Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker gives you your own island like in Animal Crossing

 

One of the new features of Final Fantasy XIV's new Endwalker expansion will be an island where players can take care of animals and plants. Director Naoki Yoshida revealed more.

This is the new feature: With the launch of the new Endwalker expansion in autumn 2021 , FFXIV fans can look forward to a lot of content, including a special island feature.

The island bears the provisional name "Island Sanctuary" and is intended to be a kind of "Animal Crossing" island or "Stardew Valley" farm . The players will be able to take care of animals and grow plants there. Over time, players will also be able to expand their island.

On the first artwork for the island content you can see many different companions that players can get hold of in FFXIV, as well as some mounts running around freely. Usually you can only summon one of them at a time.

Casual solo content to relax

We were able to ask questions to the boss of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, and here's what he told us about the island's content.

This is what Naoki Yoshida says: According to Yoshida, the content has been in development for two years. The original idea for the island was based on the desire of many players that their companions and mounts should roam freely in their housing.

According to Yoshida, this is not possible with the current housing system, which is why the team has considered a different solution. The result was stand-alone solo content:

Even though this content was designed for an MMORPG, the intention behind it is that the players pass the time while doing solo activities. You do not have to pay attention to the progress of other players.

There is no need to rush and there are no elements that would put the players under pressure. Our goal here is for players to enjoy the slow life by carefree playing with their companions, taking screenshots in their favorite locations, and so on.

Director Naoki Yoshida 

That's where the inspiration for the island content came from: Yoshida said that he played a lot of Animal Crossing himself. For him it is "extremely painful" to draw a comparison to the popular Switch game because it is simply "so unbelievable".

Instead, the FFXIV team oriented itself on a TV show popular in Japan, in which members of pop bands are abandoned on uninhabited islands and take part in various construction and farming activities.

He also said that there are many Harvest Moon fans among FFXIV developers. It is a series of games that also revolves around farming and animal husbandry. 

The boss doesn't want you to rush

In general, the director Yoshida does not want the players when playing his MMORPG to have the feeling that they cannot keep up with the sheer content. That should be the case not only with the new island content, but also with your progress in the history of FFXIV.

This is what Yoshida says about the story: With the addon Endwalker, the big story arc about Hydaelyn and Zodiark, which has been going on for 10 years, is finally completed.

Because Shadowbringers was so well received, we had the option of dragging out the final sections of the [Hydaelyn and Zodiark] saga. But that runs the risk of slowing down the pacing of the story and losing momentum. That's why I decided to jump right in. [...]

Director Naoki Yoshida

For new players, it can be intimidating to step into such an old MMORPG with 4 expansions. However, Yoshida says at this point that the players should take their time.

He likes to compare his MMORPG with TV series and, as is well known, you can start again after many seasons:

[…] FFXIV is pretty unique. While it's an MMO, it's a heavily story-driven game. You can think of it as an interactive TV show where you can experience the story and grow as the main character as you advance. [...]

Since Endwalker is our fourth expansion, you can think of it as the fourth season of a series. You can definitely catch up!

Director Yoshida told PlayStation Blog 

You can play the game like a normal Final Fantasy and enjoy it at your own pace, Yoshida told.

This is how it continues with FFXIV: Although the Addon Endwalker closes the current story of FFXIV, it is not the end of the MMORPG. Yoshida and his team have years of content ahead of their game.