Here is a summary of Naoki Yoshida's Keynote speech during the Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) FanFest 2024 in Japan. The Keynote contained the final bits of information about the upcoming Dawntrail expansion, as well as some small updates that are coming soon.

The FFXIV Japan Fanfest 2024 keynote started with the final iteration of the teaser. This full trailer included a lot of things that weren't part of the previous teaser and extended teaser. This biggest change in the trailer is the introduction of the new Magic DPS: Pictomancer, as well as the reveal of the Female Hrothgar race. The trailer also changed the overall pacing of the trailer, to show more of the new map, as well as extended cuts of the Scions.

 

After the trailer finished showing, FFXIV Director Naoki Yoshida walked on-stage to start his FFXIV Japan Fanfest 2024 keynote speech. He also welcomed in his translator, Kate Cwynar . They then apologized that, although players were expecting a release date reveal today, they will not be able to give an exact date. This is due to the fact that they did not want to have a repeat of Endwalker, which had its release date delayed. They did mention that although they cannot reveal the release date yet, they promise to still stick to the Summer 2024 release window. They promised that they would get the information of the release date out to players as soon as they can.

Afterwards, they moved onto the new Job that the trailer revealed: Pictomancer. They brought up that in FFVI, Pictomancers drew their enemies to attack. In FFXIV, however, is different, as they can paint a broader range of things. They mentioned the ability to paint landscapes, alongside the ability to draw monsters. Krile, one of the Scions, becomes a Pictomancer for Dawntrail. The reason they mentioned was that Krile was always in the background providing support in the previous expansions. It would appear that in Dawntrail, Krile will be playing a more front-line role. They also brought in a cosplayer wearing the Pictomancer job gear, complete with the brush and paint palette. Yoshida joked that he didn't cosplay the job because it wouldn't look good on him.

Afterward, they dived deeper in to the job. As mentioned above, Pictomancer is the new Magical Ranged DPS, which uses the Casting Gear currently available in game. Their main weapn is a Brush. Much like the Viper Melee class, there are no required classes to unlock Pictomancer. Its starting level is 80, and will start in Gridania. They desribed the Pictomancer as a class that “works in the medium of mixed aether, wielding a specialized brush to render their imaginings reality.” Not only that, but “these creations include not only creatures and weapons, but landscapes as well.” They also hinted that “evoking such wonders takes time”, hinting that a lot of their skills have cast times. However, they mentioned that they have access to instant-cast abilities and spells. Not only that, but they also have spells that can support their team.

It is important to note, however, that althogh Pictomancer has support skills, it is not a primarily support job. It is also not an attack focus job like Black Mage. They also mentioned that the job cannot cast Raise on their fallen allies. They then brought up that for the players who are playing in German that they will not be using the German translation of the job back in FFVI: Duplikant. Instead, the job will be called Piktomant in German. This is because duplicating has a different meaning in MMORPGs, and they want to avoid that.

After talking about the new Mage DPS, they then proceeded to talk about the expansion's story. They gave a recap of what we know so far, mentioning once more this spiel:

Warriors of Light will receive a very special guest. Winds of opportunity bring a visitor from the new world, seeking the Warrior of Light's aid in a rite of succession to determine Tural's next ruler.

Alongside Alphinaud, Alisaie, and Erenville, the Warrior of Light embarks upon a journey across the Indigo Deep. Should rumor be true, the contest may lead them to the fabled gates of a city of gold. Little do they know that it will also see the scions divided.

They then revealed the identity of the person who hired the Warrior of Light for the job, as well as the owner of the voice we have been hearing in the trailer: a female Hrothgar. Yoshida jokingly called the female Hrothgar a “very fuzzy Miqo'te”. Warriors of Light will finally meet this female Hrothgar once Patch 6.55 comes out. Thankfully, they revealed the release date for Patch 6.55: January 15, 2024. This patch will be accompanied by a 24-hour maintenance. This is because the entire Japanese Date Center will receive a hardware update. They mentioned that the hardware update will contribute to server stability.

Moving on, they then started talking about Tural. They revealed the entire continent of Tural, which is located to the west of Eorzea. This continent is as long as Eorzea, although not as wide. The continent is divided between the north and south halfs, connected via a bridge that was shown in the trailer. Players can think of the two continents as a “two part structure”, having cultures that have similarities and differences. Players may feel that there are two distinct arcs while going through Dawntrail, but they explained that it will all be one big story.

Yoshida then presented the new areas coming to the game in Dawntrail, both old and new. They first showed an updated version of the area gameplay footage that they first revealed during the London FanFest. The footage revealed even more of the new areas that players can explore. In particular, they showed off what is likely Kozama'uka and Shaaloani. They also revealed a new area which is very futuristic and modern, even more so than the underwater area of Amaurot. The area is called Solution Nine, and is an area that is very important to the story. Sadly, they did not give any more information about the area, other than it is important to the story. Solution Nine is described as such:

A city of towering facades constructed by an entirely different civilizaion than that of Tuliyollal

They showed some more screenshots of Solution Nine, although they did mention that they removed some important information from the screenshot. It is, however, a player hub, which means it will likely have some facilities. They also showed another area that is likely connected to Solution Nine: Heritage Found. The art they revealed featured a less futuristic area, as well as a steam powered train.

In this region overflowing with lightning energies, thick thunderclouds blot out the sun, while streaks of purple levin illuminate the land, day and night.

Heritage Found looks like a mix of the town of Shaaloani, as well as the futuristic features of Solution Nine. They mentioned that it is not a dungeon, but a town area with people residing in it.

Moving on, they talked about the new allies that players will run into in Dawntrail. Players have already met the Pelupelu and the Moblins, but there are also other tribes that the players can meet. One of them are the Hanu Hanu, which look similar to the Vanu Vanu race. They also focused on the Mamool Ja race, which is likely going to be the main race that players will interact with in the game. They revealed that there are a variety of Mamool Ja that people will meet in the game.

System updates followed after, starting with the Level Cap increase to 100 that they mentioned before. Yoshida then took some time to thank the players who have been playing since 1.0. They also brought up the two new jobs, Viper and Pictomancer, asking the the audience which classes they will be playing. Afterward they brought up again the core battle content they will be updating, like the FATES, Level Sync quests, and more. Afterward, they showed gameplay videos of some of the dungeons that are already close to completion, if not already complete. Yoshida brought up that Soken left a message saying that the music that played during the trailer was not the final one.

Enemies came after, with them showing screenshots of new enemies. They showed screenshots of the already revealed enemies, as well as a very buff Sabotender called the Barreltender. They also brought up updates to the Duty Support. In particular, they hinted that since Kril is now a Pictomancer, players can now select her for Duty Support in Dawntrail.  They also brought up the new gear and recipes coming in Dawntrail, which they said had upgraded quality thanks to the graphics update. They then showed screenshots of the new Job gear, with their visuals improved by the graphics upgrade. The new job gears they revealed were for Summoner, Samurai, Sage, Gunbreaker, Machinist, Reaper, Astrologian, and Paladin.

Expansive new lifestyle content comes next, with them showing some concept art. The first concept art they revealed showed Warriors of Light working with Lopporits and going to other planets. This new lifestyle content is called Cosmic Exploration, and is playable solo or with a group. Yoshida, however, says that playing with a group will be better. They mentioned that the stars and planets players will be working on will change every patch, so they are hoping players will enjoy the content through the patches.

Afterward, they talked about the Alliance Raids for Dawntrail, Echoes of Vana'Diel. As mentioned before, this Alliance Raid series is in alliance with FFXI. They showed concept art of one of the bosses in the Alliance Raid: the Shadow Lord. More details about the Alliance Raid will arrive in future Live Letters, but they did reveal that the new Alliance Raids will arrive in 7.1. The new 8-player came after, where they revealed some concept art. The first concept art they revealed was very futuristic, with Yoshida joking that it looks like a GPU (thanks to the lights and fans). Although it looks like that, Yoshida assures players that this is the Raid location, which they titled The Arcadion. The story is a complete FFXIV original, and will likely introduce new characters. As with most raids, this will have a Normal and Savage mode.

Additionally, there will be a new Ultimate Rade coming in Dawntrail. As for the theme of the Ultimate Raid, it will follow the Eden Raids from Shadowbringers. The Ultimate Raid is titled “Futures Rewritten (Ultimate)”. Interestingly, this is the name of Patch 5.4. In fact, they showed the key art for that patch to reveal Futures Rewritten (Ultimate). This Ultimate will come out in 7.1, alongside the Alliance Raid.

They then revealed some ongoing content updates. This includes the Blue Mage update, Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures, Deep Dungeons, a Gold Saucer update, PvP update, and Variant Dungeons. They joked that the Hildibrand quests are eating their budget thanks to the cutscenes, but they development team wants to work on it. They also talked about the Field Operations. Players will have to work together to clear said Field Operations. More information about the new Field Operations will arrive in the future.

The new limited job came next, and will be coming in the latter part of 7.x. They, however, only revealed the name of the limited job: Beastmaster. Interestingly, this was one of the jobs that players thought would be the Mage DPS during previous FFXIV Keynotes. The class will likely have a collection feature, and the job will likely have players collecting monsters to fight with. This limited job is playable solo or with a group, much like Blue Mage.

An update on the graphics upgrade followed, with them showing screenshots of the playable FFXIV races. They showed a comparison of the player models, allowing players to see just what got upgraded. Although they said they wanted to do more and change the characters more, they wanted to maintain the their appearance as much as possible. They went through all of the playable races in the game, describing the differences and upgrades they made for each one. Additionally, players will all receive a free Fantasia once 7.0 rolls around. This is to allow players to modify their characters to match what they have in mind in light of the graphics update.

After showing the graphics updates on characters, they then featured the two-dye feature for dyable items. This allows players to further customize their equipment and achieve the color that they want for their equipment. They did mention, however, that not all materials will be dyable. Yoshida said that players should trust the development team to make the correct parts dyable.

They then reminded players that the system requirements for FFXIV will go up once Dawntrail comes out. Players who are playing on PC should make sure to upgrade their hardware before the game comes out. They then reminded players that the Open Beta Test for FFXIV on XBox will start on February. The beta is expected to start at around the 21st of February. More details will come out soon. The FFXIV and FFXVI crossover that was announced during the last Fanfest Keynote also received a release date of Early April.

Yoshida ended the FFXIV Japan FanFest 2024 Keynote with the official reveal of Female Hrothgar. The video trailer they showed revealed the Female Hrothgar's animations, including the walking animations, idle animations, and more. It also showed the possible appearances of Female Hrothgar, including the various hairstyles, fur colors, and more. They described the Female Hrothgars as small in number, but are known for their muscular form and predisposition for leadership.

That brings the FFXIV Japan FanFest 2024 Keynote to an end. Yoshida mentioned that they will reveal all relevant information, from the release date to the preorder dates and preorder bonuses as soon as they can.

That's it for our summary of the FFXIV Japan Fanfest 2024 Keynote speech. We also have summaries available for the Las Vegas FFXIV FanFest Keynote and the London FFXIV FanFest Keynote. More information about Dawntrail can be found in the official FFXIV Dawntrail website. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.