Final Fantasy XIV’s NieR crossover story hasn’t ‘been depicted before’

A bonus episode of the Creation of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers behind-the-scenes series has been released, focusing on the NieR: Automata crossover. In this video, Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) is joined by NieR: Automata producer Yosuke Saito and director Yoko Taro. The trio discuss how the crossover raid YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse came about, their plans for the future installments of the raid series, and some tidbits of information about how it was made. All of this occurs while Yoko Taro hides behind the couch, his trademark Emil mask mounted on his hand.

Also, Yoko Taro threatens to remove your YoRHa cosmetics and delete a data center, while promising that there’ll be 156 more installments in the raid series. Say what you will, but the man knows his reputation.

Final Fantasy’s Dark Apocalypse

While the video itself is worth watching just for how entertaining it is, there are some actual bits of info in there. There are details on how Yoko Taro directed and scripted particular sections, for instance. But there are also intriguing hints on how the rest of the Dark Apocalypse raid series will pan out.

The first part, The Copied Factory, was intended as an introduction to the world of NieR for Final Fantasy XIV players. From here, things are going to shift gears towards an exploration of humanity. Interestingly, Yoko Taro noted that this is “something that [he’s] never really written or has even been depicted before.” He also notes that half of the players are going to be angry at where the story goes, but I’d say that’s a given.

The humanity of androids

Philosophically, Taro notes that from a language perspective, the word “humanity” tends to have positive connotations. However, he’s planning on exploring the dirtier and grimier elements of humans in this raid series. Considering the stories of both Shadowbringers and… well, basically everything Yoko Taro has worked on, it’s a safe bet that it’s going to be somewhat heart-wrenching and horrifying and will go in a few unexpected directions.

The next part of Final Fantasy XIV‘s YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse raid series, the Puppets’ Bunker, is due in patch 5.3. Unfortunately, that’s been delayed due to the ongoing global pandemic. It’ll hopefully be arriving around July.

The rest of the Creation of Final Fantasy XIV series is well worth watching too and can be found on YouTube starting with a look at the story. Be wary of spoilers, though. Meanwhile, if you’re struggling in Shadowbringers, you can have a gander at our guide hub where I’ve covered basically all of the endgame dungeons and trials… except for the NieR one. I think Yoko Taro would be proud.