After 4 months of ready to see the place our adventures will lead subsequent, Last Fantasy 14’s future lastly begins with the discharge of patch 6.1, titled “Newfound Journey.” With a 10-year roadmap forward, the patch continues Artistic Enterprise Unit 3’s ambitions to make FFXIV a enjoyable, alluring expertise for everybody previous and new. 

The brand new content material has gamers adventuring into treasure-filled ruins, assembly the legendary Twelve, and exhibiting their booties in Adventurer Plates. Everybody’s brawling as properly in Crystalline Battle, the brand new PvP sport mode, and sadly, there have been some hiccups as properly, within the sport’s housing replace, however actually, when isn’t there a difficulty with housing? 

Was this patch an journey price taking, or simply one other droll mission into new content material? 

Into The Semi-Recognized 

As promised, “Newfound Journey” principally picks up the place Endwalker leaves off, nevertheless it assumes you took a little bit of a break because the finish of that growth. No matter whether or not you really took break day because the growth’s launch 4 months in the past or saved going with your personal Last Fantasy 14 adventures, it nonetheless looks like a heat welcome again, like every other “go take a break” interlude within the Essential State of affairs Quests. 

The fabric of the story feels equally eliminated out of your prior world-saving adventures, and the characters even specific as such. In addition they do job of explaining the place they’ve been so that you don’t really feel such as you’re completely unnoticed of the loop (although technically, you have been). And the stakes appear fairly low to start out, however as all the time, FFXIV gained’t allow you to take care of the small fry for lengthy. 

With out going into severe spoilers, fortunately, there’s a easy transition into the higher-stakes conditions. The ordeal doesn’t really feel unnatural for the Warrior of Mild and the Scions, both. Gamers which have taken deeper dives into the basic lore of FFXIV might be excited to get into 6.1’s material, and certainly 6.2 and past will present extra solutions than ever. It’s additionally fairly straightforward to comply with alongside in case you’ve forgotten all of the related lore and particulars of what’s being launched. 

Whereas the topic has been explored because the early days of the sport, together with even the unique 1.0 launch, it’s straightforward to lose the small print within the midst of just about the whole lot else that’s occurred. However whereas there are throwbacks to the older lore, it ties very properly into the present circumstances and each the previous and new casts of FFXIV, forming an fascinating and heartfelt introduction to what might come.

Fistfighting God(s) 

Whereas the brand new story is unbelievable, so are the battles that in addition they included. There’s the ultimate Excessive trial, Endsinger’s Aria, which pits you towards the ultimate boss of Endwalker. In the meantime, the primary installment of Myths of the Realm, the brand new Alliance Raid, introduces the primary 4 of The Twelve we’ll be taking over. In 6.11, in roughly lower than every week, there’ll even be a Heavensward-themed “Final” for the massive lads on the market. 

Greater than something, Myths of the Realm is on all of the content material followers’ lips for multitude of causes. The gameplay introduces a ton of enjoyable components which can be cool when found out, and albeit hilarious when failed. The setting is spectacular, with pretty new soundtracks and breathtaking scenes that make you genuinely really feel such as you’re within the realm of the gods. And whereas cutscenes aren’t voiced, the fights are, with a energetic forged that breathes life into the famend characters. In case you haven’t tried an Alliance Raid and need a problem, it is a excellent place to start out. 

In the meantime, Endsinger’s Aria a lot prefers being a brain-tickler in its assaults above prioritizing sheer drive by way of provides, which I desire personally. Nevertheless, it doesn’t precisely add an excessive amount of on from the unique struggle, nor does it extrapolate meaningfully. It’s positively not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, nevertheless it’s a reasonably fascinating and thrilling struggle to study and clear.  

And whereas I haven’t gotten to it, Crystalline Battle, a Splatoon Tower Management-style sport mode, seems to be like an absolute hit thus far. As talked about within the 6.1 preview, you push a tower so far as you possibly can by way of a symmetrical battlefield. To this point, it appears the first complaints are concerning the energy of sure PvP variations of lessons, however from what I’ve seen from mates and movies, many are having fun with it far above present and former PvP modes. 

We’re additionally nonetheless ready for lots extra facet missions to come back that includes fan favorites Tataru and Hildibrand. Within the meantime, we’ve been given loads to do and struggle.  

High quality of Life 

With the core of Endwalker out of the way in which, 6.1 appeared like a terrific alternative for the FFXIV workers to concentrate on enhancing the sport for years to come back. Such enhancements have been promised because the announcement of Endwalker, when the group claimed it had plans to maintain the sport sustainable for the following decade to come back. 

Essentially the most outrageously common additions thus far are the Adventurer Plates and Portraits. Adventurer Plates are little customizable info playing cards that define the participant’s most well-liked fashion and hours, together with the typeable Search Data. It’s accompanied by a Portrait, a Group Pose-like picture exhibiting off a favourite outfit and a extremely customizable pose (for higher or worse). The portraits may also be used for introductions for the brand new PvP mode. 

Upon patch launch, the Empyreum housing ward launched, in addition to a brand new lottery system and restrictions for all housing. Sadly, it’s arduous to miss the mess of the housing system’s lottery outcomes. As a consequence of a programs communication error, a lot of gamers had been unable to get homes by way of the sport’s new lottery system. Very like with the connection and queue points, although, the group fortunately confirmed up with haste – on a Sunday late night time / early morning in Japan, no much less – to begin to try the problems. As of now, the options are coming collectively, however regardless of the haste in attacking the bugs, it’s nonetheless a disappointing begin to highly-anticipated social options. 

That’s to not say the lottery and Empyreum themselves are unhealthy. Every appears promising! I’d must say the exception is the severely restricted nature of personal plots, with three-fourths of the wards being allotted for Free Firms and the remainder for personal house owners. However then once more, that appears to be the present state of many servers’ housing occupation anyway. 

There are additionally fairly a number of new tweaks which have already made the expertise far smoother. The miscellany acquisition mark that checks to see if a minion, orchestrion roll or the like is acquired is tremendous useful. As a Black Mage participant on a decent rotation, the auto-target function’s been useful, and I’m certain controller gamers are having comparable sentiments. You may check out Mog Station (paid, non-compulsory) gadgets in any Inn through the use of the mattress, and add feedback to retainers that will help you kind out who does what. And I do know I’m going to get pleasure from studying by way of the Journey Codex, which briefly explains sure ideas and characters essential to the FFXIV world. With the speed at which FFXIV is rising in inhabitants, each step is an effective step to assist gamers have a greater time.  

Ought to I Bounce In After Spring Cleansing? 

Now, the all-important query… is it time to return in the event you’ve been taking a break? 

Eh… as much as you. Between the quality-of-life modifications and the unbelievable new content material, it’s not a nasty time in any respect to dive again in. Nevertheless, there’s loads extra coming earlier than 6.2, and it looks like each main patch makes FFXIV a much better expertise to return to. Plus, we’ve admittedly been left on a little bit of a cliffhanger that’ll hopefully escalate into one thing extra fascinating down the road. 

Nevertheless, in the event you’re giving FFXIV a shot, there’s actually by no means been a greater time. The free trial is again, and now you might have loads of time to complete Endwalker after the hype died down (as did the queues). There are nice issues, even within the midst of gentle catastrophe, and that’s actually simply what FFXIV is all about in the long run. It’s price additionally mentioning right here, too, that the Realm Reborn finale was cleaned up in a spectacular means, so in the event you’ve heard tales concerning the base sport’s notorious ending, you’ll positively need to strive it out now.  

What a part of 6.1 did you get pleasure from? Did you make an Adventurer Plate, or strive the brand new base sport finale?