A marked improvement from the original re-release in most senses.
Gameplay-wise, dungeons don't feel particularly good yet, but the designers did avoid the worst decisions from 2.0, like the cutscene bonanza from the Praetorium. I am not a fan of any of the three new classes (Astrologian, Dark Knight, Machinist), but that's ultimately down to personal preference.
The narrative itself is probably the best element here. There is good momentum, story beats feel more or less reasonable, and most elements are focussed. As is often the case with Final Fantasy games, it's hard not to feel some level of attachment to the cast—I was pretty bummed when one and then another important characters met an untimely (though heroic) death.
When saying the narrative is very good, it's probably required to make a caveat of sorts. This is not good in the same way, say, the realist novel is. Spades of suspension of disbelief are required at every turn, as well as just going along with the melodrama: your main companion for the whole expansion is a 16-year-old boy who's very smart for his age and accidentally created a rogue paramilitary organisation almost immediately after its creation; you're continuously killing gods to a point people barely pretend to be concerned; your character is basically a cluster of chosen ones, being the once-in-a-generation Azure Dragoon, reclaiming the ages-old military secrets of Allagan civilisation, the Warrior of Light—the list goes on and is surely to continue growing as the game moves forward. My point is, it's all very exaggerated and impossible, but in a good way.
In some ways it's impressive to play this game now, with the benefit of hindsight, and seeing all the ways the world manages to keep its consistency and how the plot not only alternates between threads, but keeps seeding new bits that will grow to fruition in other expansions. For example, like how it's revealed that gods/primals/eikons are more a reflection of a summoner's beliefs than a true deity with an existence independent from others—an increasingly common but still interesting trope.
My biggest complaint is about the ending, which is almost not an ending at all. I know this will get sorted in the patches, but it makes Heavensward feel less complete as a story due to that last "unexpected" comeback.
Gameplay-wise, dungeons don't feel particularly good yet, but the designers did avoid the worst decisions from 2.0, like the cutscene bonanza from the Praetorium. I am not a fan of any of the three new classes (Astrologian, Dark Knight, Machinist), but that's ultimately down to personal preference.
The narrative itself is probably the best element here. There is good momentum, story beats feel more or less reasonable, and most elements are focussed. As is often the case with Final Fantasy games, it's hard not to feel some level of attachment to the cast—I was pretty bummed when one and then another important characters met an untimely (though heroic) death.
When saying the narrative is very good, it's probably required to make a caveat of sorts. This is not good in the same way, say, the realist novel is. Spades of suspension of disbelief are required at every turn, as well as just going along with the melodrama: your main companion for the whole expansion is a 16-year-old boy who's very smart for his age and accidentally created a rogue paramilitary organisation almost immediately after its creation; you're continuously killing gods to a point people barely pretend to be concerned; your character is basically a cluster of chosen ones, being the once-in-a-generation Azure Dragoon, reclaiming the ages-old military secrets of Allagan civilisation, the Warrior of Light—the list goes on and is surely to continue growing as the game moves forward. My point is, it's all very exaggerated and impossible, but in a good way.
In some ways it's impressive to play this game now, with the benefit of hindsight, and seeing all the ways the world manages to keep its consistency and how the plot not only alternates between threads, but keeps seeding new bits that will grow to fruition in other expansions. For example, like how it's revealed that gods/primals/eikons are more a reflection of a summoner's beliefs than a true deity with an existence independent from others—an increasingly common but still interesting trope.
My biggest complaint is about the ending, which is almost not an ending at all. I know this will get sorted in the patches, but it makes Heavensward feel less complete as a story due to that last "unexpected" comeback.
Reviewed on Dec 18, 2022