so, from all the pieces I’ve gathered, Dawntrail might be hitting one other theme that is near residence: venturing into new beginnings, however by no means forgetting the place you got here from.
FFXIV: Dawntrail begins with its early-access interval on June 28 for many who preorder the growth, and goes reside for everybody else on July 2, and it will likely be obtainable on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox Sequence X|S.
This text relies on play of an in-development construct of FFXIV: Dawntrail, and content material within the last model is topic to alter.