Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail is a Latin America-inspired ‘vacation’ setting

Introduced in July 2023, Ultimate Fantasy 14: Dawntrail was a step in a brand new path for Sq. Enix’s behemoth of an MMORPG. With a close to decade-long story coming to a detailed by way of the Endwalker enlargement, Inventive Studio III teased a brand new begin to the endless journey of the Warrior of Gentle, this time promising gamers a “summer time trip” of types set on a continent within the midst of political turmoil because it chooses its new chief. And with the brand new enlargement would come additional changes to the sport, alongside the inclusion of two new job courses and an entire graphics overhaul. Sq. Enix supplied gamerjive with the chance to dive right into a slice of Dawntrail, which included a have a look at each the Viper and Pictomancer job courses and the prospect to run by way of one of many new dungeons.

After I was current at Fan Fest 2023, I used to be enticed by the thought of a brand new job class, largely as a result of I had grown bored with the constantly gutted Summoner, the shortage of engagement whereas enjoying Gunbreaker (or any tank), and the homogenization of a lot of the therapeutic job courses. So I jumped on the likelihood to present Viper a whirl at this latest preview occasion. Having now performed them, the Viper and Pictomancer remind me of the extra experimental age of Ultimate Fantasy 14 that arrived with the discharge of the Heavensward enlargement — when the job courses have been extra fascinating, and when Inventive Studio III was nonetheless ironing out the wrinkles of A Realm Reborn.

These two new job courses are each refreshingly advanced. On the floor, Viper appears akin to the Ninja with its twin blades and dexterous animations, however in observe, it’s a extra concerned model of the Reaper, which was launched by way of Endwalker. The Viper is quick and fluid, along with your assaults constructed on devastating sweeps of your twin blades or combining the blades right into a polearm by way of particular assaults and stances to tear and tear by way of enemies. You’re always swapping between stances, making use of debilitating debuffs to enemies, and ramping up your assault pace to cancel animations to deal as a lot injury as doable in brief bursts of time. Just like the Reaper, the Viper has a wholesome choice of single-target and AoE assaults, which implies it is possible for you to to reliably construct up your Vipersight and Serpent’s Ire gauge. Ultimate Fantasy 14 has remained a recreation of build up your gauges to burst down enemies inside very particular time home windows, and Dawntrail doesn’t appear to stray from this path.

Picture: Sq. Enix through gamerjive

Nevertheless, the Pictomancer does present an extra little bit of help in fight, exterior of being a damage-focused job class, by way of buffs, which is truthfully fairly refreshing. By using spells delivered to life by the strokes of a multicolored paintbrush, the Pictomancer paints swatches of shade unexpectedly on a canvas to manifest a hammer or the wingbeats of a Moogle to break enemies. As you proceed to paint the world with vibrant flecks of paint and ache, you’ll accumulate shade in your palette within the types of extremely saturated colours or pastels. Filling your palette will grant you entry to extra highly effective spells, comparable to Holy in White or Comet in Black, which you must stability between channeling the skills of extra highly effective creatures and objects by way of your illustrations. General, Pictomancer is a really difficult job class that gives that aforementioned group help within the type of the Starry Sky Motif ability, which augments a celebration’s offensive capabilities. The place it would stand in terms of Savage Raids and different endgame content material like Ultimates will probably be fascinating.

Alongside the addition of the Pictomancer and Viper, Inventive Studio III will implement adjustments and updates to numerous job courses as a part of Dawntrail. This has included a shift in how Monk is performed, alongside changes to Black Mage. What I observed with jobs like White Mage and Gunbreaker was that expertise comparable to Presence of Thoughts or Bloodfest now rework into an extra ability as soon as used. Presence of Thoughts changed into Glare IV, and Bloodfest grew to become the total Renzokuken combo from Ultimate Fantasy 7, Lionheart finisher included. Job courses will definitely be getting extra expertise, as I observed the White Mage does have a splash just like Dancer, however this adjustment has not less than prevented additional button bloat for these enjoying with controllers. The person interface additionally signifies what expertise will change upon getting used extra clearly, which implies you received’t by chance be placing two of the identical ability in your hotbars anymore.

Picture: Sq. Enix

Picture: Sq. Enix

Picture: Sq. Enix

However above all else, Ultimate Fantasy 14 is a fairly recreation and maybe one of many best-looking MMORPGs in the marketplace. Dawntrail expands upon this not solely by way of the feel replace, which acquired a brand new benchmark after the preliminary one had seemingly gone awry, and thru the plush environments of Tural. Inventive Studio III was not shy in hiding its inspirations for this enlargement, billing it as a “trip” to the hotter climates of Eorzea’s model of Latin America. The dungeon of Ihuykatumu is stuffed with vibrantly coloured crops and different such creatures, even whether it is only a journey down the Amazon River (in Ultimate Fantasy type, after all), and the mountainous area the place the Pelupelu are discovered is simply as visually saturated. Tuliyollal, a big port metropolis, is adorned with swaths of brightly coloured material with intricate patterns, and homes are made out of a wholesome mixture of wooden and stone.

When requested about apparent nods to Latin America in Dawntrail, producer Naoki Yoshida (often known as Yoshi-P) talked about that the group had some session on what would seem within the enlargement. This included enter from the worldwide group at Sq. Enix and members of the interpretation group. Nevertheless, Inventive Studio III did select to achieve out for additional enter relating to the illustration of the cultures they might go on to depict in Dawntrail. Yoshida additionally talked about that even with session, there’s all the time a possible threat.

Picture: Sq. Enix

“In fact our group could be very cautious about taking dangers, and they’d advise, like, So this is likely to be a bit too dangerous, or You would possibly wish to keep away from this factor, however we didn’t cease there. We tried to know why they might think about it a threat, and work out tips on how to keep away from any scenario that would come up,” Yoshida stated. “How will we perceive, and the way will we deepen our understanding so that folks received’t take offense as to how we depict them and what they might interpret as offensive? We dug actually deep into what is taken into account applicable or inappropriate, even all the way down to the textures that we utilized in wall patterns and even curvature for particular symbols. If that image was consultant of one thing {that a} explicit tradition would possibly discover sacred, we don’t wish to offend that. Typically we’d do analysis and perceive that which means for ourselves.

“So we’d make the choice that, OK, that is what that represents, that is what it symbolizes, and that is how we wish to use it. Or if it’s an excessive amount of of a threat and we don’t need it misinterpreted by our viewers, we’d as an alternative strive to determine tips on how to modify this to steer away from offensive content material and ensure that we’re symbolizing one thing comparable, however be aware of the tradition that we try to depict. We don’t wish to make this one-sided. It was a studying expertise for positive. However on the identical time, we didn’t wish to let go of sure components simply because somebody would search a possible threat in it. I really feel just like the fruits of our labor are very clear, and that folks will see what we now have tried to do and respect it. We’re hoping that the completely different cultures represented are revered, and that it is going to be appreciated by the gamers as properly.”

When requested about doable official help for Latin American international locations comparable to Brazil and Mexico, given Dawntrail’s heavy dose of inspiration, Yoshida stated he’s conscious of points regarding latency for gamers in that area. He talked about that having a bodily knowledge middle for Latin America is “technically doable, and never that tough of a job to do, so to talk,” however the lack of devoted language help makes it extra difficult. “We don’t have a devoted Latin American language specialist,” Yoshida defined. “So we all the time need to depend on outsourcing for any translations of the Spanish and Portuguese language. And contemplating Ultimate Fantasy 14 is a stay service recreation, it wants fixed help. Not having that devoted particular person does create a bottleneck.” However he went on to say that Sq. Enix president Takashi Kiryu is a robust supporter of extra language help for different areas. “I actually traveled to Brazil final yr,” Yoshida concluded. “I met many passionate gamers there, and there’s a need, for positive.”

This text relies on play of an in-development construct of Ultimate Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, and content material within the ultimate model is topic to vary.