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I recently spent some time playing a preview build of Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail. An MMO expansion I’ve been incredibly excited about, it was also my first in-person preview of the game I’ve covered for ten years. Don’t worry though, this is a spoiler-free preview, as it pertains to the overall story of FF14 - we didn’t get access to any of that. No quests, no important NPCs, and no story, so I can’t spoil any of that.
Over several hours of playing Final Fantasy 14 alongside several other journalists and good friends, we came together to do so much. From tackling dungeons, a deadly Hunt boss, and in general, just exploring a portion of this gorgeous world. July 2 can’t get here fast enough.
What we experienced in Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail’s preview session
We had several hours to dive into Final Fantasy 14 as a part of this preview. After listening to Yoshi-P discuss the content and the game, we got started playing. I was also fortunate enough to have an interview with Yoshi-P himself, which you can read here on Sportskeeda soon. However, there were a few things we had access to:
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- Tuliyollal (local town, no important NPCs loaded in)
- Field Areas: Urqopacha and Kozama’uka
- New Dungeon: Ihuykatumu
- All races and classes at level 100 - Including the new Female Hrothgar
- The start of the graphical update
I was hoping to take a peek at the story, but try as I might, no dice. That said, the exploration of Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail felt so good. The area we saw was gorgeous, but let’s start with the thing people want the most: New class thoughts!
How are the new classes in Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail?
As we all know, among the many changes coming to Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail, we got to preview both the new Viper and Pictomancer classes. I feel like I’d need way more time with the Pictomancer to really understand it, but I like what I played so far. So let’s talk about these classes.
1) Viper
Oh my god, Viper is amazing! The dual-sword class definitely felt like it had the movement and agility of Final Fantasy 9’s Zidane, that’s for sure. Thankfully, it’s not a class that is overwhelmed with a ridiculous glut of buttons. Since they added combo buttons for out-of-PVP zones, they really take full advantage of this.
You’ve got a series of three-step combos that come out of two buttons - four total if you count AOE. The main class icon on the screen, Vipersight, helps highlight what button to press next. You also have the Rattling Coil, which, with enough points built, lets you activate Uncoiled Fury.
You also gain Serpent’s Ire Gauge, which builds as you that meter. Once it reaches a certain point (50) you can trigger Reawaken, which changes your abilities to brand-new, powerful strikes. It’s a pretty easy class to get a handle on, and it’s incredibly fun.
2) Pictomancer
Pictomancer’s class icon really takes up a pretty big chunk of screen real estate, as it’s a trio of canvases. It’s a Creature Canvas, Weapon Canvas, and Landscape Canvas. You’ve got abilities that line up with those as well. As a part of the Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail preview, I probably played this class the most.
The class has a trio of buttons to paint onto these canvases, and, when done out of combat, is instant cast. It takes time in battle, so you’ll have to really judge when the right time to paint is.
When you complete the paintings for each of those canvases, you gain access to new, amazing abilities like Starry Muse (increases damage dealt by self and party members), and awesome damage combos like Hammer Stamp.
As you cast the various aetherhue spells of your class - also combined into combo buttons - you build your Palette Gauge and White Paint Gauge. Once you’ve built enough, you can use some of the Palette Gauge to activate Subtractive Palette, which alters the properties of those spells.
White Paint can activate the mighty Holy in White, or you can use Subtractive Palette to turn a splash of White into Black paint, so you can cast Comet in Black. It’s a complex class, but I think it’s amazing.
The lone dungeon we experienced was hectic and incredibly fun
Ihuykatumu was the one dungeon we had access to, and I have to say, it was an interesting experience. At first, I thought I was in a Burt Reynolds film, like Gator. The party was cruising down a muddy river, chasing down an unknown foe. However, after a few packs of enemies, we were forced to disembark, and chase them down on foot.
It also showed a glimpse of the rivalry building between the Scions, which I thought was very entertaining. We won’t go into any details about that to avoid spoilers.
There were three bosses: Prime Punutiy, Drowsie, and Apollyon! The final boss name has been used in Final Fantasy before - back in 11. It was one of the battlegrounds in the Emptiness. It’s also the Greek word for Abbadon, as well, which means “destruction”, as well as “a place for destruction”.
I won’t spoil the boss fights here in this article, but I will tell you - you’re gonna do a lot of moving. This is likely the first dungeon, with mostly familiar mechanics, and plenty of time to learn what you’re going to have to do in each fight. It was a solid introduction to party-based combat.
The world of Final Fantasy 14 is more gorgeous and dangerous as ever
We also got to see a full zone and explore it, to complete FATEs and kill monsters. As a part of this, we also got to preview the new Dye system for equipment. We couldn’t re-dye equipment, but it looked like we could save color pairings, and load them later. The UI is much better, and I hope it leads to storing all of our dye somewhere, and hopefully, not having to constantly farm it.
The graphical update is pretty gorgeous, too. I had such a blast flying around and watching the world unfold around me. The jungles and waters of the Old World were beautiful - breathtaking. Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail’s previewed graphical update did not disappoint.
One writer stumbled upon an A-rank Hunt as well, which I have a feeling is going to be an infuriating foe on launch - not to mention, likely a meme. Queen Hawk was no joke. We fought her as a group/series of groups for about 15 or so minutes, before eventually taking her down. She had some really interesting attacks to deal with, that’s for sure.
Final thoughts on Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail preview
I didn’t try every job in Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail during the preview, but I did play a few of them. I understand Black Mage and Ninja … even less, somehow, after playing it at level 100. However, Dragoon and Samurai both felt amazing. White Mage, my go-to class still felt great, and they appeared to have a movement ability, finally.
While we didn’t get to take part in any of the story-based stuff, that’s perfectly fine. I’m looking forward to the end of this month/beginning of July to tackle the official Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail story. Grouping felt excellent, and most of the new class abilities were fun to use.
