Since the thing that stood out to me the most from Heavensward was 3.4, I knew I was going to like Shadowbringers, but I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It fully blew me away.
On account of having social media accounts I have seen Emet-Selch literally everywhere and I knew he was the sort of character I'd enjoy, and I picked up the game for him and him alone, but even with all that in mind I severely underestimated how much I was really going to love the guy. But Shadowbringers is strong, even without him, and my favorite part of the entire game (5.3) doesn't even feature him (unless you wanna be nitpicky about Seat of Sacrifice).
ShB says hold on tight, we're going to talk about grief now, and it does so within the first 10 or so quests, which is really nice compared to HVW and STB which take a while to ramp up their respective plots. And it does NOT hold any punches. Towards the end of my time with ShB I was crying pretty much every time I was playing. Did I mention 5.3?
ShB recontextualizes pretty much every mid JRPG choice XIV made into something far more poignant and special for its particular narrative, the Echo being the strongest example IMO, but concepts such as light and dark also shine here -- and again, have I mentioned 5.3?
Semi-vague list of things I loved:
Emet. Duh. Everything about him. I love him.
5.3. In case I haven't said it enough.
Ryne and Thancred's arc.
Ran'jit is the strongest side villain imo.
Ardbert's arc. The moment at the end of 5.0 yeah you know the one. HYPE
The music that plays in Amaurot. I was fully expecting some final stretch JRPG music. Instead we are given a somber, yet wistful song backdropped by the sound of the clock ticking, which really accentuates the tragedy of Emet's character.
Any scene with Seto. I was sobbing every time
The role quests (I cheated here and watched the role quests on YouTube bc I could NOT be bothered to try and learn one of every class ok but they are still SO good)
The Exarch and specifically the way he juggles duty/responsibility vs his desire of being youthful at heart. A very fun personality dynamic at play in this guy. I will miss this in Endwalker.
THE MUSIC IN AMH ARAENG
More dialogue options as the WoL!! Thank god!!!
And finally, the dialogue in general. What a massive upgrade. I started taking screenshots just so I could remember some of the quotes I loved.
Anyways, this was entirely worth all of the build-up in XIV's prior expacs, and the writing is so strong that I ended up streaming a bit of the end of 5.0 for a friend who knows little to nothing about XIV except for what I've told them and even THEY were emotionally impacted by its narrative. THAT SAID, I have a ton of free time after work so it was easy for me to load up the game and play a little bit each day to get to this point. The best thing I can recommend to people who want the ShB experience but are way busier than me is that they go play one of the two Nier games (I like Replicant more) since they will also eviscerate you emotionally and they tackle a lot of the same themes as ShB.
I am REALLY excited for Endwalker.
On account of having social media accounts I have seen Emet-Selch literally everywhere and I knew he was the sort of character I'd enjoy, and I picked up the game for him and him alone, but even with all that in mind I severely underestimated how much I was really going to love the guy. But Shadowbringers is strong, even without him, and my favorite part of the entire game (5.3) doesn't even feature him (unless you wanna be nitpicky about Seat of Sacrifice).
ShB says hold on tight, we're going to talk about grief now, and it does so within the first 10 or so quests, which is really nice compared to HVW and STB which take a while to ramp up their respective plots. And it does NOT hold any punches. Towards the end of my time with ShB I was crying pretty much every time I was playing. Did I mention 5.3?
ShB recontextualizes pretty much every mid JRPG choice XIV made into something far more poignant and special for its particular narrative, the Echo being the strongest example IMO, but concepts such as light and dark also shine here -- and again, have I mentioned 5.3?
Semi-vague list of things I loved:
Emet. Duh. Everything about him. I love him.
5.3. In case I haven't said it enough.
Ryne and Thancred's arc.
Ran'jit is the strongest side villain imo.
Ardbert's arc. The moment at the end of 5.0 yeah you know the one. HYPE
The music that plays in Amaurot. I was fully expecting some final stretch JRPG music. Instead we are given a somber, yet wistful song backdropped by the sound of the clock ticking, which really accentuates the tragedy of Emet's character.
Any scene with Seto. I was sobbing every time
The role quests (I cheated here and watched the role quests on YouTube bc I could NOT be bothered to try and learn one of every class ok but they are still SO good)
The Exarch and specifically the way he juggles duty/responsibility vs his desire of being youthful at heart. A very fun personality dynamic at play in this guy. I will miss this in Endwalker.
THE MUSIC IN AMH ARAENG
More dialogue options as the WoL!! Thank god!!!
And finally, the dialogue in general. What a massive upgrade. I started taking screenshots just so I could remember some of the quotes I loved.
Anyways, this was entirely worth all of the build-up in XIV's prior expacs, and the writing is so strong that I ended up streaming a bit of the end of 5.0 for a friend who knows little to nothing about XIV except for what I've told them and even THEY were emotionally impacted by its narrative. THAT SAID, I have a ton of free time after work so it was easy for me to load up the game and play a little bit each day to get to this point. The best thing I can recommend to people who want the ShB experience but are way busier than me is that they go play one of the two Nier games (I like Replicant more) since they will also eviscerate you emotionally and they tackle a lot of the same themes as ShB.
I am REALLY excited for Endwalker.