Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida sent a greeting to gamers on New Year’s Day, as is his custom. The message was published on the Final Fantasy 14 Lodestone website, where Yoshida discussed how far the game has progressed since its relaunch and looked forward to a busy but exciting year.
The message arrives as Final Fantasy 14 prepares for the January 10 release of Patch 6.3. The patch will include new main story quests, such as a new dungeon called Lapis Manalis, a new trial for players to complete, the 24-player Euphrosyne raid, job adjustments such as a significant rework for paladins, the Omega Protocol (Ultimate) raid for players looking for a challenge, and more content as the patch cycle progresses.
Yoshida said in his annual New Year’s Day letter that it does not seem like much time has gone by since he took over as producer and director of Final Fantasy 14 after its catastrophic 1.0 release. Yoshida assumed charge on December 10, 2010, over three months after the game’s first release. Three years later, on August 27, 2013, A Realm Reborn was launched. According to Yoshida, the 10th anniversary of A Realm Reborn will be celebrated throughout the year, including the revival of Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest as an in-person event. The event will begin in Las Vegas in July and then go to London in October before returning to Tokyo in early 2024. Yoshida complimented the development and operations staff for keeping the game fresh with new content and thanked gamers all across the globe. Yoshida then read the following poem to the players.
Before the Las Vegas Fan Fest, Yoshida revealed that he and Creative Business Unit 3 are looking forward to the release of Final Fantasy 16. Yoshida, in his role as producer of Final Fantasy 16, pushed up the capabilities of the PS5 ahead of the game’s June 22 release date during the broadcast of Letter from the Producer Live Part 75. Yoshida said that when he originally took over in 2010, he never imagined he would be able to make two Final Fantasy mainline games at the same time.
Final Fantasy 14 rang in 2023 over the weekend with the Heavensturn event, which hailed the forthcoming Year of the Rabbit. The exhibition is open until January 16. Finally, Yoshida wished the gamers well in the next year and thanked them once again for their support.
