Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.3 “Reflections in Crystal” Launches August 11th

In his latest Letter from the Producer, Final Fantasy XIV‘s long-time director, Naoki Yoshida, has outlined the August 11th release of the game’s eagerly-awaited newest patch. Fans have been psyched for Reflections in Crystal ever since it was announced that it would feature various retoolings of A Realm Reborn‘s main questline to ensure a smoother experience on the road to the superior storytelling seen in FFXIV‘s excellent expansions.

During his recent remarks, Yoshida-san continued his trend of apologizing for circumstances well outside his control, proving time and again that the visionary creator is as humble as he is hard-working. As is customary of 2020, Patch 5.3’s numerous delays have stemmed from the ongoing global struggle with COVID-19. “We did everything we could to try and release this update at some point by the end of July,” Yoshida explained, “but in the end, we determined more time was needed to thoroughly test and debug the next alliance raid of YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse and the new large-scale encounters of the resistance weapons content.”

He also confirmed that despite all these coronavirus-related setbacks, the Final Fantasy XIV development team is beginning to settle back into a more normative routine. “But rather than think of this as a loss, I consider it a great accomplishment, as our staff can now work safely and efficiently both at home or at the office. What’s more, I believe we can make up for this delay with the quality of future patches and our coming expansion.” We can expect to enjoy a live video stream centered on 5.3 and hosted by Yoshida-san on July 22nd.

Last but not least, he dropped some truly nifty concept art related to FFXIV’s future patches. Pictured above is some type of steampunk tank that I cannot help but hope to drive around Eorzea like the madman that I am.

If you’re new to Shadowbringers, 2019’s epic ongoing expansion, you may want to read or listen to the glowing words of Caitlin Argyros, who gave Shadowbringers a sterling 98%, calling it “…fantastic from start to finish.”