There were a lot of expectations and speculation headed into Final Fantasy XIV Tokyo Fan Festival. While fans may not have gotten everything they wanted, they certainly got a lot.
Here are the big Final Fantasy XIV news bombs that came out of the Tokyo Dome during the event’s keynote presentation with the game’s director Naoki Yoshida or Yoshi-P.
Full Dawntrail trailer reveals female Hrothgar
The full, almost 6-minute-long trailer kicked off the keynote and set up a lot of the big announcements that would be discussed during the presentation.
The full trailer gave us longer looks at the casual goings on of our Scion friends like Alisaie, Thancred, and the taco-eating G’raha Tia. It also gave us our first look at Dawntrail Alphinaud who’s onboard the same ship we’ve seen the trailer open with since the teaser was released almost half a year ago.
The big moment, however, came shortly after the blue twin made his debut. The existence of female Hrothgar in Final Fantasy XIV 7.0 was finally confirmed in the form of a new character whose name was mentioned but the spelling of which has not been confirmed by anyone in the Final Fantasy XIV team. But Yoshi-P did detail her importance in the Dawntrail narrative as the daughter of the current ruler of Tural and the reason why the Warrior of Light and company are venturing into this part of the world in the first.
This new character would also end up confirming female Hrothgar as the next new playable race in Final Fantasy XIV. While Yoshi-P himself indicated during the keynote that this would be the final playable race added to the game, he also said that that may not necessarily be the case just moments after. His endearing indecisiveness seems to be based on the possibility of community input; if the community pushed for something to be added hard enough in the future, he’s open to reconsidering.
Pictomancer announced as the second new job
We all expected the second new job to be revealed in the full trailer, it was just a matter of how. When Krile appears with an updated look, playfully waving a magical brush that colors her surroundings and manifests clusters upon clusters of butterflies, you just know this is it.
Pictomancer, a class originally introduced in Final Fantasy VI, will be joining Viper as one of Dawntrail’s two new jobs. A ranged magical DPS that attacks foes by magically painting creatures, landscapes, and weapons, the Pictomancer offers an aesthetically vibrant combat style that’s really unlike any job that’s come before it. Just as an example, it seemingly combines the artistic skills of Bob Ross and the aggressive stroke movements of Epic Mickey to paint a Moogle that comes to life and zaps a foe with a beam in the job’s short demo trailer.
If this unique gameplay sounds compelling to you, you’ll be able to pick up Pictomancer at level 80 in Gridania.
Dawntrail release window revealed
One thing we were hoping to get but didn’t was an official release date for Final Fantasy XIV’s next major expansion. The full Dawntrail trailer did not conclude with that key piece of information as it has in the final cuts of other expansion trailers, but it did give us a “Summer of 2024” release window.
Yoshi-P expanded on this decision and mentioned, that while the development team has a specific launch date in mind, they need more time to determine the accuracy of that date. He specifically mentions not wanting to repeat what occurred with the game’s previous expansion, Endwalker, which ended up being delayed two weeks from its announced launch date.
However, he reassures players with a joke that Dawntrail will not be released on “Square Enix time,” meaning the expansion will be available in the summer and not later.
The release date of Patch 6.55 Growing Light Part 2
The 6.5 Growing Light Part 1 update was released back in October, and now we know the second chapter of the Growing Light storyline is set to be released on January 16, 2024. The 6.55 patch update is expected to be the final Endwalker entry and will be setting up the start of the Dawntrail storyline.
Two new locations revealed
Yoshi-P lifted the lid on two more map locations that further demonstrate Dawntrail’s locale and geography variety.
There’s Solution Nine, a hub city with a glowing, futuristic aesthetic that looks more science fiction than Final Fantasy. The history behind this location, specifically the story behind the civilization that created it will somehow be of great importance to players.
Heritage Found is described as a mysterious, naturally dangerous region with thick thunderclouds that block the sun. The high bordering towers in the still images stand like ancient temples with purple neon, while the smaller buildings adjacent are simpler, with a uniform, clay-like façade.
More details on new raid content
We got a few choice details on the Dawntrail raids we’ll be running with our friends and static team members. Starting with the upcoming Alliance Raid series, which we already knew was titled “Echoes of Vana’diel” and would be featuring a Final Fantasy XI theme. Thanks to some concept art that Yoshi-P revealed, we now also know that The Shadow Lord, Final Fantasy XI’s original main antagonist will play a role in the anticipated 24-person raid series. If we had to put money on it, we’d predict he’d be showing up as a raid boss, but we’ll have to wait and see.
The new 8-player raid series will be called "The Arcadion" and it’ll be a Final Fantasy XIV original storyline. The first wave is expected to be released about one month after the release of Dawntrail and its concept art seems to indicate its narrative will involve very advanced technology.
Finally, new Ultimate Raids are coming, and they’ll be based on the Eden’s Verse series made available during the Shadowbringers era. Players won’t have to wait too long for more Ryne and Gaia as the first Dawntrail Ultimate is expected to be released in the 7.1 update.
Other cool things that were announced but are still big mysteries
Yoshi-P seemingly wanted to give players as many game details as possible but was simultaneously very wary about giving us too much. These next few items were all announced during Tokyo Fan Fest, but quickly and with little to no information provided.
New limited job name
He finally let loose the name of the new limited job coming in the later stages of Dawntrail’s cycle. Called the Beastmaster, it will feature a beast collection feature of some sort and is expected to offer solo play or play with other limited jobs.
New field operations
Another Field Operations area similar to Eureka and the Bozjan Southern Front is on the way. No name or estimated timetable for release was offered.
Expansive lifestyle content
What Yoshi-P called “Expansive Lifestyle Content” is coming to Dawntrail in the form of “Cosmic Exploration.” If that sounds like Warriors of Light will be going up into space to craft, build, and carry out other Animal Crossing-esque tasks, that’s what the concept art he revealed seems to indicate. He mentions that the effort players contribute would somehow change the stars they’ve been working on in each update. We can expect to learn more about this mysterious content in future producer live letters.