In case you were in any doubt, Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida has confirmed that the upcoming Evercold expansion does indeed take inspiration from Norse mythology.
As part of the latest Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest – held in Anaheim, California – a rather impressed Yoshida touches on the fact after being asked about it as part of a question and answer session attended by GamesRadar+.
Yoshida says that the developers "actually tried to obscure that it was Norse-inspired" in the teaser trailer, when asked whether the architecture and a mysterious figure give away what Square Enix is taking notes from.
"That's one of the reasons why we did not list any sort of names or proper nouns in the keynote presentation," he says. "And I think you'll start to realize that as we reveal more information. But yeah, if you would like to look into some of the cultures and the mythologies surrounding this sort of [thing], you might get a better understanding, or, like, enjoy it even deeper."
A quick glance at the Evercold trailer might not reveal all its Norse influences, but upon deeper inspection, it does sort of become obvious. From the serpent-adorned architecture to the decorated armor and frosty settings, it's hard not to notice after spotting everything once – and is that a suspiciously gray-haired, bearded, one-eyed Au'ra three minutes in?
Of course, Final Fantasy 14 Evercold isn't the first slice of the MMO to look toward Norse mythology – Odin is a primal you can fight in the game, and there's plenty of goodness to be found in Heavensward. Looking ahead, though, it's thought-provoking to wonder how Square Enix will use it to give Evercold's world some of its color.
Over the years, Final Fantasy 14 has drawn on various cultures and mythologies to give the MMO a sense of vibrancy and diversity – Stormblood looks to Asian influences, for example, while the more recent Dawntrail draws on Latin America.
Now, if you excuse me, I have some very Norse-looking cat people to study.
