FINAL FANTASY XIV
Big announcements at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest Las Vegas
We were mixed in with a huge crowd – the lucky ones who managed to grab a ticket to the Las Vegas leg of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2018, which sold out in three hours – and the buzz as they lost their minds over the epic trailer for Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers was incredible.
The third proper expansion to the MMO, it ushers in Version 5.0 in summer 2019, with updates and tweaks that will apply to all players, whether they buy Shadowbringers right away or not. But fans will want to, as Square Enix treats each full expansion as its own release. “Like always,” Naoki Yoshida, the director and producer, told fans, “our mission is to bring with each expansion a full game’s worth of new content.” Shadowbringers carries on the story in a meaningful way, adding huge new areas (we glimpse a woodland with treetop dwellings, a desert with tilting, twisty ruins, and a coast strewn with violet flowers); and, of course, things like new job classes. As was the case with the last expansion, Stormblood, it’s easier to think of this as the next game in the FFXIV series than a small addition.
FEELING BLUE
Between big releases like Shadowbringers Square Enix offers a lot of ongoing support with new content, including story quests and dungeons, which still continues with Patch 4.5 – A Requiem For Heroes. A surprise announcement that this will include a new job class, Blue Mage, elicited more yelling from the crowd, this time chanting “Yoshi-P”, their nickname for Yoshida. Modestly he told them the whole dev team did the work, and the crowd began to chant “dev team” instead.
Yoshida’s ever-humble as the leader of the team working on the game, and throughout the Fan Fest’s presentations and key notes remained so, though he was always ready to tease and have fun with the fans. As were the other members of the dev team – they’re extremely in touch with the players. After the original Final Fantasy XIV had a negative critical reception, Yoshida had the gargantuan task of
OUR MISSION IS TO BRING A FULL GAME’S WORTH OF NEW CONTENT.
rebooting the game from the ground up while maintaining the old version. Continuing the relationship with the fanbase was key to its success.
If anyone could be a rock star game developer it’s Yoshida, but despite revitalising the game and turning it into one that sells out convention tickets within hours, his interactions with the fans are always earnest. Except he literally became a rock star game developer when he took to the stage to close out the show and sing a song with The Primals – a band consisting of some of the game devs, which plays covers of in-game music. Just as mad a moment as it sounds.
FAN-TASY
The Fan Festival was a true celebration for players of the game, and we found plenty to see and do. Las Vegas was just the first location, as the event’s rolling on to Paris and Tokyo early next year. The main stage had something for everyone going on almost all day every day, from in-depth lore discussions to fan Q&As, and even a live piano concert.
In addition, there was a ton of fun activities to get involved in. There were traditional-style arcade games like chocobo racing, basketball challenges, and a cactuar highstriker, plus in-game events that included a special boss battle against Yojimbo, a survival challenge, and a tower climbing competition. PvP mode The Feast even got a look in, with the event playing host to the regional North American Finals where Yoshida congratulated the members of Synergy SiXX of Aether on their win – players are often referred to as hailing from their home servers. The Fan Festival is, after all, a real-life extension of the online community, where those who have played together for a long time may meet for the first time – a fanbase grateful to developers who took care of their ailing game, and developers who are thankful for the players who supported them through thick and thin.