It is happening again. By that I mean Final Fantasy 14 is getting a new expansion, once again ensuring my timeline will be flooded with thousands of screenshots of tall bunny women and regular sized cat boys. It’s called Evercold this time around, seemingly bringing about a cold snap to Eorzea, if the lengthy teaser trailer is anything to go by. The new overarching storyline started with the previous expansion, Dawntrail, has a name now too: the Godless Realms Saga. Sounds cosy!
There were a lot of other changes and additions announced too, so bear with me here. At the top of the order is a new Alliance Raid that’s coming as part of 8.0 which is a collaboration with seminal mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s apparently called Ghosts of Desire, and aside from the assumed appearance of Eva Unit-01 and the series’ iconic score (judging from this other teaser trailer), there’s not much else to say about it! I am willing to bet every pound I own that there will be Rei and Asuka themed outfits, however.
The MMO’s free trial is expanding once again, going all the way up to arguably the most beloved expansion Shadowbringers, specifically up to patch 5.5. The free trial does have its limits, but essentially lets you play a huge portion of the story for free. Combat is also getting a big rework, with two new options to choose from, Reborn Mode and Evolved Mode. The former is just the pre-existing combat for all 21 jobs, whereas Evolved Mode will apparently place a “greater emphasis on job identity,” so say Square Enix, whatever that means.
A pair of jobs will be added in 8.0 as well, one tank and one physical ranged DPS, details of which were kept hidden. Character customisation is also getting an update with the addition of more options. It’s going the true live service route with seasons now too, where even and odd numbered patches will be grouped together as one season. These apparently aren’t like season passes, but more of an “overhaul to the way players earn rewards and improve their characters.” And with 8.0 producer Naoki Yoshida wanted to help make the game kinder to your spare time, so daily duties are getting the boot and will be replaced by a weekly progression system.
There is plenty more besides this, so if you’ve got a spare few hours, you can check out the presentation held at the Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival yesterday.
