Wark Digest #214 - Anniversary Hot Or Cold
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 the will-they-won’t-they dance for a Final Fantasy IX update has been renewed, and Final Fantasy XIV charts the next leg of its journey while doing some damage control.
This week’s newsletter is 2513 words, a 12-minute read.
Big News, Or Building To A Fall?
Once again, Square Enix is going hard on Final Fantasy IX vibes, with a highly-concentrated stream of official updates (and even more merch) ahead of the game’s 25th anniversary on July 7.
What’s going on:
The official Final Fantasy social media account has been sharing some new official artwork “celebrating 25 years of Final Fantasy IX”
By Yuya Ishihata, a charming scene of the main ensemble on the theater ship’s stage, also available with a July 2025 calendar overlaid
By Toshiyuki Itahana, a shot of Kuja standing in the Iifa Tree with a Silver Dragon
Also by Itahana, the playable cast looking at the Iifa Tree from a distance, with Kuja flying the Silver Dragon and the two moons far overhead
A trailer of sorts dropped (in Japanese only) for Vivi and Grandpa On The Day Of Departure, the children’s book illustrated by Itahana and written by Kazuhiko Aoki, which released in Japan this week
These sample illustrations show Vivi’s daily life living with Grandpa Quan leading up to the start of the game
FFIX is also featured in a crossover event with Emberstoria, a mobile strategy game that is currently Japanese-only
This event contains a showdown with a trio of Tonberries, as well as featuring Zidane and Vivi as recruitable units (with voice acting, no less)
Materials earned in the event can be used to craft special gear drawn from FFIX like Zidane’s Thief Swords or Black Mage coats
There’s also a slew of bonus cosmetic items featuring 2D sprites of the cast (drawn from Record Keeper), newly illustrated profile images to match the game’s art style, and some chibi-fied reaction stickers
…and FFIX will also be featured in Sengoku IXA, another unlocalized Squeenix mobile game, where characters will be featured on limited time cards (using those illustrations that accompanied the initial 25th anniversary festivities, and their original renders)
And beside all of this is even more merchandise, some available through Square Enix’s online store, but mostly localized to Japan (apparel at select retailers, a pop-up store in Osaka, etc)
Many such items are available outside of Japan through services like our friends at Aitai Kuji
A special musical live stream will be held on the game’s anniversary, Monday, July 7, though it will “broadcast” only “a selection of songs related to the game”
What we thought:
We’ve been here before, and we may well be here again—this “will they, won’t they remake/remaster FFIX” debate is akin to the great time loop that Garland created in the original FF
I’m very good at tempering and resetting my expectations, and after the first talk of the 25th anniversary festivities a few months back I felt pretty confident it would all be smoke and mirrors, amounting to nothing… but this new artwork almost has me hoping
If it’s just to commemorate the anniversary (and to trickle into things like those gacha collabs), the artwork is stunning and criminally underutilized, especially the piece of the cast looking at the Iifa Tree
It’s very reminiscent of the marketing around the Final Fantasy VII Remake project, echoing the scene of the heroes on the highway from Remake or the updated shot in the mountains from Rebirth
This makes it either more likely that it’s meant to be a key image for a potential FFIX remaster… or less likely, because it’s infringing on FFVIIR’s aesthetic, and only time can tell which it is
The Emberstoria crossover is an interesting one
Emberstoria launched in Japan on November 27, 2024 and has yet to receive much talk of a localization—and even if it did, online chatter shows that devout mobile games would be hesitant to invest in it anyway, given the systematic culling of the company’s other mobile games in recent years
One Reddit user called it Endofservicia, which is a well-deserved burn
The game also recently held a crossover with Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (which is still active in Japan after all)
The depth here does surpass the “slap a FFIX sticker on it” level of collab effort, with some relative deep cuts in the cosmetic items—like Trance forms, a Zorn and Thorn emote, and other nods to specific minor scenes
Meanwhile, Sengoku IXA’s collab does seem the “slap a sticker on it” sort
That being said, Emberstoria itself has everything to gain from this joint effort; if other events like the First Soldier collab have shown us anything, fans will turn out for intercompany ego strokes like this
But… Emberstoria is a separate entity with a wildly different play style, available only in one region, so how many Japanese FFIX fans will bother to download the game just to experience animated Zidane and Vivi?
And meanwhile, First Soldier is wrapping up a rerun of the Final Fantasy VI crossover event, which just feels out-of-touch for a game that celebrated its eleven millionth download
While I’m open to the prospect of a FFIX remaster or remake, I am 110% certain that we need a release date on an English version of that Vivi picture book, because it’s freaking adorable (just like Chocobo And The Airship before it)
From another perspective:
Let’s say that all of this hubbub is nothing more than celebration, and maybe giving FFIX fans some merch to throw their wallets at, and there’s no remaster or remake in the works… is that a bad thing?
Can we not just enjoy a classic game?
Even if it’s not buildup to a playable experience, we shouldn’t lose sight that it’s exciting to see Square Enix paying homage to an all-time great (and not one of the same couple of FFs that get all the spotlight, for that matter) in any form
Final Fantasy VIII’s 25th got a whole lot less focus last year, despite being a formative experience and a success critically and commercially in its own time—barely the obligatory social media posts
Years of “rumours” and fervent wishing have led us to a point where many cannot see the forest for the trees with things like this
What’s next? The actual anniversary is on Monday, July 7th, so we could very well get some kind of news that day… if there’s anything to announce at all, that is. Tokyo Game Show isn’t far off either, and an announcement isn’t locked to the original release date by any means. In the meantime I have to wonder… now that we’re getting Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, what would be the new darling for the FF rumour mills if FFIX got updated too?
(Side-note to my fellow Canadians: EB Games is taking preorders online and in-store for the 25th Anniversary vinyl album, “Timeless Tale.” This is one way to circumvent the notoriously high cost of shipping to Canada and what we refer to on the Discord as Square’s “Super Standard Shipping” costs. (Also happy belated Canada Day!))
Thundaga Round!
Clarification has been offered about the nature of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles on Switch 2—the physical version for Nintendo will be for the original Switch, with a free upgrade to a Switch 2-enhanced edition of the game at no additional cost
Japanese players can purchase a “physical” copy for Switch 2… but it’s only code-in-box, so this is probably the optimal outcome for English players
Square Enix has announced a new partnership with eBook retailer BOOK☆WALKER Global to distribute 40 titles from the Square Enix Manga imprint
This includes Final Fantasy Lost Stranger and Final Fantasy XIV: Eorzea Academy, as well as the Final Fantasy Type-0 and Type-0 Side Story series
This also includes series like My Dress Up Darling, the company’s biggest manga series in 20 years (for some reason), The Apothecary Diaries, and Daemons of the Shadow Realm (the newest from Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa)
SE’s publishing division has been holding it down well in recent years, so having a sizable new distribution arm could help improve their performance even further
There’s a promotion on for the rest of the month where users can get considerable discounts on their titles, so it’s a great chance to check out one of the FF series if you’ve been curious
Former Final Fantasy Brand Manager Shinji Hashimoto, who stepped down from the role in 2021 and retired in 2022, announced Resident Evil: Survival Unit, a new mobile game from Capcom and Joycity…. because sure, why not?
Square Enix Music announced Piano Fantasies, a new arrangement album featuring songs from not only Final Fantasy but Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, Secret of Mana, and more of their beloved franchises, as performed by pianist Mischa Cheung—available worldwide on October 31
Tomorrow Promised For August
A new Live Letter broadcast confirmed that Final Fantasy XIV will receive its Patch 7.3, “The Promise of Tomorrow,” in early August. It’s been a while, so let’s check in on how the Warriors of Light are faring…
What’s going on:
Among the smattering of new content coming in this next major patch is…
New Main Scenario Quests, naturally
A new Dungeon, “The Meso Terminal,” and Trial (the name of which was deliberately withheld)
Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures
A new Deep Dungeon, “Pilgrim’s Traverse”
Part 2 of the Echoes of Vana’Diel Alliance Raid, “San d’Oria: The Second Walk”
A new Unreal Trial, “The Wreath of Snakes (Unreal)", pitting players against level 100 Seiryu
Weapon Enhancement Quests for Phantom Weapons
A new Treasure Dungeon, “Vault Oneiron”
Updates (including mounts) and a new planet for the Cosmic Exploration mode, called Phaenna
Allied Society Quests with the Yok Huy
Other quality-of-life updates, like more headwear support for hrothgar and viera PCs, and the ability for viera to hide their ears with certain gear (while others will be able to turn their bangs on or off while wearing hoods)
True to the usual, non-Endwalker patch pattern, Patch 7.3 will function as the end of Dawntrail’s storyline, with Patches 7.4 and 7.5 begin to set the stage for the next major/expansion storyline
Director Naoki Yoshida did a little damage control on a couple sore spots:
He apologized for the recent frequency of hotfixes or maintenance, admitting these situations to been allowed to become too common
They’re prioritizing adding a way to queue a full alliance of 48 players into Forked Tower, and addressing other qualms with that field operation
In general, he added that they’re working to maintain or rebuild player trust, but a degree of civility needs to be upheld, as their community team has had to delete posts for devolving into insults and such
Outside of the Live Letter, the current state of FFXIV was scrutinized by a participant at the shareholder meeting we discussed last week, who asked if the company was “aware” of “a decline in game quality and a loss of fans” since Dawntrail hit last year
The official response claimed they “are aware” of the situation, and essentially hinted it’s growing pains due to Dawntrail’s position as the hinge between two different decades of the game’s history
“There are also concerns that Producer Yoshida, who is juggling multiple roles, may not be able to fully focus on FFXIV due to being too busy. However, we believe that the work he’s currently doing in his other roles will ultimately serve as valuable experience that will benefit FFXIV as well”
What we thought:
It feels like just yesterday that Dawntrail dropped, but it’s been a year as of this week, and already we stand on the first precipice of approaching the next expansion
The content of the patch itself is all par for the course, really; what stands out is the amount of damage control they’re doing
Whether or not the game itself is underperforming in terms of content right now is really up to individual players to decide; personally I’m not caught up on the latest patches so it’s hard for me to comment on the state of the MSQ, but the writing was on the wall that this expansion was going to be a dramatic shift of the narrative gears, coming off of Endwalker’s maximum stakes
Part of it does seem like the negativity is somewhat embellished, or that a vocal minority is being very vocal…
At the same time, player counts have dipped in the mid-expansion lull
This is partly to be expected; there was a similar stagnation in the middle of each prior expansion, and just two years ago the same numbers were being criticized when the game was between the shores of Endwalker and Dawntrail
Ultimately, FFXIV will persevere, and come this time next year the hype will begin to bolster the player counts all over again as the next expansion begins to emerge
As for the point about Yoshida’s workload—there’s no doubt he’s a very busy guy, but nonetheless it doesn’t feel like the same overworking situation that Nomura was shoved into from the mid-aughts to the mid-twenty-teens
Creative Studio 3 is also a busy team who’s been shuffling some staff around in recent years, which can lead to some hiccups
FFXIV is not a one-man show, and while he’s very involved in it, Yoshida has experienced and dedicated staff to handle their own tasks when his attention is demanded elsewhere
…does make you wonder exactly what he’s working on otherwise, huh?
What’s next? Yoshida is doing a panel at Anime Expo 2025 today, about half an hour from our publication time, so speedy Digest readers who wish to tune in should find the livestream pronto!
Around the Union
Players can do some truly tremendous things in Final Fantasy games, like summoning mighty beasts or wielding reality-shaking magic… but every so often, an ability will fall flat for one reason or another. This week we set out to explore “The Worst Ability in Every Mainline Final Fantasy,” the commands that critically underwhelmed us due to glitches, oversights, or otherwise glaring ineptitudes. Have any of these abilities ever let you down at the worst possible time, or do you have a particularly hated example we didn’t use in this video? Let us know in the comments below!
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Until next time, kupo!
Following for a long time:)
The header picture is so beautiful but too tiny to make it my 4k wallpaper.
Can you please share it on high resolution?
Thanks:)