Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2016 in Las Vegas came and gone and probably will not return until a year after the next expansion. This year at Fan Festival, the biggest announcement that all FFXIV fans have been waiting for was the official announcement of the next expansion – Stormblood. This was announced on the very first day of the festival and was followed by a teaser trailer showcasing a mysterious blonde female in a red dress. Almost immediately, social media and FFXIV sub-Reddit exploded with speculations of who this mysterious female could be and what the new job will be. The opening keynote was of course presented by the director and producer of FFXIV, Naoki Yoshida, with on stage translations by Christopher Koji Fox. There was no official announcement of what the new battle jobs will be, but in typical Naoki Yoshida fashion, he wore a shirt that hinted what one of the jobs may be. The presentation lasted an hour and was followed by the Development Panel featuring Masaki Nakagawa on the main stage. During this panel, Masaki Nakagawa talked about the battle development for one of the newer 24 man raids that he worked on.
Compared to the previous Fan Fest, there was noticeably more floor events. There were four floor games in total: Mandagora Toss, Piercing Talon, Stop the Illuminati, and GATE: Any Way the Wind Blows. The line-ups for these mini games weren’t terrible and completing them would grant one stamp in the activity book while winning the challenge would grant two stamps. After completing the activity book, attendees traded in the book for a certificate of completion and four Triple Triad cards in addition to the ones that each attendee received in their goodie bag. Each attendee also received a raffle ticket for a chance to win prizes through their lottery board as well.
While there were more floor activities overall, I found there was considerably less in-game events compared to the previous Fan Festival. This year had a 24 man raid boss battle (Proto Ultima fight), a PVP challenge, and a Primal battle challenge. For the Primal challenge, players were put into groups of eight and each team would spin a roulette that gave them a challenge that was unique to that group. My team and I were able to finish most of these events on the first day, leaving us free to experience the fest at our own pace on the second day. The first day of the festival ended with a piano concert featuring the talented Susan Calloway. Her live performance of Answers and, of course, Dragonsong was incredible and was definitely one of the highlights of the day. Music producer Masayoshi Soken also made an on stage appearance and performed a live rendition of the theme to the dungeon Lost City of Amdapor on a mini piano and a makeshift cardboard box bass drum.
The last day of the festival began with myself rushing for the merchandise line right as the doors opened. While I knew that the items were likely to be available on the Square Enix web store, it just didn’t feel right that I travelled all this way just to leave empty handed. As I stood in the seemingly never ending line, I was able to listen in on the Talking Lore & Localization with Koji Fox panel. A Letter from the Producer LIVE from Las Vegas 2016 was held on the same day after the PvP Exhibition as well. I was a bit disappointed with the Producer Letter Live as it seemed to be more of an extended Q&A from the first day rather than release of new and upcoming information.
The festival ended with a concert by The Primals. Masayoshi Soken introduced his band and began the show with Heroes, the theme to one of many epic Heavensward boss battles in the game. The band played many fan favorites and at the end, Soken even asked the audience to pick one from their set list as an encore. The fans insisted on one of the more recent Alexander themes but, in the end, settled for an encore of Fiend as they were only able to replay the same songs from the set. This concluded Fan Festival 2016 in Las Vegas. The next one will be the Tokyo Fan Festival in December and the last one will be in Frankfurt, Germany in February, 2017. Please look forward to it!
{gallery}Final Fantasy Fan Festival{/gallery}