impressions of WoW expansions this early on mean very little overall because what really matters is the long term support and patch cadence, but as it stands I'm actually having fun at every turn and cannot put it down which is simply something I could not say for the last two expansions whatsoever. It's easily the best since Legion and even then there's many aspects of this in its current state that completely outpace even that so far.

The Art team never misses a beat where WoW is concerned, but everything else has finally risen to meet the phenomenal quality of their work for the first time in years. Zone layouts are leaps and bounds above their Shadowlands counterparts thanks to everything being built around dragonriding which is itself one of the most compelling new features to date. The open world content is so vastly improved and legitimately engaging it hardly even feels like the same game, and the profession overhaul is an absolute delight. Narratively things are infinitely more interesting as well down to completely inconsequential side quests having more flavor than entire previous campaign chapters.

As apprehensive as I've been given the state of the game in recent years as well as the completely reprehensible garbage fire that is Blizzard as a company it's honestly just nice to see a game you used to love living up to its true potential again. There's a ton of promise across each and every inch of the Dragon Isles and if the consistency is there throughout the full expansion cycle it'll be a tremendous step in the right direction.

This has to be one of the best remakes/remasters/etc in terms of overall game feel and ambiance. There's still some janky animations and voice acting at times for sure, but other times cutscenes look great. It very much feels like an early 2000s game given a fresh coat of paint rather than trying to reinvent the wheel (or a lazy cash grab for that matter) which is really nice.

I wouldn't say there's anything all that surprising if you're already into these kinds of stories, but it's a well executed one with some fantastic action set pieces. Chapter 9 was especially phenomenal with the mood and atmosphere as you slowly unravel what's going on. I also just finished watching Boardwalk Empire somewhat recently so being in that mood really furthered my enjoyment even more and it was great to get into another prohibition-era narrative like this.

"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.

Just like one of the best electropop records you'll ever hear made interactive which is exactly as cool and fun as it sounds.

I'm always a fan of more abstract modes of storytelling when they're this well realized. The psychedelic art design is dazzling throughout, there's some wonderfully inventive level design that keeps each stage feeling fresh, and I loved the way each one plays with your perspective so much to spice things up even more visually. The one and only remotely negative aspect is how the segmented nature of the initial playthrough doesn't let all the absolute bangers on the OST breathe sometimes before cutting them off, but that's also a non-issue with the arcade mode.

Not as bad as I was lead to believe by the internet, but could've been better.

This is very much a personal taste thing because I don't even necessarily disagree with some of the more negative reviews and reception it's gotten. As a massive fan of thrillers and mysteries in practically any medium Virginia actually got a lot of things right for me up to a certain point though. The abstractions and implications of the storytelling style were pretty effective and the disoriented pacing/editing always keeps you slightly off-balance in a way that's very fitting and appropriate for a narrative like this. The dream sequence are especially cool and I think the game is at its best just in general when it's desperately trying to be Twin Peaks. My biggest complaints come in with the way things are fumbled and kind of messy in the final chapter and the implementation of the music. I just recently watched Nocturnal Animals for the first time and this games shares an unfortunate quality with that film in that as individual pieces of music the soundtrack is gorgeous, but the way some tracks are used is completely overbearing and out of touch tonally with what's actually going on in a given scene.