“I believe the free trial will continue to be expanded, but we have no plans of making the client itself free at the moment,” said Yoshida in response to a question about the game’s generous free trial eventually expanding to encompass current content. “Since a huge amount of time and money has been invested in the expansion packages, the revenue from sales of the expansion package itself is still very important in order to continue to make expansions on this scale. We would like to constantly aim for the best on the business side as well to continue making a lot of content to be enjoyed.”

Yoshida goes on to talk about the last ten years of working on Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, which was released all the way back in 2013. Since its release, the game has seen four expansions, with the fifth one—Dawntrail—being slated for a Summer 2024 release.

When asked whether the studio plans to leave Final Fantasy 14 to start focusing on a new game, Yoshida responded by saying that there are no current plans to leave the world of Eorzea. This might change some day down the line if the is hit with some kind of inspiration.

“We don’t have plans to move on to a new game as that would be something even more difficult than having the realm be ‘reborn’,” said Yoshida. “That might change if I am hit with some kind of inspiration though.”

Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail was announced in July with a trailer during the most recent iteration of its annual Final Fantasy FanFest. The expansion seems to be themed after providing the protagonist—the Warrior of Light—with a vacation after the harrowing events of the last few expansions.

The game’s free trial has also been expanded quite a bit. When the free trial was first introduced in 2020, players could play Final Fantasy 14 up to the end of the Heavensward expansion. Back in July, Square Enix announced that the free trial is now being expanded to also include the Stormblood expansion, leading up to right before the events of the critically-acclaimed Shadowbringers expansion kicks off.

The new expanded free trial for Final Fantasy 14 will go live with the release of patch 6.5. It is worth noting that only fresh accounts can make use of the free trial, and players who previously tried the game before the free trial went live back in 2020 and stopped playing will have to start over with a brand new account to be able to make use of the current iteration of the free trial.

Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood features a story revolving around the uprising of two nations under Garlean control—Ala Mhigo and Doma. The globe-trotting campaign has the player’s Warrior of Light kick off several rebellions in an effort to push back against the tyranny of the Garlean empire, with the endgame story focusing around bringing the war to an end and leading into the events of Shadowbringers.

The announcement for the new expanded free trial comes alongside other announcements, which most notably includes the name and a teaser trailer for the next expansion for Final Fantasy 14, dubbed Dawntrail. The new expansion is slated for release in Summer 2024, and will also come to the Xbox Series X/S, which is set to get Final Fantasy 14 in Spring 2024.

The #FFXIV Free Trial will be further expanded to include Stormblood, arriving alongside the release of Patch 6.5! pic.twitter.com/IWp9OlBZQy

— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) July 28, 2023

It is worth noting that the offer isn’t available to those playing on a Final Fantasy 14 trial account. Players hoping to grab the expansion for free will have to purchase the Final Fantasy 14 Starter Edition, which includes the base game, and the Heavensward expansion.

Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood is the follow up to the critically-acclaimed Heavensward expansion. Its story focuses on the rebellion against the Garlean Empire in the regions of Ala Mhigo and Doma.

With the story focusing primarily on freedom fighters, Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood introduces a host of new characters and plot thread that would go on to be followed up on in the most recent Final Fantasy 14 expansion Endwalker.

At the recent Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival, director and producer Naoki Yoshida revealed all of the content that would be coming with the Shadowbringers expansion. But what are players supposed to do before the new areas, class and Nier: Automata-themed raids drop in July? The answer is a new collaboration quest with Final Fantasy 15.

After having crossovers with properties like Assassin’s Creed, Terra Wars and even Final Fantasy 14 (which saw the Miqo’te Y’jhimei arriving in Eos), Final Fantasy 15’s Noctis will be heading to Eorzea. This marks the first time that the crown prince of Lucis has appeared in the MMO, though he’ll be serving as an NPC and not be playable. Arriving in mid-April, the collaboration quest will see Final Fantasy 14 players teaming up with him on different quests and enjoying a meal or two together. There’s also a special battle against Garuda, which should serve as an interesting rematch from Final Fantasy 15.

The battle itself seems to borrow some mechanics like the Warp Slash to instantly teleport to and attack the boss, which is pretty cool. Completing the collaboration quest will net players a special Regalia mount that seats four players. It can even transform and fly, just like in Final Fantasy 15. Stay tuned for more details on the quest in the coming months.

Though Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn will have another large expansion next year with Shadowbringers, Square Enix still has some hefty content patches before that. Patch 4.5, “A Requiem for Heroes”, is coming up on January 8th, and will introduce a new class and a new instanced dungeon. It also adds Doman Mahjong to the Gold Saucer as a new game.

A Requiem for Heroes takes place after the main Stormblood storyline, but offers quite a lot more on top of this. The Blue Mage is the newest class being added, and it has the ability to take different techniques from creatures. If you have a Disciple of War or Mage at level 50, then you can become a Blue Mage, and even enter the Masked Carnival to compete for some interesting rewards.

Other content like custom deliveries and new mounts have been confirmed for patch 4.5 as well. The new dungeon is based on the Orbonne Monastery from Final Fantasy Tactics, so that should be something interesting for Return to Ivalice fans to sink their teeth into. As for Shadowbringers, more information will be offered in February 2019, so stay tuned.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood continues to be heavily supported with content patches and updates that bring new content. Patch 4.3: Under the Moonlight is now available and continues the Return to Ivalice series of Alliance Raids. Check out the trailer below.

Patch 4.3 brings new main scenario quests as players travel to the land of Doma, new sidequests like The Four Lords tale and Doman Reconstruction and a new trial that players will “have to discover for themselves”. There’s also a new Alliance Raid for 24 players that heads to Ridorana Lighthouse, a new dungeon, new Beast Tribe quests for The Namazu and a Linkshell chat system for talking to players across servers. Expect tons of changes and updates to Jobs, glamour, housing, more gear and whantot.

Subsequent patches including one that sees players battling a new Ultima Weapon (patch 4.31), a new Deep Dungeon called Heaven-on-High and Even Further Hildibrand Adventures (patch 4.36) among other things. Stay tuned for more information on the same and let us know what you think of the latest update below.

Final Fantasy XIV has often been called the true heir to the franchise’s storied legacy, and Stormblood doubles down on that in every way imagineable. For fans of the series who were disappointed with Final Fantasy XV’s fractured and disappointing narrative and storytelling, and for those who miss fantasy, medieval stories this series used to tell, Stormblood is an absolute treat. And it’s not just a treat because it does what old-school Final Fantasy games used to do- but also because it does it all incredibly well. In a lot of ways, this feels more like a true mainline Final Fantasy sequel than Final Fantasy XV ever did (this is coming from someone who absolutely adores Final Fantasy XV).

"In a lot of ways, this feels more like a true mainline Final Fantasy sequel than Final Fantasy XV ever did."

Stormblood really does have one of the most engrossing, most well-written stories you will ever see in a game. It doesn’t feel the need to employ storytelling gimmicks or hijinks to grab your attention, and tells its story in fairly simple ways, which means it’s easy to follow (maybe a little less so if you’re not all too familiar with everything else that’s happened in the MMO’s tale so far). Conversely, the story itself is one that tackles many interesting themes and explores a varied and wonderful cast of characters. From learning about the effects the ongoing war has had on the people you run into to meeting flawed and complex protagonists, Stormblood does everything a good story should ideally do.

What helps is that the voice acting of the game is top-notch, especially when it comes to the more major characters. Rarely do I come across MMOs (or games in general) that have voice acting that is strong enough to do justice to their writing, but Stormblood definitely falls into that category. This story has a singular focus on telling a dour and compelling narrative, and that is something that bleeds into its writing and voice acting as well. From soldiers who’ve witnessed and committed some truly horrifying things during the war to deeply conflicted characters, the writing and voice work are, for the most part, spot on in conveying what they wish to convey.

Similarly, the cutscenes in Stormblood are absolutely beautiful. Final Fantasy has always been known for having some of the flashiest, most well-directed cutscenes in the industry, even for games such as Final Fantasy 15 which don’t necessarily have that much of a focus on storytelling, and that’s just as true with this expansion pack as it has ever been, if not even more so. The story being told here is one that works on several levels- as a sweeping and epic tale about a massive war, and as a collection of personal, more intimate stories about several characters. And the cutscenes that tell the bulk of this story never fail to have an impact, no matter what kind of juncture you’re at in the story.

"The story being told here is one that works on several levels- as a sweeping and epic tale about a massive war, and as a collection of personal, more intimate stories about several characters."

From a game design perspective, Stormblood is a little more inconsistent. It’s bogged down by some issues, most of which you will be familiar with if you’ve ever played an MMO before. There’s a lot of grinding to be done here, since most of the story missions are level gated, and the side quest design is, quite frankly, unimaginative and boring- about what you’d expect from an MMO. These quests mostly devolve into becoming fetch quests or kill quests, and they don’t even give out much XP as a reward, so it’s not even like they’re worth the time or effort it takes to be done with them. Sure, the game lets you earn XP much faster thanks to PVP and other methods, but that doesn’t excuse just how bland the side quest design is here.

The underwater sections in Stormblood are also a little disappointing. They are, admittedly, beautiful to look at, and the first impression they made on me was quite strong, to be completely frank, but it eventually turned out that they don’t do much to stand out from the rest of the game. Square had an opportunity here to create entire sections of the game with a distinct flavour and personality of their own, and while they did manage to do that purely in terms of visual aesthetic, they didn’t really go beyond that. The underwater sections will impress you initially, but after the surprise and awe wears off, you’ll quickly realize there isn’t much else to them.

Onto the positives now, of which there are plenty. In Stormblood, you’ll be visiting the region of Gyr Abania, as well as the continent of Othard, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call these some of the most beautiful and vividly imaginative places Square Enix has ever created for a Final Fantasy game. Certainly, these are the best areas I’ve seen in the MMO so far. Rather than being based on medieval European kingdoms like we’ve been used to seeing from the series, areas in Stormblood have a much more Eastern style and architecture. The cities you visit are beautiful, and the landscapes even more so, almost begging the player to be explored. Don’t get me wrong, this is no Breath of the Wild or Horizon: Zero Dawn, but this is still a fantastic, beautifully rendered game world.

"The cities you visit are beautiful, and the landscapes even more so, almost begging the player to be explored."

The dungeons, too, are excellent, with some of the best design I’ve seen in a Final Fantasy game in recent years, while the boss fights are also suitably excellent (pleasantly enough, many of them actually provide a bit of a challenge, and in today’s day and age, that seems to be an invaluable trait). But even if Stormblood didn’t go above and beyond in these areas the way it does and simply gave us more of what we’ve already seen from A Realm Reborn and Heavensward (all of which is pretty damn good itself, by the way), it’d still be a joy to play through, more so than anything else because of its two new classes, Samurai and Red Mage. Tinkering with them and discovering their strengths and weaknesses is about as much fun as you’d want it to be, and though I personally like the Samurai class more, there’s a lot to love in both these classes for all players.

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood gives me hope that Square Enix hasn’t completely forgotten about what makes Final Fantasy tick. There’s a great story here, carried by excellent characters, backed by strong writing and voice work. Outside of the narrative, the world and dungeon design is top notch, combat is elevated to another level with the introduction of the two new classes, while boss fights are also really good. Bland side quests and disappointing underwater sections let the game down a little, admittedly, but they’re not enough to tarnish what is otherwise an outstanding game.

Nominees:

Horizon: Zero Dawn – The Frozen Wilds

Aloy’s adventure through the grand post-apocalyptic world of Horizon: Zero Dawn was full of beautiful landscapes, intense mystery and awkward sessions of arrow-flinging at rampaging robot animals. The Frozen Wilds delivers much of the same action, adding new intense beasts that are even more vicious, new weapons and gear, a heaping helping of side quests and a new story. This also takes place across the new northern wild lands area which looks downright incredible. While The Frozen Wilds won’t answer every single question you might have from the base game, it’s still a fun romp through a gorgeous open world that’s well worth the 10 or so hours it takes to beat everything.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Champion’s Ballad

Is the Champion’s Ballad the big story expansion that Breath of the Wild fans were hoping for? No, but it does offer a ton of new content with brief plot points calling back to the fabled Champions, new shrines, new bosses and even a sweet new motorcycle. Of course, there are other end-game challenges like having a weapon that one hit kills enemies but being susceptible to one hit kills yourself. It’s an invigorating challenge and a reason to dump several more hours into the large open world of Hyrule…even if there are still a bunch of mysteries to solve.

Dota 2: Dueling Fates

Valve Corporation has had a phenomenal year with Dota 2. The International saw its biggest prize pool in history with over $24 million in prizes. The game itself played host to a number of updates like the co-op campaign Siltbreaker but Dueling Fates is the one that deserves the most spotlight. It added two new heroes to the mix with Pangolier and Dark Willow and completely changed how MMR works for both ranked and unranked play (with ranked seasons now lasting six months). New hero guides have been implemented to help players find the build that suits them best. Then there’s Turbo Mode, a lightning fast, Arcade-like mode where Gold and XP flow more freely, respawn times are lowered and the action is quicker. In terms of just making the game more fun, Dota 2’s Dueling Fates is a great addition to the base game.

Warframe: Plains of Eidolon

It was the biggest update yet for Digital Extremes’ Warframe but also it’s most ambitious. After years of tight corridors and static objectives on each map, Warframe was going open world. The initial launch was a lot less ideal than many would have liked with economy issues, glitches, weird design choices and much more. However, the developer has refined the Plains of Eidolon to make its new Bounty System more rewarding and the overall quality of life more engaging. All that aside, the basic tenets of the Plains, from mining and fishing to battling enormous Eidolons, were still tons of fun. Gara may need a little more balancing and Focus 2.5 is only now getting the system on track but Plains of Eidolon is a worthy addition to one of the best free to play games yet.

Path of Exile: Fall of Oriath

Over the years, many games like Warframe and Dota 2 have been held as sterling examples of free to play gaming. However, nearly everyone seems to agree that Path of Exile is at the very top and perhaps the best Diablo-style action RPG currently available. In 2017, this was cemented further as the developer introduced Fall of Oriath. It added six new story acts with new locations and enemies, new gems and weapons, and the new Pantheon system for additional player powers. The fact that Grinding Gear Games added even more with War of the Atlas, significantly revamping the end-game maps system, goes to show how great Path of Exile is to its community.

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City

Ashes of Ariandel wasn’t the best DLC for Dark Souls 3, especially with all the focus on PvP. The Ringed City made up for that immensely by introducing new lands to explore (including the ominous city in its name), new weapons and armour, and of course, new enemies to battle. The DLC also brought us several awesome boss fights. In fact, Darkeater Midr and Slave Knight Gael remain two of the best and most difficult boss battles in the game yet. The grim fantasy of Dark Souls 3 has always enticed us and The Ringed City leveraged that for an unforgettable last romp into misery.

Darkest Dungeon: The Crimson Court

If the level of depravity in Dark Souls isn’t enough for you, then Darkest Dungeon will satisfy that itch. This year saw The Crimson Court come into being with a new dungeon, a brand new faction of grotesque nightmares to fight, five new bosses,10 new buildings for upgrades and trinket sets for heroes offering their own set bonuses. Who are the Ancestors exactly? What is this new faction? How many more heroes will you send to die? The Crimson Court rekindled all of those burning questions for us.

Grim Dawn: Ashes of Malmouth

This seemed to be the year of “Diablo-like action RPGs that deliver way more value than Diablo”. Grim Dawn’s Ashes of Malmouth introduced its own version of the Necromancer but threw in the long-ranged, spell-wielding Inquisitor as well. This brought the game’s Masteries up significantly but we also received an increased level cap, two new story chapters spread across huge new areas, four new factions, hundreds of new items and much more. That’s only scratching the surface though and it’s crazy that Crate Entertainment offers so much for such a low price.

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

Firaxis Games’ XCOM 2 was one of the best games of last year but War of the Chosen makes it even better. It adds the Chosen, three new enemies that can interfere in your battles, and three new factions complete with hero classes to fight them. Players will also have new environments to explore complete with new mission types, enemies, and new orders for fighting against the Chosen. You can even have certain soldiers bond to activate new abilities, add modifiers for more challenging missions or partake in community challenges for a chance at the leaderboards.

Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood

Continuing its epic saga, Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn got even bigger with Stormblood which added huge new lands to explore, two new jobs, a number of battle system changes, and two new raids, one of them taking players back to Ivalice. Of course, you also have a new level cap to grind towards, new story missions and adventures, new gear and a number of exploration options like swimming and diving. Despite a bumpy launch, Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood continues the MMO’s claim as one of the best of all time.

Winner: Path of Exile – Fall of Oriath

Grinding Gear Games has been a fairly humble developer. When Path of Exile first arrived in 2013, it was lauded for its action RPG focus, insane customization options and the freedom to play how you wanted. Furthermore, it was completely free with only cosmetic options requiring payment. These were only really for those who wanted to support the game. Then, of course, Fall of Oriath came.

Fall of Oriath isn’t just a mere expansion to the game which added new areas, enemies and bosses. It was a new path forward for what was already a stellar game, refining how one plays the it while adding a ton of new content to complete. Issues like de-syncs and lag were also majorly addressed and players had even more reasons to play their favourite action RPG than before. The kicker is that all of this content was completely free, for no extra charge. That’s simply incredible and as a result, Path of Exile: Fall of Oriath is our pick for the best DLC, expansion and content update of 2017.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

The Nintendo Switch has remained the top selling system in Japan ever since its release back on March 3. This, in spite of heavy supply constraints and issues, which have led to its absolute sales numbers being far lower than what they could have been had there been enough stock.

This week, the low Switch numbers were finally enough for the PS4, buoyed by the release of Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood, to overtake it on the hardware charts with 25,680 units sold. The Switch came in second with 22,000 units, and the 3DS trailed in third place.

Over on the software side of things, ARMS stayed at the top, with Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood ending in second place. 3DS debutant The Alliance Alive and PSVR title Farpoint were the next two games on the charts, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild rounding up the top six.

Nintendo better hope it can resolve these stock issues soon- it has already apologized and promised higher stock by the time Splatoon 2 launches. It better follow up on those promises.

[Media Create]

Final Fantasy 14 has had a remarkable turnaround from being the worst product ever bearing the Final Fantasy name to one of the best and most popular MMORPGs currently on the market. It’s so popular, in fact, that the launch of its latest expansion, Stormblood, has seen server overloads, besought with a whole lot of issues.

Game Director Naoki Yoshida apologized for the troubled launch on the game’s website, confirming that Square is working to increase server capacity to address issues, and explaining that a temporary player limit has been placed on the Worlds to alleviate server stress. He also suggested some ways players can minimize the problems the game has experienced since Stormblood‘s launch.

“We are continuing to assess and work on ways we can increase the number of players that are able to log in without the World crashing. However, as this requires extremely precise adjustments, we currently need a bit more time.

“I am terribly sorry, but since we also have New World and World Population Balancing Incentives at the moment, we would also appreciate if you could please consider using the World Transfer service.”

It’s good to see that Square is working on fixing this- although considering that A Realm Reborn is now a fair few years old, the fact that they were not prepared for something like this is pretty damn baffling.

[via PlayStation Lifestyle]