FFXIV: Dawntrail Promises an Epic Summer Adventure

• Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail is the fifth expansion, inspired by Mesoamerican cultures.
• Includes new jobs: melee-focused DPS Viper and ranged-DPS Pictomancer.
• Features a new dungeon with three unique boss fights.
• Expansion aims to honor Latino cultures with detailed research.
• Players can expect vibrant locales and an overhaul of FF14's graphics.

FINAL FANTASY XIV DAWNTRAIL WANTS TO GIVE YOU THE BEST SUMMER VACATION EVER

Our extensive expansion preview included new jobs, a new dungeon, and a conversation with Naoki Yoshida about honoring Latino cultures.

Final Fantasy XIV concluded a massive saga when Endwalker released at the tail end of 2021.

Since then, it has been planting seeds about where it's headed next.

Dawntrail, the long-running MMO's fifth expansion, is the product of those seeds.

It's taking players to Tural, a Mesoamerican-inspired land dubbed "The New World."

I recently got the chance to spend about ten hours with a preview build of Dawntrail.

My lodging and travel were provided by publisher Square Enix.

This included exploring the expansion's new dungeon and its two new jobs.

I also sat down with game director Naoki Yoshida to chat about the team's goals in representing other cultures.

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Though I remain wary of how Final Fantasy XIV might handle the thornier aspects of depicting cultures close to my own Dominican heritage, much of what I was shown indicates that Dawntrail will make for yet another exciting and deep expansion.

GRAB YOUR FLOATIES Y'ALL, IT'S SUMMER VACATION

It's a running joke in Final Fantasy XIV that just as things seem to be settling down, another conflict arises.

This latest important mission hasn't stopped FF14 director Naoki Yoshida from telling players to envision Dawntrail as the Warrior of Light's summer vacation.

Tural, the new land featured in Dawntrail, seems as appropriate a place as any to spend a summer break.

It's tropical and looks warm, with many cultural touchstones originating in Mesoamerican countries like Mexico.

The team has promised a ton of fun new arcs, including a tournament storyline.

Though the preview build was limited, it looked and felt like a true slice of Central America rather than a cheap caricature.

This was a specific concern of mine as well as my joint interviewer and colleague Kate Sanchez of But Why Tho.

As Latinos, we're used to our cultures getting bastardized by dishonest lenses or lazy writing.

Each of us are radically different versions of what a person might call a Latino, and we always hope that we're acknowledged and understood as part of a much larger and richer tapestry.

Final Fantasy XIV and Yoshida himself have faced backlash over the perceived whitening of previously dark-skinned characters and the lack of diverse characters in both XIV and Final Fantasy XVI.

It made his answers to our questions refreshing and a little relieving, even if the game still has to prove itself.

WEAVING A TAPESTRY

During our interview, Sanchez asked Yoshida about Dawntrail's specific inspirations.

Dawntrail and Tural feel shaped by two distinct forces: the team's desire to explore someplace new and the feedback it's received over the curious absences of other perspectives.

According to Yoshida, the team had already been doing exhaustive research into Latin American regions.

With cultural touchstones like food in mind, the team set about creating a world that tries to honor Latino culture and its multitudes.

When I asked Yoshida about his and his team's excitement for exploring a culture so outside of their purviews, he stressed that the team doesn't view FF14's expansion into Tural as some completion of an objective or quota.

Instead, Yoshida thinks of himself and his team as conductors of the kind of fantasy the players want to see.

He wants to gauge fan reactions and continue to tell the kind of stories that they want.

Player feedback about implementing Latin American perspectives helped shape Dawntrail.

Because of that, we now have tacos, female Hrothgars, Latina queens, the land of Tural, and what I hope will be an honest portrayal of cultures like my own.

Yoshida and his team are quite proud of how they've treated aspects like food, which are huge touchstones for any culture.

Various towns and villages around Tural will have their own respective foods that differ from each other.

There will be melting pots, but the team is also taking the time to make sure Tural is broadly representative of many of the real differences in Latino cultures.

TIME FOR A SUMMER JOB

Dawntrail not only adds a whole new section of the world to explore but entirely new jobs for players to adopt.

These jobs are the melee-focused DPS Viper and the ranged-DPS Pictomancer.

The Viper has a rogue, swashbuckling pirate vibe to them.

The Viper's gimmick is complicated, starting with a one-handed form before transforming into dual blades.

The Viper's rotations are complex and branching, requiring a deep understanding to maximize DPS.

The job's second gauge keeps track of Serpent's Ire, which generates meter based on the rotations you pull off.

Getting to 50 allows the Viper to go into a high-powered state, transforming most of their abilities into moves called generations and legacies.

Pictomancer isn't straightforward either but is at least a few difficulty notches below Viper's branching combos.

Pictomancer's skills are all colors that are approximations of spells and elements seen in FF14.

Pictomancer can completely swap their palette, allowing for entirely different elements.

Pictomancer's most wild gimmick allows it to draw aspects of monsters and make them real.

Filling every canvas eventually allows the Pictomancer to deploy a high-damage attack that combines them all.

BUSINESS AS USUAL

The main content of the preview, a lone dungeon, was the most familiar part of the whole Dawntrail affair.

Players are routed through a series of three boss fights, each with their own set of mechanics.

The first fight was standard, attacking with large AoE techniques that needed to be dodged.

The second fight featured a monster that would summon large vines from underground.

The final fight featured a moving tornado that shot out AoE techniques in a star-like pattern.

I had a blast playing through it numerous times, making Dawntrail's dungeons up to snuff with the exemplary stuff you've come to expect from the game.

Elsewhere, I got to see some of 7.0's other shiny new features, such as the overhaul of FF14's graphics.

Fields are much more lush, and the detail on characters is several notches above the current models.

All in all, Dawntrail is shaping up to be a promising expansion.

Though Yoshida warned that it may not necessarily mark the start of FF14's next sweeping saga, it is still a big step for the game and its team.

The team appears to be stepping out of its comfort zone with Tural.

So much else about the expansion, including its intense new jobs and vibrant locale, shows that this team knows what it's doing.

Now all that's left to do is see if Dawntrail successfully gives its players the best summer break ever when it arrives on July 2, 2024.

Disclaimer: This article is based on the play of an in-development build of FINAL FANTASY XIV Dawntrail, and content in the final version is subject to change.