FINAL FANTASY XIV Online News

The next FFXIV live letter is set for July, and God help us, Yoko Taro's gonna be there

We're not expecting a whole lot of new stuff from Final Fantasy XIV in the run up to the Endwalker release date, as the major content patches are already here. But we can expect the Letter from the Producer events to continue, and while it sounds like the next one is gonna be relatively light on new announcements, Yoko Taro's presence is sure to introduce a little chaos.

Letter from the Producer Live Part LXV will air on Friday, July 9 at 7:30pm PDT / 10:30pm EDT, or July 10 at 3:30am BST. The official rundown says we're getting a "patch 6.0 digest," "miscellaneous updates," and some "special guests". Mostly, it sounds like this will be a recap of the big announcements from the Fan Fest a month ago, so don't expect much Earth-shattering news.

What you should expect, however, is a Q&A session where FFXIV director Naoki Yoshida, Nier series producer Yosuke Saito, and Nier series director Yoko Taro will "look back on the alliance raid series, as well as answer questions from the official forums." This is the greatest collection of chaotic good energy I can imagine.

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FFXIV is getting bunny boys because artists used their free time making it happen

Back when Final Fantasy XIV's Shadowbringers expansion released, we got the bunny-like Viera and beast-like Hrothgar as new, playable races. The problem, though, was that the Viera race was locked to female characters, and Hrothgars could only be male. Fans - us included! - called for greater customisation options in creating their characters, and Square Enix obliged, revealing that male Viera and female Hrothgar would be coming to FFXIV after all. It turns out, though, that we're getting those options because the game's graphics team used their free time to see if they could make it happen.

Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida explains in an interview with PlayStation Blog that adding new races comes with heaps of considerations. You don't just create them - you have to factor in and tweak how they interact with particular environments and armour.

"Adding a playable race does not end with just the initial resources needed to create the race (i.e. character modelling; preparations for variations in facial features, hairstyles and head shapes; animations that are unique to each race, etc.)," he explains. "Even following initial implementation, the tasks required with each patch update will multiply. For example, when we implemented the Viera, because their ears are very long, we needed to add a new review flow to check how Viera characters would appear on screen in all cutscenes."

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Yoshi-P: "without WoW, FFXIV's recovery wouldn't have been possible"

Like many of today's MMORPG monoliths, Final Fantasy XIV is barely recognisable compared to how it looked and played at launch. However, even by MMO standards, few games have undergone a transformation as drastic and important as FFXIV.

FFXIV 1.0 was a critical disaster, prompting an official apology from developer Square Enix and standing in infamy as the rockiest launch in the series' history. After replacing the development team, Square Enix relaunched the game as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn to commercial and critical acclaim. This success has primarily been attributed to one man - director and producer Naoki Yoshida (or Yoshi-P to his fans).

But what does it take to craft one of the best MMOs of the moment? With Realm Reborn now in its eighth year and its eagerly anticipated fourth expansion Endwalker coming out in November, we spoke to Naoki Yoshida about the history of the MMORPG genre, changing player attitudes, and his storied relationship with competitors like World of Warcraft.

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Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LXIV Digest Released

We’re pleased to announce that the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LXIV event digest has been released!

If you weren’t able to watch the live stream, or if you just want to watch it again, be sure to check it out!

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FFXIV 5.55 is out, so the game's 60% off

Have you tried the expanded free trial of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? You can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with - wait. I'm not sure if I'm doing memes or marketing right now, but if you have gotten your fill of the free trial and are looking to upgrade to the full game, Square Enix is making it cheap to get ready for the Endwalker release date.

Alongside the launch of patch 5.55 (the last big one before the new expansion), Final Fantasy XIV is now 60% off via the official store. That brings the price of the complete collection down to $23.99, which includes 30 days of subscription time - typically $14.99 by itself. The offer ends on Wednesday, June 9.

Bear in mind, though, that once you activate your purchase, you will lose access to the free trial. So if you've been working your way up to level 60, you might want to get the rest of the way there before you pull the trigger on this deal. Two weeks is plenty of time, right?

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