Final Fantasy 14 director apologises for “issues” identified in the early access build of Dawntrail

Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki “Youshi P” Yoshida offered his “sincere apologies” for “issues” identified in the early access build of its highly-anticipated expansion, Dawntrail.

In a blog post published on the official website, Yoshida thanked players for playing and assured them that the team was “investigating” the causes of the most pressing issues, including transition freezes on Xbox, and broken animations across all platforms.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: DAWNTRAIL Launch Trailer

“We have confirmed an issue in the Xbox version where the game client may become unresponsive when transitioning between locations, such as field areas and cities,” Yoshida explained. “Our preliminary investigation suggests that this issue is likely due to a phenomenon known as memory fragmentation.

“We are currently conducting a comprehensive investigation into the matter, which we have prioritised to ensure a swift resolution. However, rectifying this issue requires the deployment of a patch to update the client. This process involves rigorous checks by our QA team, among other procedures, which means it may take several days to address.”

Yoshida said that the team was working to expedite a patch to address this, but as “this process will take some time”, he “apologised for the inconvenience caused”.

Similarly, issues in the Dragonsong’s Reprise (Ultimate), the Minstrel’s Ballad: Shinryu’s Domain, and Delubrum Reginae (Savage) where “mechanics related to freezing are not functioning correctly” will be resolved via a “client patch”, although it’s not yet clear when that will be deployed.

“The aforementioned issues are being classified as a high priority,” Yoshida added. “They are under investigation on our development server and are being addressed in a systematic manner. We are considering the release of a hot fix, which is likely to occur sometime this week, which would be accompanied by a brief maintenance period.

“I would like to extend my apologies once again for the occurrence of these issues. Rest assured, we are committed to addressing issues such as these that occur after the release of an expansion and will continue to promptly correct any urgent issues that may arise.”

“So far, Tural’s environments feel rich and warm, existing in a perpetual summer haze,” Ed wrote in his wonderful Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail preview.

“Zoom in close, though, and the real difference from the graphical update is apparent. The texture work on armour and weapons is a vast improvement, while animal races – like the new female Hrothgar – seem more realistically furry.”

In 2015, the MMO had four million players for the Heavensward expansion; this has grown to 30 million registered accounts by 2024’s Tokyo Fan Fest. Even by 2021 it had become the most profitable game in the long-running series and that will only have increased since, not to mention the game’s release this year on Xbox and the likely boost to sales Dawntrail will provide.

Yoshida told Eurogamer there’s “almost no chance” of server woes at launch” when the expansion goes live on 2nd July, 2024.