Some pacing issues aside, Shadowbringers boasts what's probably this game's best storytelling to date. In Norvrandt, Final Fantasy XIV has an incredible post-apocalypse and what's at least facially an interesting subversion of Final Fantasy XIV's centerpiece conflict between "light" and "dark." A handful of story beats are some of this long-running MMO's best, many of them mulled over the course of the last two expansions only to suddenly deliver at Shadowbringers' heights. A few of Final Fantasy XIV's newer characters – as well as a couple of returning faces – are fun and nuanced additions to a game that often struggles with developing its cast. Even the core cast members here find room to grow into something feeling more akin to actual characters.

That's all on top of the usual trappings that make Final Fantasy XIV so special. Aesthetically, this game remains a delight, though Final Fantasy XIV's cozier notes find a little more contrast in the handful of moments where Shadowbringers openly flirts with horror. The boss fighting and raiding at Final Fantasy XIV's core continue to dazzle, and I've yet to find a better communal experience in online gaming.

I know the folks behind Final Fantasy XIV have disowned interpretations of Shadowbringers as a metaphor, but I can't shake the analogs to environmental collapse, and the bureaucratic failure presented in both Amaurot and Sharlayan's response to their worlds' supposed end. I'm not the first person to point this out, but those connections felt more familiar than I'd like as I began Shadowbringers on the tail end of a mismanaged pandemic, during a summer of intense floods and wildfire smoke, and then finished this expansion amid one of my home state's warmest winter seasons on record.

Finally, I'm nervous as this game heads into Endwalker. Chasing Shadowbringers' Emet-Selch with a nihilistic brat and an obsessed rival seems poised to let down, and even at their most theatrical, the set piece battles wrapping up Shadowbringers haven't quite delivered. I'm hoping a few of the narrative seeds planted in Shadowbringers, however, maybe bloom into something more as Endwalker begins in earnest.

You know I didn't actually play this again I'm just thinking that as time goes by I was waaaaay too nice to it lmao. Story revolves around the importance of Law and Order and Great Men. Virulent hatred of fatness. They brought back G'Raha Tia but lobotomized him so his only character trait is wanting to fuck the player now. I dunno what I should actually have given it and it doesn't really matter but god damn the story of FF14 is conservative garbage lol. Fun combat though love to do the trials with pals

FINAL FANTASY XIV REVIEW



SHADOWBRINGERS

9.0/10

PEAK
Shadowbringers está um passo acima de tudo que veio antes dele. A mistura perfeita de jogabilidade cativante e uma história verdadeiramente memorável que rivaliza com aquelas anunciadas pelos fãs há décadas.
PERSONAGENS NOVOS EXCELENTES, PERSONAGENS MEMORÁVEIS, UNIVERSO RIQUISSIMO, TRILHA SONORA IMPECÁVEL, QUESTS DIVERTIDAS, DUNGEONS E BOSSES INSANOS.
Só algumas ressalvas para algumas partes da história e quests que caem na formula de serem repetitivas e cansativas, mas vendo ao todo, é uma experiência riquissima e muito bem feita.
Realmente muito, muito bom!

Endwalker'la birlikte oyun tarihinin yazılmış en iyi hikâyesi kesinlikle.

"Pray don't forget us your bygone kin."

Ölene kadar unutmayacağız sizleri, rahat uyuyun yiğitlerim.

Llevo ya más de 300 horas con el XIV, y si bien todas las partes hasta ahora me han encantado (algunas más que otras), si que es verdad que tenías que ponerle detrás el "para ser un MMORPG" cuándo se lo intentabas vender a alguien. Shadowbringers es muchas cosas, y entre ellas es el claro final de eso, es el momento dónde el juego se justifica por haberte hecho dar mil vueltas y por haberte comido tramas alargadas de forma cuestionable, y la justificación es que básicamente te vas a joder y vas a llorar.
Es increíble lo altísimo que llega la trama principal, lo integrado que está todo desde el principio y lo muchísimo que eleva el conflicto el tener tantísimo camino a tus espaldas. Toda la trama es cojonuda ya desde el concepto, pero las ultimas 3 horas son algo magistral al nivel de lo mejorcito que haya dado la saga.

En definitiva, que auto - causarte síndrome de Estocolmo está de puta madre porque te llevas peak fiction con personajes bonicos, eso y Soken eres lo putisimo superior ojala compongas el tema de mi funeral.

After the last 2 and a half years of Endwalker, all I can think of is... man I miss Shadowbringers. I miss the excellent writing and memorable characters. I miss the plot that felt like it had actual stakes and wasn't afraid to take risks. I miss the beautiful areas and fantastic music. I miss the exciting boss fights. I miss the side story content with Ryne and Gaia - and when EX trials HAD a side story. I miss the underrated Nier raids (and especially when they were tuned correctly...). I especially miss the big group content like Ishgard Restoration and Delubrum Savage. I miss everything about 5.3 and getting patch msq that just hit. Most of all I miss the feeling of wanting to log into the game and see my friends. I don't think Shadowbringers is perfect - Bozja being some of my least favorite content in the game - but most of what we had was truly great and the excitement between the playerbase of "wow, this game is REALLY good!" made it that much more enjoyable. It is truly disappointing that FFXIV would stumble so hard with its next expansion, and I am hoping the future of the game leads back to the incredible heights achieved by Shadowbringers.

Wow. Genuinely a top tier FF experience for me. Shadowbringers boasts not only XIV's darkest writing so far, but also arguably it's most hopeful moments. Not to mention the characters. Characters I already liked were elevated to all time faves, characters I didn't care for became ones I really loved, and new characters quickly became very important to me. The expertly crafted characters, narrative, and environments meshed together to create such an engaging and moving experience that I suspect will stand out as a fave among all the game's I have played. Not everyone likes the setup, but I personally found it really engaging from the start. The twists and turns at the end had me on the edge of my seat, although the identity of a certain hooded man was kinda obvious even if I wasn't aware going into the expansion. That said, it did not hinder how emotionally affected I was by cutscenes relating to that.
There was some big variation in difficulty, with instanced battles like Thancred Vs Ran'jit being quite a challenge while dungeons like the Qitana Ravel being a cakewalk.

Eden, the post game raids, are a MUST if you've played ff8, or even if you haven't. It's a very nice continuation of Ryne's story.

Gameplay: 7/10 - the implementation of the Trust and RP systems were really neat and a good way to further connect with the good characters
Plot: 9/10 - a great twist on the classic FF narrative and a very moving narrative that isn't afraid to let heroes make mistakes and let you sympathize for the villains.
Pacing: 7/10 - the side questing was drastically cut down, and boss mechanics had alot more variety
Visuals: 7/10 - Beautiful environments that really make the most of this game's limited graphics
On it's own, Shadowbringers is almost a 10 for me but in the context of XIV being an MMO and this taking 300-400 hours of content to get to, the way it's situated is so much less than ideal.

Conclusion: 9/10 Emet-Selch reaction images

The setup for XIV's isekai arc is, honestly, rather dumb: Mysterious Hooded Man (wink, wink), time travel, palette swaps of voidsent and so on. But other than that, you have a top-notch adventure in a land, which is a lot like Eorzea yet different; with same familiar faces who went with you through Heavensward and Stormblood, yet more...mature? That mix of old and new, culminating in a massive lore dump at the end, flipping everything you knew about the world of XIV upside down, is the reason Shadowbringers is the best thing ever done by Yoshida and his team.
Also, best trailer/cinematic since "Answers".