FFXIV Recommendation and EW Thoughts

XIV "ENDWALKER" "REVIEW" / THOUGHTS (ACTUALLY KIND OF ALL OF FFXIV)

NON SPOILER

Pre-emptive tl;dr
FFXIV is a story that everyone should play if you are capable of reading words and enjoying stories. The fact that it's an MMO creates a barrier it does not deserve. It is probably the best story of any Final Fantasy game. It is probably one of, if not *THE*, best stories in any game. And it's even up there compared to all other pieces of media.
Please give it a chance. I think if you can get through ARR, if you keep your mind open, try to understand the worldbuilding, characters, and plot direction, you'll find something to love in almost every part of it.

I feel like FFXIV, collectively, even with the slightly-genericness of ARR and all is like the closest videogames have to an "epic". Not epic in the "dude lmaaaao whooaa" sense, but in terms of a historical epic.

ARR is clearly trying to salvage a dying game, and despite feeling generic at times, it does a serviceable job setting up the world and set of recurring characters. It's pretty much all setting up for things to come, even if a bit of a slog to get through. In the post patches you start to finally see some payoffs to the worldbuilding, but this is just the beginning. I'm *STILL* amazed how much mileage they got out of the "fanservice" raid for Crystal Tower. What seems like a fun one-off side story becomes a springboard for all sorts of very interesting future developments.

Heavensward is where we really get started (well, actually 2.4 up through Heavensward, but hey). With the expansions they're able to be much more focused and character driven. You're not going to All The Places with All The People. I was actually floored by how grounded it felt, just you, your fellow fugitive Alphinaud (long story), and a pair of people who hate each other (grumpy dragoon from the ARR dragoon quests!! and ice lady who likes dragons). It tells a really gripping story of groups from different sides of a conflict trying to prevent another war from starting. You really get to know Ishgard as a "home away from home" and the dragons as more than just spear fodder. I thought it was incredible that an MMO could tell a story with real stakes, real themes, and real character development. I would say if it ended after just Heavensward, this would already be one of the stronger entries in the FF series, even if you just played the MSQ by yourself and didn't do any other content.
Now, all that being said, the final zone is just a little bit of a wet blanket, here. They tried something very different, but it almost feels a bit out of place, even if the final encounter is really cool. However, they have retroactively made that zone cool with ShB/EW, with a lot of extra explanation and lore that makes it a lot neater.
Also, the post patches (especially the warrior of darkness line) are really, really good as well. They do this thing where 3.0 wraps some stuff up, but 3.3 is the TRUE conclusion of the Dragonsong War arc, something they would do in future expansions as well.


Stormblood is a bit of a mixed bag. It's a freedom fighting war story, which is pretty cool...but a bit bogged down by a sack-of-potatos leading lady (sorry Lyse) and a split of focus between Ala Mhigo and the Far East. Now, all that being said, it really isn't bad, persay. Just a step down from the super tight script of Heavensward with the split focus and from weaker characters. That's not to say there's nothing to like, the Steppe is a standout (written by the writer of the Crystal Tower series and future lead writer of Shadowbringers/Endwalker HMMM).
The post patch stuff is really good here, too. It gives a lot of depth to some of the characters that are a bit static through the 4.0 conclusion. Also, EUREKA!! I really liked Eureka and it's story. It's basically another game within the game in some ways. Pretty cool!
Especially worth mentioning that the 4.4-4.5 patches are MAJOR setup for the bounty we were about to receive in Shadowbringers. So those are totally awesome. Throw Wide The Gates.

SHADOWBRINGERS is the best "standalone" Final Fantasy game single player fans will miss out on. I thought the plotting way back in Heavensward was relatively tight and well handled, but holy cow Shadowbringers made it look like amateur hour.
They essentially have to build a brand new "world" here. Not just that, but history, cultures, mythos, and UNIVERSE MECHANICS!! And they knock it out of the park.
Also, THEY DO ALL THIS WHILE MAKING YOUR "BLANK SLATE" CHARACTER FEEL ACTUALIZED. AND HAVING ONE OF THE ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE VILLAINS IN FICTION. ALSO WHILE FLESHING OUT A BUNCH OF NEW AND OLD CHARACTERS. All the Scions finally feel realized by the time the credits roll. Like, I never cared about playboy/badboy Thancred, but it's impossible not to think of the Scions as their own characters by the end of the expansion. I feel like my character really knows them, and they know my character. I know what drives them, what they care about, what they've lost, what they want. They're all 3 dimensional, driven people by the end.
I just mentioned it before, and will try not to spoil anything, but it bears repeating. Over and over. This expansion does the impossible. It takes your BLANK SLATE main character, your "nods and punches fist" in every cutscene character and turns it into something beautiful. Your choices, your drives, why your character is the Warrior of Light...its all spelled out here. This started in some of the ARR Dark Knight quests, believe it or not. But the way they structure Shadowbringers your blank slate is given a...reflection in the glass to play off of. Someone to bounce your choices and ideas off of in a way that enriches the both of you. Let us be about it, hero.
Also, I'm not sure if I've ever seen this kind of post apocalypse story before. The setting is so unique and interesting. It's post apocalyptic, but it's like...what if they apocalypse stopped halfway? The world is mostly in ruins, most species and cities were wiped out, but...but it's stopped. For now. Maybe, any moment now, it'll come finish off the last dregs of the world. Or, maybe we can rebuild. That depressive, melancholic atmosphere is so good for the story. Bringing hope to a world without.
One more thing to mention is what they do with the "ancients" and Ascians. They were cardboard cutout "teh evuls" before now, but Shadowbringers gives them motivation, purpose, history. And a voice. The ascian we get to know during the MSQ (and 5.3) feel so well realized. We're at odds, we can't seem to see eye-to-eye, but we can understand them. They're not an evil alien threat. They're people, like us, like everyone. With a belief system incompatible with ours, but one that we can talk about and comprehend. I'm all about "shades of gray" storytelling, and Shadowbringers brings the heat.

And, finally ENDWALKER. First things first, minor criticism: it is a lot less "tight" than Shadowbringers. It has so many loose ends to tie up, so many characters to touch on. Big, cosmic conflicts. Small, personal conflicts. The end to the "war" with Garlemald. It couldn't afford to have such a narrow focus.
HOWEVER, they went for it. All the way. The characterization is top notch again, as one would hope from the writer of Shadowbringers. They sidestepped all the landmines I was worried about in the story, and kept me in suspense nearly the whole way. BUT, it was all foreshadowed, and quite well too. I predicted a major, MAJOR plot element after the first few cutscenes, and Talon told me I was crazy for thinkin it would happen. WELL WHO'S CRAZY NOW???
They said before the expansion, players would ask "wow, are you really going to go THERE? or do THAT?" and yeah, I asked that like 10 times throughout, they kept finding new ways to up the game.
Area 5 and 6, both amazing. The Garlemald section, the one I was most worried about, was handled masterfully. Fandaniel, despite his aspirations to 1-dimensionality was fully realized. And even if he's more directly 1-notely villainous than most other villains, you get to understand why and how he got that way.
SO many callbacks, payoffs, explanations for things I didn't even know I wanted but am glad I got.
Hydaelyn, Zodiark, the Ascians, the Final Days, our scions, Garlemald -- its all tied together by strong themes, too. I don't care how tightly you plot things if you don't have something to say. Well, they certainly did. I'm sure some people will think it trite or like some philosophy 101...but, like, people have trouble with even surface level themes. I think they did a great job representing the Answer(s) to the question.
ALSO, Answers, a 1.0 theme because the MAJOR THEME TIE IN to the "final" expansion. That's so wonderful.

---

OK SPOILERS, NO REALLY (MOSTLY GUSHING ABOUT SPECIFIC THINGS)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
OK, ALL ANTI-SPORKLERS GONE? GOOD.

TL;DR

VERY, VERY GOOD. I LOVED THE THEME OF FINDING YOUR OWN MEANING IN LIFE, DESPITE EVERYTHING. VERY GOOD CHARACTER STUFF. FILLING OUT THE WORLD. LOVED THE TWIST OF ZODIARK BEING THE LEVEL 83 TRIAL. LOPPORITS CAME IN AT A NICE TIME TO CALM THINGS DOWN AFTER A LONG, CRAZY RIDE.

MAYBE ONLY MAJOR CRITICISM IS THE 88-89 SECTION IN LABRINTHOS LASTING A LITTLE LONG. BUT I LOVED THE SCENE WITH URIANGER AND MOENBRYDA'S PARENTS.

OK ONTO MORE SPECIFIC THINGS.

-ELPIS-
First, FIRST, the most stunning part of the whole expansion: ELPIS.
I love it. I love all of it. This is what I predicted before the expansion, sort of. I thought we were going to go back to the first round of the Final Days to figure out what caused it through the lifestream (due to the trailer mentioning finding truth "where souls and stars rest"). And then when you see Hydaelyn on the boat, and she mentions the "conjunction" between times I was like "YEP, YEP YEP YEP, WE'RE GOIN BACK BABY". But, I was not expecting for it to be more than a few cutscenes. The way they handled it through Elidibus and the CT was also great. Time-travel is fraught at the best of times, but the story already established that the tower had been imbued with such magicks. And Elidibus will meet us in the raid, and there's no reason he should forget (other than his whole role as Zodiark's heart, tight writing, that).
Meeting them all there, the trust dungeon, everything with Hermes and Meteion...it's pretty much all amazing. I've seen some criticisms of Hermes's actions as irrational or illogical or whatever, and its like...that's kind of the point? He was depressed, he already was leaning towards beliefs that creating life at all was wrong and deciding which creations live or die was even more so. Meteion was an attempt to prove himself wrong...but it didn't work out so well. It proved him right in his own mind. And how terrifying the answer to that question? I thought at first she was going to have made contact with some sort of Jenova/Lavos type creature wiping out planet after planet or something. But instead to have it be "oh, there's other beings out there. They just all fail miserably and die suffering" is the worst possible outcome to the Fermi Paradox.

ALSO the start of the zone was handled perfectly. They totally tricked me with the aetheryte not being usable. I was like "oh ok it's not a zone" only to be double tricked when da bois show up and let you out. Next question was immediately: oh god are we finally getting the robes??? First quest: go get the robes. PERFECT.

-VENAT-
I love what they did with Venat. I was one of those people that thought she was going to be a secret villain, or like pure force-of-nature primal in Hydaelyn. Instead, I got one of the best cutscenes I've ever seen in anything. Ever.
I clipped it, because one of the things me and Talon talked about like a dozen times before Endwalker is that "they better have an Answers 2.0, since we know so much more, we need new Answers, right?".
Instead, they showed that the original song Answers was always about something different. Whether intended all the way back in 1.0 or not, it's an amazing bit of writing. Absolutely incredible. Whoever's idea to cut between the Shadowbringers walk up to Emet and Venat should get ALL THE MONEY. ITS SUCH A POWERFUL IMAGE. A perfect reuse of the scene when we were at our lowest.

I even clipped it so I could watch it All The Time: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1229756854

Henceforth, he shall walk.

Flow is also such a great theme, especially when you listen to it afterwards and soak in the lyrics. I liked being called a brave little spark, popoto playthrough is true canon.

-GARLEMALD-
My biggest fear with the expansion was Garlemald, Zenos, and Fandaniel. I was afraid Zenos was going to be the big bad and Fandaniel was going to continue to be "teh Joker". Welp, all fears resolved by level 83. Its like they were writing for me, SPECIFICALLY.

After the launch trailer, I felt a lot less worried, but I think it was SUCH a good decision to have garlemald already in tatters by the time we get there. We're the warrior of light, we don't need a reason to help people. Seeing that tested by proud, indocrinated Garleans rebuffing all our efforts was wonderful. When Jullus finally accepts that help and breaks down, it was so precious. Despite what they've done, what they've been taught, and what they've been through...mercy is about helping them regardless, not because we need praise or satisfaction from them.

I've heard a lot of gripes about what happens after that. But, its also brilliant, IMO. And well foreshadowed, despite what people might imply. I suspected us and Zenos were going to do some body hopping from the original trailer, alone. Plus it was already well established and everything. It like, solved several problems in the expansion setup at once, and led to so many cool moments.

Problem 1) Zenos isn't a threat anymore, why do I care about him at all?
- Answered directly in the text, he's found the ability to be an actual threat and will hurt us where it hurts most if it means getting our attention.
Problem 2) The WoL is now one of the most canonically powerful beings in the whole world, how can we humble the player even briefly?
- Showing your force of will even when stripped of your abilities. I think the 2nd half of that trial is powerful. There's no reason you had to help those soldiers. But you do, of course, and are helped in return. The WoL wouldn't be themselves if they didn't. Regardless of what sort of body you're in, if you're half-dying, if it'd be more convenient to let them die...you don't. Because themes.
Problem 3) Fandaniel is just a tool for Zenos?
- It showed that this silly setup was all Fandaniel's idea. He has the agency here, plus you get more characterization out of him.

Plus, it led us straight to the moon, and what was an amazing setup -- both the scenes with the Ancients before the barrier breaks, and Fandaniel robbing Zenos of agency by stealing Zodiark. I suspected this would happen, it seemed pretty obvious, but the way it did was excellent.

Zenos would have been so dull as "ok I got god powers now, fite me" at that moment, making him go off and sulk for 4 levels was the right gat dang call.

-ULTIMA THULE-
How can one not get emotional during the final parts of this zone? People have been complaining about "fake out deaths" but it was OBVIOUS they weren't dead. It's not about killing them off or not, it's about the emotions. The end of the journey. Making the final steps with the twins...and then by yourself. But everyone believes you there, and the lovely bookend with Ardbert..."if you need a push, I'll be right there behind you".

Despite everything I say about Umineko and Higurashi and stuff, I rarely ever get outwardly emotional in stories. A lot of the time its more of an inward, empathetic exercise. However, I was teared up from the time its just us and the twins to the dungeon unlock. It was so powerful, all the history of the game only makes it moreso.

I clipped this one too, and you can like hear me all choked up whenever I talk in it lol: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1229768106

"The sorrow of a thousand, thousand worlds weighs heavy. And yet you can still walk on."

-ZENOS HIMSELF-
I never liked Zenos. I like more complex villains. However, they used him the best they possibly could have. After his humbling with Zodiark, he goes and broods for a bit. And then the final days come, taking our attention away even more. And then Alisaie points out he won't get what he wants if he just keeps hurting people like some selfish hedonist. And then he finally gets it.

Him coming to help in Ultima Thule is the best possible use of a character like him. He finally realizes even if he's being selfish, the best way to get what he wants is also to help us. Also his line about "why haven't you killed your prey yet?" is the perfect moment of levity after some very, very heavy moments.

And the way they asked the final question, well, even I couldn't deny it. I don't agree with who he is, or what he's done, or his "Answer" to the question, but... ...I can't deny it. I enjoyed the final trial with him a lot. I hope he either stays dead, or takes his minor realizations from coming to help us and turns it into a revelation about what matters in life, that there's LOTS of fulfilling things out there. I wouldn't mind him sticking around if he has a change like that, a believable one towards a deeper understanding of what it means to live. Or he could die, that's also equally fitting.