Final Fantasy 14 Stormblood's release date is just a few short days away, and to help build anticipation for its launch, an eight person boss battle is open for attendees at E3. This is a the first chance for the public to try Stormblood and its two new classes: red mage and samurai. I braved the lines to get my hands on the new battle coming this expansion.

For those who are not familiar with Final Fantasy 14, “primals” are gigantic bosses iconic to the Final Fantasy series such as Ifrit and Shiva. This event is the premiere of an original primal for Stormblood called Susano; a massive samurai with the powers of water and lightning.

 Veterans of the series will feel comfortable with the fight since many of the game’s mechanics are similar, but a few new instances add some life. Overall, we still need to run away when the bad things are about to go boom and group up when we have to share the attack. However, there is an instance where one of the party members has to pick up a magical sword and block a massive swing from Susano, yet the defender doesn’t just passively stand there. The character has to mash buttons to fight off Susano’s slash while the rest of the party attacks. If either two fail, Susano will cleave the arena in two and cause the fight to restart. Another surprising mechanic involves one of the healers and a play on the classic shell game. A healer and two other members of the party are trapped under a pile of rocks. Then, the three piles are shuffled around, and the rest of the party needs to follow which one is the healer and break them out. If you lose track of the healer and break out the wrong party member, your failure results in everyone’s death.

Unfortunately, my band of adventurers were not able to take down Susano, but these changes to the same old tropes make me want to dive back into the world of Final Fantasy 14. I’m interested in what else the new expansion has and can’t wait for its release on June 20th.