The Developmental team from Final Fantasy XIV unveiled their newest expansion that is set to be released in Fall 2021 titled Endwalker. The new trailer opened with the Warrior of Light as a Paladin, helping the twins Alisae and Alphinaud fight. Alphinaud was sporting a new weapon: a kind of laser-blasting contraptions called Nouliths that floated above his back.
Naoki Yoshida took the stage and confirmed that Alphinaud was demonstrating one of the two new jobs coming in Endwalker, a healer, Sage. He mentioned that fans were requesting more healers to be added, The other new job coming will be a melee DPS. The Producer offered viewers a hinting that it will be revealed at a later time, possibly at another presentation. Also, from the looks of it, the hint involved what Naoki was wearing too, sporting a shirt that said “No Comment” to another shirt with a reaper on it.
One of the next topics that came up was the story, The tale of Hydaelyn and Zodiark that began in A Realm Reborn will reach its conclusion in Endwalker, also bringing up this image highlighting the story via expansion:
The Warrior of Light’s Journey will find him going to the Moon, yes, you heard me correctly, here is a quote from that presentation to give us a brief visualization of what to expect coming up “What were the Final Days that brought the Mighty Ancients to their knees? To uncover Myriad Secrets of Hydaelyn Zodiark and deeper mysteries still, the Warrior of Light embarks on a journey to the moon. The Long-Awaited Conclusion to the Tale of Gods Light and Dark!“
Next up, Level Caps! That’s right, the level cap has been increased, now it has increased ten levels making it from 80 to 90. A housing update has been included too, Players will also be able to purchase housing in Ishgard, now that the Ishgard restoration project has been completed. While the area will open with the release of Endwalker, the new housing plots will not be able to be purchased until patch 6.1.
A new areas has been introduced, including the City of Radz-At-Han, Radz-at-Han is in Thavnair, a desert island, where tons of existing clothes and crops in the game are from.
Another thing being introduced in Endwalker is Pandæmonium, a new, dangerous high-difficulty raid series. From the looks of it, it will reveal secrets of the world of Hydaelyn.
Another area that is introduced is the Island Sanctuary, fans, and websites such as Polygon have described this as a new way to play Harvest Moon in a way, but you can raise animals, cultivate the earth and learn to live off the land.
With new areas come, new tribes, in 6.0 players will be meeting new tribes, The Arkasodara Matanga. The players may recognize some of the Elephant like entities from past quests but it will introduce more tribes later down the line.
With the addition of new areas, new tribes, there will also be new threats; fans of Final Fantasy X will recognize this creature immediately, the fierce creature known as Anima! She has made several appearances in spin-off Final Fantasy games. Naoki Yoshida also shared a fun fact that involves Anima’s designer Tetsuya Nomura is also part of the artistic team in Final Fantasy XIV and helped design Anima for FFXIV. Challenging new dungeons have been added for the new expansion as well, showing it in beautiful new artwork for a preview. This also leads to the introduction of Pandæmonium, the High-End Raid.
Let’s talk about another unique feature currently in development; the Data Center Travel is a system that will let players visit their friends on entirely different data centers. This effectively means that players will be able to play with friends regardless of what server they are on, even if they’re in a different region. Yoshida explained another system is coming that will soon let players jump between data centers, effectively removing the final barrier preventing you from playing with your friends. For now, the details are scarce for the moment but will keep you updated on this exciting development!
Another topic that came up during the showcase was the newest patch, Patch 5.5 which is slated to be released in two parts, Part One will be coming on April 13th, 2021, and Part Two coming May 2021. For more information on that, be sure to check out Final Fantasy XIV’s Twitter page for a full rundown.
It doesn’t come as a surprise to many but Final Fantasy XIV will be getting an Open Beta for Playstation Five, the Dev Team showed off the PS5 version, which promises improved visuals, faster loading times, and up to 4K resolution. You can expect the Beta to be released on April 13th, 2021.
The last part of our FFXIV Announcement Showcase Coverage was the announcement of a Digital Fan Festival, due to the ongoing COVID-19 Epidemic a lot of events had to be either postponed or canceled. But there will be a digital festival coming May 14th through the 15th for the U.S. and May 15th to the 16th for Europe.
We may have reached the end of the lineup but be on the lookout for more Final Fantasy XIV coverage! Also, be sure to check out the Creator Spotlight interview with another Warrior of Light, Bell Pepper!
Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, news tips, or questions, email them to: webmaster@bigrednerd.com.
Red's Nerd Den 