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Looking for details about Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker? Shadowbringers, really upped the stakes for the popular MMO, but now the fourth instalment is on the way. Endwalker is the final chapter in the ongoing story of FF14’s expansions, and sees us face off against the Garlean Empire.
That’s not all that’s coming to the game, either. With new dungeons, jobs, a trip to the moon, and even a Harvest Moon-esque gardening mode, Endwalker is set to close out the last eight years of FF14 in style. Though there are likely to be even more expansions in the future, Endwalker represents the conclusion to this narrative arc, and considering it has around 30% more story and cutscenes than Shadowbringers, it’s unlikely we’ll be disappointed.
Here’s everything you need to know about Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker.
What is the Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker release date?
The Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker release date is November 23, 2021. This was announced by Game Director, Naoki Yoshida, during the all-digital Final Fantasy 14 fanfest 2021.
That’s probably a bit later than most players were expecting, which Yoshida acknowledged during the keynote presentation. Due to the transition to working from home because of the pandemic, Square Enix is running a few months behind its regular summer release schedule but didn’t want to compromise the quality of the expansion or cut features. Seems like the right call.
What’s new in this expansion?
There was a huge info drop during the initial Endwalker expansion reveal and the Final Fantasy 14 fanfest. Here’s a brief rundown of all the features coming in Endwalker.
- The level cap will be raised to 90.
- Several new zones to explore, including Garlemald and, yup, the Moon itself.
- New dungeons, raids, and alliance raids.
- Two new jobs: the Reaper and Sage (explained below).
- New race: Male Viera (only female Viera are currently available)
- New high-difficulty raid: Pandæmonium
- New threats: Anima and The Magus Sisters
- Cross-server travel to other datacenters will be available.
- Two new tribes: Matanga and Loporrits.
- A new housing area in Ishgard.
- A Harvest Moon-esque mode where you can tend gardens and livestock.
What kind of craziness can we expect from Endwalker’s story?
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker’s story is a direct continuation of the events in the current expansion, Shadowbringers, and it will contain around 30 percent more story and cutscenes than its predecessor too. If you’re not up caught up on the story, this section includes minor spoilers.
The stakes of Endwalker are incredibly high. The last of the remaining Ascians, who worship the primal god Zodiark, are hoping to bring about the end of the world which will, in turn, restore their old civilization. To do that, the chief remaining Ascian, Fandaniel, has orchestrated an all-out war between the Eorzean Alliance—the good guys—and the evil Garlean Empire.
Given Fandaniel’s fondness of destruction and theatrics, things are about to get pretty intense. His plan also involves Zenos, an impossibly strong Garlean warrior who lives entirely for the thrill of battling you, the main character, to the death. What fun company. To stop them and save Eorzea from complete destruction, you’ll need to recruit new allies from across the realm, so players will be venturing to never-before-seen locales like Sharlyan.
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker will also be the final chapter in what is called the Hydaelyn/Zodiark storyline. This is the main narrative that has been slowly unravelling since Final Fantasy 14 first launched in 2010 and was later remade in 2013. Unlike previous expansions, where the story is continued through post-release updates, Endwalker will conclude the entire story with its initial release. Future updates will then start a brand new narrative arc. What it will be is anyone’s guess at this point, though game director Naoki Yoshida has teased some possibilities for what will come after Endwalker:
“There are areas within planet Hydaelyn where we haven’t explored yet. There are continents that have yet to be discovered, areas that have yet to be explored. There’s possibilities there,” Yoshida said. “And with the story of Shadowbringers, we learned that the Crystal Tower acts as a portal not just to the distant Realms, including The First and those that have been divided by the Sundered, but it can also allow us to travel in time as well so we can go back to the past and future as well. So there’s still a lot of possibilities left.”
Yoshida also recommends completing certain raids if you want to get the most out of Endwalker from a lore perspective: “if you would like to talk about the lore in more detail and have a deeper understanding of the world behind the main scenario quests to be found in Endwalker, I’d be glad if you play through the ‘Coils of Bahamut’, ‘Alexander’ and ‘Omega’ raid series if you haven’t already. These are not mandatory quests, but they are raids that are deeply rooted in the mysteries around FFXIV’s world.”
Endwalker is aiming for better dungeons, not more
Steven spoke with game director Naoki Yoshida about how the new features coming in Endwalker compare to past expansions. The lineup is similar, but Yoshida says that there’s more work put into each one for the newest expansion.
“So the number of dungeons are the same as Shadowbringers, but the amount of work we put into it has increased for sure,” Yoshida said. “From the background environment, mechanics, and some of the battle presentations, we’ve put more into the individual elements that go into this content. I feel like it’s going to be, overall, a much more robust experience than previous installments.”
“We’ve taken on a lot of new challenges in the system, the battles have new mechanics incorporated into them as an element of surprise, so I’m hoping players will try it out and see it with their own eyes,” he adds.
What are the new jobs in FF14?
The Endwalker expansion will also add two new jobs to the MMO. The first, Sage, is a barrier healer that utilizes four floaty medical gun-things called Nouliths. They’re controlled by a character’s aether and can be used to heal party members, put up barriers and zap bad guys. It’ll start at level 70 and be unlockable in Limsa Lominsa so you’ll be able to start playing as a Sage as soon as Endwalker releases.
The second job is the Reaper, a melee DPS class that wield a giant scythe and can summon an avatar from the void to help in battles. This avatar appears to be a pet, similar to the Summoner job, that can be given orders during combat. Reapers are unique, though, in that they can also fuse with their void avatar to become even more powerful.
What areas will we be visiting?
After the events of patch 5.5 we know that the imperial capital of Garlemald is a mess thanks to Zenos’ and Fandaniel’s scheming, so we be marching straight in there to sort it out. You can expect plenty of cool Magitek machinery to fight, but also potentially some fleshy additions to all of that machinery if the magical towers that are currently posted around Eorzea are anything to go by. Brrr.
We’ll also definitely be heading south to the Island of Thavnir, where we’ll get to explore its subtropical climes as well as the capital city of Radz-at-Han which appears to be precariously positioned atop a giant rock structure. It looks to have a lot of influences from India, and is also the region where the Dancer job originated.
The new player hub will be Old Sharlayan, an island of scholars that usually prefer to keep themselves closed away from the rest of the world. We’re also headed to the Moon, though for what purpose we’re not entirely sure.
Male Viera?
If you’ve played through Final Fantasy 12, you should be no stranger to the Viera race. Fran, who joins as a playable party member early on, is probably the most recognisable Viera from the FF series. You’ve likely never seen a male Viera though, but lore tells us that they do exist, though they live their lives separately, away from their female counterparts.
Viera are already available as a playable race in FF14 since Shadowbringers, but they are gender-locked to female only. Endwalker will change that by introducing the male half of the lithe, long-eared race.
Sorry, what was that about Harvest Moon?
Not interested in saving the world from complete annihilation? Why not do some farming! Island sanctuaries where you can farm and raise animals are also being added. Why be a Warrior Of Light when you can be a Farmer Of Light? Clearly that is the real endgame.
Little is known about the mode, but the idea is that you’ll have a small slice of land to cultivate and maintain, alongside some livestock to raise. It’s not clear how this will fold back into other aspects of FF14, however.
Here are the Endwalker system requirements
Along with the system requirements, Square Enix published released a benchmarking tool you can download, which also includes a character creator.
Final Fantasy 14 Endwalker minimum system requirements:
- OS: Windows® 8.1 64 bit, Windows® 10 64 bit
- CPU: Intel® Core™i5 2.4GHz or higher
- Memory: 4GB or higher
- Available space on hard disk/SSD: 80GB or more
- Graphics card: NVIDIA® Geforce® GTX750 or higher/AMD Radeon™ R7 260X or higher
- Screen resolution: 1280×720
- Internet: Broadband connection
- Communications port: If you are using a router, please set up your ports so that the below packets can pass through.
- [Ports that may be used] TCP: 80, 443, 54992～54994, 55006～55007, 55021～55040
- Sound card: DirectSound® supported sound card
- DirectX®: DirectX® 11
Final Fantasy 14 Endwalker recommended system requirements
- OS: Windows® 8.1 64 bit, Windows® 10 64 bit
- CPU: Intel® Core™i7 3GHz or higher
- Memory: 8GB or higher
- Available space on hard disk/SSD: 80GB or more
- Graphics card: NVIDIA® Geforce® GTX970 or higher/AMD Radeon™ RX 480 or higher
- Screen resolution: 1920×1080
- Internet: Broadband connection
- Communications port: If you are using a router, please set up your ports so that the below packets can pass through.
- [Ports that may be used] TCP: 80, 443, 54992～54994, 55006～55007, 55021～55040
- Sound card: DirectSound® supported sound card
- DirectX®: DirectX® 11
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