Final Fantasy Festival 2026 was today, and there is a bunch of content to go through, so let's break it down.
First, Naoki Yoshida took the stage to reveal the next expansion for Final Fantasy XIV expansion, now titled Evercold. Set in what seems to be floating isles in the sky, you are now thrust into the Godless Realms saga, a brand new storyline to experience. This expansion is set to launch with two new classes (a tank and physical ranged DPS), a 10 level cap increase to 110, along with several new locations, items, dungeons and raids.
One of the newer changes coming is a change to the combat system. Specifically, players will now have access to two modes: Reborn mode, which is the current system players are used to, and a so called Evolved Mode, which is described as "a new way to play that puts a greater emphasis on job identity." What the means exactly remains to be seen, but there are plenty of ideas that I can come up with on what exactly they are referring to.
It also looks like they are revamping progression to a seasonal model, making it easier to track where exactly you are progression wise – essentially, rather than grouping updates as just Patches (e.g. Patch 7.x), they will group two sets of patches as a Single Season (e.g Season 1 = Patch 8.0 + 8.1). In that same announcement, they also previewed changes to the Armoury system, giving players a chance to play the game in several different ways.
Speaking of raids, one of the new Alliance Raids series brings the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion to life in the game. The raid was teased with a single image (see below), but I personally am excited to hop in an experience for myself.
Yoshida then talked about the coming patches before Evercold's 8.0 release with changes as follows:
- Patch 7.5 (releasing April 28) – New main scenario quests, new Trial, and Echoes of Vana’diel Part 3
- Patch 7.51 (releasing June 2) – New Cosmic Exploration Star “Auxesia,” new Custom Deliveries: Tiisol Ja, and Dancing Mad (Ultimate)
- Patch 7.55 (releasing July 28) – New updates to Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures quests, the debut of Occult Crescent: North Horn, and new Phantom Weapon quests
- Patch 7.56 (releasing Sept. 8) – New main scenario quests and introduction of beastmaster
Not only this, they announced a change to Final Fantasy XIV's Free Trial. Now players looking to try the game will have access to the Shadowbringer expansion, with a max level of 80. Personally, if you haven't played the game, the Free Trial is an excellent way of experiencing it and deciding on whether or not you should play.
Finally, in a rather unexpected twist, CEO Takashi Kiryu joined Yoshida on the stage and announced a port of Final Fantasy XIV to Nintendo Switch 2. According to Kiryu, they will be giving players early access for server stability testing, with the full port set to release in August of this year. Note, as a rather curious point, if you already a current subscriber of the game, you WILL be expected to pay for a separate subscription – your Mogstation sub will NOT allow you to access the game, tho you will be given a 50% discount from the sub price.
All said and done, this year's Fest was full of interesting surprises, capped with a surprising but welcome surprise. Hopefully, come January, fans will be able to truly experience their own journeys as Warriors of Light.
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