Final Fantasy Remakes can wait, you need to try Final Fantasy 14 Shadowbringers (Pic: SQUARE ENIX)
On a windy and rainy day in London, I was taken away into another world. I was fortunate enough to be one of the first people to experience what life is like off the Source and in the world of the First.
This will be the stage of the upcoming Shadowbringers expansion releasing on 2nd July 2019. If what was shown that day is any indication of whats coming for Final Fantasy XIV, then its a very good time to be a player.
Shaodwbringers will be the third expansion released for XIV and its taking the players out of the world they know and into a completely new world called Norvandt, on The First.
A world that has been engulfed in light after darkness has been defeated but with that comes complications. It is up to you to begin fighting alongside the darker forces as you become the warrior of darkness.
The day began with Producer and Director, Naoki Yoshida providing a 90-minute presentation of all the details on new and changing content in XIV. This was presented on a live Twitch stream in Live Letter LI for fans to watch on the 23rd May. Lets save the details for a little later on, first, the experience of playing within the demo build of Shadowbringer.
I started my experience in game with creating one of the Viera, a new race to the land of Eorzea. The Viera are most known for their roles in FFXII and are joined by the Hrothgar who come from Ilsabard. Viera are female bunny ladies and the Hrothgar are basically massive cat dads!
Once I jumped into the game I found myself in one of the first new areas, Il Mheg. This colourful location in the home of the Fae. These tiny fairy-like creatures are a mischievous bunch but well have to wait for the full release to see what quests they have us get up to.
In Il Mheg though we were able to tackle one of the new dungeons that will be available in Shadowbringers called Dohn Mheg. This dungeon shares the same colourful stylings that Il Mheg did and provided me with the first opportunity to tackle some content with other players.
Its an interesting dungeon that highlighted some of the developments that Naoki Yoshida and the team are working on to improve on the dungeon experience. The final boss for this dungeon uses underhanded tactics and changes the battlefield to make the players carry out some platforming fun to overcome the odds to beat them.
A refreshing change of pace for someone like me that has over a thousand hours in the game. If its a show of things to come, Im certainly excited about it.
I then cracked on with another run; this time using the Trust system. This allows players to run dungeons with certain NPCs from the main story, which provides an alternative to running with other players if the queues are too long.
Its an interesting approach and is a nice change of pace. These NPCs will talk to each other a little bit during the run so its always worth doing at least one run with them per dungeon in case there is some hidden lore. They tend to be a little slower than actual players and certainly still have the same capabilities to potentially wipe.
Lakeland was my next destination which provided a completely different aesthetic. Blooming in vibrant pinks and purples, this wooded area has appealing visuals that feel truly unique. It also gave me my first taste of the updated FATE system.
Once a FATE is completed, you can be rewarded with FATE Tokens.These Tokens can be traded for various items that players will want to get their hands on.
Then I moved onto the Crystarium, one of the new cities in the Shadowbringers expansion and a location that many players will find themselves in. Its a glorious city surrounding the this worlds Crystal Tower and has taken many of its design inspirations from the original technical demo of FFXIV.
While in a preview build there was not much to do other than explore this location, its clear to see that the team have put a lot more effort into making these cities feel alive. NPCs are running around all over the place and having more realistic engagements.
I then turned my attention to looking at the new jobs in the game. The Dancer is a new ranged physical DPS that focuses on supporting the adventurers that its with and then pulling out devastating attacks. It feels unique and its playstyle has a sense of rhythm to it which suits it down to the ground. Its elegant in its deadliness and is certain to be a engaging a rewarding job for those that take it up.
The Gunbreaker is my personal favourite of the two though. As a die-hard fan of Final Fantasy VIII, I have long been waiting to play the job that is synonymous with Squall Lionheart. This latest addition to the Tank role mixes up taking the heat from other players while allowing for bursts of crazy damage combos.
The combos are fast and frantic which feel exactly like pulling off one of Squalls signature Limit Breaks. Im certainly going to be playing Gunbreaker when Shadowbringers launches.
The day began with Producer and Director, Naoki Yoshida providing a 90-minute presentation of all the details on new and changing content in XIV. This was presented on a live Twitch stream in Live Letter LI for fans to watch on the 23rd May. Lets save the details for a little later on, first, the experience of playing within the demo build of Shadowbringer.
I started my experience in game with creating one of the Viera, a new race to the land of Eorzea. The Viera are most known for their roles in FFXII and are joined by the Hrothgar who come from Ilsabard. Viera are female bunny ladies and the Hrothgar are basically massive cat dads!
I started my experience in game with creating one of the Viera, a new race to the land of Eorzea. The Viera are most known for their roles in FFXII and are joined by the Hrothgar who come from Ilsabard. Viera are female bunny ladies and the Hrothgar are basically massive cat dads!
Once I jumped into the game I found myself in one of the first new areas, Il Mheg. This colourful location in the home of the Fae. These tiny fairy-like creatures are a mischievous bunch but well have to wait for the full release to see what quests they have us get up to. In Il Mheg though we were able to tackle one of the new dungeons that will be available in Shadowbringers called Dohn Mheg. This dungeon shares the same colourful stylings that Il Mheg did and provided me with the first opportunity to tackle some content with other players.
Once I jumped into the game I found myself in one of the first new areas, Il Mheg. This colourful location in the home of the Fae. These tiny fairy-like creatures are a mischievous bunch but well have to wait for the full release to see what quests they have us get up to.
In Il Mheg though we were able to tackle one of the new dungeons that will be available in Shadowbringers called Dohn Mheg. This dungeon shares the same colourful stylings that Il Mheg did and provided me with the first opportunity to tackle some content with other players.
Its an interesting dungeon that highlighted some of the developments that Naoki Yoshida and the team are working on to improve on the dungeon experience. The final boss for this dungeon uses underhanded tactics and changes the battlefield to make the players carry out some platforming fun to overcome the odds to beat them.
It was a refreshing change of pace for someone like me that has over a thousand hours in the game. If its a show of things to come, Im certainly excited about it.
I then cracked on with another run; this time using the Trust system. This allows players to run dungeons with certain NPCs from the main story, which provides an alternative to running with other players if the queues are too long.
Its an interesting approach and is a nice change of pace. These NPCs will talk to each other a little bit during the run so its always worth doing at least one run with them per dungeon in case there is some hidden lore. They tend to be a little slower than actual players and certainly still have the same capabilities to potentially wipe.
Lakeland was my next destination which provided a completely different aesthetic. Blooming in vibrant pinks and purples, this wooded area has appealing visuals that feel truly unique. It also gave me my first taste of the updated FATE system.
Once a FATE is completed, you can be rewarded with FATE Tokens. These Tokens can be traded for various items that players will want to get their hands on.
Then I moved onto the Crystarium, one of the new cities in the Shadowbringers expansion and a location that many players will find themselves in. Its a glorious city surrounding the this worlds Crystal Tower and has taken many of its design inspirations from the original technical demo of FFXIV. While in a preview build there was not much to do other than explore this location, its clear to see that the team have put a lot more effort into making these cities feel alive. NPCs are running around all over the place and having more realistic engagements.
I then turned my attention to looking at the new jobs in the game. The Dancer is a new ranged physical DPS that focuses on supporting the adventurers that its with and then pulling out devastating attacks. It feels unique and its playstyle has a sense of rhythm to it which suits it down to the ground. Its elegant in its deadliness and is certain to be a engaging a rewarding job for those that take it up.
The Gunbreaker is my personal favourite of the two though. As a die-hard fan of Final Fantasy VIII, I have long been waiting to play the job that is synonymous with Squall Lionheart. This latest addition to the Tank role mixes up taking the heat from other players while allowing for bursts of crazy damage combos. The combos are fast and frantic which feel exactly like pulling off one of Squalls signature Limit Breaks.
Im certainly going to be playing Gunbreaker when Shadowbringers launches
Battle System Changes
Being a MMORPG, a great deal of XIVs content is focused on fighting incredible battles with other players so the battle system has high importance. XIV has never been shy about reinventing itself and taking risks with its gameplay in the pursuit of perfection. These changes are yet anotheRead More – Source
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