Final Fantasy 14 may be an MMO, but it’s certainly never sacrificed the series’ talent for excellent storytelling. It’s stuffed with incredible worldbuilding, a cherished cast of characters, and heart-wrenching story beats that’ll get players shedding a tear from just hearing a few notes from a song that played during a cutscene.
It is, however, also a story that requires hundreds of hours to experience the full breadth of its narrative—spread across A Realm Reborn and five meaty expansions, with a sixth one on the way. While Square Enix has pruned quests here and there in an attempt to streamline the experience, it’s still a helluva lot of game to ask a new player to commit to.
I’ve had the good fortune to be playing since the beginning, but I can say with absolute certainty that if I was only just starting the game, I’d be damn near paralysed by how daunting the new player experience is—especially if you want to play with friends who are already across the finish line.
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It’s something that director and producer Naoki Yoshida seems to be thinking about as well, especially as the upcoming expansion Evercold marks the official beginning of the MMO’s next arc with the Godless Realms Saga.
In fact, he’s considering two things right now, he told the press during a media Q&A at the Berlin Fan Festival. Though he’s being rather secretive about both of them. “The first one is something that we will carry out at Evercold’s release or before Evercold,” he said.
“The second one involves a system, but we’re currently reviewing the possibility of this. We’re still considering feasibility and addressing whether or not we would be able to introduce the system. And for these things that I’m talking about, there’s a non-zero possibility of us being able to implement it for 8.0. So there is a possibility that we could make it.”
Yoshida admits that he’s previously been hesitant to allow players to potentially skip expansions or story, but the MMO has grown so much that a potential solution is becoming unavoidable. “I had previously said that I want players to enjoy the story, so I would like them to have a fresh experience right from A Realm Reborn,” he said. “But now we are at this point, we’ve begun thinking about accommodating these kinds of requests.”
As for when we can find out more, Yoshida hinted towards more details at the Tokyo leg of Fan Festival which’ll be happening at the end of October. But overall, he’s “thinking very positively about the possibility of incorporating something and accommodating those requests.”
Honestly, I was surprised when Yoshida didn’t do this for Dawntrail. Considering Endwalker marked the end of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga, I’d half-expected Dawntrail to act as a new, optional onboarding point for players picking up the game for the first time.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s the expansion Yoshida has in mind if the game does end up offering a secondary start point—it’s essentially a bridge between the old arc and the upcoming one, and feels like the best fit besides Evercold. I can understand concerns about the narrative holding less weight if you’ve not experienced one base game and five expansions of it, but it’s also a big ask. And when Final Fantasy 14 appears to be the golden goose of Square Enix, any way to make the MMO more enticing to newcomers feels like a win-win.
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