2024 goes to be a defining yr for Remaining Fantasy 14, and possibly Sq. Enix’s final probability to sort out its stagnating formulation

The air round Dawntrail, Remaining Fantasy 14’s upcoming growth, is decidedly completely different to how issues have been within the runup to 2021’s Endwalker. It is smart, actually. We’re not within the throes of a world pandemic, nor are hundreds of “WoW refugees” departing from Blizzard’s MMO for greener, extra catboy-y pastures.

We’re not on the cusp of a significant narrative climax both, wrapping up a decade-long story. It is the entire reverse: Dawntrail is the beginning of a brand new arc, extra low-key than what our Warriors of Mild have been put by means of within the final a number of years. The fun of exploration and adventuring are maybe rather less hypeable or marketable than world-ending apocalyptic threats. However I do not suppose it is the one motive issues really feel somewhat extra tentative this time round, and whereas Dawntrail’s story could also be low stakes, group reception and success feels vital for outlining how the subsequent a number of years of Remaining Fantasy 14 will look.

I say issues really feel tentative as a result of, as PCG’s fellow Remaining Fantasy 14 fanatic Harvey Randall places it, it has been “two years of frustration” for a lot of gamers. Publish-Endwalker patches have been topic to a hefty quantity of criticism, greater than I ever bear in mind throughout my 9 years of on-and-off enjoying. The problems Harvey outlines—sluggish story, lack of midcore content material and an unsatisfying relic grind—have been shared throughout the broader group.

It is onerous to really feel like there hasn’t been an ever-growing exhaustion with the formulation Sq. Enix has caught so stalwartly to for the final a number of years. Alliance raids at all times come within the odd-numbered patches. Savage raids each even-numbered patch. Dungeons and trials usually happen on the similar time in every growth—there’s at all times a dungeon at stage 61, 71, 81, a trial at stage 63, 73, 83. Whereas it is by no means one thing I’ve discovered notably bothersome myself (I am a creature of behavior), it is a sentiment I have never been capable of keep away from because the group has shared its ideas during the last a number of months.

That is to not say that Sq. Enix did not try to shake issues up a bit with Endwalker. Variant and criterion dungeons have been makes an attempt to supply up a brand new option to play with dungeons that had a soloable, informal issue with branching paths after which a tough-as-nails model that might require appreciable coordination and a full social gathering to sort out. The issue is that the issue outweighed the rewards criterion dungeons provided, leaving little motivation to proceed slamming heads in opposition to a wall that wasn’t keen to cough up something good for the trouble.

There was Island Sanctuary too, an informal farming and crafting mode that rapidly descended right into a ‘set it and neglect it’ spreadsheet simulator. That is not a criticism of the group, I am unable to blame anybody for it taking place. Later ranges are extremely grindy and when you’re maxed out, the mode is a sport of grinding sufficient forex to scoop up all the cosmetics and mounts. It was one other try to do one thing new that simply barely missed the mark, and maybe arguing in Sq. Enix’s favour to stay to the recipe that is served it so effectively for therefore many expansions, at the same time as a portion of the playerbase turns into bored with it.

The probability of Dawntrail tackling any of those bigger criticisms is minimal, which makes it a lot extra very important that no matter it brings to the desk completely bangs. A part of that may hopefully come from its graphical replace, an try to make the sport look barely much less prefer it’s a decade previous. Whereas that will not make issues any extra participating to play, it will hopefully make it much more attention-grabbing to have a look at.

Director and producer Naoki Yoshida additionally hinted in direction of the return of large-scale exploratory zones akin to Stormblood’s Eureka and Shadowbringers’ Bozja, one thing that has been sorely lacking from Endwalker. Whereas they have been admittedly fairly divisive zones once they have been first launched, they have been my favorite methods to grind for every growth’s relic weapon and an pleasurable center floor in issue.

Endwalker would have succeeded even with out all the assistance from Covid lockdowns and Blizzard-induced exoduses. However because of the massive inflow of gamers these two occasions triggered, it made expectations for what Remaining Fantasy 14 does subsequent all of the better, and its present flaws all of the extra obtrusive.

Regardless of the criticisms throughout every Endwalker patch, it is nonetheless clear among the many occasional dooming that there’s an terrible lot of affection for the sport. The need for one thing completely different, one thing evolutionary comes from that zeal and the truth that many people are nonetheless hellbent on enjoying even after we are drained. But when Dawntrail is simply too related, too protected, I concern it will flip away those who’ve stayed with the sport so lengthy even when issues have seemed somewhat rocky. The way in which Remaining Fantasy 14 presents itself within the latter half of 2024 may have a big impact on its longevity and its popularity, and I so desperately need each to proceed its affluent streak.