Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
Developer(s)	Square Enix Creative Studio 3
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Naoki Yoshida
Producer(s)	Naoki Yoshida
Composer(s)	Masayoshi Soken
Series	Final Fantasy
Platform(s)	macOS PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Release	July 2, 2024
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is the upcoming fifth expansion pack to Final Fantasy XIV, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. It will be released on July 2, 2024, over two years after Endwalker, the previous expansion. Like its predecessors, Naoki Yoshida served as director and producer and Masayoshi Soken composed the soundtrack. The expansion pack will be released as a standalone product for current players; for new players, the "Complete Edition" that originally launched with Heavensward was updated to include all expansions including Dawntrail.

In Dawntrail, players travel to Tural, a continent across the sea, to participate in a rite of succession to determine the next leader of Tulliyollal. They will serve as champion for Wuk Lamat, one of the current leader's daughters. They are joined by allies from Eorzea who support different candidates. After the climactic events of Endwalker, Dawntrail was designed as a "summer vacation" for the player's character, the Warrior of Light. In addition to adding new areas, the expansion pack increased the level cap, debuted two character classes and a new playable race, and initiated the game's first major graphical overhaul since its relaunch in 2013.

Gameplay

Main article: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn § Gameplay

The gameplay of Dawntrail largely matches that of the base game. Players interact with each other in a persistent world that responds to their actions. The two new jobs in Dawntrail are Viper, a dextrous dual-wielding class, and Pictomancer, a paint-based mage. Viper is inspired by other agile swordsmen in the Final Fantasy series, such as Zidane from Final Fantasy IX. Vipers can combine their two swords into a stronger two-handed weapon for certain attacks. Pictomancers brush their magical paint directly into the air, casting both damaging and supportive spells for the party. It is based on Relm Arrowny's magic in Final Fantasy VI. Krile, a fan-favorite character, changes her class to Pictomancer in this expansion. Director Yoshida stated that the more recently designed classes, including Viper and Pictomancer, feel "more complete" compared to ones introduced in earlier expansions. Additionally, Beastmaster will be added as a "Limited" job, with the same restrictions on player matchmaking as Blue Mage.

Plot

Setting and characters

Dawntrail takes place on Tural, a continent across the sea far to the west. Tural is inspired by Latin America and Southeast Asia. Yok Tural, the southern half of the continent, includes the capital of Tulliyollal, a coastal city inspired by Mexico City, and Urqopacha, a mountainous region reminiscent of the Andes with Peruvian and Incan architecture. Kozama'uka is an Amazon rainforest-like region in Yok Tural. Xak Tural in the north is similar to the "Wild West" of America. A third area called Shades' Triangle derives from the Bermuda Triangle.

Development

After concluding a 10-year long storyline in Endwalker, Dawntrail was designed as a "summer vacation" for the Warrior of Light, the player's character. Naoki Yoshida, producer and director for the series, considers it the start of "season two" of a long-running television show, and hopes to use it to lay the groundwork for another 10 years of service. For Yoshida, it was important to reset the stakes of the conflict from a universe-ending threat to a more personal one.

A major endeavor of this expansion was the game's first major graphical overhaul since the original 2010 launch, which includes improved shadows, environmental and player textures, realtime lighting, and more detailed and varied environmental features like grass and flowers. It also includes support for a number of graphics upscaling technologies, such as DLSS and FSR Yoshida called this the "first phase" of graphical improvements to the game because certain techniques were still unfeasible to apply to a realtime online game and he aimed to employ them in the future.

The focus on the "New World" in this expansion drew some pre-release criticism. The development team did additional research to properly and respectfully depict indigenous cultures in the game. A major theme of the game is the coming together of diverse cultures and values into a mutual understanding.

Music

Masayoshi Soken composed the soundtrack to Dawntrail.

Main article: Music of Final Fantasy XIV

Masayoshi Soken composed the majority of the expansion's score in addition to his duties as sound director. The soundtrack uses jazz as a basis due to fitting with the theme of diverse elements coming together.