On July 28, Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III unveiled the newest expansion for Final Fantasy 14, Dawntrail, at the 2023 FF14 Fan Festival. The energy on the show floor was electric, especially since it had been several years since a physical Fan Festival took place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the events of Endwalker — the previous expansion which concluded the decade-long Hydaelyn and Zodiark arc — the development team had suggested that the next adventure would be a return to form for the game. Rather than an Etheirys-defining story, the beginning of the next narrative arc for the MMORPG would focus on recapturing the sense of adventure of earlier expansions.
To learn more about the community’s reaction to the Dawntrail reveal and what they want to see from the MMORPG’s future, I spoke with several FF14 players who attended the event. While overwhelming excitement was the predominant thread, some within the game’s incredibly diverse community are approaching Dawntrail with understandable trepidation. They also reflected on their journey with Endwalker, and how that experience has shaped their anticipation for what’s to come.
Dawntrail, Final Fantasy 14’s Long-Awaited New Beginning
During the keynote, the crowd in the Las Vegas Convention Center roared as if the state of the world depended on it once the announcement trailer was first revealed. While I’m aware of the FF14 community’s infectious energy as an avid player myself, it was another thing to be in the room when everyone erupted in a cacophony of noise over Meteor — the affectionate name the community has for the protagonist used in FF14’s promotional material — and his new hairstyle. This energy never wavered throughout the event, during which people on the show floor would cheer when the Dawntrail trailer played, particularly when catboy extraordinaire G’raha Tia was shown eating a taco on screen. And yes, I was absolutely cheering along with them each time.
Dawntrail will see the Scions of the Seventh Dawn embarking on a journey to a new location named Tural, located in the southwest seas of Eorzea. It is dubbed “The New World,” and it’s where the cast will be aiding with matters regarding a competition for the succession of Tural’s throne. This “New World,” producer and director Naoki Yoshida says, will have an emphasis on diversity. It is unclear what he exactly means by this, but the peoples of this region have been described as “not very industralized,” and instead more connected to nature.
Some players were overjoyed upon Tural’s reveal as Tural seems to be heavily inspired by Latin America, particularly by Mesoamérican culture. “I’m very excited as someone who is Latina herself,” says Karen, one of the many players I spoke to at Fan Fest who wished to only be identified by their first name. “I’m excited to see other cultures and the team’s interpretation of them in a Final Fantasy setting.”
A player named Ron says this kind of representation is something he’s been waiting on for a while, for although he loves the eurocentric Final Fantasy games, his favorite game in the series is Final Fantasy 10, which has aesthetics deeply rooted in Okinawa and other Polynesian cultures. “Non-[European] cultures are always in Final Fantasy, but the core aesthetic is so often rooted in it [eurocentricism] with other cultures just sprinkled in,” he says. “This looks like the starting point is really Latin America. It’s exciting!”
Final Fantasy 14 features numerous locations based on real-world settings, from the European-inspired areas of Heavensward, to the Japanese-inspired locations of Stormblood. Tabitha, another player, sees this and places like Endwalker’s Radz-at-Han, itself inspired by countries like India, to be opportunities “to travel abroad without leaving my chair.”
However, other players are approaching this new setting and premise with caution. Players I’ve spoken to like Holly Wanek and Kris expressed feeling tentative after seeing conversations on Twitter about the heavily loaded optics of the majority white Scions sailing to a “New World,” evoking images of European colonizers arriving in America.
“In describing the region as ‘New World,’ southwest-ward across the ocean from Eorzea, featuring tacos, Mezcal, and a former mountainous empire where the people utilize alpacas, with a lost golden gate reminiscent of El Dorado, it's hard not to see the Latin American influence,” says Leah Moreno, a Tohono O’odham player. “I'm really excited at the idea of adventuring and bringing my Warrior of Light into a setting that has significance to me. There's a chance I could bring my whole self into the Warrior of Light! At the same time, the themes of a ‘New World,’ of seeking gold, and of the Scions meddling in a local election, suggest a plot centered on too-familiar colonization of the region, and I absolutely do not want to feel like an agent of Latin American colonization as I play through the story.”
Livvy, a player who describes FF14’s politics as “at times great and at other times extremely harmful,” feels that the messaging leans into colonialist tropes, especially with the juxtaposition of a tense political conflict with a summer vacation concept. She says she hopes “for a respectful portrayal of the Latin American and Indigenous representation we've seen so far,” as well as that Creative Business Unit III is engaging with consultants from these communities to be sure they’re creating “an experience that all Warriors of Light, but especially people from the cultures being represented, can feel at home in.”
I share these concerns as a Latina American myself. Don’t get me wrong: I’m elated that a game so important to me seems to be centering Latin America, which rarely ever happens in video games overall but especially the fantasy genre. This expansion could be a wonderful opportunity to make Latin American Warriors of Light feel acknowledged and embraced, and to educate others on their culture and identities. I’m also glad that it seems like centering non-European settings throughout the expansions is an active priority for the team.
But this willingness hasn’t always been successful — though I appreciate Stormblood’s exploration of colonialism and imperialism, I’m aware the execution received extremely mixed results among players. I’ve expressed my disappointment with how inclusive FF14 has been for all Warriors of Light to Yoshida in the past, and I know some players have been dissatisfied with his answers. Dawntrail’s premise feels inextricably tied to colonialist imagery, and I struggle to envision a world where the writing doesn’t fall into the traps Moreno mentions.
I am, however, reassured by the fact that the development team is clearly not only well aware of present concerns regarding Tural, but also apparently eager to compensate for FF14’s at times messy politics. During the “Speaking Language of Creation” panel on the second Fan Festival day, English Localization Lead Kate Cwynar stated that developing an understanding and respect of the cultures that the team draws on is a point of focus for Dawntrail.
“I can’t say much about it, but I will say that is something the team is very aware of,” she said. “They’re aware we have not always made our goal of demonstrating the proper respect for cultures in the past, as a game and as a franchise, and we are really working on it.”
The 10 Year Journey to Dawntrail
In looking toward FF14’s future, I wanted to take a moment with the players I spoke with to celebrate its past. Endwalker was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that there was no Fan Fest gathering where players could commiserate on their time with it together. It’s only now, several years after its release, that the developers could hold a physical panel like “Beginning from the End: The Annotated Endwalker” to reflect on the journey.
Endwalker had a daunting task: tell a moving story that was just as good (if not better) as the critically acclaimed Shadowbringers, which was so excellent that it created a mass influx of new players, and resolve the decade-long story arc that encompassed every expansion before it. As the highest-rated expansion on Metacritic, it’s safe to say that it’s widely considered to have accomplished this mission, but I loved taking the opportunity to discuss its weaknesses and strengths with other members in the community. There are only a few games that have emotionally resonated with me as profoundly as Endwalker, but when I think about it, I most fondly think about the second half — the first half is, by comparison, largely forgettable to me. As a result, I was keen to hear about what other players didn't adore about it.
When Kris reminisces on Endwalker, he says that the moments he enjoyed are often hijacked with unfavorable memories of the disjointed pacing — particularly when it felt like the game “tried to shoehorn in moments of levity with the Loporrits after a lore-defining battle against Zodiark, the dark god that had been built up as the embodiment of pure evil for years.” Some moments, such as the climactic sequence in Ultima Thule where the Scions sacrifice themselves one by one, felt rushed and unpredictable to him, and overall lacking in impact. In general, for Kris, Endwalker and its patches have felt “transitory,” as if the developers are trying to fit in as much as possible to set the stage for 7.0.
That being said, despite its flaws, Endwalker’s emotional core captured every player I spoke to. Karen says she spent the expansion either trying not to cry or emptying her tissue box. Kris cites several characters, such as Nidhana, Hermes, Venat, and Meteion being memorable; in particular, “Endwalker having an eclectic range of female characters at the forefront” was one of the highlights for him.
“I found so much hope and comfort in Venat, a character who has shaped our journeys from the very beginning and who loves us, and the whole world, unconditionally,” says Livvy. “I also loved the parable of Meteion as a scared child any of us might relate to, how our tension with Zenos came to a head, how we got to meet Hythlodaeus and understand why Hades became like that by losing him.”
To people like Livvy, Endwalker was life-changing. “I can think of few game narratives more meaningful to me than Endwalker's,” she says. “Endwalker helped me clarify a lot of doubt and confusion I was facing in ways that have undoubtedly made me a better person. Stormblood and Shadowbringers have also changed my life in small and profound ways, but Endwalker reached me at a time I truly needed it, and I'll forever remain grateful to [Senior Story Designer] Natsuko Ishikawa and the rest of the narrative team for crafting that story the way they did.”
This is why, for some people Dawntrail has a tall task. It’s perhaps FF14’s most important expansion to date — it not only has to follow up two back-to-back massive successes, but it also marks the beginning of the next narrative arc for the MMORPG.
Karen is thrilled for the summer vacation arc that will take us back to our adventurer routes. “It had to be this way — there’s no way we could have gone from something as high stakes as saving the universe to… saving the world again? No way,” she says. “This way, we can start off with a local adventure and slowly get introduced to whatever or whoever the next Big Bad is.”
Kris wants the expansion to “lull us into a false sense of security and lightheartedness with the premise of a summer vacation” and then “deliver a gut wrenching, high stakes angsty dramatic affair.” He feels that while the Scions are lovable, some are lacking in character development. He hopes the promise of infighting with the Scions is an effective catalyst for character growth for the main cast.
Wanek agrees with wanting Dawntrail to prioritize character development. She particularly wants to know more about G’raha Tia and Erenville, whom it seems we’ll be assisting in his journey as a Gleaner who travels Hydaelyn to collect natural samples for research and preservation. “Drama is nice, but I think we all need a vacation, a much lighter story where we get to know the characters,” she says.”
“On one hand, I strongly suspect that there's more to the upcoming ‘summer vacation’ than meets the eye, but even if that were the whole expansion, I'd be open to almost anything from that team, so long as it's made with similar care and respect as Endwalker,” says Livvy. “Also, maybe we Warriors of Light do deserve a break.”
Taylor points out that the Japanese title for the expansion seemingly translates to “The Golden Legacy,” which he feels is a hint toward what the story will entail. “There’s going to be more to this than literal pounds of gold,” he says. “I’m excited to see how the Scions are tested by that and by each other.”
Another change Square Enix is readying for the next decade of FF14 is an immense graphic overhaul. Though the graphics update has been announced for some time, it was revealed during the keynote that it will be arriving in phases throughout the 7.x series. It has been 10 years since A Realm Reborn launched on PC and the PlayStation 3, and FF14 has long begun to show its age. Yoshida has stated that while the graphical updates will not be comparable to standalone titles, the team has wanted to improve FF14’s graphics while not meddling with its aesthetics.
Tabitha is considering getting a new PC to get the most out of the overhaul. “The graphics I have aren’t the best but the hair looks a little like a helmet — kinda flat,” she says. “Now we get to see way more texture. What was one clump of hair sticking out is now several. And the textures on the face! Seeing wrinkles? People are so afraid of wrinkles! Give us wrinkles!”
The team perhaps proved their commitment to improving aesthetics best when they announced the two-toned dyes system. At least, you wouldn’t be mistaken for thinking that considering the cheers in the arena were likely more loud for this feature than anything else that wasn’t the trailer. Wanek’s Free Company puts on plays, so she cites this as being the thing she’s most excited for.
“I’m a two-dyes truther,” says Karen. “I’m really excited for new glams! With every new expansion, I’m thinking about what clothes I’m going to wear.”
“As a huge glamour player, I can’t possibly emphasize this enough: Giving items multiple dye tracks is revolutionary,” says Taylor. “I’ll spend hours crafting the right outfit before even starting the main quest. It’s a huge feature I never ever counted on them adding. I’m thrilled.”
There was something in the keynote for everyone to look forward to, but perhaps the best part of it all was to be in the same room with so many people who care deeply about FF14. I won’t forget being in the audience as Ishikawa — responsible for some of the game narratives that have had the biggest impact on me and so many others — cried from being overwhelmed by the love and support, with Yoshida following soon after. It was special to celebrate FF14 with the developers, especially because it had been several years since everyone could see each other. I loved my first Fan Festival experience and can’t wait to do it all over again next year, when we’ll be celebrating Dawntrail’s release.
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail will be released in summer 2024.
