Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

 PC
User Score
9.1

Universal acclaim- based on 1083 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 989 out of 1083
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 1083
  3. Negative: 69 out of 1083
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  1. ScottyTB
    Jun 24, 2015
    9
    If you liked ARR then you will love this continuation of the story. Graphics and sound are unmatched in the mmo genre. Im enjoying this to the fullest. So much content has been added and Square Enix didnt skimp out on this xpac. Lots to offer here and it will help bring in newer players. Im looking forward to finishing the story and seeing what more they can do witb future patches.If you liked ARR then you will love this continuation of the story. Graphics and sound are unmatched in the mmo genre. Im enjoying this to the fullest. So much content has been added and Square Enix didnt skimp out on this xpac. Lots to offer here and it will help bring in newer players. Im looking forward to finishing the story and seeing what more they can do witb future patches. Long live subscription games, as long as they continue to deliver.

    This one does!    … Expand
  2. kronosys
    Jun 24, 2015
    10
    This is an outstanding expansion to an already outstanding MMORPG. The development team's passion for this game is apparent in every detail. If you love PVE and Story content, this isn't an expansion to be missed.
  3. Huckit
    Jun 24, 2015
    10
    As a former Mythic raider from wow turned casual mmorpg player, I enjoy ff14. The quest line is engaging and not just level grind. I like that the leveling takes time and at least feels rewarding. As a new player, I actually like that it makes me finish the story quest before Heavensward content, though it is not a popular opinion. Great improvements on classic tab target combat and theAs a former Mythic raider from wow turned casual mmorpg player, I enjoy ff14. The quest line is engaging and not just level grind. I like that the leveling takes time and at least feels rewarding. As a new player, I actually like that it makes me finish the story quest before Heavensward content, though it is not a popular opinion. Great improvements on classic tab target combat and the classes are all unique, unlike in wow, where they have molded together to be replaceable.… Expand
  4. PhantomDusk
    Jun 24, 2015
    10
    I made an account just to give this game a review, as I do not wish to users to be deceived by the score of 5.6. These scores of "1" are given from three different crowds.

    -WoW fanboys who want to see FF fail -People who are angry they need to do the Realm Reborn story to experience Heavensward. -Mac Users. I will try my best to give an objective review, outlining all the pros and    I made an account just to give this game a review, as I do not wish to users to be deceived by the score of 5.6. These scores of "1" are given from three different crowds.

    -WoW fanboys who want to see FF fail
    -People who are angry they need to do the Realm Reborn story to experience Heavensward.
    -Mac Users.

    I will try my best to give an objective review, outlining all the pros and cons of not only Heavensward but of A Realm Reborn.

    Presentation(10) - This right here is Heavensward's biggest strength. The story of this expansion is in my opinion, greater than any MMO I have ever played, even rivaled some of SWToR's stories. If you're a new player, the starting of the story is slow. I was meh about it, but the story keeps getting better and better. By the time I hit level 50, it was one of the best stories I'd seen in an MMO. By the time Heavensward came around and I experienced 50-60, the story rivaled that of the single player FFs.

    Gameplay(9.5) - This aspect right here is what will split players. There is a 2.5s GCD instead of 1.5s. This can make combat seem slower, and mistakes are punished more severely. It's really not that bad but it's all up to your tastes. The three new classes feel and play unique and flow well, though Machinist is a bit weak right now. The side quests are quick are easy, though more of the same fetch quests mostly. Dungeons and raids are fun to play. Crafting is deeper here than in any other MMO. You can switch classes simply by changing your weapon, so there is no need for alts.

    Content(9.5) Oh boy, is there a lot of quality content in Heavensward and Realm Reborn as well. Square Enix churns out content every three months.

    -25+ dungeons, all still relevant because of the duty roulette, a system that awards you experience and tomes at the end. Tomes are like tokens that buy raid gear.
    -A challenging 8 man raid with 13 wings(Coil of Bahamut.) This is the bleeding edge of their content, for the hardcore players. Two weeks from now, they come out with a new raid called Alexander. Four weeks from now, they come out with the Savage version of Alexander, a super hardcore punishing version of the raid.
    -Three 24 man raids that are all still done. They are not as challenging as the Coil of Bahamut, but they're not necessarily faceroll easy either.
    -Trials/Primals in Normal, Hard, and Extreme difficulty. Trials are a fight against a boss in a single room, no trash mobs. Primals is the same, but they are fights against the Gods of the FF world. These fights are amazing.
    -Guildhests. These are like tutorial quests that teach you the mechanics of the game. I believe there is a roulette for this as well, giving vets incentive to run these for tomes, thus helping newbies.
    -Levequests. These are quests you with timed objectives that you can activate at any time for good experience, and sometimes other bonuses.
    -Fates. Dynamic events that happen randomly in the world that give experience.
    -Gold Saucer. A casino type city that lets you participate in entertaining side games such as Triple Triad(a card game.) And chocobo racing.
    -Many pets and mounts to collect and farm in the world, along with a plethora of achievements.

    Honestly, 5,000 characters is not enough for me to list all of the content here. The only place I'd give their content a minus is in PvP. Restricting by faction kind of ruined it, and they treat it as a side gimmick, but their PvE content is spectacular.

    -Sound(10) You won't find better music in any MMO, I can guarantee you that. The voice acting in Realm Reborn was not the best, but progressively got better. I rated sound a 10 because the voice acting in Heavensward is 3x better. These sound like actual professional actors, they really portray the emotion.

    -Lasting Appeal(10) Unlike WoW where you farm your apexis crystals and then stay in your garrison, you will never run out of things to do in FF14. If anything, you may feel overwhelmed, as there will be too much for you to do, so you may have to choose a path at some point. Or just go with the flow enjoy the endless choices available to you at your own pace :). Having a lot of choice means casuals and hardcores both have content made for them.

    -Transition/Launch Issues(9.5) I've not seen an MMO launch this smoothly in awhile. Aside from issues on the first hour of EA, 90% of this launch has been playable for most players. The lobby is more unstable than the servers themselves, which are rock solid.

    I really wanted to write more, but alas, this is where I come to a close. A forewarning, you have to complete Realm Reborn's story before Heavensward. PvP is also not this game's strong suit. If that bothers you, this game is not for you. Mac client is horrible do not get it. Realm Reborn is very newbie friendly, eases new players in just right.

    So would you rather be farming apexis crystals for yet another recolored mount? Or enjoying the unrivaled adventure that is Heavensward? The choice is yours.    … Expand
  5. Ronivan
    Jun 23, 2015
    10
    Heavensward was an astonishing expansion to Final Fantasy Online. The new landscapes are just gorgeous with great ambiance. The new flying feature makes the game incredible, enabling fast area traveling and a new perspective to the landscapes. Soundtrack are just wondrous too. The game development made a great work, and expect great things to come.
  6. akumarage1
    Jun 23, 2015
    10
    Awesome expansion. Being a long time WoW vet, this is how you do added content. Not to mention the free content patches that add stories, dungeons, primals, gear ect after the fact. good job SE
  7. TristanX
    Sep 26, 2021
    9
    Slower battle system than WoW remains. Contents are better than ARR. Currently with unlimited time trial up to Lv60, this game is priceless. Plenty of quality cutscenes and new classes. Just buy after you are done with the trial.
  8. saintninja
    Dec 12, 2020
    10
    Dragons. Many Dragons. Many beautiful mighty Dragons and dark knight. Good drama story and perfect continue of main game
  9. ZodaSoda
    Dec 13, 2021
    10
    Heavensward takes everything the team started in ARR and expends upon it, their talents increasing as they go along, This expansion is exactly what you could ask for after ARR and the story in and of itself is something any JRPG fan cannot miss. The Raid series is still one of my favourites to this day and if you know the music, then you know.
  10. writethat
    Jul 23, 2021
    10
    I never thought an expansion for a MMORPG could make me feel so much emotion. All the praise Heavensward gets is well deserved, if anything, it deserves more. Absolute masterpiece.
  11. Latorn
    Sep 2, 2020
    10
    It took a long time to reach this point, but the quality of the game soared and as I continued playing it just got better and better. Now that Heavensward is included in the free version of FFXIV there is no reason a Final Fantasy fan shouldn't give it a try and experience one of the best Final Fantasy stories of the modern era.
  12. Kezian
    Jul 30, 2019
    10
    FF14 is amazing ! If you never played it, download the free trial and see for yourself !
  13. Wweald
    Dec 15, 2021
    9
    ARR was already quite good, but Heavensward was a big step up. The characters and the story were much more compelling. And the story of Heavensward didn't feel like it dragged on like ARRs did. I think the areas in Heavensward arent as good as Stormblood and Shadowbringers, and both of those beat it in the dungeon and trial department as well. Although Heavenswards are still very good asARR was already quite good, but Heavensward was a big step up. The characters and the story were much more compelling. And the story of Heavensward didn't feel like it dragged on like ARRs did. I think the areas in Heavensward arent as good as Stormblood and Shadowbringers, and both of those beat it in the dungeon and trial department as well. Although Heavenswards are still very good as well, much better than ARRs.… Expand
  14. MazrimTaim14
    Jul 31, 2022
    9
    this is were the game comes to its own. first time in 14 that i felt really playing a JRPG with the PC traveling with a band of companions

    story is great. and the game is starting to have the awesome moments

    judging the score based on ALL the content. main game and patches.

    end of 3.0 and 3.3 are there in the top moments for me.
  15. xavierboutot
    Apr 10, 2020
    10
    A major improvement from ARR. The story is more interesting and the character development goes even deeper. Compared to ARR, it feels like you are saving the world. Less stupid quests, which means less boredom and more fun overall. I would definitely recommend this expansion to any person who is interested in MMOs.
  16. Katzena
    Dec 12, 2021
    10
    This is one the best expansions for FF14. It helped me get way into the game. Its amazing
  17. Nohri
    Jun 7, 2020
    9
    An incredible development of arr that flows well with fun dungeons a great story that has you question what's going on. As well as some of my favourite bosses in a lot of games.
  18. Mohammed-alsheh
    Jun 21, 2020
    9
    outdated fights and dungeons , but amazing story and world i will not soon forget the awesome journey that is heavensward and neither should you .
  19. candidKlutz
    Apr 30, 2022
    10
    HW is the critically acclaimed expansion for a reason. By god am I glad that it was included in the free trial. As much as I did actually enjoy ARR, i might not have continued if it weren't for how insanely good HW is. The story of this expansion starts off strong on the heels of the post ARR content, and it only gets better and better.
  20. HomeroomTeacher
    Jul 28, 2020
    8
    Story wise this patch is currently the best for me while I'm writing this review, however I'm not finished with Shadowbringers yet. I enjoyed the lore so much, I rather slept 4-5 hours a day just to make progression. Significant jump after ARR both in production quality and gameplay or instances. Downsides is the pack of many filler quests which sometimes break the pacing of the game,Story wise this patch is currently the best for me while I'm writing this review, however I'm not finished with Shadowbringers yet. I enjoyed the lore so much, I rather slept 4-5 hours a day just to make progression. Significant jump after ARR both in production quality and gameplay or instances. Downsides is the pack of many filler quests which sometimes break the pacing of the game, hence I deducted two points from the game (and also there's still no quality PvP content). Flying mounts are a great idea, but goes pretty much useless, as you can only fly in an area after you finished main story quests for that region.… Expand
  21. chocletymilk
    Mar 21, 2021
    9
    Heavensward. Was. Amazing. As someone that installed FFXIV just because I was bored and everyone said the free trial included a lot, Heavensward was what made me an absolute fan (and convinced me to buy the complete edition). The graphics improved, the new characters you meet in HW are still some of my all time favorites in the FF universe. There is a lot more voice acting than in ARR, andHeavensward. Was. Amazing. As someone that installed FFXIV just because I was bored and everyone said the free trial included a lot, Heavensward was what made me an absolute fan (and convinced me to buy the complete edition). The graphics improved, the new characters you meet in HW are still some of my all time favorites in the FF universe. There is a lot more voice acting than in ARR, and the missions and storyline are notoriously better written. It really got me on the edge of my seat at times and ontroduced a lot of new mechanics and fights that I didn't even imagine would be in this game. It also made me cry and get attached to the new characters. The new cities you discover are AMAZING.

    An amazing continuation to ARR and definitely the expansion that made me fall in love with FFXIV.

    And for free included with the free trial as of 2020!!!    … Expand
  22. TPLaMar
    Aug 22, 2021
    10
    Playing this first expansion this is a 10/10 easily. I can’t wait to see how the next 3 expansions progress. I’m all in.
  23. Drely
    Aug 23, 2021
    9
    This game is so awsome! I'm enjoying every minute of it. Can't wait to reach Shadowbringers!
  24. Rodmund
    Nov 25, 2021
    10
    Отличное продолжение. Продолжайте в том же духе!
  25. LastResource
    Jan 14, 2023
    10
    worth it and glad to play this game again. so much memories and nostalgia within this fourteenth game in the series. this expansion is breathtaking!
  26. NN010
    Jan 29, 2023
    9
    Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is a solid expansion & a huge step up over A Realm Reborn in terms of story, but it does still have some pacing issues and you can still see some growing pains in some respects.
  27. Roka
    Apr 1, 2023
    10
    Oh, Heavensward, how do I love thee? This expansion is a masterpiece that will take you on an emotional journey unlike any other. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll be left in awe of the incredible storytelling.

    The story follows the Wol as they journey into the uncharted lands of Ishgard, where they'll face new challenges and meet new friends (and enemies). But it's the emotional    Oh, Heavensward, how do I love thee? This expansion is a masterpiece that will take you on an emotional journey unlike any other. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll be left in awe of the incredible storytelling.

    The story follows the Wol as they journey into the uncharted lands of Ishgard, where they'll face new challenges and meet new friends (and enemies). But it's the emotional journey that really sets Heavensward apart.

    And let's talk about the characters, shall we? Haurchefant is one of the greatest characters you'll ever come across in a video game. He's charming, loyal, and just a tad bit naive. You'll fall in love with him from the moment you meet him, and his fate will leave you heartbroken. But that's the beauty of Heavensward - it's not afraid to take you on an emotional rollercoaster.

    The gameplay is as fantastic as ever. The music is also top-notch, with some of the best tracks in the entire Final Fantasy series.

    Overall, Heavensward is a must-play for any Final Fantasy fan or MMO enthusiast. It's a beautifully crafted expansion that will take you on an unforgettable journey.    … Expand
  28. Zinr
    Apr 2, 2023
    9
    One of the expansion's greatest strengths is its characters. Aymeric, Alphinaud, Estinien, and Haurchefant are just a few of the incredible personalities that players will encounter along the way. In particular, Haurchefant is a truly wonderful character, one whose kindness and selflessness will touch the hearts of even the most jaded players. His story arc is one of the most emotional andOne of the expansion's greatest strengths is its characters. Aymeric, Alphinaud, Estinien, and Haurchefant are just a few of the incredible personalities that players will encounter along the way. In particular, Haurchefant is a truly wonderful character, one whose kindness and selflessness will touch the hearts of even the most jaded players. His story arc is one of the most emotional and memorable I have ever seen in a game. I simply love that guy.

    Heavensward is an incredible expansion that builds on the strengths of the base game while adding new layers of depth and complexity. With its engaging characters and emotional story Heavensward is a must-play.    … Expand
  29. Imopsie
    Apr 7, 2023
    10
    Heavensward had a breathtaking story, and I really wish I could play it again completely from scratch just to experience the story again.
    The characters in this expansion, especially Haurchefant, of course, were simply amazing, and the story has both heartwarming moments and ones that tear your heart apart because they are so sad. Overall, it's just a great expansion.
  30. Anthonyi
    Apr 7, 2023
    10
    Heavensward is a stunning expansion to an already incredible game. From start to finish, the expansion immerses you in a world of magic, wonder, and intrigue that will leave you spellbound.

    The expansion features an engaging storyline that builds upon the events of A Realm Reborn. From the mysterious Ascians to the political machinations of the Ishgardian nobility, there's always    Heavensward is a stunning expansion to an already incredible game. From start to finish, the expansion immerses you in a world of magic, wonder, and intrigue that will leave you spellbound.

    The expansion features an engaging storyline that builds upon the events of A Realm Reborn. From the mysterious Ascians to the political machinations of the Ishgardian nobility, there's always something new and exciting happening in the world of Eorzea. And Heavensward has Haurchefant. He alone is worth a 10/10.
    The addition of new dungeons, and raids also adds a new level of depth to the gameplay, providing even more ways to explore and conquer the game's many challenges.

    Of course, it wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game without a memorable cast of characters, and Heavensward delivers in spades. From the enigmatic dragon Nidhogg to the valiant Ishgardian knights, the game's NPCs are richly drawn and full of personality, making it easy to get invested in their struggles and triumphs.

    Heavensward is an outstanding expansion that takes an already good game to new heights. With its engaging storyline, and memorable characters, it's a must-play for fans of the franchise and MMORPGs in general.    … Expand
  31. artimis
    Mar 13, 2017
    10
    Final Fantasy 14: Heavensward is an amazing addition to an already amazing game. Adding on to the already best mmo on the market, this expansion adds a load of new content to the game. To the new battles,races,classes, exc, theirs something for everyone to do and injoy. from hardcore raiding to casual fun, to the amazing and beautiful graphics, games well worth the subscription.

    Story    Final Fantasy 14: Heavensward is an amazing addition to an already amazing game. Adding on to the already best mmo on the market, this expansion adds a load of new content to the game. To the new battles,races,classes, exc, theirs something for everyone to do and injoy. from hardcore raiding to casual fun, to the amazing and beautiful graphics, games well worth the subscription.

    Story 10/10
    Graphics 10/10
    Combat 10/10
    Endgame 10/10
    Music 10/10
    replay ability 10/10    … Expand
  32. Ogie
    Aug 7, 2016
    9
    Graphic

    FF XIV is MMORPG based on really fabulous graphic. All characters are well made and look so real. Open world here is really huge and everything is detailed made. World Hyadelyn and its beauty will devour you. Flowers, trees, animals, everything looks great. World, progressive weather, everything looks so much realistic. Equally good and maybe even better are cities, which look    Graphic

    FF XIV is MMORPG based on really fabulous graphic. All characters are well made and look so real. Open world here is really huge and everything is detailed made. World Hyadelyn and its beauty will devour you. Flowers, trees, animals, everything looks great. World, progressive weather, everything looks so much realistic. Equally good and maybe even better are cities, which look magnificently and they are very detailed made aswell. FFXIV has many strong sides, anyway its graphic is one of the strongest part of the game. Graphic quality of FF XIV is definitely currently number #1 in MMORPGs.

    10/10

    Customization

    The game has a lot of possibilities how to create your character exactly how you want to. Even when character creator is not overcrowded of possibilities, there are more than enough to choose what you want. I did not miss anything special. Color palette is really huge, so you can choose the exact hue you really want to. In game we can find many costumes, weapons, accessories, etc. which you can make, drop or buy for your character (depends what you want of course). FF XIV has pretty decent housing system. You have your own room available from every innkeeper in the game and you can even buy another room from your free company (guild) house. Both u can edit as you like and put there some decorations. Customization of FF XIV is more than decent and most of you will like it a lot.

    9/10

    Combat system

    Combat system in FF XIV is very traditional. Players have many abilities and they use classic "tab" targeting. Basically the combat system is not bad, it still work quite well, it can feel a bit slow though. I have no big problem with FF's combat system, anyway a bit of innovation would be probably good.

    8/10

    Game content

    FF XIV has good potential focused on PvE. In the game there is even possibility PvP which received a bit of enhancement in HW, but the game feels a lot of like mainly focused on PvE, which is good by the way. There are so many dungeons in whole game, many of them are for leveling or for quests, others are for end game. End game is focused on a lot of on collecting points every week, which you can spend for gear. We can find in game another group content called Trial, there you will face one boss and your reward can be weapon, armor, accessories or in some of them even mount. Main game raid is constructed for 8 players and have 2 difficulties. The hard one is really challenging for hardcore and semi-hardcore players. Another kind of PvE event are FATEs, which spawn on every map and people can do them alone or in groups. Currently the main function of fates are just leveling. Game content is quite good in FF XIV, there are a lot of possibilities what you can do, it tends to be a bit repeatable though, anyway to be honest every MMORPG tends to be repetable/ farmable.

    8/10

    Story

    Story is in many MMORPGs something what is not priority and usually it is pretty bad. That is not case of FF XIV. Here we can find long main scenario quest line, where you can see huge improvement since the game has started until now. Especially HW's story is simply amazing. Definitely the best MMORPG story I have ever seen. There are many character and you will like them a lot (at least many of them lol), after short while you will see that you are in the story. Story line is enhanced by many awesome cutscenes. This is definitely another very strong part of FF XIV.

    10/10

    Music

    Music is something what Square Enix has always amazing. FF XIV is not different. FF XIV: ARR's theme song was so much amazing, Heavensward's main song is at least equally good. Many of in game songs are catchy and relaxing. Music part is just simply excelent in FF XIV.

    9/10

    Value

    Value of game is good for me. It is definitely one of the top MMORPGs and even when it uses subscription model I can see high quality game for our money. To be honest I think it would be even worthy game if you would just play it's amazing story, which give you over 60 hours of story fun. Developers upgrade their content a lot, so the game doesn't feel static at all. If you like progressive and challenging PvE content, this game is definitely what you are searching for.

    Overal: 8,5    … Expand
  33. ValValentine
    Jun 27, 2015
    10
    Amazing!, all you could ask from any MMORPG or a FF series game, great Main Story full of CS-voice, dynamic events (FATES), great music, traditional questing more relevant now, beautiful and HUGE new maps, great dungeons and new primals. All jobs got new skills, 3 new jobs, flying feels great, new FC (guilds) options. 10/10
  34. Gulruthina
    Jun 24, 2015
    10
    Good expansion! Must buy if you're a returning player or a hardcore FF fan. Good story, awesome soundtrack, amazing graphics, new primals/raids and many more!
  35. Runeforged
    Jun 25, 2015
    10
    The best MMO on the market just got a-lot better. Don't listen to these whiny crybabies about having to finish the story quests in order. OMG it's so hard to actually have to go through the story!! They just want everything given to them for free like the spoiled brats they are.

    Look, FF14 is a fantastic MMO that strikes the perfect balance between not being too inconvenient while    The best MMO on the market just got a-lot better. Don't listen to these whiny crybabies about having to finish the story quests in order. OMG it's so hard to actually have to go through the story!! They just want everything given to them for free like the spoiled brats they are.

    Look, FF14 is a fantastic MMO that strikes the perfect balance between not being too inconvenient while maintaining challenge. As a big MMO fan, this is easily the best on the market by far. Give it a shot and you'll see.    … Expand
  36. Icyflamez
    Jun 25, 2015
    10
    Amazing story and music, worthy of the Final Fantasy name! Massive new zones that, even with flying, make the ARR zones look tiny! Massive amount of content including eight new dungeons, 2 new primal fights with both hard (story) and extreme difficulties, three new jobs, and in a couple weeks there will be a new hardcore 8-man raid with both a 'normal' and 'savage' difficulty! All in allAmazing story and music, worthy of the Final Fantasy name! Massive new zones that, even with flying, make the ARR zones look tiny! Massive amount of content including eight new dungeons, 2 new primal fights with both hard (story) and extreme difficulties, three new jobs, and in a couple weeks there will be a new hardcore 8-man raid with both a 'normal' and 'savage' difficulty! All in all this expansion hit the nail firmly on its head and is a must buy!… Expand
  37. MisaCeliousa
    Jun 25, 2015
    10
    Amazing expansion, added quite many beautiful areas, the flying feels fluid and amazing, the 3 new jobs are well made and fits right into the world.

    The story feels exciting and well thought out, excited to see future patches ^^
  38. Sensin
    Jun 23, 2015
    10
    Beautifully made expansion, best expansion ever added to any MMORPG! Square Enix has done it again, amazing graphics, great storytelling, an all around fantastic experience. Best MMO out there and deserves all the praise it gets. 10/10
  39. VBlake73
    Jun 25, 2015
    10
    If there was any doubt that Square-Enix can spin a tale with the best of them, Heavensward removes it with no effort at all. While A Realm Reborn got the basics right and provided a decent story, Heavensward took the baton and showed us how an MMORPG should be done, with heavy emphasis on the RPG.

    If you like expansive areas, you'll be in for a treat. Every new area makes the ARR areas    If there was any doubt that Square-Enix can spin a tale with the best of them, Heavensward removes it with no effort at all. While A Realm Reborn got the basics right and provided a decent story, Heavensward took the baton and showed us how an MMORPG should be done, with heavy emphasis on the RPG.

    If you like expansive areas, you'll be in for a treat. Every new area makes the ARR areas look small by comparison. Certain quests also require flight to complete, adding to the exploration experience.

    I can happily say that, in terms of difficulty, SE did not go overboard in making overworld monsters more challenging. They take longer to do away with and require more active skill but they are by no means cheap or unforgiving as far as mechanics go. Striking this balance could not have been easy for SE developers so they deserve a great deal of credit for giving players a challenge without scaring off players who might not be as advanced.

    Overall, SE has masterfully achieved an expansion that builds upon FFXIV in ways that makes us anticipate the next.    … Expand
  40. Malignity
    Jun 27, 2015
    10
    Quite possibly the best expansion I have ever witnessed. I understand there have been issues on certain servers. As with all launches that is to be expected. The Story continues from ARR with a darker tone, that has held my interest the entire time. The classes and abilities have added a lot of new ways to expand on the current battle system. Looking forward to how they incorporate thisQuite possibly the best expansion I have ever witnessed. I understand there have been issues on certain servers. As with all launches that is to be expected. The Story continues from ARR with a darker tone, that has held my interest the entire time. The classes and abilities have added a lot of new ways to expand on the current battle system. Looking forward to how they incorporate this into the Alexander Raid. FC house workshop has a lot of potential to bring crafters together. In my FC it already has. Very excited to see what else 3.0 will build upon with all the new foundations paved down at launch. I will say that the difficulty of the mobs out in the open world are a little underwhelming. It is true that they are just increased with an HP Pool. I feel like the AOE telegraphs might be a little quicker,(definitely in dungeons) but they are still easy to dodge. I don't feel that threatened soloing the quest objectives. As a WHM I can take on 4+ mobs no problem. I'm sure it is more difficult without sleep and heals, but I get the general idea that people aren't getting held up against a pack of mobs. I personally only read and pay attention to the story quests, as the side quests generally are fill fetch quests, that become redundant. There's so much to this game and the community is the best I've been a part of, since the Vanilla days of WoW.… Expand
  41. APOD
    Jan 13, 2016
    8
    I'm Probably NOT the best gamer in the world. But man I love gaming.
    We had a first look at Final Fantasy XIV (14).
    I was just thrown in to an awesome adventure. Cool characters and awesome creatures are waiting for you in this MMORPG. ◄ POSITIVES ► ♥ Deep and detailed storytelling. ♥ Appealing graphics. ♥ Lots of customization abilities. ♥ Cross platforms (Players on    I'm Probably NOT the best gamer in the world. But man I love gaming.
    We had a first look at Final Fantasy XIV (14).

    I was just thrown in to an awesome adventure.
    Cool characters and awesome creatures are waiting for you in this MMORPG.

    ◄ POSITIVES ►
    ♥ Deep and detailed storytelling.
    ♥ Appealing graphics.
    ♥ Lots of customization abilities.
    ♥ Cross platforms (Players on Playstation can play online with PC players).
    ♥ Play with a game pad or use mouse & keyboard.

    ◄ NEGATIVES ►
    ● Confusing map system. You don't know where to go.
    ● Sometimes there is no music.
    ● Some times there are voice over to the cut scenes, some times there isn't.

    View my "First look at - Final Fantasy XIV" video here:
    https://youtu.be/tyM87VAmfvg    … Expand
  42. BrinZalazar
    Jul 2, 2015
    10
    Wow, this expansion has been amazing. Fans of Final Fantasy, and/or fans of MMOs should really check out this game and this expansion.

    A must own for anyone who has played FFXIV. I've been playing from 1.0 and under the leadership of Yoshi-P this game is just fantastic. :) Buy it, and kick back and enjoy yourself. I play on both the PS4 and the PC, really hoping this game comes to    Wow, this expansion has been amazing. Fans of Final Fantasy, and/or fans of MMOs should really check out this game and this expansion.

    A must own for anyone who has played FFXIV. I've been playing from 1.0 and under the leadership of Yoshi-P this game is just fantastic. :)

    Buy it, and kick back and enjoy yourself. I play on both the PS4 and the PC, really hoping this game comes to the XBOX One. :)    … Expand
  43. Jabborwacky
    Jul 8, 2015
    7
    FFXIV: Heavensward provides more of what players have already experienced, only more refined and with flying mounts. While it is true that the story is much improved over the original FFXIV:ARR story arc, such praise needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The original story contained plot holes that were big enough to cause a well intentioned reader to look at the story as a thing in needFFXIV: Heavensward provides more of what players have already experienced, only more refined and with flying mounts. While it is true that the story is much improved over the original FFXIV:ARR story arc, such praise needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The original story contained plot holes that were big enough to cause a well intentioned reader to look at the story as a thing in need of fixing rather than something immersive. The current story is not only free of derailing plot holes, but is actually pretty good. Character's develop naturally through the story, and you can see their personal growth as they experience the events the story is composed of. There is a genuine sense of loss and triumph at multiple points throughout the game.

    The storytelling benefits extend to a great portion of the side quests as well, making them feel more meaningful then typical fetch and kill chores. If only all of them could be said to be so improved, as I found myself grinding my teeth in the churning mists helping less than capable NPCs for several hours. A mixed bag, to be sure, but no less improved.

    But enough about the story. What about the game that lies beneath it? Little has changed from FFXIV:ARR, and that becomes more apparent the closer one gets to the end game. MMORPGs are games played for long stretches at a time, but the dungeons are little more than static corridors with better than average loot. It encourages players to romp their way through them repeatedly, but, much like watching the same video on repeat, it gets old quickly. The dungeons are by all means beautiful, well rendered, and have their own unique music scores to help with their ambience. It's unfortunate that the development team hasn't come up with a way to keep them fresh for more than a few play throughs.

    The problems with dungeons make raising secondary jobs incredibly painful in comparison to the first play through, which explains the over the top ratings from many reviewers. Other activities are presented to try to even things up, but the sheer mountain of experience points and better gear offered by the dungeon corridors encourage players to put themselves through dungeon repeat hell in order to end the pain faster.

    FFXIV:ARR is also plagued by an inventory system that is grossly inadequate for the kind of multiple job system it is built around. Those running multiple jobs will, with time, completely fill their inventory space and be forced to purchase more retainers with real world money. The space issues are caused by the accumulation of equipment, which can be used by multiple jobs and for vanity items. The pre-heavensward equipment has heavy overlap between different classes, so unwary players may end up stowing gear beyond its expiration date in case they might want to raise another class using the same equipment. Without taking drastic measures like jettison all unused vanity items into space, trying to raise multiple jobs will lead to several retainers full of green dungeon loot with little room to spare.

    The current solution is less than satisfactory: Increase your monthly subscription fee and you get another retainer. The calls for an inventory system fix have been very loud at E3, being asked repeatedly on multiple occasions, and the demand will only increase with time as they continue to add even more item sets. In any case, the long running effect of the inventory system is that players will only be able to play a small handful of the jobs regularly. So even if they did find a way to freshen up dungeons and the grind, players would be unlikely to take advantage of those systems.

    Finally, there is the the wait times to get into content as a damage dealer. What should have signaled the death of the Tank, Healer, and Damage Dealer trinity of old continues to haunt the MMORPG world to this day. Had someone told me that these problems would persist over ten years into the future back when I was struggling to get into a group as a mage in World of Warcraft, I would have thought the person totally nuts. Yet the improbable has come to pass, and developers lazily implementing the systems of old with no care for the problems they cause has led to yet another decent game being brought lower than it should.

    I think far too many a professional reviewer has overlooked these important aspects of the gameplay, and have posted their reviews far too early. Until you've played with several different waves of people, how can you honestly review a game built around an open social experience? Expect wave one reviews to give FFXIV:Heavensward a shining ovation. Those that truly wish to rate the experience over the long run, as it should be rated, will likely give it a more humble 7 or 8 out of 10    … Expand
  44. MaxDetroit
    Jul 4, 2015
    10
    Great main storyline, great characters, nice twists. And do not forget about the good sense of humor in this one. Flying in around in the new areas is amazing. Atmosphere, details, graphics over all are great. It's more of the same great stuff, that made "A Realm Reborn" so enjoyable, but this time twice as good.
  45. KluyaAether
    Jul 21, 2015
    10
    It is in my opinion after playing FF14 HW and ARR, that Square Enix is the Disney of the Video Game industry. They should seriously have their own storefronts. They made their characters come alive. Its not easy for me to get emotionally involved with characters from a video game, but these guys did it. The music score was phenomenal and so were the graphics. I definately recommend aIt is in my opinion after playing FF14 HW and ARR, that Square Enix is the Disney of the Video Game industry. They should seriously have their own storefronts. They made their characters come alive. Its not easy for me to get emotionally involved with characters from a video game, but these guys did it. The music score was phenomenal and so were the graphics. I definately recommend a MMO/RPG fan playing this game.… Expand
  46. Malackai
    Jul 23, 2015
    10
    I completely agree with PhantomDusk review and it pretty much summed up my feelings on this game in better words that I can describe myself.

    However it would not be a review if I don't state some things myself. Little background I have played WoW for nearly 10 years. I joined FF14 Reborn when it came out and I enjoyed the game greatly even back then. Unfortunately the launch collided    I completely agree with PhantomDusk review and it pretty much summed up my feelings on this game in better words that I can describe myself.

    However it would not be a review if I don't state some things myself.
    Little background I have played WoW for nearly 10 years. I joined FF14 Reborn when it came out and I enjoyed the game greatly even back then.
    Unfortunately the launch collided pretty much with the SoO patch of WoW and because I was still in a raiding guild the game fell to the background.
    I never stopped paying a sub for it, kept an eye on it and logged in short periods of time to do the holiday events etc.
    Then Warlord of Draenor came out, played a little I stopped raiding (simply could not stomach the raid) saw my guild collapse a couple of months in.
    Simply stayed around for sentiment and then I heard of Heavensward being released, decided that if I wanted to start up again the Free company was simply a must for me.
    I found one and I simply got sucked right in to the game.
    My first thought after playing a week was “Why the hell didn't I made the jump earlier” I am actually enjoying myself again.

    Now that Heavensward has been released my impressions of the game.
    -Story- (10/10)
    The story is simply superb like others have stated it does start slow pre level 30 but I was already around level 40 when I picked it back up and the pre 30 story never really bothered me.
    Some tears were shed already and the expansion is just starting.

    -Classes- (9,5/10)
    The new classed are looking promising haven't really tried them out yet besides unlocking them. I am simply to preoccupied by playing my main class atm.
    and that brings me to point 3 content.

    -Content- (10/10)
    Holy smokes so much to do! And most important content I actually find drawn too and is fun to do.
    I actually have to make a decision for myself when I log on what I am going to do else I get simply overwhelmed or distracted.
    I guess if you're really only in for raiding then content might be more sparse. But if you like gathering, crafting, playing games (gold saucer),
    levelling additional classes etc then there is enough to do you can level all classes and crafting/gathering on 1 character!
    Example yesterday I decided to pick up my relic quest again (its basically outdated but I like the weapon it gives).
    For people familiar with WoW this is basicly a legendary quest chain and it involves some serious grinding.
    I am on the part I had to get items from Fates (basicly little events that spawn all over the map for all people).
    Brilliant part is the quest actually also makes you to go back to lower level areas as well instead of making everything max level only also it also incorporate Crafting and the primal trials and quests al over the world. Instead of WoW's Raid only approach.
    So there I was fully decked out running through low level zones doing fates, btw you get scaled down in level when you join one. Another brilliant way to keep things relevant.
    I saw so many green sprouts(new players) running around the world just felt alive.
    That brings me to point 4 this game is very friendly for new players because of the scaling system you get synced to the level of the dungeons, fates etc.
    So a high lv player can always help a low lv player out and it also helps if you have a friend that wants to start the game as well.
    Plus the FF team pumps out content patches every 3 months that keeps things flowing.
    Since release we already had 2 mini patches (first raid unlocked and savage mode unlock, new pvp zone, new gear mounts recipes etc) And if I understand correctly the first big patch is slated for August/September.

    -Content part 2-
    Different part is most of the contents is intertwined with the story. don't expect to roll a class grind fates till max level and then queue for a raid.
    Dungeons are unlocked by the story, primal trials as well and the raids have a quest chain to unlock them some more elaborate than others.
    Also hard mode dungeons exist make no mistake this is not the same as WoW Heroic dungeons. Hardmode dungeons are usually continuations of stories related to the normal modes
    They have a different path and different bosses in them (sometimes you can see the old paths collapsed or barricaded and you're being led into a new part of the dungeon.)    … Expand
  47. Benedict_x
    Jul 23, 2015
    10
    The expansion requires you to complete the main story of ARR and that's a good thing cause this is a Final Fantasy game. That means aside from the breathtaking graphics and the soul uplifting music there is a cpativating narrative behind it.

    Who is this game for? Final Fantasy fans & people looking to dip thier toes into a mordern day MMO. Who is it isn't for? People carrying    The expansion requires you to complete the main story of ARR and that's a good thing cause this is a Final Fantasy game. That means aside from the breathtaking graphics and the soul uplifting music there is a cpativating narrative behind it.

    Who is this game for? Final Fantasy fans & people looking to dip thier toes into a mordern day MMO.

    Who is it isn't for? People carrying unrealistic expectations from their experience in playing older MMOs & toxic gamers. Latter especially. Please stay away from this game.    … Expand
  48. DYEGameBro
    Jul 24, 2015
    9
    The expansion has you continually experiencing new and exciting twists in the game system, and the amount of things to do and experiment with is simply mind-boggling.

    This is a testament to just how passionate Naoki Yoshida and his team are about this game, and how willing they were to make things right after the original Final Fantasy XIV MMO launch turned out to be a catastrophe. This    The expansion has you continually experiencing new and exciting twists in the game system, and the amount of things to do and experiment with is simply mind-boggling.

    This is a testament to just how passionate Naoki Yoshida and his team are about this game, and how willing they were to make things right after the original Final Fantasy XIV MMO launch turned out to be a catastrophe. This appears to be reflected in the player base too, with ARR being one of square Enix’s highest grossing titles. I have dabbled in many MMOs over the years, but Final Fantasy XIV still remains my favourite, and the new world of Heavensward takes everything that has made the title so good over the past two years and dials it up to eleven.

    If you are prepared to invest a lot of hours into a game that continually rewards you, I can’t think of anything else out there right now better deserving of your time.

    www.doyouevengamebro.net    … Expand
  49. pizzasandwich
    Jun 25, 2015
    5
    Overall, I must say I found this expansion a let down.

    Good things first. The main story is way more interesting and well told than ARR’s original storyline, which was quite awful. The voice acting has improved and the music, of course, is wonderful. The new zones look great and flying is fun. Not so good things. The zones, while great looking, are still just quest grind hubs filled    Overall, I must say I found this expansion a let down.

    Good things first. The main story is way more interesting and well told than ARR’s original storyline, which was quite awful. The voice acting has improved and the music, of course, is wonderful. The new zones look great and flying is fun.

    Not so good things. The zones, while great looking, are still just quest grind hubs filled with generic and mind-numbingly easy to kill monsters that exist solely to be killed to complete fetch quests. You don't even need to kill them for loot, as your retainer, the npc that you store and sell items through, can be sent out to retrieve items for you while you do other things. Square-Enix stated the monsters would be harder this time around, but all they did was increase their HP pool. It is nearly impossible to die from these enemies unless you disconnect or pull several at a time and just sit there and let them wallop you. They all have very easy to dodge telegraphs, and other than that they just basically auto-attack you. And, of course, you can always just run 10 feet away to leash the monsters should you somehow not be able to kill them before they kill you.

    Nearly every single non-dungeon quest involves killing these boring enemies or clicking on objects on the ground. They really went for quantity over quality. Despite the vastness of the zones, I never felt like I was on an adventure. All you do is tedious busywork. You’ll end up doing the same quests with a different script a hundred or more times. There are no dangerous open world areas at all. You can even attack an enemy that is engaging in conversation with another enemy and the other enemy just sits there doing its talking animation while you bludgeon his friend 10 feet away from him.

    The blandness of the enemies is a big problem with both the original game and the expansion. All enemies feel the same. They all either have one or all of the following: a cone/line AoE, a point blank AoE around them, or a targeted circular AoE. None of them feel unique. They’re basically all the same monster just with a different model. These telegraphs are incredibly easy to doge. And if you’re a healing class especially you can just stand in all of them and easily live.

    This is in stark contrast to SE’s previous MMORPG, FFXI, where each monster had different strengths and unique abilities. When you attack an enemy in FFXIV, you do not take in consideration what the enemy is at all, because it doesn’t matter.

    Even dungeon enemies suffer from this blandness. Aside from bosses, all enemies in dungeons are boring trash enemies that are pretty much impossible to die to unless the tank chooses to pull too many packs at once.

    Some of the bosses are fun, albeit quite easy, but, again, you have to wade through trash enemies to get to them. The dungeons are also all linear corridors, just as they were in the original.

    The awful FATE (FFXVI's uninspired version of public quests) system is back, but now FATEs give less exp than ever before, despite the enemies having giant health pools. As a result, I see very few people doing FATEs in the new expansion zones outside of the first ones you get dumped into for story missions. People quickly learn they are pointless to do.

    They also decided to bring over the Hunt system into the new zones. The Hunt involves an enemy spawning every x hours that is either a rank A or S (B rank enemies respawn immediately and offer no reward unless you have a quest to kill it). When these enemies are found, people either post the location in their hunt linkshell chat or shout the position in the chat. After some people show up, the enemy is then obliterated within seconds. This is how you currently upgrade your gear. You spam a handful of easy dungeons hundreds of times for token and then zerg easy monsters mindlessly. Basically, it’s the exact same gear treadmill as ARR. Equipment still just boring +base stats. No unique or interesting special effects to be found on the gear in this game.

    Players complained about both FATEs and Hunts being boring and terrible, yet SE decided to implement them again without any changes.

    The new classes look quite cool, but all the classes in the game are quite homogenized and whenever a class is able to stand out in some trivial way it gets the nerf bat. White Mages, for example, were able to speed up trash pulls in dungeons by spamming their high MP cost spell, Holy. SE nerfed this because it was apparent "unfair" that they were better than the other healers at killing garbage monsters.

    So despite how little effort was seemingly put into the quests, enemies and basically everything outside of the music, storyline and zone-design, creating the expansion was apparently so difficult for the FFXIV developers that Yoshi-P promised in an interview that they would never make an expansion this big again, which I find worrying and bizarre when the expansion isn’t anything amazing. It’s very average.    … Expand
  50. LagunaNoctis
    Jun 23, 2015
    9
    It doesn't feel like an expansion, it feels like a full fledged JRPG. The music is fantastic, the story is interesting, the new areas are vast and pretty to look at, and the new content is gives a much welcome challenge to veteran players.

    Easily one of the best Themepark MMOs you can play today.
  51. rpg4life
    Jul 24, 2015
    10
    IM SO GLAD I SWITCHED FROM WOW TO THIS GAME. The story is amazing. I love how you have to unlock jobs and that there are cross class skills to give you that extra boost if you wanna go for those for those of you reading this that have not played this game at all yet. The only thing this game really lacks is in pvp but for anyone that is pure pve and dungeon raiding this game is for you!IM SO GLAD I SWITCHED FROM WOW TO THIS GAME. The story is amazing. I love how you have to unlock jobs and that there are cross class skills to give you that extra boost if you wanna go for those for those of you reading this that have not played this game at all yet. The only thing this game really lacks is in pvp but for anyone that is pure pve and dungeon raiding this game is for you! The 3 new jobs this expansion pack added are pretty fun too and very complicated unlike wow and its sad rotations in raids. The only unfortunate part is if your new to the game you need to get to 50 and completely finish the story line up to this expansion then you can use the new jobs, which will start you off back at level 30. But in reality you shouldnt be touching them till you get used to the game anyways.… Expand
  52. Kennyamr
    Jul 2, 2015
    10
    This is the continuation of the A Realm Reborn story arc. This directly follows what happens next after the great finale of ARR. Story is even better than what it was before the expansion.The addition of the new jobs has expanded the ways of players to run through content and the new abilities included in ALL jobs are giving us the change to reimagine our rotations and create new ways toThis is the continuation of the A Realm Reborn story arc. This directly follows what happens next after the great finale of ARR. Story is even better than what it was before the expansion.The addition of the new jobs has expanded the ways of players to run through content and the new abilities included in ALL jobs are giving us the change to reimagine our rotations and create new ways to play. The new areas are really really large and they make you work to be able to fly, it is a bit of a pain at first but as soon as you are allowed to fly, Oh, man you will LOVE it! the story is amazing again and all of the new adjustments are very very good in general. I am very happy with the expansion and I'm looking forward to finally beat Alexander when it comes out next week! Good luck fellow adventurers!… Expand
  53. Starlord
    Aug 1, 2015
    10
    FFXIV is at it's core a Story Driven game. the ones that gave it a low score, don't seem to have beat the entire Expansion. So much feels this story arc had, People I liked a lot within the story have passed on, The music accompanied with key moments of Heavensward either got me crying or got me pumped up for the next battle.

    Flying in Heavensward is so fluid and fun to do, along with    FFXIV is at it's core a Story Driven game. the ones that gave it a low score, don't seem to have beat the entire Expansion. So much feels this story arc had, People I liked a lot within the story have passed on, The music accompanied with key moments of Heavensward either got me crying or got me pumped up for the next battle.

    Flying in Heavensward is so fluid and fun to do, along with the new theme when on certain mounts feels like a sense of adventure!

    If I am going to review this game, I am going to do it knowing what the core of this game is founded on ( It's story) and I give very few games a 10/10 but man this game surely gave me all the feels that I thought the train would never end!

    Great job SE/Yoshida! Keeping the awesome storytelling a flowing!    … Expand
  54. shoukanji
    Jun 25, 2015
    3
    Once again a let down offered by Square Enix.

    For new or returning players, good luck to you for doing the hundreds of useless and uninteresting fetch quests in between "real" main missions. Other than that, Heavensward is A Realm Reborn all the same, a beautiful and empty game, destroyed by the laziness of the dev team. Story : it is a bit more well-written than in ARR but we are    Once again a let down offered by Square Enix.

    For new or returning players, good luck to you for doing the hundreds of useless and uninteresting fetch quests in between "real" main missions.

    Other than that, Heavensward is A Realm Reborn all the same, a beautiful and empty game, destroyed by the laziness of the dev team.

    Story : it is a bit more well-written than in ARR but we are once again swimming in clichés and predictable cliffhangers, with forgettable characters and, for the most part, forgettable story. It has nothing to do with the story of a real FF, it is just a story that wants to be like a FF story, and fails, miserably.

    Quests : even more fetch quests, terribly done and lazy work but you should do them for some free HQ pieces of equipment and unlocking aether currents for flying. Prepare to cross the map back and forth several times for two lines of dialogue.

    FATEs : most of the people hated them in 2.0 but hey, they're back and they're the same, but give less exp proportionally.

    Monsters : ironically, the new monsters look terrible except for those directly stolen from other FF (mainly FFXI). Yoshida said that they were going to be hard, well hard only means "HP bags" and hit a bit harder, no new mechanics, all the mobs are the same with different skins, you won't die if you think and play well.

    Dungeons : corridors, nothing new to expect from these, trash > boss > trash > boss > trash > final boss. Again, no new mechanics, no paths to be chosen, nothing.

    Zones : the new zones are indeed quite big, somehow good-looking but bland and useless since there is no open world content except FATEs, hunts, sightseeing log... Even more useless since you can fly.

    Primals : nothing new, same mechanics as ARR. Oh, and Ravana, the "primal created exclusively for FFXIV" looks awfully close to Narakas in FFXI, again lazy work.

    System : no new retainers and no increase in inventory space, Yoshida said the servers couldn't handle it. But you can buy even more retainers now if you wish.
    The animations and effects look and sound terrible, flashes everywhere, but it's a nice way to hide the lacking animations, most of the people just disable effects.

    Jobs : the new jobs have no identity and essence, just like all the others jobs, they're pretty much all the same with different skills.

    Exploration : you don't explore the way you like, you are forced to explore to be able to fly after unlocking all the aether currents in a zone. Play like the devs want you to.

    All in all, Heavensward is aimed at easy-to-please people, who like to follow an easy story with no subtlety and easy content that looks like it is incredibly hard. If you like chocobos, moogles and whatever FF references put here and there with no thinking and without making any sense, this is your game. If you love and respect FF, you will quickly see that this game is a joke that takes its players for stupid people.
    If not, come and pay your sub, buy stuff in the cash shop, buy monthly retainers, buy a lazy extension every year (the next one won't be that "huge" !) and make Yoshida happy, he hasn't been sleeping and eating for so long.    … Expand
  55. stanelis
    Jun 25, 2015
    4
    Awesome main story quest and some interesting elements of level design in the new area.

    But I have loads of issues with the game : - Very few new dungeons, which are very cool visually but too linear. - The new areas don't have any open world dungeon for the player to explore. - The monsters in the new areas are just huge HP bags. - Fates are still as uninteresting as they were in    Awesome main story quest and some interesting elements of level design in the new area.

    But I have loads of issues with the game :

    - Very few new dungeons, which are very cool visually but too linear.
    - The new areas don't have any open world dungeon for the player to explore.
    - The monsters in the new areas are just huge HP bags.
    - Fates are still as uninteresting as they were in ARR.
    - All the optionnal quest make you do the same things (eg kill a few monsters or gather a few item by clicking on stuff on the ground or talk to a few NPC).
    - The gear threadmill at level 60 is exactly the same as the one in ARR (dungeon farming then hunt farming).

    I'm quite concerned with the longevity of the game.    … Expand
  56. savionen
    Sep 27, 2015
    4
    I was initially excited about Heavensward, the story is much better than ARR, new areas to explore, etc. The main problem arises from the limited amount of content. When you hit endgame, there's 2 dungeons, 2 primals, and 1 4-boss raid. That's it. TWO DUNGEONS. The first primal is a one-kill and then you'll never go again. The 2nd primal takes a bit of work, but for most people will stillI was initially excited about Heavensward, the story is much better than ARR, new areas to explore, etc. The main problem arises from the limited amount of content. When you hit endgame, there's 2 dungeons, 2 primals, and 1 4-boss raid. That's it. TWO DUNGEONS. The first primal is a one-kill and then you'll never go again. The 2nd primal takes a bit of work, but for most people will still be a one-kill. The crafting system was destroyed in the expansion, as they made it infinitely more grindy while making it less rewarding, and there's simply very little in the game to do other than farm old content. Classes were also greatly homogenized. I feel like whatever uniqueness FFXIV had in the MMO market has been destroyed in the expansion.… Expand
  57. klkevinkl
    May 23, 2016
    3
    Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is by far one of the worst MMO expansions that I have played, especially one that costed nearly $60 since the expansion did not come with a subscription fee. While the initial story was intriguing, all of the build up from the previous entry was thrown out as the characters fled North after the end of the previous game. Numerous character deaths were undoneFinal Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is by far one of the worst MMO expansions that I have played, especially one that costed nearly $60 since the expansion did not come with a subscription fee. While the initial story was intriguing, all of the build up from the previous entry was thrown out as the characters fled North after the end of the previous game. Numerous character deaths were undone and the story itself held no meaning until you got to near the end of the game, when they are finally able to kill an Ascian only to introduce the Warrior of Darkness and end on a to be continued. The game makes numerous callbacks to previous entries in the series, with the final boss having a memorable attack from Final Fantasy 7.

    The three new character classes do not offer anything new. The Dark Knight is just a combination of a few existing tank classes. The Machinist is just another form of a summoner. The Astrologian just replaces traditional heals with heals over time and is probably the most unique of the three classes to me.

    If I had to describe Heavensward in one word, I would say tedious. One of the benefits of the game is to unlock flying for your chocobo, which can only be done by exploring the entire map. The problem is that the map is designed extremely awkwardly with wide opened empty fields everywhere you look. Each map only has one major city and tiny small outposts yet it takes more than five minutes to run across the map by chocobo without flying. There's even a map that's divided into level 51 on the bottom half and level 57 on the top half along with a misleading road that leads you north only for you to find nothing but dead ends. The only thing enjoyable to a degree are the dungeons, but the problem is that many of them now feature absurd puzzles and just pointless DPS checks instead of strategy while most bosses rely more on luck than anything else.

    Enemies in Heavensward are made tougher, but the problem is that it ultimately makes it unrewarding. Experience rewards are low and tons of quests involve obnoxious levels of exploration that uses the elevation of the game against you because your map is unable to show it. I eventually found myself back in Northern Thanalan doing FATEs at level 58 to 60 instead because it was much more rewarding.

    The main problems of the game still remains. Your drops are limited on a weekly basis so it is impossible to gear up a class to prepare for the next content release for more than one class. As a result, the ability to play as multiple classes do not really serve much of a function since there's no way to make more than one raid viable at any point. The end game raids still feel more luck based and have arbitrary time limits placed on them. The puzzles are interesting at first, but it quickly becomes whether or not you can finish the raid before you repeat the same pattern for the third time. Whether you fail a dungeon or not can depend on whether you get either a tank or a healer pulled out from the battle or the two DPS characters are sent to die on their own as they are split. Go too long and everyone dies from damage stacking by the enemies.

    There are better choices for paid MMOs out there and FFXIV is one that I highly recommend that you skip over, especially if this is all an expansion is offering a year after its release. At $14 a month and incredibly slow updates, there's much better games to play. All they have to support them is the promise of a better game, one that they have failed to deliver and instead have begun to repeat the mistakes of the past.    … Expand
  58. leeber
    Oct 24, 2015
    4
    Everything bad about this expansion is circling around the false promises that Yoshida made us to buy it.

    He said it will be tougher areas > They just increased the HP pool of enemies, no new mechanics or real sense of danger, this only make the battles a chore. New leves, more difficult and rewarding > Not difficult at all and very expensive to sign on them. It's just better to    Everything bad about this expansion is circling around the false promises that Yoshida made us to buy it.

    He said it will be tougher areas > They just increased the HP pool of enemies, no new mechanics or real sense of danger, this only make the battles a chore.

    New leves, more difficult and rewarding > Not difficult at all and very expensive to sign on them. It's just better to grind dungeons to gain more EXP or equipment.

    Crafting will be more open and reward players that stick on a single disciple > You still have to level up all crafting classes to make a single item for your class. The amount of materials of other classes that you need to make a single (and useless) item of your own is silly and frustrating. And, beside of that, crafting equipment are useless compared to the ones you get on raids, tomes and, the worst, even dungeons. You, basically, do crafting only to completion purposes there are not utility behind it.

    For the rest of the game, special currency grinding to get better equipment is becoming a major flaw of the game. Generally speaking, all grinding aspects of this game are maddening but the ones who revolves around acquiring tomes are just infuriating.

    Old content is getting obsolete and a new player who wants to make old raids depends to find a good FC that want to make old content just for fun because the queues to enter with party finder seem infinite.

    Fighting classes are overbalanced. They just feel and play the same. They have added a healer that plays like a mixture of the other two healer classes, a tank that plays somehow like the Warrior and a DPS that is nearly a carbon copy of the Bard. All the traits that made old classes unique are diluting. Right now, there is no reason (more than completionism) to switch between jobs of the same type.

    The worst thing of all, is that all this things are making what it was a good community into an enraged, unpolite and selfish one.

    History is as great as the main game left and, sincerely, is the only thing that would make me come back. That, and the fantastic atmosphere that Nobuaki Komoto have created.    … Expand
  59. curzon_dax
    Aug 9, 2019
    6
    Overrated game from old veterans of the franchise. The story of this franchise is generally extremely hard to follow; the player is presented with very disconnected parts of a story that are shoehorned here and there to reach the final destination the creators wanted you to reach anyway.
    While the single-player aspect is clearly better than WoW and the graphics slightly improved, it has    Overrated game from old veterans of the franchise. The story of this franchise is generally extremely hard to follow; the player is presented with very disconnected parts of a story that are shoehorned here and there to reach the final destination the creators wanted you to reach anyway.
    While the single-player aspect is clearly better than WoW and the graphics slightly improved, it has nothing more to give than being a WoW clone.    … Expand
  60. zaftgun
    Dec 27, 2017
    6
    Zero notable improvement on the original game. As stormblood was already release a little while ago, the game is getting big, equipment levels are high, the original trials are not getting done much anymore. It will be extremely hard to find enough people to start a game and those fights are the best the has to offer.

    Music is very average and does not fit with the theme and    Zero notable improvement on the original game. As stormblood was already release a little while ago, the game is getting big, equipment levels are high, the original trials are not getting done much anymore. It will be extremely hard to find enough people to start a game and those fights are the best the has to offer.

    Music is very average and does not fit with the theme and surroundings. Flying is crude once again and unenjoyable.

    Overall other than the visual environment, its a poor effort and a poor job.

    A big big time waster.    … Expand
  61. yousuck1
    Aug 21, 2020
    0
    SucksSucks.,.................................................. ...................
  62. aetce
    Sep 18, 2020
    3
    tldr: great if you have friends and/or like lore.

    For an MMORPG, its not as resource intensive as something like GW2, which has an agenda to cook everybody's CPU. Even on laptops with a dedicated (low-end) GPU, you can hit a reliable 1080p60fps (granted you turn everything low), and even if you're playing on integrated graphics, its still playable. Kudos to the Square-Enix for putting a    tldr: great if you have friends and/or like lore.

    For an MMORPG, its not as resource intensive as something like GW2, which has an agenda to cook everybody's CPU. Even on laptops with a dedicated (low-end) GPU, you can hit a reliable 1080p60fps (granted you turn everything low), and even if you're playing on integrated graphics, its still playable. Kudos to the Square-Enix for putting a lot of customization into their character creation since if you're playing this game for the lore, you might as well take some time designing your character to look like an NPC in the game and mashing the "fantasy name generator" websites until you hit a name you like. (Honest opinion, I think this sort of phenomenon only happens in games like GW2 and FFXIV, I've yet to see anyone play other games where they name themselves into a character outside of joking purposes. I guess players really want to become part of the story. If that's the case, this is an alright game).

    Are the FFXIV veterans gone? Good, lets go to the actual review.

    For a game with a lot of skills for each class (and the other classes that the base classes later transform into), unless you're a healer or tank, you won't be using them for the most part. Sure, there might be a combat MSQ once on a blue moon, but its mostly a post office simulator in that you're carrying messages from one (complex) map to another (complex) map.

    On the positive, this game is very solo friendly -- if playing in open world is all you plan to do. If not, get yourself some friends and play as a tank/healer because the queue times for dps players in dungeons is 30minutes (you can make 10 whole bags of popcorn). But at that point, if you want to play solo, good luck. And if you have no friends and are forced to play solo, might as well switch to another class and regrind those levels.
    I guess the positive to these long queue times is that I was able to clean my room, and when I got back, I was still queuing (0 tank, 0 healer, 1/2 dps). What an amazing game!

    On the negative, why doesn't this game allow you to freely move around servers within a datacenter region? Siren's always full and you'll be sitting in queue for a while. Square-Enix seems like a smart dev team, yet they can't implement it. I mean, even the original Runescape back in the 2000's allowed you to freely choose worlds (and more if you're a paid player). FFXIV came out in 2010 (least what google says), and chugging along in 2020, still doesn't have it figured out.

    Lore wise, this is a nice game if you like games and stories. But if you're just want a game for stories and social interaction, you might as well play a dating simulator. Least that won't make you wander around an area for a long time because the objective is on the floor below you, but the map system is so complex that you cant figure out how to get down there. The combat in this game really feels like an afterthought. And why are there so many skills for all (is it 10?) jobs if you won't be using them most of the time. Hey, Square-Enix if you're reading this, just make this into a story book or something and save everybody's time, clearly the combat was an afterthought that you threw in there to appeal to the MMORPG community. In terms of other things S-E doesn't understand, the meaning of the word "Final". Final means "last", how did you manage to get up to 14?

    Lastly, if you're stuck and think you need help, you don't. If you aren't praising FFXIV like the community is, ignoring all the possible downsides, you'll get mocked at for trying to ask for help figuring out how to do X thing. But I guess when you've already sunk hundreds to thousands of dollars into the game, you gotta ignore the faults else that investment doesn't seem worth it /shrug.    … Expand
  63. erazor2021
    Aug 18, 2021
    0
    If you don’t like the Trial / “Realm Reborn” take my word, you won’t like any of it…

    New players hope you are ready for 200+ hours of MSQ which is mainly reading text. I fell for the recent hype. To all the people who says “it gets better” seriously, what is wrong with you? This constant insincerity is what kept me going. IT DOESN’T GET BETTER (a least to the point it serves as a    If you don’t like the Trial / “Realm Reborn” take my word, you won’t like any of it…

    New players hope you are ready for 200+ hours of MSQ which is mainly reading text.

    I fell for the recent hype. To all the people who says “it gets better” seriously, what is wrong with you? This constant insincerity is what kept me going. IT DOESN’T GET BETTER (a least to the point it serves as a valid argument).

    I just finished Shadowbringers 5.5 MSQ, and let me tell you, this is an “interactive Novel” more than it is a video game.

    Sure with each expansion the game (novel) gets a little better, in terms of graphics, animations, storytelling, but the CORE of the game doesn’t change, it is still this outdated mmorpg tab targeting, with its main FOCUS on MSQ, which is basically walls of text.

    Your quests in order of occurrences is: talk, travel, click objects, kill NPCs, do dungeons/trials/story instances.
    They added one different mechanic in Stormblood lol, which is to “click stuff in FPS mode”.

    I can count the EPIC moments of the story in one hand! 3 of them were in Havensward and 2 in Shadowbringers (forget RR and SB).

    The main focus of this game is the MSQ, but the problem is; the MSQ is 90% fluff pointless writing and storytelling, you could cut out 80% of this writing and still get a concise accurate description of the story, albeit just more on point.

    What Square Enix is doing is inflating game time content with more and more text and sloppy animation screens, which I’m not kidding stretches the MSQ than it really needs to be. I’m not even talking about important background build up, I’m talking about content you won’t even remember because it served no purpose in the grand scheme of things. (Anything you wont remember a month from now isn't worth reading about).

    Because the MSQ is mainly storytelling, and single player orientated, why not just play better solo video games that are much, much better technically advanced in gameplay, like GTA 5, Witcher 3, red redemption 2, and hundreds of others titles?

    There were times I was so desperate to just “play” the game, because there is so few dungeons/trials and killing quests in-between all the walls of text.

    One could always pay a story skip potion, but the fact is MSQ is the focus of this game, the endgame is extra stuff. Players and Square have both said that MSQ is the focus of the game, and the more casual player base.

    WoW = focuses on repeatable endgame content after a short introductory (and often crap) storyline.

    FF14 = 200 hours of MSQ (at minimum) at which point you can cycle through some endgame content and get max ilvl gear fairly easily. But levelling others job/crafts, which has its own questlines seems be one of the most popular things to do.

    I won’t be buying Endwalker. People who enjoy reading fluff for hundreds of hours to see one good cutscene here and there, you do that, enjoy! I’ll watch it in a recap YouTube video and do more productive things with my life than read FLUFF MSQ content, which is intentionally used to extend game play time.

    “You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time” think about if you’re really enjoying that 200 hours or if you’re only enjoy small amounts of it. Whilst the epic moments were epic, the pain of going through so much unfun content to see it was not worth it. The balance is definitely not there.

    Even most fans think the post RR quests are so bad, yet square hasnt fixed it by just removing it for new players by using a short narration cutscene to bring players up to date for havensward. (And i heard it was even worse, oh dear God).    … Expand
  64. loliance
    Dec 11, 2021
    7
    In my opinion this is the best expansion.
    Good class balance, excellent raids, beautiful locations.
    Much better story than ARR.

    The main critic I have is that there just isn't enough content compared to other MMOs on the market.

    Still lots to be desired on making the story more "alive" though, the lack of voice acting in the vast majority of the Main Story Quests breaks immersion.
  65. MoofiaBossVal
    Dec 26, 2021
    7
    The story is pretty meh. Unsatisfying conclusion to the Ul'dah plotline from ARR. The trailers for Heavensward promise an epic war against dragons, but it never really happens ingame. I wasn't really into the aesthetics of grey castles and knights in grey armor and grey dragons.

    However, Heavensward brings with it quite a lot of content, much more compared to later expansions, so I view    The story is pretty meh. Unsatisfying conclusion to the Ul'dah plotline from ARR. The trailers for Heavensward promise an epic war against dragons, but it never really happens ingame. I wasn't really into the aesthetics of grey castles and knights in grey armor and grey dragons.

    However, Heavensward brings with it quite a lot of content, much more compared to later expansions, so I view it more favorably.    … Expand
  66. KinimodYunmi
    Mar 3, 2023
    6
    Das zieht sich ganz schön und es gibt viele unnötige Gespräche, mich wundert´s, dass sie nicht jeden zweiten Satz sagen, dass sie noch eben atmen müssen.

    Es wird aber tatsächlich immer etwas besser, wenn auch nur langsam, allerdings war das Gebiet ganz am Anfang am schönsten. Ansonsten sind Drachen auch einfach immer eine gute Wahl. Was mich aber entorm ankotzt sind die Solo    Das zieht sich ganz schön und es gibt viele unnötige Gespräche, mich wundert´s, dass sie nicht jeden zweiten Satz sagen, dass sie noch eben atmen müssen.

    Es wird aber tatsächlich immer etwas besser, wenn auch nur langsam, allerdings war das Gebiet ganz am Anfang am schönsten. Ansonsten sind Drachen auch einfach immer eine gute Wahl.

    Was mich aber entorm ankotzt sind die Solo Instanzen, die sind viel schwerer als alles andere und man darf sie nicht mit seinen Freunden zusammen spielen, das ständige Auflösen der Gruppe ist total bescheuert!
    Man muss auch erst einmal sterben, damit man auf leicht oder sehr leicht switchen kann, wenn man es gar nicht erst auf normal versuchen möchte. Man kann sich zwar auch einmal sterben lassen, oft schaffen die erst paar Gegner das aber nicht und man reizt es hier komplett aus, dass Spieler so viel Zeit wie möglich wasten!    … Expand
  67. Keyxlime
    Jun 27, 2023
    10
    El equipo se lucio con esta primera expansion. Facilmente podria ser un juego individual de Final Fantasy. La historia, el soundtrack y la manera en la que trabajaron las cinematicas es de 100. Y el contenido Post-game solo se pone mejor. Cierta questline del Post-HW tiene una historia y tematica digna de Volver al Futuro
  68. Light_Ain
    Jul 25, 2023
    10
    The story went up a ton in the first expansion, really is just so good and big improvement from the slow start of the first part of the game.
  69. Unoskd
    Sep 7, 2023
    8
    The quality of the story took a massive leap forward from ARR to Heavensward.
    A leading factor for this, of course, is the character Haurchefant and his fate, which likely affected many players.
    However, I must say that although it was a very impactful experience, it felt incredibly unnecessary to me. It would have been so easy as a player to intervene and prevent it, but instead, you    The quality of the story took a massive leap forward from ARR to Heavensward.
    A leading factor for this, of course, is the character Haurchefant and his fate, which likely affected many players.
    However, I must say that although it was a very impactful experience, it felt incredibly unnecessary to me. It would have been so easy as a player to intervene and prevent it, but instead, you just stand there and just watch it unfold.
    I imagine that as a tank or healer, you'd feel particularly foolish in that scene. So, it's quite frustrating in a way, but FF14 is obviously not Baldur's Gate 3, where you can act freely. Accordingly, you have no choice when the developers decide that you have to behave questionably in certain moments.

    Nonetheless, a really good expansion. 8/10 points.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best PC Game of 2015
48
#48 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
61
#61 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. RPG Fan
    Nov 5, 2015
    95
    An extensive and well-planned expansion that makes Eorzea an ever-more compelling place to get lost in.
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  2. USgamer
    Aug 14, 2015
    90
    In addition to flying, players get an all-new storyline, new Primals, a brand-new raid dungeon, and three new jobs to level up. FFXIV still retains a few annoying issues here and there, but Heavensward is one of the best MMO expansions I've played.
    Read full review
  3. GameCritics
    Aug 9, 2015
    75
    The music is often phenomenal, the translation and dialogue are exquisite, and the world is one that's worth spending time in. However, it's all based on grind-heavy gameplay, and it's still subscription based. My advice is to buy it, burn through the new content, and then put it aside until the next substantial expansion is released.
    Read full review
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