An Evening At The Inn Issue 7 - Final Fantasy XIV's Future-Proofing Bid
Welcome back to the inn, travelers. Apologies for the delay on this issue; I've been working very hard on some long pieces that you, hopefully, should be able to read soon. But in the meantime, I went to Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest, and it was a blast. But it was also a fairly eye-opening Fan Fest in terms of the development team's approach to the game, and what's changing.
It's safe to say that the next expansion, Evercold, is bringing the biggest changes the game has seen since the launch of A Realm Reborn in 2013. An overhaul from dailies to weeklies, a completely new Evolved combat system, and much more.
But I'm not here to dive into the minutiae of all the changes, there are plenty of sites out there doing all that really well (in fact, I'd reccomend heading to MMORPG.com or ButWhyTho).
Instead, I want to talk about FFXIV from an overhead picture - and how this Fan Fest was a clear effort to "future-proof" the game, establish a new formula that can be iterated on. At the same time, I want to dig into how Square Enix talks about FFXIV, the parasocial relationship its fans and devs have, and what happens when Naoki Yoshida retires. Can FFXIV run another 10, even 20, years? Honestly, yeah, maybe.
Please consider supporting An Evening at the Inn and my work as a freelance journalist via Ko-Fi. Your support means I can keep doing all this. Comments, feedback, tips? Reach out to madsenhayes@gmail.com
From the Innkeeper
Out In the Cold
It's no secret that Dawntrail left FFXIV in a difficult place – an expansion with mixed sentiment on story and gameplay changes, particularly the homogenization of the job system. That's not even to mention the grifter harassment sent toward Wuk Lamat's voice actress.
But with seemingly success after success, and largely positive sentiment on Shadowbringers and Endwalker (yes I know there's dissent), FFXIV finally found itself facing sever scrutinization. And in the years since, more people have talked about dwindling player counts and slowing patch schedules, even while the quality of the content coming out has been generally good, especially in raiding.
So what purpose does an event like Fan Fest, or BlizzCon or TennoCon, serve in the grand scheme of everything? Well, first of all, they make money. But perhaps, more importantly, it allows companies like Square Enix to shift the narrative and, when used correctly, drastically redefine how a fan base feels about a game. And in that regard, Fan Fest 2026 wildly succeeded.
I talked to dozens of members of the press and fans alike, and everyone was extremely positive on Evercold's announcements – with a few caveats. The general vibe of the expansion is good, the meandering story of Dawntrail is now deliberately opening up to another "saga," which promises more narrative weight. The Evolved job system, while initially confusing, came out strong in the development panel, promising some truly significant changes. One of the most requested features of all time is finally coming with same region player matchmaking. And, by and large, people seem on board with the shift from daily duties to weekly, reinforcing the idea that FFXIV is the MMO you can play on your schedule.
But I think when you take a step back, you can see all these announcements as an extremely deliberate effort to future-proof FFXIV, a necessary step that had to be taken to break from the "legacy" MMO design into something that can be more meaningfully built on. And it's understandable when you look at the volatility of the multiplayer and live service space, something MMOs equally have to be worried about. This Fan Fest was, partially, about convincing fans that FFXIV isn't going anywhere, although I suspect the financial reality of all that is a bit different from the public reality.
There was a deliberate theme of evolution to all of Square Enix's messaging, and some fascinating, well-thought-out moments to coincide with that. Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu was trotted out on stage and essentially put on the spot to promise more money for FFXIV's development, while Yoshida was on stage next to him. There were in-depth looks at the development of the Evolved jobs and the process of writing lyrics and music, with promises of much more to come. And most interestingly of all, we were introduced to a new team member, the designer of the new combat system, Hikaru Tamaki, nicknamed Mr. Prime.
This was a particularly interesting moment, as we're seldom introduced to members of the development team outside of the core crew of Yoshida, Sato, Koji Fox, and Soken. And there's a reason for that, something that's troubled me about FFXIV for years – the bizarre parasocial relationship its fans have with these devs.
Part of what's made FFXIV so successful is the longtime impression Creative Business Unit 3 has given off of being a team that "loves" and "cares" about its fans. I have no doubt that's true to a degree, but the identity of the game is inesplicably linked to the people that make it – Yoshi-P, Koji Fox, and Soken, are quite literally rock stars. You'll constantly find thousands of memes about these developers, and a majority of the userbase knows who they are – something that can't be said for every other game. Even MMOs like World of Warcraft and Elder Scrolls Online, how many players know who "makes" them? Equally, Yoshi-P has been the singular voice of the game for over a decade, conducting nearly every interview, appearance, live letter, and so on.
But the question progressively becomes, then, what does FFXIV without Yoshida look like? Can that even exist? I think the idea of latching onto auters is troublesome in video games at large, and something both "gamers" and the press do far too often. But it's especially hard for an MMO like this that wants to have a long life cycle and has constant development. Yoshida is only one person, and despite what Squrae says, it's become obvious that juggling FFXIV and FFXVI was too much for him. That relationship can also heighten dissatisfaction and disappointment when a fanbase feels like they've been "let down" by developers that see them as "family."
I wonder if the last few years have made that strain more obvious to Yoshida himself. Introducing and focusing so heavily on Mr. Prime seems like a move to remind fans that there's a lot of creativity behind this game, and maybe even lay the seeds of a successor. And that's vital, because one of the most important things for this game to survive is going to be managing that parasocial relationship. There needs to be a line between transparency and sticking to the devs team's vision. Yes, MMOs are about adjustment and listening to the player base, but equally, part of what's made FFXIV so special is how much the team has committed to a core vision. And problems, like diluting the job system or streamlining dungeon design, have arisen when the team tries to overcorrect to address feedback.
And while Dawntrail certainly wasn't a failure, I think the biggest success, so far, of Fan Fest and Evercold is a declaration that the team once again has a vision. Yoshida and Square came out strong with an idea for "evolving" the game, and did a smart job of also minimizing the pain points that players might have. We'll, of course, have to see how all that pans out as we learn more about the expansion, but I'm legitimately impressed at the messaging so far.
I don't know if FFXIV will be around in 20 years, and I also don't know that I'd want to be playing it in 20 years. At a certain point, I think there's value in just letting something end and moving on. But I also think there's a clearer path for the game now than there was six months ago.
This is a lot of thoughts kind of thrown out there, but if you can take anything away from reading this – it's that I want you to think about how games are talked about and marketed. I love FFXIV, but I constantly find the way its dev team is idolized a bit troubling. There's community and family to be found in a game like FFXIV, and I don't want to neglect that.
But I also want you to think about how CS3 is emphasizing certain parts of the game, the focus on slowing things down, providing flexibility of how you play, and the idea of "fatigue." Think about the goal of the game as making money, and how much you've personally put into it. I'm more excited for FFXIV than I've been in years, but I also think maybe approaching things with a little more measured scrutiny and skepticism can do us all a little good.
Around the Realm
Luis Aguasvivas talks about WMDs and Final Fantasy XII. (Unwinnable's Final Fantasy x Politics Issue is fantastic: full disclosure, I'm a part of it)
Luis Aguasvivas
A truly thoughtful retrospective from Elijah Gonzales on the legendary Mother 3.
Elijah Gonzalez
Joshua Wolens looks back on one of the more bizarre Lord of the Rings games
Joshua Wolens
Joe Chivers on their love-hate relationship with Slay the Spire 2
Joe Chivers
Robert Purchase has a lengthy new look at The Blood of Dawnwalker, the new RPG from ex-Witcher devs
Robert Purchese
Tucker Hazell interviews American McGee for a new episode of Dev Dive
The Back Page
My recommendation is a little different this time. Lately, I've been jumping back into a couple of my favorite RTS games, The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth I & II. Absolute gems that have sadly been forgotten to time. However, there's an extremely active fan community that has painstakingly kept the games alive, patched and improved them, created an HD version, and even a tremendous "Age of the Ring" mod that's basically a brand-new game.
It's honestly astounding how ambitious the whole thing is. There's the world map War of the Ring mode, eleven distinct civs that all have different units and heroes, and a massive campaign that walks through the entire trilogy.
The Battle for Middle-Earth games are genuinely superb, and I cannot reccomend them enough. Luckily, fan modding has made them incredibly easy to get your hands on, set up, and customize for modern PCs. There are loads of video walkthroughs on how to do it if you really need help. Like the one below.
Here's the list of notable RPG releases for April 2026.
- Constance - May 1
- Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes - May 11
- Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (Port) - May 19
- Thick as Thieves - May 20
- Coffee Talk Tokyo - May 21
- Starbites - May 21
- Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn Editions (NS2) - May 22
- Stonemachia - May 26
- Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten (NS2) - May 28
- Utawarerumono: Past and Present Rediscovered - May 28
Of course, no issue of An Evening At The Inn is complete without the pet update.
Garrus hates when I travel; he gets very upset and starts acting out - probably because he's attached to my hip when I'm at home. He's also been getting extremely jealous over Kelsey's sleeping spots. So while I was gone this time, he forced Kelsey out of all her spots and took them over: the cat bed on the dresser, the chair, and then my side of the couch. Here he is looking smug. The little shit.
