Before there’s a new beginning, there must be an ending. That’s the concept behind the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV expansion: Endwalker. The add-on concludes the story that Square Enix has told since A Realm Reborn’s 2013 debut, but not Final Fantasy XIV as a whole.
In addition to closing out the story arc in grand style, the $39.99 Endwalker expansion will include the new scythe-wielding Reaper class and male Viera race, as well as new regions, such as Radz-at-Han, Thavnair, and the Moon. We spoke with Final Fantasy XIV game director and producer Naoki Yoshida about the new expansion, and what you can expect when it launches on November 23, 2021. Please note that the interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
PCMag: Parts of Endwalker’s marketing draws heavily on the game’s Final Fantasy 4 connections. What other FF classics would the team like to put their own spin on?
Naoki Yoshida: This question actually comes up quite a bit, but truthfully speaking, we actually don’t plan or decide beforehand when it comes to including elements from other titles in the series. It is a very straightforward workflow. We first devise the unadulterated FFXIV main scenario, and from there we discuss which content we may want to tie into that story. In most cases, once the content is shaped to a certain extent, our team members will bring up proposals for certain integrations or homages if something springs to mind that could be incorporated well.
Honestly, there are rarely any cases in which we decided from the very initial stages to incorporate elements from other Final Fantasy titles. One exception is the Crystal Tower. When we were in development for A Realm Reborn, this was one element that I had decided on from the very beginning. That was in part due to negative feedback we received from players that FFXIV 1.0 wasn’t very “Final Fantasy series-like,” along with the concept we had of wanting to make A Realm Reborn a kind of fan-service title.
Furthermore, I feel like we generally see early inspiration to incorporate certain Final Fantasy elements for high-difficulty raids in particular. This is because players can expect epic monsters and adventures readily conceivable by any Final Fantasy fan, which acts as a strong marketing element for that content. We chose Bahamut for the first raid, Alexander for the second. Then Omega made its appearance, with Eden being the inspiration for the [following raid]. And next will be Pandæmonium.
What’s to come after this is locked away in my mind, so it will remain a secret. (laughs)
PCMag: What thoughts and discussions went into deciding that male Viera would be added to the game?
Naoki Yoshida: First, it is true that during the development of Shadowbringers, I thought the female Viera and male Hrothgar would be the last playable races to be implemented, and I was truly planning on ending the addition of new player races there. The reason this was decided is that although the addition of playable races is something wonderful for the players, of course, behind the scenes there is a very high risk of somewhat unpleasant consequences occurring. Given the graphical quality of FFXIV, we see that additional resources are required to implement standard content with each major update—creating equipment, emote animations, or even the way they ride mounts. This can require even more resources than the initial development cost of modeling the new race and developing all of their animations.
Since body shape, height, and movements differ between each race, the amount of work required multiplies with each race added. If we decide to add three emotes in a given patch, the increase in the number of races multiplies the cost to accommodate those emotes for each race. The only way to deal with this is to lower the number of rewards or put more time in between each patch, but those would only be negatives for our players.
That being said, with so many requests from players around the world, our character design team spent a long stretch of time assessing whether another race addition would be feasible. Adding both male Viera and female Hrothgar simultaneously would have been difficult for Endwalker, but since the team was able to confirm that implementing one of the two was a possibility, we decided to move forward with this plan.
This addition is the fruit of the labor of the staff members behind the scenes. I’m sure the development team would be happy if you could remember the work they put in while playing, even if just a little.
PCMag: The new cities, Radz-at-han and Thavnair, represent new architectural and aesthetic styles for the art team. What made these choices interesting for the team?
Naoki Yoshida: First and foremost, Radz-at-Han and Thavnair have been mentioned throughout the Final Fantasy XIV story on multiple occasions. Because of this, we had already decided on many aspects of these areas, such as characteristics of the local population, their political and religious beliefs, as well as a general idea of cultural aesthetics. For Endwalker, the team dove even deeper into the characteristics and setting and realizing those elements visually.
In FFXIV, we generally draw upon references from various cultural regions that exist in the real world. We took inspiration in a similar fashion, and we decided upon the current design after deliberation and discussion on referential artwork, while also making sure to bring forth our own originality. Once you have finished the Endwalker story, I hope you will explore every nook of this area and see the great thought and effort we put into creating the culture of this region!
PCMag: Given the addition of the new Reaper class, as well as Zenos’ inclusion with the main cast on the Endwalker box art, can we expect Zenos to fully become a Scion himself, despite what looked to be a continuing villainous turn in Shadowbringers?
Naoki Yoshida: The Reaper is a job with an overall dark atmosphere that uses the power of the void while also infusing the user with the Voidsent during fights. If we tried to have the Warrior of Light job change to Reaper, it wouldn’t entirely align with the atmosphere and feel of Endwalker from a promotional perspective.
This led us to think, “Wouldn’t it be more interesting and refreshing if we had Zenos, our villain, take on the reaper job?” I feel like this decision has produced good results so far, and we feel the scythe weapon suits him well.
Now, people around the world are talking about the artwork, but it is just a group image and does not showcase the members of the Scions. As for what kind of role Zenos will play, I unfortunately can’t speak on that point.
We have a months-long wait for the next expansion in the Editors’ Choice MMO, Final Fantasy XIV. While you wait, check out our list of the best MMO games, or listen to us wax poetic about everything gaming in The Pop-Off.
