You know I kept hearing Stormblood's kind of the unfortunate middle child in between Heavensward and Shadowbringers and man, it's not THAT unfortunate. There are some pacing issues relating to perhaps an abundance of ambition and the perhaps questionable early handling of Lyse (who I liked a lot despite that and some Other Presentation Problems that boil down to that one Mean Girls joke), but overall I think it was fun to have a more grounded conflict exploring imperialism and whatnot! It was nice to have a cast that felt like a team and slower character moments with them instead of mostly just plot, and I thought all the antagonists were really fun. Zenos kind of merrily waltzes along that line between menacing and camp, and Fordola and Yotsuyu provide interesting reflections on a similar concept. Where things really shine is the patch content, though, where the plot goes nuts and the raid storylines are the perfect mix of fanservice and good stuff!

Speaking of the gameplay, god! The dungeons are so fun! The trials are so wild! The environments are super pretty and fun to explore! The OST is full of bangers! When I hit Yanxia I just had to stop and admire the completely immaculate vibes of the place, and it's not the only time that happened.

This expac also has a special place in my heart for being the first one I played almost entirely alongside friends, and that definitely contributed to my good feelings about it all! It's really fun to keep pace with others and do dungeons together so you can react to the plot points. I'm a little more spoiled than they are, but I still had my fair share of surprises. Like swimming. I had no idea swimming was a thing! How did I miss that!

Anyway I should probably be more critical but I don't know, I'm coming in off the wave of being super excited to start Shadowbringers after all the good stuff that happened in patch content. Good stuff! I love this game a whole lot!