Final Fantasy XIV Massive Patch 2.5 “Before the Fall” and DirectX 11 Client’s Enhanced Graphics Detailed

Giuseppe Nelva December 20, 2014 9:47 PM EST

During the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Letter From the Producer Live from the Tokyo Fanfest Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida showcased quite a few new elements of the massive 2.5 patch coming soon to the game. The official title “Before the Fall” was also revealed.

Patch 2.5 is going to be very big, which is why it’ll be split in two parts.

Below you can see the contends of part one, which will also include a not yet announced “mystery trial.”

The second part will come with patch 2.51 and will include the ending of the main story before the expansion, the gold saucer and the battle of Ishgard, which definitely sounds exciting.

The last part of the Crystal Tower will also be implemented, and will bring us to the World of Darkness. It will drop both armor and materials that can be used to craft weapons.

The Manderville Gold Saucer will be some kind of online casino, but it won’t rerquire additional fees. You can buy points used in Gold Saucer with gil, but you won’t be able to trade or sell them.

It will include Triple Triad, Chocobo Races and more, and it’ll be possible to acquire a set of equipment inspired by Final Fantasy VI‘s Setzer.

There will be different racing chocobos that you can level up and customize. They will be separate from your buddy chocobo. Feeding them influences stats like their stamina.

Triple Triad was also introduced, with the same rules as in Final Fantasy VIII (even if unique rules for Final Fantasy XIV are being planned). There will be 80 cards initially, acquired via duels with NPC, with Gold Saucer points and dropped in dungeons.

It’ll also be possible to play against other players and there could be periodic tournaments.

We also got to see the three new dungeons: The Keeper of The Lake (set inside the Agrius in Mor Dhona), The Wanderer’s Palace Hard Mode and Amdapor Keep Hard Mode.

The DirectX 11 client was introduced (It will be released separately from 2.5). It will include Tessellation with better water and ground, reflective floors, better shadows, screeen space ambient occlusion and more.