This chapter reaches its very predictable ending, with everyone who's still alive redeemed, and a clear narrative thread left alone but ready to be picked back up in a future expansion. It's as fulfilling as this sort of in-between content can be, and I'm honestly overjoyed I won't have to endure the cringe of Zero tipping her hat every time people talk about feelings any longer. I'm curious about Dawntrail, but this curiosity is tempered by my feelings about gameplay.

I find myself again dreaming about this exact game, with the exact same amount of content, the same story, classes, characters, lore, and so on, but as a single player experience not beholden to the requirements of a traditional MMO.

Though I can appreciated FFXIV's gameplay in small doses, I once more reach the conclusion I just…deeply dislike it. The scripted nature of its fundamental mechanics (every class has its own rotation and deviating from it is always bad) and the very sparkly Simon Says of trials and raids, paired with the inevitable focus on optimisation that is part and parcel of MMOs, just makes for a miserable experience for me.

At this point the story starts to go on for a bit too long. I'm happy I played this after the release of 6.5, as by itself I do think it would have been very, very disappointing. It teases all the goals of the Scions and the WoL are at reach, only to pull off a JoJo-style "you've pushed me to my limits and forced me to use my secret forbidden technique" and leave the story hanging for months.

Coincidentally, this is also the point when I start to feel burned out on the game again. Although I was initially having fun in my return to FFXIV, its gameplay once again has become aggravating. Playing it with random strangers takes its toll—though the majority of players are not overtly mean or hostile, they can still be petty and passive-aggressive. This increases the further one is close to the endgame, with this palpable vibe of "ugh, everyone should be at top of their game by now." I say this as more of an observer than a target—neither terribly bad, nor particularly good, I mostly fly under the radar.

Though I am a bit bothered by the fact FFXIV's writers seemingly cannot imagine a story that does not involve saving the universe and everything that exists within, this series of patches is still fairly entertaining. The speed with which Garlemald turned from nazi empire to "noble and proud people who still have much good in them despite racism" is a bit disconcerting, but I still enjoy learning some bits about them. There is something interesting about the position of a people deprived of magic in a world that is purely, 100% magic.

And we're of course getting a redemption arc for Golbez and the archfiends, who I'm sure will turn out to be nice, noble people willing to commit genocide.