Yeah, I think it's worse if you primarily go to conventions for announcements, but better if you go for the community. They did kind of drop the ball with NA in a few ways, though. Hopefully they learned some lessons for next time.
Speaking of Deep Nutkin Lore: the Strategically Placed Nutkin from Thancred's return in 3.1? Apparently, Thancred actually adopted him. He shows up in the Rising Stones a few times afterwards. In fact, he's _sitting on the countertop next to Thancred_ when he's telling F'lhaminn that Minfilia has left with the Warriors of Darkness in 3.4. There's a good chance that that's the same Nutkin in the Dawntrail Trailer.
My theory is that the nutkin is the part of Thancred that got separated from him, since he got back from the Lifestream. Remember, he has been unable to manipulate aether since then.
I love the ff XIV system of revealing things. I think one will feel the least fulfilling cause we have less to do in game. Also I love the shirt thing! The shirt isn’t always a stretch. First one was a dark knight movie t shirt and he also wore a scarlet witch shirt for red mage. So people assuming it was going to be a stretch instead of just pictomancer was wishful thinking. Edit: I forgot to mention, you guys have not seen the reveal cycle completely yet, fan fest weaves itself between the patches that release. Like this last one was right before the final story patch. So what is and isn’t revealed and the order is part of what’s going on in game too. Things to keep in mind that you’ll see more for 8.0.
I actually thought was either ink or paint mage because all were Renaissance artists and we had ink mages on gauntlet... aside from necro we have all the jobs from the bosses in there
@@Ladywizard We don't have any of the bosses jobs. Thief, Necromancer, and Berserker. I'm glad they didn't call it Ink mage same reason if it some how had been 'Green mage' that they didn't call it green mage. We don't need more jobs that are just 'thing' mage. Even if its common in FF it's just also kinda boring in mmo terms.
I'm loving this new setup! It feels different because instead of you talking AT us, you're talking to eachother, and we're just there to watch. Feels a bit less... confrontational? Interview-y? Either way I really like the lighting yall have going on and I'm looking forward to MSQ videos in this format. I can imagine y'all doing more set dressing in the studio, like using that desk in the middle to put two cups of coffee and a map/notes/theories of what's happening in the MSQ hahahaha, maybe too much work but your new setup has a lot of potential!
I think what I love about the Fan Fest system as opposed to something like Blizzcon is that Yoshi's team engages with the community. The triple Fan Fest isn't just about adding on new details, but to give ideas and show us how the new expansion is coming along. It's like rough draft -> revised edition -> nearly finished product. I like that. With Blizzcon, Blizzard just throws up a polished trailer, a bunch of screenshots, talks a big game, and then leaves it at that. They let datamining do all the hype for them - and that's often *very* dangerous, as it's so easy to take things out of context since Blizzard gives absolutely none. And Blizzard also has a terrible time maintaining their course, as what they show and talk about in a Blizzcon for a WoW expansion is very likely to be cut by the time the expansion launches, or changed during the course of the expansion. So the Blizzcon talk-ups wind up being a bunch of lies and half-truths spun to get people to buy into an expansion that ends up being not what they were sold on. I hate that disingenuousness.
Okay in Kyle’s defense, the funny little gremlin in the shadowbringers trailer played a similar “funny little guy” role to the nutkin and ended up being a stand in for the main antagonist. Like because of the gremlin I say he might be on to something. Personally though what if thancred takes up beast master?
19:09 That look lol. "That is for Dads" Uh yeah, you're talking to one! Also sitting concerts are rad, you can just chill out. Wierd Al did a low key show in my hometown and it was a awesome.
A great overlooked point. The nutkin showing up in the Fanow and being remarked on by Thancred in the in-between dialogue was soooo easy to miss, to be fair. I didn't even notice it myself until playing ShB again with my daughter. We both got an unexpected laugh, with some intrigue on the side whether there was something to read into it.
I can attest: my friend group mainlines the trailers on stream as they come out and half of us deeply theorycraft and the other half are just happy to see their internet waifus and husbandos. Maybe the nutkin was too far a stretch for Garret to get on board, but that kind of thing ABSOLUTELY happens in no small amount. A better example would be positing how Solution 9 might be connected to Ascians in some way, just as Allag was. Trying to figure out how those might be connected in a more deep way than "they're both high tech" is part of the fun.
I had to pause the video at 25:37 just to comment in regards to Kyle's cooking! I...actually I really like that idea and I never considered it before...I wanna hear more about this! I'm adding it to the cork board of theories!
As far as we know, he's always been that way. My favorite was when he wore the Spirder Man T-shirt to tease Samurai. Because Sam Raimi directed that movie, and Sam Raimi, said with Japanese phonetic intonation, sounds like Samu Raimi, which is really damn close to Samurai. And the mad lads who made that connection? They weren't just right; they were *fucking* right.
To give Kyle some credit, when you think back on the Shadowbringers' trailer, the little gremlin was speaking dialog that Emet was saying. I don't believe they had anything similar to that in the trailers beforehand though.
The difference in analysis between Garrett and Kyle is always amusing. Kyle can look at a rock and go "Ah, at long last, the mighty pebble of all pebbles. WHAT SECRETS DO YOU HOLD?!"
I took the nutkin showing up as a throw back to the post Heavensward patches. Acting as a censor bar, or could be called a "cock-block". Only to, in the Dawntrail trailer, be a "cock-block" to Thancred again.
The new set up when you talk to each other is fantastic. You guys made some really great points in the video too. The parts about the community as well as how the hype train can make people be disappointed when something is a reveal that they didn't want. Also...Kyle going on about the Nutkin...if that turns out to be true, with that bugger having a higher purpose, we will all never live it down 😂 Personally, I think Square just likes to have cute animals/creatures feature in their trailers. But...but, never say never LOL. FanFest over 3 events keeps the hype going, gives you something to be excited about for a longer period. Keeps the game alive as well. Plus, who doesn't want to see these amazing Square employees doing what they love and seeing their passion. Such a good video! ❤
as far as fanfest I love the way they did this. a little tease at each fanfest was so nice! vie only been in the game for not even 2 years yet. i personally got to end game in about a year. but i had never played a FF game before. so the t-shirt i dug into looking for connections my friends did the same thing your fan base has been doing with you. they didn't tell me what happened. so i was able to omg and cook with people who already KNEW what what was happening. i know i gave them some good laughs at some of the things i pulled out thinking where the game was going. that being said, i personally am looking forward to viper and picto, i am only 2 away from from being omni 90! the other thing people have not been thinking about is the books. the encyclopedias are a great source of pieces of lore. The NUTKIN... i had not thought of the idea Kyle threw out but i can say this. in solution 9 there is a sign that says "soul storage"
The release of the downloadable benchmark tool is probably the part of this hype cycle I'm most looking forward to, because if it's anything like the Endwalker one? It'll include the updated character creator so we can make our new looks.
End walkers benchmark want an updated character creator.... Was it? I know it has a hand full of new face types, but those faces never made it into the actual game of I remember right.
You can tell you were really enjoying this new camera setup hahaha Anyway, I like the setup and the cuts generally felt really good. Nice job! Those are also some really nice cameras. The both of you look great!
For what it's worth, I didn't notice that the window was off center until you mentioned it. I think Kyle may have taken a weird path with Chekov's Nutkin but ended up in a very possible reference. That's the kind of weird stuff they pull.
I do love the T-shirt guesses and hype behind the conversations, it can divide people in the community (I see you green mage players). As for Benchmark don’t just watch it, play it, recreate your WoL in an in game cutscene of stuff happening. Watching it just doesn’t have the same vibe
As someone for whom these Fan Fests have been my first experience with them, I think it also helps a pretty decent amount if you are current with the game so you're able to talk more freely about stuff that is announced there and with context of how it may relate to the story going forward. Sure, it may not really be spoilers, but you do lose a level of how you can talk about the stuff shown. Something else to keep in mind is that we don't have all the news for DT yet, as there will be live letters between now and the release of the expansion that will show stuff like the Job Action Trailer (a general showcase of what abilities a job has at max level) that will give people more to speculate about and other stuff that needs to be shown closer to release as well as the media tour (though the two may well coincide). So the hype cycle for Dawntrail was only started by the Fan Fests. Something else I like about the Fan Fests is the various dev panels (with the ones for the JP Fan Fest generally getting fan translations on the FFXIV subreddit discord server) as they contain some very interesting stuff (for example, the 2016 Las Vegas Fan Fest had a panel on how they designed high level content).
Garrett they use visual hints in the trailers too 😉an example the shadowbringers teaser trailers they had the crystal tower duplicated which lead to people or added to theorising of shard travel at the time.😉 Happy to be of help from the dozens of us lol😂 btw. Can't wait to you both are current to talk more on the deeper "nutkin lore", metaphysical and speculation ahead.
In the future with the shirts if you ever think you're going for too deep of a cut, just remember that the samurai hint was a "the amazing spiderman" movie shirt because sam raimie directed it
i feel like in a lot of games with 'negative' communities are the ones where the grumblers on twitter represent the majority of players opinions, casual, midcore, hardcore. think CS:2, everyone generally even in their private discords and circles has the same critiques of the game. FF14 still has those people on twitter as there is always gonna be people who have critique for the game especially the more you are invested but it is less representative of the average player, like you talk to the average player in game and there are a lot more diverse opinions and everyone has their own wants when it comes to the game. it suggests to me that it gives the community a more 'positive' perception since there isn't that core consensus on a single set of agreed problems with the game.
Let's also keep the social media bias filter in mind. Twitter will always boost the critique and drama bait because it gets them attention, clicks and "engagement". People going "huh, that's pretty neat, looking forward to it" won't get nearly as much of that juicy juicy eyeball time.
That Dad Joke at the end there Kyle, never change. As for me, I enjoy the multiple Fan Fests. I like that the various speculations they can all bring with the different things that they announce at each.
something to keep in mind about the trailers also is that they take a fuckton of time and effort to be made-- so the parts shown in fanfest are also the parts they managed to complete by the deadline. Not to say there wasn't a degree of prioritization, but there have been plenty of dev comments in the past about how they only finished things in the nick of time. IIRC Stormblood's first trailer was finished literally one hour before airing...
i went to london fanfest and it was alot of fun. yes, it was grey and dreary outside, but inside it was lots of fun. we had so many minigames and I liked the reveals. and i am 100% onboard with pictomancer! looks super fun
FYI the "Kaiju" already exist in the game. I think it first appeared in Sohm Al (Hard) as a boss called Gowrow, then again in Stormblood as S rank hunt called Bone Crawler. They look pretty much identical, and while MMO reskinned their mop of the time, I think this one is deliberate, because there is one difference being the purple glow on it's back which also similar to purple corals looking stuff in one of the dungeon. So I think that is probably one of the plot point rather than the kaiju itself.
I’m still a bit upset I couldn’t go to one in last Summer due to how much of a good time it looked like, sweltering heat and crowds aside, so I plan one day to actually attend one, and hopefully make some beautiful memories with all my friends who play this game with me. It’s such a damn good time.
As someone that has been playing since 1.0 Beta, tis good view you guys have. FF is what it needs to be and I've been concerned for XIV's longetivity. I haven't been to any of the Fanfests but you bring great point that its not just isolated to 1 place. Recent interviews and these good points remind me that even long time players like myself this dev team is firing on all cylinders. The jobs I allow myself to accept them as is and grin when I know the source, like pictomancer cause I know the history. People throwing their theroies around is fun and I never take negative posts worth remembering. I don't feed trolls, it makes internet life sweeter. The venue issues I blame the on site staff and not FFXIV team. I wish they didn't have the Fanfest in Vegas though. The Heat in summer, costs and casino vibe just don't seem like a good match for this kind of event
The tshirt thing is so much fun! One of the best ways to reveal or tease a new class/character I've ever heard of in gaming. Also I think the three fanfest thing is pretty good imo. I think the main point is to let all three major regions get a little slice of the hype pie, which is unique imo. It might mean that each fanfest is smaller in scale and the whole thing ends up being a bit more dripfeedy, which some people might not enjoy as much, but I think it fits FFXIV's philosophy of focusing on consistency instead of blowing loads and then getting nothing for a long while.
I think following the fanfest cycle is a lot more fun when you **don't** read into things too deeply. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to speculate about the t-shirt and stuff but there's waaaay too many people out there that were saying "it's 100% corsair" and "it's 100% green mage". They convinced themselves that they were correct (based on a t-shirt no less) and then were disappointed that they weren't. Same with Alphi missing. "Oh my god, maybe Alphi is starting to grow!?" or maybe they just weren't happy with the way he was rendered in time for the trailer to be put out. We know that people have complained in the past about how the scions look in trailers (looking at you EW G'raha).
I think the nice thing about the 3 region fan fest is many of the fans get attention and they might not feel they're being neglected due to the event being held only in 1 area Also each reguon gets their own personal bit of information States get the reveal europe gets the raid detail and second job reveal and japan gets the release and future events We all get a little bit that makes it feel our own Also yes the community isn't all butterflies and rainbows but for the most part you can find a lot of people In game Who genuinely want to help and have fun
One thing about the trailers is that some of the scenes introduced in the second and third aren’t even rendered yet when the first/second ones come out. That also applies to the music. If you look at the three teaser trailers for shadowbringers, you’ll notice the theme song isn’t complete yet either!
My only concern with the 3 cons is the strain it puts on Yoshi-P and the Dev's. Soken just recovered from cancer a few years ago and I'd like if we could keep the guy around a little longer if not eternally. But aside from that, I'm all on board.
The point in the beginning is why I always put a * when people go "nicest/friendlist community!" Cause while it may be those, that's cause the bar is REALLY low when compared to other games. We have to remember we're still on the internet after all. And nothing is ever fully 100% nice or respectful there.
even ff14 is starting to get toxic. while its not as bad as other game communities, its starting to get worse as the years go on. It really doesnt take much to be called the greatest community when the internet generally is full of try hards and complainers
@felixamari157 fair it was always there to some degree but I feel like around shadowbringers is when it started to get more noticable. That point also isn't perfect because for me I didn't start getting into extremes and harder content until post stormblood. Most of the toxicity is at endgame content
@heartfullbutterfly314 I only started playing in shadowbringers, but I think toxicity is rising to the surface due to the lack of casual content. If people have nothing to do, it'll push them towards doing savage or ultimate, where toxicity has always festered. As soon as new content releases, the community will go back to the way it always is. Hell, even just the new mogtome event brought back the chill atmosphere. They did a good job in making it so the most appealing method of farming isn't braindead bluemage runs over and over again (which quickly get toxic if someone doesn't know what they're doing/are new to blu farming).
Honestly, this feels very Zodiark-ish; toxicity is literally only being held back by the sheer amount of content that it takes before people flock to the sweatier content. And unlike FF14, this literally is an unstoppable behavior.
I agree with Garrett, i also was super into the graphical update stuff at all 3 fests. Its one of the things I'm most excited about for the expac drop.
I think one of the benefits of having pieces of information spread through all 3 fanfests is keeping the interest in the game and in what they're doing. I mean, from my perspective, if we only had the first fanfest in July/2023 it would be more than a year waiting for new content. I guess that would increase the chance of things like "this game is dead, no content for a year? How dare they?" (which is quite common in the Wow community by the way). Spreading these events months apart and with new pieces of information in each one, I think it helps in keeping everyone interested (and some of us even more excited), having something to digest, theorize, discuss with friends, etc. So by the time the last fanfest happens, it's not 12 months of waiting, doing roulettes, Eureka and Bozja ad nauseam 🤣. P.S.: For me, Nutkin is the new shoebill.
4:30 The way I've always described this game is to say that the community is gracious about working around the limitations put in place by the developer and finding out how to have fun anyway. Whether that's finding ways to have fun at a Fan Fest that was poorly organized to the point of being moderately disappointing, or trying to do new ideas with a half-baked housing system. However because of that the community had a reputation for burning anyone at the stake for offering criticism, and that is definitely over. The old "leave CB3 alone they're trying their best" is gone, because even those fans have felt that XIV was short-staffed for XVI.
The nutkin? For the second trailer I actually paused to try and see what was being reflected in its eye. I did this because of the ShB trailer where Emet's words are given to us from that little gremlin. I thought maybe there was something we could not yet see and would be revealed later, but now I don't think so. Maybe it is a nod to the lifestream since it travels from Y'shtola to Thancred and while they did not exit the lifestream together, Y'shtola brought them into the lifestream together at the end of ARR. As for Las Vegas issues? I made a point of looking at opinions of London online and there seemed to be similar complaints about lines, seating, and even a few about accessibility. The only complaint I have seen about Tokyo is the assigned seating and being expected to stay seated. That complaint was mainly from western players who were able to go so it is likely more a cultural issue. Many of the complaints for LV also came from people who admitted they had never been to a convention before.
Love the talk on how deep theory crafting can go when trailers slowly get released! I don't normally get deep into "cooking" when it comes to visuals in the trailers as they release, but the music... I really recommend you guys look back at Shb trailer (and EW once you're done) and listen to the music and how they edit certain important motifs/lyrics with certain characters cause it really gives a lot more foreshadowing in hindsight and it's made me spiral hard with Dawn Trail XD.
I believe the nutkin was actually a reference to the new limited Beast Master job. The nutkin suddenly getting a zoom into the eye before abandoning his nut (blasphemous) to mess with Thancred was clearly the work of Urianger teasing his friend.
I dig the three event system I just kinda wish they'd mix up the order sometimes. It has *always* been NA gets the reveal, EU gets ... stuff in the middle and JP gets the really juicy details.
I find the emphasis of tying expansion hype to new jobs a bit strange. I haven't invested much in Gunbreaker, Dancer, Reaper, or Sage, but I thoroughly enjoyed Shadowbringers and Endwalker. Heck, the most investment I have in an "expansion job" is in red mage, while Stormblood is probably the "least hype" XIV expansion. So it's hard for me to associate which jobs are announced with being excited for the new stuff. With that said, as my static group's caster main I intend to give pictomancer a shot, see if it's for me, and I'm hype for Dawntrail.
I like the three-Fanfest sequence but I think they may not have accounted for the effect of their extension of the patch timing cycle on the vibe. The gap between 2018 NA Fanfest and the Shadowbringers release was about 7.5 months; the gap between 2023 NA Fanfest and the Dawntrail release is likely to be about a year. That's a long time to wait. I'm hoping that in future years they tighten the schedule up. As for the community: we're extremely welcoming to sprouts but we have similar friction between hardcore and casual players to any game with varied, persistent content. I think FFXIV enables a bit more overlap between the two because of its gearing and catch-up systems. This means midcore is much more viable, and as a result there's more balance to the community and less noise from just one side. I think it is also worth mentioning that FFXIV has an incredibly strong queer community and is highly welcoming of a diverse population in ways I never saw in other persistent games before it. edit - Also, you'll see some of the Big Theorycrafting as they release new things. We still have the media tour, yes, but the big community-oriented teasers yet to come are the benchmark (where we can really see environments), the job action trailer (where you see how your favorite jobs evolve visually), and then the big launch trailer. The launch trailer for Shadowbringers set the entire community on fire with its final line from Emet. I expect the Dawntrail launch trailer will do the same thing.
I suspect the schedule is loosened because covid disrupted the cadence for 6.0 since, if there was no covid/lockdown, Endwalker would have almost certainly come out summer of 2021. While they could have kept the same schedule/cadence and gotten 7.0 out in Winter 2023, I suspect they want to go back to summer expansion releases and so rather than kill themselves to squeeze into a summer 2023 (which is basically impossible), they opted for the more reasonable Summer 2024 and I suspect that (assuming nothing similarly world affecting happens again), 8.0 will be out Summer 2026, etc.
@@JordanKennedy What I'm getting at is that, as a result of the change they made during the Shadowbringers patch cycle where they announced that their typical patch-launch schedule would move from 3 months to 4 months, running a Fanfest during an x.4 patch means a longer delay than it used to. My hope is that they instead choose to start NA Fanfest either right before 7.5 comes out (rather than a couple months before) or right after. That might tighten things up nicely.
I think the 3 trailer system is also a way to show progression of the expansion construction. You didn't touch on it, but each time they release the Tri-trailers even the music is very obviously fine tuned to reflect the finished product. In Dawntrail they played around with the beat and overall accents. But, recall Endwalker where you couldn't even understand the lyrics in the first release, and it progressed to the final product which added (not just) the lyrics, but varied chorus. It pretty much confirms that the final trailer is being worked on the entire time between Fan Fests. It isn't completed at the first fanfest (which I believe I recall Kyle being concerned about).
Having been around for every expansion's hype cycle so far, I'm still a big fan of how they roll out info across the three FanFests. Obviously, there's a part of me that's impatient and wants all the info right away, but I think spreading the hype cycle out is the better option in the end. It not only keeps a conversation about the next expansion going for longer, I personally feel like it makes the reveals that much more memorable because they're not cramming all of them into one keynote.
I honestly thought that the Estinien part in the trailer was where they would introduce the new job like how Alphinaud helped the WoL and Alisae during the Endwalker trailer. Estinien's segment was definitely split into two parts - between the initial US and extended UK trailer where he was fighting the giant lizard. Looking back at it now, I'm glad that it turned out to be a red herring, and Krile gets an enire segment all to herself. I couldn't be happier for her.
I wouldn’t have noticed the off center window if you didn’t mention it, but now I do. Also, as instructed, Kyle is wrong about the nutkin. I really like the 3 fanfests, it gives many fans around the world to have an opportunity to participate in person. I really enjoy planned out high profile events that drive hype. The formula of 3 separate conventions that drip feed and tease out content with a satisfactory rap up of the final one is a cycle I enjoyed. Each convention you go in with expectations, you get some suprise, some vindication, and maybe disappointment. Then leaving the convention your thoughts are set on the next one until the last one resolves, where you then await the expansion. It was my first fanfest and I quite enjoyed myself.
I'm from the future. The Nutkin references Thancred's nakedness. The main hint in the trailer is that the Nutkin was only around two characters: Y'shtola and Thancred. This foreshadowed the long-awaited romance options within the scions. The Y'sthola romance arc was a bit mediocre, but Thancred's romance arc was extremely deep as you explore the pitfalls of co-parenting Ryne together.
I was surprised by how many people have so many opinions on the jobs and whether or not they will play them. For me, it's no question, both jobs are going to be leveled to 100. I can't imagine not having every job leveled to max. It's something I enjoy a lot. I treat jobs like extra content rather than just a play style option. Regardless of what square puts out, I will unlock and level it, there is no "ehh, it's not my style really". I thought almost all people played like that
I _do_ like the 3 event system, with the split trailer. It gives each major market a chance to enjoy an in-person event (though oceania gets hosed), and it makes each event hype. It lets the community focus on the specific things announced at each event, and that helps build hype before the launch of the next expac, just when people _need_ to be getting back in to finish patch content, or new people start, so they can enjoy the new expansion.
Fan Fest for FFXIV just seems more wholesome. Like, it’s done with emotion and the presentations do not feel scripted. After watching how Blizzard Con was done, it just seemed forced and immensely fake with how the presentations were done. Some of the Blizzard devs just seems like they were either disgruntled, bothered, or felt forced to act fake. I mean, event with the way Chris Metzen acted was hysterically awful. He acted like he wanted to kick ass and take names, but DUDE, I cannot take your game seriously when it looks like Disney’s Toon Town. Even when he said when it comes to Warcraft’s story, they don’t mess around. I was rolling my eyes and laughing my ass off because of BFA, Shadowlands, and Dwagonfwight (Dragonflight was hysterically bad and looked super immature for any game’s story with how fake the characters were done). After being a FFXI veteran and I’ve been playing with FFXIV since 1.0, I just cannot see how appealing WoW is with being a cartoon, a non-coherent story, and weak characters.
Another big thing for all the Fanfests is the fact that we in NA got Ishikawa and showered her with our love for her work. I'm biased obviously because i was there but it was definitely the best for me. Kate Cwynar was also in both the NA and JP and she was another incredible lead on the game.
While it does seem costly to have that many important people of the dev team step away to attend the Fan Fests, it’s also a really important opportunity for them to interact with, listen to, and appreciate the fan base. You can see the joy of it in Yoshi-P’s face at every single Fan Fest, even if it is obviously also exhausting him. He’s a treasure to be cherished, and we’re not to take him for granted.
Kyle has some truly interesting thoughts. For my part, I don't think the nutkin has some hidden meaning. I think it might show up as a recurring gag for Thancred to deal with. I'm fairly certain the trailers are handled the way they are in part because they just aren't finished by the first fan fest, but moreso to get the brain juices flowing and excitement pumping.
Realization as we see more and more content with you two in the same room, the volume of freeze frame Garrett reaction gold will only increase and I can't wait!
About other people theorizing... Bellular talking about what could have been with Shadowlands... If what he said had come true I probably wouldn't have quit. It was infinitely better than the story Blizzard told.
As a writer I am swinging between dreading this next expansion and rubbing my hands like a madman. The facts are these: Final Fantasy XIV is a game carried by its amazing narrative and its fun social community. I feel like the community has taken a bit of a hit lately, so that leaves the story to pull us back together and bring back that anticipation factor. Now, the source of my fears: It's not that easy for a writing team, even a spectacular one, to deliver a home run every time. It's entirely possible this "next big thing" may end up being a giant dud. Now, that's not the end of the world. No one knew how Shadowbringers would end during ARR. The nice thing about writing an ongoing narrative is that you can pull up on the stick and save everything with a thrilling middle chapter. However, FFXIV doesn't need a good story hook two expansions from now. It needs one NOW. I hope this new Cyberpunk city isn't a dip into a robotic big bad or some kind of AI force. I think FFXIV does villains really well, and honestly the Allagan stuff is the worst stuff in the game. Give us a flesh and blood villain, maybe even build them up as Dawntrail progresses. Give them an objective that makes sense (it doesn't have to be relatable, it just has to matter to the villain). That'll start bringing the players in.
As far as previous expansion trailers the previous segmented ones are on FFXIV's youtube channel so you could watch them in order so see the hints that were laced in them as they were released.
My take on the nutkin is that it may relate to the Beastmaster job. The nutkin became Thancred's pet after HW and can occasionally be seen in game during his appearances. It is abnormally large in the trailer.
The funny thing is that even though the nutkin connection is a bit...unique, I do think Kyle is 100% right that the Lifestream is going to be extremely important in Dawntrail. There have been a bunch of subtle hints to that effect.
I got so hyped and emotional when they showed Pictomancer as the 2nd job❤. I started painting again last year and this feels like the perfect job to respec into for me now. It was definitely a theory I really wanted and would be sad if it didn’t pan out 😅.
I have a request, would it be possible for GG to make a Playlist of all 3 con videos + this in a playlist. I feel it would be fun to see your, lets face it at the first fanfest total guesses to what your thoughts are now. It would be like a time-lapse of view point and hype.
The comment about keeping positive people in the community is... hmm. I feel like it's part of the game design because it *rewards* people for helping others, and the narrative is essentially, "The way you survive is to help others and come together." The other nice thing about XIV is that the releases are consistent and (reasonably) predictable, or have historically been so. (Tokyo Dome is a baseball stadium) With regards to Minfilia -- we saw the stairs scene as I recall, but not the "Minfilia" reveal; people were theorizing that she was Zenos' younger sibling or something similar, before we found out ShB was a WoL Isekai. Vegas FanFest: If the FanFest is off-strip, stay off-strip. 2016 was at the Paris (on-strip), and 2018 at the Rio (off-strip); I stayed with FCmates at the Gold Coast hotel for 2018 and walked over in full Fordola cosplay and it was fine. It being Vegas, it was hardly the weirdest thing anyone'd seen. In 2023, I stayed with cosplay friends (who I'd met at 2018! Somehow local to me! Shocking!) at the Westgate because the cosplay community had scouted out the best way to get to the convention centre that was mostly indoors (i.e. air-conditioned) and we split up bookings to ensure we were covered on whichever hall(s) were used. XD
The thing that is really baking my noodle is that for Shadowbringers they didn't show us Amaurot during the Fan Fests. Even Endwalker had zone(s) not shown during the hype cycle, but they showed us Solution 9. What on earth are they not showing us if they feel like they can show us that?
I think the 3 fests and extended teasing works. I enjoy it. That said, I'd be OK with if there was only one, as well, since I am never going to go to one in person and find the producer live letters nearly as satisfying. Honestly, neither viper nor picto really landed with me, but I'm not disgruntled about it. Can't win 'em all. I'm here primarily for the story and the socializing. So far, I'm not hyped about DT, but I'm also not down on it. It's new chapter for the game, and I'm willing to wait for the story to have a new, slow burn. I believe this team can deliver another extended story, dotted with juicy sub-plot plums, and I'm here for it!
They way they ran their convention was much better than things like Blizzcon because it was more intimate. The developers interacted with their players in a manner that they cannot in these huge events. I also loved the way they teased the next xpac. It kept the hype going. I went to one and I watched the other two, and enjoyed them. As for the grumbles, I thought it was quite funny that people actually thought we were going to have a we are going on a vacation xpac.
This conversation and similar are ONLY about the media hype cycle for a new expansion, while ignoring EVERYTHING ELSE about Fan Fest. As such they ignore the fact that the "Fan Fest System" is spread across three continents over three seasons because a) Square Enix wants to hold these conventions for people outside of Japan, and b) holding one convention is already a massive undertaking, let alone two more outside of your home turf. You can't expect a game company to show up to their own con without showing something new, and neither can they repeat the same content at each venue. Hence, the reveals and trailers need to be distributed in such a way that hype is gradually increased as you near your next expansion's release date. In the end, splitting the reveals over such a length of time is more necessity than choice.
I heard a guy named Yoshida managed to get in on all 3 fanfests
The board of director Naoki Yoshida also went! He was the guy in the suit at Tokyo.
Is he going to the china one?
The director of FF16 showed up?
@@ericbright1742 Yeah! It was so cool to have him show up for the Crossover Event coming in April.
hax
I appreciate the three fanfests because they feel like a callout to and celebration of each region's community.
Yeah, I think it's worse if you primarily go to conventions for announcements, but better if you go for the community.
They did kind of drop the ball with NA in a few ways, though. Hopefully they learned some lessons for next time.
Speaking of Deep Nutkin Lore: the Strategically Placed Nutkin from Thancred's return in 3.1? Apparently, Thancred actually adopted him. He shows up in the Rising Stones a few times afterwards.
In fact, he's _sitting on the countertop next to Thancred_ when he's telling F'lhaminn that Minfilia has left with the Warriors of Darkness in 3.4.
There's a good chance that that's the same Nutkin in the Dawntrail Trailer.
My theory is that the nutkin is the part of Thancred that got separated from him, since he got back from the Lifestream. Remember, he has been unable to manipulate aether since then.
@@Dajova that's insane...i love it. ♥
@@DajovaNow I just need an explanation why his eye color reverts on his return from the First. :)
"How many espressos did you have this morning?"
"Only two."
I barked out a laugh like a seal.
"Well Kyle,"
"Yes Garett?"
Always feels good.
I love the ff XIV system of revealing things. I think one will feel the least fulfilling cause we have less to do in game. Also I love the shirt thing!
The shirt isn’t always a stretch. First one was a dark knight movie t shirt and he also wore a scarlet witch shirt for red mage. So people assuming it was going to be a stretch instead of just pictomancer was wishful thinking.
Edit: I forgot to mention, you guys have not seen the reveal cycle completely yet, fan fest weaves itself between the patches that release. Like this last one was right before the final story patch. So what is and isn’t revealed and the order is part of what’s going on in game too. Things to keep in mind that you’ll see more for 8.0.
I actually thought was either ink or paint mage because all were Renaissance artists and we had ink mages on gauntlet... aside from necro we have all the jobs from the bosses in there
@@Ladywizard We don't have any of the bosses jobs. Thief, Necromancer, and Berserker. I'm glad they didn't call it Ink mage same reason if it some how had been 'Green mage' that they didn't call it green mage. We don't need more jobs that are just 'thing' mage. Even if its common in FF it's just also kinda boring in mmo terms.
@@TemLightKiBlade we had them just at a slant... berserker was renamed warrior and thief is renamed ninja
"The nutkin Garrett, THE NUTKIN"
He's turning into Ancient Aliens 😂
@@ArakDBlade The prophecy is fulfilling itself. 😈
To be fair, the random taunting little gremlin in the SHB trailer sure means a lot more after you play SHB.
The nutkin
Is
Thancred beastmaster confirmed
the shirt is also references Beastmaster.
Kevin B Eastman is the name of a Co creator of tmnt.
mindblown
🤯
Aintnoway
I feel like this is just a coincidence more than anything else, cause... any animal = beast master XD
@@Amovetv And "Viper Maneuver" is a skill Leonardo learns in the 80's cartoon series.
I think you hit the nail on the head. It's not that there's no toxicity, it's that the toxicity hasn't driven away the good folks.
I'm loving this new setup! It feels different because instead of you talking AT us, you're talking to eachother, and we're just there to watch.
Feels a bit less... confrontational? Interview-y?
Either way I really like the lighting yall have going on and I'm looking forward to MSQ videos in this format. I can imagine y'all doing more set dressing in the studio, like using that desk in the middle to put two cups of coffee and a map/notes/theories of what's happening in the MSQ hahahaha, maybe too much work but your new setup has a lot of potential!
Here's why it works:
Yoshi P can wear 3 different shirts.
I think what I love about the Fan Fest system as opposed to something like Blizzcon is that Yoshi's team engages with the community. The triple Fan Fest isn't just about adding on new details, but to give ideas and show us how the new expansion is coming along. It's like rough draft -> revised edition -> nearly finished product. I like that.
With Blizzcon, Blizzard just throws up a polished trailer, a bunch of screenshots, talks a big game, and then leaves it at that. They let datamining do all the hype for them - and that's often *very* dangerous, as it's so easy to take things out of context since Blizzard gives absolutely none. And Blizzard also has a terrible time maintaining their course, as what they show and talk about in a Blizzcon for a WoW expansion is very likely to be cut by the time the expansion launches, or changed during the course of the expansion. So the Blizzcon talk-ups wind up being a bunch of lies and half-truths spun to get people to buy into an expansion that ends up being not what they were sold on. I hate that disingenuousness.
Okay in Kyle’s defense, the funny little gremlin in the shadowbringers trailer played a similar “funny little guy” role to the nutkin and ended up being a stand in for the main antagonist. Like because of the gremlin I say he might be on to something. Personally though what if thancred takes up beast master?
19:09 That look lol. "That is for Dads" Uh yeah, you're talking to one!
Also sitting concerts are rad, you can just chill out. Wierd Al did a low key show in my hometown and it was a awesome.
The nutkin also shows up in shadowbringers around the time Emet brings back Y'Shtola from the lifestream. So there may be something there.
A great overlooked point. The nutkin showing up in the Fanow and being remarked on by Thancred in the in-between dialogue was soooo easy to miss, to be fair. I didn't even notice it myself until playing ShB again with my daughter. We both got an unexpected laugh, with some intrigue on the side whether there was something to read into it.
I can attest: my friend group mainlines the trailers on stream as they come out and half of us deeply theorycraft and the other half are just happy to see their internet waifus and husbandos. Maybe the nutkin was too far a stretch for Garret to get on board, but that kind of thing ABSOLUTELY happens in no small amount.
A better example would be positing how Solution 9 might be connected to Ascians in some way, just as Allag was. Trying to figure out how those might be connected in a more deep way than "they're both high tech" is part of the fun.
God, if Kyle is right about the nutkin, it's eating the moon all over again. That or nutkin could be beast master related
I had to pause the video at 25:37 just to comment in regards to Kyle's cooking! I...actually I really like that idea and I never considered it before...I wanna hear more about this! I'm adding it to the cork board of theories!
I'm hoping for more Naked Thancred XD
As far as we know, he's always been that way. My favorite was when he wore the Spirder Man T-shirt to tease Samurai. Because Sam Raimi directed that movie, and Sam Raimi, said with Japanese phonetic intonation, sounds like Samu Raimi, which is really damn close to Samurai.
And the mad lads who made that connection? They weren't just right; they were *fucking* right.
To give Kyle some credit, when you think back on the Shadowbringers' trailer, the little gremlin was speaking dialog that Emet was saying. I don't believe they had anything similar to that in the trailers beforehand though.
They have had the SE president at NA Fan Fest before but the best was when he came out in the blue mage outfit to announce it.
Would have lived to see AI CEO come out dressed as a beastmaster
@gateauxq4604 my husband was saying the exact same thing. So disappointed he didn't!
The difference in analysis between Garrett and Kyle is always amusing. Kyle can look at a rock and go "Ah, at long last, the mighty pebble of all pebbles. WHAT SECRETS DO YOU HOLD?!"
Kyle the cook
I took the nutkin showing up as a throw back to the post Heavensward patches. Acting as a censor bar, or could be called a "cock-block". Only to, in the Dawntrail trailer, be a "cock-block" to Thancred again.
The new set up when you talk to each other is fantastic. You guys made some really great points in the video too. The parts about the community as well as how the hype train can make people be disappointed when something is a reveal that they didn't want. Also...Kyle going on about the Nutkin...if that turns out to be true, with that bugger having a higher purpose, we will all never live it down 😂 Personally, I think Square just likes to have cute animals/creatures feature in their trailers. But...but, never say never LOL.
FanFest over 3 events keeps the hype going, gives you something to be excited about for a longer period. Keeps the game alive as well. Plus, who doesn't want to see these amazing Square employees doing what they love and seeing their passion.
Such a good video! ❤
as far as fanfest I love the way they did this. a little tease at each fanfest was so nice! vie only been in the game for not even 2 years yet. i personally got to end game in about a year. but i had never played a FF game before. so the t-shirt i dug into looking for connections my friends did the same thing your fan base has been doing with you. they didn't tell me what happened. so i was able to omg and cook with people who already KNEW what what was happening. i know i gave them some good laughs at some of the things i pulled out thinking where the game was going.
that being said, i personally am looking forward to viper and picto, i am only 2 away from from being omni 90! the other thing people have not been thinking about is the books. the encyclopedias are a great source of pieces of lore.
The NUTKIN... i had not thought of the idea Kyle threw out but i can say this. in solution 9 there is a sign that says "soul storage"
The release of the downloadable benchmark tool is probably the part of this hype cycle I'm most looking forward to, because if it's anything like the Endwalker one? It'll include the updated character creator so we can make our new looks.
End walkers benchmark want an updated character creator.... Was it? I know it has a hand full of new face types, but those faces never made it into the actual game of I remember right.
@@aliciafraser1835 it added the male Viera. I created my first bunny boi in the benchmark tool.
@@ChakatSilverstreak right, completely forgot about that, fair enough.
I love the new setup and god teir editing. I am looking forward to seeing more of this.
The nutkin... it will all converge on that little guy...
It’ll be the 42 to the hitchhiker’s guide 😂
You can tell you were really enjoying this new camera setup hahaha
Anyway, I like the setup and the cuts generally felt really good. Nice job! Those are also some really nice cameras. The both of you look great!
For what it's worth, I didn't notice that the window was off center until you mentioned it.
I think Kyle may have taken a weird path with Chekov's Nutkin but ended up in a very possible reference. That's the kind of weird stuff they pull.
I do love the T-shirt guesses and hype behind the conversations, it can divide people in the community (I see you green mage players). As for Benchmark don’t just watch it, play it, recreate your WoL in an in game cutscene of stuff happening. Watching it just doesn’t have the same vibe
As someone for whom these Fan Fests have been my first experience with them, I think it also helps a pretty decent amount if you are current with the game so you're able to talk more freely about stuff that is announced there and with context of how it may relate to the story going forward. Sure, it may not really be spoilers, but you do lose a level of how you can talk about the stuff shown.
Something else to keep in mind is that we don't have all the news for DT yet, as there will be live letters between now and the release of the expansion that will show stuff like the Job Action Trailer (a general showcase of what abilities a job has at max level) that will give people more to speculate about and other stuff that needs to be shown closer to release as well as the media tour (though the two may well coincide). So the hype cycle for Dawntrail was only started by the Fan Fests.
Something else I like about the Fan Fests is the various dev panels (with the ones for the JP Fan Fest generally getting fan translations on the FFXIV subreddit discord server) as they contain some very interesting stuff (for example, the 2016 Las Vegas Fan Fest had a panel on how they designed high level content).
Garrett they use visual hints in the trailers too 😉an example the shadowbringers teaser trailers they had the crystal tower duplicated which lead to people or added to theorising of shard travel at the time.😉
Happy to be of help from the dozens of us lol😂 btw.
Can't wait to you both are current to talk more on the deeper "nutkin lore", metaphysical and speculation ahead.
In the future with the shirts if you ever think you're going for too deep of a cut, just remember that the samurai hint was a "the amazing spiderman" movie shirt because sam raimie directed it
Xeems and Arthars went to all 3 😆
Arthars lost it
Damn
i feel like in a lot of games with 'negative' communities are the ones where the grumblers on twitter represent the majority of players opinions, casual, midcore, hardcore. think CS:2, everyone generally even in their private discords and circles has the same critiques of the game. FF14 still has those people on twitter as there is always gonna be people who have critique for the game especially the more you are invested but it is less representative of the average player, like you talk to the average player in game and there are a lot more diverse opinions and everyone has their own wants when it comes to the game. it suggests to me that it gives the community a more 'positive' perception since there isn't that core consensus on a single set of agreed problems with the game.
Let's also keep the social media bias filter in mind. Twitter will always boost the critique and drama bait because it gets them attention, clicks and "engagement".
People going "huh, that's pretty neat, looking forward to it" won't get nearly as much of that juicy juicy eyeball time.
That Dad Joke at the end there Kyle, never change. As for me, I enjoy the multiple Fan Fests. I like that the various speculations they can all bring with the different things that they announce at each.
something to keep in mind about the trailers also is that they take a fuckton of time and effort to be made-- so the parts shown in fanfest are also the parts they managed to complete by the deadline. Not to say there wasn't a degree of prioritization, but there have been plenty of dev comments in the past about how they only finished things in the nick of time. IIRC Stormblood's first trailer was finished literally one hour before airing...
i went to london fanfest and it was alot of fun. yes, it was grey and dreary outside, but inside it was lots of fun. we had so many minigames and I liked the reveals. and i am 100% onboard with pictomancer! looks super fun
I was surprised that Vegas, a town that does conventions constantly, failed so badly. And this isn't SE's first rodeo either. So... 🤷
the xiv discussion reddit is a very bitter and jaded place
FYI the "Kaiju" already exist in the game. I think it first appeared in Sohm Al (Hard) as a boss called Gowrow, then again in Stormblood as S rank hunt called Bone Crawler. They look pretty much identical, and while MMO reskinned their mop of the time, I think this one is deliberate, because there is one difference being the purple glow on it's back which also similar to purple corals looking stuff in one of the dungeon.
So I think that is probably one of the plot point rather than the kaiju itself.
Thank you for another lovely video, it's great to see you guys back!
Not a long wait as an adult. Truer words have never been spoken xD
I’m still a bit upset I couldn’t go to one in last Summer due to how much of a good time it looked like, sweltering heat and crowds aside, so I plan one day to actually attend one, and hopefully make some beautiful memories with all my friends who play this game with me. It’s such a damn good time.
As someone that has been playing since 1.0 Beta, tis good view you guys have. FF is what it needs to be and I've been concerned for XIV's longetivity. I haven't been to any of the Fanfests but you bring great point that its not just isolated to 1 place. Recent interviews and these good points remind me that even long time players like myself this dev team is firing on all cylinders. The jobs I allow myself to accept them as is and grin when I know the source, like pictomancer cause I know the history. People throwing their theroies around is fun and I never take negative posts worth remembering. I don't feed trolls, it makes internet life sweeter. The venue issues I blame the on site staff and not FFXIV team. I wish they didn't have the Fanfest in Vegas though. The Heat in summer, costs and casino vibe just don't seem like a good match for this kind of event
Loving the new three-camera setup and editing, looks very clean!
The tshirt thing is so much fun! One of the best ways to reveal or tease a new class/character I've ever heard of in gaming.
Also I think the three fanfest thing is pretty good imo. I think the main point is to let all three major regions get a little slice of the hype pie, which is unique imo. It might mean that each fanfest is smaller in scale and the whole thing ends up being a bit more dripfeedy, which some people might not enjoy as much, but I think it fits FFXIV's philosophy of focusing on consistency instead of blowing loads and then getting nothing for a long while.
I think following the fanfest cycle is a lot more fun when you **don't** read into things too deeply.
Don't get me wrong, it's fun to speculate about the t-shirt and stuff but there's waaaay too many people out there that were saying "it's 100% corsair" and "it's 100% green mage". They convinced themselves that they were correct (based on a t-shirt no less) and then were disappointed that they weren't.
Same with Alphi missing. "Oh my god, maybe Alphi is starting to grow!?" or maybe they just weren't happy with the way he was rendered in time for the trailer to be put out. We know that people have complained in the past about how the scions look in trailers (looking at you EW G'raha).
I think the nice thing about the 3 region fan fest is many of the fans get attention and they might not feel they're being neglected due to the event being held only in 1 area
Also each reguon gets their own personal bit of information
States get the reveal europe gets the raid detail and second job reveal and japan gets the release and future events
We all get a little bit that makes it feel our own
Also yes the community isn't all butterflies and rainbows but for the most part you can find a lot of people
In game
Who genuinely want to help and have fun
One thing about the trailers is that some of the scenes introduced in the second and third aren’t even rendered yet when the first/second ones come out. That also applies to the music. If you look at the three teaser trailers for shadowbringers, you’ll notice the theme song isn’t complete yet either!
My only concern with the 3 cons is the strain it puts on Yoshi-P and the Dev's. Soken just recovered from cancer a few years ago and I'd like if we could keep the guy around a little longer if not eternally. But aside from that, I'm all on board.
The point in the beginning is why I always put a * when people go "nicest/friendlist community!" Cause while it may be those, that's cause the bar is REALLY low when compared to other games. We have to remember we're still on the internet after all. And nothing is ever fully 100% nice or respectful there.
even ff14 is starting to get toxic. while its not as bad as other game communities, its starting to get worse as the years go on. It really doesnt take much to be called the greatest community when the internet generally is full of try hards and complainers
@@heartfullbutterfly314 agree with everything but that first part. It hasn't started. It's always been there.
@felixamari157 fair it was always there to some degree but I feel like around shadowbringers is when it started to get more noticable. That point also isn't perfect because for me I didn't start getting into extremes and harder content until post stormblood. Most of the toxicity is at endgame content
@heartfullbutterfly314 I only started playing in shadowbringers, but I think toxicity is rising to the surface due to the lack of casual content. If people have nothing to do, it'll push them towards doing savage or ultimate, where toxicity has always festered. As soon as new content releases, the community will go back to the way it always is. Hell, even just the new mogtome event brought back the chill atmosphere. They did a good job in making it so the most appealing method of farming isn't braindead bluemage runs over and over again (which quickly get toxic if someone doesn't know what they're doing/are new to blu farming).
Honestly, this feels very Zodiark-ish; toxicity is literally only being held back by the sheer amount of content that it takes before people flock to the sweatier content. And unlike FF14, this literally is an unstoppable behavior.
I agree with Garrett, i also was super into the graphical update stuff at all 3 fests. Its one of the things I'm most excited about for the expac drop.
I think one of the benefits of having pieces of information spread through all 3 fanfests is keeping the interest in the game and in what they're doing. I mean, from my perspective, if we only had the first fanfest in July/2023 it would be more than a year waiting for new content. I guess that would increase the chance of things like "this game is dead, no content for a year? How dare they?" (which is quite common in the Wow community by the way). Spreading these events months apart and with new pieces of information in each one, I think it helps in keeping everyone interested (and some of us even more excited), having something to digest, theorize, discuss with friends, etc. So by the time the last fanfest happens, it's not 12 months of waiting, doing roulettes, Eureka and Bozja ad nauseam 🤣.
P.S.: For me, Nutkin is the new shoebill.
4:30 The way I've always described this game is to say that the community is gracious about working around the limitations put in place by the developer and finding out how to have fun anyway. Whether that's finding ways to have fun at a Fan Fest that was poorly organized to the point of being moderately disappointing, or trying to do new ideas with a half-baked housing system. However because of that the community had a reputation for burning anyone at the stake for offering criticism, and that is definitely over. The old "leave CB3 alone they're trying their best" is gone, because even those fans have felt that XIV was short-staffed for XVI.
The nutkin? For the second trailer I actually paused to try and see what was being reflected in its eye. I did this because of the ShB trailer where Emet's words are given to us from that little gremlin. I thought maybe there was something we could not yet see and would be revealed later, but now I don't think so. Maybe it is a nod to the lifestream since it travels from Y'shtola to Thancred and while they did not exit the lifestream together, Y'shtola brought them into the lifestream together at the end of ARR.
As for Las Vegas issues? I made a point of looking at opinions of London online and there seemed to be similar complaints about lines, seating, and even a few about accessibility. The only complaint I have seen about Tokyo is the assigned seating and being expected to stay seated. That complaint was mainly from western players who were able to go so it is likely more a cultural issue. Many of the complaints for LV also came from people who admitted they had never been to a convention before.
The Tokyo Dome is Baseball stadium it's the home of the Tokyo Giants iirc
Love the talk on how deep theory crafting can go when trailers slowly get released! I don't normally get deep into "cooking" when it comes to visuals in the trailers as they release, but the music... I really recommend you guys look back at Shb trailer (and EW once you're done) and listen to the music and how they edit certain important motifs/lyrics with certain characters cause it really gives a lot more foreshadowing in hindsight and it's made me spiral hard with Dawn Trail XD.
I believe the nutkin was actually a reference to the new limited Beast Master job. The nutkin suddenly getting a zoom into the eye before abandoning his nut (blasphemous) to mess with Thancred was clearly the work of Urianger teasing his friend.
I dig the three event system I just kinda wish they'd mix up the order sometimes. It has *always* been NA gets the reveal, EU gets ... stuff in the middle and JP gets the really juicy details.
I find the emphasis of tying expansion hype to new jobs a bit strange. I haven't invested much in Gunbreaker, Dancer, Reaper, or Sage, but I thoroughly enjoyed Shadowbringers and Endwalker. Heck, the most investment I have in an "expansion job" is in red mage, while Stormblood is probably the "least hype" XIV expansion. So it's hard for me to associate which jobs are announced with being excited for the new stuff. With that said, as my static group's caster main I intend to give pictomancer a shot, see if it's for me, and I'm hype for Dawntrail.
I like the three-Fanfest sequence but I think they may not have accounted for the effect of their extension of the patch timing cycle on the vibe. The gap between 2018 NA Fanfest and the Shadowbringers release was about 7.5 months; the gap between 2023 NA Fanfest and the Dawntrail release is likely to be about a year. That's a long time to wait. I'm hoping that in future years they tighten the schedule up.
As for the community: we're extremely welcoming to sprouts but we have similar friction between hardcore and casual players to any game with varied, persistent content. I think FFXIV enables a bit more overlap between the two because of its gearing and catch-up systems. This means midcore is much more viable, and as a result there's more balance to the community and less noise from just one side. I think it is also worth mentioning that FFXIV has an incredibly strong queer community and is highly welcoming of a diverse population in ways I never saw in other persistent games before it.
edit - Also, you'll see some of the Big Theorycrafting as they release new things. We still have the media tour, yes, but the big community-oriented teasers yet to come are the benchmark (where we can really see environments), the job action trailer (where you see how your favorite jobs evolve visually), and then the big launch trailer. The launch trailer for Shadowbringers set the entire community on fire with its final line from Emet. I expect the Dawntrail launch trailer will do the same thing.
I suspect the schedule is loosened because covid disrupted the cadence for 6.0 since, if there was no covid/lockdown, Endwalker would have almost certainly come out summer of 2021. While they could have kept the same schedule/cadence and gotten 7.0 out in Winter 2023, I suspect they want to go back to summer expansion releases and so rather than kill themselves to squeeze into a summer 2023 (which is basically impossible), they opted for the more reasonable Summer 2024 and I suspect that (assuming nothing similarly world affecting happens again), 8.0 will be out Summer 2026, etc.
@@JordanKennedy What I'm getting at is that, as a result of the change they made during the Shadowbringers patch cycle where they announced that their typical patch-launch schedule would move from 3 months to 4 months, running a Fanfest during an x.4 patch means a longer delay than it used to. My hope is that they instead choose to start NA Fanfest either right before 7.5 comes out (rather than a couple months before) or right after. That might tighten things up nicely.
I think the 3 trailer system is also a way to show progression of the expansion construction. You didn't touch on it, but each time they release the Tri-trailers even the music is very obviously fine tuned to reflect the finished product. In Dawntrail they played around with the beat and overall accents. But, recall Endwalker where you couldn't even understand the lyrics in the first release, and it progressed to the final product which added (not just) the lyrics, but varied chorus. It pretty much confirms that the final trailer is being worked on the entire time between Fan Fests. It isn't completed at the first fanfest (which I believe I recall Kyle being concerned about).
Having been around for every expansion's hype cycle so far, I'm still a big fan of how they roll out info across the three FanFests. Obviously, there's a part of me that's impatient and wants all the info right away, but I think spreading the hype cycle out is the better option in the end. It not only keeps a conversation about the next expansion going for longer, I personally feel like it makes the reveals that much more memorable because they're not cramming all of them into one keynote.
I honestly thought that the Estinien part in the trailer was where they would introduce the new job like how Alphinaud helped the WoL and Alisae during the Endwalker trailer. Estinien's segment was definitely split into two parts - between the initial US and extended UK trailer where he was fighting the giant lizard.
Looking back at it now, I'm glad that it turned out to be a red herring, and Krile gets an enire segment all to herself. I couldn't be happier for her.
I wouldn’t have noticed the off center window if you didn’t mention it, but now I do. Also, as instructed, Kyle is wrong about the nutkin. I really like the 3 fanfests, it gives many fans around the world to have an opportunity to participate in person. I really enjoy planned out high profile events that drive hype. The formula of 3 separate conventions that drip feed and tease out content with a satisfactory rap up of the final one is a cycle I enjoyed. Each convention you go in with expectations, you get some suprise, some vindication, and maybe disappointment. Then leaving the convention your thoughts are set on the next one until the last one resolves, where you then await the expansion. It was my first fanfest and I quite enjoyed myself.
I absolutely LOVE how they do FanFests! They are always so exhilirating.
I'm from the future. The Nutkin references Thancred's nakedness. The main hint in the trailer is that the Nutkin was only around two characters: Y'shtola and Thancred. This foreshadowed the long-awaited romance options within the scions. The Y'sthola romance arc was a bit mediocre, but Thancred's romance arc was extremely deep as you explore the pitfalls of co-parenting Ryne together.
If you ever really wanna see grumbles in the FF community you can always check out the official forums on any day that ends in a Y.
I was surprised by how many people have so many opinions on the jobs and whether or not they will play them. For me, it's no question, both jobs are going to be leveled to 100. I can't imagine not having every job leveled to max. It's something I enjoy a lot. I treat jobs like extra content rather than just a play style option. Regardless of what square puts out, I will unlock and level it, there is no "ehh, it's not my style really". I thought almost all people played like that
I _do_ like the 3 event system, with the split trailer. It gives each major market a chance to enjoy an in-person event (though oceania gets hosed), and it makes each event hype. It lets the community focus on the specific things announced at each event, and that helps build hype before the launch of the next expac, just when people _need_ to be getting back in to finish patch content, or new people start, so they can enjoy the new expansion.
Fan Fest for FFXIV just seems more wholesome. Like, it’s done with emotion and the presentations do not feel scripted. After watching how Blizzard Con was done, it just seemed forced and immensely fake with how the presentations were done. Some of the Blizzard devs just seems like they were either disgruntled, bothered, or felt forced to act fake.
I mean, event with the way Chris Metzen acted was hysterically awful. He acted like he wanted to kick ass and take names, but DUDE, I cannot take your game seriously when it looks like Disney’s Toon Town. Even when he said when it comes to Warcraft’s story, they don’t mess around. I was rolling my eyes and laughing my ass off because of BFA, Shadowlands, and Dwagonfwight (Dragonflight was hysterically bad and looked super immature for any game’s story with how fake the characters were done).
After being a FFXI veteran and I’ve been playing with FFXIV since 1.0, I just cannot see how appealing WoW is with being a cartoon, a non-coherent story, and weak characters.
Another big thing for all the Fanfests is the fact that we in NA got Ishikawa and showered her with our love for her work. I'm biased obviously because i was there but it was definitely the best for me. Kate Cwynar was also in both the NA and JP and she was another incredible lead on the game.
While it does seem costly to have that many important people of the dev team step away to attend the Fan Fests, it’s also a really important opportunity for them to interact with, listen to, and appreciate the fan base. You can see the joy of it in Yoshi-P’s face at every single Fan Fest, even if it is obviously also exhausting him. He’s a treasure to be cherished, and we’re not to take him for granted.
Kyle has some truly interesting thoughts.
For my part, I don't think the nutkin has some hidden meaning. I think it might show up as a recurring gag for Thancred to deal with. I'm fairly certain the trailers are handled the way they are in part because they just aren't finished by the first fan fest, but moreso to get the brain juices flowing and excitement pumping.
Somehow it’s so wholesome seeing Kyle and Garrett in the same room. 😆 I really like this setup
I'm gonna laugh if Kyle is right about the nutkin being a reference to game story content.
Realization as we see more and more content with you two in the same room, the volume of freeze frame Garrett reaction gold will only increase and I can't wait!
The t-shirt thing is so weird, but that's why I kind of love it?
About other people theorizing... Bellular talking about what could have been with Shadowlands... If what he said had come true I probably wouldn't have quit. It was infinitely better than the story Blizzard told.
I'm fine with the fanfest system since the 1st i saw when they were teasing stormblood
As a writer I am swinging between dreading this next expansion and rubbing my hands like a madman. The facts are these: Final Fantasy XIV is a game carried by its amazing narrative and its fun social community. I feel like the community has taken a bit of a hit lately, so that leaves the story to pull us back together and bring back that anticipation factor.
Now, the source of my fears: It's not that easy for a writing team, even a spectacular one, to deliver a home run every time. It's entirely possible this "next big thing" may end up being a giant dud. Now, that's not the end of the world. No one knew how Shadowbringers would end during ARR. The nice thing about writing an ongoing narrative is that you can pull up on the stick and save everything with a thrilling middle chapter. However, FFXIV doesn't need a good story hook two expansions from now. It needs one NOW.
I hope this new Cyberpunk city isn't a dip into a robotic big bad or some kind of AI force. I think FFXIV does villains really well, and honestly the Allagan stuff is the worst stuff in the game. Give us a flesh and blood villain, maybe even build them up as Dawntrail progresses. Give them an objective that makes sense (it doesn't have to be relatable, it just has to matter to the villain). That'll start bringing the players in.
As far as previous expansion trailers the previous segmented ones are on FFXIV's youtube channel so you could watch them in order so see the hints that were laced in them as they were released.
My take on the nutkin is that it may relate to the Beastmaster job. The nutkin became Thancred's pet after HW and can occasionally be seen in game during his appearances. It is abnormally large in the trailer.
The funny thing is that even though the nutkin connection is a bit...unique, I do think Kyle is 100% right that the Lifestream is going to be extremely important in Dawntrail. There have been a bunch of subtle hints to that effect.
Curse that off-center window! We need to get your FC Designer in there, Stat!
I got so hyped and emotional when they showed Pictomancer as the 2nd job❤. I started painting again last year and this feels like the perfect job to respec into for me now. It was definitely a theory I really wanted and would be sad if it didn’t pan out 😅.
I have a request, would it be possible for GG to make a Playlist of all 3 con videos + this in a playlist. I feel it would be fun to see your, lets face it at the first fanfest total guesses to what your thoughts are now. It would be like a time-lapse of view point and hype.
The comment about keeping positive people in the community is... hmm. I feel like it's part of the game design because it *rewards* people for helping others, and the narrative is essentially, "The way you survive is to help others and come together."
The other nice thing about XIV is that the releases are consistent and (reasonably) predictable, or have historically been so.
(Tokyo Dome is a baseball stadium)
With regards to Minfilia -- we saw the stairs scene as I recall, but not the "Minfilia" reveal; people were theorizing that she was Zenos' younger sibling or something similar, before we found out ShB was a WoL Isekai.
Vegas FanFest: If the FanFest is off-strip, stay off-strip. 2016 was at the Paris (on-strip), and 2018 at the Rio (off-strip); I stayed with FCmates at the Gold Coast hotel for 2018 and walked over in full Fordola cosplay and it was fine. It being Vegas, it was hardly the weirdest thing anyone'd seen. In 2023, I stayed with cosplay friends (who I'd met at 2018! Somehow local to me! Shocking!) at the Westgate because the cosplay community had scouted out the best way to get to the convention centre that was mostly indoors (i.e. air-conditioned) and we split up bookings to ensure we were covered on whichever hall(s) were used. XD
The thing that is really baking my noodle is that for Shadowbringers they didn't show us Amaurot during the Fan Fests. Even Endwalker had zone(s) not shown during the hype cycle, but they showed us Solution 9. What on earth are they not showing us if they feel like they can show us that?
In EW they did show the 2nd city zones, and given solution9 is the 2nd hub, i suppose we have 2 more zones not shown in store
the crazy Kyle Nutkin theory would be 100% crazy... but "Zenos eats the moon"
DEEP NUTKIN LORE!!!!! lol I love you guys!
I like to believe that the cheers on the hour were for big fat tacos and not specifically G'raha
Also i miss my gg flair on youtube - wish it could link through Patreon
I think the 3 fests and extended teasing works. I enjoy it. That said, I'd be OK with if there was only one, as well, since I am never going to go to one in person and find the producer live letters nearly as satisfying. Honestly, neither viper nor picto really landed with me, but I'm not disgruntled about it. Can't win 'em all. I'm here primarily for the story and the socializing. So far, I'm not hyped about DT, but I'm also not down on it. It's new chapter for the game, and I'm willing to wait for the story to have a new, slow burn. I believe this team can deliver another extended story, dotted with juicy sub-plot plums, and I'm here for it!
They way they ran their convention was much better than things like Blizzcon because it was more intimate. The developers interacted with their players in a manner that they cannot in these huge events. I also loved the way they teased the next xpac. It kept the hype going. I went to one and I watched the other two, and enjoyed them. As for the grumbles, I thought it was quite funny that people actually thought we were going to have a we are going on a vacation xpac.
The nutkin is a thing because the lore is it tends to censor that which it is kin to on Thancred. Now if it was a BEAVER, that would be... scary.
Thanks to this video now all I can imagine is Nutkin being for Dawntrail what Scrat was for Ice Age😅
Fantastic video loved hearing your take on fanfests coming in now.
This conversation and similar are ONLY about the media hype cycle for a new expansion, while ignoring EVERYTHING ELSE about Fan Fest.
As such they ignore the fact that the "Fan Fest System" is spread across three continents over three seasons because a) Square Enix wants to hold these conventions for people outside of Japan, and b) holding one convention is already a massive undertaking, let alone two more outside of your home turf. You can't expect a game company to show up to their own con without showing something new, and neither can they repeat the same content at each venue. Hence, the reveals and trailers need to be distributed in such a way that hype is gradually increased as you near your next expansion's release date.
In the end, splitting the reveals over such a length of time is more necessity than choice.