Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is the Vacation Weve Been Waiting For
We were able to get some hands-on time with Dawntrail and we were left wanting more. Menu
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- Dawntrail offers new jobs, Pictomancer and Viper, with unique play styles, adding depth and excitement.
- The expansion introduces visually striking areas like Tuliyollal, Urqopacha, and Kozama’uka, enhancing immersion.
- Graphical update brings higher resolution textures and better shaders, adding detail without a drastic change.
Dawntrail features a bevy of new content, the biggest being the two additional characters, Pictomancer and Viper. We enjoyed our short time with the two classes, each offering vastly different play styles. Pictomancer is caster that focuses on flashy, colorful art, while Viper is a fast melee job that goes between two different combos to unleash an immense amount of damage in a short amount of time, which isn’t too dissimilar from Reaper.
Our favorite was probably the former, even though we found it a bit clunky when painting the Motifs. It functions unlike most casters and closer to a melee in that you build up gauge through a three-hit combo to use more powerful attacks, all while weaving in monster motifs and once every minute using a weapon skill (the hammer). We still very much like Viper, though, as it requires so few buttons, something which is a godsend for controller players. It’s all about maintaining your buffs and building a gauge to go into a more powerful form where attacks deal significantly more damage. Both of these classes balance themselves out well and will no doubt be solid additions to the roster.
These two display the consolidation of skills and combos perfectly, especially Viper, with their core rotations being assigned to a single button. This is something we had hoped to have seen with other jobs at the event, but unfortunately, what we witnessed was more of a half measure, with only a couple of skills morphing into another when used.
Dragoon seemed like the perfect job to rework this into as it only has two melee rotations that you don’t deviate from, but that wasn’t the case. Speaking of which, we expected a much larger rework for Dragoon; while it received more adjustments that most of the other jobs, it still felt and played almost exactly the same as before. Astrologian is in the same boat, mainly just taking the RNG aspect out of cards and buffs. It’s surprising that it’s Ninja and Monk especially who picked up the most changes, being almost unrecognizable in certain situations.
Related Square Enix Releases Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Benchmark Software Final Fantasy XIV fans can now properly benchmark their PCs and check out some of what’s coming to their game this summer.
Final Fantasy XIV fans can now properly benchmark their PCs and check out some of what’s coming to their game this summer.
Outside of testing the new and existing jobs, we were also placed in three different areas in the New World. Tuliyollal is the main village that facilitates the main quest. Urqopacha is a more rundown area but has a nice view of a skyward mountain. And finally, Kozama’uka is more of a scenic locale as it features more organic life along with well crafted cliffs and waterfalls. These areas were the perfect means of showing off Dawntrail, as they displayed some of the most visually-striking and creatively-different locations. The village alone is breathtaking, especially when the sun rises.
Exporing the New World
Outside this, though, we also got a peek at the Level 91 dungeon, Ihuykatumu. Here the Warrior of Light, Alphinaud, Krile and the newly added Wuk Lamat are seemingly racing Thancred, Urianger and a new face, Koana, to a location. This takes us through a mine and eventually through some ancient ruins taken over by the wildlife. This dungeon is more or less what we’ve come to expect from Final Fantasy XIV dungeons, with a couple of mobs of enemies with three separate bosses stitched-in between them. The mechanics themselves are straightforward, with the last boss being the only one with a couple of interesting patterns.
There’s also the female Hrothgar and all its options we got to check out, and similar to male Hrothgar, they don’t get a lot of options. At the very least, from the level 100 artifact gear, most of the headgear works well with them.
Shiny New Polish
We also were able to take a look at the graphical upgrade that has been highly anticipated for some time now. Our impressions are somewhat mixed. On one hand, it does look better, with higher resolution textures, better shaders and additional pixels on character models. On the other hand, we barely noticed it. In fact, it took a couple of hours before realizing “Oh yea, there is a graphical update, isn’t there?” That’s not to discredit the hard work of the developers as the visuals still look better than what they have in the past, not to mention it’s still being worked on, but just don’t expect it to be something that will look leagues better than the original. It’s subtle, smaller details that you will appreciate. If anything, we want to check how it affects older content, such as weapons, gear and environments, hopefully making a bigger impact.
We were left impressed with what we saw in our short time with Dawntrail. The expansion doesn’t look like it will be overhauling many jobs, and the new ones do take a fair amount from others, but the few changes that have been made look to benefit the overall formula greatly. Pictomancer is at the top of our anticipated list as, while it does feel clunky, once we find the flow it should feel good to play at the endgame. That’s not to say we’re not excited about Viper as it’s a fast-paced, frantic job that mitigates a lot of the button bloat, but it does feel too much like Reaper in its core design.
Related Final Fantasy XIV: Beginner’s Guide to Caster DPS Playing a caster DPS in Final Fantasy XIV can be exhilarating and challenging.
Playing a caster DPS in Final Fantasy XIV can be exhilarating and challenging.
The female Hrothgar is a long overdue addition that, while we don’t expect too many players making the switch, is something that’s been needed. The New World is breathtaking, at least from the three areas we got the explore, with a high level of variety in the environments and gorgeous vistas. And while the graphical update wasn’t leaps above the original, it does add more detail and higher fidelity to the world that’s much needed for this decade-old game.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail will be available July 2, with early access starting June 28.
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