![]() ![]() The true villain in Endwalker, though, is nihilism. Sadly, Zenos goes nowhere for the vast majority of Endwalker, but his story ends on a high (and hype) note, so I ultimately found myself willing to forgive how the narrative lets him stagnate for so long. Fandaniel, in particular, gets some much-needed character development that fleshes him out and makes him more interesting and tragic by the end of the game. Though they do not rise to the level of Shadowbringers’ Emet-Selch - and really, who could? - I was mostly satisfied with their implementation in the expansion. ![]() The whole thing feels like a celebration of the Warrior of Light’s journey and all the people they’ve befriended along the way.īefore moving on, a brief word about the antagonists in Endwalker. I’m not even talking about just the Scions secondary characters from previous expansions, companions from old Alliance Raids and trial series’, and even old job quest NPCs all make appearances. ![]() FFXIV would not be the same without them, and Endwalker wisely cashes in on that emotional capital to great effect. That Endwalker was able to bring me to tears multiple times is a testament not only to the story but to the characters we’ve spent almost ten years forging bonds with. I cried several times, and let me stress that I don’t often cry when playing video games. There are a few more periods of downtime that slow the pace a bit, but the narrative otherwise moves at a good clip to the climactic conclusion.Īnd what a conclusion it is! There are so many emotional moments leading up to the finale, and the spectacle of the final confrontation with the primary antagonist absolutely feels appropriately epic. From that point on, all bets are off, and the story repeatedly surprises you with twists and increasingly high stakes. At first, it occasionally feels like things are dragging a bit, but midway through the first half of the main scenario, things start picking up, leading to an explosive - and frankly unexpected - first trial. The story starts off a little slow there is more setup to get through than usual because of the conclusory nature of this expansion. Endwalker is just as good as, and in some ways even better than, its predecessor, and I found myself surprised that they not only pulled it off, but that I ever really doubted they would in the first place.Įndwalker begins with the Scions heading off to Sharlayan, a somewhat reclusive nation that may have vital information about the apocalyptic Final Days that Zenos and his Ascian companion Fandaniel seem to want to unleash on the planet. However, I’m pleased to say that those fears ended up being unwarranted. Shadowbringers was just so amazing, and it was hard to imagine that Square Enix could match it, let alone top it. I wrote multiple glowing reviews of the patches, but in the back of my mind, I was always worried about the next expansion. Between 5.0 proper and 5.3, the main story solidified itself as not only the best in Final Fantasy XIV’s history, but also as one of the best in the entire series. 2019’s Shadowbringers was an absolute triumph. ![]()
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