Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood

1. Monochr0m3

   Jun 20, 2017

   10

   Despite the early access issue (raubahn and pipin savage), the content of the expansion itself is very very good. I can say it's one of theDespite the early access issue (raubahn and pipin savage), the content of the expansion itself is very very good. I can say it's one of the best MMO expansion I've played and I played a lot of MMOs.
   
   - Story:
   The pacing is tighter and more streamlined than Heavensward, almost no filler or unnecessary detour in the main quest. Although I prefer the setting and setup of Heavensward, Stormblood has various twists and unforgettable moments, I'm excited to see where the story will unfolds in 4.x patches.
   
   - Gameplay:
   The two new Jobs (Samurai and Red Mage) are AWESOME. Tried both of them a lot in Palace of the Dead and they play very fluidly with interesting mechanics. Red Mage in particular seems very enjoyable to play, they got the jack of all trades role right. While Samurai is pure DPS monster with zero utility to the party, skill wise it is a bit harder than other melee DPS since you have to keep track a lot of things. The battle system changes they introduced is also mostly a success and make old jobs more streamlined (a bit dumbed down, but understandable, WoW had worse skill pruning).
   
   - Music:
   No comment needed here. Still reign supreme as the best MMO music.
   
   - Endgame:
   Can't give full impression on the endgame since raid is not out yet (2 weeks from now). The only endgame content currently is 2 Extreme Primal which I haven't tried yet.… Expand

   • 12 of 17 users found this helpful
2. EevieRoseAmalee

   Nov 30, 2018

   10

   FFXIV is one of the games I just can't stop playing. I recommend this game to anyone, and I have easily put more hours in this game than 99%FFXIV is one of the games I just can't stop playing. I recommend this game to anyone, and I have easily put more hours in this game than 99% of any game I have ever played. If you're a final fantasy fan that is on the fence about an online Final Fantasy because you think they are suppose to be offline please do not be. FFXIV is worth it! It not only has it's own world but almost everything from previous titles! If you are missing Final Fantasy and need something to suite your mmo sweet tooth this game is by far the best mmo on the market!… Expand

   • 1 of 2 users found this helpful
4. Malgarios

   Jul 5, 2017

   10

   The two new Jobs (Samurai and Red Mage) are AWESOME. Tried both of them a lot in Palace of the Dead and they play very fluidly withThe two new Jobs (Samurai and Red Mage) are AWESOME. Tried both of them a lot in Palace of the Dead and they play very fluidly with interesting mechanics. Red Mage in particular seems very enjoyable to play, they got the jack of all trades role right. While Samurai is pure DPS monster with zero utility to the party, skill wise it is a bit harder than other melee DPS since you have to keep track a lot of things. The battle system changes they introduced is also mostly a success and make old jobs more streamlined (a bit dumbed down, but understandable, WoW had worse skill pruning).… Expand

   • 2 of 6 users found this helpful
5. chocletymilk

   Mar 21, 2021

   8

   This expac is for my fello Lyse stans. Story wise I think it's a lil less exciting than HW, MSQ got reaaally repetitive there for a while.This expac is for my fello Lyse stans. Story wise I think it's a lil less exciting than HW, MSQ got reaaally repetitive there for a while. It's not bad by any means, but def not the best. Some of the new zones added are really really cool, others not so much. The story is a lot more war/politics based and less fantasy epic battles. All in all it's 100% worth it for some main character's developments, new races and characters, zones, mechanics and stuff, they added some really cool new stuff to the gameplay here.… Expand

   • 1 of 2 users found this helpful
6. Roka

   Apr 1, 2023

   8

   The story is darker and more intense than anything we've seen before in a Final Fantasy game. It's a grim and brutal tale of war, rebellion,The story is darker and more intense than anything we've seen before in a Final Fantasy game. It's a grim and brutal tale of war, rebellion, and sacrifice. But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom. There are plenty of moments of levity and humor to balance out the darkness.
   
   Speaking of bad-ass characters, let's talk about Zenos. He's one scary dude. When you first face him, you'll be filled with a sense of dread and helplessness. But as you progress through the game, you'll discover that there's more to Zenos than meets the eye.
   He's a fascinating character, and you'll find yourself wanting to learn more about him. It seems as if he might be deeply depressed and is only finding satisfaction in combat. He doesn't even care for his own life and has mixed feelings about the warrior of light, in whom he sees a friend and an enemy at the same time.
   
   It's only getting an 8 though, because I feel like there should have been more screentime with Zenos, about his past and so on. That and also the beginninng of this expansion starts rather slow.… Expand

   • 2 of 3 users found this helpful
7. loliance

   Dec 11, 2021

   6

   Story was mediocre, too little voice acting to be immersive, lots of very "same-y" quests... walk to a place, talk to a person, walk back...Story was mediocre, too little voice acting to be immersive, lots of very "same-y" quests... walk to a place, talk to a person, walk back... occasionally kill a mob.
   
   Thankfully there was some excellent raids and dungeons which kept my interest and were thoroughly enjoyable.
   Unfortunately the savage raids are short and contain only a handful of bosses each time, so you run out of challenging content quickly. Ultimate's are ok, quite challenging but again so short.… Expand

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful
8. 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 MSQIf 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

   • 1 of 2 users found this helpful

See all 54 User Reviews