Creating a decent MMORPG takes several years and even when you hype the community up, there’s still no guarantee that the MMORPG you’re building will be successful. There are still not many MMORPGs that still live to tell their fantastic tale. Also it’s rare to have an MMORPG with a decent community that gets upgraded with quality of life improvements and yearly expansions. Until this day, there’s only one MMORPG that truly turned their disastrous launch into one of the most successful MMORPG out there, namely FFXIV. The dedication of the development team is one for in the history books of gaming.
Final Fantasy XIV, a game with a couple of years in the sack has been growing its popularity due to the awful commotion that’s been stirred in the WOW community. The game seems to be more popular than ever and I’m truly convinced that the latest expansion will only let this popularity grow. Final Fantasy XIV – Endwalker, the latest expansion is the last chapter that will put an end to the original storyline that Final Fantasy XIV- a realm reborn has started. It’s the end of an era that will leave your body soulless but in a good way!
“The storyline won’t disappoint!”
The Warrior of Light or the Warrior of Darkness (with the previous expansion in mind) and his/her company ended the soul eaters era with the ending of Shadowbringers. Just like any other expansion, the post-questing line for Endwalker gives you a couple of moments to catch your breath before the last chapter of FFXIV truly begins. The pace starts off slow but quickly you’ll realize that you’re on a bullet train that will only go faster and faster… until it meets its end and will end in a blast. Shadowbringers was already an expansion that heightened the level of quality, so I was starting Endwalker with an earie feeling hoping the game would keep the same quality level as before or even reach another heightened level of quality. I can now say, the game truly exceeded my expectations. They have ended the story the best they could and couldn’t have set the stage for the new story arc any better. The storyline won’t disappoint!
The expansion brings the WOL to whole array of different places, places you wouldn’t expect like for example the moon. If there’s a game that can transport a hero to the moon without the community asking questions, it will definitely be Final Fantasy. Not only will you visit this cold and dark place, but there’s also the warm desert land Thavnair or the kingdom of Garlemand. Labyrinthos will also be an interesting place for you to visit. There are also 2 main cities where your hero will find its refuge, namely Old Sharlayan en Radz-At-Han, two totally completely different styled cities that are keen for the eyes in their own way. You’ll see that they both have been influenced by 2 different cultures.
“It has a very high learning curve but truly worth it in the end.”
The game also gives the player the opportunity to experiment with their own WOL. You’re now able to create a male Viera and test out 2 different classes: The Sage (protective healer) and The Reaper (dimensional DPS). The Sage origin tries to bring science, magic, and technology together. The job uses multiple cybernetic individually powered burst engine sage’s arms that can protect tanks and dps with a magical barrier. The magical barrier needs to be consumed by absorbing damage so that the Sage can use offensive abilities to bring down powerful opponents. It has a very high learning curve but truly worth it in the end. The Reaper Job has a more straightforward course of Scythe actions that’ll build up his dps meter that will eventually fuel its dimensional avatar. This Job is one of the most powerful DPS-job that uses the dark arts to penetrate the enemy’s armor. It’s fast and it hits hard. The Scythe weapon is just amazing to wield. Other Jobs have been slightly reworked and the developers made a few tweaks to mainstream a lot of the jobs. There’s only one job that truly has been totally reworked and that’s the summoner.
The Old Summoner job will Damage-Over-Time abilities and use its summoned Carbuncle to attack. This mechanic wasn’t even supposed to happen but it did. When you’re getting stronger, you could summon the Phoenix or Bahamut for a short time and deliver great burst attacks. The current Summoner Job focuses on what the people first expected when they heard the job description for Summoner. A wielder who could summon the primals to do the battle for them. FFXIV is all about the primal, so the job description would definitely be suited for this MMORPG and now it truly plays like the description would explain. This summoner summons a static carbuncle that’s been used to vessel other titans. After some abilities, you could use your Carbuncle to summon smaller versions of the basic primal Garuda (Wind), Ifrit (Fire), Titan (earth). It’s a strong build and a decent rework of the Summoner’s job.
“Even though it’s a small flaw, it’s not game breaking.”
Endwalker also tries to implement a few small tweaks to improve the game’s current build. Since the release of Shadowbringers, NPC’s can be used to do dungeons instead of real people. It’s great to have this because eventually, you’ll notice that FFXIV’s focus is mainly the solo story. Then again the MMORPG genre is only “true to its genre” if you could interact with other players and do group content. It’s great to see the developers concentrating on the solo story experience as well because not everyone is just that social. Endwalker continues with this trend and the interactions between the NPC’s are also a lot more dynamic. Some NPCs will now follow you around while you’re playing. I just love this idea and enhances the bond you have with your company. If you’ve played Shadowbringers, you’ll probably love this idea as well because you could definitely feel that the developers also focused on the background story of all of your companions. Then again this idea doesn’t come with its flaws. It’s interesting to have those NPCs following you and it’s great that they’ll tell some things while you’re playing, but without the use of voiceovers, you won’t always read what the NPC has to say. Even though it’s a small flaw, it’s not game-breaking. Just a point of criticism to make the game even better. But I do have to admit that I get why they didn’t do it. Voiceovers aren’t really discreet and this can break your immersion sometimes as well.
Belts also have been removed from the game, in order to compensate for this removal, you can now have more items in your bag. There has also been a hard reset of your experience bar since they slightly revamped the leveling experience. For the players who weren’t leveling, it isn’t a concern but other players who were leveling might have lost some experience during this change. It’s a good thing that FFXIV offers so many non-grindable activities that help with gaining experience. Endwalker’s main quest also tries to simulate the more casual players by giving you a lot of experience during the completion of the main scenario. It is possible for casual players to journey through the story without the need of queuing for too many dungeons, even though the dungeons have been top-notch as usual. Housing and the gold Saucer also have some new things added to your list, so make sure you visit both these “underrated” sections of the game. The developers also have stated that they will implement an expansive housing feature in the future where the player will be able to get and maintain its own piece of land. On this land, you will be able to host minions that can help you with the maintenance of your island. See it as Final Fantasy’s take on Animal Crossing.
“I understand the frustration of some players, but it’s a game worth waiting for.”
There were some issues during the launch of Endwalker but take this with a grain of salt. An MMORPG launch of an expansion tends to overwhelm the server’s capacities and will give waiting for ques. This is a normal thing, however, FFXIV had unexpected major waiting queues ( sometimes 5 hours, depending on the server) due to the fact that FFXIV gained popularity over the last few months by WOW refugees. This is mainly because of the aggravated situation in Blizzard’s headquarters and important WOW-streamers like Asmongold that streamed their Final Fantasy try-outs.
Because of the popularity, Square Enix was forced to stop the sales of their MMORPG and wait it out until the moment their servers became stable. I understand the frustration of some players, but it’s a game worth waiting for. This “waiting time” has eventually passed, so I can’t see this as an “important” problem with the game. Square Enix even gave a couple of free subscription days to compensate for this frustration. Waiting times are no fun, but eventually, the community will benefit from this popularity because of the fact that there will be more people to play with.
Conclusion:
FFXIV has ended their story arc with a great and satisfying ending. The ending will come with a new beginning and it just made me excited for the next chapter or even direction they’re willing to go to. I’m truly honored to be a part of this community and I will honestly tell you this game doesn’t disappoint in so many ways. The development team has made their promise with the re-launch of their game. The team sees their community as the important villagers of their game and they would do anything to keep their promise, also due to the passion of the game’s director Yoshida. His heart truly lies with FFXIV and I salute him for giving me so many years of enjoyment.
(Yoshida cosplaying the new job “Reaper”)
I don’t often give “high scores” to games because there’s always something that could have been done otherwise or needs fixing but this time I’ll make an honest exception.The journey this development team has made is an example of how many developers should treat their game and community, and I can only salute them for being this amazing true to their game. If only there were more of these developers that couldn’t bear the thought of delivering an unfinished game with an in-game shop, only to get the most money out of the people who play their game. FFXIV is a true example of how it should be, an example to deliver to the community’s expectations, an example of a true single-player story within an MMORPG genre, and an example of worth your money and time. You won’t find a better MMORPG game that focuses on both casual and veteran players and doesn’t take your spent time and money for granted. Hats off to the development team, because you guys truly deserve the attention you’re getting. Endwalker doesn’t disappoint and neither does FFXIV in general.
10/10
tested on PC
