Today Final Fantasy XIV developer Square Enix hosted the opening keynote of the Fan Festival 2023 in London providing plenty of of news about the upcoming expansion titled "Dawntrail."
As usual, producer and director Naoki Yoshida and localization supervisor Michael Christopher Koji Fox were on stage to share the goods.
TechRaptor attended the event, so we have all the details here for your perusal.
We start with an extended version of the trailer showcased at the previous Fan Festival, including new footage, showing that the first new job for the expansion is a dual wielder fighting with two swords. The same appears in the box art, which you can see above.
The new job is "Viper" and you can see it in action in the video below. It's an original job that never appeared in previous Final Fantasy games and it's a melee DPS.
The gear type is the same as Ninja but the dual blades are different and there is no required class.
The starting level is naturally 80. The only requisite is having purchased the expansion and having leveled up a job at level 80. The Viper's base city-state is Ul'dah.
They can fight with their blades in each hand, or join them at the hilt to deal heavier blows. They can summon the memories of ancient hunters to imbue their bodies with additional powers.
Yoshida-san defined it as a "technically demanding but highly stylish" job. You can see it in action in the video below.
Of course, we already know that there is a second new job (teased at the previous Fan Festival in Las Vegas with plenty more interesting details) that will be a ranged magic DPS. It'll be revealed in January at the Fan Festiva in Tokyo.
With the release of update 6.5 part 2, we'll get more information on how the story will connect to Dawntrail. The Warrior of Light will be involved in the succession for the throne of Tural, a competition that will divide the Scions into two teams.
The main narrative theme is "A Journey of Discovery" and the expansion will include a full single-player RPG worth of story. Questions remain on the nature of the contest, what awaits in Tural, and the truth behind the City of Gold.
We get to see a video of the city of Tuliyollal, the capital of Tural. which will be far different from the cities players have seen before. It's worth mentioning that the music is just a mockup and isn't final.
Incidentally, the city has an established trade route with Old Sharlayan.
We also get to see a video of the areas showcased at the Fan Festival in Las Vegas,m Uruqopacha and Yak T'el.
More new areas have been revealed today starting with Kozama'uka, a tropical region south of Tuliyollal. A myriad of rivers flow down from the crags from the west creating breathtaking waterfalls.
It's home to several peoples, including one reminiscent of the Goblins.
The next area is a desert-like one and it's mostly a secret, but you can see some artwork below. It's pivotal to the story, so Square Enix did not want to spoil it. We do know the name and it's Shaaloani.
It's an arid region in central Tural that is experiencing a boom due to the discovery of Ceruleum deposits, including the building of a railway.
We move on to new allied tribes that we'll encounter, including the Moblins, who reside in the jungles of Kozama'uka. They're expert gatherer and they welcome crafters from other races to collaborate with them.
As we learned before, the level cap will be raised from 90 to 100.
The core battle content will include Fates, the Hunt, Treasure Hunts, and more, on top of many new dungeons (at least as many as in the past expansions). Below you can find some screenshots and art.
Interestingly, the one that looks mechanical is for a dungeon included in the story.
We then get to see a large enemy named "Eliminator," albeit we don't know in which context it will appear. Duty Support will be available for all main scenario dungeons, including plenty of new characters.
The following art shows new gear for gatherers and crafters.
Next is job-specific gear for fighting jobs.
There will be extensive new lifestyle content, but since it's not ready for prime time, it'll be shown in Tokyo in January. Unlike the Island Sanctuary, it'll be something players can enjoy with many other people.
The New Alliance Raid will be Echoes of Vana'diel inspired by Final Fantasy XI. It'll be something that veteran fans will surely enjoy.
Updates of existing content will include the following:
Yet, there's more, a new limited job like Blue Mage coming in the latter part of the 7.X series of patches. Like Blue Mage, it won't participate in party play. More information will be revealed soon.
Moving on to the first graphical update, Au Ra horns and scales have been tweaked to be less reflective and more natural.
Some adjustments have been made to models based on 1.0. For instance, Lalafell characters' cheeks and jawlines were low-polygon.
With the graphical update, the team redid the normal maps that created conflicts with the low-polygon data creating some strange bumps. This has been touched up creating more natural shadows.
This is just an example of the extent of the work being done. You can see and learn much more about the graphical upgrade in our article about the dedicated panel.
We also get to see a screenshot showing headgear and glasses worn together.
Incidentally, the cloud data center stress test announced a few weeks ago will happen approximately between November 21 and November 27. Below you can read a few details.
Last, but not least, we get to see the key artwork of the expansion by Yoshitaka Amano.
Final Fantasy XIV is currently available for PC, Mac, PS4, and PS4, with an Xbox Series X|S version getting a beta in January.
The Danwntrail expansion is coming next summer, but before that, we're still going to be able to enjoy two crossovers, one with Final Fantasy XVI and one with Fall Guys.
