Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Teased, Coming to Xbox

Square Enix has released a trailer for a new Final Fantasy XIV expansion, christened Dawntrail. Players will explore the “New World”, a western land called Yok Tural. This South American inspired region is home to the Mamool Ja clan. The Warrior of Light will be tasked with finding the successor to the crown, currently held by the two-head Mamool warrior Gulool Ja Ja. But this goal will put players at odds with some of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, whom have disagreements on who to appoint to leadership.

Longtime fans of the Final Fantasy series should not be surprised about this direction. Gulool Ja Ja first appeared as a major antagonist in Final Fantasy XI’s third expansion, Treasure of Aht Urhgan. That game featured a heavy pirate theme, open field exploration, and town sieges. For Dawntrail, none of those have been outright stated, but the main character is shown wearing pirate style clothing. Producer of the series, Yoshi-P, did confirm that the expansion will include two new jobs, a melee and spell caster DPS, respectively. Treasure of Aht Urhgan included the “Corsair” class which combined elements of pirates and gamblers; the speculation is that Dawntrail will have something similar, but with a new spin.

 

Dawntrail will also have a graphics overhaul to help the entire game look more uniform with current gen systems. While in-game models are not increasing their poly count, higher resolution textures and better lighting will be rolled out. Plants are also now being automatically generated instead of static textures. This upgrade does mean a higher minimum spec requirement for PC players, with a suggestion of more RAM and a higher graphics card. However, the game will still be supported on PlayStation 4.

In addition, Final Fantasy XIV will be coming to Xbox Series S and X. While originally planned for the Xbox One back in 2019, the deal fell through due to Microsoft’s insistence that the game have Xbox exclusive servers. CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that all players will have full cross-play, limited only to the existing regional servers. Still, the game has lots of single player focused gameplay. The Xbox release will technically come a few months earlier than Dawntrail, bundling the fourth expansion, Endwalker. Dawntrail will be a new SKU and separate purchase.

Kurtis Seid (@KurtisSeid)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed