A solid experience, all in all. Taken in a vaccuum I think there's quite a lot about Endwalker that can be seen as outright superb and completely unparalleled in its execution, especially considering the state of JRPG storytelling since the mid-2010s or so. Still, there's an elephant in the room that I don't think is addressed often enough: Endwalker is so rife with retcons that it ultimately ends up disassembling more or less everything that made Shadowbringers into the unbelievably and unprecedently amazing narrative that it was, and it makes Final Fantasy XIV into a weaker story for it.

One of these retcons and adjustments stands out above all the rest, however. The fanbase's endearment to a particular faction results in a framing and writing shift that portrays them as less of an unambiguous evil and more of an unambiguously sympathetic, benevolent bunch and results in a rare example of cut-and-dry "good vs. evil" conflict being more interesting and satisfying than something that attempts to be complicated, morally gray and devoid of condonement and condemnation alike (due in large part to the fact that Shadowbringers has some particularly unique, interesting and complex things to say about what it means to be "good" and what it means to be "evil"). This is compounded by the fact that those in opposition to this faction are likewise defanged and portrayed as completely good and kind, creating a frustratingly toothless situation where nobody is wrong and as a result Final Fantasy XIV doesn't really seem to stand against anything (particularly bothersome in a story that prides itself on the strength of its political storytelling).

It still has quite a lot to say when removed from its hesitation to boldly posit that you cannot possibly be a good person in any sense if you're guilty of genocide, no matter how noble your intentions in doing so may be... complete with some particularly poignant and weighty commentary on what it means to live with despair and grapple with the inevitability of pain and sorrow in one's life. Even so, I can't ever really shake the feeling that Shadowbringers was building up to a finale that was simply going to be better than what we eventually would get in the form of Endwalker.

With all of this said, and still holding to it all firmly as can be in my heart - this is still a fairly tight wrap-up to ten years' worth of storytelling, with all the emotional payoff you'd expect from such a long and heartfelt story. It was a particularly bittersweet experience for me in particular, as Endwalker is effectively the conclusion to the character arc of the Warrior of Light - who is for me and countless others a character that has been built up over hundreds if not thousands of hours of story content, gameplay, roleplay and gratuitous self-indulgent interpretation of the game's story. I love Final Fantasy XIV, and even with (if not especially because of its flaws) I can't really think of anything more representative of what this game is fundamentally about than Endwalker and what it so sincerely believes in and wants to convey to the player.

As I trekked alone through the game's final zone, knowing that not only my journey would soon come to an end but that, in many ways, so too would the halcyon days of something I'd found a home of sorts in and bonded with my friends over for far, far too many sleepless nights and spastic Discord calls... I didn't really care about inconsistent storytelling, or frustratingly unaddressed and unresolved character arcs, or the fact that the game engine was clearly starting to fall apart, or that they still hadn't fixed Dark Knight's lack of ability to sustain itself in combat, or that Paladin was a shitty pick for a poster boy job but was perfectly representative of my problems with Endwalker as a whole. There was but a single thought in my head, a thought that still echoes whenever I hear the opening notes of Close in the Distance:

I love Final Fantasy so much.

The Missing is...a hard game to talk about. I think it really needs to be experienced to be understood. It's also a hard game to recommend, given both the content warnings required (extreme violence and body horror) and some of the subject matters tackled (self-harm, dysphoria, suicide). However, it touched me in a way very few games have managed to, and i couldn't be more thankful to have played it.

The gameplay is basically if Limbo or Inside decided to make death a mechanic. You struggle forward using the harm the environment brings to yourself, by using your limbs to solve different puzzles. In and of itself, it's just a dark twist on a pretty-overdone genre, but this gimmick in turn perfectly resonates with the core themes of the game and the story itself.

I'm sorry i'm keeping it vague, i genuinely want to say the least bit possible aside from what could genuinely hurt some people, so please heed the warnings of the first paragraph, and if it seems like it won't bother you TOO much, go ahead and play it.

The Missing is an absolutely breathtaking experience and one of the best uses of ludo-narrative in a game i've seen in a long time. You suffer along with the main character, and the visuals, sound design and ambience all contribute to it so goddamn well. And that Finale is legit one of the best i've come across in gaming period.

So uh, play it, but only if you feel you can take it, because it IS a very hard game. Not in terms of difficulty mind you, just in terms of...uh...taking it all in.

Edit (18/10/2022): I have different pronouns now, thank you Swery.

Replicant is what happens when you uncrust a fundamentally crusty and janky game for an actually pleasant experience (a rarity in Yoko Taro's repertoire I'll add)

Does it succeed? I...am inclined to say yes!
The combat isn't the best, especially next to Automata's, but it's crisp and it feels visceral enough to be addictive. The story itself is hard to sum up, but I played already knowing everything until ending D, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

What the game has as its strongest point without doubt however, is the cast and their dynamics and interactions. Alone, they're some of my favorite characters around. Kaine, Emil and Weiss especially. Together, they are my single favorite cast of characters in any media period.
The way they're written, how they bounce off each other, their comical scenes, their dramatic ones, they are amazing characters who resonate amazingly well with each other, and just for that alone giving the game 5 stars is easy af.

As an aside, the newly added Shipwreck and Ending E only serve to complement the cast even further and they perfectly fall in line with Nier's spirit, and I'm so glad they exist in this game.

With everything said, I do have some small gripes. The redo of part 2 would have been better done only once instead of twice (as an addition to the first time). The 3rd playthrough's additions could definitely have just been part of the 2nd's, and spreading them didn't feel particularly relevant to me.
It took me months to finish cause I kinda just lost motivation along the way, notably at the end where Endings C and D require you to do the final area twice in a row, despite you having done it twice before already.

Interesting to see how Automata would come to resolve all my issues here btw, it's an experience in and of itself to see what Taro took away from developing Replicant.

Anyways, all in all, and despite my gripes, I still consider Replicant a 10/10. Not because it's perfect, but because it's just that good.

For the most part I have nothing to add that everybody else hasn't already said – this is as good as Final Fantasy gets, and is an especially rewarding experience if you're a devoted Final Fantasy fan to begin with. As an enormous fan of the Dark Knight class and its questline, the way that Shadowbringers incorporated Dark Knight's themes and messages into its own narrative resonated with me in a uniquely intense way.

It's still FFXIV though, and FFXIV by design is prone to issues – pacing and poor random-encounter combat mainly, but the small mission count and short missions more than do much to lessen the weight of these issues.

I hated FFXIV for two years because I simply couldn't see the appeal in it and loathed A Realm Reborn's dull storytelling. Not only was this expansion worth the wait but it retroactively makes every single bit of A Realm Reborn's monotony tenfold better.