Final Fantasy 14's Patch 6.4: The Dark Throne First Look

Victoria Rose Posted: Jun 6, 2023 9:00 AM ET Category: Features 0

As hoped for and expected, here we are, another four and a half months later, with another Final Fantasy XIV content patch! It brings most of the good stuff that comes with a zero-ending patch, including Main Scenario Quests, a new raid, and, thankfully as the team's been bringing us, more quality-of-life updates.

Yes, that means I’m back once again to talk about it, unfortunately for some given my last piece drew some heat. This is not late because I got the flu this time; it's because I got a real nine-to-five(ish) job! Because being a catgirl online is not actually a livable occupation.

And no, my unhinged ramblings that our EIC lets me get away with won't be replaced by ChatGPT, which cannot play this game and die three times per trial attempt, nor fly out to Vegas, nor say something excessively quotable by the FFXIV community, either. Fuck that weird SAT essay-style droning.

Anyway, sorry, introductions are hard, and there are only so many ways I can introduce relatively cookie-cutter-structured content patches, especially while I’m monitoring an office's quickly-depleting stock of La Croix, which I don't really understand, but whatever. FFXIV demands the narrative torment of my catgirl, the Google machine demands words, and my colleagues demand shoddily-flavored seltzer. This is turning into a recipe introduction. The Dark Throne, right? Right.

There should have been no doubt that Endwalker was going to pay homage to Final Fantasy 4, especially given the parade of elements essentially ripped right from the game (the Lopprits barely the least). The post-expansion quests, and especially The Dark Throne, doubles down hard on that, paying respects to the game in ways unprecedented. In these patches, we’ve seen the Yoshitaka Amano depictions of The Four Fiends take shape, and a fan-beloved creator, Hyadain, was even brought in to craft the 5.3 trial theme by taking elements from his famous FFIV cover.

Finally, in the late-patch trial, we take on Golbez with a FFXIV twist that I won't exactly spoil, while still beckoning some of his FFIV abilities—but don't think too hard about that. As an FFXIV player, you just need to think about this exciting trial and its fast-paced gameplay. Did you stop playing after Endwalker? Did you gather some rust after 6.3? Sorry, but you gotta get good at video games again. It's worth it, though, as it's a pretty fun bout.

The dungeon several quests and a few hours prior, the Aetherfont, is a little less thrilling, as if having a dungeon at all has just become a mandatory beat in the patch cycle drumming. The enemies are the standard "two groups of trash mobs to the wall, with three bosses" format of dungeons, and the bosses don't have severely frustrating mechanics to figure out. The aesthetics are at least once again gorgeous, though; I do want a minion or mount of the first boss.

Some of the intermittent tasks, while amusing at times, do drag out, and one NPC makes a brief appearance, does nothing, and then calls the job done, probably for the sake of the Trust. It's… kind of odd. But in the end, the story developments that take place matter on a scale typical of our Warrior of Light, so even if the full storyline isn't all that thrilling, it's all for… something?

Now that it's concluded, the enthusiasm I have for Pandaemonium's full set of normal-tier raids could be packed into a piece in and of itself. Pandaemonium is a culmination of the love that the design team puts into every corner of the game, packed with references to Dante's Inferno (per people who know better than I) and filled throughout with offputting aesthetic choices that set the mood right, all tied together meaningfully and engagingly.

I personally pin it as a homage to the slightly off-mainstream horror, goth action, and gaming subcultures of the late 90s and early 2000s. The enemies have that edgy goth vibe going that befit the original Devil May Cry, Resident Evil and especially the beloved corny arcade series House of the Dead. And the breadth of the music matches, too, from eerie vibes that could translate well into 16-bit horror, to the D&B and goth rock that nearly have me breaking out the black cargo pants. (Or buying them, in my case. I need a pair.)

And there are only a few complaints about the gameplay, with them mostly focusing on the Phoinix in the first tier and, second-hand from everyone I know who's completed it, the second phase of the eighth Savage fight. (Knowing this, my static bailed towards the end of P7S prog to do Ultima Weapon (Ultimate), no joke.) The fights are all engaging and exciting, giving memorable, surmountable challenges to those who tackle them, without being overly frustrating.

The plot finally provides outstanding closure to many Ascians in their "before times" while maintaining themes of classic human flaws that Elpis presented in the original Endwalker storyline. If you haven't done Pandaemonium yet, and felt Lahabrea got an unsatisfying cut-off in Heavensward, you’ll be pleased to do this series.

Where the other raid series in FFXIV were decent but felt disjointed or needlessly long in exposition, Pandaemonium provides engaging beats at every turn that makes you want to see what you’re facing next. If you’re looking to explore the FFXIV universe or side content a little deeper, I can't recommend this enough.

Oh, and we fucking finally see the Heart of Sabik. It doesn't beat, nor is it a taco.

The abundance of side content continues, of course, with Island Sanctuary having new levels and construction to achieve and a new Unreal to take on. I’ll say that the Tataru sidequests took a surprisingly dark turn, but it's good to see the devs revisit and reaffirm the outcomes of the Sorrow of Werlyt questline. And there's a new Ocean Fishing route!

The quality of life changes also keep rolling in. Tanks will feel a little heftier, and Selene is no longer summonable, and instead a full-on glamour you can replace your faerie with. Personally, I’ve been glad to utilize the new assignable role colors, name sizes and job symbols, as it helps me understand some outcomes of mechanics and where I should be standing relative to the party. And while I have a deep opposition to the dungeons’ Duty Help and Trust systems, I’m glad that they’re in almost the entire MSQ now.

And as a Savage-tier raider (once we clear UWU, I swear we’ll return), I’m actually enthusiastic about the loot changes that will get players out of the grind quicker. Reclears for gear are often a point of frustration for many, so it’ll be good to be able to be equipped for and tackle higher-end content much more quickly.

When Endwalker was presented, the team announced its dedication to tackling FFXIV's long-term longevity and approachability. There's quite a ways to go (looking at you, Portrait system), but even since the end of Shadowbringers at the end of 2021, it's been good to watch the game improve so rapidly in the little details.

Yes: I definitely said so in the last look-over for 6.3, and I’ll double down now. The MSQ seems to be reaching a boiling point that fans of Final Fantasy 4 will love, the raid series is exciting, and the game, overall, is just taking a generally positive turn in regards to playability.

Though if you haven't played since Endwalker, it might be a tight call before the drop of Final Fantasy 16, which happens to be by… literally the same core team.

Have you taken on 6.4 yet? What did you think? What are you excited for?

Victoria is a FFXIV player who's been writing about games for over seven years, including formerly regularly for Polygon and Fanbyte, and also spent some time in The Secret World, mostly roleplaying. You can find her head-deep in roleplay campaigns on Balmung, or on the ground after hyperfocusing on her Black Mage rotation. Come visit her estate: Diabolos (Crystal DC), Goblet, Ward 4, Plot 28.