So you’ve been enjoying Final Fantasy 14 for a while, romping around Eorzea as a bunny boy or a cat girl and having yourself a great time. Then Dawntrail rolls around, and spending some time as the new female Hrothgar sounds pretty tempting. Well, friend, what you need is a Phial of Fantasia. These valuable items let you recreate your character one time, but they’re exceedingly rare unless you’ve got deep pockets. Fortunately, there are a few ways to get them for free, including one added with the release of the Dawntrail expansion.
Where to Get a Free Fantasia
With Dawntrail’s launch, Square Enix added a quest to the base game that provides a free Phial of Fantasia. Even if you’re not ready to pick up the expansion, the quest will still be available. However, keep in mind that the new female Hrothgar race is only available if you’ve purchased Dawntrail.
If you’re a brand new player and want to pick up your free Fantasia, you’ll first have to progress the Main Scenario Quest a little bit. Just follow along in your quest log until you’ve completed the level 17 quest “The Scions of the Seventh Dawn.” Then, head to the capital city of Uldah.
Once there, head to the northern end of the Sapphire Avenue Exchange in the Steps of Thal section of town. Speak to a new NPC called the Medicine Merchant at coordinates X:13.4 Y:9.2. He’ll give you the “Bottled Fantasy” quest, which just requires you to make a quick delivery to another NPC. After you’ve finished your errand, simply head back to the Medicine Merchant and collect your Phial of Fantasia as a reward.
If you use your Fantasia and end up wanting another change later, you’ll actually pick up another free Phial by completing the base game questline. Once you finish the final quest for A Realm Reborn, “The Ultimate Weapon,” you’ll get one more free Fantasia. After that, you’re stuck paying $10 a pop on Square Enix’s store if you want to make further changes — at least, unless Square Enix is feeling generous again in the future.
How to Use Phial of Fantasia
With your Fantasia in hand, all that’s left is to strip. Seriously, you need to take off all your character’s clothes before starting the process. Once you’re down to your undies, use the Phial of Fantasia from the inventory. Then, log out and return to the character creation screen. Finally, right-click your character’s name and select “Re-edit character appearance.”
This will return you to the character creation screen, where you can tweak your Warrior of Light to your heart’s content, then log back in to see the results. Keep in mind that Dawntrail also brings a graphics update to Final Fantasy 14, so it may be worth checking out character options you’ve previously written off to see if they’re more to your liking after the visual overhaul.
One huge change for Dawntrail has also made the character editing process much better. Now, you’ll have a full hour after changing your character’s appearance for a redo. If you get back into the game and find that your character doesn’t look as good in the light of day, or your haircut doesn’t look good with your favorite armor set, you can just log out and give editing another go as many times as you’d like until the effect expires. An onscreen timer will show you how much of the 60-minute time limit for re-edits you have remaining.
Looks aren’t everything, but there’s no denying aesthetics are a big part of enjoying Final Fantasy 14. So if you feel like it’s time for a big change, give the Fantasia a go and find someone that better suits your style.
