I was excited when the first teasers for Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail (FFXIV Dawntrail) dropped. G’raha had a taco. It’s small, but it was indicative of the larger setting. At the end of the Endwalker Main Scenario Quest, we knew that we were going West and, with that, to the New World of Tural. Between that, the architecture shown in the trailer, and yes, the taco, it was clear that “West” meant a region of the world usually omitted from fantasy stories: Latin America.
With long histories of mythology that span thousands of years and a multitude of countries and their indigenous civilizations, Latin American mythology has started making its way into pop culture in a larger way. In animation, we’ve seen Onyx Equinox and Maya and the Three. In gaming, Magic The Gathering’s The Lost Caverns of Ixalan and multiple indie games have grounded themselves in diverse mythologies.
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Final Fantasy is breaking from its European high fantasy vision across Eorzea, bringing the Warrior of Light to the New World. At the FFXIV Dawntrail preview event, we got the chance to play the game, experience the new lush area of the game’s world, and speak with producer and director Naoki Yoshida about getting its mythological inspirations right.
The zones of Tural reflect this. During our time with the Final Fantasy XIV expansion, it was immediately clear that Dawntrail‘s integration of Latin America wasn’t based on a vacation in Mexico. Instead, the areas are rich with inspiration from the Caribbean, Andean mountain ranges, and Central America. Dawntrail, as it stands now with the minimal zones and dungeon we completed, showcases the expansive diversity of Latin American topography and cultural moments. This translates from architecture and environments to the food on display at vendors.
Bringing the Latin American-inspired location itself to life was a task that meant looking at FFXIV‘s past and researching where the future could go, as you’d expect. “In terms of location, so to speak, we look at Eorzea and then planet Etheirys. We have to expand from what we have done so far,” Yoshida explained, adding his team’s sentiment about the worldbuilding task next. “Our team is just really excited about learning about new places and new cultures. [The team] researched many pictures and many reference materials on their own. They built their knowledge of the different areas they wanted to explore [in Dawntrail].”
Exploring a new world filled with new people and cultures in FFXIV Dawntrail was also a natural step—and the locale was ultimately driven by the community, according to Yoshida. “With the conclusion of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark Saga, we are looking into a new chapter of the adventure. We also received a lot of very passionate player feedback to feature Latin American inspiration from these different cultures in these areas, and the staff were very excited about the prospect of that, too. So I think that’s where the inspiration started from.”
Of course, tacos also played a part for the culinary crafters out there. Yoshida added, with a smile on his face, “I’m sure a lot of players wanted to see tacos being featured. I think that might have been some of the places that we took inspiration and intention from also.”
But bringing Latin America to life in a video game is more than just tacos and panchos. Instead, it has to be baked into the characters, their relationships, the story, and the world. Yoshida was keenly aware of that and the importance of honoring the cultures the team used to inspire Dawntrail. Yoshida explained, “With the narrative of this new chapter, we aim to depict themes of mutual understanding.” As the Warrior of Light, you’re heading West with your crew to Tural. A new continent with new people and, as the MSQ explained, something vastly different than Eorzea. With that, Yoshida says that the story will reflect the cultural collisions and, ultimately, the importance of understanding as you explore Tural and learn from its people.
In FFXIV Dawntrail, we will see mutual understanding of the Warrior of Light and their group, but we’ll also understand what the people of Tural. As Yoshida explains, “[There will be] understanding of the local people’s thinking, what their groups are like, what their civilization has, and what their rich history involves. Sometimes, there may be clashes in the way [both sides] value things. [Dawntrail’s narrative] is about how we respect the local people of Tural but, at the same time, how to come to an understanding if there is a clash. Maybe [how to] find a way to meet in the middle. There will be strong themes like that.”
Yoshida continued, “I feel like it’s a good narrative theme that we’re trying to match into introducing this sort of new adventure as well. It is very delicate [too]. We understand the cultures, and trying to represent different cultures and heritages is a challenge at certain points. But the team is very sincere and authentic in how we depict the situation.”
Part of that attention to authenticity can also be shown in the diversity of areas and zones that we see. To explain this, Yoshida used the example of food and how it is found throughout Tural in order to show the detail that the team took into not just using inspiration but making everything distinctive. “For example, fruits that may be represented in the areas [show the attention to detail]. If you go to like, the player hub town of Tuliyollal, you’ll see many different cultures in kind of a melting pot. There’s a lot of different foods and cultures that mesh there. But if you go to a more remote village like Urqopacha, you will see fruits that are completely different. So we have staff members making sure that we are representing each area correctly [to their inspiration]. For example, we can have foreign imports like a melon in Tuliyollal, but you will not see it in Urqopacha.”
After my time with the game, which totaled about 6 hours, I realized that this was absolutely true—even with certain elements hidden in order to keep from spoiling the MSQ. Taking Tuliyollal and Urqopacha alone, the two areas are vastly different. Tuliyollal is a lush, green coastal city with ships and markets clearly inspired by Tenochtitlan, now modern-day Mexico City, as a trade hub. It’s a bustling trade center, and both marks itself as unique as far as FFXIV hubs go, but it also fits in seamlessly in its design. Street food vendors, trading areas, and artisans make Tuliyollal feel global and distinct, embracing the Yucatan and more. It is more open than, say, Radz-At-Han but still completely defined by its cultural inspirations.
Urqopacha, however, is very different. With snowcapped mountains that are immediately identifiable by anyone familiar with Latin America as the Andes, this area of Yok Tural reflects Peruvian culture and, more specifically, Incan architecture and design. While core environmental cues are in place to let the player see the region of Latin America brought to life in FFXIV Dawntrail, it’s also seen in the alpacas that are both your new best friend and a solid nod to Andean life. It’s also home to Wokhor Zomor, the highest peak on the Tural continent that adds depth to the land we see, with the Pelupelu and Yok Huy calling it home.
Then you have the Amazon-inspired Kozama’uka. A lush jungle with various rivers, Kozama’uka is home to Tribes similar to the Goblins and the Vanu Vanu; it also represents some of the best use of vertical space that I’ve seen in FFXIV. With three distinct areas on display in this preview, it’s clear that Tural was truly treated as a continent topographically diverse as Latin America itself.
That said, the inspiration for FFXIV Dawntrail isn’t just surface level when it comes to designing food and environments. It also comes into play when you look at boss battles and dungeons. On the key art for Dawntrail, players can easily spot a Final Fantasy VI boss: Valigarmanda (or Tritoch, depending on what localization copy you had).
For me, though, I didn’t think about Final Fantasy first when I saw him. Instead, I saw the Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl. The feather-serpent was a clear inspiration for FFIV, but what would he be here? So we asked Naoki Yoshida about that and the larger process of looking to the past to adapt existing Final Fantasy bosses to a new audience in FFXIV Dawntrail and making sure the mythology behind the designs was respected.
“If we look back on past games, like in general, in Japan, there wasn’t as much open communication with cultures outside of [the country]. They kind of just took a literal interpretation on their own and depicted [other cultures] in that way. But coming into the modern age, we have so much information and more opportunities to talk directly with people of those Indigenous cultures,” Yoshida explained in regard to Valigarmanda and other video game bosses that drew inspiration from other cultures.
He continued, “[Our team] wanted to make sure that we’re paying respect to our source material; we wanted to be very careful about it. So, in the case of Quetzalcoatl, to those indigenous people, that’s sort of their deity. We wanted to make sure that we understood the culture behind it and what kind of mythology they believed in and studied it as a development team, making sure that we knew what we were talking about when we were depicting [Quetzalcoatl]. And then with that understanding, [we ask] ‘Okay, so how does this translate into Final Fantasy XIV.‘ And that’s the kind of discussion that we start off with.”
Yoshida continued to explain the process of adapting both an older Final Fantasy boss and its Mesoamerican inspiration, “So, whenever we actually looked at how we’re going to build it in XIV—even down to some of the minor details, like modeling of the different characters or textures—even if we wanted to use some sort of pattern or like a texture on our tile, we make sure that we’re not disrespecting any sort of existing mythology. We don’t want to literally place it there and cause a misunderstanding. That said, if there is a certain meaning that we are able to tie it back into in the game, and it makes sense, then we can keep it. We do our research, making sure that we are paying respect to the original source material, but also try to adapt so that we’re not sort of giving off the wrong images as well. So we tried to do our due diligence even down to like very minute things.”
While we only got the chance to explore a specific section of FFXIV Dawntrail for six hours of adventure, the dedication to small details is present. With no story elements available, we did get the chance to complete the new level 91 dungeon: Ihuykatumu. I was able to complete the dungeon with a party, trusts, and exploration mode—all of which brought their own insights into the experience. Much like the rest of Tural, the dungeon is gorgeously layered with new environmental textures and vertical design that captures the new setting.
It’s clear that the development team put a level of care into FFXIV Dawntrail visually, but as a tank who was growing bored with some of Endwalker’s patch content in terms of diverse mechanics, Ihuykatumu delivers. Instead of bosses with large hitboxes that encourage constant movement outside of switching sides when an AOE is dropped, Ihuykatumu’s bosses are best fought while moving. Constantly. Running it as a Paladin meant that tanking the boss north wasn’t going to work as it has for most of the recent content. And that’s really the key to FFXIV Dawntrail.
It’s a large swing out of the traditional Final Fantasy aesthetic, and as Naoki Yoshida has said during numerous appearances and panels, they’re investing more time into multiplayer content. However, there is much more we need to see to lock in the trajectory. The next step though, is seeing how it all comes together in the narrative, which we’ll only find out at launch.
Final Fantasy XIV’s latest expansion, Dawntrail, releases in early access on June 28, 2024, and releases officially on July 2, 2024.
