Endwalker, being the conclusion of the first major arc in FFXIV, has a pretty lofty set of things to conclude during its runtime. And despite it having such a large mountain to climb, I think it succeeds pretty well.
With Endwalker, being the first expansion I "caught up" on, I spent more time engaging in content outside of the MSQ and I found the experience really wonderful. Engaging in stuff like the new alt jobs, FATEs and interesting little side quests, I felt the grind of the MSQ way less than some of the other expansions. I also found the beginning area to be pretty cozy and also found the initial mystery to be pretty engaging as well.
The biggest surprise I had with Endwalker that was also engaging for me was that I felt like for the first time in a while, that I had no idea where the story was going. I felt like I was doing what is typically the end-of-expansion Trial at a Level 83 quest and going "Wait, that can't be it. How the hell is this going to continue?" which made the twists and turns every more exciting.
It's not all rainbows and unicorns though. Endwalker has been somewhat criticized for its pacing which is not as tight as Shadowbringers. But while I found the MSQ for Shadowbringers to be tighter, it ended up with a pretty noticeable peaks and falls that became formulaic at the end. I also found the peaks in Endwalker, which even came during dull sequence of quests, to really hit the high notes as a culmination nearly 10 years of this game running.
While the expansion did kind of flub things toward the end with what I found to be an uninteresting (but BEAUTIFUL) zone and boss, it's undeniable how much they expanded the narrative of FFXIV with this expansion and how many narrative threads they were able to conclude within this expansion. I'm pretty stoked for Dawntrail and being able to experience a new expansion with everyone else. I totally see why this game means so much for so many people.
With Endwalker, being the first expansion I "caught up" on, I spent more time engaging in content outside of the MSQ and I found the experience really wonderful. Engaging in stuff like the new alt jobs, FATEs and interesting little side quests, I felt the grind of the MSQ way less than some of the other expansions. I also found the beginning area to be pretty cozy and also found the initial mystery to be pretty engaging as well.
The biggest surprise I had with Endwalker that was also engaging for me was that I felt like for the first time in a while, that I had no idea where the story was going. I felt like I was doing what is typically the end-of-expansion Trial at a Level 83 quest and going "Wait, that can't be it. How the hell is this going to continue?" which made the twists and turns every more exciting.
It's not all rainbows and unicorns though. Endwalker has been somewhat criticized for its pacing which is not as tight as Shadowbringers. But while I found the MSQ for Shadowbringers to be tighter, it ended up with a pretty noticeable peaks and falls that became formulaic at the end. I also found the peaks in Endwalker, which even came during dull sequence of quests, to really hit the high notes as a culmination nearly 10 years of this game running.
While the expansion did kind of flub things toward the end with what I found to be an uninteresting (but BEAUTIFUL) zone and boss, it's undeniable how much they expanded the narrative of FFXIV with this expansion and how many narrative threads they were able to conclude within this expansion. I'm pretty stoked for Dawntrail and being able to experience a new expansion with everyone else. I totally see why this game means so much for so many people.