expansion... good.

okay so from the top

I knew going in that I was going to like the overall themes of the expansion because of the WoD stuff in 3.x and it hasn't disappointed. A destructive force that embodies the concept of nihilism is extremely my shit, but there's still a lot of mystery to it: are Sin Eaters as mindless as they seem? Where's Hydaelyn in all this? What's Emet-Selch up to? The Sin Eaters are proper fucking creepy and I was not expecting body horror in my Final Fantasy. Restoring the night sky to the world is maybe the most heroic I've felt in all of XIV, which is saying something.

Eulmore makes a great antagonist. They're a collaborator government that's collaborating with... the concept of nihilism. Simultaneously reprehensible and completely understandable. I assume there's more stuff going on there and I'm looking forward to digging into it. Ran'jit as recurring bad-ass is a much better defined character than Zenos, especially as unlike Zenos you actually have to run away from him instead of just waiting until he gets bored and wanders off. I am hoping we get some character development from him, because I feel like "career soldier who had dedicated their life to fighting Sin Eaters and then just stopped because his new boss said 'actually they're friends now'" needs more to it.

I think I've been spoiled on the identity of the Crystal Exarch, but there's still plenty of mystery to everything that's going on with him and the tower. I like that he casts classic-ass Final Fantasy spells like Vanish and Break -- it's a good connection to the FF3 callbacks of the crystal tower.

Emet-Selch/Solus showing up to be a dickhead and follow you around works for me.

Il Mheg was a great zone. The fae types were well-differentiated and were irritating without being obnoxious. The build-up and climax with your faerie friend turning into Titania and chasing off the Eulmorans was great. I like her and the branch/sapling relationship you have.

I really like everything they're doing with Ardbert. Shadowbringers wants to toe the line of what MMOs can do with the protagonist, but there's only so much they can do. Ardbert is the WoL, but given a voice. They even call both of you the Warrior of Darkness. Chatting with him after each major story segment is a great touch. Meeting Seto made me super sad.

The Scions --

- Alisaie was one of my favorite characters in 4.x and I liked how they continued her themes in Shadowbringers, though she's fallen behind since we've gotten the gang back together.

- Alphinaud I sort of feel has gotten a bit rote. I still like his character, but he hasn't had much development since Heavensward.

- Urianger got a hell of a glow-up. I always liked him being a complete dork and that hasn't diminished, but he's hot now.

- I've only just made it to Y'shtola but she's great, as always. I like that one of the first things she does is calls out...

Fuckin' Thancred. I really like what they're doing with Minfilia and the Oracle of Light. Minfilia never really made sense to me as a leader of the Scions, but she makes total sense as a prophet/divine child. Her relationship with Thancred is fucked and he's being an asshole but it's written really well. The development of her relationship with the WoL has also been good so far -- I like that you support her in opposition to Thancred.

Mechanically I thought Stormblood was fantastic and Shadowbringers is just as good. For a DPS main the trust system is a nice addition to dungeons -- I've used them to run the first two and they're about the same speed as waiting in a queue and running the dungeon normally, but you get a bit more interaction and immersion from having them there. I don't think I'd ever use them if I was a tank or healer main, but it's a good system to have for people who really don't like grouping. The dungeons themselves have been good, and having a death lead to a reset adds a lot of tension to the boss fights. So far that tension has been good, since the only time I died was clearly my fault, but I can see it getting frustrating if the trusts misbehave.

Titania was a fantastic trial and I'm really looking forward to doing Extreme later.

I like that they've added incentives to FATEs, since I've always enjoyed those in concept but they were never appealing enough to stop for. Now they are. Similar to what aether current quests did to sidequest chains. Up-leveling quests and their rewards is also a really good idea.