The Final Fantasy XIV team streamed the 68th Letter from the Producer over the weekend. In the live stream, they discussed the roadmap for Endwalker, Free Trials becoming available again and a major graphic overhaul coming in Patch 7.0.

Final Fantasy 14: Trust System Updates, Major Graphical Overhaul and Free Trials Return

Naoki Yoshida revealed the upcoming plans for the beloved MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV in a developer live stream. The 5-hour conference discussed many exciting new features, such as the patch roadmap as well as the incoming major graphic overhaul.

Let’s All Trust in Yoshi-P

One of the upcoming enhancements coming in the Endwalker patches are updates to the Trust System. For those unaware, the Trust System is a Final Fantasy XIV feature that was introduced in the Shadowbringers Expansion. This would let players recruit NPCs to accompany them into dungeons and MSQ instances in lieu of real players. People who would rather quest alone, or who have difficulty in finding a party would find this feature the most beneficial.

The team at Square-Enix will be starting off with making A Realm Reborn (Patch 2.0) MSQ scenarios Trust compatible. This means that the lower level dungeons which may be less popular now will be easier to get into for newer players. Anything to reduce dungeon queue times as a DPS character would be well appreciated!

The ultimate goal is to make all MSQ scenarios and 4-player dungeons Trust compatible so that players who choose to go it alone will have the option to do so. Heavensward and Stormblood instances will be receiving support over Patches 6.2 to 6.5.

Aside from this, some of the lower-level scenarios will be converted from 8-man raids to 4-man as to be able to be compatible with the Trust system.

Like a Fresh new Coat of Final Fantasy XIV Paint

Characters

Another very exciting update would be the first major graphical overhaul for Final Fantasy XIV. Yoshida proudly showed off the first month of testing the shiny new visuals in the upcoming version 7.0. Both characters and environments are getting huge updates in their looks.

For characters, textures and hair seem to have much higher resolution now. More detail can be seen as well on the faces thanks to enhanced shaders that create more realistic shadows. Even materials will be improved, such as skin, metals and fabrics. This hopefully means that even equipment will be getting the same enhancements.

The team does warn, however, that their objective is not photorealism. The overall aesthetics of the players’ characters will not be changed in any major way. Good thing, as people wouldn’t want their finely tuned characters to suddenly look drastically different! NPCs will also receive the same graphical treatment.

The World

The environments are also looking just as good. Additional lighting is being introduced into multiple scenes. One image that Yoshida showed off was some sort of laboratory. The old scene had some mechanical constructs with a low blue glow. In the upcoming overhaul, the machines now emit a roaring glow that even reflects off surfaces.

Aside from that, there are models being changed such as the stairs in the picture below. It has been given more detail, and looks more “worn” and used. There are also a lot more environmental doodads being added to make the area look more lived in.

Hopefully, all the graphical updates won’t increase system requirements too much. The team will be carefully balancing looks versus performance, as this is just the first month into their testing. Final Fantasy XIV is definitely shaping up to be more modern looking!

Return of the Free Trial

Finally, for those who’ve heard of Final Fantasy XIV but never got to try it because sales were halted and Free Trials were disabled, rejoice! Starting February 22, the Free Trials will now be accessible again to new players. As the servers have stabilized and new data centres added, the game is finally in a state to open the floodgates and let fans back in.

Rolling in the Deep

As we previously confirmed, there will be new Deep dungeons being introduced in one of the patches of Endwalker. The developer live stream now confirms that a third Deep Dungeon will be coming in Patch 6.3. No other specifics on the dungeons have been shared as of now. We’ll just have to speculate on what may be in store for fans of this mode.

This is definitely a great time for fans of Final Fantasy XIV. All of the upcoming new features are quite exciting, especially the graphical overhaul.

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