A few days ago, Square Enix released a video showcasing the new abilities of the jobs from Final Fantasy XIV in the upcoming expansion Shadowbringers. Our author Irie was greatly impressed by the trailer.
Final Fantasy XIV is currently racing towards the release of its next expansion. Therefore, it’s really not a big deal that new abilities were introduced in a stream with director Naoki Yoshida a few days ago, which will be available from Shadowbringers.
The maximum level in the MMORPG will indeed be raised from 70 to 80, so it makes sense that players will get new cool abilities. This skill trailer still left a really strong impression on me.
You don’t just get randomly generated skills accompanied by lots of pretty effects. Some jobs receive abilities that were previously used against the players by story bosses, which I found much cooler than anything else.
Warning: Spoilers for the main story and side quests of FFXIV follow from here
When mechanics merge with the story of the game
The first example that immediately caught my eye in the trailer is the Dragoon. In the Shadowbringers expansion, Dragoons will receive a new ability that resembles the attack “Endchoral” of the dragon Nidhogg.
Nidhogg was one of the main antagonists of the Heavensward expansion. Blinded by grief and vengeance against the humans who killed his sister Ratatoskr, he waged a thousand-year war against the nation of Ishgard.
In the story of Heavensward, he possesses the body of the NPC character Estinien and in the final crucial battle becomes a hybrid of human and dragon. In this form, he uses his strongest attack, which has wiped many groups.
The final battle against Nidhogg-Estinien is spectacularly staged, accompanied by epic music, and has left a deep impression on many players. And now they can use his ultimate ability, which was used against them. I was pleased, and I don’t even play Dragoon!
Fray Myste: The NPC that speaks to my soul
Or my favorite among the new abilities: At the end of the trailer for the skills, you can see the Dark Knight summoning his own shadow, which fights alongside him. Many players immediately recognized this shadow as the NPC Fray Myste.
The Dark Knight job quests are regarded as some of the best in the community, and Fray plays a crucial role in them. Throughout the story, it is revealed that he represents the dark side of the player character.
Fray represents the suppressed emotions of the player character, such as anger, frustration, and disdain, but also sadness and helplessness. He is fed up with always being the underling of others, saving their butts every day, and sometimes not even receiving a thank you for it.
He wants to be “free”. Therefore, he tries to get the player character to stop being the Warrior of Light, just walk away and let people solve their own problems. After defeating him in battle, he must retreat into the player character but says as a farewell that they can call him at any time.
And from Shadowbringers, this will actually be possible. Fray is a very popular character because players can identify with him. FFXIV has, God knows, tons of annoying fetch quests that have driven many fans up the wall (keyword: moogles). He speaks to our souls.
And now you can summon him in battle and fight alongside him.
“I don’t know which job I want to play”
And there are more examples of abilities that have a strong connection to the story and lore of FFXIV.
- Summoners get Phoenix as a new skill, which plays a highly important role in the story around the raid “Twisted Shadows of Bahamut”
- Samurai receive an ability Zenos yae Galvus, the main antagonist of the Stormblood expansion
- Machinists can use the rocket drill of the enemy Chewer. The robot can transform into a super-mecha along with four others in the Alexander raid.
There are also abilities that, while not connected to the story of FFXIV, are connected to other FF games.
- Many abilities of the new job Gunbreaker have the same or similar animations as the abilities of Squall Leonhart from FFVIII
- The same goes for the newly revamped Machinist, who uses the skills of Edgar Roni Figaro from FFVI. This includes, for example, Bio Blaster or Auto-Crossbow.
One of the players from my raid group just said: “I don’t even know which job I want to play first.”
Unfortunately, not all jobs can boast of rising to boss level with Shadowbringers. As a main Bard player, I didn’t get a cool boss skill to play with.
Not groundbreaking, but a good decision
In the Stormblood expansion, the developers already made such a step. Instead of giving Summoners the “normal” primals as new pets, they directly implemented the dragon god Bahamut as a new ability.
In Shadowbringers, the devs seem to have decided to continue down this path. They took gameplay elements and linked them to emotional moments and player nostalgia. In this way, they further emphasize the story of the game and the Final Fantasy franchise.
This is not a practice exclusive to FFXIV. In WoW, Death Knights can use the abilities of the Lich King, as well as other abilities based on boss attacks. And in Destiny, Guardians could use the technology of the Vex and deploy weapons made from SIVA.
These boss abilities give players the feeling that it’s the next level of character development. You are now on the same level as really strong NPCs from the stories of these games.
On the other hand, it also has an emotional factor because these abilities are inextricably linked to the stories of FFXIV. In any case, I wish for more such skills in the future for Final Fantasy XIV.
