U.S. Nevada, Las Vegas – Square Enix announced the next expansion of its popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, for PC and PlayStation 4. The company revealed the news during the keynote of the Final Fantasy XIV’s 2016 Fan Festival in Las Vegas.
Director Naoki Yoshida took the stage of the conference to talk about the expansion and the accompanying 4.0 update. Square Enix promises the expansion will have a “full standalone game’s worth of content.”
Update 4.0 increases the level cap from 60 to 70 and introduces new jobs while Stormblood takes players to a new location, Ala Mihgo, where the resistance is trying to regain control of the region from the Garlean Empire and defeat the ruler Zenos Yae Galvus.
Stormblood will release in summer 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PC, but the game will no longer be available for the PlayStation 3.
What is FF XVI’s new update bringing?
The gaming company revealed the Warrior of Light’s primary job in 4.0 is Monk, but they shared no further details about multiple jobs.
Developers did revamp the battle mechanics and overhauled the skill system. Skills will have new categories to make it easier to switch between jobs while unpopular skills or those serving a little purpose will be “readdressed.”
The item inventory is expanding, a long overdue change the fans in the conference received with a big applause. The company described it as an “extreme” expansion, though they did not share any specifics.
Stormblood brings new areas, probably as many as the previous expansion, including a fourth residential area that will be tied to the main storyline. Likely, there will be new Primals, dungeons, and high-scale raids.
The Area Ala Mihgo will be behind a wall in The Black Shroud. An area fans meet in Patch 3.5. Developers hinted players would have to finish a quest line to enter the new region.
Ala Mihgo will feature deserts, wastelands, and forests. Players can access these areas by flying mounts after they finish a questline.
Square Enix will raise the minimum requirements
Current minimum requirements are an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB memory Ram, 30GB storage, and Nvidia GeForce 8800 or Ati Radeon HD 4770. However, that is about to change and many gamers will have to upgrade their gears to keep up the pace.
The company suggested users to upgrade to 64-bit OS, although 32-bit machines will still run the game. More so, Stormblood will be the last expansion coming to the old-gen PlayStation 3, but Square Enix will offer a free FFXIV upgrade to PS4.
Source: GameSpot