Huge step-up over A Realm Reborn which I thought mostly ranged from bad to mediocre (except for the patch quests which were great), focusing mostly on only one region of Eorzea and its history rather than having you be an errand boy and go everywhere helped a LOT, it feels way more focused and it's easier to get actually attached to the characters, making the emotional parts hit way harder. The dungeons and trials have fun mechanics that you actually want to interact with and not just be done with as soon as possible. There's even some Matsuno/Ivalice influence in here which absolutely rules. It does hit the brake from time-to-time for the mandatory fetch quests and the Ul'Dah subplot (which sadly concludes rather unceremoniously) but even these moments don't feel as bad as the ones in ARR did because the shadow of its main plot is always looming over, there's always a sense you're advancing the plot through one way or the other. Legitimately great stuff, hoping the next expansions keep striding ever heavensward.