Peak for now.

The story and its presentation easily surpass some of the universally beloved mainline (?) Final Fantasy games for me. I love how writers portrayed uncertainty in your own beliefs and desire for justice without devolving it into some overly vague mess, it all comes off as very genuine, which I appreciate a lot. It felt so good to empathize with most characters, to get their motivation and frustration, and in turn they respond back by acting how I would want them to act, like Alphinaud challenging Hraesvelgr's hypocrisy, for example. I have to say, Edmont de Fortemps might be my favorite character in the whole game, his reaction to Haurchefant's death turned me into a puddle of tears, so I had to take a break from MSQ for some time. RIP Stephen Critchlow.

Some job quests remained pretty ass (WHM), while some finally offered something more than bare-bones class fantasy (DRK). Relic quest became million times better in gameplay, but I want my daddy Jalzahn back :(

The music is consistently good. Some of the field themes grabbing my attention to the point of stopping me doing anything for ~10 minutes straight, waiting for the track to loop back.

I see almost no stinkers in Heavensward duties, aside from The Aetherochemical Research Facility, mainly because I don't like Allagan design too much. The Shadow of Mhach alliance raid brought actual difference in aesthetic of each step compared to Crystal Tower. Some fights still pose challenge and can catch unprepared groups off guard, wiping the whole raid, which is refreshing for daily roulettes.

Alexander raid series just kept me smiling like an idiot while I was queueing for each tier. The slow buildup of boss themes that culminated in the last fight with the track Rise was genius. Also, I'm so glad that we can queue for them all in the Duty Finder starting with Heavensward, because finding groups for Coils in ARR was a major pain in the ass.

This expansion fixed the problems that I didn't even know were there in A Realm Reborn, and it's hard to imagine that something else might beat it, like fan favorite Shadowbringers, but I'll see for myself. Now, onto the Stormblood.

690 hours played between the start of Heavensward and start of Stormblood, 1104 hours played total