Stormblood's narrative is overhated in the extreme. Its story is - intentionally - less immediate; less personal; less focused on tugging the player's heartstrings. But in the grand scheme of Final Fantasy XIV, its function is obvious. Stormblood is a way station. It's a moment to breathe and get out of your head, and to turn outward. Stormblood lays heady topics like the burden of history and the slow buildup of trauma to rest for a moment, and instead shows curiosity toward the world around your player character - friends they've really barely known, struggling with invisible burdens; allies from across the world, fighting a battle you can't really understand. It's a story as much about road trips and side adventures as it is about war and strife. It may be The War Expansion, but equally is it The Vacation Expansion. It's loose and full of ideas, and willing to be goofy. It has the player fighting ghosts in haunted islands and diving into undersea bubble-cities and mediating romantic spats, just as much as it has them leading armies and witnessing other people's trauma. It manages those two conflicting emotional tones perfectly, and the resulting story is a wonderful breath of fresh air between the weight and self-seriousness of both Heavensward and Shadowbringers.
And it was probably the peak of FFXIV in its gameplay. Its job design was streamlined and toned down from the beautiful insanity of Heavensward, but it maintained depth and interesting ideas at every single level for every single job, striking a really effective midpoint between complexity and accessibility. I love Heavensward, but understand that aspects of its gameplay were too much for people - Stormblood is the answer to that; the ideal midpoint. Where Stormblood really superseded its predecessor, though, was in the breadth and variety of content. Stormblood saw FFXIV's designers really come into their own in terms of fight design; Trials, Alliance Raids, Savage, and even dungeons were all consistently well-conceived, and again hit a really engaging midpoint between consistency and complexity. And it was the expansion where FFXIV really figured out how to design outward from its core content - it gave us Ultimates to inject new life into the hardcore raiding scene; Eureka to give casuals hours upon hours of passive content; little side stories like Doma Restoration to keep the narrative lush.
Stormblood was the best version of FFXIV as an ecosystem. It had its flaws, and represented a shift away from FFXIV's peak form, but it also represented the most sustainable vision for FFXIV's future. In an ideal world, every expansion after Stormblood was like Stormblood.
And it was probably the peak of FFXIV in its gameplay. Its job design was streamlined and toned down from the beautiful insanity of Heavensward, but it maintained depth and interesting ideas at every single level for every single job, striking a really effective midpoint between complexity and accessibility. I love Heavensward, but understand that aspects of its gameplay were too much for people - Stormblood is the answer to that; the ideal midpoint. Where Stormblood really superseded its predecessor, though, was in the breadth and variety of content. Stormblood saw FFXIV's designers really come into their own in terms of fight design; Trials, Alliance Raids, Savage, and even dungeons were all consistently well-conceived, and again hit a really engaging midpoint between consistency and complexity. And it was the expansion where FFXIV really figured out how to design outward from its core content - it gave us Ultimates to inject new life into the hardcore raiding scene; Eureka to give casuals hours upon hours of passive content; little side stories like Doma Restoration to keep the narrative lush.
Stormblood was the best version of FFXIV as an ecosystem. It had its flaws, and represented a shift away from FFXIV's peak form, but it also represented the most sustainable vision for FFXIV's future. In an ideal world, every expansion after Stormblood was like Stormblood.