Today marked the start of Final Fantasy XIV Fanfest 2023. The event is set to take place over the weekend. Today was the keynote where Square Enix and the developers revealed several new announcements for the game including a new expansion and a new platform Xbox Series X|S.
According to Director Naoki Yoshida, the new expansion, titled Dawntrail, is intended to be “the very best summer vacation a hero could possibly have,” in “a sudden change from the ending of Endwalker.” The fifth Final Fantasy XIV expansion marks the first step into a “new story” for the game. Dawntrail features a number of new content features including:
- A level cap increase from level 90 to 100, including new skills for all jobs
- Multiple new jobs: Yoshi-P did not say what these were, but confirmed they would both be DPS roles, one melee and one ranged magical DPS
- New dungeons
- New enemies
- A duty support update
- New gear and recipes
- New lifestyle content
- New variant dungeons
- New raids, including a new Alliance raid that will be “even more Final Fantasy-ish”
- PvP update
Dawntrail takes place in the “New World,” known officially as Tural. The Warriors of Light will assist in a rite of succession to determine Tural’s next ruler. Tural features a new hub city: Tuliyollal, a city with an emphasis on diversity located in a larger region called Yok Tural. It’s not very industrialized, but is inhabited by diverse groups of people focused on living in harmony with nature, and is ruled by Gulool Ja Ja, a two-headed Mamool Ja. The contest at the heart of Dawntrail is to determine who will succeed him. Dawntrail also includes the game’s first major graphical update.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer made a surprise appearance at the end of the keynote. Together with Yoshida, they announced that Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox consoles, after years of fan requests. The game is coming to Xbox Series X|S and features faster loading and 4k support on the Xbox Series X. Final Fantasy XIV will come to Xbox in Spring 2024 with an open beta scheduled for patch 6.5. The Xbox release features cross-platform play so players can pick up their existing accounts on Xbox and play with others on PC and PS5. You will need to purchase a copy of the game separately on Xbox to play.