Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary Demoed Before Patch 6.2

Final Fantasy XIV‘s latest patch, version 6.2, launches next week. Alongside new story developments, its premiere addition is the Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary. That’s a new long-term game mode focused on peaceful pioneering. The latest Letter from the Producer Live broadcast gave players a long-awaited gameplay preview of the Island Sanctuary.

The FFXIV Island Sanctuary is actually a sizeable piece of territory in itself, akin to a small or medium-size zone in itself. The official accounts clipped a bit of the stream to demonstrate. Akin to special zones like Eureka and Bozja, the sanctuary will have unique UI elements. It’ll have its own inventory space, too. Given the space’s size, movement abilities like Sprint will have a shorter cooldown, and mounts will move faster.

a quick preview of your island (it's big) pic.twitter.com/vEgAzT9tIX

— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) August 12, 2022

Though the FFXIV Island Sanctuary’s focus is on development and cultivation, it’s not specialized for crafters or gatherers. Players won’t need experience in Disciple of the Hand or Land jobs to do what they need to in the area. They will be doing some crafting and gathering, though. Nodes for resources and animals to capture, as well as building structures all play a role in the available activities. Players will need to cultivate the land by planting and tending to crops. Kind of like farming-based RPGs and other games, they’ll plant seeds, water them, and later on, hire and assign NPCs to take on some of the work. They’ll capture and herd livestock, raise them for materials, and manage their status.

Building new buildings will require various tools and resources, and proceed in real time. Like an idle game or a base-builder, some more complex structures have a real-time building time attached. According to Yoshi-P, the FFXIV Island Sanctuary isn’t designed to be consumed in a single grindy sitting, but something players go through at their own pace. Progression is managed through an Island Sanctuary-specific Scrip currency. Players can pay NPCs with Scrip to help out with tasks or trade it in for unique rewards. The rewards include exclusive glamours, like farming-themed outfits. The team intends to add new features every two major patches. This means that after the mode debuts in patch 6.2, it’ll expand or deepen further around patch 6.4.

Final Fantasy XIV is available on PC, PS4, and PS5. The Island Sanctuary debuts alongside patch 6.2 on August 23, 2022.