Final Fantasy 14 has grown a lot since it bounced back from one of the most critically-panned MMO launches of all time ten years ago, and its Shadowbringers expansion has gotten pretty big in its own right. From the sound of it, it’s about to become a lot bigger, because according to director and producer Naoki Yoshida, the expansion’s next patch is going to be noticeably larger than previous ones.
In an interview with Famitsu this week, Yoshida illustrated the increase in content volume over the usual patch, using combat sound effects as an example. Typically, he said, a patch gets around 600 new sounds effects made for it, but for the upcoming Patch 5.4, known as Futures Rewritten, that number is around 1,000. The amount of new effects is big enough that members of other sound teams at Square Enix have been assisting Masayoshi Soken, Final Fantasy 14’s sound director, with the extra workload, according to Yoshida.
Yoshida then hinted at how Futures Rewritten may continue FF 14’s storyline, reminding fans that there are still a few lingering plot-threads from Patch 5.3, Reflections in Crystal, that haven’t been resolved yet. Specifically, he mentioned that the questions of who Hydaelyn is and what happened to Zodiark still need to be answered.
Patch 5.4, which will include the next chapter of the 8-part Eden raid series, a new Explorer Mode for exploring the Shadowbringers dungeon without enemies, and more, is expected to launch sometime in early December. Yoshida then teased that there are plans to release another patch, Patch 5.45, two months later, which will continue the Save the Queen relic weapon quest.
Final Fantasy 14 is available for PC and PS4.
Source: Famitsu, Siliconera