With guest designer Yoko Taro
Yoshi-P and his team over at Square Enix continue to absolutely kill it in terms of Final Fantasy XIV news.
As has been rumored for some time, the Gunblade tank job (called “Gunbreaker”) themed after Final Fantasy VIII‘s Gunblade weapon is making it in alongside of the Shadowbringers expansion launch, which is now dated for July 2. Gunbreakers will start at level 60, just 20 shy of the new level cap of 80.
To the delight of many, the other rumor is coming true: the bunny-like Viera race will debut in Shadowbringers. There will also be an updated version of the “Trust” system from Final Fantasy XI, which allows players to use NPCs in Shadowbringers four-player dungeons. That’s just one step toward an eventual “offline” story version of XIV one day akin to what Square Enix is already trying to do with Dragon Quest X.
In other huge news the expansion is hosting an alliance (casual 24-person) raid called “YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse,” a NieR-themed event with guest designers Yoko Taro and Yosuke Saito. That’s…a huge deal and it’s crazy to see the once super-niche NieR series get this much recognition on top of the already insane 2B guest appearance in Soulcalibur. Watch the trailer below for a quick look at some of the new areas (Rak’tika Greatwood/Il Mheg), and check out the gallery for a glimpse at the collector’s edition with a Dark Knight figure.
As someone who’s played XIV since the start (both at the launch of the disappointing 1.0 and the incredible 2.0 upgrade), all of this is good news. Also, Square Enix kind of took the MMO cutscene crown away from Blizzard while we weren’t looking? Watching the Warrior of Light (and Darkness, now) change jobs mid-battle is just incredible.
