[1] Final Fantasy XIV has received regular updates since release, including five major expansion packs: Heavensward (2015), Stormblood (2017), Shadowbringers (2019), Endwalker (2021), and Dawntrail (2024).
Primary sources of experience points in Final Fantasy XIV include completing quests, exploring instanced dungeons, participating in Full Active Time Events (FATEs), and slaying monsters in the world.
[8] The Duty Roulette system randomly assigns the player to an accessible dungeon, and once per day, awards additional bonus EXP scaled to character level on completion.
These location-specific events include battles with notorious monsters, defending locations, escorting non-player characters, culling wildlife, and assaulting enemy fortresses, among other types.
Within the game, Frontlines is presented as an organized set of military exercises between the three nations with the ulterior goal of jockeying for dominance of regions rich in magical artifacts.
In addition to decorating the house, players may use the grounds to grow unique items through the gardening system, train their chocobo companion, embark on airship expeditions, and purchase a private room for personal use.
[22] Eorzea features four prominent city-states: Gridania, in the heavily-forested Black Shroud; Ul'dah, a trade-centric sultanate in arid Thanalan; Limsa Lominsa, a thalassocracy on the island of Vylbrand; and Ishgard, an isolationist theocracy in snowy, mountainous Coerthas.
Other societies include indigenous tribes, such as Ixali and Kobolds; Sharlayan, a scholarly city; and Ala Mhigo in eastern Eorzea, annexed twenty years prior by the Garlean Empire.
At the Battle of Carteneau Flats in Mor Dhona, Dalamud revealed itself as an ancient Allagan prison for the primal dragon Bahamut; his escape triggered the Seventh Umbral Calamity.
[29] Meanwhile, the Empire became paralyzed by a succession crisis as the elderly Emperor Solus fell ill.[30] The player character is an Eorzean adventurer during the Seventh Umbral Era who joins one of the Grand Companies: Gridania's Order of the Twin Adder, under Elder Seedseer Kan-E-Senna; Ul'dah's Immortal Flames, under Flame General Raubahn Aldynn; and the Maelstrom of Limsa Lominsa under Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.
Through odd jobs and tenacity, the player joins the city's Adventurer's Guild, and is favorably compared to the "Warriors of Light" who vanished in the Seventh Umbral Calamity.
Facing increasing scrutiny and pressure to align with one of the three allied city-states, the Scions relocate to Revenant's Toll, an adventuring hub in neutral Mor Dhona.
From the Warrior's encounters with Lahabrea and Shiva, Moenbryda hypothesizes that a "blade" of pure aether can permanently destroy an Ascian while its essence is trapped within white auracite.
[43] After two extensions to the initial free trial period, then-Square Enix President Yoichi Wada issued a formal apology to players and fans in December, and announced a dramatic overhaul in the development team, most prominently the removal of Tanaka from the project and the demotion of Komoto from Director to Lead Designer.
[47] To address this, Yoshida began writing "Letters from the Producer" which would discuss design direction, upcoming changes, player feedback, and increase transparency in the development process.
[61][62] He identified three main reasons why the original launch failed: an over-emphasis on graphical quality, a lack of modern MMORPG expertise in the development team, and a mentality that all problems could be fixed in future patches.
[74] Due to an "overwhelmingly positive response", the servers could not handle the number of concurrent players, prompting Square Enix to temporarily suspend digital sales of the game.
[87][88] This version carries a flexible subscription model with increments as low as 5 hours, similar to the Chinese release, up to 90 days, much like the traditional monthly payment plan.
[89] With the release of later patches, versions and expansion packs, the "A Realm Reborn" subtitle has been dropped, with the remade game being referred to simply as Final Fantasy XIV.
[95] Yoshida observed that the performance issues could be attributed to difficulties in transposing the game from Microsoft's proprietary DirectX graphical rendering libraries to OpenGL as well as a clerical error resulting in publishing the wrong minimum system requirements, both compounded by the hectic work schedule demanded by the release of an expansion pack.
[98] No official announcement was made however, with director Naoki Yoshida stating in an October 2021 interview that discussions are "positive", but still ongoing, and that the team is waiting for the right time to provide an update.
[100] A port of the game for Xbox Series X/S was jointly announced by Yoshida and Spencer in July 2023 during that year's North American Fan Festival in Las Vegas alongside the unveiling of the Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail expansion.
In addition to regular free updates, the game features full expansion packs that add new zones, races, jobs, and premiere a new content cycle.
[118] The remaining tracks were reused pieces from the original game's soundtrack which was principally composed by Nobuo Uematsu, with assistance from Soken, Tsuyoshi Sekito, and Naoshi Mizuta.
It will initially feature nine battle jobs, five races (Hyur, Elezen, Lalafell, Miqo'te and Roegadyn) and cover the base game of Final Fantasy XIV, A Realm Reborn.
IGN's Charles Onyett cited many specific improvements over aspects of the initial game and recognized that "it seems like Square's doing the right things to fix the many mistakes made with Final Fantasy XIV's original design".
[149] The overwhelming sentiment expressed by multiple reviewers was that the remade game executed admirably on traditional MMORPG features and succeeded at addressing the failures of the original version.
Phil Kollar of Polygon lauded its implementation of controller play, calling it "Final Fantasy XIV's single biggest gift to the [MMORPG] genre".
[153] Following an extremely poor fiscal year 2013, Square Enix executives commended the game's sales and subscriptions for their role in returning the company to profitability in 2014.
[155] He sees the free-to-play model as an unreliable source of income predicated on devoting a lot of development resources to monthly consumable or cosmetic items in order to maintain profitability, leaving little time for higher quality story and battle content.