Summary
During a London Fan Fest panel,Final Fantasy 14gave players another look at the graphical update coming to the game when theDawntrailexpansion launches in the summer of 2024. While the graphical update forFinal Fantasy 14is the first major one for the game in over a decade, the development team stressed that all the improvements done were subject to change prior to launch.
In July 2023,Final Fantasy 14gave Las Vegas Fan Fest attendees and stream viewers a first look atDawntrail, including a glimpse ofthe graphical update planned for theFinal Fantasy 14expansion. While the developers said the graphical update was not indicative of the final product that would arrive with the expansion,Final Fantasy 14fans took a liking to what was shown during the convention. Since then, Square Enix has taken initial feedback into consideration with the next pass of updates and showed fans the results of its progress.
The first day of the 2023 London Fan Fest saw Square Enix pull back the curtain on further refinements made to theDawntrailgraphics update, and some of these improvements were compiled on social media byFinal Fantasy 14players. While the changes were slight, the focus was on the eyes of the Hyur, Miqo’te, and Au Ra player character models. In one slide, the Au Ra horns and the limbal rings in their eyes were given more subdued hues in response to feedback. In another slide, the facial features of the Miqo’te were stretched out a little. Other features, such as Elezen ears, Hrothgar fur, andthe armor for the new Viper Job, were shown off as well. This close-up included a closer look at the Viper’s leather jacket and hood, both of which will be earned by players inDawntrail.
Square Enix also reminded PC players to upgrade their graphics cards to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super, an AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, or newer to enjoyDawntrailat the recommended settings. On social media, reception to the graphics update was met with positivity fromFinal Fantasy 14players. With plenty ofcustomization options available toFinal Fantasy 14players,Square Enix said that it would continue to refine the graphics of the player character models and keep track of player feedback.
Between the graphical update and a renewedfocus on group content compared toEndwalker,Dawntrailaims to be a fresh start for current and returningFinal Fantasy 14players. Only time will tell if it will hit the mark.
Final Fantasy 14is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5, with an Xbox Series X/S version launching in Spring 2024.
