A new era of Final Fantasy XIV is just on the horizon as our beloved Warrior of Light and their companions set sail for the New World, Tural, in Dawntrail. The MMO’s next expansion teases a refreshing, summer vacation-styled adventure; it’s a moment of reprieve for the heroes who traveled to the edges of the universe and saved their star.
Though, as is the case with any beach episode, it’s all fun and games until God shows up to ruin the fun. While we don’t know the exact Dawntrail scenario, Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida has dropped a few sly teases indicating Version 7.0 won’t be a strictly fun-in-the-sun affair. Tural is full of adventure, and after spending a day in some of the expansion’s earliest zones, I’m more than ready to set sail.
During a recent press event hosted by Square Enix, I played an early build of Dawntrail — one that didn’t include some of the more recent benchmark graphic updates, mind you — and realized even a full day of playtime isn’t long enough to sample the entire slice. In a game like Final Fantasy XIV, I’m eager to chase the story behind every environmental detail, all while remembering there’s a wealth of new combat and system changes to try out, too.
The fabled golden cities of the New World
Since the Endwalker patches, Final Fantasy XIV’s team has promised a sizeable graphics overhaul that includes everything from improved textures across models to more dramatic lighting and shadow effects. Seeing those changes in person, even after several livestreams and an updated benchmark, make the upgrades clearer than ever. Dawntrail is gorgeous, no doubt. It’s perhaps the most visually stunning expansion yet, and there’s a lot riding on 7.0’s drastic makeover.
As I moseyed into the capital city, Tuliyollal, it’s clear the zone benefits from these new processes and systems. For a Final Fantasy XIV city, there’s a noticeable jump in the number of items peppered across the landscape here. The expansion’s home point feels like a sizeable step up, and that’s with most of the bustling NPCs and flavor text removed from the build. According to Yoshida, those were cut to spare us from spoilers. Though in hindsight, I realize it was probably for the best, as my enchanted oh-what’s-that reactions while perusing the lush greenery and elaborate architecture had me itching to stop and Gpose everywhere.
Tuliyollal reminds me a lot of another favorite destination, Radz-at-Han, mostly for its interesting uses of verticality and a skyline to die for. There’s a neighboring forest that slopes into the coastline through a gradient of vegetation and colorful architecture. Then at night, the docks glow with posts and strings of warm lantern light, leading the way from Tuliyollal’s beaches into the Aetheryte Plaza. Among my favorite stops were Brightploom Post and the Arch of the Dawn. The former, I’m assuming, serves as some sort of government stronghold within the city; it hosted a few tough military types. The latter was where I found the Alpacas.
The usual city staples we’ll all become too familiar with make up the space in between. Again and again, I doubled back to investigate the nearby market, brimming with vibrant tapestries and tightly packed stalls managed by vendors all dressed in striking textiles. So striking, in fact, that I couldn’t just pass any of them up once, and combed the details of their wares for new items on my Dawntrail furniture wishlist. Here’s to hoping that Square Enix gives us at least a sliver of the new furnishings I spotted across Tuliyollal, I’ve got a place to bulldoze and redecorate.
Even of your little Eorzea, you know precious little
If I could’ve, inspecting the ins and outs of Tuliyollal’s delightful first impressions would’ve taken up a whole day, but moving along paved the way for exploring its neighboring zones, Urqopacha and Kozama’uka. Neither of which I’d ruminated for long after their respective reveals prior, but it’s these areas that have left me reeling in the days after. It’s where I had that old familiar feeling; you know the one. It’s the moment the expansion is real. It’s when a bewildering decade’s worth of storytelling kicks into high gear, leaving me to frantically scan my surroundings for anything and everything to indicate what happened, what’s happening, and what’s gonna happen.
And well, maybe it’s a shocker, but I did not manage to find any of those grand details in the terrain that would lead me to a moment of mystery-solving genius. So no, I still don’t know what on earth Dawntrail is about other than the big Festival of the Hunt inspirations it seems to invoke from Final Fantasy IX, but the wheels are turning. I mean, really turning, too. Every cog up there that sickly read and reread the Eorzean Encyclopedias and side stories is desperately trying to find meaning in every suspicious hillside and ominous blade of grass.
Also, it’s just a lot to take in through your first pass. I realize there’s a thoughtful use of unreachable objects in the distance and mountainous terrain splitting the zones, but both areas feel gigantic. Come launch, Dawntrail’s Main Scenario and series of Aether Current quests will undoubtedly guide the way, but seeing it laid out in totality for the first time certainly gave me a bit of decision anxiety. With so many options ahead, I chose a few places to stop and sightsee in more detail than others.
What’s the story behind Urqopacha’s landscape?
My exploration left me with more questions than answers about anything waiting beyond the Indigo Deep. Some of my curiosity was rooted in previous Live Letter broadcasts, but Yok Tural no doubt has plenty of history to tell. In the Eorzea we’re familiar with, the acceptance of the New World’s actual existence seems more recent than anything, just within the last 80 years or so. It was Urqopacha’s southern landscape, in particular, that spurred my desire to dig and learn more. The land is covered in crumbling ruins, some stretched along the mountains or tucked into valleys, all in different states of decay.
The map also revealed locale names, with places in the south like Proof, Shades of Grief, Sunken Stars, and the Indelible Passage. It’s a sharp contrast from the land up north that leads back to Tuliyollal, where the terrain seemed more hospitable, and stops like Ciblu’s Coffee Grounds, Miplu’s Mate Garden, and The Family Ranch sure sound like places where Yok Tural’s history was a little kinder.
That’s when it dawned on me: Urqopacha’s description in Yoshida’s Fan Fest presentations described the area as the “proud heart of the giant’s empire” that existed over 1,000 years ago. While that civilization is long gone, I’m assuming the modern-day’s Yok Huy must, somehow, tie into those Gigant ancestors. There are traces of the giant civilization everywhere. Also, someone, or something, definitely smashed in the mountainsides all along the southern area, and it was certainly bigger than the neighboring Pelupelu.
The waterfalls and rainforests of Kozama’uka
Tuliyollal’s nearby Kozama’uka is a little livelier, lined with endless rivers and smaller communities thriving in and around its rainforests. The regional climate seems forgiving in contrast to Urqopacha’s rugged terrain, and the abundance of life is testament to that. Just in passing, I spotted several of the local Tribes already revealed as Yok Tural residents, like the newer PeluPelu, along with the distant relatives of the Vanu Vanu, the Hanuhanu, and finally the Goblin-like creatures, Moblins.
It’s another sprawling zone, only made more impressive by the rocky crags erupting into the skyline. They’re visible in some form from nearly all vantage points in Kozama’uka, and after several trips from one side to the other, I developed an appreciation for the varied biomes at every level. Sure, at a glance, it’s mostly lush greens, but there’s a thoughtful approach to life along the vast, stoney outcroppings at their highest peaks versus how the flora and fauna adapt to the rivers and runoff below.
Positioned along the southwest, just upon leaving Urqopacha, a portion of the zone is naturally higher. Following the twisting and turning rivers landed me somewhere a little more central, with one area aptly labeled the Breath Between. The Hanuhanu seem to favor the region, and they’ve built shops and boardwalks just above the raging rivers below. There’s no Aetheryte here or striking fixtures denoting importance, but I loved running the stretch of bridges offering such a perfect view of the lowest and highest grounds in Kozama’uka.
There’s a lot to see here, and if said Aetheryte placements are any reasonable indicator, Kozama’uka is the larger of the two preview zones, with three total. Ok’hanu and its familiar naming convention is the closest to Tuliyollal, in the north. I mostly point that out because, from the looks of it, the Level 91 dungeon — Ihuykatumu — easily serves as a journey to the other side, all the way south. The Duty begins along raging rapids, slowly guiding the party up, through the vast jungle and ending somewhere along the mountainside.
I’d hoped to spot an obvious purpose for Ihuykatumu’s location and clear path there, but I’m still not sure if its position means we’re taking a shortcut to see all, or most, of Kozama’uka’s sprawling forests early on. Perhaps that’s not it, and we’ll go the long way through Urqopacha. Alternatively, the answer is both, and this is where Final Fantasy XIV’s formulaic split between beginning zones happens in Dawntrail.
Expand your horizons
As for the dungeon itself, Ihuykatumu blends right into the beginnings of Dawntrail’s earliest moments in Tural. There’s no strange, otherworldly technology looming in the background and no fiery trails of Magitek-fueled wars, either. It was just me, the Warrior of Light, Erenville, and a leisurely boat cruise down the river.
Or at least, that was partially it — Alisaie, Wuk Lamat, Alphinaud, and Krile were along for the ride as well, and this must be where some of that fight for Tuliyollal’s throne really comes into play. Just as we began, Alisaie warned of another boat ahead, with either Zoraal Ja or Bakool Ja Ja on board. Yoshida explained that most of this build’s dialogue was cut to avoid major spoilers, but there was enough information there to contextualize which Mamool Ja was the bastard that busted my boat.
Said sabotage was through FFXIV’s usual groupings of trash mobs, and if you’ve ever spammed one or two buttons in a Final Fantasy XIV dungeon, then congratulations — you’ve done this one, too. For even moderately experienced players, lowly dungeon mobs are everything you expect them to be, and that’s fine. I ran Ihuykatumu twice as a Scholar: once with other players, then again with Duty Support. Neither struggled, and I used the breezy combat to test out new abilities.
Dawntrail’s earliest dungeon encounter, Ihuykatumu
The real meat, of course, is in the boss fights. The first encounter was with Prime Punutiy, a darling manatee sporting an uncharacteristically bad temper, and then there was Drowsie, a sleepy troll with a green thumb. The former most certainly has a minion; it’s at the end of the Dawntrail benchmark. As for the latter, I’ve yet to spot the darling, dopey boy anywhere else. Fingers crossed, but I’m hoping similar existing models mean Drowsie gets the mount treatment.
Ihuykatumu wraps up with a fight against the less-adorable and drastically more killable, Apex Predator Apollyon. There’s little I hate more than the idea of complimenting a giant bug, but credit where credit is due, the creature put up a fun fight. Some of its mechanics, while all iterations on old FFXIV tricks, felt surprisingly busy for a dungeon encounter.
It was also Apollyon’s arena that made a few of the duty’s recurring design choices click. Bosses had, quite literally, spelled out a mechanic for me, but the warning was easy to ignore if you’re the type to autopilot through dungeons. It’s nothing the game hasn’t done before; it’s just more apparent now. Even in A Realm Reborn, bosses inexplicably announced their secrets in cryptic monologues tucked away in the text chat, while more fights added extra on-screen text later.
In Dawntrail, bosses warned my party that mechanics were indeed happening with more enthusiasm than usual. Each with cautionary text, some white and red, smack-dab in the center of it all. Underneath, a bar signaled how much time I had left before the sequence began. I can’t help but think the idea’s new implementation leans into the controversial ways some players use third-party tools in the MMO’s battle content. In this case, we aren’t talking about world first races or extra early raid warnings, so it’s less contentious. The design is a net positive in story-driven combat and a little relief in a game with chaotic screens and narrow text.
I get it, too. I nearly leapt over the moon when Endwalker offered a way to center recast timers and increase their size. Tweaks like this are the small, meaningful I appreciate in Final Fantasy XIV’s steady evolutions. For all of the hemming and hawing I do over the minutiae, these elements are what I hope make entry-level content less intimidating to friends and other prospective players.
Go forth and seek discovery
For those eager to get further in the weeds, Dawntrail’s preview build at least gave me a better idea of how some of my favorite Jobs should feel come launch. As context, I’ve spent most of my time in Eorzea playing Scholar, though my resume does include chaotic stents as an Astrologian, White Mage, Machinist, and impressively dead or dying Dragoon. I’m never matching the brilliance of the scene’s most talented players, but I’ve limped my way through (almost) every Savage tier and other battle content.
This is all to say I’m at least familiar with how every expansion’s combat felt, quite fond of how Scholar plays now, and happy with the Dawntrail makeover. If you’re a Job veteran longing for the days of Bane or Miasma II, an AoE DoT removed in Shadowbringers, then perhaps you’ll dig the changes to Chain Strategem.
Now, the Scholar Ability lasts a little longer, but it’s not done after one use. Chain Strategem gives the Healer a 30-second window, Impact Imminent, where you hit the target and surrounding enemies with an AoE DoT, Baneful Impaction. It doesn’t spread Chain Strategem, so we can let go of that dream, but I’m eager to see how this works into Dawntrail’s harder content.
Taking a Job’s most notable abilities one step further seems to be a recurring thing with Dawntrail. When I swapped to Astrologian, I noticed Divination became Oracle, a massive arena-wide hit only available under another limited window, and White Mage’s Temperance became Divine Caress. For now, I dig that change, but until I’ve had more fights to sample, I’m staying firmly optimistic about how our new kits shape encounters.
Try as I might, there was no way I was fulfilling so much of my curiosity around the patch in just one day’s time, and that optimism is a theme through so much of my early Dawntrail experience. It’s a bright-eyed shift in my outlook from here, one that’s had no lack of ups and downs since 2013, but after saying goodbyes in Endwalker and brute forcing my way through the Pandaemonium Raid series, it’s nice to be back here.
I’m finally feeling the expansion ‘mood’ again, with anxieties over the direction such a monumentous world will take quelled until it’s time for the complete experience. After a full day of Dawntrail, I’ve got that expansion spirit again and all in for whatever waits in Tural. If this adventure is anything like the other four before it, then I figure it’s enough to keep me around and waiting for whatever patch number takes us to Meracydia.
This article is based on play of an in-development build of FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail, and content in the final version is subject to change.[Travel and lodging for this event were provided by Square Enix.]
Published: Jun 6, 2024 05:00 am