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There are fewer things I am more precious over in Final Fantasy 14 than the headcanon I've curated for my Warrior of Light. The first connection I made with my character was that the game lived and breathed before either of us arrived. The story of A Realm Reborn casts new players in the role of a fated hero who arrives after the events of Meteor wiped the slate clean. Though, as someone who hasn't played since day one, I also felt late to the story, both the in-game tale and an external one of how the MMO recovered from a critical failure to a jewel in developer Square Enix's crown.
The sense of walking into an ongoing situation drew me towards making my character a Samurai when my level was high enough, as my inner sense of roleplay imagined them as a lone wandering swordsman – that, and too many Akira Kurosawa films at the time. That's the romantic part, the other reason I play Samurai is that I'm a sicko for big damage numbers.
All of this is to say that when I got to preview the Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail expansion – the MMO's first since Endwalker concluded a 10-year story – my immediate priority was to see how my beloved MMO class – called a 'Job' here – has changed.
Gone with the wind
A new Final Fantasy 14 expansion typically means 10 more levels for you to grind through, leading to more abilities for each job. New toys are always fun but 10 years of new skills means each job requires constant streamlining to avoid button bloat. As such, a new chapter in the MMO often means discovering what's new and what's been cut.
This time, the Samurai's ever-handy Meikyo Shisui ability has been given the additional value of turning Tenka Goken and Midare Setsugekka into more powerful versions of themselves – new additions that don't take up more room on the Hotbar. Using Ikishoten can also lead to one more set-piece move, whereas other abilities like Kaeshi: Higanbana is gone – though I should add things are always subject to change since I played an in-progress build.
My most audible reaction, though, comes from how Meikyo Shisui folds into your bread-and-butter rotation. It's always been handy to shorten the Samurai's most common combo without giving up any buffs, though now, if you really want, you can pop it before a move like Midare Setsugekka to power it up into a Tendo version – is it optimal to do it right there instead of before the rotation starts? Probably not, but it's fun!
Meikyo own way
It reminds me of a previous fan-favorite move that the Samurai lost after Endwalker – Kaiten. The move simply gave the action that followed a 50% damage buff, but that's not why many love and miss it. Using the move offers a stylish 'wind-up' moment that makes using Midare Setsugekka hit harder in both damage and style.
Its removal remains a popular talking point today – heck, one cosplayer even brought it back to everyone's attention during one of Final Fantasy 14's fan festivals last year. All of that certainly hasn't been lost on director and producer Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida.
"Firstly, I can promise you that it won't be simplified any further," he assures during an interview at the media event when talking about the Samurai class. "And by the way, when it comes to Kaiten, I'm really torn about it and I do want to apologize. And I do know that right now many people are questioning 'Why did you remove Kaiten' and 'We want it back.'
"But back then when we made the decision, there were more people requesting Kaiten to be removed than there were that were happy with it. So whether it's good or bad, I think there's no answer. There are always going to be some people who prefer more difficult mechanics, and then others who prefer simple mechanics."
Yoshi-P goes on to say he's concerned about the simplicity of the job as it's becoming "more difficult to showcase one's own technique or expertise." As such, plans are in motion post-Dawntrail that'll touch upon not just the Samurai, but numerous other classes.
"From 7.2, we will be working towards a more fulfilling playing experience," Yoshi-P says. "But to start that off, we will be focusing on Battle content. So, once players get used to the changes in those battles, then we will look to the jobs and we will focus on providing more individuality in the jobs.
"So we will be incorporating various changes and some of those changes will also be related to the skill rotations. So for the jobs, we would like players to wait until we come to that time. But one thing I can promise is that it will not be more simple."
As for Kaiten, that likely isn't coming back, which is understandable. Samurai aren't greatly lacking for damage and Ikishoten offers that same sense of winding up for a high damage attack. While Yoshi-P says he can't say whether or not Kaiten might return, he's happy to tease "Kaiten 2."
On hols
The best is hopefully still to come for Samurai and other jobs, then. That said, what I've played is promising. Our preview allows us to explore the open plains of Yok Tural and its main city Tuliyollal. Plenty has been stripped out to avoid spoilers, though access to random enemies, several FATEs, and one dungeon remains. The dungeon being level 92 limits what moves we can make, though using it out in the open does enough to assure the power fantasy remains intact – the damage numbers remain high, and it all feels effortlessly cool to use.
Also on display were the new Viper and Pictomancer jobs. The former offers fans of melee DPS roles something with quick inputs and branching combos. The power fantasy of playing as a cutthroat is on point, and weaving in debuffs to ensure foes take more damage is familiar enough if you've played non-Samurai roles – we know our 'utility' is damage, it's fine.
The latter is also big and vibrant enough to tempt me to introduce some variety to my Final Fantasy 14 life. One for magic DPS fans, this Final Fantasy 6 throwback has plenty of neat mechanics that see drawings come together for big and colorful attacks.
Our preview is light enough not to give too much away but meaty enough to leave me excited for the July release. When the time comes, the community will thoroughly test each job's potential for damage output and fashion sense. For now, though, I'm content with how fun both are to play.
The feeling extends elsewhere, too. No further story details are given away beyond what we know, which is that the vacation-themed expansion takes us to lands new to sort out a succession crisis – one that pits the Scions against each other.
What gives me hope, though, comes not from the preview but the MMO's latest story patch. Square Enix has added plenty to the moment-to-moment gameplay over the past 10 years to keep things fresh. Dungeon encounters now ask you to pay greater attention to a boss's body language to keep you on your toes, and NPCs might keep you company during run-and-talk sections to stop them feeling repetitive.
Recently, though, we got something that offered a bit of both. Final Fantasy 14 also features more story-driven encounters that cast you in the role of your Warrior of Light or someone else. Dawntrail's grand build-up patch puts a chill spin on that with what is essentially a dungeon run with newcomer Wuk Lamat that features pause for dialogue and getting to know each other. With Dawntrail set to feature plenty of the gameplay loops we've seen over the past 10 years regarding dungeons, talking to NPCs to advance narrative, and set-piece encounters, I hope we get more moments with our comrades that involve some light busy work and good yapping.
The road ahead of Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail is long. While the post-expansion stretch of content is the longest and is what will keep many engaged, it all starts with the expansion itself. 10 years of momentum came to a conclusion in Endwalker, making Dawntrail's summer vacation vibe a wise move as the narrative wheels spin up once more. While it does feel as though there is so much more to see beyond what's already been shown, my eagerness to rejoin the Scions for another adventure only grows.
This article is based on play of an in-development build of Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, and content in the final version is subject to change.”
