Certain canine enemies are referred to as dogs, though they look somewhat different from real dogs. The first dungeon, Sastasha, has jackal-like 'Scurvy Dogs,' while Stormblood-era Garlean dungeons have 'Canis Pugnax,' which look like monstrous bulldogs. The dungeons are mandatory, and the players must kill at least some of the canines to proceed.
The Post-Endwalker Trial series is about rescuing a major character's sibling from their abuser, with the 3rd trial being a fight against the abuser himself. The English voice acting can cause a triggering reaction due to the commanding tone of the character when ordering the victim around for his various attacks.
This is a tactic used by some of the game's antagonists towards the player, and also towards npc characters like Yotsuyu. It may also be part of flavor text for quests once you become more self aware of the fetch quests in the writing.
A major antagonist is shown to have been abused as a child, which forms a major part of her motivation. Even now that she is an adult, her parents are entirely unrepentant and willing to abuse her further up until the moment they die.
One of the optional repeatable quests for the Gnath tribe (Heavensward content) requires delivering a fictional plant to several npcs, highly implied to be equivalent to marijuana.
Some npcs can be seen smoking from pipes, including one of the antagonists in Stormblood.
Various characters throughout the game, both PCs and NPCs, use alcohol. Some NPCs do so to the point where it impacts their ability to function or fulfill their daily tasks, especially in Limsa Lominsa. At one point in the gap between A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, Thancred is absolutely sloshed and slumped over the table in Scion HQ, but it's easy to miss since it's an optional interaction in a side room. Moenbryda and Yda are both at the table when it happens, if you want to keep a watch for that and avoid it.
In a main story level 60 dungeon, one of the bosses is a large hostile pegasus which must be defeated to continue. In the lvl 86-87 zone in Endwalker there are unicorn and pegasus enemies which can be killed, and in the endgame Endwalker raids there is a boss thats a version of hippocampus, however it is more monstrous and dragonic than horselike. There are some kelpie-like enemies ingame, but are scaly and fishlike.
Various animals populate the game world as hostile mobs. Quests often task the player with killing one or more of these animals. Hunting animals for their hide, meat, or other body parts is often required to support a crafting job.
There are dog-like minions that can be made to fight in the side game Lord of Verminion, however it is not at all graphic. When the player has the Wolf Pup minion summoned and enters combat, the pup can play attack animations towards the enemy, but cannot take or deal damage and is not graphic.
In the town of Tailfeather where they raise chocobos (large horse-birds), there's a questline that involves a villain character killing and cooking a side character's pet chocobo chick
The unprovoked murder of a dragon in the backstory is the cause of an ongoing war; your efforts to end this war peacefully form a major story arc. One antagonist of this arc is another dragon who, consumed by his desire for revenge, wishes this war to continue until humanity is destroyed; this forces you to fight and kill him.
Various lesser dragons populate the game world as hostile mobs. Quests occasionally task the player with killing one or more of these dragons, and hunting them for their hide, meat, and other body parts is occasionally required to support a crafting job.
An early-game dungeon is an abandoned jail which has been infested with various large arachnids, ending with a boss fight against a large scorpion. An optional late-game dungeon contains several spider enemies, including one boss fight.
There are several snake enemies in the game, many resembling cobras in early game, and ones resembling regular snakes in later game. There is also an optional boss fight againt a god resembling a snake, who transforms into half-man-half-snake during the fight, and summons several large snakes as a repeated knockback attack.
You get drugged unconscious at one point. It's just to get you out of the way for a moment for a plot, nothing happens to your character while they are unconscious.
In Shadowbringers, a species of frog creatures called the Fuath attempt to kill the player (and successfully kill several NPCs) by pulling them underneath water and drowning them. The player character is capable of water breathing, however, so this has no effect on them.
The player character is unavoidably restrained in certain story segments and fights. In the fights, the player may have to mash buttons repeatedly to escape the restraints.
In the finale of Endwalker, a major event occurs within the story leaving many characters and the player character unable to breathe. Said inability is audibly addressed and lasts several seconds in the cutscene.
The player classes Dragoon, Ninja, Machinist, Black Mage, Summoner, Blue Mage, Red Mage, and possibly some other classes I can't think of have fire-based spells and attacks that they use to damage and kill enemies. Additionally, many enemies attack players with fire-based attacks, which can kill the player. I don't believe any of them act as though they're burning to death though, they just play out a standard death animation.
It is stated in the optional but recommended to complete Shadowbringers sidequest “Village Of Woe” that a the town’s old mayor - and father of the quest giver - hung himself from guilt of not protecting his town a year ago. The Sidequest also features a character who has been unable to accept the death of the man, and it is implied he believes the man is still alive.
Characters occasionally fall into unconsciousness after exerting themselves too hard, including the player character at times. Additionally, a group of characters all lapse into an unconscious state similar to a coma that the player must work to solve.
Sorrow of Werlyt quests / The Weapons questline that unlocks Ruby, Sapphire, etc features this heavily. There is onscreen branding/burning cutscenes where the character is visibly in pain as others are forced to watch. Participants in the project were tortured for science/weapon advancement if not killed by it.
For pretty much the entirety of ARR through StB, you will see barely any blood, if any at all, even when characters are cut down on screen. In Shadowbringers onwards, there is more visible blood, but certainly not enough to be excessive.
There are some conversations between npcs that mention or imply unfaithfulness, however are easily missed and does not go into detail. As far as I remember there isn't a mention in the main story.
There are many lesser mobs/fiends in the game that are ghosts/undead/spirits in deserted areas that you can explore through dungeons or raids such as Amdapor, Palace of the Dead and Mhach. In Palace of the Dead you see npcs (non playable characters) within it that you have encountered and died at some point during the events of the game. These npc mobs can be randomly found within the floors of the palace.
The level 50 dungeon, Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard) also has a lot of creepy themes revolving around ghosts, undead and spirits consistently throughout it, including boss fights. The last cutscene upon leaving this dungeon features a ghost in it, with a character that you know should be dead. The camera shakes, glitches and zooms in as it tries to focus on this character/ghost then the sound effects and music comes to a hault as it reveals the ghost's face.
In the expansion Shadowbringers, there comes a point where you, the player, and Alphinaud have to take showers and spray on perfume liberally to rid a terrible stench you have. None of your body parts are shown during the events, and it isn't sexualized in any manner. There IS one NPC who has flesh toned pants on while standing in one of the other showers, however, which is played for laughs.
In Stormblood, several quests require crossing large bodies of natural water, and/or diving into bodies of natural water. The player cannot drown in these areas.
One recurring enemy, Ferdiad, has a jester-like appearance and a Joker-like cackle; he first appears in the Amdapor Keep (Hard) dungeon in A Realm Reborn, and returns as a secondary antagonist and boss in the Shadow of Mhach questline of Heavensward.
Additionally, Kefka Palazzo of Final Fantasy VI appears as a boss in the eighth encounter of the Omega raid series in Stormblood.
Yes. Towards the end of the base game ("A Realm Reborn"), one of the NPC protagonists (who went missing around the middle of the story) is revealed to be possessed by the antagonist. In early portions of the expansion "Heavensward", you find out one of the NPC protagonists has been permanently possessed by the FFXIV universe's equivalent of God. During later portions of that same expansion, one character is shown to become possessed by the lingering anger of the main antagonist (which temporarily transforms him into the antagonist). Throughout the after-story content in the expansion "Stormblood", it is shown the body of Stormblood's main antagonist has been possessed after death, and that same antagonist himself is possessing someone else's body. At one point in the early story of the expansion "Shadowbringers", one of the NPC protagonists is shown to be briefly possessed by the NPC mentioned earlier that had been possessed by God.
It is usually cut away from or only mentioned in dialogue boxes. In the expansion "Shadowbringers", however, two characters are shown in close up shots vomiting some sort of white goop.
There are some moments where the camera cuts away/to black and squelching, crunching or cracking is heard, implied by the context to be gory, however such moments are very brief and are not common.
In some minor and major settlements, there are jail cells, some of which have npcs locked up inside. There is at least one playable sequence where the player frees an npc from imprisonment. Some major npcs in Stormblood are temporarily locked in a cell.
One of the characters in the gunbreaker job quest storyline used to be tortured/controlled via a shock collar when he was imprisoned. Sometimes the character's muscles seize up during cutscenes as a lasting side effect.
While there is no cancer, there are some side npcs that have terminal illnesses or know/are related to someone with terminal illness or has died from terminal illness. As far as I remember the names of these terminal illnesses are all fantasy and don't use the names of irl terminal illnesses.
The major antagonists of Stormblood and Endwalker. The former has the other has *some* sort of issues resulting in anhedonia; violence and risking his life is the only way he feels something. The latter is suicidally depressed and trying to end the world over it.
In a Stormblood main story dungeon, the player and their party members have their soul physically removed from their body and must rejoin themselves to their body.
In major cities and the Firmament you more often than not will hear other players crafting. The crafting noises usually consist of repetitive noises that can get grating really, really fast.
The post-A Realm Reborn dungeon Amdapor Keep (Hard) has a fight in which you must kill a room of multiple enemies, as demon walls close in on you. Notifications appear over time to inform you how long you have until the walls close. You can see the walls slowly close in the room. Failure to kill enemies in a timely manner results in the orb in the middle of the room repeatedly spamming an attack until death.
(vague spoilers) Characters sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Notably, there is a disturbing scene following Baelsar’s Wall where a character commits suicide by falling to their death on-screen. The aftermath is shown— there is no blood, but the character’s face is shown in a very grotesque and frightening way.
Stormblood onward allows players to dive under the water for the purpose of exploration, gathering, fishing, and traversing areas. The player is safe during these scenes as they can water-breathe thanks to magic.
Is most pronounced in Endwalker--where some cutscenes are shot from first person point of view. Most scenes are typically of dire context and feature a mild case of shaky movement for the player.
Nothing too major, but there are sometimes references to genitalia and sex in NPC dialogue, but usually minor NPCs. At one point a major character is referred to as a "whore" while being kicked repeatedly by a despicable antagonist.
The third Nier alliance raid is heavy on the flashy/staticky visual effects (and was formerly even more so, before Square Enix toned it down in response to feedback.)
No outright slurs, however some gay background npcs from an optional dungeon unlock questline mention that they were outcast from their home because of their relationship.
Though I agree with the other comment on the matter in that it's not enough to warrant being called actively antisemitic, I believe it should also be noted that the villainous group of goblins is referred to as the Illuminati. Again, though, this group otherwise has no connections to any antisemitic stereotypes or conspiracy theories.
sexuality isn't a particular hot topic in the story, and whether not some npcs view your character in a possible romantic light is up for debate. there is, however, definitely death of characters with very strong inclinations towards the PC, regardless of their gender, and their interest is made MUCH more apparent in other translations.
In addition, it should be noted that the Shadowbringers expansion especially uses fatness as shorthand for many negative qualities and uses fatness regularly to push for a reaction of disgust.
Fictional racism, speciesism and misogyny happen occasionally in-game. If your player character uses she/her pronouns, she is called a b***h at certain points in the story.
Fantasy religion only--no real world religions depicted. In Heavensward the main hub city is very religious and suspicious of outsiders and "heretics" and participate in witch-hunt like activities. The player is tasked with fighting minor "gods" of the realm or representations of them.
Not in the biblical sense but the in-universe religion believes in several hells (and does use the term "Hell") and the word "demon" comes up numerous times, often related to various enemies or items.
In the major cities there are scantily-clad female dancers. Additionally, in Stormblood, a major antagonist named Yotsuyu has massive trauma due to her relationships with men and the sexual objectification she experienced throughout her entire life. There are also the players who intentionally create scantily-clad female avatars, which is its own kind of sexual objectification.
A minor antagonist in the base game is in love with her adoptive father, the main antagonist; in one dungeon cutscene, she claims ownership of both his body and soul. This is in conjunction with a line of dialogue where, at the end of a meeting, her father waits until all other persons present have left, and then orders her to meet him in his private quarters; these facts taken together imply that he reciprocates her, and that they have a physical relationship.
The Inn at Journey’s Head, an area in Shadowbringers, is a place where people who were injured by sin eaters go to wait until the last moment before they turn into one themselves, at which point they are mercy killed.
Be aware: An antagonist, who is effectively fiat ruler of an organization that seeks to make their last days on a dying world as pleasant as possible, is exceptionally overweight, but within the context of the story, this is 100% actual obesity, rather than a fat suit.
Ishgard especially has a very bad homelessness problem. Dialogue regarding this is often unavoidable.
However, upon completing Patch 3.3 and attaining Level 60, you can start the Ishgardian Restoration sidequest which will help build new homes for the homeless.
At the end of each expansions' initial ending, and at the end of their subsequent patches, there are credits that have cutscenes at the end. The credits can be skipped without skipping the cutscenes.
The endings of each expansion are relatively upbeat but are also achieved by the loss of many friends and allies. The end of Endwalker is an all-around triumphant victory for humanity. The endings are not outright sad but the sacrifices made to get there are immensely bittersweet.
No cars exactly, but various machines, ships, and airships do crash, burn, explode, or otherwise sustain catastrophic damage throughout the game, so use your own discretion.
There are zombie enemies and bosses throughout the game that are depicted as drowned seafarers. One boss has a "drowning" mechanic that kills you if you don't catch air bubbles (no drowning animation is shown, and if you die only the standard "falling to the ground" animation is shown) There is also mention of drowning in some of the dialogue and some boss fights have an instant-death state if you fall into the water under/around the stage (implicated drowning), though no actual drowning is ever shown on-screen.
However, in the middle of the expansion "Shadowbringers", you are confronted with a race of frogmen that attempt to drown people to turn them into more frogmen. Some drowning-esque imagery is shown. You come out of the cutscene underwater, but you cannot drown due to having been given the ability to breathe underwater in the previous expansion ("Stormblood").
Additionally, the story cutscene after defeating the final boss of Shadowbringers shows the NPC protagonists wash up on a beach, some of which appear to have almost drowned (don't worry, everyone is basically conscious or dazed - you can speak to all of them and they'll have dialogue).
Game combat does not graphically depict blood, but bleeding is implied via text. Several abilities and status effects reference blood. Certain enemies drop their blood as random loot.
Brief splashes of blood are occasionally shown in cutscenes; this generally does not linger, but one major arc is noted for an important character being covered in blood early on, which stains his armor red for the remainder of that story.
Engine limitations generally prohibit gore, but one major plot event results in an important character losing an arm.