Just finished 5.0 and heck it's nice to enjoy FFXIV's writing again after Stormblood's plot was a frustrating and boring mess. The First is a great setting and I'm glad to have a campaign that focuses on the Scions again. The combat encounters in the game's dungeons and trials also continue to be great.
There's still some questionable stuff with the villains. I didn't appreciate Vauthry's fatphobic design though I do think Emet-Selch is written well here, making him a tragic figure without feeling sympathetic. That being said, the game's infatuation with making fascists sympathetic does still pop up in other places. There's a moment where a character basically goes "oh if only this horrible and blatantly evil fascist could be redeemed" and just, kinda hard to buy into that.
Still, aside from that I generally loved the writing, a couple of moments got me teary-eyed and it probably has one of my favorite endings a video game has had.
There's still some questionable stuff with the villains. I didn't appreciate Vauthry's fatphobic design though I do think Emet-Selch is written well here, making him a tragic figure without feeling sympathetic. That being said, the game's infatuation with making fascists sympathetic does still pop up in other places. There's a moment where a character basically goes "oh if only this horrible and blatantly evil fascist could be redeemed" and just, kinda hard to buy into that.
Still, aside from that I generally loved the writing, a couple of moments got me teary-eyed and it probably has one of my favorite endings a video game has had.