A Final Fantasy XIV concluded a massive saga when Endwalker released at the tail end of 2021, and has spent the patches since planting seeds about where it’s headed next. Dawntrail , the long-running MMO’s fifth expansion, is the product of those seeds, and 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 was provided by publisher Square Enix), which 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. Though I remain wary of how Final Fantasy 14 might handle the thornier aspects of depicting cultures close to my own Dominican heritage, much of what I was shown does at least indicate that Dawntrail will make for yet another exciting and deep expansion to everyone’s favorite critically acclaimed MMO. It’s a running joke in Final Fantasy 14 that just as things seem to be settling down and characters implore the Warrior of Light (your player character) to rest after saving the world again, another conflict arises that keeps them from getting their well-deserved break.
The same seems to be true of Dawntrail, which pulls them to a whole new land to tK TK WHY,. But this latest important mission hasn’t stopped FF14 director Naoki Yoshida from telling players to envision Dawntrail as the Warrior .
