Image credit: Square Enix
The new Job coming to Final Fantasy 14 in next expansion Dawntrail has now been revealed: the Pictomancer.
The announcement was made at the Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival in Tokyo this weekend, along with new details about Dawntrail.
Unfortunately there’s still no release date for the expansion beyond ‘summer 2024’. Director and producer Naoki Yoshida stated there’s an internal target date, but it’s not public yet due to previous expansion Endwalker being delayed before its release. “We don’t want that to happen again, even if it’s just a few weeks,” he said.
In his keynote speech, Yoshida explained more about the new Job and revealed the new extended trailer for Dawntrail you can watch below.
What is a Pictomancer?
You may remember at the Las Vegas Fan Fest Yoshida wore a t-shirt featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a clue to the forthcoming two Jobs. The first was Viper, revealed at the London event. Now the second is Pictomancer – after all, the Turtles are named after famous artists.
Pictomancer is a ranged, magical DPS Job who battles with a paintbrush and palette. The Job originates from Final Fantasy 6 where Relm was able to draw enemy techniques. In Final Fantasy 14, the skill is broader with the ability to paint creatures, weapons and landscapes.
A video of the Pictomancer in action shows various coloured instant-cast abilities as well as more elaborate effects – at one point the character summons a Moogle. The Job will also have magic to buff the party, though this is not strictly a support Job.
In the story, the Pictomancer will be represented by the Lalafell Krile (header image), who will now join in Duty Support.
There will be no required class for this Job, which will begin at level 80 in the starting city of Gridania. And no, you won’t need artistic skill yourself to play.
The bright neon paint effects of the Job seem primed for the graphical update coming in Dawntrail (Update 7.0).
Improved Graphics
Update 7.0 will bring a graphical update for the first time, as announced at previous Fan Fest events. In Tokyo, Yoshida showed improvements to each of the playable races in turn.
The improvements are subtle, with more detailed textures and better lighting, shadow, and muscle definition. Overall the impact is striking – in particular, darker skin looks more natural and better lit. Players will be given a fantasia to update their character if required.
Armours will also have two dye channels in future, so players can customise their look further.
Here are the system requirements for 7.0 on PC:
Female Hrothgar
Players will finally have the chance to play as female Hrothgar. Previously, this race of characters were male only – as part of the story, female Hrothgar are rare. Dawntrail will make these sleek and strong lioness women available for players.
Yoshida said these are the last new race to be added to the game, at least for now.
Female Hrothgar will be represented in the story by a new NPC. She’s the daughter of the current ruler of the land of Tural. Players will meet her in Patch 6.55 part two, which will be released on 16th January.
The expansive Tural
Dawntrail will take place in the western region of Tural. At the Tokyo Fan Fest, Yoshida revealed more of the land.
Firstly, there’s a northern part of Tural as well as the previously shown south, with the story split into two arcs taking place across both areas. In total, Tural seems inspired by North and South America, with the capital city of Tuliyollal in the centre (akin to Mexico).
Areas from across Tural were shown, including colourful tribal settlements, misty tropical jungles, luminescent forests, and a Wild West-esque mining town.
More intriguing is a hyper-futuristic cyberpunk city called Solution Nine, which looks more like something out of Blade Runner. This is a new player hub constructed by a different civilisation to Tuliyollal – presumably we’ll find out more in the story.
Another city called Heritage Found was shown, overflowing with lightning energy and streaks of purple levin, with thunderclouds blotting out the sun. Concept art showed a steam train and a large futuristic structure in the background, all in blacks and purples. To me, it seems very Final Fantasy 7 inspired.
Other updates
Yoshida announced a few other key updates.
The 7.X series of patches will see: updates to the Blue Mage Job; more Hildibrand adventures; new plans for Deep Dungeons; a Gold Saucer update; a PvP update; and new Variant Dungeons.
As well as Viper and Pictomancer, a new limited Job is also on the way in the latter part of 7.X to match the Blue Mage. This will be the Beastmaster, including some form of beast collection feature.
New lifestyle content is coming called Cosmic Exploration, which will allow players to explore different planets. It can be played solo, but it’s intended to be co-operative. Yoshida was quiet on what we can expect from each planet, but this seems like an extension of the Island Sanctuary from Endwalker.
The Final Fantasy 11 inspired Alliance Raid will join Final Fantasy 14 in Patch 7.1, with Yoshida revealing concept art of The Shadow Lord. Elsewhere, a new 8-player raid called The Arcadion will come a month after Dawntrail’s release with art that looks like the inside of a GPU, while the Ultimate Raid Futures Unwritten will join in 7.1.
Lastly, an open beta for Final Fantasy 14 on Xbox will begin around 21st February, while the Final Fantasy 16 crossover questline The Path Infernal is planned for early April. Could this coincide with the second DLC The Rising Tide? Or even a PC release?
To end the keynote, Yoshida revealed new artwork for Dawntrail featuring all the characters (see below).
You can watch the full day of Tokyo Fan Festival on YouTube. Are you looking forward to this next expansion?
