FF14 director Naoki Yoshida is “torn” over what to do with the Scions
The FF14 Dawntrail story puts the focus on newer characters as it attempts to reset the balance of power after Endwalker, placing its beloved Scions into more background roles. Most of the MMORPG’s beloved cast members have already had their moment to shine, and so at Gamescom 2024 I ask game director Naoki Yoshida, best known as ‘Yoshi-P,’ whether he sees the likes of Thancred, Urianger, and the twins getting all-new story arcs in the future or if he’s happy to let them be.
Most of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn had significant development over the course of the first decade of Final Fantasy 14, and by the time we finish Shadowbringers and Endwalker almost every member has featured heavily in at least one significant storyline. With the launch of Dawntrail, then, the critically acclaimed MMORPG instead gives more screen time to newcomers like Wuk Lamat and Koana, along with the few returning characters such as Krile and Erenville who haven’t previously held the spotlight.
Dawntrail’s juicy cliffhanger (no spoilers here – if you know, you know) suggests the Scions will certainly be busy in the future, and so I ask Yoshida whether we might see whole new story arcs for long-established characters. “When it comes to this, I’m really, really torn,” he responds via translator. “Honestly speaking, and this corresponds to 7.0, I wanted to see what sort of a reaction we would get from the players.”
“In Endwalker, players went through an immense tough battle; they saved the universe. I wanted to bring them a sense of grounding in the next expansion,” Yoshida explains. “Looking towards where the long journey will take us [in the future], I wanted things to calm down. But when we look at the main cast of characters now in Final Fantasy 14, it’s been increasing and increasing and increasing. So if we were to consider incorporating all of the characters whenever we release an expansion, it would just be too much. We would lose control.”
“If we wanted to do a deep dive into certain characters, we could think about, ‘Okay, in this expansion, we’ll look at this, this, and this character. Then, in the next expansion, we’ll look at that and that character,’” he continues. “Alternatively we could think about the Warrior of Light just journeying by themselves and they don’t have any companions – I am considering multiple possibilities. And I hope that the players will look forward to things to come.”
“But just thinking hypothetically, let’s say that we were going to create this expansion where the Warrior of Light is the main character. They go to Tural and they adventure through all of the story on their own. I’m sure there would be people complaining, ‘Hey, why aren’t any of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn there? Why isn’t Alphinaud there? Why aren’t you bringing Alisaie along? Why isn’t Y’shtola there?’ I’m sure we would get those kinds of complaints. So it is really, really tough.”
It’s certainly a tough balance to strike; you can’t please all the people all the time, as they say. Everyone has their favorite characters, and for every person calling for the Scions to be more active in the story you’ll find another who wishes they’d stayed back home to give us a fresh start. There have also been many comparisons drawn between the journey of Wuk Lamat and the one our own WoL has gone on over the past ten years – so was that something the team intentionally kept in mind when designing Dawntrail? Yoshida answers that this wasn’t really the case.
“On the one hand, I don’t want to write the same sort of story. I don’t want to have the same sort of story play out,” he elaborates. “I don’t want to have similar characters appear in the game. But of course, on the other hand, if you were to look at the cast of new characters in 7.0 and you were to ask whether they will continue to reappear in the story – that’s not necessarily the case, no.”
This certainly makes sense, as it’s likely our future will take us to many new places, and many of the core cast of Dawntrail have established jobs to get on with by the time its main scenario quest wraps up. It’ll be interesting to see whether that breaks apart the Scions further. Will we see Alisaie and Alphinaud returning to Garlemald? Will Thancred and Urianger go on another fanciful jaunt together? Will Y’shtola finally achieve her primary goal and make it back to the First? Only time will tell.
Yoshida is also quick to note that the story of Dawntrail isn’t done yet. While Endwalker deviated from this formula, most expansions typically extend their central storyline through into the third major post-release patch. “So when it comes to where the story will take the Warrior of Light next, I hope you will think about what’s going to happen when we have 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3,” he concludes. “That will be broadly when the story of Dawntrail completes. And so then I hope you look forward to the possibilities of what will happen next.”
That’s all from our latest interview with Yoshida, but be sure to find out about his favorite raid character and his plans for FF14 combat content post-Dawntrail as well. There’s also more news hot off the presses, with the latest tease of two new features making their way to the MMO, including the much-vaunted FF14 chat bubbles. There’s certainly plenty to look forward to, and the future looks as bright as a Turali sunrise.
Alternatively, take a look through some more of the best new MMOs you can play today. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve gone through the steps to unlock FF14 Facewear, as the new feature can be easy to miss.
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