I can’t help but look back on this expansion so favourably. In the first step of XIV’s new narrative direction, Ishikawa almost flawlessly managed to get me to care about the plights of a world I’d never even given much thought before landing on it’s doorstep. The presentation of Eulmore vs The Crystarium is a little jarring especially considering the different cultural aesthetics and the optional side content and gameplay took a sharp nose dive with the homogenisation of roles and the introduction of an entire side story for Gaius, but the main story was enough to pull me away from getting too bogged down in this.