This holiday season, Final Fantasy 14 fans have a lot to enjoy as well as some things to think about. The official trailer for the game’s impending Endwalker Patch 6.3 was released earlier this week. The “Gods Revel, Lands Tremble” update, which includes the Earth Goddess Nophica as a Raid monster, is finally adding a lot of excitement to the MMO. However, Nophica’s new appearance has many people perplexed.
The Patch 6.3 teaser begins with a glance at the new heavenly realm, Euphrosyne. Players will come across Nophica here. In a brief glimpse of Nophica and her contributions to the game, the character is shown brandishing a reaper’s scythe. This is a significant shift from the character’s prior artwork and advertising, which depicted him with a bow and arrow. Indeed, many have questioned why the game would make such a big shift.
Very interesting they went with Nophica using a scythe instead of a bow & arrow or lance from the Twin Adders poster; however, the design still looks quite similar ? pic.twitter.com/ymGX8Fme6M
— ??????Audrey? (@aitaikimochi) December 23, 2022
A number of players expressed their outrage at the adjustment on Twitter. One such gamer noted that the figure, green outfit and everything, resembles the design portrayed on the Twin Adders poster. The Goddess, on the other hand, is seen on the poster brandishing a bow and arrow as well as a regal-looking lance. So why the abrupt switch to a scythe?
In an interview with 4Gamer, the game’s producer and director, Naoki Yoshida, addressed the issue fairly loosely (thanks DoteSports). Here he claims that the team is actively mindful of the expectations of fans for Nophica to “come out just like the image”. However, there is also a motivation to “live up to expectations so that we don’t become too fixated”.
