The new addon Endwalker of Final Fantasy XIV is said by director Naoki Yoshida to contain 30% more story content than its predecessor, Shadowbringers. However, the amount of battle content is expected to remain the same.
This is what the head of FFXIV says: In an interview with PCgamer.com, the director of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, commented on the contents of the upcoming addon. According to Yoshida, the story of Endwalker will offer even more than Shadowbringers, which so far contained the most story content.
In a simple comparison between the two [Shadowbringers and Endwalker] regarding story and cutscenes, I would say that the amount has increased by about 30%.
Naoki Yoshida
At first glance, Yoshida even thought it was too much. He was worried that the volume of the story would impact the tight schedule of the developers. After all, they already faced a 3-month delay in development due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yoshida considered whether he should cut some elements of the story to stay on schedule. However, this would have resulted in even more adjustments and more work for the team. So, the director decided to release the addon uncut with all the story elements that had already been planned.
During the digital fan festival, Yoshida announced the release date of Endwalker for November 23, noting that the team managed to finish the expansion in 2021. It was a close call.
Why is Endwalker so big? Yoshida’s concern that the expansion might be too large is well-founded. After all, Endwalker will finally conclude the 10-year-old story arc regarding Hydaelyn and Zodiark from FFXIV. Everything is heading towards the great epic final battle, where many questions about the Primals, Ascians, and the players themselves are to be answered.
Moreover, the story of Endwalker is supposed to be concluded directly with the release of the addon. Normally, individual expansions ended with patch x.3. Their story was properly concluded about a year after the actual release. After that, the transition to the next addon was formed.
With Endwalker, Yoshida wanted to maintain the current dynamics of the story that began in Shadowbringers and wrap everything up at once. Players will therefore receive the great final battle directly at launch.
Additionally, Endwalker will feature a total of 4 regions that are extremely important to the story of FFXIV:
- The Land of Scholars Sharlayan: The capital of Sharlayan will become a new hub where players will meet on their way to the endgame. Similar to the Crystarium or Eulmore in Shadowbringers.
- Garlemald: For the first time in 10 years, players will be able to enter the capital of the empire that has been a pain in the neck for them throughout all addons.
- Radz-at-Han: The island nation has been mentioned countless times in the story of FFXIV and plays an important role in it. Jobs like Dancer or Alchemist originate there, for example.
- The Moon: By far the most important new area. Zodiark was sealed there thousands of years ago, and the great final battle will also take place there.
All of them bring a lot of lore and background story that is also supposed to be included in the addon.
What about the non-story content? While fans of the FFXIV story will be happy with the news, there is not much good news for fans of the battle content. Yoshida told PCGamer that not much will change on that front compared to previous addons:
When we look at the battle content and general elements that will be present in Endwalker, the amount of instanced dungeons will not change. We will not reduce their number.
The number of dungeons remains the same as in Shadowbringers, but the amount of work we have put in has definitely increased. In terms of background landscapes, combat mechanics, and battle presentation, we have incorporated more individual elements into the content. Therefore, I think it will be a much more robust experience than in previous addons.
Naoki Yoshida
This means that players will receive 5 leveling dungeons upon the release of Endwalker to help them reach the new level cap of 90. Additionally, there will likely be 2 new level-80 dungeons that can be farmed for gear and allegorical stones. That was at least the case in Shadowbringers.
In terms of raids, players can expect the new 8-man raid Pandaemonium, about which not much is known yet. The key art suggests that the old acquaintance Ascian Lahabrea will somehow come back into the spotlight. However, we will only find out how exactly this will happen after the release of Endwalker on November 23.
Final Fantasy XIV brings new expansion Endwalker – release date and all info
