"Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile?"
This is just outright the most emotionally resonant, full experience I've had with this hobby in my life to date and it's sort of not even close.
Shadowbringers was already the pinnacle of the genre and they clearly weren't content with only one masterpiece because they went and pulled it off again. It's surreal seeing a finale of this magnitude realized as effectively as what we got here. The writing is phenomenal throughout, especially so in zone 5, and the entire expansion is packed with some of the best video game music...ever? Soken and Ishikawa are very much in a league of their own at this point.
Footfalls, Flow, both Sharlayan themes, and Dynamis are stunning just to name a few standout tracks. Not only are the individual Endwalker songs themselves great musically, the placement of each and every piece is executed perfectly to reinforce the story. The way Close in the Distance progressively unfolds over the course of the final area until you get the full vocal version was genius.
Every moment of this finale is deftly pulling together over a decade of meticulously structured narrative threads while simultaneously laying the foundation to do it all over again and it is immensely fulfilling if you've played the game for any length of time. The entire expansion is undeniably built on plenty of familiar JRPG trappings, but the way core themes are explored and the actual specifics of the plot make it one of the best versions of a story in this vein imo.
Everything surrounding the MSQ is great as well. Some of the best, most powerful voice acting in the game so far is found throughout Endwalker, All the trials were top tier design wise as were plenty of the dungeons, and given the wealth of great content in 6.1 there's a ton of other great encounters and new story on the horizon.
14 is one of the most impressive, accomplished not only MMOs but video games period at this point and this masterful conclusion to the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story only reinforces that.
This is just outright the most emotionally resonant, full experience I've had with this hobby in my life to date and it's sort of not even close.
Shadowbringers was already the pinnacle of the genre and they clearly weren't content with only one masterpiece because they went and pulled it off again. It's surreal seeing a finale of this magnitude realized as effectively as what we got here. The writing is phenomenal throughout, especially so in zone 5, and the entire expansion is packed with some of the best video game music...ever? Soken and Ishikawa are very much in a league of their own at this point.
Footfalls, Flow, both Sharlayan themes, and Dynamis are stunning just to name a few standout tracks. Not only are the individual Endwalker songs themselves great musically, the placement of each and every piece is executed perfectly to reinforce the story. The way Close in the Distance progressively unfolds over the course of the final area until you get the full vocal version was genius.
Every moment of this finale is deftly pulling together over a decade of meticulously structured narrative threads while simultaneously laying the foundation to do it all over again and it is immensely fulfilling if you've played the game for any length of time. The entire expansion is undeniably built on plenty of familiar JRPG trappings, but the way core themes are explored and the actual specifics of the plot make it one of the best versions of a story in this vein imo.
Everything surrounding the MSQ is great as well. Some of the best, most powerful voice acting in the game so far is found throughout Endwalker, All the trials were top tier design wise as were plenty of the dungeons, and given the wealth of great content in 6.1 there's a ton of other great encounters and new story on the horizon.
14 is one of the most impressive, accomplished not only MMOs but video games period at this point and this masterful conclusion to the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story only reinforces that.