Playing Shadowbringers and Endwalker back-to-back within the span of a month has done irreversible and devastating damage to my psyche. I'm not sure how one can top this run in future expansions, but I guess we'll see.

The plot lacked some depth to me, and a lot of actions felt like they were unnecessary or lacked proper explanation. More personally, I wish we got to see more of Elpis, this zone had so much potential for further exploration and stories. Still, the expansion was very enjoyable, and is overall carried by the charming dialogue, beautiful ost, and the emotional payoff of this journey.

I now embrace the eternal Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus brainrot.

This game and this expac changed my life. Like there's a certain experience that just cant be found anywhere else than in mmos. Playing this on release and seeing discussion revolving different parts of the story, talking about things with friends, travelling the journey with new friends you've made along the way; its just magical. All of the memories you make, the challenges you overcome, and the growth you have, on top of just having a fantastic game overall is amazing. Endwalker specifically really feels like the culmination of the entire final fantasy franchises lifespan come into appreciation of its players. Will probably forever remain my favorite game.

After two years of journeying through the vast, rich world of Eorzea, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker brought me to a poignant, reflective halt as I watched the credits roll. This is more than simply a game review; it's an account of a transformative experience, a celebration of the art of storytelling, and an exploration of the core of what it is to be human. I've been thinking about this masterpiece for four days, and now I'm ready to express my opinions.

I'd like to briefly touch upon the gameplay. My gaming experience was completely changed by the addition of NPCs who followed and interacted with me on my adventures instead of just meeting up at certain locations. Checkpoint dialogues with characters like as G'raha, Alisaie, Estinien, and many more seemed more like genuine moments of connection and narrative richness than just marks of progress. With the addition of what could be the best combat music in the series, the dungeons and trials turned every battle into an unforgettable symphony of hardship and victory. The music crafted by Masayoshi Soken, particularly the songs On Blade's Edge, The Final Day, and Flow Together, has greatly raised the bar for my favorite OSTs alongside Shadowbringers.

The story of Endwalker, interlaced with the rich fabric of Ascian mythology, unveiled an epic full of existential crises and deep epiphanies. The plot took a surprising and profound turn with Zodiark's early demise, along with Hermes and Meteion's inclusion to the narrative. The story of Meteion, who's sisters traveled the universe and saw horrors far and wide, offered a tragic picture that forced reevaluation of how fleeting existence is in the face of unavoidable disintegration.

The Ultima Thule expedition is the apex of Endwalker's narrative. Close in the Distance did more than just establish the mood; when it slowly filled the eerie, hollow spaces of this last zone, it spoke straight to my soul. As I struggled with existential dread, this music, resonating through the memories of departed civilizations and Scions, became a source of understanding for me. It emphasized the idea of accepting death as a necessary part of life—not with hopelessness, but with a resolve to treasure each brief moment and stand tall.

One of the highlights of my gaming experience was facing the Endsinger as a Paladin. Final Fantasy XIV did what it does best—it flipped the script in the most dramatic and exhilarating way possible. As we braced for our inevitable defeat with the second Oblivion, the Scions' voices pierced through the despair and With Hearts Aligned began to play. After feeling so hopeless before, I couldn't help but yell with excitement. The dramatic shift from being on the edge of defeat to being carried away by this wave of hope and encouragement from well-loved characters was a masterful work of narrative and emotional design that demonstrated the game's unmatched storytelling abilities.

And then I reached true turning point of Endwalker—the confrontation with Zenos, the pinnacle of a conflict that spanned three expansions. When Zenos asked if I enjoyed the same thrills from fighting to the death, I replied that I did, a moment that chilled my spine and brought to light the complex relationship between enemies. My character Guinevere's sly acknowledgement of the rivalry, which had been built up over years of story development, highlighted this battle as more than simple one; it was a very intimate affair that signaled the end of an era and the deep journey I, as a player, had begun.

I could talk forever about this expansion, or better still, Final Fantasy XIV in its entirety. It's one of those rare games that completely changed the way I thought about video games as a medium. It's been a life-changing experience that has altered the way I think about video game storytelling and its ability to reflect the complexity of existential reflection, love, and life. Beyond just being entertained during the course of these two years, I have learned invaluable lessons about life's meaning, the importance of spending time with the people we love, and the courage that comes with accepting what is unavoidable.

Not only has Creative Business Unit III created a masterclass game, but they have crafted a profoundly uplifting experience that goes beyond the digital realm and touches the very essence of what it is to be human. I sincerely invite anyone who is intimidated by the complexity of massively multiplayer online games to give Eorzea a try. The Final Fantasy XIV experience is completely transformational, the journey is extensive, and the teachings are priceless. I look forward to the release of Dawntrail this July.

Thank you, Naoki Yoshida.

Endwalker is an excellent ending to Final Fantasy XIV- so much so that it makes me nervous for Dawntrail. But enough about that. The range of emotions it made me feel was second to none. The cast, after four expansions worth of development and time, is engaging. The content is fantastic; Endwalker's dungeons and trials are most welcome after Shadowbringers failed to live up to the standard that Stormblood set so badly, in my opinion. The music is great and the budget is higher than ever. The themes resonate with me, specifically. And the ending... I sincerely cannot even think about the ending without my adrenaline spiking. Truly, Endwalker is Final Fantasy FFXIV at its peak.

This is, up until this point, however, about the base game. As for the patch content? Pretty alright. I was fortunate enough to already be a Final Fantasy IV fan, but I'm not sure how much others will get out of it if they aren't. Beyond the references, it feels very disconnected from everything that had happened beforehand, but that's to be expected, and it's even welcome. It can just feel a bit abrupt, is all. Regardless, the content is still very, very fun. The trials in particular were a welcome surprise. Oh, and Pandæmonium and Myths of the Realm were fine. Certainly not the best that FFXIV's normal raids and alliance raids respectively have to offer in any regard.

I do have some other nitpicks, and they're mostly to do with narrative. The pacing is some of the weirdest I've seen in the game, I have some concerns with how Garlemald is handled in the end, and, although beautiful and more than worth it, the final area of the game really, really seems to drag. That all said, I cannot emphasize enough just how much Endwalker ended up meaning to me. I look forward to the future of this game, cautiously optimistic and, in spite of such, hyped as hell.

Base MSQ: 10/10

Pacing issues aside, that last zone and the finale is something else. They'll never be another ending like it. An absolute rollercoaster. You'll cry, you'll laugh, you'll cheer. A final act for the ages as the curtain draws down on the play, as a certain character would put it.

A perfect conclusion to FFXIV's decade long story.

"No more shall man have wings to bear him to Paradise. Henceforth, he shall walk."

"As fragmented, imperfect beings, yours is a never-ending quest.
A quest to find your purpose, knowing your end is assured.
To find the strength to continue, when all strength has left you.
To find joy, even as darkness descends...
...and amidst deepest despair, light everlasting."

FINAL FANTASY XIV REVIEW



ENDWALKER
8.0/10


Sempre ouvi dizer que este era o melhor conteudo existente de final fantasy e talvez isso tenha aumentado as minhas expectativas.. de fato, é muito rico e muito bom, mas também repete muitos erros de seus antecessores. Para quem chegou até aqui, ao presenciar o seu começo, irá se sentir exausto, esperando uma recompensa, o que não é bem o que acontece (até a sua fantástica reta final..)
No final das contas, Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker marcou o fim de uma era. Os tópicos da trama de A Realm Reborn em diante chegam ao fim. A história está repleta de alarde, prestando homenagem às expansões passadas de maneiras que às vezes parecem excessivas ou acertadas. Embora a história não seja tão eficaz quanto poderia ser, os ajustes de combate e as melhorias na qualidade de vida tornam Endwalker uma forte expansão.
Ótimas batalhas, ótimas musicas, personagens novos muito legais, porém no tanto com uma plot cheio de conveniências e para qualquer desatento, vai se pegar várias vezes confuso e revisitando o conteúdo anterior para se atenar na história.

I wouldn't consider myself the biggest XIV fan but this game definitely has its moments under all that tedium and monotony of a tab targeting MMO that being said I'm a little disappointed in endwalker, I don't think that endwalker is a bad expac mind you far from it I think what EW brings to the table is excellent but having said that this story really needed another comb over because it is rife with incredibly weak execution and the most monotonous filler I've seen in an MMO so far.

I'm not exactly against the pacing in XIV but it can absolutely murder interest if you're going from expansion to expansion with an ever unchanging pacing structure that seems designed to waste as much time as possible while forsaking giving plot elements actual time to breathe the fact garlemald and zodiark are handled in the actual story feels really weak and somewhat insulting if you were expecting these plot elements to take up more then two quest chains then the story has to take a huge detour to actually set up and tell you what its going to do in the next 5 or so hours and frankly I was really exhausted by the time I was approaching the last few quest chains.

Again this is not to say i despise or even dislike EW's story but man that second half really needed another look over the whole end of the world aspect doesn't feel as urgent as it should either the towers are completely forgotten about within like 2 hours of story and I never felt pressured to do anything which is a far cry from a game they released much later XVI which actually handled that aspect far better and grander then they did.

Good expansion, mediocre for a decent chunk story and really bad story I think people are possibly crazy for thinking this was better then shadowbringers lol.