FORSPOKEN

[Jandroid]

魂の絆 - Tamashī no kizuna - Bonds of the Soul (spirit/anima/ghost/being/shadow)

https://chizai-watch.com/t/2020065062

Thanks!

It's similar in structure but a little different from the Japanese naming convention for their expansions. ___の___ appears to be the structure of how Square Enix names the Japanese expansions but at the same time, the first ___ before the の is usually a color descriptor like 蒼天 (Soten | Blue Skies), 紅蓮 (Guren | Crimson Lotus), and 漆黒 (Shikkoku | Jet-Black) while the second ___ which is after the の are usually nouns like Ishgard, Liberators, and Villains.

The naming conventions for 魂の絆 is a little different but the naming structure is there so it could very well be the name of the next expansion. Personally, I don't think "A Hero's Bonds" is the name of the next expansion since it feels a little off to me compared to past expansion titles. The Japanese name of an expansion has also never been translated to be used as the name for its International counterpart.

As it stands though, we could be looking at "Forspoken - 魂の絆" as the next expansion while "A Hero's Bonds" is just to trademark a translated version of '魂の絆' for the sake of trademarking something similar to protect their IP. Or it could be the name of a patch as well... Only time will tell.