The full list
Everything we built
84 new things in Final Fantasy XI, from the light in the sky to the way a goblin cowers when it knows it is outmatched. Every picture is a capture from the game as it runs.
84new features
72in the game today
12on the test server or being built
1xrates, and every mission as written
West Ronfaure
The world, relit
Repainted textures lit per pixel, real light and shadow, lamps that light the streets, trees and grass in the wind, and water you want to swim in.
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Every texture, repainted
The game's textures redrawn at four times the detail, then lit per pixel, so stone reads as stone and bark as bark.
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Surfaces you could touch
Every repainted texture is lit pixel by pixel from its own surface map, and photo-scanned grass, dirt and rock add fine detail right where you stand.
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Light and shadow
Soft sun shadows from characters, trees and grass that hold still when you do, and shade that deepens under roofs and fades as the clouds close in.
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Lamps that light the street
The game's lamps, torches and lit windows now light the streets, walls and passers-by around them, and the nearest ones cast shadows. Towns at night glow the way you always pictured them.
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A sky with depth
Real 3D clouds that drift, catch the sun and gather into storms, over a deep sky with a sun disc, its glow and the stars at night.
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Trees in the wind
Leaves sway and flutter while the trunk stands firm, crowns glow when the sun is behind them, leaf cards seen edge-on fade instead of streaking, and every tree casts its shadow.
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Grass that moves
Fields of real blades that sway in the wind, with shadows that stay still when you do.
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Water you want to swim in
Rivers and seas that ripple and shine instead of scrolling flat layers.
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Characters, up close
Armour, cloth and skin are shaded per pixel, and elbows and knees keep their shape when they bend instead of folding like paper.
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Air you can see
Sun shafts between the trees, halos round lamps and spells, haze that matches the sky, cloud shadows drifting over the hills, and eyes that adjust when you step out of a cave into the sun.
- Spells that light the ground Every Cure, every Fire and every weapon skill flare lights the ground and the people around it while it burns.
- Light that bounces Soft shade in every corner and crease, and sunlit walls and fields that pass a little of their colour on to whatever stands near them.
- Effects that sit in the world Spell glows, smoke and weather fade softly where they meet the ground and the walls, instead of cutting a hard line through them.
Jugner Forest
Storms worth sheltering from
Rain you walk through, lightning that lights the clouds from inside, puddles that shine, snow that settles, and nights lit by the moon.
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Lightning
Strikes come at random, two to four pulses each, the bolt burning through every stroke while the clouds light up from the inside around it. Most of them land where you are looking, so you see them.
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Clouds with weight
Real 3D clouds that change with the weather. When a storm rolls in the deck drops, thickens and darkens, and the light underneath goes with it.
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Rain you walk through
Raindrops are fixed in the world, so you walk through them instead of them following your camera. They splash on the ground, hang in grey veils in the distance and stop under a roof.
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Wet ground and puddles
Stone darkens in the rain, and puddles gather in the low places and reflect the sky.
- Snow that settles In Beaucedine the snow settles on the flat ground and slides off the steep, while more falls through the air around you.
- Sandstorms and heat Blowing sand across the deserts, shimmer over hot ground, and motes of light drifting in the air.
- Shadows that read the sky Sun shadows soften as the clouds close in and nearly vanish in a thunderstorm, and come back sharp when the sun breaks through.
- Moonlit nights From dusk to dawn the world is lit by the moon from above, cool and silver, instead of a dim second sun.
Sauromugue Champaign
A world that lives
Beastmen with homes, routines and wits, camps with games and feasts, darkness that means it, and a Blood Moon every second full moon.
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Living camps
A goblin fort in Sauromugue and an orc war camp in West Ronfaure. Residents patrol, stand guard, take captives, feast on what brave visitors bring them and run a dozen games: Pit Bets, Stew Roulette, a sack race, trivia night, treasure hunts. Storylines run over several days and the players vote on how they end, and each camp remembers how well it knows you.
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They know who you are
Now and then a beastman far beneath you won't throw its life away. It cowers, pleads, mutters and answers your emotes.
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Some of them are clever
Beastmen too weak to matter leave you alone, even while you rest. Sit down in front of the wrong ones and you may learn it was a trap all along.
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Speech you can see
Whoever talks, talks above their head, so a camp's chatter, a sleeping goblin's dreams and a trust's banter read like a scene.
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The chocobo stables
In Lower Jeuno the stable hands feed, pat and check the birds, the greens seller calls out her wares, and the chocobos shuffle and kweh in their stalls.
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Rafeloux, the Arch City
Being built
A city of our own: the Fountain Market with eight shops you can walk into, a tavern that fills at dusk, furnished homes, doors that swing open, eighty-six lamps that light the streets at night and wild lands all around. Built for a thousand players in one place, with no channels.
- The Blood Moon Every second full moon the sky turns red for seven nights. Beastmen go moon-mad and give double experience, moonlit outcrops yield rare ore, wood and petals, Sanguine weapons can be forged only under its light, and a secret quest waits for those who listen.
- Darkness that means it Korroloka Tunnel is truly dark now. Only your light, your Beacon and a glowing blade hold it back. Step out of the light and the tunnel notices: eyes open in the dark, then whatever lives there comes for you.
- What you cannot see In the dark, monsters lose their names and can't be targeted until your light reaches them. Whatever is attacking you always shows.
West Ronfaure
Monsters with minds
Monsters that fight smarter as they get stronger, and a Living World where herds graze and sleep, packs stalk, lookouts raise the alarm, grudges last a day and more than thirty events find you in the wilds.
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Monsters that fight smarter
The stronger the monster, the sharper its mind. From level 16 they use their moves and spells well; from 31 they go after your healer, stun your casters, dispel and heal each other; from 51 beastmen call a comrade, make a last stand and rage when their kin fall; past 71 they regenerate and call two. Sleep and bind wear thin the more you use them. The first levels stay gentle.
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The goblin merchant
On the test server
A wandering goblin with a sack of wares and a jackpot gamble. Save him when he's ambushed on the road and he won't forget it.
- Five kinds of mind On the test server Beastmen and demons think, tigers and wolves are cunning, rabbits and sheep run on instinct, bees and bats swarm, skeletons and slimes are mindless. Each one chooses from nineteen ways to spend its day: grazing, drinking, basking, sleeping, standing lookout, patrolling, foraging, haunting a ruin, sheltering from the rain.
- Herds, packs and flocks On the test server Monsters move together: herds with stragglers that hurry to catch up, packs that follow a leader, and a new leader when the old one falls.
- They notice you On the test server Prey looks up and backs away from an adventurer far stronger than it, predators stalk the weak, and lookouts raise the alarm. "Alarm! Alarm! Me no have bell. Me am bell!"
- Eleven thousand lines On the test server Nineteen families talk, each in its own voice, goblins, orcs, quadav and yagudo with close to nine hundred lines apiece. What they say fits your level, job, race and nation, comrades talk to each other in pairs, and no line comes back until the rest have had their turn.
- They remember On the test server Slaughter a family and it holds a grudge against you for a day. Spare a deserter or save the goblin merchant and that is remembered too, and so is the outpost you took and the alpha you slew.
- Get on their nerves On the test server Stand on their toes, follow them, block their path, stare, sing, wear their kin's armour or fish in sahagin waters. First a look, then a glare, a stomp, a pebble that misses, then they have had enough. Point and they look away while you sneak past; bow and they calm down; mention food and a goblin forgets all about you.
- Talk back On the test server Say something out loud near a thinking monster and it answers you.
- Something is always happening On the test server More than thirty events, paced at random so no evening is the same: a cookout, a herd crossing, a mandragora dance, the dead rising after dark; an ambush, bandits, a duel, a lost chocobo, a treasure goblin, a wounded adventurer; war bands, a skirmish where you pick a side, a caravan to guard, a night of falling stars, and a titan that walks from zone to zone.
- The eclipse On the test server Now and then the sun goes black inside a burning ring, the dead climb out of the ground and the beastmen fall to their knees.
- Animals with body language Being built Rabbits, sheep, tigers, hounds and dhalmel graze, lie down to rest, sleep, sniff the air, look round, stalk and startle, every pose shaped from the game's own motions.
La Theine Plateau
Tuned, not tamed
Weapon skills and abilities that grow with use, remade spells, battles that leave wounds, trusts that fight like players and new spells. The rates stay at 1x.
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Skills that grow with you
Weapon skills and job abilities gain levels as you use them against worthy foes. Each level hits harder or comes back sooner, and many gain something of their own: Savage Blade finds its mark more often, Provoke holds harder.
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Spells, remade
Thunder, Stone, Water, Fire, Blizzard and Aero redrawn from the ground up, every tier bigger than the last. Thunder IV strikes twice, Thunder V three times inside a ring of six, Thunder VI eight times before it shuts its target in a cage of lightning. Casters in one fight share one storm cloud, and every spell lights the spot it hits.
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Abilities you can see
Berserk's flames grow with its level and you see other players' too. Mighty Strikes crackles across the whole body, and both come with full-body motions shaped from the game's own.
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Battles leave marks
Every hit that takes a real chunk of health opens a wound somewhere new on the body. Blood seeps in, trickles when you are badly hurt, and the wounds close as you heal. Monsters bleed too.
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Trusts that fight like players
Over a hundred personalities who heal by urgency, tank, skillchain and burst with you, take orders and keep the gear you give them.
- Every swing shows When Double Attack fires during a multi-hit weapon skill like Rampage, you see the extra swings, sped up so they still land in time.
- Lotus spells Light and Beacon, five tiers each, for White Mage, Red Mage and Scholar: a light that follows its target, and one left where you stand.
- 1x, on purpose Experience, skill-ups, gil and crafting run at the original rates. The journey is still the game.
The interface
Every window, remade
From the title screen to the item cards, every menu redrawn in one style, readable at any size and at home with a controller.
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A new beginning
A title screen that flies over Vana'diel, and character creation with portraits, stats and a live preview at every step.
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A HUD you arrange
Compass, target, party and ability lists in one clear style. Move and resize every piece.
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A window for your trusts
Everyone you called, their stance, their orders and how chatty they should be, all in one window.
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The Mission Log
Every storyline, where you are in it and what comes next. Pick one and the Wayfinder shows the way.
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Item cards
Clear cards for every item: stats, jobs and levels at a glance, and gear your job can't wear greyed out.
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Every setting, in the game
About ninety settings on tabs, each marked with what it costs your frame rate, with presets to start from: resolution, frame rate, frame generation, HDR and every look on these pages.
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No more black screen
Zoning shows where you are going: the map of the next zone drawn in light while it loads.
- A chat line from this century Select, copy, paste and emoji in the chat line, and your history survives a reload.
- Your keys, your pad Rebind every key and button, keyboard or controller, from one Controls menu.
- Lotus Macros A macro system of our own, with its own editor: a hundred books of twenty sets, labels, icons and colours, conditions on HP, MP, TP, buffs, job and target, and books that follow your job. Your old macros come with you.
- Your settings, everywhere Your settings, key binds, HUD layout and macros are kept on the server, so they are waiting on any PC you sign in from.
- A map that knows where you are A minimap with the zone's map, the day, the weather and the zone lines, under a compass that points the way.
- And the little things An outline round your target, a new mouse cursor, a macro palette, restyled auction house menus and gear that changes without the blink.
- No old window anywhere The main menu, status, equipment, items, magic and abilities in your own sort order, the auction house and the shops: every one redrawn in the same style.
- Names and timers New name tags over every head, and status icons that show how long each effect has left.
- Sharp at any size Crisp menus at any resolution, a soft blur behind open windows, and the whole interface at 125% to start with.
The long road
A hundred small mercies
Wayfinder trails, sprint, tools in their own slots, zone lines that glow, and the conveniences the original never had.
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Wayfinder
Pick a quest or mission and a trail of light shows the way, across zones, on the ground, on the compass and on the map. Tired of steering? Let your adventurer walk the route on their own.
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A trail you can follow
The way is drawn on the ground and on the minimap, with an objective tracker that keeps your next steps in view.
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Tools in their own slots
Slot a hatchet, pickaxe, sickle or fishing rod and gather with a click. Slotted tools never break and take no bag space.
- Sprint Hold Shift, or X on a controller, for a burst of speed on the long roads. Mind the stamina bar.
- Zone lines that glow Every zone line wears a soft veil with the name of where it leads, on the ground and on the minimap.
- Fishing, without the bait run Fishing is on, and a bare hook works when you are out of bait. Mostly junk, now and then a fish.
- New battle music Fresh battle themes that take turns as you travel, while bosses, BCNMs and Dynamis keep their own. The title screen has a new song too.
- Your camera, your distance Choose how far the camera sits behind you, in the field and in battle.
- Two clients, one controller Play two characters at once and the controller follows the window you are using.
The engine
Under the hood
A renderer rebuilt for Final Fantasy XI: AMD FSR 3.1, sixty evenly paced frames, frame generation, HDR, a longer draw distance and more than 160 automated tests that keep it steady.
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AMD FSR 3.1
FSR 3.1 smooths every edge out of the box, clean without the blur. TAA, FXAA, softened leaf and hair edges and up to three times supersampling are there if you want them.
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See further
Eight times the draw distance for the world and four times for characters, so hills and trees stop popping in at your feet.
- Render scale Draw below your window size and let FSR bring it back up, Quality, Balanced or Performance, for more frames and a cooler, quieter graphics card.
- Sixty frames, evenly paced Frames land in step with your screen, capped at sixty or thirty. Fixing a stall in the game's own visibility checks cut nearly half the time every frame takes.
- Frame generation For high refresh rate screens: frames made between the game's own, predicted ahead so they add no input lag. Experimental, and off until you turn it on.
- HDR On HDR displays the sun, lit snow, glows and spells shine brighter than white paper, with brightness and highlight settings to match your screen.
- Your look Natural, Vivid or Cinematic to start, then saturation, contrast, warmth, vignette and sharpening to taste. Depth of field in cutscenes, motion blur and lens flare for those who want them.
- Tested before every change More than 160 automated render tests run before anything reaches you, including one that checks a still scene stays exactly still from frame to frame, so nothing flickers.
- One launcher One download installs the game, keeps it up to date, repairs it when something breaks and signs you in.
And there is more to come
This is only the beginning
Lotusreach grows every week. Everything on this page was built in the last few months, and the workbench is still covered. This is what we are making right now, and what comes after it.
On the test server
- Rafeloux, the Arch CityBeing built
- Five kinds of mindOn the test server
- Herds, packs and flocksOn the test server
- They notice youOn the test server
- Eleven thousand linesOn the test server
- They rememberOn the test server
- Get on their nervesOn the test server
- Talk backOn the test server
- Something is always happeningOn the test server
- The goblin merchantOn the test server
- The eclipseOn the test server
- Animals with body languageBeing built
Being built
- HD textures for the whole worldEvery zone, character and item, not just the places we started with.
- More living campsOrc camps and more homes for the beastmen, each with its own stories.
- A living worldMonsters with minds and daily lives, grudges and mischief, and more than thirty events that find you in the wilds. Every part can be switched back to the original.
- Rafeloux, the Arch CityA city of our own with a market, shops, homes and a tavern, built for a thousand players in one place.
- Animals with body languageRabbits, sheep, tigers, hounds and dhalmel that graze, rest, sleep and stalk.
- Render scaleFSR upscaling from a lower resolution, for more frames on smaller graphics cards.
Next
- Light and Dark spells, remadeThe last two families of elemental spells, after Thunder, Stone, Water, Fire, Blizzard and Aero.
- Opening the gatesPublic play, with this site as the front door for accounts.
- Higher skill levelsItems and rewards that push weapon skills and abilities past level three.
- Better toolsTool tiers for gathering beyond the first level.
The road aheadWhat changed this weekTell us what you want next
See it for yourself
Make an account in two minutes, install the launcher, and walk out of the gates of your home nation again.