Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, the patch 6.0 expansion for Final Fantasy XIV, during its Final Fantasy XIV Announcement Showcase. It will launch this fall for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac.

An open beta for the PlayStation 5 version of Final Fantasy XIV will begin on April 13 alongside the release patch 5.5 for existing platforms. The full version of Final Fantasy XIV for PlayStation 5 will follow soon after.

Here is a brief overview of the announcements, via Square Enix:

Scheduled to release fall 2021 for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Mac, Endwalker features the climax of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story, in which Warriors of Light will encounter an even greater calamity than ever before as they travel to the far reaches of Hydaelyn and even to the moon. In addition to bringing the long-running story arc that began with A Realm Reborn to its conclusion, Endwalker will mark a new beginning for the beloved MMO, setting the stage for new adventures that longtime fans and new players can enjoy together.

Endwalker made its debut during the first-ever “Final Fantasy XIV Announcement Showcase” as producer and director Naoki Yoshida presented a stunning new trailer which set the stage for this next chapter in the Final Fantasy XIV Online epic.

During the showcase, Yoshida also revealed the upcoming PlayStation 5 version of Final Fantasy XIV Online, scheduled to launch into open beta on April 13, 2021. The PlayStation 5 version will feature numerous upgrades from the PlayStation 4 version, including significantly improved frame rates, faster load times, 4K resolution support, and more. Players whose Final Fantasy XIV Online service account has a registered license for the PlayStation 4 version may download and play the PlayStation 5 Upgrade Version at no extra cost at the start of the open beta period, while new players can experience the game on the PlayStation 5 through the Free Trial. The full version of the game will be available on PlayStation 5 following the conclusion of the open beta.

The new expansion will bring an abundance of new features, including multiple new jobs, an increased level cap, vast new areas, updates to the battle system, a variety of new challenges to overcome, as well as crafter and gatherer content. At the showcase, details on much of the new content and features were announced for Endwalker:

• Journey to Thavnair, the imperial capital of Garlemald, and even the Moon!
• New Jobs: Sage and more
• Level Cap Increase from 80 to 90
• Expansive new areas, including Garlemald, Thavnair, and the city of Radz-at-Han.
• A New Tribe: the Arkasodara
• New threats, including Anima.
• New Dungeons
• New High-Difficulty Raid: Pandæmonium
• Secrets Revealed in a New Alliance Raid Series
• New Small-scale PvP Mode
• An Additional “Trust” System ally: Estinien Wyrmblood
• A New Residential District: Ishgard
• Updates to the Gold Saucer
• Relaxing Fun in Island Sanctuary
• New Gear and Crafting Recipes
• Expanded Horizons via the Data Center Travel System

And here is a more in-depth overview from the Announcement Showcase:

■ Launching this Fall

■ Two New Jobs

Sage

• Role: Healer
• Weapon: Nouliths
• Required Class: None
• Starting Level: 70
• Concept:
  • Heals and protects the party with barriers.
  • Uses Aether to manipulte Nouliths in combat.
  • Able to temporarily augment their own magic abilities.
  • Job quests are planned to start in Limsa Lominsa.

The weapon that the Sage will be using is a Final Fantasy XIV original. Alphinaud Leveilleur will take up this job in the story.

There are two conditions for playing the Sage: Have at least one job that is level 70 or above; have purchased the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker expansion.

Second Job

The second job will be announced at the Final Fantasy XIV Digital Fan Festival in May. Producer and director Naoki Yoshida changed his shirt to one with a comic featuring death before announcing this.

■ Story

Comments

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker (Kyougetsu no Finale in Japanese). “Final,” “End,” and “Finale” are all keywords alluding to the end of the 10-year Hydaelyn and Zodiark saga.

The Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker story will complete by the end of the actual 6.0 expansion. But this does not mean that Final Fantasy XIV will be shut down. Beginning in patch 6.1, this will mark the beginning of an entirely new adventure separate from the Hydaelyn and Zodiark saga.

Yoshida also assured fans that he will not be leaving the project. “I look at Final Fantasy XIV as my life’s work, or at least until the president [of Square Enix] tells me I have to stop,” Yoshida said. “Personally I feel like I’m going to end up being with Final Fantasy XIV for my whole life… I have no plans on leaving.”

Synopsis

Onward and upward… ever greater adventures await the Warrior of Light!

What were the Final Days that brought the mighty Ancients to the knees? To uncover myriad secrets—of Hydaelyn, Zodiark, and deeper mysteries still—the Warrior of Light embarks on a journey to the moon.

The long-awaited conclusion to the tale of gods light and dark!

Curiouser and curiouser… burning questions remain!

What brought about the Final Days?

What became of Hydaelyn and Zodiark?

What will be the Garlean Empire’s fate?

What is Zenos and Fandaniel’s aim?

What is to be found on the moon?

Characters

—Alphinaud Leveilleur

Our new resident Sage.

—Alisaie Leveilleur

She has the same job, but will be getting a new costume.

—Ashen Fandaniel

He is not the last boss.

—Zenos Yae Galvus

He appears to have a new outfit as well.

■ Version 6.0 Features

>A Higher Level Cap

The level cap has been raised from level 80 to level 90.

Massive New Areas

—New City: Radz-at-Han

“One of our smaller towns… With each expansion we usually release two towns, one smaller town and one larger town. This is going to be the smaller town.”

—New Area: Thavnair

Radz-at-Han is located on the island of Thavnair. The complete island of Thavnair is one of the new areas.

—The Garlean Empire: Garlemald

“There is a very deep and intricate story that is related to this area, so get ready for your journey there.”

New Tribes

—The Arkasodara: Matanga

“We have many more tribes to introduce, but we can’t introduce those today. We will be saving those for a later date… But what could be on the moon?”

New Threats

—Anima

“Fans of Final Fantasy X might recognize this… The original designer of Anima in Final Fantasy X is actually a member of the art team on Final Fantasy XIV and recreated the design for Anima to fit Final Fantasy XIV.”

Challenging New Dungeons

“You’ll be visiting most of them in the main scenario, but this time we have a wide variety of dungeons.”

New High-End Raid: Pandaemonium

“It’s too early to give details, but we have some art to show you.”

“We cannot talk about where this raid will take place, but it’s going to be very very unique to Final Fantasy XIV.”

New Alliance Raid

“We plan to release more information on this new Alliance Raid at our Digital Fan Festival, but we’d like to tell you that it is a completely original Final Fantasy XIV Alliance Raid, it is not a crossover. And it will be based on a piece of Eorzean lore that has been steeped in mystery for a long time. There are still a lot of questions that haven’t been answered for a long time.”

New Small-Scale Player-versus-Player Mode

“We’re working on a new type of rewards system for this player-versus-player mode… Of course there will also be gear.”

New Side Quests

New Role Quests, Crafter Quests, and Gatherer Quests.

“Up until now there were originally four categories that we split these Role Quests into… We’re going to now be expanding that from four different types to five different types… This will allow us to focus more directly on each type of role and make a deeper story. There’s also plenty of Role Quests planned for Crafters and Gatherers as well.”

New Gear and Recipes

Trust System Update

Estinien will join the Trust System as a Dragoon.

“We have further plans for the Trust System, not just adding new characters, but also making adjustments… and adding new activities and types of duties for your companions to take part in.”

Gold Saucer Update

“We plan on it being very big, that all players can play together via multiplayer… But we can’t talk about it right now.”

Island Sanctuary

“We’re currently working on this content where Final Fantasy XIV players’ adventures can enjoy a bit of slow living. This is not just something that is limited to Crafters and Gatherers, anyone can enjoy this. Of course, Crafters and Gatherers will be able to do different things here, but this is something for everyone. For example, you might be raising animals. And maybe cultivating the land of this uninhabited deserted island and then taking the fruits of your labor and selling them. Maybe throwing your minions out there on the range and letting them roam. The development team has been calling this the ‘Dash Island’—from a Japanese TV show. It’s kind of like that, where you take a deserted island and make it something your own. Players will be able to enjoy the activities in the Sanctuary over the entirety of the 6.0 series as we update it.”

New Residential District: Ishgard

The actual purchase of land in this district will not be available until patch 6.1. The plan is to have the exact same number of wards as all of the other housing districts of Eorzea, as well as have apartments.

A Lot More New Content to Reveal In the Future

“We have a lot more to reveal in future shows.”

■ Battle System Adjustments

“As with previous expansions, there will be a fair bit of fine-tuning when it comes to the battle system… But today’s announcements are completely different from that.”

Downscaling Values

“We will be performing a downscaling of the values—the numbers we using in calculations. We have discussed in previous Producer Letters, and today I want to go into a little bit more detail… Since the release of A Realm Reborn, every increase to a job level cap sees an increase to the base job damage. And I understand that it feels great to dish out a lot of damage to enemies, but after a certain point it becomes very difficult to easily discern the numbers on the screen, as well as as the numbers get bigger, the potential for other problems increase on the backend.”

Reasons for downscaling:

• Calculations causing overflow, resulting in bugs.
• Calculations for enmity reaching their limits.
• Flying text becoming lengthy.
• Enemy HP is becoming monstrously high.
• The highest HP pool for bosses in 5.5 was… 440,000,000 HP!

What’s the plan?

• The difference in values used from levels 51 to 80 will be reduced.
• Maximum damage per attack will be reduced.
• Experience points will also be reduced (while also reducing the amount of experience points needed to level up).
• Enemy HP and damage dealt will be reduced.

Bear in mind, this doesn’t mean players are getting weaker! The numbers are going down, but relatively everything is staying the same.

“There is one thing however, that will be slightly affected by this change… playing with undersized parties… this may become more difficult… Regarding these undersized parties, we understand this is a large portion of what a lot of players enjoy doing, so we understand this is something we need to address. As for how we plan to address it, that’s something we are going to figure out.”

Removing Belts

“Many of you remember back from 1.0, we had this item, it was there, and even though it was removed graphically, it remained. But the belt era is over. As you know, belts have no bearing on players’ outward appearances. Their stat values as accessories is pretty negligible. Because of that, they’re not very popular as equipment… We’ve even had a lot of fans asking us to stop dropping them in Alliance Raids… Other players also complained about rings, but regarding rings, while we did consider this, we also understand that because you can put them on both hands and actually graphically see them on both hands, we’re not going to remove them at this time.”

What’s the plan?

• Belts will no longer be equippable starting with patch 6.0.
• Equipped belts will be given to Calamity Salvagers for safekeeping. (You should remove Materia from them beforehand.)
• Belts will no longer be obtainable via Duties and item exchanges.

The 35 slots allocated to belts in the Armoury Chest will be reallocated:

• 15 slots will be added to primary weapons, for a total of 50 slots.
• 15 slots will be added to rings, for a total of 50 slots.
• The remaining five slots will be held in reserve.

New System: Data Center Travel

“All of you know about the current system that we have that lets players move between worlds called the World Visit System. While this won’t work exactly the same as the World Visit System, we hope that it can be similar. Although it will require changing the system outside of the game and then logging back in. And so there will be a lot of restrictions with this, possibly even more than there are currently with the World Visit System, however this will allow players to move freely to other data centers temporarily, party up with friends, take screenshots, and have a lot of fun. There are some people that might be worried about what effect this might have on Data Center and world economies. There was the same worry right before we started the World Visit system as well, but it turns out that the effect was negligible.”

■ PlayStation 5 Version Open Beta

The Final Fantasy XIV PlayStation 5 version open beta will begin on Tuesday, April 13. This is the same day as the release of patch 5.5.

PlayStation 5 Version Features

• 4K resolution support.
• Faster loading times.
• Significantly improved frame rate.
• Further graphical improvements will be made to the game in subsequent updates.

The PlayStation 5 version will feature two modes: one that favors resolution (4K resolution) and one that favors frame rate (2K resolution).

Players whose Final Fantasy XIV service account has a registered license for the PlayStation 4 version may download and play the PlayStation 5 upgrade edition at no extra cost. (Monthly subscription is still required.)

■ Final Fantasy XIV Digital Fan Festival 2021

Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival: Around the World will be held from May 15 to 16. The entire stream, including the live concert, will be available free of charge. Details on how to tune in will be announced a later date.

Final Fantasy XIV Digital Fan Festival 2021 Commemorative Items

—Mount: Lunar Whale

—Minions: Edge, Rosa, and Rydia

These items will be available for purchase on the first day of Final Fantasy XIV Digital Fan Festival 2021.

■ Yoshitaka Amano Artwork

“There is a lot of stuff about the story hidden in this illustration.”

Final Fantasy XIV Online is available now for PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac.

Watch a new set of trailers below. View a new set of screenshots and artwork at the gallery. Visit the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker teaser website here.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Teaser Trailer

English

Japanese

Sage Reveal

PlayStation 5 Trailer

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