10 Biggest Reveals at Final Fantasy 14's Berlin Fanfest Presentation

As the months tick by and Final Fantasy 14's upcoming expansion, Evercold, draws ever closer, the Fanfest circuit brought director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida and his team to Berlin this month for the second pitstop. Fans on the ground and online have speculated about what could be revealed at this latest showcase to shed more light on Evercold's content and how the game is set to dramatically evolve (for the better) from top to bottom.

All-new reveals were substantially fewer this time around, though that's entirely acceptable given that Anaheim's keynote basically broke records across the board for the sheer amount of groundbreaking information that fans had to process in the span of two hours. However, nonetheless, Berlin's keynote still brought plenty to the table that helped flesh out the bigger picture for what's to come in Evercold and beyond. There were even some unexpected surprises that kept the conversation buzzing well after the convention floor closed up shop.

10 Butt Slider Confirmed?

The Saga Continues, Much to Yoshi-P's Chagrin

The first and probably one of the most hilarious moments and perhaps accidental reveals in the entire keynote dropped about halfway through the presentation, as Koji Fox and Yoshi-P discussed updates to character customization and cosmetics.

For context, during the Anaheim leg of the Fanfest circuit, Yoshi-P and others from the team took part in a dice roll-style Q&A, and one fan question brought up the prospect of a so-called "butt slider" option for character customization. That is, the ability to adjust your character's derrière as you please. This drew a mix of bafflement and confused laughter from Yoshi-P, who cordially brushed it off at the time.

However, it seems that they might actually be taking it seriously, as Koji Fox went out of his way, in the sassiest and most entertaining way possible, to bring it up out of the blue. As he playfully antagonized Yoshi-P about the butt slider that fans clearly yearn for, Yoshi-P seemed to go along with the joke and surprisingly said, "just wait", while then also shushing him, claiming that it's "a secret." As if to play the audience along even further, he even blurted a remark about "long hair", which was also brought up at the dice roll Q&A.

The awkward moment ends there with no further concrete information, but since both Koji and Yoshi-P went out of their way to bring it up, it's evident that both those customization ideas are not off the table with FFXIV's developers. As for when it could realistically happen, while there's honestly no telling, it could possible not to rule out sometime during 8.0's expansion lifecycle. After all, the game is getting a buffet of other customization updates throughout Evercold, and this could ever-so-conveniently...well, slide in there during one patch update or another.

9 Toggles For More Cosmetics

Choose the Horns You Want, Finally!

On the back of that hilarious moment was the reveal of even more cosmetic customization options for players to use. As shown in a slideshow of various examples with base character races, upon the launch of Evercold, certain physical features will have a toggle option that helps players customize their character even further from the get-go.

These options include toggling off the facial war paint for Miqo'tes of both genders (seen above), the infamous "nose smudge" for Lalafells and Vieras, and finally making horn styles for Au'Ras interchangeable. Up until now, the latter has especially been a point of contention for players with Au'Ra characters, as certain horn styles have forever been locked to certain preset facial types. If you liked a certain face type, you had to use the default horns they came with, and vice versa.

However, that restriction is now set to disappear come Evercold's launch (technically with Patch 8.1), and that's not counting all of the other customization changes and additions that are in store for the expansion and beyond.

8 FFXIV Comes to Switch 2 on August 4

Players Also Get a Free Month to Start

Despite the tragedy that was FF14 Mobile, the news of the game coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 first dropped in Anaheim to much excitement, along with some preliminary details on what to expect when starting a subscription on the handheld console.

The topic came up again in Berlin, starting with a solid launch date of August 4, 2026. With such a quick turnaround on that bit of info, Yoshi-P assured players that the game is set and ready to go, but also gave yet another incentive to get the community comfortably on board. The first month will serve as a testing stage for the game's many servers, and as such, that first month will be free to all subscribed players.

This comes on top of the game's gratuitous free trial available to newcomers and an already discounted subscription for all those with an existing account. This means that FFXIV may have a very steady future ahead of it on its latest platform port, which is a boon of positivity since the game's mobile version fizzled out before it even really began. Granted, it could be more than likely that Yoshi-P wanted the team to focus their efforts entirely on this launch and elsewhere instead of trying to survive on a platform that the game is frankly just too big for.

7 A Stacked Collector's Bundle

A Perfect Mix of Cool (Get it?) and Cute

In the final stretch of the keynote, keeping with Fanfest tradition, Yoshi-P did a grand reveal of the Collector's Bundle for Evercold, and it's every bit as striking as one could expect. All tucked inside a box ornately decorated with beautiful artwork by the one and only Yoshitaka Amano, the bundle is probably one of the better ones to come around in the game's lifetime so far.

The centerpiece is, of course, the fantastically detailed statue featuring the Warrior of Light in their best Reaper garb. Going by the two versions of the expansion's trailer up to this point, Reaper will evidently feature heavily, just as other existing jobs have in other expansions (e.g. — Paladin in Endwalker).

Other items in the box include a metal Ethos keychain, a tapestry of the Fourth, and a ridiculously adorable Köttr bag clip. The Köttr are a mysterious new race set to appear at some point in Evercold's storyline, and they've since become a fan favorite. Alongside those souvenirs are some in-game items as well that players can use. They include the Entreat Crystal emote, a set of Crystal Skyltborg weapons for the new Bastion tank job, and the Valhallar Odin mount which is a heart-tug of a throwback to Final Fantasy XIII.

No price was given yet for the bundle or the other planned versions of Evercold, but with this expansion planned as a true and so far very promising turning point for the MMO, it's pretty safe to say that fans everywhere are eager to hit the pre-order button no matter what.

6 The Evercold MSQ Goes Free Roam (To an Extent)

And Questing in General Will Get Easier

Back in Anaheim, Yoshi-P teased that questing in particular would get a systemic overhaul of its own in Evercold, though left it up for debate as to exactly how that would work. In Berlin, he provided further elaboration on how that would work for Evercold's MSQ, and questing as a whole throughout the game.

First off, for Evercold's Main Scenario Questline, players will apparently be able to complete its sequence of quests in any order they wish, up to a point. With a slideshow depicting how players can move freely through the expansion's first four areas, the path you opt to take through the initial leg of the story is yours to choose. As demonstrated, you can move from "Area A" to "Area D", then to "Area C", and vice versa, which makes for an interesting twist on what to expect in how the story will flow.

Whether this is exclusively for Evercold or for all future expansions isn't thoroughly confirmed, but it does seem like they want to give the community the liberty to experience the story in as flexible a manner as possible. No longer will it be a predictable, single lane sequence of events, which should make for some interesting feedback after launch.

Given that we now know that a good chunk of Evercold's story takes place on various airships, this probably means that we'll be able to hop from one airship to the next in any order we want. Granted, beyond that initial sequence, it's likely that the story funnels back into one lane in time for the finale, which is to be expected. However, experimenting with this newfound flexibility in storytelling is something that I think will benefit the game in the long run.

As for questing throughout all of Final Fantasy 14, Yoshi-P revealed that they're working on a so-called "auto-movement" system to make navigating from one quest objective to the next much easier, similar to how other games in the same sector do things these days.

Granted, this will take time to implement, as it involves pathing for hundreds of quests over the course of six expansions, on top of the base game 'A Realm Reborn', which has a notoriously long questline on its own. While not necessarily a preference for everyone, this could definitely be a boon for new players, who have a mountain of quests to get through to get up to speed, and some of those quests can be tedious in terms of finding where the next NPC or point of interest is.

5 Chocobos Coming to Duty Support and More

Their Kwehs of Desperation Have Been Answered

If there's one feature in Final Fantasy XIV that's been infamously glazed over year after year, it's Chocobos. After you pick up your loyal companion during the events of 'A Realm Reborn', while they're definitely helpful for solo-grinding XP in the open world, that's where their usefulness kind of abruptly ends.

As one expansion after another has come and gone, Chocobos have all but become part of the proverbial wallpaper in the game, with no notable updates to their utility in over a decade. They have a full wardrobe of vibrant bardings to wear, but our feathered companions deserve more than the occasional glam-up.

Thankfully, that is finally all changing with Evercold, and the reveal came in a rather unexpected way. When the presentation pivoted to more details about Duty Support, the spotlight surprisingly went to Chocobos. Safe to say that wasn't on the audience's bingo card, but the response was jovial. Starting in 8.0, Chocobos will be able to join in for instanced dungeons alongside players and Duty Support NPCs. This will help Duty Support feel not only more reliable but more efficient, so players feel more willing to use it alongside the usual Duty Finder or Party Finder.

4 Surprise Gold Saucer Expansion Coming After Patch 7.56

With a New Game Mode to Boot

For a while now, Patch 7.56 has been touted as the last leg of Dawntrail's content update, before the game goes into its awkward, waiting room-esque phase before Evercold's release early next year. However, Yoshi-P evidently decided to tack on an extra surprise to help that wait feel at least a bit shorter.

Towards the end of the keynote, he offered a reminder of what to expect with Patch 7.56, which arrives on September 8. The main fixtures are, as previously noted, the arrival of Beastmaster and the final leg of the Main Scenario Quests to help set up Evercold's storyline. However, before moving on, he dropped a surprise in the form of a rather huge update to the Gold Saucer.

To be more specific, the Gold Saucer is getting an all-new area that hearkens strongly to the establishment's original version seen in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Whether this'll be an instanced lobby area, or an actual renovation to the space as a whole, remains to be seen, but either way, it's definitely something exciting to look forward to.

What's more, the area will feature an all-new game mode called Keybound Brawler, which involves literally typing words to set off attacks against monsters. Players can earn prizes from here, with the first of many set to be glamour outfits of Tifa and Barret from the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy. Yoshi-P also noted that they have several different "themes" planned for Keybound Brawler, implying that this will be a permanent addition to the Gold Saucer.

3 Evercold Getting a Final Fantasy 7-Themed Raid Series

The Timing Does Fit

Eyebrows definitely perked up in the audience when Yoshi-P invited Final Fantasy 7 director Naoki Hamaguchi on-stage for a special announcement. Upon blasting the chorus of One Winged Angel in the room, it became pretty clear what was happening. As it turns out, that announcement revealed that the 8-player raid series for Evercold would be a thematic collaboration with Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

As predictable as it may sound, given that the game has done various collaborations with other installments in the Final Fantasy anthology up to this point, it was only a matter of time. Also, given that the finale of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, aptly named 'Revelation', is set to drop in Spring of 2027, its timing with Evercold's January 2027 launch couldn't be more serendipitous.

The raid series will be called 'Beyond the Lifestream', and Yoshi-P hinted that they're bringing in plenty of characters from the remake to participate in whatever storyline is planned. How that storyline will play out remains to be seen, especially since we don't have a full understanding of Evercold's regions or main storyline yet.

Either way, it's safe to say that our Warriors of Light will be going toe-to-toe with Sephiroth at some point in the series, among other notable villains from Midgar and beyond. There's also the exciting question of how the raid gear rewards will look, given that character outfits are already coming via other avenues of gameplay like the Gold Saucer. This, alongside the Evangelion Alliance Raid series, may very well put Evercold's battle content near the top of the list across all expansions.

2 Evercold's Tank Job Bastion Revealed

Gun Shields Never Looked So Cool

The biggest announcement in the entire two-hour keynote was, without a doubt, the reveal of Evercold's tank job. Fittingly dubbed 'Bastion', this dual-shield tank and its arsenal of moves may very well shake up the game's tank meta as a whole. The audience was even treated to a showcase of the job's various skills, including melee and ranged moves that look every bit as sleek as they should.

The tank is already set as one of the game's "main tanks", joining the likes of Paladin, while Warrior, Dark Knight, and Gunbreaker are set as "off tanks". As previously discussed in Anaheim's keynote, main tanks are noted as skilled in taking direct damage while also brandishing actions to counter enemy attacks. However, the presentation also notes that the Bastion's weapon, a Skyltborg, "also offers protection for its wielder and their allies in the form of defensive and curative boons."

All in all, this means that Bastion may end up being a rather "busy" job and not necessarily the best for beginners to tank jobs in general. However, with the planned overhaul of hotbar actions thanks to Evolved Mode, this may help balance things out in terms of the learning curve. Either way, further details on Bastion's skillset likely won't come until a Live Letter closer to Evercold's launch.

1 Evercold's Physical Ranged DPS Accidentally Revealed?

Did Soken Meme a Bit Too Hard?

Among everything revealed at Berlin's Fanfest, the elephant in the room is definitely the buzz surrounding supposed intentional hints about the planned Physical Ranged DPS job for Evercold.

The first hint came in the extended teaser trailer, with a young character named Visna (sp?) holding what looks to be a tool or weapon of some kind and joined by a bird companion. The moment also notably focuses on a water rune that appears, which features a unique symbol in the shape of a bird that could also easily pass for a job stone symbol. Furthermore, the way in which the scene cuts away suggests that it's an unfinished look, and the full-length trailer won't be shown until Tokyo Fanfest at the end of October.

However, the speculation really flared up during a follow-up dev panel helmed by composer Masayoshi Soken and sound designer Go Kinuya. This moment has already been making the rounds on social media and Reddit, and it involves Soken asking the audience to guess the "identity" of various existing sound effects in the game that are played on-stage.

At one point, Soken stands and has two more sound effects played over the speakers that don't seem recognizable, even for the most acute listeners. The audience is equal parts curious and confused, until the other shoe drops. Go Kinuya jokingly chastises Soken for revealing sounds from the new ranged DPS job before Tokyo Fanfest, and the gasps are audible. Soken cheers before being dragged off-stage by some hired muscle for his antics, though the whole scene is undoubtedly a skit.

Nonetheless, the sounds that were played are very telling, as while one sounded more magical in nature, the other stood out for a very distinct, bird-like screech followed by a possible slashing attack. This notably indirect and more cheeky approach to teasing the second job ahead of Tokyo's keynote has definitely done the job in terms of getting the community talking, but it remains to be seen if this overarching theory is correct, or if the job is something a bit less on-the-nose.