AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
GUNBLADES ARE COMING
BACK TO FINAL FANTASYsomething audacious in the opening act—
and players have theorized that time travel
or parallel universes may play a role.
I’m not too fussed because what really
matters is that after all these years
gunblades are finally coming back to Final
Fantasy. Players of the new Gunbreaker
class (called a job in FFXIV parlance) can
live out their Squall Leonhart fantasies as
they take on the role of a tank in a party.
Like the other tank jobs like Dark Knight
and Paladin, Gunbreakers draw the
attention of monsters away from the more
fragile members of a group. While not
much is known about their specific
abilities or playstyle, Yoshida mentioned
that Gunbreakers use the gun part of their
swordy-guns to enhance their melee
attacks rather than as a dedicated ranged
weapon. It’s just one of several new jobs
coming in Shadowbringers, with the rest
to be revealed at a later date.
Gunblades aren’t the only bit of Final
Fantasy milieu that’s washing onto the
shores of Square Enix’s MMO, either.
Much to the excitement of just about
everyone in that Paris convention center,
Yoshida revealed the new player race
would be the Viera—those scantily-
clothed bunny women who first appeared
in Final Fantasy XII. Yoshida was unwilling
to comment on whether this would be
Final Fantasy XIV’s first female-only race
or if there would be scantily-clothed bunny
men too, but I’m betting on the latter since
he said more information would be made
available during the Fan Festival in Japan
later this year.
New jobs and a new race are the
predictable parts of an expansion, but
Shadowbringers is also
bringing some new
surprises too. In addition to
a whopping nine new
dungeons, there’s also a new
feature called the Trust System
that will let players tackle these group
activities with a party of AI
companions instead of real players.
The idea, Yoshida explains, is to give
people who prefer to go solo a better
opportunity to jump into FFXIV’s
group content, joined by a squad of
important story characters like
Y’shtola. It’ll make FFXIV feel evenmore like a traditional single player Final
Fantasy game. Likewise, players who
prefer crafting and gathering jobs will have
an entirely new endgame activity that
involves using your trade skills to rebuild
the city-state of Ishgard.
There are lots of smaller changes too,
like a new game-plus mode that will allow
players to go back and replay story quests
but using their current gear and abilities. A
world transfer system will let players freely
visit other servers located in their same
geographic region, helping reduce any
barriers between friends and letting you
mingle with even more players. And, as
expected, this expansion will trim more fat
from the battle system while adding more
abilities for all jobs so you have something
to look forward to as you level up.
Shadowbringers will also add even
more Primal boss battles that will
naturally weave in with the main story.
These group fights have quickly become
one of my favorite things about FFXIV
because many pay homage to iconic Final
Fantasy bosses while subverting the
mechanics of your average MMO raid.2B OR NOT 2B?
They won’t have to do all the heavy lifting,
though. Easily the best reveal from the
keynote presentation is that Nier:
Automata’s eccentric creator Yoko Taro
and Dragon Quest producer Yosuke Saito
would join forces to create an entire raid
based on Nier: Automata. Called Yo r h a:
Dark Apocalypse, this high-level group
activity will somehow merge Final Fantasy
and Nier in a bizarre crossover, and I
can’t wait to see what absurd
things Taro is able to cook up and
how they translate to a traditional
MMO raid.
It’s these unexpected announcements
that really get me excited to play
Shadowbringers this summer.
Given how excellent Final Fantasy
XIV’s previous two expansions and
countless updates are, I have no concerns
that Shadowbringers won’t be equally
as fun. Having my hero embrace his
dark side sounds like an interesting
twist, but I’m honestly just excited
to explore more stunningly
rendered landscapes and peel back the
fog of war that surrounds some of Final
Fantasy XIV’s lesser known continents.
Final Fantasy XIV might not be the most
innovative MMO, but its quality—from the
storytelling to the epic raid boss battles—
is unmatched.
Steven MessnerFinal Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
PREVIEW
The Trust system lets you battle
alongside story characters.Thancred becomes the
first Gunbreaker.