During the opening keynote for Final Fantasy XIV’s Fan Festival in Tokyo today, the game’s director and producer Naoki Yoshida shared lots of new information was about the upcoming expansion, Stormblood.
First off, Red Mage, a long-asked for job since the game’s launch, was confirmed as being one of the new jobs available when Stormblood releases. Red Mage will be a hybrid melee and ranged magic DPS, and will use a rapier as a primary weapon, as well as a magicked crystal medium. The job will have the ability to chain magic, and its playstyle is achieved via “high-speed positioning.” Red Mages have the capability of dealing massive damage by chaining multiple spells and then following up with melee attacks.
Stormblood will also introduce the ability to swim and dive in certain areas. Upon entering an accessible body of water, you character will automatically switch to swim mode. In swim mode, your default walking speed turns into a breaststroke animation, while using sprint will cause your character to crawl. No combat will be available while swimming, and there will be no loading times when switching to swim mode.
A new beast tribe will be introduced with the release of Stormblood. Called the Ananta, this serpent-like race inhabits the mountains near Ala Mhigo and excel in spell- and gemcraft.
Additionally, a new primal was announced named Lakshmi, the Lady of Bliss.
A new raid called The Bend of Time – Omega was also announced.
The expansion’s 24-person alliance raid was revealed, with a name of “Return to Ivalice.”
Celebrated composer Nobuo Uematsu was also confirmed to be coming back to compose the main theme for Stormblood.
The keynote ended with a tentative release date for the expansion of June 20th, 2017. Preorders will become available on January 24th, 2017.
Final Fantasy XIV is available for PC, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.
Published: Dec 23, 2016 07:00 pm