(Actually finished on July 25th, 2023 uh oh)
Definitely an improvement over the primary- agh shit hold up we gotta talk about POST-ARR.
POST-A REALM REBORN (v2.1-2.6)
I guess it's to be expected that they wouldn't just transition into Heavensward right after ARR, they do several major updates before each expansion. It's fairly alright but this is definitely where a lot of the...nuance(?) of Final Fantasy 14 start to show. Finally, CBU3 took off the weights of ARR and got to work in making the kind of MMO they wanted to! Sadly, this would still require quite a couple of hours of set up. POST-ARR quests have quite a few plotlines going on, on top of a side dungeon introducing 'Alliance Raids' and fan favorite catboy G'raha Tia. We got done with the Crystal Tower segment pretty quickly although it was definitely the start of FF14's dungeons getting fairly tricky, especially in these Alliance Raids. 24 players, 3 teams of 8 consisting of 4 dps, 2 tanks and 2 healers. Very hectic and very daunting at first, and I'll admit to getting lost and going into another squads' segment during the final level of the raid. Still primarily using Monk as my class during this segment, and I gotta give props to anybody that does not start out these kinds of games as DPS because man would being an early Tank or a Healer stress me to no end, but more on that later. Honestly despite how oddly these quests are set up, I did mentally block most of what happened prior as just some sort of 'trial' phase of 14, as if it were some proof of concept rather than the first part of an ongoing series, which might be weird to say given that was supposed to be the rebirth of 1.0 but hey here we are now. Post-ARR the cutscene density increases and the amount of voice acting becomes more prevalent which definitely helps. But overall the scenarios here made for a much better idea as to what's to come not just in Heavensward but as to what later expansions will pick up on, with a strong finale in Patch 2.5. Although watching that final cutscene did lend some strong "garry's mod animation" vibe, ngl. Not necessarily knocking it! Just stuck in my mind for cutscenes afterward.
Heavensward Proper
Finally, we get to the 'good' stuff. The expansion where FF14 is supposed to get real strong. Does that claim actually hold up? I'd say so- but having now put in several more hours (I will not talk about how i thought my actual playtime of 100 hours was supposed to be like, 40-50 hrs) I got a lot more invested in the cast, where quests were going, and certain dungeons/trials felt a lot more engaging- although there's still a lot of oddities that you have to tackle with this being a new section of the game. Most of the unlocks and progression from ARR aren't as prevalent here, as most of the expansion focuses on this new chunk of the plot. It's a bit unfortunate because one of the major new inclusions here is the 'Aether Current' system. For those unaware, post-ARR allows you to fly across the regions you had unlocked or whatever rideable companion you had on hand, be in Chocobo or flying whale you bought on the Square Enix store for 30 dollars (...wtf). The Aether Currents are this list of quests and on-field interactables that you need to gather in each area to be able to fly again in that area. I get it, it's so you don't just skip over all the level that was just made for the expansion but man is it kinda obnoxious using the compass and doing all the simple quests to get the aether currents. I didn't bother with collecting them until after finishing Heavensward proper. It doesn't actually take too much time to get cleared but I wanted to check out more of the MSQ instead.
Aside from that not too much new to talk about aside from the storyline and characters, although I did decide to take a big step- running Dark Knight. Tbh, I was really hesitant moving away from DPS and taking on a new role going through dungeons, but I'm glad that either my server or just the overall community for FF14 was as easy going and helpful as they were in telling me if I was doing anything wrong or missing anything as a tank, like not having my damn aggro spell up or using Unmend to grab long distance aggro. Lot of this information was really helpful in getting me to understand the 'tank' mindset and in some instances it is easier than DPS since all I'm expected to do is stand around and keep the target(s) locked on me, while my DPS figures out certain dungeon mechanics. My main issue is just how long it takes grinding out DRK to whatever level matches your current job, definitely decide from the start of Heavensward whether or not you want you want to go into a job and stick with it- I finished HW before getting my DRK up to where my MNK was so I had to grind out more as the former since MSQ is where all the good EXP is at, YFM?...
Props to Dark Knight though for having an incredibly good job storyline though, apparently they bring on the writer for this storyline into the main questline in later expansions which im glad is the case. It's just fun to have a class where the whole bit is "man what the fuck are we (as jrpg-hero-person) doing even, these menial tasks- you're an idiot, <WoL>" its a super interesting take on the usual spiel, especially coming off Monk's story.
Also this is partially true of pre-HW but if all the discourse around Game of Thrones and FF16 was tiring than I apologize, but there’s definitely more of a GRRM vibe once you get into Dravania and start dealing with assassination, political drama, dragons, wintry locales, class disparity, etc. Banri Oda, main scenario writer for pretty much the rest of the game, actually did mention this a few years back in an interview, although looking at the transcript he described it more as “the methodology of how these works were created helped me write Heavensward”, and I’d have to say it rings true. As much as I like Ul’dah or Limsa I can’t exactly say I know much or did too much in those towns outside of side quests or spending time in the Steps of Thal, whereas Ishgard and the surrounding areas of Heavensward make for a much more interesting environment, visually and geopolitically.
On top of that most of your cast throughout the expansion is just pretty great, seeing a lot more big names and spending time with some of the harder hitters from the previous segments like Haurchefant (Haurchie…), Alphinaud and Ysayle. Also Tataru -giving a thumbs up to one of the like, 4 good Lalafell out there. Also very interested in seeing where Estinien goes from here since that’s definitely a name I heard a lot prior to starting FF14.
Overall, a BIG step up from FF14 although I do think there’s quite a bit that’s still cooking. Definitely glad this was included in the free expansion since it’s a more interesting package as to what kept FF14 rallying for years and years. Note that this review -were I less lazy- would have been finished before the most recent fanfest in which they announced the free trial would be including Stormblood, days after having finished HW. Fairly interested in Stormblood though, unironically.
Definitely an improvement over the primary- agh shit hold up we gotta talk about POST-ARR.
POST-A REALM REBORN (v2.1-2.6)
I guess it's to be expected that they wouldn't just transition into Heavensward right after ARR, they do several major updates before each expansion. It's fairly alright but this is definitely where a lot of the...nuance(?) of Final Fantasy 14 start to show. Finally, CBU3 took off the weights of ARR and got to work in making the kind of MMO they wanted to! Sadly, this would still require quite a couple of hours of set up. POST-ARR quests have quite a few plotlines going on, on top of a side dungeon introducing 'Alliance Raids' and fan favorite catboy G'raha Tia. We got done with the Crystal Tower segment pretty quickly although it was definitely the start of FF14's dungeons getting fairly tricky, especially in these Alliance Raids. 24 players, 3 teams of 8 consisting of 4 dps, 2 tanks and 2 healers. Very hectic and very daunting at first, and I'll admit to getting lost and going into another squads' segment during the final level of the raid. Still primarily using Monk as my class during this segment, and I gotta give props to anybody that does not start out these kinds of games as DPS because man would being an early Tank or a Healer stress me to no end, but more on that later. Honestly despite how oddly these quests are set up, I did mentally block most of what happened prior as just some sort of 'trial' phase of 14, as if it were some proof of concept rather than the first part of an ongoing series, which might be weird to say given that was supposed to be the rebirth of 1.0 but hey here we are now. Post-ARR the cutscene density increases and the amount of voice acting becomes more prevalent which definitely helps. But overall the scenarios here made for a much better idea as to what's to come not just in Heavensward but as to what later expansions will pick up on, with a strong finale in Patch 2.5. Although watching that final cutscene did lend some strong "garry's mod animation" vibe, ngl. Not necessarily knocking it! Just stuck in my mind for cutscenes afterward.
Heavensward Proper
Finally, we get to the 'good' stuff. The expansion where FF14 is supposed to get real strong. Does that claim actually hold up? I'd say so- but having now put in several more hours (I will not talk about how i thought my actual playtime of 100 hours was supposed to be like, 40-50 hrs) I got a lot more invested in the cast, where quests were going, and certain dungeons/trials felt a lot more engaging- although there's still a lot of oddities that you have to tackle with this being a new section of the game. Most of the unlocks and progression from ARR aren't as prevalent here, as most of the expansion focuses on this new chunk of the plot. It's a bit unfortunate because one of the major new inclusions here is the 'Aether Current' system. For those unaware, post-ARR allows you to fly across the regions you had unlocked or whatever rideable companion you had on hand, be in Chocobo or flying whale you bought on the Square Enix store for 30 dollars (...wtf). The Aether Currents are this list of quests and on-field interactables that you need to gather in each area to be able to fly again in that area. I get it, it's so you don't just skip over all the level that was just made for the expansion but man is it kinda obnoxious using the compass and doing all the simple quests to get the aether currents. I didn't bother with collecting them until after finishing Heavensward proper. It doesn't actually take too much time to get cleared but I wanted to check out more of the MSQ instead.
Aside from that not too much new to talk about aside from the storyline and characters, although I did decide to take a big step- running Dark Knight. Tbh, I was really hesitant moving away from DPS and taking on a new role going through dungeons, but I'm glad that either my server or just the overall community for FF14 was as easy going and helpful as they were in telling me if I was doing anything wrong or missing anything as a tank, like not having my damn aggro spell up or using Unmend to grab long distance aggro. Lot of this information was really helpful in getting me to understand the 'tank' mindset and in some instances it is easier than DPS since all I'm expected to do is stand around and keep the target(s) locked on me, while my DPS figures out certain dungeon mechanics. My main issue is just how long it takes grinding out DRK to whatever level matches your current job, definitely decide from the start of Heavensward whether or not you want you want to go into a job and stick with it- I finished HW before getting my DRK up to where my MNK was so I had to grind out more as the former since MSQ is where all the good EXP is at, YFM?...
Props to Dark Knight though for having an incredibly good job storyline though, apparently they bring on the writer for this storyline into the main questline in later expansions which im glad is the case. It's just fun to have a class where the whole bit is "man what the fuck are we (as jrpg-hero-person) doing even, these menial tasks- you're an idiot, <WoL>" its a super interesting take on the usual spiel, especially coming off Monk's story.
Also this is partially true of pre-HW but if all the discourse around Game of Thrones and FF16 was tiring than I apologize, but there’s definitely more of a GRRM vibe once you get into Dravania and start dealing with assassination, political drama, dragons, wintry locales, class disparity, etc. Banri Oda, main scenario writer for pretty much the rest of the game, actually did mention this a few years back in an interview, although looking at the transcript he described it more as “the methodology of how these works were created helped me write Heavensward”, and I’d have to say it rings true. As much as I like Ul’dah or Limsa I can’t exactly say I know much or did too much in those towns outside of side quests or spending time in the Steps of Thal, whereas Ishgard and the surrounding areas of Heavensward make for a much more interesting environment, visually and geopolitically.
On top of that most of your cast throughout the expansion is just pretty great, seeing a lot more big names and spending time with some of the harder hitters from the previous segments like Haurchefant (Haurchie…), Alphinaud and Ysayle. Also Tataru -giving a thumbs up to one of the like, 4 good Lalafell out there. Also very interested in seeing where Estinien goes from here since that’s definitely a name I heard a lot prior to starting FF14.
Overall, a BIG step up from FF14 although I do think there’s quite a bit that’s still cooking. Definitely glad this was included in the free expansion since it’s a more interesting package as to what kept FF14 rallying for years and years. Note that this review -were I less lazy- would have been finished before the most recent fanfest in which they announced the free trial would be including Stormblood, days after having finished HW. Fairly interested in Stormblood though, unironically.