#technically spoilers for sb/ew

[thecottageinthedark]

cursed revelations in discord chat today

[winterdeepelegy]

Endwalker finished - thoughts

Personal release ranking:

1. Shadowbringers

2. Heavensward

3. Stormblood

4. Endwalker

5. ARR

6. 1.0

I will preface my opinions by saying that I completely and fully understand the extent of challenges they were dealing with in development, due largely to development happening remotely as a result of the pandemic.  But there are some things they still could have improved upon.

Thoughts/spoilers behind the cut below.

I honestly don’t know how to feel about this one.  After seeing so many people rave about Endwalker, about how “good” it is, and about the feels it invokes, my expectations were pretty high.  Suffice it to say, my experience wasn’t the same in that... I feel like it was lackluster.  It didn’t feel all that impactful to me, and there were definitely things they could have done better, or done with less of. Truth be told, I felt like the end of 1.0 going into ARR really drove home the feeling of dire stakes.  The realm was in imminent danger, and they brought you into the thick of it by showing it happening in real time.  It was interactive beyond one or two dungeons and a slow spread.  You could see it coming. And when it happened, it happened everywhere over Eorzea, in the open and in the cities, it was constant. That, to me, felt more like an “end of the world” scenario than what we just experienced. The only place in EW where I came anywhere close to this feeling was Vanaspati. The skies raining fire is not a new thing in XIV, they’ve been using it since 1.0, and to my brain that felt like an overused flex.  The slow spread of the Final Days “off camera” really made it feel a lot less urgent.  If its affects had started sooner in the course of the MSQ and actually -spread- to more areas as you progressed, especially to the main cities, or had streams of Blasphemies showing up in affected areas, I might have felt differently about it. The last region and leg of the storyline didn’t invoke any feels for me.  Knowing you could undo what was being done to your comrades really took away from how impactful that could have been.  It felt like there were no stakes. “This is fine”. Endwalker could have benefited more from a named NPC or two dying to really drive things home.  Ahewann barely got there, but he was a minor character. Is it fair to say my experience in 1.0 might have colored my reaction to EW?  Yes, it’s entirely possible.  On one hand, I feel like nothing will ever top that moment.  On the other hand, a part of me is glad that this didn’t cheapen that moment as I feared it would. “Oh, you thought Bahamut breaking free was bad? Hold my beer.” It is, however, 100% a FInal Fantasy game and, as some have said, the most Final Fantasy game that ever Final Fantasy’d storywise.  I just wish I could have felt the feels that everyone else felt in the course of playing it. Among the worst parts of EW, imo, were technical decisions.  It really felt like some of the indoor lighting in the new areas was a broad step -backwards- compared to the improvements they made over the course of HW, SB, and ShB. It’s little better in these new areas than it was in early ARR, and really makes characters look terrible. And don’t even get me started on all the follow/stalk quests.  Who thought this - or having so many - was a good idea?  I don’t mind walking around with any of the NPCs, but the fucking follow/stalk quests need to go and whoever thought they were a good idea needs to rethink their career choices.   These were a huge drag and sticking point, and really took away from how enjoyable EW could have been.  The first one I could understand, but past that they didn’t need to keep doing it. The maps of the new zones?  While pretty, most were a pain in the ass to navigate before flight, and certain areas prevented you from acquiring flight until you were later into MSQ.  TWICE. This was cute with Kholusia, but this was a pain in the ass this time dealing with two zones like this.  Slow me down with meaningful story events, don’t slow me down with bad geography design. For positives, the trial boss designs definitely had Yoshitaka Amano all over them.  The designs for Hydaelyn and the Endsinger were INCREDIBLE, especially the latter.  Radz-At-Han has become my favorite of the new locations, which surprised me as I really thought I’d enjoy Sharlayan’s aesthetic more.  Elpis was also stunning, and I could spend oodles of time just hanging around there.  As for the Loporitts, I’d happily go anywhere the adorable little bunny people wanted me to go. The ending? Pretty satisfying over all, and both looking forward to and dreading whatever comes next, in equal measure. They’re going to be hard pressed to top the last decade. All in all, it’s a fair wrap-up of 11 years of continuous storyline.  Honestly, I’m content, I just still feel like it could have been a lot more than what was delivered.