How do you put the last six years of your life into a fifty+ hour experience and have it succeed? Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker did just that.

Endwalker is an emotionally unrelenting journey throughout the history of Eorzea and the conflict that has existed since time began. We explore what it means to survive, long, and hope. We understand the plight of those who came before us, and look to those around us in our times of need. Naoki Yoshida, Masayoshi Soken, and the hundreds of others that have worked on this story thus far created an absolutely phenomenal ending to an unforgettable saga.

Beautiful zones, great music, and a story that rivals if not succeeds most non MMO's all exist within FFXIV: Endwalker. Fans of the game and newcomers alike will feel exceedingly vindicated playing through the game and completing the jawdropping expansion.

I've owned Final Fantasy XIV for six years. I've joined an FC and met many new friends who I will continue to know and cherish for years to come. It's with this that completing FFXIV: Endwalker doesn't feel like beating a video game, yet closing one of the greatest chapters of my life.

EDIT: There is a notice of; "This review was written before the game released" on the top of of what I have written. This review was written post release of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker's early access period, which probably was also before the game's retail release date.

Growing up I never understood how or why people got so invested in games like Runescape or World of Warcraft when they launched in 04. FF14 became that game for me and I totally understand now. This emotional journey that we've been through with these characters since 2014 finally reaches the ending of its first major story act.

Overall this expansions leveling is pretty solid though some of the tailing quests are pretty questionable; however the game makes up for it with it's call backs to FF history and over the top trial encounters. I never thought I would see a game that topped MGS4's Liquid Snake fist fight let alone a MMORPG.

I can't rate the endgame raiding or Ultimates yet as they have yet to come out but the EX trials are amazing compared to SHB or SB with a higher difficulty curve for seasoned raiders.

Overall so far Endwalker has met my expectations for the MSQ and I can't wait to see if it shatters my Raid and Ultimate expectations!

Welcome and well met, my brave little spark
How long you've wandered, burned bright as a star
Oh I have longed waiting patiently all this time
Past every fate, now sing with me once more
Share of your life far greater than memory
These lost and loved words can not hold
Boundless, the tale overflows and carries your light out to sea

As the end to a saga spanning all the way back to the game's beginnings, Endwalker had a lot to live up to. And by and large, it sticks the landing.

The story is, as usual, excellent, the writing sharp and the character arcs enthralling. FFXIV by now has so many characters at its disposal and it uses so many of them well in the expansion's story. I didn't think the final antagonist was as interesting or good as Shadowbringers, but apart from that, it's pretty much at least the equal of that expansion.

The zones too, start off fairly standard for FFXIV but each new one ups the ante. I can't say much because of spoilers but the last two in particular were astonishing to experience.

The dungeons and trials are great, the twists and turns in the story are as compelling as they've ever been, and the music, once again, absolutely knocks it out of the park.

Endwalker might not be particularly innovative - the basic formula of the game remains the same as previous expansions - but it's such an incredibly finely crafted experience that I can't blame Yoshi-P for not fixing what ain't broke. Ending this lengthy saga has been an emotional trip, but even as it ends one story, it offers so many possibilities for more; and I for one can't wait to see where they go next.

A long journey's end giving way for a new beginning

I usually like to review expansions after all of the patch content comes out but Endwalker is an extremely special case. It essentially ends an 11 year story and I personally went through the main story scenario and I'll probably keep this short due to really wanting to be spoiler free for the mass majority of the fans that are still enjoying it.

I won't go too much into story other than it was great, a lot of great moments here albeit with a slow start. The new areas are amazing and manage to keep a different variety in visual and gameplay level design, the soundtrack uses a bit more of the older expansions soundtrack that I would but it does make sense in a thematic sense for me at least and also with that said, the new music is top notch. The main cast gets an extreme amount of love here and there are amazing character moments.

Only thing that I wish is that it didn't invent tailing missions into the game when it never had it in the first place and the slow start for the expansion albeit a lot happens that it never too bad compared to the other expansions.

An emotionally charged finale for Final Fantasy XIV's first major arc and reminds me of why I enjoyed this game for the past 4 years. A surprising nihilistic story with twinges of hope.

Launch Addendum: As of December 5th 2021, it's extremely hard to log into the game as there are ridiculously long queues with the only bright side being that once you're in, you're good to go until you stop for 30 minutes plus from my experience of my long gaming sessions the past couple of days.

That, I can't deny.

“Tales of loss, and fire, and faith
Everywhere, our hearts engraved
In the dark, you will not stray
Forge ahead, 'til the end we pray”

Quite frankly, FFXIV Endwalker not only is the cumulation to all of the major story elements in the game, and it just ties in everything so beautifully and tightly. But it just had essentially everything that I love about stories. During its 8 year run and 3 expansion packs. FFXIV became a massive world filled with dozens and dozens of characters you come to love over time and some of the most expansive world-building and lore I have seen, not just in video games. It pays off so much to not only do all of the prior MSQ but also complete certain chain-side quests since those get referenced as well. There were scenes that just felt completely epic and grand since it put in so much focus on all of the allies you made throughout FFXIV.

Endwalker is also an expansive,multi-layered, plot-twisting adventure that goes beyond the scope of the Eozora setting multiple times. As my expectations were completely broken for something I would never see coming in the game. I would love to go into details about this but I need to keep this spoiler-free for now. However, as a massive fan of a certain genre, I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased with how those elements are incorporated into the story. Between that and the overall theming of Endwalker, it definitely reminded me of a few of my all-time favorite games and it just gave me a greater sense of appreciation of the boundless scale of the expansion.

That said, Endwalker is easily the darkest and most grim FFXIV expansion yet with strong nods of dark fantasy. There were plenty of times when it got so violent and savage, I have no idea how Square Enix avoided an M rating at times. Not just with violence either, as feelings of hopelessness and despair fill the air, affecting the characters and questioning their motives on whether or not they were doing the right thing since essentially every character is mortally gray.

However one of the biggest themes of Endwalker is even when things are shrouded in darkness, there is also light and hope at the end. The emotional and character bonding you have with not only with your fellow Scions but other key characters are as strong as ever and there has been greater emphasis on spending time with them. Such as talking about various things around their surroundings, the constant dialogue updates, and seeing the conclusion of their personal arcs with growth since ARR. What were once seemingly random people you met are now your dearest companions you feel multiple emotions towards them and back.

In fact, the emotions everyone feels are as important as ever. I won’t go into details but one of the biggest emphases about this is the soundtrack and the variation of moods. From world music influenced acoustic guitars to quiet pianos and singing. It adds more to the emotional scenes, from dread to bliss to anger etc. And they’re all incredible pieces of music.

If I have to be objective, Endwalker isn’t perfect or flawless. It has pacing and filler issues, I thought some of the slower moments overstay its welcome at times. While this I am aware the game needs time to breathe and to create a more balanced experience. When everything is at high stakes and risks, I question the lengthy slowdowns at times. Some of the gameplay elements are mechanically iffy as well such as chasing down someone and the duties are more challenging than ever to the point it’s frustrating. When you expect the challenge it’s fine but MSQ duties should be easy enough for anyone to pass for the story without too much effort. Not to mention, I wasn’t quite a fan with a few choice scenes but they’re very minor compared to the grand scope of Endwalker.

But subjectively speaking and despite all nitpicking, it’s a gorgeous masterpiece in my eyes since not only Endwalker is the expansion pass that finally makes me admit FFXIV is now my all-time favorite Final Fantasy but also one of my all-time favorite games since it just beautifully combines everything I love seeing in video games stories into one while still having its own identity for this final chapter for the first major story arc in FFXIV. To me, Endwalker is the definition of peak fiction for that alone.

At the back of my mind I was always ready to say that Shadowbringers was a fluke, it was preceded by a story that had very little going for it, save for independent storylines divorced from the grander narrative here and there, and to get to Shadowbringers you had the brave the greatest trial of all; boredom from the base game content until Heavensward. However Endwalker embodies everything that made Shadowbringers good and sprinkles in some cheese, and adds the weight of finality to make a story for all the Warriors of Light, new and old, out there to be inspired to keep braving the future, in all it's anxieties and unknowns.

Endwalker isn't the most subtle of narratives, it is very blatant what this expansion is thematically about, and that's okay, it presents it all in a layer of cheese and earnestness that it's impossible not to catch the emotions that the game is throwing at you. It touches base on every previous expansion thematically and spreads a little bit on its own epilogue on each giving all the main story scenes the feeling of a victory long earned. It is a story about moving on, the ideas of the beauty of existence, and how easy it is to take for granted the feeling of existing, the power of emotions and how they can drive us forward when we're at our lowest point, but also how we can let them overwhelm us and fall into despair when unchecked. It is a story about how alienation from your peers can throw you in a direction you never thought you would ever pursue. It is a story about the fundamental disconnects behind people, but the hope that there is always a way to build a bridge against this disconnect. But most of all, it is a story about what a wonderful journey it was, and that the end is what you want it to be, shaped by your own hands and hard work.

There have been games that march to the end before, there have been games that closed off long running story arcs before, but I can't recall any that strive to build off everything that came before and succeed to the degree that Endwalker does. Endwalker is the culmination of a long journey, no matter when you started Final Fantasy XIV. Endwalker caps off the rebirth of Final Fantasy and Square Enix, triumphant and warm, from their lowest point of Final Fantasy XIV 1.0. It takes the success and failures of everything that comes before and invites you back in to love this world, and these characters for making it there with you. Endwalker is the journey to the end with all it's many stops and sights along the way and tells you that the adventure never ends as long as you are willing to traverse there, with your friends and comrades in tow.