Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida revealed in a recent interview that he changed his mind regarding how far to take the Final Fantasy IX references in Dawntrail.
Talking to Game Watch, Naoki Yoshida shed more light on the homages to Final Fantasy IX in Final Fantasy XIV’s Dawntrail expansion. Anyone who has played both games will notice that Dawntrail is full of both subtle and non-subtle references to the PS1 classic. The places names of Alexandria and Cleyra (Museum of Nature), Sphene showing clear parallels to a darker version of Garnet, and Otis being a more serious stand-in for Steiner are just some of the obvious homages, with familiar looking enemies also making an appearance. Not to mention the whole preserving souls plotline, which somewhat mirrors late game revelations in FFIX.
Speaking about Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail’s upcoming patches, namely 7.3 (due out later this year) Yoshida comments: “Regarding FFIX elements, I was rather torn. (…) At first, I thought it might be best to distance ourselves a little from homages to FFIX and was going to go with that approach.” However, with Patch 7.3 moving towards the big climax of Dawntrail, it seems Yoshida has decided to continue with the callbacks to Final Fantasy IX.
Explaining his initial reservations, Yoshida adds that “FFIX is a masterpiece, and everyone has a strong emotional attachment to it, so I wanted to avoid consciously pulling the story too much in that direction. However, I now think that the current flow of the story is appropriate in light of future developments.”
He explains that although the main storyline of Dawntrail was decided upon ages ago, finer details, like how to express the story through battles, content and other elements, were decided upon later. This meant that the Final Fantasy IX references gradually came more to the forefront. Giving an example, Yoshida states, “When we first decided on the main storyline, Alexandria Castle was not so important, but once we decided to incorporate more FFIX elements, we made sure to create them with proper meaning and intent.”
Final Fantasy IX remains a favorite for many Final Fantasy fans due to its return to the more traditional and whimsical fantasy elements of the series, after the serious sci-fi settings of FFVII and FFIX. As the last Final Fantasy on PlayStation 1, it really pushed the hardware in terms of cinematic cutscenes.
Final Fantasy IX remake rumors have been bouncing around for the past year or so due to leaks that suggest it is in development, however Square Enix have yet to make an official announcement confirming the existence of such a project. Last year, Yoshida told JPGames.de that the Final Fantasy IX homages in Final Fantasy XIV had nothing to do with a potential remake, rather that Final Fantasy XIV was more like a theme park in which to show aspects of other games in the long-running RPG series.
With 2025 being the 25th anniversary of the game, fans are eager for a Final Fantasy IX Remake. For now, they may just have to quench their thirst by enjoying Dawntrail’s many references.
Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail is out now on PC, Mac, PS4/PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with Patch 7.2 due in March 2025, and patch 7.3 expected later in the year.
