Wark Digest #152 - The Road Outlined
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 the train of exciting new developments in our favourite series is still going strong—join us as we talk Dawntrail, Rising Tide, and the Rebirth Ultimania.
This week’s newsletter is 2446 words, a 12-minute read.
The Trail Outlined
The latest Live Letter broadcast for Final Fantasy XIV took place last weekend, with director Naoki Yoshida laying out the roadmap for the game’s next two months and the launch of its next expansion, Dawntrail—along with some of the updates we can expect in version 7.0.
What they’re saying:
Much was shown from the game’s upcoming graphical upgrade
Greenery is more vibrant, appearing denser and in higher resolution, and even bouncing as characters walk through it
In fact, textures overall have seen an overhaul, with better reflections and a sense of tactile impression, and weather effects like rain look more distinct, with wet surfaces looking suitably shiny
This also applies to character models, with skin appearing either shinier or smoother (appropriate to the character)
Shadows are another major point, with options for either sharper and higher resolution shadows, or softened ones
Changes will be implemented on areas both old and new—retrofitting existing areas, not just dressing up new Dawntrail environments
These upgrades will be, naturally, somewhat limited on PS4 and Xbox Series S, due to hardware constraints
Animations have been expanded, like more realistic eye movements during cutscenes (from 7.0 onward, not retrofitted)
On applicable hardware, new advanced resolution options will help compensate for framerate dips or improve the quality of low-res images
Players (on PC) can now experience that upgrade on their own setups with the FFXIV Dawntrail Benchmark software
For the uninitiated, a “benchmark” is a special program which runs a demo of the game to see how well your computer can handle it at certain settings
This software even allows you to import your own characters, so you can catch a glimpse at how your avatar will look come July—just backup your character’s appearance from the character select screen in the actual FFXIV client, then enter Character Creation in the benchmark and choose to load your data
Yoshi-P responded to some concerns about the benchmark this morning, outlining common complaints and why they occur—basically, because of the software being a standalone program, and because of the nature of the 10-year-old character creation mode
CBU3 will be updating and re-releasing the program at some point before release, once they’ve had a chance to address the underlying issues
A roadmap was laid out for the next months:
Some collaboration events will return: the Yo-Kai Watch event next week on April 24-June 26, and the Dragon Quest X event from June 5-20
The “Make It Rain” seasonal event will run from May 15-31, while the “Moogle Treasure Trove—The Second Hunt For Genesis” will run May 14-June 24
There will be a media tour from May 15-30
We have two Live Letter broadcasts before the expansion’s launch: #81 on May 16, examining job updates, followed by #82 on June 14
For a full 48 hours, from June 26-28, there will be a massive maintenance session, and players can begin downloading the updates
Then, on June 28, Early Access will begin for qualifying players, followed by the official launch on July 2
Some players will especially appreciate updates to the Blacklist feature, no longer simply barring their messages from view but wiping their whole character from your screen (most of the time, anyway; blocked characters in your party for a Duty will still be partially visible)
Certain terms can be blocked from chat as well, while unwelcome visitors on estates can be expelled or preemptively banned from entry
What we thought:
The graphical update seemed a little more drastic when it was announced than it does now, although it’s hard to gauge from little more than the benchmark demo
Overall, it appears to be a subtler change than the massive adjustment of under-the-hood numbers that went into Endwalker’s update
Meanwhile, player reactions seem somewhat divided, though this can also be chalked up heavily to familiarity, especially in cases where players have several hundred (or thousand) hours logged in this game already
Some individual characters haven’t fared as well, while some races appear to have bigger changes than others
No one has looked at your character more than you; sometimes changes that look drastic to you will be imperceptible to others
Personally my Warrior of Light didn’t change much between iterations; at this point I’m wishing more for expanded facial hair options so I can give him the trim beard I’d prefer
Being able to animate and render hair more authentically is among the biggest unsung benefits of next-gen hardware, and unfortunately that will be harder to implement on a 10-year-old, cross-gen, cross-platform game
It’s important to bear in mind that the changes are not finalized yet; the benchmark and Live Letter footage still represents a product in development, so things could still be tweaked
That being said, the first scene of the benchmark, which shows the Warrior of Light looking straight into the camera in a recreation of the expansion’s trailer, was a little… underwhelming to me in-engine; the smolder and intensity definitely didn’t translate from CG rendered trailer to in-game footage on that shot
The Blacklist improvements sound not only welcome, but overdue; barring a player’s messages but still allowing their physical presence to be detected is a bit of an oversight in a game with such a social side
A cavalcade of collabs and special events is a good way to keep up the momentum for this home stretch, especially given the extra-long stagger between expansions, and players who intend to hit Dawntrail’s MSQ hard upon launch would be wise to use those 48 hours of pre-Early Access maintenance to their full advantage—get ahead on real chores, stock the fridge, see the sun!
What’s next? If you play on PC, it’s quite worth the time to download and run the benchmark to see how your computer will handle the increased graphical load (either now or once the utility is re-released). The 7.0 update could potentially age-out a segment of players on older hardware. Unfortunately, console players will just have to wait to see the comparison on their own systems.
The Rising Tide Has Arrived
The second (and probably final?) part of Final Fantasy XVI’s DLC, The Rising Tide, is now live, alongside the latest update to the game.
What’s going on:
The game’s 1.31 update arrived on Wednesday before the DLC unlocked—among the myriad changes, these are the most intriguing:
First and foremost, Torgal can be petted more often, so the development priorities are firmly in place
A host of small adjustments has been made to Clive’s Eikonic Abilitities and Feats, and certain accessories—generally improvements instead of nerfs, like increasing damage and reducing recast times and penalties
An optional “Quick Complete” feature now lets Clive warp to a quest-giving NPC once you’ve finished the objectives
“Additional cutscenes have been added to certain sidequests,” which might be the most intriguing (or misleading) change of the batch
Ability Sets can be customized and swapped from the menu (outside of combat), allowing you to switch between different loadouts, while the controller’s layout can now be freely re-assigned
Various minor bugs have been swatted, improving AI and preventing some recurring crash triggers
The Rising Tide itself can only be started from the Hideaway at the end of the game, where the mission “Origin” is unlocked and available, and the side quests “Where There’s A Will” and “Priceless” have been completed; with these conditions satisfied, a letter arrives for Clive from a mysterious sender…
What we thought:
Many of the mechanical updates are surely welcome—but as for the added cutscenes, are these going to be small, relatively inconsequential updates or the kind of thing that might considerably alter plot points? Probably the former, but either way, it’s a good excuse to replay the game and see what shakes out
As of this writing, we haven’t had a chance to break through the entire quest line, but after a fairly rote beginning (typical for the vast majority of post-launch DLC storylines across the medium) The Rising Tide seems to present some very interesting implications for the larger mythos (no pun intended) of FFXVI
Leviathan’s Eikonic abilities are a big change for the usual gameplay, more unique than any other loadout; granted, this might be not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this is the perfect place to get a little braver and think further outside the box
The story behind the Eikon’s disappearance fits comfortably with the rest of the lore, expanding the story of the Dominants holistically
Shula, the representative of Mysidia who allies with Clive and friends, is an interesting counterpart to the usual “party” dynamic
We’ll have more complete thoughts and impressions next week, once we’ve been through the rest of the quest
What’s next? Well, as we covered last week, it seems there’s not much left for FFXVI… on PS5, anyway. While the PC version is still under development, we’ve probably seen all that we’re going to see of Valisthea… for the time being. I, for one, am looking forward to finally embarking on a NG+ with all the DLC bonuses.
The Ultimate Lore Drop For Rebirth Begins
The Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania has been released in Japan, and fans have been sharing some of the scrumptious tidbits of lore found within. Without venturing very far into spoiler territory, let’s take a quick look at the tip of the iceberg. (Thanks again to Audrey for the translations!)
What they’re saying:
With making summons related to specific regions, they tried to match the summons’ locations roughly to the area where they’re found in the original game (ie. Odin in Nibelheim)
Four summons have yet to reappear (Typhon, Bahamut ZERO, Hades, and Knights of the Round) and yes, Hamaguchi feels the collective anticipation for KOTR’s inevitable appearance
As for gameplay elements yet to be adapted, Nomura’s three biggest hurdles are how to land the Highwind, how to explore the ocean floor, and how to have massive Weapons roaming around
While the theme of FFVII’s overall story has been “life” (going back to Sakaguchi’s initial concept), the theme of Rebirth itself is “bonds”—and we can see that manifest mechanically and thematically
At one point, Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase almost settled on having two parts for the Remake, but finally committed to a trilogy to avoid cutting too much OG content; it’s also a deliberate goal of theirs to incorporate all the Compilation works in some way, from games to light novels (presumably, this led to the incorporation of Deepground in FFVIIR)
Nomura: This is Sephiroth’s story too, and they want to show the antagonists’ side
Teruki Endo, Rebirth’s Battle Director, wants the third installment to offer even more freedom in exploration, down to having multiple options for how you travel to the next story destination
What we thought:
These Ultimanias can be a real treasure trove of insight
Integrating summons into the world’s physical culture was a brilliant idea, although most are found in considerably different places in Rebirth despite the dev team’s efforts
Titan is found in the Grasslands instead of Gongaga; Alexander represents the deserts of Corel but was formerly found in the Great Glacier; Kujata represents the Gongaga region but was originally found in the Sleeping Forest; and Neo Bahamut also moved south from the Whirlwind Maze to Cosmo Canyon
Phoenix was originally earned at Fort Condor in the Junon area (though considerably later in the original game), but Odin was the least displaced
With so much of the full world map revealed, it will be interesting to see how the remaining summons are incorporated, as the regional approach might not be the most fitting this time around; plus, how will the existing summons be re-introduced, and will we get anything original?
The effort to show the antagonists’ side has, so far, been most successful with Rufus and the Shinra, with the Turks being more sympathetic at a much earlier junction; Sephiroth remains more aloof and unknown by comparison
Having seen the full extent of Rebirth, I’m pretty confident a trilogy was indeed the right way to go; it’s hard to imagine it being any less now, even without knowing much about the third installment
What’s next? There’s no word yet on an official English translation of the Rebirth Ultimania. In fact, we’re still waiting for Remake Ultimania Plus, the second volume of FFVII Remake’s supplementary tome; its release date keeps slipping back with no real explanation. Hopefully Square Enix’s publishing division can get the Rebirth Ultimania localized in good time, independent of the efforts of the delayed book, so we can dig through its mountains of lore for ourselves.
Around the Union
Final Fantasy VI is something of an oddity among the early years of this franchise, as it has yet to be remade (unlike its forebears, FFI-IV, and its direct offspring, VII). It’s not for lack of popularity, like FFV. So, join us as we examine “The Curious Case of Final Fantasy VI Remake” (and the question that has followed Kitase for many, many years). Why hasn’t Square Enix given this beloved gem the same treatment the other early games received?
Elsewhere, don’t you hate when you get an ability that previously belonged to a boss, only to find it absolutely sucks when you get to use it? FFIX’s Thunder Slash is one of the worst examples of this trope—found out why this is so, and so much more, in “7 Abilities That Ended Up Being Almost Completely Useless,” where we’re looking at the most underwhelming abilities in the series’ history! (Or at least, one example per game.) Did your favourite example not make the list? Let us know about it in the comments!
Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!
Find us on social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord
Until next time, kupo!