Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Stormblood was a standout because it continued the epic scale of the previous games and amped it up a bit. It also featured one of my favorite villains from any game in the form of Zenos. Along with that it added more complexity to dungeons and combat which was nice. Shadowbringers does all that but better.

First of all this is the best story of all the games by far. It represents the culmination of basically everything from the previous games. You finally get to meet the emperor, you learn that the empire was started by the Ascians, they bring together all the characters from the previous games in an epic battle, it ties together the heroes from the original trailer for the game, and brings back the Crystal Tower. It's all so epic and cool, learning about the background of the Ascians. And even just the lore and history of the new world you visit. I loved the plot of Vauthrys becoming like a god, I loved the sin eaters-- all so cool. And it almost all ends up revolving around my favorite villain perhaps from any videogame. Even better than Zenos. Emet-Selch.

He kind of fits the trope of the devil-may-care villain. Aloof and whimsical in nature. He as I mentioned is the progenitor for the entirety of the empire and he reveals the background of the Ascians, Hydaelyn, and Zodiark. Oh man he's so cool. So carefree so unpredictable in how he initially helps the party by rescuing Yshtola from death. And that alone would have him be one of my favorites but I think his real strength as a character is how his motives are so well fleshed out. By the end of the game I actually saw eye-to-eye with him.His motivations-- wanting to restore his home world and all his friends lives-- are completely understandable. The Ascians lived in a perfect utopia. Why wouldn't he try to bring it back? He walks around with this slumped style, a cool idiosyncracy, but someone else called out that it might be that he's literally weighed down with the burden of trying to restore his people for millennia and millennia all alone. A tragic and sad existence. When you defeat him he says "Remember us" and instead of it feeling like a victory it feels like a tragic loss. Oh man what a great character.

And of course gameplay-wise it's really more of the same. With the exception of the dungeons, trials, and raids all being amped up. I had to watch videos before pretty much every dungeon in this game because they really were that complicated. And even with all that prep we wiped on two of the harder encounters (the fight with the big sphynx thing before Emet-Selch and the trial against Elidibus).

I loved this game. And now I'm only concerned that the final game is not going to live up. All we have left is Zenos and this new Fandaniel Ascian who just seems like a Joker-like figure of chaos. Their motivations are clear and kind of 2 dimensional. I'll guess we'll see this fall because I'm finally caught up!

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2022-09-01
Also holy shit I'm relistening to the soundtrack and Who Brings Shadow is fucking epic song to play during the lead up (during? I can't remember) to the final boss. Def gave me shivers and listening to now still reminds me of what an epic crescendo this game was in the story.

Get fucked Endwalkers lol.