News and Announcements for March 2024

Update: Square Enix took a page from the Netflix playbook and released all four episodes of Inside Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on YouTube. Each episode is around 15 minutes long and is made up of behind-the-scenes interviews with the game’s developers, composers, artists, and more. Every interview sheds light on the process of creating Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and how they brought this legendary story and its cast of characters to life for a modern audience. Here are the titles and topics covered in each episode. Shaping the World - Episode 1 (Environment, Art, and Music) Friends of Fate - Episode 2 (Scario, Cutscenes, and Story) New Friends & Foes - Episode 3 (Characters, Combat, a...
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While the April 2 launch of the Final Fantasy XVI x Final Fantasy XIV crossover event was announced during the Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail panel held during PAX East over the weekend, we’ve had to wait until The Lodestone event page went live this morning for more important details. Entitled “The Path Infernal,” players will begin the crossover in Ul’dah. Speak to the Neophyte Adventurer at coordinates X:8.8 and Y9:9.8 to pick up the “A Land on Fire” quest. You’ll need a level 50 job and have completed at least the A Realm Reborn storyline to play it. This could be disheartening news for new players, especially considering those playing on Xbox consoles have only been adventuring in Eorzea ...
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Naoki Yoshida, aka Yoshi-P, made his second major stop at PAX East for a panel dedicated to Final Fantasy XIV’s next major expansion, Dawntrail. The beloved Final Fantasy XIV director didn’t deliver new gameplay details, but it was a big morning nonetheless as the lid was finally lifted on several key dates, including an official Dawntrail release date of July 2, 2024. Early access for Dawntrail begins a few days before the launch on June 28. And those who’d like to take part in that early access will need to preorder the game starting next week on March 26. Yoshi-P hilariously admitted that the team wanted early access to begin earlier, but decided players would need time to play the&n...
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Final Fantasy XVI director Takeo Kujiraoka and producer Naoki Yoshida were in Beantown for a PAX East panel to spill more beans on “The Rising Tide” DLC. Since its announcement, we’ve known that Final Fantasy XVI's biggest and final DLC would be released this spring but, at the end of the panel, Kujiraoka and Yoshida finally let loose that “The Rising Tide” is dropping in less than a month on April 18. The Leviathan-centric DLC will be going for $19.99 on its own, and the Expansion Pass that includes “The Rising Tide” and “Echoes of the Fallen” DLCs comes with a price tag of $24.99. They also shared juicy details on new experiences awaiting players as they uncover the mysteries of Leviathan....
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You may have hopped onto Final Fantasy VII Rebirth recently and were prompted to install a sizeable update before continuing your adventure. That's the Version 1.020 update and it brings fixes to Performance Mode graphics, several bugs, and addresses overall stability issues. Blurry visuals have been an issue for Rebirth since the game’s demo was released, and this 5.77 GB update is Square Enix’s attempt at rectifying that problem in addition to other issues impacting the player experience. Here’s a full breakdown of the 1.020 patch notes. Fixes to missing or incorrect characters in some parts of the game text. Fixes to player character bugs that occur in field areas under certain condit...
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Final Fantasy XIV's latest patch is live and brings several changes that should make preparing for Dawntrail much easier.  First and foremost, weekly limits on certain raid rewards that bottlenecked iLvl progression have been lifted as the game usually does before the arrival of the next major expansion. Specifically, weekly restrictions on Unsung Blades of Anabaseiois earned from Anabaseios: The Twelfth Circle are now a thing of the past, so players can run the raid all they want and then exchange the Unsung Blades for Hermetic Tomestones for higher-level Endwalker weapons. Similarly, the weekly restrictions on treasure coffer rewards and Thaleia Coins earned by completing the Thaleia ...
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Japan’s Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2023 kicked off the week on March 17 and sent Final Fantasy XVI home with the most awards of the night. While the top prize of Game of the Year went to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, FFXVI still earned some competitive wins in Best Graphics, Best Music, Best Voice Actor, for Yuya Uchida’s performance as Clive, Best Character, also for Clive, and Best RPG. Final Fantasy XVI earned seven total nominations, including a Best Game Developer nod for the game’s producer, Naoki Yoshida. Yoshida’s other major project, the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, also took home the award for Best Online Game. Organized by gaming magazine Famitsu an...
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Beginning at 8:00 p.m. PDT on March 24, Final Fantasy XIV will test cross-region data center travel in all regions. With Dawntrail coming this summer, elongated queues are once again a cause for concern, and the Final Fantasy XIV team is evaluating the potential of allowing players to migrate to less populated physical data centers on a temporary and limited capacity to help alleviate queue wait times. While Data Center Travel exists in Final Fantasy XIV, players have been limited to travel within their home regions. Other than the obvious technical drawbacks of playing outside your region like latency, the Final Fantasy XIV team also calls out differences in “market economy” and “socia...
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Correction: In the original article, the custom-designed Xbox is described as a functioning device that could be played per usual. This is incorrect. The custom-designed Xbox Series X is a "non-functional" device designed strictly for artistic purposes. This is outlined in the official rules under section 4, sub-section a, line 1.In addition to the Aetheryte-inspired art piece, the grand prize winner will win a functioning Xbox Series X as part of the Xbox Series X console bundle. This is described in section 4, sub-section a, line 2. Original article: Xbox is celebrating the long-awaited release of Final Fantasy XIV on its platform with a special Xbox console bundle giveaway on X (formally ...
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Throughout its history, Final Fantasy has blessed players with a pantheon of iconic minigames that quickly went from temporary distraction to full-blown obsession. There’s Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad card game and Blitzball from Final Fantasy X to name a couple. Now, less than two weeks after the game’s release, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s Queen’s Blood card game has already become a fan favorite, so much so that director Naoki Hamaguchi says the development team is considering future expansion for the minigame. All this came out during an interview with Red Bull. Hamaguchi says, “We haven't decided anything in terms of future development for Queen’s Blood, but so far, the media who pl...
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In an interview with Game Informer, Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida shares details about the game’s upcoming PC release. Specifically, he provided a small update on the port’s development status and confirmed their plan to release a demo before launch.Yoshida says in the interview via translator, "In terms of where we are in development currently, we're trying to figure out the final stages of optimization right now. When we can release the PC version might be dependent on that – the system requirements and specifications for PC that players will need, so we're trying to figure that out. Naturally, [the PC specifications] are looking to be somewhat high."   According to Yoshid...
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The 2024 and 2025 tour dates for the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour have been released with the tour’s first leg beginning in Los Angeles on August 10, 2024. The tour will travel the globe until March 2025 with performances all over North America, Europe, and Asia. Distant Worlds social media invites fans to “ experience all-new symphonic arrangements of the music of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.” Attendees will enjoy scores by legendary Final Fantasy composers Nobuo Uematsu, Mitsuto Suzuki, and Masashi Hamauzu, all of whom had a hand in creating some of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s 400+ new tracks. Shows will be conducted by the Distant Worlds Music Director and the Associate Mu...
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In a display of fun, seasonal efficiency, two of Final Fantasy XIV's annual events are being combined into one colorful, egg-tastic event. Little Ladies’ Day and Hatching-tide will be “two festivals joined by a blossoming dream” from March 14 until April 1. The Lodestone event page provides no story context to explain this event mashup, but the starting quest will be found in Old Gridania for characters level 15 and above. Find the NPC Jihli Aliapoh at X:10.2, Y:9.4, and pick up the quest entitled “The Princesses and the Eggs.” Take on this whimsical questline and earn the Peatie Horn for the Peatie mount which is basically a pink version of the Laurel Goobbue mount earned via the Sylph Beas...
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The world of Final Fantasy XIV is about to get an influx of new sprouts as Xbox has revealed the full release of the critically acclaimed MMORPG is set for Xbox Series X and S consoles on March 21, 2024. The launch date was announced during this week’s Xbox Partner Showcase and is welcomed news to Final Fantasy fans who’ve been without Final Fantasy XIV in the Xbox ecosystem since the MMO launched more than a decade ago. Eager Xbox owners with Game Pass Ultimate can jump into Eorzea via the Final Fantasy XIV Starter Edition that’ll be available to claim between March 21 and April 19. The Starter Edition packs plenty of value for beginning Warriors of Light with the full version of Final Fant...
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It’s always interesting to find out what inspires those who inspire us. In this case, Naoki Hamaguchi, director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, shared in the latest episode of Square Enix’s “The Games that Made Us” YouTube series that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the game he could not live without. Hamaguchi says, “As a creator of these kinds of games, the title I respect the most is The Witcher series. Especially The Witcher 3. It's already a title from 10 years ago or so but I truly believe this is an extremely well-made title that stands the test of time.” Developed by CD Projekt Red and released in 2015, The Witcher 3 is an open-world, action role-playing game that’s set in a fantasy world....
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Who among us hasn’t wanted to explore the world of Final Fantasy XIV with a small Lopporit at our side? With the Crescent Moon Mount for sale in the Final Fantasy XIV Online Store, this once far-off dream can now become a reality. This adorable mount has your Warrior of Light seated on a yellow crescent moon that sparkles as it floats with a train of whimsical, flowing white fabric draped over the center. Then, there’s the Lopporit companion seated at the front as it occasionally gestures with its tiny arms. Here’s the official in-game description of this unique mount. “Designed in the likeness of a crescent moon, this magicked gondola was being kept in storage in Sharlayan, where it was cla...
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In a discussion with Philippines-based gaming site, One More Game, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi has said that the recently launched game’s Performance Mode would be graphically improved via an upcoming patch. Performance Mode is a special settings feature that allows players to prioritize gameplay at 60 frames per second over maximized graphics. While the tradeoff is meant to be reduced visuals for increased performance, player reports of blurriness and scary lighting suggest that a deeper issue is afoot. These Performance Mode visual woes have been known since the game’s demo and were supposed to have been settled with a demo patch that would carry over to the game’s f...
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Even Google is in a celebratory mood with yesterday’s launch of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Googling terms like “Final Fantasy” and “Chocobo” will pull up search results in addition to a special surprise at the bottom of the window. Press the golden button marked with a Chocobo and see your screen start to shake and a few retro Chocobos scurrying across the Google window. Press the golden button a few times in the row and see even more Chocobos traverse the screen along with one or two Clouds with their Buster Swords raised. Spam the golden button like a madman and start a full-on stampede with Chocobos and scattered Clouds filling the entire window. Google’s Chocobo Easter egg is a fun litt...
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