FF14 Evercold is almost within touching distance at this point. In fact, without getting into too much spoiler-specific talk, the recent patch 7.57 updated the teaser scene we were left with at the end of Dawntrail’s MSQ, reminding us that the new expansion is moving closer and closer. There’s still a lot to show before then, however. At PAX Australia, Localization Director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and Global Community Producer Toshio Murouchi sat down with Twitch streamers ‘SarahJane,’ ‘Pezz,’ and ‘Kwistyy_’ to discuss the job redesigns and improved character customization options.
We got a deeper look at the new character customization options coming to Final Fantasy 14 during Game Director Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida’s Fanfest Berlin keynote. The MMORPG will provide a much wider range of color selections in 8.0, and they’ll be applicable at a grander scale, allowing you to freely adjust the likes of skin, hair, and eye colors in all-new ways. From patch 8.1, you’ll also be able to remove Miqo’te war paint, hide Lalafell and Viera nose shading, and change Au Ra horns independently of the face shape.
Pezz queries the pair on whether we could even see some additional sliders added, and Koji gives a dramatic, wide-eyed look. “Like… sliders of the posterior area?” Everyone laughs – the topic has become a running joke (albeit a deadly serious one) since the NA Fanfest in Anaheim earlier this year, although Koji recalls that it’s not a new request. “I think someone at the first Fanfest was like, ‘When are we going to get butt sliders?'” Murouchi nods sagely at him in agreement. Koji does think there’s actual movement on the issue now, however.
“Finally, back in Anaheim, Yoshi-P was like, ‘ehhh,'” Koji says, imitating the Director’s pondering shrug on stage. “I think it’s something. I like to feel that it’s moved from a question of ‘if’ to a question of ‘when.'” Kwistyy asks, “So we just had to wear him down?” It’s not an unreasonable suggestion, given that Yoshida talked at Fanfest Berlin about “upgrading” his mindset toward roleplaying, hence his decision to relax some of the stricter rules on character creation that he had previously been more insistent upon.
“It’s like the community has been wearing him down for literally the past ten years and he’s finally starting to crack,” Koji remarks, emphatically following that up with, “So keep it up, and we’re going to get butt sliders. It’s only a matter of time, we can do this. The FF14 community, if there’s one thing that brings us together, it’s butt sliders.” I’ll lend my voice to the crowd; I’m not looking to rival the prodigious posteriors of Zenless Zone Zero, merely to have slightly more definition on my Warrior of Light who spends her days leaping around.
“With Evercold, we are going to be adding a lot more customization options,” Koji muses,”At the end of your day, your avatar is you, and the more options that you have to tweak it, even the tiniest of things, to make it more like you want it to be, is what’s really important.” He says the team has embraced this not only for Evercold’s launch, but in the future beyond that.
“Continuing to add ways to make your face more unique, make your housing more unique, make your character more unique – whether it be through gear, or motions with the action skins that we plan on adding. It’s all going to be about fully customizing your character,” Koji says with a smile, “and if the culmination of that is butt sliders, then so be it.”
Another major transformation Evercold will introduce is Evolved Mode, a fundamental reimagining of every job in the game to make it feel more streamlined (though not specifically easier), and to lean into the personality of each class. This will not replace the existing scheme, branded Reborn Mode, but instead sit alongside it. We’ve seen four of these in action so far (Paladin, White Mage, Bard, and Dragoon) – but that leaves a lot more still to show off before Evercold’s January launch window.
Murouchi says you shouldn’t get your hopes up for any demonstrations at Japan Fanfest; there’s simply too much to go through. “Fan Festival would be over only with that content. But after that and before the launch of the expansion, we will have a dedicated Producer Live Letter to explain all the jobs in Evolved Mode.” Koji says he’ll be present to help handle the translations so you can watch the showcase live, “for however many hours” it takes.
Yoshi-P previously suggested that the Evolved Jobs might feel “just a little bit stronger,” which has naturally caused some concerns that it will feel mandatory if you want to push into high-end trials and raids when they release. Koji offers some reassurance: “From what I’ve heard, and this is coming from the mouth of someone in localization, not someone from a battle team, so please don’t take this as the final answer, is that the damage difference is going to be very negligible; it’s not something that’s going to be a deal breaker.”
He says the team is trying to keep things as close as possible, but that some variance is “unavoidable” because “the new system is so different in places.” From his own personal perspective, he also suggests, “I think they want more people to use Evolved Mode. And so maybe that little extra damage is like, ‘Hey, if you use this you have more damage.’ If I was a developer, that’s what I would do.”
Koji admits the team “should probably address” the discrepancy between modes again during its next live letter, “because I know that what we talked about before at Fan Festival was very limited, so of course, that leads to speculation.” He adds that we can expect an “in depth” look at the differences between the forms during the Evolved Mode livestream.
The pair also touch on FF14’s new cross-region matchmaking, testing for which is now underway on Japanese servers. Once Square Enix is happy, it’ll be tested in the US and then in Europe, but Murouchi hopes that the system can go even further in the future. “After that, we will be testing removing the boundary between the regional data centers so that you can go to the US data center or the European data center – that could be the next step. It may take time, but we are developing it one by one to expand more so that we can feel one huge world.”