Welcome back to the Wark Digest, your weekly newsletter of new developments and historical insights from the Final Fantasy universe. I’m Chris, aka Hoogathy, and this week we have a heaping pile of intel from PAX East and CBU3 to comb through, and some vital dates to mark off on the ol’ calendar.
This week’s newsletter is 1829 words, a 9-minute read.
The Tide Will Rise April 18th
Creative Business Unit 3 was all over PAX East last weekend, starting with a special panel about Final Fantasy XVI’s upcoming DLC, The Rising Tide.
What’s going on:
Part 2 of FFXVI’s expansion pass, The Rising Tide, will launch on April 18th
This questline brings a new side story, featuring more battles, equipment, and more, including an increased level cap
The story will see Clive and his allies journey to Mysidia, a hidden land with a tragic history (and apparently near Jill’s homeland), to investigate the mysterious Dominant of a long-lost Eikon—it will take about 5 hours to complete the story, and twice that for full completion, according to SE’s estimates
Having Leviathan will give Clive a bit of a leg-up in the final battle, which isn’t being adjusted, but Yoshida teased that “we actually have another step for Clive that we can’t really talk about here, but we can say that beating Leviathan isn’t the end of the story”
An endgame combat challenge caled Kairos Gate is included, a 20-stage gauntlet with global leaderboards, new weapons and materials, and a extra stage with a secret boss for those brave enough to conquer it in Final Fantasy Mode
A new epilogue scene is included as a “thank you” for those who beat the game and both DLC, which sounds like it will expand the ending’s context without changing it, and there’s at least one other scene involving Clive’s Bearer mark
A free update for the game itself is also on the way, bringing adjustments, new Orchestrion rolls, the ability to save ability sets, and other small miscellaneous touch-ups
Naoki Yoshida told Noisy Pixel that from the earliest discussions about FFXVI 8 years ago between himself, Takai, and Maehiro, they wanted to have a certain number of Eikon battles, but as time went on, they realized the schedule and budget may not allow for all of them, so Leviathan was made a “lost” Eikon
“If, by chance, we got the opportunity to make a DLC after the game was released, then that would be the story that we would tell. With the development of FFXVI, the one thing that I really wanted to avoid was creating a game that, at launch, wasn’t complete and that you would need to play DLC to understand the main scenario. I did not want to do that.”
“As we got closer to the main game’s release, we received responses from the media and players from the launch events and demo, which was very good. Seeing that, I thought, ‘Okay, maybe this response is going to be good. This may be a chance for us to explore the idea of doing DLC.’”
He also added that they may consider taking FFXVI to “other platforms” after the PC release… and that if you’re waiting for the PC version, you’ll need a “pretty high-spec PC” for the full PS5-like experience
The PC version will have a demo (for testing your specs), and will have options to buy the DLC with the core game
What we thought:
I, for one, have been eagerly awaiting this update ever since we first saw a hint of Leviathan in the Eikon murals long before the game launched
From all indications, this addition will round out the expansion pass and the full game nicely, making a considerable dessert to the main course—and hopefully rounding the experience out for those who didn’t gel with the final sidequests in the base game
Using the name Mysidia is an interesting homage, as it has been used in several FF games (mainly FFII and FFIV) as a homeland of powerful mages, but not especially connected to the corresponding instances of Leviathan
Adding an epilogue for those who finish the DLCs and main game is a nice touch without going against Yoshida’s previous assertion that the DLC would not “change” the ending
The epilogue can provide context and/or closure without contradicting the original ending, just showing it in a new light
Kairos Gate has a fresh retro vibe in its menu, and has been described as a new gameplay style, which is an unexpected twist
I’m nervous to see how the PC version fares, given the hardware requirements, but hopefully the demo helps as a benchmarking tool before people shell out the money for a game they can’t run properly
And as for other consoles, they might get it running on the Series X, but Microsoft would require them to make a Series S version as well, and frankly… that would not be worth the time to develop or the money to buy
What’s next? Steel your resolve while you can, because the Tonberries are coming. FFXVI will feature some true nightmare fuel in the form of tall, ghastly iterations of the classic monster, and Clive can have a copy of their sword forged afterward.
FFXIV Director & FFXVI Producer Collaborate
In an impressive display of goodwill and trust, the director of FFXIV is joining forces with the producer of FFXVI to bring us a new crossover event in the MMORPG, and it’s coming very, very soon…
What’s going on:
The 14 x 16 event, “The Path Infernal,” will be available from Tuesday, April 2 until Wednesday, May 8 for players who have completed the A Realm Reborn campaign (ie. the quest “The Ultimate Weapon”)
Among the collaboration items available are a (adult) Torgal mount and a (puppy) Torgal minion, 10 Orchestrion rolls with songs from FFXVI’s OST (like “Find the Flame,” “To Sail Forbidden Seas,” etc), a Clive Triple Triad card, and Clive’s wardrobe as (dyeable) in-game armour
If you want the songs and TT card, you’d better hit the Gold Saucer—each roll is 20k MGP, and the card is 200k, for a grand total of 400k
If you haven’t played FFXVI yet, rest easy: the quest is supposed to be enjoyable whether or not you’ve played it, which implies it’s spoiler-free
Dawn Will Break on July 2nd
In the other half of our PAX news, Yoshida returned for another panel the following day to give us the score on Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion, Dawntrail, and it’s looking like a busy spring/summer for Warriors of Light…
What’s going on:
Dawntrail will launch properly on Tuesday, July 2nd, but those who purchase the physical or digital Collector’s Edition will be able to check out Early Access one weekend earlier, starting Friday, June 28
There’s a small array of purchase options with additional goodies:
The digital Collector’s Edition includes an incredible new mount based on Ark from Final Fantasy IX (complete with the ability to transform between two states, airship and mech), a Wind-Up Garnet minion, and a Chocobo Brush weapon for aspiring Pictomancers
The physical Collector’s Box features an art box (complete with Yoshitaka Amano’s illustrations), a 10-inch tall statue of the Warrior of Light as a Viper, a cloth version of the latest FFXIV world map, a ruled notebook inspired by an in-game journal of adventurers, and a roll-up pen case to match
Those who preorder at certain participating retailers also can receive early access, a Wind-Up Zidane minion, and Azeyma’s Earrings, an in-game accessory that grants 30% extra EXP for defeating enemies for leveling up to 90, plus a stat-boost based on your current job
Preorders went live this Tuesday, and slightly broke both the SE store and Steam in Europe, and then again in North America a few hours later
Yoshida mentioned there may be a reason why there are so many FFIX-related items among these premium incentives…
The release date was pushed back a little because of Elden Ring’s long-awaited Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, which arrives June 21
Even Yoshi-P himself is looking forward to playing it
Yoshida addressed concerns over his recent comments about the game’s difficulty, iterating that his intent is to bring some fresh gameplay elements, not to make players’ lives arbitrarily harder
The higher-level goals for Dawntrail are to refine the multiplayer gameplay, add more large-scale dutiers, make the experience more fulfilling, and improve rewards
Square Enix had, by all reports, a great booth for those attending the actual event, with photo ops and in-game battle challenges (including exclusive T-shirt rewards)
What we thought:
If the goal was to move the expansion’s launch out of Elden Ring’s splash zone, maybe they should’ve gone a little further than 1-1.5 weeks?
Ask Horizon: Forbidden West what proximity to Elden Ring can do to a launch…
Were the technical problems with preorders due to the game’s popularity, or the shakiness of Square Enix’s sites and/or servers? A bit of both, probably
The distinction between the different editions is somewhat murky, but once again, these are some pretty nifty bonuses, especially that Ark mount
Occam’s Razor: The FFIX connection is connected to the new hub town Solution 9 (named for one of Zidane’s limit breaks)
But does it go deeper?
Sometimes an expansion leans heavily on allusions to a previous FF, like Endwalker and FFIV, so it appears Dawntrail is leaning on FFIX (I knew the Viper’s swords looked a little familiar…)
But of course, given the low-key fervour for a FFIX revival, this reignited the fires beneath the older game’s devoted fans and got us all wondering about that supposed remake rumour
What’s next? As of today, there’s 91 days until Early Access begins, so if you’re hoping to get caught up on the MSQ before the Dawntrail age kicks off, you’d better plan accordingly!
Around the Union
This week, we have some advice for your Final Fantasy VII Rebirth experience—namely, our in-depth “Ultimate Weapons Guide!” Check out this crash course in how the weapon system really works, including specific things to keep in mind for each playable character!
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Until next time, kupo!
FF XVI SNES Edition confirmed!
Also I'm starting to think there is a deeper underlying connection between the XVI Producer and XIV Director than their professional collaborations suggest. Maybe they're romantically involved, or are siblings. Maybe twins!