More Alpha Footage: A Tour of the Black Shroud in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

[Raistlin]

Last time, we were taken on a tour of Gridania. This time, the development team for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has given us a look at the forested area that surrounds the city-state: the Black Shroud.

The environment looks great, as usual, and you can tell they’ve been really working on immersion. You see the characters jumping over fences, climbing on top of rocks, standing next to a waterfall, and exploring every aspect of the environment. We also get to see an aetheryte camp, which looks pretty cool, and it also has a moogle hot air balloon. At the end, one of the characters explores an underground dungeon area, where the lighting really helps set the atmosphere.

An important feature in this video is that for the first time we see a previously discussed change in action: the world map will only reveal itself by your character actually exploring it. This is to encourage player exploration and discovery of little known parts of the world. Currently this revealing of the map seems to happen in fairly large chunks at a time, but that could be changed between now and the final release. As a huge fan of exploration, I am particularly excited about revealing the full world map.

UPDATE: Part II of the exploration of the new Black Shroud has also been released. Check it out below!