In the many years of Final Fantasy XIV since A Realm Reborn, we witnessed several unexpected events that took us to new continents, other dimensions, and even to the edge of the universe. Regardless of where we were or who we met, everything was according to the 10-year plan for the story of the game created by FFXIV director and producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida. Now, for the first time in several years, Dawntrail’s story doesn’t carry an overarching plot - allowing for a new adventure dripping with possibility.
Faced with a blank page, Yoshida has the perfect chance to work with the world we know so well and make it mysterious and exciting in new ways. After watching this year's Final Fantasy XIV Tokyo FanFest Keynote, I think they have the right tool to accomplish such a feat: Solution Nine.
Futuristic buildings and glowing neon lights illuminating the streets characterize this new city. Solution Nine is wrapped in a shroud of mystery, but we might find some hints of what the city means to FFXIV as the game references old titles in the series.
Before Solution Nine was the name of a cryptic city in FFXIV, it appeared in Final Fantasy IX as “Solution 9” and is tied to Zidane, one of the protagonists of the game, who is a clever thief and a loyal friend. Zidane is lost in the world, trying to discover who he is due to having no memories of his childhood. In the process, he journeys alongside Princess Garnet, Vivi, Steiner, and many other characters to save the world.
Twenty-four years separate Final Fantasy IX from Dawntrail. While it isn't the only direct reference to the ninth game in the series (I’m looking at you, Viper), Solution Nine gives fans hope that they might not have to deal with Ascians, Allagans, or other Reflections again. Yoshida and the Creative Business Unit III team have the chance to go beyond that and bring a freshness to the game we haven’t felt for a long time to pave the way for the next 10 years of FFXIV.
Final Fantasy IX, Aliens, and the End of the World
In Final Fantasy IX, Solution 9 is one of the special attacks Zidane has access to when entering the Trance form, a mechanic similar to a Limit Break in other Final Fantasy games. Part of the Tantalus Theater Troupe, the overconfident charmer finds himself traveling with Final Fantasy’s fan-favorite Vivi, clumsy Steiner, and Garnet to save the world. He plays the role of the group’s leader, keeping the spirit of his companions lit even in the most daunting situations. To better understand what Solution Nine in FFXIV might be alluding to, we can look back to the beginning of things in FFIX.
Spoilers for the story of Final Fantasy IX are below.
In the FFIX universe, each planet has a crystal. The advanced society of the planet Terra developed the art of assimilating their planet’s crystal with the ones of younger planets. Terra’s crystal was already weak, so in order to survive, Terrans started taking over other planets, which became a method to attain eternal life.
Terrans became immortals due to this particular aspect of FFIX’s cosmology. The crystals are responsible for creating life that populates their planets - they are the seeds from where all spirits of living beings come from, and where they return to once they die. This process is called the Cycle of Souls, a natural process that allows life on the planet to evolve. By taking over a young planet’s crystal, the spirits of the Terrans would be reborn, taking the place of the new life that would flourish in the undeveloped world.
When they attempted to use their magic to control Gaia’s crystal, the planet where the story takes place, this fusion didn’t work - because there was already life in it. As a result of the Terrans’ plan failing, it ended up hidden inside Gaia. Some places from the former world appeared in the latter as traces of their attempt. Even so, they decided to keep up with the project of taking over Gaia’s crystal. Terrans went into stasis and left Garland — an artificial humanoid created by them — assigned to oversee the whole operation and prepare the planet to receive their spirits. Garland’s idea was to prevent the spirits of the people of Gaia from returning to their crystal, so he could finish fusing the planets and populate the world with Genomes: bioengineered beings like himself who would work as containers for the souls of the Terrans.
One of the Genomes created by Garland was Zidane, who was supposed to be an improved version of Kuja, another Genome that couldn’t enter the state of Trance. Because Zidane was born as a child, as opposed to Kuja who was born an adult, he had the chance to develop his emotions and experience the power of friendship. Both Kuja and Zidane were supposed to act as angels of death, inciting conflicts in the world of Gaia. This plan would accelerate the process of making room for the souls of the Terrans.
Where FFXIV and FFIX Converge
After Endwalker, we’ve reached a point where it seems dull to justify what is happening as the plan of a new Ascian or another undesired heritage left by Allagans. The premise behind the story of Final Fantasy IX not only involves a hidden world within the one the protagonists live in, but also the existence of alien life with the power to subjugate other planets.
By the end of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga, we learned more about the Mothercrystal, the sundering, and what was happening with Etheirys. At the same time, this last expansion broadened the universe of the game, confirming the existence of other worlds and intelligent civilizations, which is different from the Reflections. In this expansion, we learn that dragons came from Dragonstar, a planet destroyed after the conflict between dragons and the Omicrons, the alien race that created Omega and was from the Alphatron planet. Meteion also confirmed that they visited 18 planets – two of them were Dragonstar and Alphatron – and in many of them they found signs of civilizations that didn’t exist anymore.
During the FFXIV Tokyo FanFest, when Yoshida introduced the concept art of Solution Nine, he also specified that it had been “constructed by an entirely different civilization than that of Tuliyollal”. While this does not necessarily imply that aliens built the city, it does present the possibility, considering how starkly different Solution Nine's architecture is when compared to places we’ve visited already. Just like dragons have been in Etheirys for years, what if another alien civilization arrived on the planet and created Solution Nine?
It’s not only in Endwalker’s MSQ that aliens are present. In the latest batch of sidequests of Eorzea’s favorite detective, the Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures, we met PuPu: an alien that has made sporadic appearances in the series since Final Fantasy VIII. We don’t know much about the lore behind PuPu, but they are more proof of how entangled aliens are in FFXIV’s world.
The truth behind Solution Nine could be related to more than just the city. Yoshi-P also revealed during FFXIV’s Tokyo FanFest the concept art of another area called “Heritage Found”, in which a train passes through an ancient city. In the background of the image, there’s a tall structure with purple hues similar to the ones seen in the image of Solution Nine. The name of this area implies discovering the origin or the past of something or someone. This might be a tease about the journey characters go through in Dawntrail traces back to whoever made the futuristic city.
Solution Nine also connects to the FFIX narrative and Terra’s story in another interesting way. The video used to show some locations of Solution Nine during the Tokyo FanFest gave us glimpses of structures and informative signs visible in the city. During his presentation, Yoshi-P took the time to tease the audience by inviting them to imagine whether the structures were buildings or facilities. It didn’t take long for fans to start translating the Proto-Alphabet signs. Among them, they found the words “Soul Supply”, which strongly supports the connection between the city and FFIX. What “souls” means in this society is still vague, but by having it as a kind of material or substance that one can manipulate, Dawntrail is alluding to the Cycle of Souls to some extent.
Where This Trail Will Lead FFXIV
By connecting the expansion through referencing Zidane, Dawntrail seems to be preparing something big. The FFIX protagonist is a character whose existence is a by-product of the plans of an alien society to take over a planet by replacing the spirits of that world with theirs. Dawntrail’s Solution Nine might be the initial stage of a new, similar narrative. It has the potential to introduce unseen beings and worlds to FFXIV without relying on being another Reflection or a disguised Ascian.
It’s too soon to know for sure how Solution Nine relates to the rest of the narrative of Dawntrail, but I think that if an unknown alien civilization built the city, this is a great chance for them to introduce a new force that will drive the promised next 10 years of content. With the conclusion of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark conflict, I’m ready to move on from the exhausted antagonists we have been battling since ARR. Considering that Yoshida said in a press conference following Las Vegas’ Fan Fest, that the new era of FFXIV is like a second Realm Reborn, I don’t believe we are staying in the comfort zone.
Of course, Solution Nine might just be another reflection of the Source. Maybe it’s like the structures and cities of Terra that appeared in Gaia after the failed fusion. Maybe there is actually an Ascian behind it all. Or, maybe Solution Nine is the remnants of an evil plan to dominate the world schematized by Lalafels. We don’t know yet. However, as someone who has been playing the game for 10 years, I hope CBU3 is ready to surprise us by introducing new antagonists and mysteries to the world of FFXIV.
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