Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

 PC
User Score
9.1

Universal acclaim- based on 1547 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,419 out of 1547
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 1547
  3. Negative: 102 out of 1547

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  1. Dryos
    Jul 9, 2019
    9
    Best game ever ! Story, cinematics, dungeons, boss, mecanics, boss, everythink in this extension was so nice.
  2. fuuretsu
    Sep 4, 2019
    9
    The aesthetics of SHB are amazing. Light = bad and darkness = good isnt too unique a concept but the execution was great. The sin eaters feel unholy and the bright sky looks sickly. Darkness is worshipped and the night sky becomes a cause for celebration. The scenery is gorgeous, and each zone, with a counterpart on the Source, is feels far more memorable than in previous expacs. SokenThe aesthetics of SHB are amazing. Light = bad and darkness = good isnt too unique a concept but the execution was great. The sin eaters feel unholy and the bright sky looks sickly. Darkness is worshipped and the night sky becomes a cause for celebration. The scenery is gorgeous, and each zone, with a counterpart on the Source, is feels far more memorable than in previous expacs. Soken outdid himself with the OST yet again. The new songs are memorable and/or fitting ambiance. There are new twists on old themes as well as completely new bangers. In terms of story, SHB is the best expac so far. It really made me come to appreciate and like characters that have been in the game since the beginning. Many new minor npcs that were more likeable than major characters from previous expacs. The overarching villains become people to sympathize with, and the WoL felt more involved in the story. Unfortunately, with how good the world of Norvrandt is, I am no longer interested in the events happening in Eorzea. Every time they showed us Estinien or Gaius or Zenos back on the Source, I didn't care. Of course the story had some problems, with more death scares for characters they would never kill off and Ranjit, the OP reoccurring villain who is barely a character. SHB made me appreciate how tasteful this game is (even with Viera) compared to others. I dont recall any "lewding," or even suggestive jokes made towards the kiddos, which is a relief. Dulia Chai didn't get reduced into a fat joke, even though she very easily could have been. There is a transgendered npc that is treated respectfully. The fairies don't have specified genders, except for maybe Feo Ul who uses feminine pronouns. Yoshi-P said he was considering more inclusive values in the game, and it's nice to see that he hasn't forgotten that. The grinding that we needed to do between every set of msq was offputting. I never had to deal with that before. I barely touched the trust system, but that's because I was playing with my friends through the msq, but I was disappointed to find that you get barred from using certain characters after msq. And then you have to level trust characters manually, which seems pointless. Thankfully, a recent update made them easier to level up. I'm not completely expecting the trust system to expand to the whole game, since expac specific characters with custom AI/skills, but they at least need to make an update to squadrons to make them vaguely comparable. SHB's launch seemed to go smoothly (ignoring the obligatory ddos attacks) compared to what I've heard of SB. Overall better server stability due to the data center split as well a new instance system prevented a new Raubahn EX. The instance system is somewhat inconveniencing, and combined with world visit, hunt trains are very different than from what I experienced in SB. (Luckily on Primal theres a diligent group of people who work to make trains as smooth as possible, but even so, it's brutal how nonstop they are.) The instances were said to be temporary, but with how many people use one train to cap their weekly tomes, I can only imagine the outrage. Cross-world sniping would come back with a vengeance. The instancing system would be a lot better if teleporting (not at the aetheryte) gave the option to pick specific instances and also if the flag command also added the instance. The new areas are easier to navigate, even without flight (barring the final zone). Previous expac maps were bad for a variety of reasons. They havent improved the misleading map though. The gameplay hasnt changed too much overall. The new dungeons are really fun and engaging. They use interesting mechanics and I like getting them in queue. The class changes did a lot of simplification that was good some ways and bad in others. I no longer have to manage TP, which provided nothing but irritation, and my hotbars are less cluttered now. I mostly play WAR so I cant verify everything from personal experience, but I think the classes/roles are getting homogenized in a worrying way. Tank stance is purely for aggro, they can no longer pull aggro without it (which admittedly makes it easier). No longer does it give a boost to health or defense, that's a passive ability between all tanks. Tank classes filled certain niches but now the feel like axe-flavored or shield-flavor. ASTs unique card system was gutted. SCHs fairies are interchangeable now. BRDs unique supports/buffs system was taken and basically given to DNC.

    I've played a lot of MMOs before, but I've never enjoyed them as much as this one. FFXIV isnt perfect. The combat is still lacking. The community may not be as good as people say it is, but I have made many friends and good experiences through this game. The story might be cliched, but I've never felt as attached to my character before. In terms of what I was looking for, SHB is really good, GOTY-worthy even, but it won't be everyone's cup of tea    … Expand
  3. Tonarestriga
    Jul 26, 2020
    9
    Only two content patches in and there has yet to be an end to the content. The dungeons are gorgeous, the raids are amazing, the crafting and gathering systems are still their own slice of annoying. I cannot wait to see what YoshiP and his team come up with next but one thing is for sure it is going to be action packed, content packed, and one heck of a ride that I cannot wait to go on.
  4. grot00
    Dec 11, 2021
    9
    Perfect expansion. If only devs could muster up some courage and finally kill some major npc. The only thing this story lacks is some stakes, actual risks.
  5. Torexid
    Dec 11, 2021
    9
    Great story and great music. Definitely worth the money and so worth playing!
  6. Lux7
    Dec 11, 2021
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ver good … Expand
  7. RCSabin
    Dec 12, 2021
    9
    What a phenomenal expansion.

    Story takes a while to pick up and become interesting but since it went on a darker tone and cutscenes are pretty great you don't mind as much as in Stormblood. Once it does pick up its a blast until the end.
  8. Roka
    Apr 1, 2023
    9
    This is not your ordinary expansion. It's a journey into a world of darkness and light, where the lines between good and evil are blurred, and the fate of the universe hangs in the balance.

    The story is epic, the characters are unforgettable, and the gameplay is as thrilling as ever. Emet-Selch and Graha-Tia are two of the most awesome characters in my opinion. They're complex,    This is not your ordinary expansion. It's a journey into a world of darkness and light, where the lines between good and evil are blurred, and the fate of the universe hangs in the balance.

    The story is epic, the characters are unforgettable, and the gameplay is as thrilling as ever.

    Emet-Selch and Graha-Tia are two of the most awesome characters in my opinion. They're complex, nuanced, and utterly captivating. You'll find yourself drawn to their stories.
    And speaking of characters, let's not forget about Zenos. Yes, he's back, and he's as badass as ever. Still wish though they would give us some infos about his past and his general life in the castle before he turned in the person we all know today. Also his connection to Emet. There is so much they left out, it's a little bit meh in my opinion. Really wish they would show us a bit more about this character.

    Overall, Final Fantasy's Shadowbringers expansion is pretty great and it will leave you breathless.    … Expand
  9. s3renity
    Dec 25, 2019
    8
    Story-wise, this is the best FFXIV expansion ever. The main plot is just superb, characters are interesting and distinct. Dialogue is great, locations and adventures are interesting. Instances are superbly designed, just like in SB and earlier expansions. You can clearly see the design improvements and progress from ARR and HB.

    Music and graphics are just a notch better than in SB, as    Story-wise, this is the best FFXIV expansion ever. The main plot is just superb, characters are interesting and distinct. Dialogue is great, locations and adventures are interesting. Instances are superbly designed, just like in SB and earlier expansions. You can clearly see the design improvements and progress from ARR and HB.

    Music and graphics are just a notch better than in SB, as expected. With a new theme of the expansion comes a completely new atmosphere and it's absolutely great. Terrifying and dark at times, sometimes playful and fun. It sometimes feels like the team is just showing off how well they can blend and mix seemingly distinct patterns, colors, and moods. It's a feast.

    The new races are OK, though I think they were unnecessary. The amount of energy it takes to redesign items in the game to fit these new models could have been put elsewhere, and one particular place comes to mind. Class design and lore.

    Class (Job) design is the only area I feel they could have done much better. They have redesigned or changed many classes in an effort to make them easier to play. The influx of players from other games, particularly WoW, seems to have caused them to reconsider and simplify job rotations. They probably called it "streamlining" or similar internally. In my view, this caused many jobs to lose their complexity or unique flavor. While still fun to play, some of them just seem to be missing that spark that initially drew me in.

    In addition to these mechanical changes, they also did not add any new class quests, instead opting for "role quests" - quests aimed at tanks, healers, physical and magical dps. While understandable (with new classes in every expansion, it's just more and more work), I feel it's a bad move. WoW team recently recognized that classes are the lens through which we experience the game, and I think this is true in FFXIV, despite the fact that you can change classes at will. I hope they will go back to class quests in the next expansion.

    All in all, FFXIV is still miles ahead any other game of this type. Every MMORPG fan should try it out.    … Expand
  10. Shekky84
    Jul 6, 2019
    8
    Good story an excellent MMO to get into, PVP isnt the best but devs are not trying to make an esport and the focus is on story telling and PVE content. The support is beyond terrible for this game if you accidently purchase something on the mog station good luck trying to get a refund or have the problem fixed for you.

    Other then that the game is excellent
  11. DeWyntr
    Jun 26, 2023
    8
    All the marks were hit with this expansion, XIV has had it's shares of ups and downs with content and I must say it's been a rollercoaster trying to figure out where much of my opinions lie when it comes to each featured expansion. Shadowbringers however I can't bring myself to fault, it brought us the new continent within one of the Reflections, a highly developed landmass telling it'sAll the marks were hit with this expansion, XIV has had it's shares of ups and downs with content and I must say it's been a rollercoaster trying to figure out where much of my opinions lie when it comes to each featured expansion. Shadowbringers however I can't bring myself to fault, it brought us the new continent within one of the Reflections, a highly developed landmass telling it's own story with it's own unique cast. Harping on tropes without relying so heavily on them as to stifle the creativity of the story itself. Shadowbringers was perhaps the best expansion of XIV to date, only just ahead of Stormblood as my personal favorite.

    From sympathetic, fleshed out and well-concluded villains to satisfying, sentimental and meaningful interactions with companions, XIV Shadowbringers holds the best of all the game has to offer within it's story. The expansion doesn't overstay it's welcome, maintaining pacing and enjoyment throughout; Shadowbringers brought us Bozja, Zadnor, some of the best high end content we've seen to date all while managing to deliver some amazing casual and story content to boot.

    This is the definitive XIV expansion to date. My only gripe is what it comes to mean when set against the other expansions, taking place in a realm outside of our own, the story felt isolated away from our experiences and as such the world of Norvrandt doesn't evolve with the newly passing expansions as we do.    … Expand
  12. Unoskd
    Sep 7, 2023
    8
    Even though I'm not a fan of suddenly having to play in an entirely different world, this expansion is very solid and introduces us for the first time to Emet-Selch, an Ascian and the great-grandfather of Zenos.
    This, of course, made me hopeful that we'd finally learn more about the prince's past and so on, but again, no such luck. We did see Zenos here and there, but we're still left in    Even though I'm not a fan of suddenly having to play in an entirely different world, this expansion is very solid and introduces us for the first time to Emet-Selch, an Ascian and the great-grandfather of Zenos.
    This, of course, made me hopeful that we'd finally learn more about the prince's past and so on, but again, no such luck. We did see Zenos here and there, but we're still left in the dark about why he is the way he is and the overall framework for the character is still missing. A shame.

    On the other hand, Emet-Selch was introduced to us quite well. He appeared repeatedly, and it quickly became clear what his motives are and why he acts the way he does, etc.
    With this character, luckily, you can see again that Square Enix can actually write really well.

    8/10    … Expand
  13. leviathonlx
    Aug 14, 2019
    7
    When it comes to Shadowbringers if story is all you're looking for then this game is great and far better than the disjointed story of Stormblood and if that's all you're looking for then sure this game is pretty high up there compared to other MMO's which cannot compare as you sure as hell won't be playing WoW for the story.

    Almost every so called 'critics' review I read focuses on how    When it comes to Shadowbringers if story is all you're looking for then this game is great and far better than the disjointed story of Stormblood and if that's all you're looking for then sure this game is pretty high up there compared to other MMO's which cannot compare as you sure as hell won't be playing WoW for the story.

    Almost every so called 'critics' review I read focuses on how the story was great. And the story is good but FF14 is an MMO and not a single player RPG and so the game should also be scored on things besides just the one time story. Though if you do that you realize that ShB is literally just HW 3.0. If Blizzard were to have released 3 expansions in a row that all did the same thing (only 3 max level dungeons, no new side content, no dailies/wq, and just a 4 boss raid) they'd be absolutely destroyed by said critic but WoW is apparently just held to higher standards than mediocrity. There is no new type of end-game content or systems similar to what you'll get with a WoW expansion (regardless of your feelings on artifacts or Azerite at least Blizzard tries new things). Dailies are, as per usual, going to be relegated to patch content and overall all you'll be doing at max level is grinding tomestones like we have been for the past 6 years. You can grind FATE's for a bit to get things like pets which at least may somewhat help keep the outside world from becoming the barren desert it tends to become due to a lack of things like WoW's world quests and world bosses.

    Class change wise it'll depend entirely on what you play. If you're a healer you most likely will be pissed with this expansion as Square has decided to give up on balancing healers by just making them all exactly the same. I personally play a DRG and I found the job enjoyable with it's changes and the removal of skills that existed just for the sake of having a button like Heavy Thrust and the excessive role action skills.

    The 2 new races are something that my opinion on will develop as the expansion progresses. Currently viera and hrothgar only have 1 gender which in itself doesn't necessarily bother me but most the helmets in the game do not work on these 2 new races (I could just imagine the pitchforks the WoW playerbase would have if Blizzard were to release even allied races like that). Allegedly more helmets will become usable in later patches so we'll have to wait and see but then again the 'more customization' the viera and hrothgar were supposed to have to make up for the lack of helmets is not there and even helmets that are NEW with this expansion don't even work on the new races which is just unacceptable. A big negative is that hrothgar hair is attached to their faces and the only way to change that is to pay Square 10 dollars for a fantasia which is pretty scummy.

    World design I feel the game has at least improved a bit when compared to Stormblood but besides the more 'realistic' textures of FF14 the zone detailing is still leagues behind what Blizzards world design team is capable of but given the typical problems of having little reason to go out in the game world I guess that's less an issue. I like a lot of the music for the zones and dungeons/trials though places like Rak'tika are a perfect example of my issues with FF14 music due to how zones have just 1 day and 1 night track that runs about ~4 minutes that plays over and over which causes the music to get repetitive very quickly compared to WoW's far more varied (and sometimes better in my view such as Zuldazar's 8.1.5 pieces) music.

    Overall the expansion is actually exactly what I expected from Square given their track record and that's just yet more of the same but in a different locale. Patch content will add the beast tribe dailies and the side content but given Squares track record I'm sure those things will just be Eureka 2.0 and Palace of the Dead 3.0. Maybe Eureka 2.0 will be less boring to complete this time but we'll have to wait and see and I can't score a game on something we have no information on.. There's no denying it's still one of the best MMO's on the market along with WoW but I feel they need to start innovating and trying new things and the lack of anything truly new to do that I wasn't already doing in Stormblood a month ago and Heavensward 3 years ago and A Realm Reborn before that is why I feel this expansion is worth the score I gave it. I'm sure I'll get 'reviews not helpful' from this but thankfully you can't hide opinions you don't like here like you can on reddit.    … Expand
  14. BryceSoker
    Aug 16, 2019
    7
    Ok, first of all Story is a goddamned gem, 11/10, beautiful, pulls all your heartstrings as long as you're already emotionally attached to the characters, one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever created, and by far the best MMO story I've ever experienced.

    Now that we got that out of the way let me tell you why this isn't a 10/10. Well for starters it's the formula. it is the same    Ok, first of all Story is a goddamned gem, 11/10, beautiful, pulls all your heartstrings as long as you're already emotionally attached to the characters, one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever created, and by far the best MMO story I've ever experienced.

    Now that we got that out of the way let me tell you why this isn't a 10/10. Well for starters it's the formula. it is the same formula that we already got used to over and over the years. The maps are still the same old, you do killing events for mediocre rewards that have no actual soul put into them, the maps feel static, dead.

    The classes got a bit of revamping but mechanical wise they are the same, except now they are normalized and each class does whatever te other class of the same type do for the sake of "balance". Well, it just made them boring. No, it did not make them faster to play as some in here might make you think, there are still GCDs and the rotations work the same way as before, the core class concept was not changed at all.

    The graphics, well, if you like the graphics from ARR, HW and Stormblood then you're gonna love the ones we have right now cause they are absolutely the same. MMOs nowadays upgrade their textures, meanwhile, FFXIV still is pixelated as crap. After 6 years they haven't updated their engine at all, they still have several limitations from FFXIV 1.0 and I doubt they are ever going to fix them until they make a new FF MMO. Seriously don't even get me started at looking at the game from above (flying) it looks like a game from 2008. Yes the art style is awesome, yes once you get used to it it gets a little better but whether you agree or not it doesn't matter, the textures are not in a place where a 2019 game should be.    … Expand
  15. MoofiaBossVal
    Dec 26, 2021
    7
    An MMO expansion is not just its story.

    Yes, the 5.0 MSQ storyline is great. Yes, the 5.1 through 5.3 storyline is overall good. However, the rest of the expansion was noticeably lacking compared to prior expansions. We've gone from getting 3 dungeons per patch, to 2, to just getting one. Instead of getting 4 grind zones, we instead only get 2. No Hildibrand questline. We went from    An MMO expansion is not just its story.

    Yes, the 5.0 MSQ storyline is great. Yes, the 5.1 through 5.3 storyline is overall good. However, the rest of the expansion was noticeably lacking compared to prior expansions. We've gone from getting 3 dungeons per patch, to 2, to just getting one. Instead of getting 4 grind zones, we instead only get 2. No Hildibrand questline. We went from getting dozens of job questlines, to only 4 role questlines and all of them are meh, not even scratching "decent". Instead of getting 3 jobs, we got 2. We get fewer new armor sets and more recolors of old stuff we already got.

    There is a noticeable lack in the amount of new music produced for ShB, with one trial boss reusing the generic dungeon boss theme, the 5.3 trial boss not even getting a second theme for his second phase, no new dungeon boss theme for 5.4 and 5.5 dungeons, and Bozja pretty much just reusing FF12's ost.    … Expand
  16. Kiseki
    Apr 25, 2020
    6
    An outdated game with little improvement. Almost the entire time is spent running back and forth between NPCs to complete the main story quest with boring dialogues and cut-scenes that feels like time wasting. Evening skipping is slow. You go through so many clicks and load even if you try to skip.

    The game world is colorful but pretty blend, mostly empty and little variety. Enemy    An outdated game with little improvement. Almost the entire time is spent running back and forth between NPCs to complete the main story quest with boring dialogues and cut-scenes that feels like time wasting. Evening skipping is slow. You go through so many clicks and load even if you try to skip.

    The game world is colorful but pretty blend, mostly empty and little variety. Enemy design is quite uninspired.

    It feels like paying a subscription to waste time and feel annoyed. The game's mainly about never ending gear grinds. The newest and highest level gears and items will always require an near infinite grind to achieve.

    The raid boss fights is like a staged show with 100% fix script fireworks and aoe markers. Feel like a game for bots. The difficulty lies in high damage, short response time, unpredictable mechanics that are unforgiving.

    Feels like most people play it for vanity and bragging rights. There is very very little actual gameplay content to justify the subscription. Its just not worth it.    … Expand
  17. zaftgun
    Jul 4, 2019
    6
    A review by a real player: (the positives are all bs or fake)

    Simplified skill system with minimal new content. To drag things along, 14 million exp is required to level. To attain this you will need to repeatedly grind a single instance over and over and over. Essentially time wasting. The quest system is more than 10 years old and incredibly clicky. The character motions are just    A review by a real player: (the positives are all bs or fake)

    Simplified skill system with minimal new content. To drag things along, 14 million exp is required to level. To attain this you will need to repeatedly grind a single instance over and over and over. Essentially time wasting.

    The quest system is more than 10 years old and incredibly clicky. The character motions are just there to waste time and have seen zero improvement from the very beginning of game release.

    The entire game is made to drag things out with extremely little actual content to enjoy. Not recommended for anyone old or new.

    Mostly reused music with very slight differences. New tracks mostly does not fit the scene and environment. The quest complete sound effect is horrifying.    … Expand
  18. candidKlutz
    Apr 30, 2022
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm honestly pretty disappointed in myself for not enjoying this expansion nearly as much as most FFXIV fans seem to.

    I'm going to go into a bit of spoilers to explain myself a bit on this one.

    The world of The First is very very interesting, and the story started off incredibly strongly by introducing the sin eaters and how they turn people into more sin eaters in a horrific manner shortly after reuniting with Alisae. It made me wonder how the other scions were dealing with it, or even if all of them were still okay. Seeing a world absolutely destroyed by the Light, which up to this point was only ever seen as the good side is so cool. I just wish it had better villains than Bad Kung Fu Movie Villain and Fat Power Hungry Baby Man. Ran'jit and Vauthry were so painfully boring as characters despite their voice actors doing fantastic jobs, that I just couldn't seem to get too attached to the story after their introduction, until after they're both finally dead. Thankfully, they're not the only villains of the story. Emet-Selch was much more interesting, but he barely did anything at all until the last few quests of the 5.0 MSQ. Ran'jit and Vauthry should have been dealt with much sooner, with Emet-Selch being more active and taking their place much sooner. It unfortunately dragged the entire story down for me, and I wish it didn't.    … Expand
  19. loliance
    Dec 11, 2021
    6
    MSQ very same-y, more voice acting and interesting cut scenes than previous expansions, still far too many unvoiced poorly animated cut scenes though.

    Some nice introductions, like the trust system which makes the MSQ dungeons much more engaging, lots of solo trials also as part of the MSQ... Overall the MSQ is still below par unfortunately but it's an improvement. Raids offer an    MSQ very same-y, more voice acting and interesting cut scenes than previous expansions, still far too many unvoiced poorly animated cut scenes though.

    Some nice introductions, like the trust system which makes the MSQ dungeons much more engaging, lots of solo trials also as part of the MSQ... Overall the MSQ is still below par unfortunately but it's an improvement.

    Raids offer an acceptable level of difficult which makes them accessible to the vast amount of players, but could do with a more difficult version of savages/ultimates to extend the amount of content in the game for PvM players.    … Expand
  20. vahn
    Aug 11, 2019
    5
    I wasn't really going to come back here: FFXIV is a game with a lot of potential, but an infinite amount of issues that truly makes it hard for me to enjoy, however the reason I came back is only one: the story.
    But I'll talk about that later.
    Anyway, what to say about this expansion: It's the same exact game you played in the last years with almost the same exact way of playing, which    I wasn't really going to come back here: FFXIV is a game with a lot of potential, but an infinite amount of issues that truly makes it hard for me to enjoy, however the reason I came back is only one: the story.
    But I'll talk about that later.

    Anyway, what to say about this expansion: It's the same exact game you played in the last years with almost the same exact way of playing, which is grinding tomes every week to cap get loot then wait 4-5 months for next dungeon, upgrade it to raid level, rage about eureka 2.0 and so on for the next 2 years. It's practically been the same since 2.0 with utmost precision, with really few modifications here and there, like how leves are only for crafting now, fates give a currency and few other things.

    The major changes I did notice is in the classes, as in they removed what made them unique and homogenized them into basically one role but with fancy weapons: the 4 tanks are practically the same, and so are the melee and etc, gone all of their unique traits that made them unique and instead they're all exactly the same, with maybe one or less move in their arsenal. In a way, I applaud this idea because this means now that all classes can be used, especially when they kept saying they weren't able (or were incapable or too lazy?) to balance them out so this means now that all classes viable. But this is an online mmorpg and raiding is relegated to the usual 8 man content: eventually, a meta will come out and only 8 classes will be the winners, while the rest...well that's your problem!

    Another nice addition is the Trust System, which is another name for the Squadron but without the pain to actually levelling your team-up: it's a nice addition if only you could use it in older dungeons, instead it's going to be relegated to 5.0 dungeons and nothing else. Too bad but I guess "data limitations" and such.

    But game issues aside, my main issue and the one that first turned me away from continuing, is the horrid community that everyone keeps praising but I only see hypocrisy and spite.

    Don't get me wrong on this: I don't think ALL of the community is bad, of course I'm sure 1 out o 10 is good, however, we're talking of a community that is so blinded by this game that they will actively defend anything they do, even if it's a broken mess. I played this game since 2.0 but I was never able to say anything negative without receiving extremely harsh backlash, being called mentally disabled, a tasteless one and even death threatened because of my simple dislike of the raids (I did coil btw). I will never understand what people see of good in this community: it's the same the others. I came into this game years ago with the promise of a better community, but instead, I got so frustrated and stressed out that I actively stopped trying to be making friends and move on with my day, never saying my real opinions in fear of being backlashed.

    Which brings me to the point I missed: the story, the major selling of point of this expansion.
    I didn't follow the story until now besides some snippets but everyone kept praising it for how good it is, and how it's like the second coming of Christ or something.

    I took the challenge and spent the next 2 weeks watching long, long, LONG cutscenes and tried to see what's going on after finishing it yesterday - and waiting nearly half an hour for the queue as well, I could only say one thing: "This story is just average".
    Let me say this: I did like the setting, I liked how it's not the same world and how it has its own culture and difference. and I liked some of its secondary characters too. I also did like a couple of lines and overall, I did feel it had something in it.

    But honestly, I just felt it was average: its plot is your generic "go there, do chores, kill bad guy of the land, repeat" for each zone until the end where you get to beat the OBVIOUS bad guy of the game, so obvious that the game tries desperately to sway your attention from him, and failing.

    The cast is BORING, they only have one emotion throughout the entire game (Gotta love Minfilia's constant whining...NOT!) and the enemies you first meet are so one dimensional that I was glad they were gone because they were just not fun.

    And I just will not understand how the game still thinks to trick me into believing that my character will die: this is a mmorpg, of course, I'm not gonna die you idiots! How am I gonna do endgame?! For the main cast it's a different story since some did disappear.
    Maybe they'll get rid of the whiny blondie so there's hope!

    Bottom line, I don't hate it but I don't like it either: I just played tons of better jrpgs in my long gaming life and I was expecting something at least on par to some of my favorites, but if this is the best they could do then I think I'll just go back to the JRPGs I know and love.

    See for yourself and draw your own conclusion. For me, it's just average.    … Expand
  21. TomasLacerda
    Aug 12, 2021
    5
    Played Lineage 2, World of Warcraft, was in need of a new MMORPG and tried FF.
    The walls of text, the bad UI and the super boring tutorial just didn't do for me.
  22. Aokana
    Jun 22, 2020
    5
    I've been playing FFXIV since 2.3 and I'll go over some pros and cons.

    Pros - • Amazing story once you hit Heavensward, Stormblood dips a bit but I liked it more than most and then While I loved Shadowbringers I still put it below Heavensward. • Great Soundtrack • Nothing on the base level is overly difficult, some of the savage/extremes and Ultimate provide good difficulty for    I've been playing FFXIV since 2.3 and I'll go over some pros and cons.

    Pros -
    • Amazing story once you hit Heavensward, Stormblood dips a bit but I liked it more than most and then While I loved Shadowbringers I still put it below Heavensward.
    • Great Soundtrack
    • Nothing on the base level is overly difficult, some of the savage/extremes and Ultimate provide good difficulty for advanced players.
    • Raids are Fun, especially the new Eden Series
    • Glamours allow for a good amount of customization
    • There is a lot of callbacks and references to other Final Fantasy Games.
    • The world is amazing and there are plenty of hidden gems and beautiful landscapes to find.

    Cons
    • Pre Heavesnward the game can be boring, especially if you've already done it once due to the extreme skill pruning to make room for more skills at higher levels.
    • Classes have been homogenized, Every Class feels like another class of the same role. Similar to a Lincoln MKX and Ford Edge being essentially the same vehicle.
    • Endgame feels barren, once you complete the story your left running the same few dungeons over and over again for months on end to cap your weekly tome limits. They used to give you variety but everything has been segregated so now you run the same 2 dungeons for an entire patch cycle getting you up in this endless gear treadmill tome grind that you really don't need to be on. There is little to no variety for months on end between patches.No dailies, no bonus events, just the same things over and over again, this is compounded with people ilv cheating the system so you get stuck with the same lv50 dungeons on alliance roulette 90% of the time.
    • Their is over 40 different currencies and collectible trade for gear items in the game, everything you do requires some form of currency or collectible item (for example to get raid gear you will need a specific amount of item drops from the raid to trade for the gear you want). The presented reason is that everything is set to limit your access so you can't get items "too fast" and to level the playing field between hardcore and casual players all while combating RMT. The real reason though it's just a way to extend the grind and keep you subbed longer.
    • Gear is continually made useless, almost no gear outside of Collector edition xp boost gear items hold any long term value unless you want it for glamour.
    • "Great community BTW" is a farce. The community is extremely toxic in a round about way. The unwritten rule is you never say anything about anyone's game-play otherwise your are to be reported for harassment. Even it its asking the tank to please separate from the the party during a mechanic that requires them to separate from the party, in a party finder party explicitly stating to know this mechanic because "you don't pay muh sub". The subreddit even has a weekly "Rage" thread in which people sit around karma jerking while **** about other players.
    • There is also a continual housing problem. There is never enough houses to go around but because everyone is so crazy about them the devs stop the auto demo timer over every little event that happens so nobody will be mad that they lost their house. They also force you to wait for the auto demolish if you want to get rid of your house otherwise you don't get that portion of your funds back. However suggesting any changes like updating the apartment system into instance housing is going to get you slammed and harassed. Actually the same can happen if you suggest any changes to the game, as part of the community you are supposed to worship Yoshi P like a god or face the communities wrath, this is even evident here as anyone that didn't rate the game super high is getting their reviews bombed.
    • The cash shop is a double dip in your wallet with minor Pay to Win tendencies. While everyone pays a sub fee you can buy cash shop items to make cosmetic changes then there are level boosts and exp boosting gear for sale so those willing to drop some extra $$$ can level faster and receive in game cash and gear. It's also a cash crab as many of the in-game gear will use re-use assets with a slightly different colour and dye scheme but all the gear in the cash shop is new designs. They re-used the same gunblade base for 3 patch gears in a row. Everyone's sub fee pays into the design and development but only those willing to pay extra get access.

    Overall FFXIV is a solid MMO but once you get past the shiny story and soundtrack your left with a dull, repetitive so called endgame, grind that you will quickly realize you don't need to be on because they have made the game so easy to catch up. Probably the worst tragedy there is no use of the actual beautiful world that was created instead pigeonholes you into the base cities and endgame hubs.    … Expand
  23. DinoBeam
    Mar 20, 2021
    4
    Oh good God help me! This game is endless dialogue from some guy you'll never see again that was going from Point-A to Point-B and then lost his stuff, and then you get it, and then he's gone forever, and then you hand it in with more pointless dialogue about it, and then you have to talk to him again for his new quest, and his quest is to go talk to someone else about the most boringOh good God help me! This game is endless dialogue from some guy you'll never see again that was going from Point-A to Point-B and then lost his stuff, and then you get it, and then he's gone forever, and then you hand it in with more pointless dialogue about it, and then you have to talk to him again for his new quest, and his quest is to go talk to someone else about the most boring inconsequential **** you've ever heard, AND THIS IS THE MAIN **** QUEST! I feel like I'm gonna have a stroke or mental disability if I play this any longer, everyone says it's great after the first 60 hours, how anyone got through those first 60 is beyond me, and if there's better fish in the sea, swim with them. It's too bad, because the combat system is very smooth and has potential. And in case you're wondering, all the side quests are go kill 3 monsters etc.… Expand
  24. BigButz
    Jul 18, 2019
    4
    Reused assets galore, washed out and hard to look at backdrops for most of the expansion, terrible english voice acting. Soundtrack is a mixed bag with short annoying loops and some great buttrock toward the end. Story starts off the same uninteresting nonsense as usual but really picks up halfway through till the end, though the setup for the next arc is back to boring nonsense. As goodReused assets galore, washed out and hard to look at backdrops for most of the expansion, terrible english voice acting. Soundtrack is a mixed bag with short annoying loops and some great buttrock toward the end. Story starts off the same uninteresting nonsense as usual but really picks up halfway through till the end, though the setup for the next arc is back to boring nonsense. As good as you can expect from Square Enix really, but that doesn't warrant excessive praise.… Expand
  25. Tenarus
    Jul 2, 2021
    4
    Great story, great raids and dungeons, great content.

    The best online game experience out there. EDIT: For quite some time I would have rated it 10/10 BUT: Square simply can't make content work. The new resistance weapons are a senseless grind (completing raids over and over) and require you to play bozja - which for itself isnt bad BUT: Players only join and ask for the big event    Great story, great raids and dungeons, great content.

    The best online game experience out there.

    EDIT: For quite some time I would have rated it 10/10 BUT: Square simply can't make content work. The new resistance weapons are a senseless grind (completing raids over and over) and require you to play bozja - which for itself isnt bad BUT: Players only join and ask for the big event and dont play the zone whatsoever, the event has a player cap which locks unlucky players out... The new content delivered during the current update and the current patches is nothing but a senseless grind in content, which square tries to make interesting again, but turnes out to be a total catastrophe and not fun in the slightest. Raids and Trials (even extreme, savage and ultimate) are far to easy.

    The ignorance on squares side to bring features to the game, the biggest part of the playerbase would like to see shows their low appreciation for their customers in a perfect way.

    The only thing that keeps me playing are friends that still play, the content simply cant entertain me anymore.    … Expand
  26. erazor2021
    Aug 23, 2021
    4
    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 short narration cutscene to bring players up to date for havensward. (And i heard it was even worse, oh dear God).    … Expand
  27. horsefontdead
    Jul 1, 2020
    3
    Expansion had a great start, welcomed us with a good story and after patches everything went downhills, content is cut left and right, nothing was improved much or made into a worse. Way to go SE, that's how you treat title that brings you most income of the year. Worshipers gonna worship until SE milks dry of this game.
  28. plasticc
    Jul 14, 2019
    2
    This game doesn't deserve a score higher than 2, no matter how good anything else is, because content in it remains locked behind this utterly broken abomination that is the "housing" system.

    Two expansions with ZERO improvements into this problem, while content continues to be added locked behind something that cannot be accessed by over 98% of the people playing the game. Square    This game doesn't deserve a score higher than 2, no matter how good anything else is, because content in it remains locked behind this utterly broken abomination that is the "housing" system.

    Two expansions with ZERO improvements into this problem, while content continues to be added locked behind something that cannot be accessed by over 98% of the people playing the game.

    Square Enix can't or refuses to deal with this serious issue in the game. Most companies don't ship broken products. This is broken. You can dress up the house, renovate the walls and floors, add an extra floor and call it a new expansion, but you've forgotten the corpse rotting in the living room. Maybe fix the completely broken systems before releasing a new version of the game.    … Expand
  29. MiriamW
    Aug 14, 2020
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The expansion that ruined the game.

    The remake was fine, an MMORPG, that worked, gameplay, story and so on, enough content.

    The first expansion was better, especially an story that took you more in, more content, some fresh ideas (some not so good ones, but it was oka).

    The third one started the downfall. Content got lesser and worse and the story too a bad turn, starting a full out war, an invasion, but making it feel and look like raiding a bandit camp.

    But even that was harmless in comparison to ShB. Content got even less, close to zero, if you don't care for raiding, which is always the same, an extremely scripted fight you have to learn the 'dodge dance' for.

    But what it killed it the most for me, was the terrible bad writing. It's one thing, when characters are shallow and one dimensional, when none of them ever shows any kind of developement. It's an MMORPG, No need for Shakespear or whatever. It's fine, that you, as the player will of course in the end always suceed somehow, since your death would end the game. That is something you have to work around as a writer and many do that okay or even well.

    Not FF14. FF14 is so utterly bland, that this plot armor is obviously known to all your allies and that you can't die and will win for sure is just the main plan of everything. Something that could destroy you and your whole appears? The reaction of all your allies is, that they have to clean this up like the dishes after food. And then the story bends around them to make just that true.

    It's not necessary to murder NPCs at all ends. But FF14 comes up with war and endtime scenarios and then you solve it like your homework.

    Even worse: they sell this as normal. (Heavy spoiler):
    The background of this game is, that there was one a real planet with its inhabitants. Something tried to murder them all, so a big part of them used their own life force to summon a soul for their planat, that it can defend itself and them. This worked. Since the planet was already ruined, more people gave this soul their life, to revive the planet. This also worked. But then, when life was back and able to recover, a very small minority summoned a weapon that (intended or not) shattered the soul, killed the planet and all inhabitans on it. Through this the planet was cut into pieces, just as all life, which now 'exists' on these pieces, driven by greed, hate, violence, because abominations of what life once was. And this is sold as good and right.

    The player character meanwhile is not even just one of these abombinations, of these raped soul fragments, but directly linked to these original inhabitans and so immensily powerful, that nothing can stand againt him (or her), while for some reason stoicly serving the summoned weapon to make sure it's genocide will not be undone.

    Because that's what the "bad guys" want. They want to heal the planet and return all life to its original, unshattered form. This is sold as evil in this game. Like in the Wolfenstein the Nazis are the good guys (because they have won and the world is theirs now), while those who fight against them are bad, since they don't accept this new world and want the old one back - right?

    Meanwhile the other plot around a more normal war is also going on. And of course war is easy and fun and murder is good, you just have to murder for the "right side". The player character side is maed out of despots and the story is full of sick atrocities (abusing civilians, other nations, mass killing of civlians for miliary purpose, plans, that risk the lives of thousands if not tenthousands of innocent people, spreading of chaos and death on CIA level as "distraction"). Sounds interesting, no? A good side, that acts that bad? Problem is, the game got no problem with it. All this is just fine and heroic in this game. And the other side (btw a giant high tech empire with an army at least on the level of the modern USA), is simply stomped all the time, by something around the size of maybe Luxemburg.

    War is good and easy, murder is fine, genocide is right - as long, as you stand on the right side of it.

    Oh, and if you fight against people who are tenthousand years old, masterminds who have already steered the fate of nations and worlds all the time and got all means to kill you in millions of way: no fear: they will just go to you, stand in front of you and let them beat you to death, what will also make them think, what a wonderful person you are and that you were right from the start.

    So... fascism is a good thing now. At least in this game.

    By the way: the community is one of the most toxic I've ever seen, simply because they also THINK they are so much better than others, while - pretty much like the NPC - are just full of themselves. Snowflakes by all the bad meaning of the word.

    You better never say anything bad against their game or just asking a question, because they WILL hate for that.    … Expand
  30. Siricosirus
    Jul 11, 2019
    0
    The game has been slashed. How an expansion can offer not just less but remove previous things is shocking to me.
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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best PC Game of 2019
23
#23 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
9
#9 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Cubed3
    Mar 27, 2020
    70
    The active story events of ShadowBringers are good fun, but due to the grinding nature of the genre, it suffers from some terrible pacing issues. If you are invested in FFXIV, this DLC will probably excite and please you. It's a fun but forgettable romp that runs just the wrong side of boring during its hours-long retelling and bland A-B mission style. If this tickles your fancy, be sure to start and play with a team of friends - it will easily be 10 times more enjoyable, if infinitely longer.
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  2. Multiplayer.it
    Sep 15, 2019
    90
    Shadowbringers is not just a fun and juicy MMORPG thanks to some intuitive design choices and amazing dungeons and encounters, but also a different take on the overindulged "hero saves the world" story with lots of twists and turns.
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  3. Game Informer
    Aug 15, 2019
    90
    Shadowbringers is the best expansion yet for Square Enix’s MMORPG, a world that comes alive in the player’s hands, with weight and gravitas moving you through every whimsical corner. Old-fashioned quest design and color-dodging combat add a dull tinge to a truly magical landscape, but those imperfections can’t keep down the scale and scope of excellent environments, grandiose bosses, and majestic music.
    Read full review
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