Remaining Fantasy 14 is in a transitional interval. The 2021 growth Endwalker was successfully the finale to a narrative that started with 2013’s A Realm Reborn approach again on PlayStation 3. It was a form of Remaining Fantasy meets Avengers Endgame; a narrative that capped off eight years, 4 expansions, and over 200 hours of story content material in a spectacular emotional rollercoaster of a climax with the destiny of the universe within the steadiness.
However the place do you go from there? What do you do as soon as you’ve got crossed a lot of the t’s and dotted a lot of the i’s, as soon as you’ve got battled a foe of unfathomable energy hell-bent on wiping out actually every thing? How do you prime a narrative as massive as Endwalker, itself simply the ultimate chapter of an already large story? Dawntrail is the following chapter within the Remaining Fantasy 14 story and it solutions that query with a shrug. You do not prime it. And what’s extra, you do not even attempt to — not less than, not immediately.
It is a daring transfer. Dawntrail dials every thing again to zero. This can be a story that begins out not with low stakes, however no stakes. You are employed by a Hrothgar (principally, a lion woman) known as Wuk Lamat, who’s the adopted daughter of the ruler of Tural, a continent largely unknown to the individuals of Eorzea. She’s one in every of 4 rivals in a contest to seek out the fabled metropolis of gold and decide who will take over from the growing old Dawnservant when he relinquishes the throne.
And so with little left to do in Eorzea following the occasions of Endwalker and in dire want of a little bit little bit of enjoyable within the solar, you and some of your comrades comply with Wuk Lamat to Tural to behave as her entourage within the succession contest. What follows is a largely light-hearted journey within the astonishingly lovely Tural, serving to the endlessly optimistic and likeable Wuk Lamat as she visits the completely different areas of the continent and takes half in every thing from cooking an area delicacy to catching and driving an alpaca.
The opening hours of Dawntrail are charming, and humorous, however they are not precisely riveting. It is a large change of tempo from the pressing and incessantly dire Endwalker, however then that was most likely vital, and we might by no means go so far as to say the opening to Dawntrail is boring. Tural is a captivating and wondrous place, and the world-building within the early hours of the growth is generally glorious. All of it simply feels a bit frivolous.
However then about half approach via the growth all of it kicks off, and when it does it actually kicks off. The story takes some fairly wild turns within the second half of the journey, and it is a kind of the place in the event you tried to guess what the tip can be after the primary 10 hours, you’d not get it proper in 100 makes an attempt. The emotional beats within the latter half of the story actually land due to the work put into establishing characters and places earlier, and there is even some revelations for a few of our outdated pals too. We actually love this story.
It is not simply Dawntrail’s narrative that landed for us, although. The dungeons on this growth are one of the best the sport has ever had, that includes quite a few sophisticated mechanics, jaw-dropping locales, superb music, and superior bosses. We discovered ourselves incessantly bamboozled by a boss using ways we might by no means seen earlier than in FF14, and for a recreation you’ve got performed for 1000’s of hours to nonetheless be capable of shock you is a uncommon deal with.
Fight is additional enhanced by the brand new jobs you’ll be able to play as in Dawntrail. First there’s the Viper, a bodily DPS (harm per second) class which makes use of two blades similarly to Zidane from Remaining Fantasy 9. Taking part in Viper means managing buffs to haste and harm, in addition to getting your self into the correct place to maximise your offence — sure assaults do extra harm from the aspect or from behind an enemy. It is quick and flashy, however for our cash it is overshadowed considerably by the opposite new class.
Pictomancer is the second new job, and it is fairly spectacular. The Pictomancer is a magical DPS class that makes use of an enchanted paint brush to attract assaults and buffs in battle. You initially have three canvases to work with – one weapon, one creature, one panorama. You employ abilities such as you would with some other class, solely a few of these add one thing to one of many canvases. Utilizing the suitable abilities to complete the portray of a hammer on the weapon canvas, for instance, provides you a comical outsized mallet that you would be able to bop enemies with.
Utilizing the moogle’s pom talent causes lots of of balls to drop from the sky onto your enemies whereas including a pom to the creature canvas, and utilizing the moogle’s wing talent damages baddies whereas including wings to the canvas and ending the portray of a moogle. You then have entry to the Mog of the Ages talent, and utilizing it causes your newly painted moogle to spring to life and blast all foes with a large spell.
We discovered Pictomancer powerful to get the grasp of initially, however as soon as we did it grew to become one in every of our favorite lessons in your complete recreation. It is all about increase assaults in levels for the massive payoff ultimately and it is a tonne of enjoyable. In any other case, there have been tweaks to different, present lessons, however nothing earth-shattering from what we performed, and nothing as drastic as the whole Summoner rework from Endwalker.
Elsewhere, there are adjustments to how dyes work on garments, and now you can alter two completely different colors on most objects of clothes relatively than only one, which is nice information for glamour followers. Spectacles now have their very own tools slot as an alternative of being thought of headgear, so you’ll be able to put on a cool hat and glasses on the similar time. There’s additionally a brand new playable race within the feminine Hrothgar – a humanoid lion – in the event you fancy a personality change.
After which there’s the graphical replace. We marvel in the event you’d discover the graphical replace in any respect if you have not performed Remaining Fantasy 14 shortly, however for frequent gamers it is fairly apparent. Hair, clothes textures, and faces all appear like a step-up from what got here earlier than. The brand new places, too, make glorious use of the graphical enhancements, with areas wanting a lot much less empty than beforehand seen within the recreation, and with rather more foliage current.
Talking of places, there are some lovely sights in Dawntrail, from darkish forests to lush grasslands and majestic mountains. Tural is generally South American in inspiration, solely with a Remaining Fantasy twist similarly to how earlier growth Stormblood riffed on Japan. Within the latter half of the sport the places you will go to are aesthetically very completely different however no much less pleasing on the attention.
Dawntrail additionally continues Remaining Fantasy 14’s development of unbelievable soundtracks. There is a massive band observe that performs each time you go to the primary metropolis within the growth and it is an actual toe-tapper. It’s very misplaced as a city theme for when you’re wandering round doing all your procuring, however it’s so good that we simply do not care. There are bombastic boss tracks, quiet reflective items, and one dungeon theme that we are able to solely describe as a trance banger mashed up with ’80s type guitar solos. It is splendidly bonkers.
Conclusion
Dawntrail is one other glorious growth for Remaining Fantasy 14. The story takes some time to get going, however as soon as it is completed setting the scene it takes some fairly massive swings within the second half that left us captivated. The dungeons are one of the best the sport has ever had, the brand new Pictomancer class is an absolute pleasure to play, it is obtained unbelievable artwork design, and a soundtrack that is attractive. This is to a different 10 years of Remaining Fantasy 14.
