queenrivers
2018
Long time Fallout fan, at least since the release of Fallout 3. I had played every title (including the classic titles) up until Fallout 4. My favourite, surprise surprise, is New Vegas.
Since I didn't have the means to play 76 at release, I merely watched how it crashed and burned and all the chaos that it was created since then. I had friends who were a lot more invested than I was in the franchise struggling to come to terms with a lot that was happening, which I completely understood.
Since 2018, however, I kept tabs in the game just to see what would come out of it, and to tell you the truth, I was impressed when I finally got around to actually play it.
While I'm not particularly fond of the lore of this game in particular, I actually found the game to have an interesting gameplay loop and the main story was interesting enough to keep me interested for all the time that I spent on it. The community is probably one of the nicest communities in any multiplayer game that I've played. When the game actually functions it's a fun time.
However, the glaring flaws that this game has are so apparent at times that it really proves the criticisms that it still receives to be correct. The scope of this game is SO BIG that it falls short quickly after you finish the main story (including the DLCs); character building is fun but it's really convoluted at times even though the changes that i've seen happening were good; Bethesda's ventures into the subscription world is absolutely horrendous; the repetitive nature of the overworld events makes them extremelly boring after doing them more than a couple times.
But I feel like with Appalachia being so big and varied they really nailed the exploration and the overall vibe of exploring in a Fallout game. The humor thrown in into some of the voiced NPCs is also very well appreciated. The C.A.M.P. stuff is just what 4 had been trying to do but better and more varied, even if creates a lot more problems than expected. Some of the big "raid"-like events are cool and once past a specific level threshold I feel like they're a must.
All this considered, and given that it has an active playerbase, an active community creating content for it, and it being fully free on Gamepass does make its flaws weight a lot less at the end of the game. It's a mediocre game that when it clicks, it just clicks, and it can actually turn to be a very enjoyable experience even with all the stuff that go against it.
Every once in a while, I still log in and explore around, do some events, and enjoy the scenery. I still have to do the Atlantic City DLC, but I'm waiting for it to be released in its entirety.
3/5
Since I didn't have the means to play 76 at release, I merely watched how it crashed and burned and all the chaos that it was created since then. I had friends who were a lot more invested than I was in the franchise struggling to come to terms with a lot that was happening, which I completely understood.
Since 2018, however, I kept tabs in the game just to see what would come out of it, and to tell you the truth, I was impressed when I finally got around to actually play it.
While I'm not particularly fond of the lore of this game in particular, I actually found the game to have an interesting gameplay loop and the main story was interesting enough to keep me interested for all the time that I spent on it. The community is probably one of the nicest communities in any multiplayer game that I've played. When the game actually functions it's a fun time.
However, the glaring flaws that this game has are so apparent at times that it really proves the criticisms that it still receives to be correct. The scope of this game is SO BIG that it falls short quickly after you finish the main story (including the DLCs); character building is fun but it's really convoluted at times even though the changes that i've seen happening were good; Bethesda's ventures into the subscription world is absolutely horrendous; the repetitive nature of the overworld events makes them extremelly boring after doing them more than a couple times.
But I feel like with Appalachia being so big and varied they really nailed the exploration and the overall vibe of exploring in a Fallout game. The humor thrown in into some of the voiced NPCs is also very well appreciated. The C.A.M.P. stuff is just what 4 had been trying to do but better and more varied, even if creates a lot more problems than expected. Some of the big "raid"-like events are cool and once past a specific level threshold I feel like they're a must.
All this considered, and given that it has an active playerbase, an active community creating content for it, and it being fully free on Gamepass does make its flaws weight a lot less at the end of the game. It's a mediocre game that when it clicks, it just clicks, and it can actually turn to be a very enjoyable experience even with all the stuff that go against it.
Every once in a while, I still log in and explore around, do some events, and enjoy the scenery. I still have to do the Atlantic City DLC, but I'm waiting for it to be released in its entirety.
3/5
after years (and i mean years) of having seen people raving about this game, seeing it everywhere, i decided to buy it and see what all of that was about.
this might have been one of the best gaming experiences i have ever had and no review would actually do it justice. what an incredible, incredible game.
glory to mankind.
this might have been one of the best gaming experiences i have ever had and no review would actually do it justice. what an incredible, incredible game.
glory to mankind.
This review contains spoilers
This short review contains some spoilers for the MSQ and content presented from the Shadowbringers' patch cycle up to the end of 6.0.
The hype for Endwalker was intense. In fact, it was the EW trailer that sold me on the game - it was an incredible promotional trailer, the name just sounds incredibly cool, and the whole idea of being able to play as a Reaper was too enticing. All this on top of the fact that I already wanted to play the game anyway, so everything fit together. Last year on October I started my XIV journey, and at the end of May I finally had started EW.
The patch cycle for Shadowbringers brought perhaps the highest points in the game for me. The story was incredible. The hints towards what was there to come were like chains on my neck. I just couldn't get enough. I trully believe that The Seat of Sacrifice might just be the best trial in the whole game. The way that XIV mixes the lore with the gameplay is stellar. I really, really loved it.
So everything was looking up to Endwalker. Before I proceed, I want to say that I don't think Endwalker was bad, but it was a big disappointment in some aspects, mainly the story-focused ones - the dungeons, trials and even some of the new styles of quests were very good. The new locales were incredible for the most part (highlighting Elpis specifically, with the less incredible one being Ultima Thule). So mechanically, for all intents and purposes, if we only consider those parts of the expansion to be worthy of analysis, Endwalker would easily be the best expansion in the game.
The thing is, and it's what makes Endwalker so disappointing, is that XIV is extremelly plotheavy. The literal story of the game moves the game forward and it's basically the main thing most players will be doing to unlock most stuff naturally throughout their time in XIV. And the story of XIV has been heralded throughout all parts of pop culture as one of the greatest stories ever made for a videogame (and not just any kind of videogame, a MMO no less). That being said, EW's story is not only lackluster in comparison to how amazing ShB was (and by extension, HW), but is definitely a downgrade in terms of general storytelling.
And it's not really just the way that the story was presented, but the implications some choices had in the overall narrative that made it so sour. One of the biggest plots in the overarching story was the imminent fight against Zodiark, which was supposed to be this big, epic confrontation - and again, the fight itself was great, but it was, if I recall correctly, a level 83 trial - so soon into the MSQ. It felt like this was something that had to be done quickly before moving on to the other parts of the story, like finally going back in time to meet Venat in Elpis, and understanding the actual cause of the Final Days.
Elpis and the story it represented was very good, and probably the easiest highlight of the story in EW, and it had one of the greatest cutscenes in XIV so far with Venat causing the Sundering, which was a great way to sort of wrap up the Ancients plotline. And the whole story leading up to Ultima Thule and the fight against Meteion/Endsinger had great pacing, but even then, this whole atmosphere of "this is the end" "we're walking the end" "we're saving the world" "oh look at all our friends giving us strength in the end" falls short on the back of some of the way better pacing and worldbuilding and overall storytelling previous expansions had.
But the worst culprit is Garlemald. Garlemald was, just like Zodiark, hinted throughout the game's plot as this completely polar place that we would have to fight, mostly the empire, but we find it desolate and destroyed by the manic Zenos - only to fight remnants of what once was such an oppressive faction in the world of XIV. All that was hinted, and built up, every single little thing, just to leave us on a barren land. And the thing is - the Garlemald part of story in EW was actually amazing, it's just what "going to Garlemald" meant in the overarching story that was not represented in the glorious way, just like Zodiark, that it was supposed to.
Perhaps these criticisms only stem from the fact that I have played the game, from ARR up to EW, in less than a year - much less than the 8 year timeframe in which those stories were introduced. Perhaps the hype that I was seeing online about how EW ties everything up beautiful and everyone was crying in the end was true, but only if I too lived the game during the time that it was released. But in the end, wether I played the game back then, or in 3023, the story does not change, which is my biggest gripe with Endwalker all together.
Dungeons, Trials, Locales, Art, and music-wise Endwalker is probably the best XIV could offer. Storywise not so much, or rather, not at all. Let's see what Dawntrail brings us.
3.5/5
The hype for Endwalker was intense. In fact, it was the EW trailer that sold me on the game - it was an incredible promotional trailer, the name just sounds incredibly cool, and the whole idea of being able to play as a Reaper was too enticing. All this on top of the fact that I already wanted to play the game anyway, so everything fit together. Last year on October I started my XIV journey, and at the end of May I finally had started EW.
The patch cycle for Shadowbringers brought perhaps the highest points in the game for me. The story was incredible. The hints towards what was there to come were like chains on my neck. I just couldn't get enough. I trully believe that The Seat of Sacrifice might just be the best trial in the whole game. The way that XIV mixes the lore with the gameplay is stellar. I really, really loved it.
So everything was looking up to Endwalker. Before I proceed, I want to say that I don't think Endwalker was bad, but it was a big disappointment in some aspects, mainly the story-focused ones - the dungeons, trials and even some of the new styles of quests were very good. The new locales were incredible for the most part (highlighting Elpis specifically, with the less incredible one being Ultima Thule). So mechanically, for all intents and purposes, if we only consider those parts of the expansion to be worthy of analysis, Endwalker would easily be the best expansion in the game.
The thing is, and it's what makes Endwalker so disappointing, is that XIV is extremelly plotheavy. The literal story of the game moves the game forward and it's basically the main thing most players will be doing to unlock most stuff naturally throughout their time in XIV. And the story of XIV has been heralded throughout all parts of pop culture as one of the greatest stories ever made for a videogame (and not just any kind of videogame, a MMO no less). That being said, EW's story is not only lackluster in comparison to how amazing ShB was (and by extension, HW), but is definitely a downgrade in terms of general storytelling.
And it's not really just the way that the story was presented, but the implications some choices had in the overall narrative that made it so sour. One of the biggest plots in the overarching story was the imminent fight against Zodiark, which was supposed to be this big, epic confrontation - and again, the fight itself was great, but it was, if I recall correctly, a level 83 trial - so soon into the MSQ. It felt like this was something that had to be done quickly before moving on to the other parts of the story, like finally going back in time to meet Venat in Elpis, and understanding the actual cause of the Final Days.
Elpis and the story it represented was very good, and probably the easiest highlight of the story in EW, and it had one of the greatest cutscenes in XIV so far with Venat causing the Sundering, which was a great way to sort of wrap up the Ancients plotline. And the whole story leading up to Ultima Thule and the fight against Meteion/Endsinger had great pacing, but even then, this whole atmosphere of "this is the end" "we're walking the end" "we're saving the world" "oh look at all our friends giving us strength in the end" falls short on the back of some of the way better pacing and worldbuilding and overall storytelling previous expansions had.
But the worst culprit is Garlemald. Garlemald was, just like Zodiark, hinted throughout the game's plot as this completely polar place that we would have to fight, mostly the empire, but we find it desolate and destroyed by the manic Zenos - only to fight remnants of what once was such an oppressive faction in the world of XIV. All that was hinted, and built up, every single little thing, just to leave us on a barren land. And the thing is - the Garlemald part of story in EW was actually amazing, it's just what "going to Garlemald" meant in the overarching story that was not represented in the glorious way, just like Zodiark, that it was supposed to.
Perhaps these criticisms only stem from the fact that I have played the game, from ARR up to EW, in less than a year - much less than the 8 year timeframe in which those stories were introduced. Perhaps the hype that I was seeing online about how EW ties everything up beautiful and everyone was crying in the end was true, but only if I too lived the game during the time that it was released. But in the end, wether I played the game back then, or in 3023, the story does not change, which is my biggest gripe with Endwalker all together.
Dungeons, Trials, Locales, Art, and music-wise Endwalker is probably the best XIV could offer. Storywise not so much, or rather, not at all. Let's see what Dawntrail brings us.
3.5/5
This review contains spoilers
Spoiler warning for post-Stormblood patches & the entirety of Shadowbringers (5.0).
Ever since I started following (but not playing) FFXIV, back to the time period between ShB and EW, I've always read how Shadowbringers was some of the best gaming could offer. After I went through Heavensward, I heralded it as one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had - it had everything I loved in games, despite feeling somewhat dated for today's standards. Shadowbringers, on the other hand, is probably as good (if not better) than the critically acclaimed expansion.
Stormblood suffered from strange dips in the pacing, despite having great gameplay in terms of dungeons and trials. Doma Castle might still be one of my favourite dungeons to go through on the Roulette, and Azim Steppe is still one of my favourite locales in the game. Throughout the patches, the story picked up incredibly nicely, with the clear spotlight on the Yotsuyu/Tsukiyomi arc, which was incredibly written and played out. Some of the loose ends that were problems during SB's MSQ were nicely tied together, and the connections made with the overarching plot of FFXIV felt necessary and not rushed at all, despite some clear cop-outs that felt a bit too wishywashy for what the story was trying to entail.
But, despite that, the introduction to Shadowbringers, how the story was introduced, how we get there, was really well done. The hints of other "worlds", the introduction of fan favourite Emet-Selch, the Ascian behind the creation of the Garlean Empire and the return of the Crystal Tower as not just a AR setting but an actual important place in the main plot of the game was all very welcomed and made the experience much more enjoyable.
The strongest part of ShB might just be the beginning, the first quests where the WoL gets to the Crystarium and goes on to find Alphinaud and Alisaie. The start of the expansion is so strong there was a concern it couldn't keep up with itself. After a couple more quests, before going to Il Mheg, the game had already layed out a good foundation of what is the overarching plot.
The following quests going through Il Mheg & Rak'Tika Greatwood were a bit of a slowburner. While Il Mheg had a lot of graphical strengths to it, highly contrasting the more neutral colors and the more urgent themes of other locales, it feels a bit out of place with what is happening in the game in terms of scenery. The dungeon and trial of the zone are incredible, though. But Raki'tika just felt like a poor man's Black Shroud, even though its own lore felt a lot more solid than Il Mheg.
But even then, those two areas are incredible in terms of scope, if you take all of the expansion into consideration. The highlight, for me at least, is Lakeland in its entirety - the color palette and its local significance weigh heavy on the feel of the game.
Up until Mt. Gulg, Shadowbringers builds up semi-consistently, getting better and better until where a very predictable thing happens that if you're not paying attention, or don't care enough, won't really matter. There's a sudden dip in the pace that felt a bit wrong, but given how the rest of the plot plays out, when you reach The Tempest and therefore, the last area of the game, it all makes sense.
The last couple stretches of the main scenario are in themselves probably some of the best worldbuilding the game has since HW. Amaurot and everything around it ties up a lot of the things surrounding Emet-Selch and the Ascians and provide a lot of context for events that happened in the past in a very strong, emotional way. This was FFXIV at its best. The only thing remotely similar to this were the convos between the main cast and Hraesvelgr in HW, and that is saying a lot.
All this is good and all, but the character development of the main cast of Scions cannot be understated, mainly Alisaie and Thancred. Thancred specifically felt like he finally had his character spotlight during the middle section of the expansion, with the help of Ryne coming into her own character. Alisaie has been showing growth since SB, mainly the patches, and it finally feels like she is an actual Scion in terms of individuality, and not just someone to contrast Alphinaud.
But the WoL having actual stakes and having to deal with actual direct consequences of their actions make the emersion all that special, even if sometimes overdone. Since Haurchefant's death in HW that we haven't had that much weight on our characters for a while, and ShB surpasses that immensly. The way that the final cutscenes of the expansion hint at something bigger shows it - we're not just characters doing heroic things without nuance. There's meaning and weight to it.
Mechanically, we have some of the best instances in the game. Albeit dungeon and trial wise not being as strong as the previous expansion, they're still fun and tricky enough to keep themselves interesting. The Crystarium and Eulmore feel like actual hub cities, not just big in scale for the sake of it, but they have actual meaning in their structure and plot.
Overall, Shadowbringers might be as good if not better than Heavensward, like previously stated. Despite being a very FF-esque story, it has enough high points to put it on the top of the ranking of the expansions of XIV specifically. But, while we could sort of see HW as its own specific game, transcending itself outside of FFXIV, we need the overarching themes of the main game to take full appreciation of Shadowbringers. Still, it's not important to determine if one is better than the other.
Shadowbringers is absolutely worth the time and effort to go through it, and can't be recommended enough.
4.5/5
Ever since I started following (but not playing) FFXIV, back to the time period between ShB and EW, I've always read how Shadowbringers was some of the best gaming could offer. After I went through Heavensward, I heralded it as one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had - it had everything I loved in games, despite feeling somewhat dated for today's standards. Shadowbringers, on the other hand, is probably as good (if not better) than the critically acclaimed expansion.
Stormblood suffered from strange dips in the pacing, despite having great gameplay in terms of dungeons and trials. Doma Castle might still be one of my favourite dungeons to go through on the Roulette, and Azim Steppe is still one of my favourite locales in the game. Throughout the patches, the story picked up incredibly nicely, with the clear spotlight on the Yotsuyu/Tsukiyomi arc, which was incredibly written and played out. Some of the loose ends that were problems during SB's MSQ were nicely tied together, and the connections made with the overarching plot of FFXIV felt necessary and not rushed at all, despite some clear cop-outs that felt a bit too wishywashy for what the story was trying to entail.
But, despite that, the introduction to Shadowbringers, how the story was introduced, how we get there, was really well done. The hints of other "worlds", the introduction of fan favourite Emet-Selch, the Ascian behind the creation of the Garlean Empire and the return of the Crystal Tower as not just a AR setting but an actual important place in the main plot of the game was all very welcomed and made the experience much more enjoyable.
The strongest part of ShB might just be the beginning, the first quests where the WoL gets to the Crystarium and goes on to find Alphinaud and Alisaie. The start of the expansion is so strong there was a concern it couldn't keep up with itself. After a couple more quests, before going to Il Mheg, the game had already layed out a good foundation of what is the overarching plot.
The following quests going through Il Mheg & Rak'Tika Greatwood were a bit of a slowburner. While Il Mheg had a lot of graphical strengths to it, highly contrasting the more neutral colors and the more urgent themes of other locales, it feels a bit out of place with what is happening in the game in terms of scenery. The dungeon and trial of the zone are incredible, though. But Raki'tika just felt like a poor man's Black Shroud, even though its own lore felt a lot more solid than Il Mheg.
But even then, those two areas are incredible in terms of scope, if you take all of the expansion into consideration. The highlight, for me at least, is Lakeland in its entirety - the color palette and its local significance weigh heavy on the feel of the game.
Up until Mt. Gulg, Shadowbringers builds up semi-consistently, getting better and better until where a very predictable thing happens that if you're not paying attention, or don't care enough, won't really matter. There's a sudden dip in the pace that felt a bit wrong, but given how the rest of the plot plays out, when you reach The Tempest and therefore, the last area of the game, it all makes sense.
The last couple stretches of the main scenario are in themselves probably some of the best worldbuilding the game has since HW. Amaurot and everything around it ties up a lot of the things surrounding Emet-Selch and the Ascians and provide a lot of context for events that happened in the past in a very strong, emotional way. This was FFXIV at its best. The only thing remotely similar to this were the convos between the main cast and Hraesvelgr in HW, and that is saying a lot.
All this is good and all, but the character development of the main cast of Scions cannot be understated, mainly Alisaie and Thancred. Thancred specifically felt like he finally had his character spotlight during the middle section of the expansion, with the help of Ryne coming into her own character. Alisaie has been showing growth since SB, mainly the patches, and it finally feels like she is an actual Scion in terms of individuality, and not just someone to contrast Alphinaud.
But the WoL having actual stakes and having to deal with actual direct consequences of their actions make the emersion all that special, even if sometimes overdone. Since Haurchefant's death in HW that we haven't had that much weight on our characters for a while, and ShB surpasses that immensly. The way that the final cutscenes of the expansion hint at something bigger shows it - we're not just characters doing heroic things without nuance. There's meaning and weight to it.
Mechanically, we have some of the best instances in the game. Albeit dungeon and trial wise not being as strong as the previous expansion, they're still fun and tricky enough to keep themselves interesting. The Crystarium and Eulmore feel like actual hub cities, not just big in scale for the sake of it, but they have actual meaning in their structure and plot.
Overall, Shadowbringers might be as good if not better than Heavensward, like previously stated. Despite being a very FF-esque story, it has enough high points to put it on the top of the ranking of the expansions of XIV specifically. But, while we could sort of see HW as its own specific game, transcending itself outside of FFXIV, we need the overarching themes of the main game to take full appreciation of Shadowbringers. Still, it's not important to determine if one is better than the other.
Shadowbringers is absolutely worth the time and effort to go through it, and can't be recommended enough.
4.5/5
This review contains spoilers
Despite the abrupt change in pace from one of the biggest plot arcs hinted during ARR and HW, Stormblood is a fine piece of storytelling that only loses it's own pace by the quest structure, the abrupt changes in scenery, and the overall very bland looks of Gyr Abania.
The Doma Liberation plot albeit very well executed, felt like a filler story that perhaps deserved a better way to tell itself, and not just be a means to an end - but it did introduce two beautiful locales with Yanxia and Azim Steppe, and the city of Kugane being a beautifull city contrasting to the grim heroicism of Ishgard. The Ruby Sea, on the other hand, despite delivering what it promises, felt very empty at times during its exploration. The Fringes, Peaks and the Lochs felt like an extension of Thanalan, despite their variety in mobs and overall structures.
The character growth of Lyse is a big success in this expansion, as well the exploration of other characters like Alisaie. The liberation of Ala Mhigo and the victory over Zenos and Shinryu in The Royal Menagerie felt very triumphant, which proved itself to be a very fitting ending to this plotline.
The dungeons and trails for the MSQ of Stormblood were some of the best in FFXIV until this point of the story - the highlights being The Sirensog Sea, Doma Castle and Emanation.
Overall, while not being as close as how incredible Heavensward was, it was still a more engaging story than ARR. Stormblood only really suffered from abrupt changes in pace and some really strange questing choices.
Now onwards to the Post-Stormblood patches, and Shadowbringers.
4/5
The Doma Liberation plot albeit very well executed, felt like a filler story that perhaps deserved a better way to tell itself, and not just be a means to an end - but it did introduce two beautiful locales with Yanxia and Azim Steppe, and the city of Kugane being a beautifull city contrasting to the grim heroicism of Ishgard. The Ruby Sea, on the other hand, despite delivering what it promises, felt very empty at times during its exploration. The Fringes, Peaks and the Lochs felt like an extension of Thanalan, despite their variety in mobs and overall structures.
The character growth of Lyse is a big success in this expansion, as well the exploration of other characters like Alisaie. The liberation of Ala Mhigo and the victory over Zenos and Shinryu in The Royal Menagerie felt very triumphant, which proved itself to be a very fitting ending to this plotline.
The dungeons and trails for the MSQ of Stormblood were some of the best in FFXIV until this point of the story - the highlights being The Sirensog Sea, Doma Castle and Emanation.
Overall, while not being as close as how incredible Heavensward was, it was still a more engaging story than ARR. Stormblood only really suffered from abrupt changes in pace and some really strange questing choices.
Now onwards to the Post-Stormblood patches, and Shadowbringers.
4/5