FFXIV Patch 6.2 keeps the FFIV references coming, and the trailer for the next arc isn’t even subtle with it. This latest look at Final Fantasy XIV’s Buried Memory update gave us plenty of throwbacks to the classic RPG, including a wink-and-a-nod reference to known troublemaker Kain Highwind.
While we’ve drawn those comparisons to Kain a million times in the past, other known troublemaker Estinien Varlineau drops a new line the community immediately honed in on. Estinien makes the Final Fantasy IV reference around the 2:12 mark, seemingly at a gathering of Voidsent. “You’re not the only ones who can ride the wind.”
Crying, hollering, sobbing, etc., etc. In FFIV, the line comes from Kain just before the party’s fight with Barbariccia. The boss is one of Golbez’s elemental archfiend allies, using her weirdly powerful hair to call upon tornados. The hair part isn’t actually important here; just worth mentioning since Estinien could probably fight her in that department, too.
The ever-eagled-eyed community quickly put two and two together here. One particularly helpful comparison comes from Twitter, where @S4Seyren stitched a video of Estinien’s line from the FFXIV Patch 6.2 trailer with Kain’s, as it appears in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.
Loved the Kain reference on Estinien on the 6.2 #FFXIV trailer! I compared it with NT Kain so you guys can hear it side by side!#DFFNT #EndwalkerSpoilers pic.twitter.com/2W8ptoTZlf
— Seyren (@S4Seyren) August 12, 2022
Estinien’s Kain likenesses even pop up before Heavensward — which included a pre-order bonus referencing FFIV’s Baron with a Cecil glam. In more recent beats, some fans seemed a little nervous for Estinien’s Endwalker arc, considering the whole Kain-betrays-Cecil thing. However, when you think about it, Estinien’s troublemaker days likely concluded with the end of the Dragonsong War. Now he’s just living his best life, blowing our Gil and sending Aymeric absurd costumes. I love that for him, truly.
Perhaps less Estinien-focused but still cool; Soken shared a bit of his own work in callbacks with FFXIV Patch 6.2. Crank the volume up and listen closely to the Patch 6.2 trailer again around the 53-second mark. Soken says he salvaged that FFIV sound data directly from the older RPG — it’s an absolute delight. Now, give me FFIV‘s Theme of Love, and I’ll never complain again.
There's plenty of sound in this patch too.
First, listen to this cool new trailer, but at a louder volume than usual!https://t.co/lNp17UzYXP
The SE at 0:53 was salvaged by me for this trailer from real FFIV sound data.#FFXIV https://t.co/ecaVpYf8Fr— ニー祖堅 (@SOKENsquareenix) August 12, 2022
Like the entries before it, FFXIV often makes references to other Final Fantasy games — in both big and small ways. In Endwalker, we saw nods through locations, a whole trip to the moon, equipment, minions, and the eight-player Lunar Whale mount. Some of this stuff is more subtle, but there’s a pretty neat thread on Reddit trying to chronicle all of the shoutouts. Even as someone quite fond of FFIV, I missed a surprising amount of these.
As we gear up for Buried Memory’s August 23 launch, check out the rest of our coverage on FFXIV Patch 6.2. Linkshell has roundups of the new crafted gear and Abyssos raid sets, plus a breakdown on Variant and Criterion dungeons.
