In a press conference last night, Final Fantasy XIV's director and producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida discussed a multitude of topics, including how the newly announced expansion, Dawntrail, would assist players, old and new, in catching up with the game's expansive lore.
A Realm Reborn, considered the "base" game of Final Fantasy XIV, saw the beginning of the story of the Warrior of Light. With each following expansion, their story continued and grew in scale until the fourth expansion, Endwalker, concluded the saga that began seven years prior. Dawntrail marks a new beginning in the Warrior of Light's story and aims to separate itself from the entries that came before it. While it may mark the beginning of a new adventure, the next expansion isn't entirely disconnected from the previous stories.
"What we've already implemented since Patch 6.1 is a system where you can go back and read about the different characters and the lore throughout the stories," Yoshi-P responded when asked how returning players could keep up with lore. "We are trying to consider methods if adventurers wanted to skip forward to the latest content and to be able to jump into it."
FFXIV already has the option to skip to the beginning of the current expansion in the form of "Tales of Adventure." These are purchased from Final Fantasy XIV's Online Store, meaning players would have to pay extra to jump into the latest story. The different versions of Tales of Adventure also don't raise the player's level, so they would have to either purchase one of the job versions of Tales of Adventure, or take the time to level themselves appropriately. That would be an additional $50 on top of the game's price.
Yoshi-P added, "Honestly speaking, I understand with the analogy of a TV series, this is like a 'season six' that we are just now releasing, and people might be tempted to say, 'Oh, well, just start from six!' I honestly feel like, well, it's season six and we've made it so that season one is very easy to get through and to binge. So I think it would be easier to recommend for them to just start at the beginning and take it from there."
The connections to the previous stories were immediately apparent in Dawntrail's teaser trailer, showcasing various allies that the Warrior of Light has made throughout their adventures. Players who skip ahead to the new expansion would have no emotional connection with the Scions, nor would they understand the pivotal role they've played in the previous saga. The emotional connection that Final Fantasy XIV's story brings is one of its greatest strengths, and it's easy to see why Yoshi-P wouldn't want new players to miss out on all that occurred before the next chapter.
"We're still trying to debate whether or not this is something that we would be actively pushing forward." Yoshi-P ended when talking about skipping the story of previous expansions. While the question hasn't been given a concrete answer, the seven years of story that came before Dawntrail is a worthwhile experience to enjoy.
