Final Fantasy 14’s next expansion is Dawntrail, a heroic summer holiday out next year

rockpapershotgun.com:

Final Fantasy 14’s fifth expansion has a name, a (rough) release date and a first look at what seems to be a notable shift in tone from the apocalyptic climax of Endwalker. Dawntrail will be a summer-themed continuation of FFXIV’s story into a “new story”, bringing new jobs, various content additions and a major visual revamp for the MMO.

Dawntrail was revealed during this week’s Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest in Las Vegas, with game director Yoshi-P (or Naoki Yoshida) revealing its first details and a trailer during the event’s keynote.

In a stark contrast to the morbid existentialism of 2021’s Endwalker - heralded as the finale to the Hydaelyn-Zodiark arc that had played out since A Realm Reborn’s original release in 2013 - Dawntrail’s trailer shows a whole lot of familiar faces sailing ships over bright azure seas, exploring lush green forests and chowing down on tacos.

#Dawntrail will bring our first graphical update. We'll be introducing improvements to texture resolutions and material qualities while keeping all the familiar aspects! pic.twitter.com/6fuW0rWmYm

Those familiar faces look especially sharp, too, with the likes of Estinien, Y’shtola and Alisaie helping to showcase what Yoshi-P said would be a major graphics bump and even prettier NPCs with the release of the 7.0 patch. He even managed to get in a sly wink to Endwalker’s iconic low-poly grapes, which will contrast against the highly detailed and dense vegetarian of new area Tural, found across the ocean to the west of Eorzea. Serving as Tural’s new player hub will be the city of Tuliyollal.

If a lot of blue seas and sand bring to mind Final Fantasy X, you wouldn’t be wrong. Just as Endwalker drew plenty of inspiration from Final Fantasy 4, it seems