This review contains spoilers
5.0 - 5.55 spoilers
I finished Shadowbringers a year ago and wasn't too strong about it when I beat it but after having it not able to leave my mind and getting somewhat obsessed about it. I absolutely love it.
The beginning and setup of Shadowbringers is downright perfect, I really love apocalyptic settings and heavenly god worlds so when I got to the first for the first time XDDD I was so taken aback, there are so many things like this in Shadowbringers that feel really tailored towards me, The themes of a dying world, grieving and moving forward, loss, the line between heroism and villainy and in 5.1-5.3 obsession are honestly really human and they really got to me emotionally or are just things I saw in characters I loved before. Shadowbringers had a certain special sauce when it came to tackling its emotional huge moments that I don’t find in many games and genuinely made me cry most of the time and a few of them still get to me. I don’t find Shadowbringers to be as exciting has Heavensward or Endwalker but I think the story is really about the struggles of the first and its people. if you turn an eye only really pay attention to the premise and the really cool things its nothing special, it easily has some of my favorite payoffs and moments in a video game ever. I personally find most of FFXIV to really struggle with keeping me engaged because the story is told so slowly, but in Shadowbringers I think the slow pacing and filler was handled the best and in some regards worked really well in this expansion's favor because it focused on the world building and having moments of character development or just general fun moments.
I don't really wanna go in-depth but I really fell in love with Ardbert, Thancred, Emet-Selch and Elidibus. I also find with these 4 characters all in some form or fashion revolve around the narrative themes I spoke of before but in there own way and I really love this. The Elidibus boss fight is just one of, if not my favorite boss fight on a thematical level, I can’t really think of one that I like more.
I really loved the OST, I really love the First itself. It's super cool how it mirrors the source in an otherworldly way but it’s also drenched in this urgent and eerie atmosphere with the everlasting light honestly, This made me fall in love with Shadowbringers at first sight, I highly doubt I’ll ever experience something like this in a video game again. I love every zone in this expac and I think the First is one of my favorite worlds in a video game.
5.1 is super boring with the focus on getting the scions back to the source but the ending was good, 5.2 was actually really great when it focused on Elidibus and the Dungeon is sweet af, 5.3 made me cry like a baby 12/10.
5.4 was easily one of the worst patches post A realm reborn. It’s honestly skippable in some ways because it hardly adds to 5.5 or Endwalker, It just has a few moments of intrigue and a great dungeon. 5.5 was honestly not too amazing either and it was a let down in some ways, especially with the lunar primals being relegated to being a dungeon boss and being boring story bosses. but this patch certainly has its great moments in the story, especially with Aliphinaud and 5.55.
However, the weapons questline is genuinely my favorite piece of side content. The fights are awesome and the story is really good. Gaius moment. I wasn't too happy with the Eden raids but they were pretty cool but I really enjoyed the Nier content.
Speaking of Nier I think a lot a decent portion of this game is really inspired by Replicant and that's another game I really loved to death for similar reasons.
Shadowbringers feels so personal to me and I love it.
I finished Shadowbringers a year ago and wasn't too strong about it when I beat it but after having it not able to leave my mind and getting somewhat obsessed about it. I absolutely love it.
The beginning and setup of Shadowbringers is downright perfect, I really love apocalyptic settings and heavenly god worlds so when I got to the first for the first time XDDD I was so taken aback, there are so many things like this in Shadowbringers that feel really tailored towards me, The themes of a dying world, grieving and moving forward, loss, the line between heroism and villainy and in 5.1-5.3 obsession are honestly really human and they really got to me emotionally or are just things I saw in characters I loved before. Shadowbringers had a certain special sauce when it came to tackling its emotional huge moments that I don’t find in many games and genuinely made me cry most of the time and a few of them still get to me. I don’t find Shadowbringers to be as exciting has Heavensward or Endwalker but I think the story is really about the struggles of the first and its people. if you turn an eye only really pay attention to the premise and the really cool things its nothing special, it easily has some of my favorite payoffs and moments in a video game ever. I personally find most of FFXIV to really struggle with keeping me engaged because the story is told so slowly, but in Shadowbringers I think the slow pacing and filler was handled the best and in some regards worked really well in this expansion's favor because it focused on the world building and having moments of character development or just general fun moments.
I don't really wanna go in-depth but I really fell in love with Ardbert, Thancred, Emet-Selch and Elidibus. I also find with these 4 characters all in some form or fashion revolve around the narrative themes I spoke of before but in there own way and I really love this. The Elidibus boss fight is just one of, if not my favorite boss fight on a thematical level, I can’t really think of one that I like more.
I really loved the OST, I really love the First itself. It's super cool how it mirrors the source in an otherworldly way but it’s also drenched in this urgent and eerie atmosphere with the everlasting light honestly, This made me fall in love with Shadowbringers at first sight, I highly doubt I’ll ever experience something like this in a video game again. I love every zone in this expac and I think the First is one of my favorite worlds in a video game.
5.1 is super boring with the focus on getting the scions back to the source but the ending was good, 5.2 was actually really great when it focused on Elidibus and the Dungeon is sweet af, 5.3 made me cry like a baby 12/10.
5.4 was easily one of the worst patches post A realm reborn. It’s honestly skippable in some ways because it hardly adds to 5.5 or Endwalker, It just has a few moments of intrigue and a great dungeon. 5.5 was honestly not too amazing either and it was a let down in some ways, especially with the lunar primals being relegated to being a dungeon boss and being boring story bosses. but this patch certainly has its great moments in the story, especially with Aliphinaud and 5.55.
However, the weapons questline is genuinely my favorite piece of side content. The fights are awesome and the story is really good. Gaius moment. I wasn't too happy with the Eden raids but they were pretty cool but I really enjoyed the Nier content.
Speaking of Nier I think a lot a decent portion of this game is really inspired by Replicant and that's another game I really loved to death for similar reasons.
Shadowbringers feels so personal to me and I love it.