Final Fantasy XIV producer/director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida has talked a few times over the years about his desire to introduce some sort of companion app for the game. That’s finally coming to fruition, with the Final Fantasy XIV Online Companion App outlined in the latest development update.
The free app will allow players to manage their inventories, make use of the market board, and organise events with other players using a scheduling tool. There’ll also be a Premium Plan that lets players manage their retainer and saddlebag inventories as well, while doubling saddlebag space and giving subscribers an extra retainer slot. The cost of a Premium Plan subscription isn’t confirmed, but Yoshi-P suggested would be in the region of USD $5.
It looks as though certain Companion App services—chiefly, listing items on the market board—will use a special currency called Kupo Nuts, which you earn by logging in each day. You’ll also be able to purchase these services with Moogle Coins, which are, presumably, some sort of premium currency. According to Yoshi-P, the app may be updated with new features based on user feedback.
One thing I’d love to see is the ability to manage retainers’ ventures. As it is, I only really use the 18-hour ventures because I’m only able to log in at night. But if I could check in on my retainers throughout the day, I’d probably get a lot more user out of the shorter ventures.
I said this previously in response to that April Fool’s joke, but I’d also love to be able to do gathering and crafting through the companion app. It’d be trickier to implement, I imagine, and there’d be some issues to work out around in-game economies, but it’d breathe new life into Disciple of Land and Disciple of Hand classes.
One other thing I’d like to see added would be Glamour Dresser access. Being able to play around with glamours and outfits would be a wonderful time-waster when you’re out and about. All the better if you could browse a full catalogue of items, try them on, and compile an outfit in the app, before heading into the game proper later on to collect the equipment in question.
As well at the companion app, Yoshi-P shared details about the next major game update, titled Under the Moonlight, which will be out in late May. Final Fantasy XIV follow a particular rhythm, so the new content for 4.3 is too surprising:
- New Main Scenario Quests – The story of Stormblood continues.
- New Alliance Raid – The Ridorana Lighthouse.
- New Trial – It’s a secret!
- New Dungeon – The Swallow’s Compass.
- New Beast Tribe Quests – The Namazu.
- New Sidequests – The Four Lords, Doman Reconstruction and Further Hildibrand Adventures.
- New Deep Dungeon – 100-Floor Heaven-on-High.
- The Forbidden Land, Eureka Expansion – Pagos Expedition.
- New Ultimate Difficulty Raid – Ultima Weapon.
- Updates to jobs, PvP, Glamour System, Housing, Performance Actions, new more powerful gear and more.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the Doma and Ivalice stories develop, and to the inevitable next layer of the great MMO gear grind. But most of all, I’m looking forward to the companion app, and the convenience that it will bring. There’s no release date yet, but here’s hoping it’s soon.