A little bit of a weird patch as far as x.3 patches go given how x.3 patches usually tend to go, but I wouldn't say I consider it bad. Admittedly I think that comes from the fact that this is the first patch cycle I've been around for, so I'm not over here like "this is underwhelming!" or "there's no content!" because I don't really have the expectations of x.3 hype outside of a vague knowledge of how things have been paced through the years.
I really have been enjoying Zero's character arc a whole lot! The void stuff is neat, although it is definitely FF4 fanservice-heavy. I do think one of FF14's strengths is reimagining things from other games in the series as fitting into its own lore and as their own characters, so its take on the Four Fiends is good as hell. I do hope we get a full set of Fiends+Golbez minions at some point because I love them dearly, and holy shit, I'm so glad they got Hyadain to do the boss music. It's so good...
As far as side stuff goes, I was really happy to see characters and concepts from like forever ago that I thought had been completely forgotten about get nods in the Alliance Raids and Deep Dungeon. The Alliance Raid was a lot of fun, even if its final vocal track was not quite as good as In The Balance... though that's kind of like saying coming in second in the Olympics is a disappointment.
As far as the crafting stuff goes, I haven't completed Splendorous Tools yet but oh my god if you're mad there isn't a relic grind there sure is that! The Loporrit tribe questline was cute, but I feel like it felt maybe a little too self contained. I feel like the devs took the wrong message from the mess of content required for the 5.x role quest capstone by trying to completely isolate the 6.x role quest capstone instead of just... using the Unending Codex to catch people up... with that said, it was going to be difficult to live up to the Omicron questline so I can't really say I'm too disappointed that it wasn't quite as good. Also the Anden questline was pretty great, I'm really glad the First continues to be relevant to things even if it's in a weird place narratively.
Hildibrand was proof that video games are indeed art. Truly some of gaming's best moments.
Anyway on to 6.4, which is hopefully an absolutely wild time! I'm so excited for Lahabrea's Wild Ride.
I really have been enjoying Zero's character arc a whole lot! The void stuff is neat, although it is definitely FF4 fanservice-heavy. I do think one of FF14's strengths is reimagining things from other games in the series as fitting into its own lore and as their own characters, so its take on the Four Fiends is good as hell. I do hope we get a full set of Fiends+Golbez minions at some point because I love them dearly, and holy shit, I'm so glad they got Hyadain to do the boss music. It's so good...
As far as side stuff goes, I was really happy to see characters and concepts from like forever ago that I thought had been completely forgotten about get nods in the Alliance Raids and Deep Dungeon. The Alliance Raid was a lot of fun, even if its final vocal track was not quite as good as In The Balance... though that's kind of like saying coming in second in the Olympics is a disappointment.
As far as the crafting stuff goes, I haven't completed Splendorous Tools yet but oh my god if you're mad there isn't a relic grind there sure is that! The Loporrit tribe questline was cute, but I feel like it felt maybe a little too self contained. I feel like the devs took the wrong message from the mess of content required for the 5.x role quest capstone by trying to completely isolate the 6.x role quest capstone instead of just... using the Unending Codex to catch people up... with that said, it was going to be difficult to live up to the Omicron questline so I can't really say I'm too disappointed that it wasn't quite as good. Also the Anden questline was pretty great, I'm really glad the First continues to be relevant to things even if it's in a weird place narratively.
Hildibrand was proof that video games are indeed art. Truly some of gaming's best moments.
Anyway on to 6.4, which is hopefully an absolutely wild time! I'm so excited for Lahabrea's Wild Ride.
Reviewed on May 23, 2023