Ahead of the massive Gamescom event in Germany this August 21 to 25, Square Enix has announced a massive schedule of events engagements taking place for Final Fantasy 14. It’s a hefty lineup, even for FFXIV, as the official post claims, “In the wake of Dawntrail's release, we have spared no expense and effort to make it a real blast.”
The floor portion of the event will have the Boss Challenge with the Valigarmanda Boss Challenge shirt as a reward, a dungeon for new players to tackle (Snowcloak, a level 50 dungeon) and even a “Stage Program,” in which players will be allowed onto stage to take on “various activities such as Extreme Roulette, Valigarmanda (Extreme), raids, and dungeon runs.”
Lead producer and director Naoki Yoshida joins the booth for a few activities. Most notably, he’ll be hosting a panel open to players called “Why are you or your friends not playing FFXIV?” plus signing sessions on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th, with tickets three hours before. He’ll join attendees for Valigarmanda on the 22nd, then do Trial Roulettes a few times throughout the weekend.
German Localization lead Pamela Drobig will host her panel “Bridging Language Barriers: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of FFXIV Localization” on two occasions throughout the weekend, with the first part on Thursday the 22nd and the next on Friday the 23rd. There’ll also be a PvP showcase on Sunday, hosted by Yoshida.
Whether or not fans will be at Gamescom, the FFXIV team will hold a Fan Celebration in Cologne, which includes a speech by Yoshida, music, and community activities. However, there’ll only be 500 tickets, available first-come, first-serve on Monday via the Eventbrite page. The team states that they’re “aware of the high demand for German Fan Celebrations and Gatherings, and are actively looking into hosting additional in-person events throughout the year.”
