“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.

One brings shadow, one brings light

A genuine thematic spectacle of a narrative saturated with emotional highs, ruminative nuances, and intrinsic allures. Rich in tight and compelling character writing, moral and personal inflections, and imaginative and complete world building.

All accompanied by a tonally evocative and pertinent soundtrack bestowing a sense of poetry and cohesion throughout the story.

An extremely human and well developed cast including two absolutely phenomenal antagonists that act as premium artifices in driving home its central themes.

Themes at which stem from the root of every facet of the game. Themes at which are explored poetically and firmly. Themes at which lie at the heart of a very particularly familiar and relevant tale.
A tale about hope. Despair. Courage. Understanding. People.

A tale about humanity - from its most arduous and painful detriments, to its most integral and bountiful allures.

All in all, Shadowbringers stands as an ingenious achievement in storytelling. Without question the strongest the series has to offer.

At its most fundamental the narrative of Shadowbringers feels alienating, removing us from Eorzea and placing us in a situation that’s seemingly so backwards. A world corrupted by a blinding light so strong it abolished the night, and it’s with this ambiguity of your role as the “Warrior of Light” where Shadowbringers starts to cook all of it’s mastery. Calling into question the unending battle between light and dark that plagues both the series and typical RPG’s, and using the opportunity to instead muse upon the true beating heart of conflict, heroism.

Unlike a work such as AoT which directly criticizes heroism as a shackle which forever catalyzes the endless cycle of violence, Shadowbringers endeavors to celebrate its roots and the righteousness which defines it. By reflecting upon itself through the multi-layered conflict that the lands of Norvrandt contain, we don’t only see the wide and equally personal impact of heroes, but also their necessity. Not only to protect, persevere, and save, but to inspire for our future as the ultimate symbols of both will and humanity at large.

Yet heroism isn’t reserved for just the light, just as Hydaelyn has her champion, so does Zodiark. Each with its own legacy to carry forward, its own right to fight, its own desire for happiness, its own claim to exist. Through this climactic battle of wills and morals is where XIV finds not only it’s strongest emotional beats, but a commentary that will shake anyone cognizant of modern society to their very core.

I’m purely discussing macro here though, because when observing the micro Shadowbringers has a lot of nagging issues consistent with XIV and even of its own design. Yet it’s in the aggregate where you really see the true beauty and elegance of what it was able to accomplish. Ultimately the sin eaters are no different than the Garleans or Dravanias, they are oppressors all the same, but through Norvrandt’s crisis is where XIV is finally able to illuminate its soul, You. The hero who never buckled to your oppressors and continued to keep moving forward, above man and god, towards hell and past it, only to find the answer at the end of the infinite, a glimmer of hope, everlasting.

“Fate can be cruel, but a smile better suits a hero.”