Final Fantasy XIV Hits Switch 2 on August 4
Final Fantasy XIV finally has a firm date on Switch 2, and it is August 4. Square Enix dropped it during the Fan Fest keynote in Berlin, with pre-orders going live the same day. So in about a week and a half you can carry Eorzea around in a bag.
Two ways in: the Starter Edition if you just want to see whether the MMO clicks, or the Complete Edition, which bundles everything up through Dawntrail. There is a Complete Collector's Edition too, for the people who buy the fancy box. No Nintendo Switch Online needed either, which is one less thing to pay for.
About paying, though. The Switch 2 version keeps its own separate subscription, the thing players have been grumbling about since the Anaheim keynote back in April. Play on PC and on Switch 2 and you are paying two subs. Naoki Yoshida has said the arrangement came out of discussions with Nintendo. Two softeners: everyone gets roughly a free month at launch, which Square Enix is openly treating as a server stability test, and if you already subscribe on another platform you get 50 percent off the Switch 2 Entry and Standard tiers.
Bastion is Evercold's first new job
The loudest applause in Berlin went to Bastion, a main tank, meaning the character who eats the hits so the party does not. It fights with a pair of greatshields called skyltborg that flip between clawed melee and triple barreled cannons. Very Final Fantasy. You start it at level 90, so no leveling from scratch. The second new job is being held back for Tokyo Fan Fest.
Where you are headed
Evercold is still January 2027, on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series and Switch 2. The Fourth Reflection has frozen solid, so what is left of the population lives on enormous flying ships called Realmships. Yoshida showed two of them: Naglfar (water) and Hringhorni (fire). The new city is Fargarth. The main story loosens up as well. After a shared opening, three zones unlock at once, dungeons included, and you take them in whatever order you like.
Raids, and yes, Evangelion
Beyond the Lifestream is the new eight player raid series, a trip into Final Fantasy VII territory, and FF7 Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi came on stage to present it. On the alliance raid side there is Ghosts of Desire, the Evangelion crossover, with Mahiro Maeda involved as guest artist. The rest is being saved for Tokyo.
One more thing if you raid: a new difficulty is landing between Normal and Savage, somewhere around extreme trial level. Square Enix's own numbers explain why. Around 85 percent of players clear Normal raids. Savage gets finished by 14 to 20 percent. That is a cliff, and this is the step in the middle.
Our take: the separate sub is still the sour note, but a portable Final Fantasy XIV with a free first month sells itself, and Evercold is shaping up better than the Dawntrail rollout did. Are you double dipping on Switch 2, or sitting this one out? Drop it in the comments.