Kinda yeah. I think it's actually worse. The dragons come off as really immature IMO. The idea that one murder means a ton of people who weren't involved, don't support it, and are in all practical meanings of the word innocent of the act, should be brutalized for an indefinite amount of time because a single immortal being older than nations can't cope, is just stupid. IDK why I wrote so much. Feel free to ignore this.
@@davidburnett5049 that's the whole point tho, the main driving point of the conflict is based on the supposition that the values and viewpoints between dragon and men are so wildly different that it seems kinda silly when put into perspective.
@@davidburnett5049 It's less "one murder" and more "they killed your sister and stole your eyes." This isn't the death of a random person. It's the death of one of your closest family members.
The greatest quote I ever saw with regards to the difference between ARR and HW: A Realm Reborn is where the game was brought back to life Heavensward is where the game began to live
Strong agree, but also the naming of the two reflects that feeling already too. A Realm Reborn is pretty obvious without explanation. But Heavensward has a bit of fun wordplay. Heaven's Ward, defenders/guardians of heaven, shown directly to us with the knights of the Heavensward, our knights most heavenly, etc. But it's also a portmanteau of Heaven and toward. The FFXIV team were really looking up to the brighter future they wanted to craft for this game. Their eyes fixed heavensward you might say?
While "A smile better suits a hero" moment is really good, the part that makes me ugly cry was the scene afterwards... the one with Edmont. I also found the "my dream of tomorrow where no child need freeze in the snow" scene to be really powerful as well. Heavensward was the first feelbringer :).
@@metalpunk696 Totally, Shadowbringers... made me an emotional wreck... just thinking about what happened in 5.3 makes my stomach churn and eyes become misty. Can't wait to see what kind of emotional damage Endwalker is going to do!
I already had the first Feelsbringers moment in 2.55. "Goddammit, I know it's poisoned, don't drink it, don't kill Nanamo on me, they can't do that, she's too big a city character, they can't do it..." Objectively, the almost-retcon feeling "Game of Lalas" resolution of schemes undermining schemes, Nanamo being alive, etc is a bit bizarre and jarring. However, they do turn it into good character development for both Nanamo and Lolorito. The one that got me the most was still the Healer Role Quest though. Second place was The Twinning's post-dungeon recorded audio log.
@@JackgarPrime As someone who started playing a few months ago and also went very slowly through ARR, I must say that the thing with HW is that it was hard to put it down. It had that "one more quest" feeling all the time.
@@azahel542 I distinctly remember the conversation where Hraesvelger divulges a lot of his history, just thinking "oh shit no ok this story is extremely cool" and a flip switched in my brain hahaha
Michael slowly learning why FFXIV players "evangelize" the game. It has nothing to do with recruiting players to our game, it's about sharing that joy that comes with feeling rejuvenated and invested in a game.
@@spiritofthewolf1880 well as a longtime Wow player myself I understand the borderline Stockholm Syndrome involved with being sucked in. And honestly some people are relentless in their FFXIV suggesting too. It's just a shame that MMOs became so tribal. Competition is good.
The thing that continues to hit me every time I watch the cutscene at the end of the vault is the fact that for basically the first time in an MMO someone died for ME. Not for a random NPC and I just happened to be there. Not for a story character to advance or grow. Not for some plot redundancy or advancement or even just to trim the cast. This was someone who died for MY character to live, who was MY friend and willing to take one for me just so that he didn't have to live in a world without me, just to keep me smiling.
This exactly. This is exactly why I will always wear jewelry with the shield of House Foretamps. He didn't save us to save the world or for the greater good. He saved us because he was our friend. Before his sacrifice we were fond of saying, "No one loves us like he does." After his sacrifice, we realized how true it was.
It Really shocked me how far they actually planned some Storybits out. I mean we saw Yugiri already in the ARR Epilouge as a Foreshadowing for HW...the whole WOD Story is a Foreshadowing for Content that came out over 3!!!! Years after that. And i already forgot about all the Scenes with WOD and Elidibus.....ON THE MOON!!! I mean how freaking crazy is that? The Devs teased Content player see more than 5 Years Later 😲😲.
What's so good in Heavensward? I recently finished it and it's overrated asf. Story is overrated asf. I mean yeah for MMO games story is good (because in others there are only quests like kill 8 X, gather 6 Y etc) but comparing to single player games story just sucks. I won't even comment lack of any animations, poor graphics and bad & rigid cutscenes. Oh, humanity bad! Hurt dragons so much! Dragons revenge! But wait! There is Warrior of Light (always nodding and smiling in every cutscene) who will save the world once again. Like it's made for 12 yo teens...
While it does feel like a small dip, Ravana was a BIG deal when HW was released. Up to this point all the big trial fights have been older FF bosses brought into the XIV style. Ravana was the FIRST primal/boss unique to XIV. Which made it equally as exciting for players who knew any number of older games because it was the first primal not relying on previous knowledge by fans.
One thing I realized on playing through the story again is that each post-expansion story not only sets up the next expansion, but the one _after_ as well. There's post-ARR stuff that sets up Stormblood; there's post-HW stuff that sets up Shadowbringers; there's post-StB stuff that sets up Endwalker. So they're not only setting up the next expansion, but the one after that as well.
To be fair... ...one could also advise Blizzard to take note of LEGION, their OWN past expansion. Or Mists. Or Wrath. Or Burning Crusade. Or even potentially Cataclysm. Heck, they went all the way back to Vanilla to make Classic (which is probably played by more people than retail). I used to love WoW and Blizzard, but Blizzard has gone to pot and killed WoW in the process. Even their own PAST expansions are better than what they have today, so they don't even have to leave their own game or studio to have better ideas, they just have to turn back the clock. The problem is, I think they've fired and/or laid off all of those people, so they don't have any of that talent to go back to...
@@leeroy1986 I disagree. Wrath was MOSTLY liked other than hardcore raiders complaining that Naxx was too easy and that didn’t like the Argent Tourney raid. The only other complaint (at the time) was how long the final patch lingered before the next expansion and the “Wrath babies”. Uldar, in particular, was massively praised, as were the Wraithgate and Battle of Undercity events, and longtime fans of the series enjoyed the conclusion to Arthas’ story. Legion and Mists were largely liked at the time (other than the panda haters), and Warlords was heavily disliked at the time and since, as was BfA. Conversely, ARR was enjoyed at the time but even then people felt the MSQ was a slog. HW was beloved at the time and since. SB was disliked but largely for the reasons mentioned - its focus was too split. And ShB has been loved as current and I don’t see that changing. I know it’s hip to be cynical, but that isn’t really warranted here.
@@salesiteisina7098 Eh, no? The exodus began with ordinary WoW players quitting or not playing anymore discovering FF14 on their own. The tubers and streamers just want to appeal to their viewer base, hence the smarter creators starts the exodus before others.
@@gandalf8216 Eh, no it didn't. Been following this shit for a least going on a year now. The "BIG" Exodus started when matt recommended FFXIV to bellular a couple months back, which in turn lead to folks like asmongold for instance finally giving FFXIV a proper try and we all know the history after that. Been smoking too much of that weed pipe old man. I myself am one of those players that had started playing FFXIV in the early 2020's way before this "BIG" exodus.
@@salesiteisina7098 Been telling everyone that XIV was way better than WOW for a few years now... Bow before my legacy chocobo, peasants. Jokes aside, the moment FF entered HW, wow was basically defeated, you guys just needed to give it a try.
I always felt the take away from heavensward was not Pope bad, but that blind adherence to religion for adherence' sake is evil. A much broader condemnation of blind faith than a slight against Catholicism. At the same time I took away from heavensward the message that no faith is also bad. It seemed to me, back when I played it years ago, that the writers were trying to say that you should understand your beliefs and know why you believe them. I loved that expansion because I think it was the only one with a very clear moral lesson to ponder.
In addition to what you said it shows what can happen to a religious order when they fall to despair. If their god cannot or will not help them, then they may try to take the place of that god and do what they think needs to be done. Thordan wasn't entirely evil, he was radicalised by despair from his lack of power to end a war that he knew would never stop if they kept fighting as they always had. So when power was presented to him he snatched it. I do think it's cool that while his pursuit of power to end the war blinded him to how is actions would make everything worse, he was still sharp enough to not only see that the ascians were not his allies but also had a legitimately successful plan to deal with them when he got what he wanted.
yes, because you start the expansion with church good heretics bad, and you find out that its actually church head bad and heretics not so bad. but the problem is that the heretics are also not right, they were fighting for a lie that iceheart only finds out later when she meets Hraesvelgr, just like the ishgardian church was also based on a lie.
As a religious man, I love HW’s story. It’s a rare case of a story condemning blind faith in a way that’s actually thoughtful and compelling without being “church bad, naysayers good”. Thordan wasn’t just generic evil pope stand-in. He’s easily the most underrated antagonist in the franchise.
@@RaddyC Thordan wasnt even super generic evil imo, he wanted to end the dragonsong war because he knew the truth behind it knowing that it would never end and that it was essentially meant to be eternal punishment to his people. He just decided to do it in the worse way possible. He also chose to perpetuate the lie behind Ishgard because he thought it was too harsh of a truth for Ishgardians, thinking it would end Ishgard.
"All these characters, they're going to be sticking around, right?" Yeah, yeah, they're sticking around, we're all going to a farm where you can pet the Bunny girls... *Heavy Sobbing*
What's nice about the new actors is that they've stayed on the whole way after Heavensward. It's actually kind of jarring going back to HW after Shadowbringers and seeing how much they've grown into their roles.
The first half of HW really feels like you are taking a party of adventurers into u known lands, you even have a 4 man party consisting of Estinien, Alphinaud, Ysayle and the Warrior of Light
I got massive Xenoblade Chronicles vibes during the first journey through The Churning Mists. Grand area, quiet with little civilization, beautiful music, with your small party of companions.
I love the road trip, with all the conflict between the characters, getting to know them better in the process. if it wasn't for so many boring distractions, like the fucking moogles, it could have been so much better. also its a arc of the game that REALLY could have used the trust system.
If only they had Trusts back then. Granted everyone would have to role flex, mostly Alpi, in order to accommodate players who are healers. Estinien is so chad he could be a Tank even without the "lol DRG floor tank" memes.
When the story is so good that come Shadowbringers one word said in the right context rips out my heart and turns me from an excited catboy into a bawling baby in the space of a second.
Starting Heavensward is super funny after having leveled Dragoon to that point because Aymeric goes to introduce you two and the WoL and Estinien are both just looking at each other like "fuck, this is awkward"
I leveled dragoon recently and that shit I wish I experienced considering how the are job quest ends it would've been hilariously weird to run into him.
@@hobogray6385 Did not know this thanks. I'm just about to do all the side content and hear theres different stuff for having completed coils and stuff.
I've mained dragoon for my playthrough of MSQ for FF14. That moment was hilarious. Like the two spiderman meme all over again. I really appreciated they added dialog throughout heavensward that acknowledged you playing a dragoon though. Really nice little touch.
I did use the rains of ceased and we are blessed with another beautiful day, but you are here to see it at my buddies funeral a few weeks ago felt appropriate since it he would of loved that reference
That line hits so hard later. Also so many callback lines and scenes in later expansions and MSQ fells rewarding to those paying attention and doesn't feel forced to those who may have forgot. New players have the benefit of having all the content back to back but older players had to wait, HW released 6 years ago.
Speaking of characters knowing your character, if you're a summoner, you would e already met yshtolas sister and she talks to you during that situation like she already knows you and acknowledges it
It's funny just how integrated into the MSQ and lore in general summoners end up being, you already know Y'mhitra and Rammbroes, the questline is the only one that actually deals with Ascians outside the MSQ, the interview explaining why the lv70-80 abilities are based on Phoenix reveals that orange corrupted crystals are actually remnants of phoenix's restoration power (and thus also explaining how Bahamut was being revived in the Coils), the fact that it branches from Arcanist gets you a bit of extra dialogue when you visit the guild with Tataru, a whole bunch of lore about Allagan and primal stuff, Arenvald and FRL being classed as Summoner characters according to the lv80 quest. And then there's the fact that Endwalker's changes look like they're integrating some of the 5.4 stuff about how tempering works by essentially giving OURSELVES a mild tempering with our Egi and using the resulting elemental attunement as a buff I don't think any job is as tied into the MSQ as much as Summoner is.
From my understanding if you play the job Meteor is using in an xpac’s trailer (dragoon, monk/samurai, dark knight) you get some extra dialog along the way. The summoner job quests are among the best ARR job quests overall in the game.
@@AdamG3691 There was a lot of integration for Dragoons in Heavensward. Obviously, you already knew Estinien by the time he's introduced in HW, and get some different dialogue throughout the MSQ if I recall. It also just hits different when your character's job is invested in the dragonsong war set dressing.
@@ltmuffler3482 The most noteable change I noticed playing Dragoon in Heavensward is that most NPC's will refer to you as "The Azure Dragoon" instead of stranger, outsider or Hero of Eorzea. And at least in Ishgard most dialogue would be noticeably more respectful early on than it usually is. It is a small, but indeed very welcome change.
Hope his people will let him know about the Alexander and Void Ark raids and the Warring Triad trials, there is some pretty important lore bits there. Glad he's enjoying HW. Also, we will probably see another video soon with 3.3 xD
Im sure they will but it will definitely be an unsync story blitz, its still going to be a hell of a run for him to finish everything through 5.55 by the 19th
I hope so too. I was told by my FC to make sure I did the Alexander and Omega questlines before getting anywhere near the ShB expansion. I'm so glad I did. Had me like: "When are those questlines going to pay... OHHHHH SHIT!"
@@vanslanzerdefanel They don't really need to do an unsynced blitz with those raids and trials since they are all story mode. Honestly I don't think he will hit the end by the 19th but I could see him getting there in the first few weeks.
People dog on SB's story (and to each their own), but I think most people would concede the SB dungeons are a HUGE step up, in terms of immersion, set design, etc. I hope you love them!
its a general consensus that the content in SB is probably some of the best in the game, some arguably even better than ShB (like the optional trials in my opinion, the weapons are awesome, specially the solo duties, but for me the holy beasts are a LOT better in every aspect). as for the story, I think its mostly Gy Abania, there is nothing compelling there, and Lyse is not a character that is developed very well. but Othard I kinda love, specially the Azim Steppe arc, it has some amazing characters and great story. its like they did the exactly same kinda of story twice (helping locals fight for independence from a oppressive force side by side with a great leader from the locals, also a villain with a redeeming arc, also you find out some of the locals are not great people), but one is infinitely better.
And I still like "Triumph" the most for dungeon boss themes. Insatiable is amazing, Revenge Twofold (3.x dungeons), but Triumph gets me going the most.
SB was hurt greatly by being split between Doma and Gyr Abania. Doma feels empty except Kugane and The Ruby Sea and Gyr Abania is just.....boring. Take away Zenos and it becomes........nothing. Just sand..and the zones blend into each other way too much. I couldn't tell you from a picture which zone's which except if Ala Migho is shown.
The emotion in his voice when he started on about the bridge scene. Love seeing reactions to it. Knowing that I'm not the only grown man to shed a tear there.
Bell really needs to realize that blizz could have changed their storytelling many many years ago now. Heavensward is from 2015 gods damnit. What he and we all are gushing over is content thats many years old already. Blizz went to sleep and now its too late to wake up
I think Blizz tried. Legion - > BfA -> SL is a clear shift in focus to more emphasis on an overarching story updated per patch compared to WotLK or MoP. By that time FFXIV, ESO and SWtoR were all MMOs with strong story lines. GW2 tried the same thing as well. Problem is Blizz either didn't understand what made it work, or half-assed it, banking on iconic character appearances to carry the story so they didn't have to spend the money properly telling the story.
One of the big things of FFXIV is also that the npcs change location and dialogs outside of the main quest line. And when the story process to a point were it doesn't make sense characters standing around at places they will not be there! Making the world seem more alive, only issue is that old FFXIV raids were it feels a bit weird...
You know it's really understated how much that can help a world. After 100 hours of New World, it always bothered me that 99% of the NPCs are rooted to the spot they're standing on and never leave (save the few main story npcs) and it makes the world feel really empty.
@@LarsisLP he does but its explain in the story that he works there so its fine, after the move it kinda becomes his office. After you do the hard/extreme quests however he sometimes not is there anymore
@@codernerd7076 Yeah, I guess he only hangs around as long as you do not finish those quests. It's just that, since the game usually is so carefull to not break immersion by having NPCs be in multiple places at once and/or appear somewhere while they definetly should be incapacitated, it's just so hillarious when it doesn't (usually because it just can't without actively locking some content). Doing any Sidequest involving Nanamo during the beginning of 3.0 is probably the best example
also the world itself changes, not just the NPCs. in some parts of the world you will see visual changes that are only visible for you depending on where you are on the story and what quests you did. the most obvious examples being the first with the light and a scene in raghar's reach. also Doma's restoration.
The issue with every single other mmorpg is that they just feel like a collection of systems instead of a full game. No other mmorpg is at the same level as 14 in terms of storytelling, and very few come close to the full package as an mmo
Basically, yeah. It just... "here are a bunch of mobs you can kill to level and some fetch quests on the side, oh and some sprinkles of what the fuck is going on here and there" they're just MMO games to kill time no real RPGs, they shouldn't have MMORPG in their description. This is more of a story you play through, FFXIV is basically an RPG game with MMO features.
most games of this type suffer from feature creep, trying to bring in more shiny new features to get people buying the next expansion (or just to keep playing the game for a F2P model). FF14 on the other hand builds and iterates on many aspects while not being afraid of removing outdated aspects. And not in a way that feels reductive either, like in WoW.
@@Nirual86 It Does help that FF14 doesn't make older content or locations useless like most mmo's do or not trying to ram mechanics down your throat that require you to do everythiing in order to progress. Freedom of choice is what makes ff14 great, you can choose when you want to play unlike most who fight to keep your attention for money
@@Volfur2251 I think my favorite is how some characters from side content makes an appearance in other side content that has to do within that part of the world. Most other character’s in other games feel like Sylvanas for maybe 5 minutes then revert to Dudu from PSO2 for the next 10 years
@@dragondaddykushala7133 that sounds awesome. I havent leveled any alt classes yet because I'm trying to catch up for the new expansion. So just summoner and scholar for me so far
The amazing part of this game is replaying NG+ and realizing that foreshadowing for current content has been in the game SINCE at least 2.0. They absolutely know where they're going!
They actually talked about the making of their plot before. Its not that they knew everything, but always look back to see what they established and should expand on
@@MNtoCali Yep. but unlike single-player games, this just activates the quests that are already done for MSQ. and if i didn't rmb wrongly, there's no exp.
StB has a rough start to it, kinda like some of those dragging spots in ARR. Hang in through 'em. The expansion has its own share of greatness, it's mostly compacted into the back end.
Stormblood is definitely a step down from Heavensward and the only expansion where I actually prefer the patch quests over the base patch. 4.3 and 4.5 makes up for everything Stormblood does wrong. It does have its moments though.
Back in Heavensward, they were still limited in what mechanics they could actually use in Quests. Pretty much it came down to interact with object or kill object. It wasn't till ShB that they had time to start expanding the mechanics they could employ.
I know people think that the usual quests are kinda boring, but IMO, where XIV truly shines in questing content is the _solo duties._ The solo duties are always awesome, and they will always be better than mundane quests, and some of them (YOU KNOW WHICH ONES I MEAN!) are just freaking _awesome._
yes, solo duties become a lot more common after HW, and that really spices up the MSQ. that way they can focus on just storytelling and not feel forced to add too many boring mechanics to the quests.
While Stormblood does not necessarily top HW story, I would argue that the side content is definitely worth doing and tops the main storyline of Stormblood.
The only feature where Stormblood doesn't trample Heavensward is story. Which is why I say Stormblood was better, because everything but the story was such an improvement. Also, the story isn't bad at all.
The community as a whole views Stormblood as the weakest expansion for the most part, and while I do think that's true, I think it's important to note, that (at least in my opinion) that does not make it a bad expansion at all, there are some excellent story moments in Stormblood and having replayed it myself recently, I find myself having a bit more of an appreciation for it. While I can't go into specifics because obviously you're not at that point, Stormblood's main narrative is a little bit split so some parts suffer (again, in my opinion) because of that. But honestly? Stormblood has some of the best trials in the game, especially it's patch trials. And the later set up has a few twists and turns that I really appreciate for their whole mystery aspect going into Shadowbringers. Main point is, while it's the weakest expansion, it's still extremely solid and enjoyable, wouldn't worry at all about it going in. You're gonna have a blast beyond Heavensward, I'm fairly certain of that. Also extremely happy to see you enjoying the game so much as well, it's very gratifying seeing so many new people come into the game and have such a wonderful time :)
Yes, this is very true. Weakest narrative for me, but some of my most favorite trials, music, and dungeons. Also, I just completed the Omega raid series. That was very enjoyable and didn't have any bloat. While the Ivalice raids are breathtaking, running them with a single bad alliance makes me want to pound my head against the wall. Lol
The story of the dragons isn't over with Heavensward either. The pay offs for some plots points come much later. Some lovely lore bombs in Omega raids for example and apparently, its also important for Endwalker too.
I mean we already have seen one major part of it being brought back in 5.5, so it's not just "apparently" but "definitely". I won't get into anything more specific but if you've completed the MSQ you'll know what I'm referring to.
Ngl, the editors note about why they're not showing Bellular crafting or Ishgard Restoration made me laugh out loud. I'm so glad you've gotten to see some of the awesomeness that FF storytelling has to offer. Brace yourself for those patches, they're REAL good!
And crafting and gathering each have their own fully fleshed out quest storylines. Fishing.... could be a stand alone game. (I say, as I wait for fog in Southern Thanalan to go for another Big Fish achievement...)
I just recently discovered the joy crafting. Im now broke as im trying tol level them all to save money but bored of gathering... Oh and ive not made any progress on ShB patch content in 3 weeks.
If you complete leveling a dragoon to 80, there's an optional quest at the Observatorium that gives unique insight into the incident that started the whole war with the dragons. It certainly doesn't excuse the elezen, but it makes it just a tiny bit more understandable why they did what they did.
Coming from WoW I LOVE how all FF expansions are perfectly blended into each other for one amazing story. WoW feels so crazy disconnected and hit and miss with how they do their expansions and the broken, disjointed stories in them
Great video as usual! As someone who spent the past 6 months playing through the MSQ (just finished 5.0) I really enjoyed Storm Blood, and thought it felt like a natural progression of the story. Will be interesting to see your take.
20:10. The other characters know my character. You mean, unlike characters like Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas, with whole you quested for 3 expansions and with the next expansion acts like she never saw you be froe? Yes, i agree.
Glad you're loving the game. a friend and I are frantically clearing older raids to make sure we have as much context as we can possibly have for Endwalker. Stormblood is quite interesting, especially the antagonists. Shadowbringers is just phenomenal and I am having issues waiting for Endwalker.
@@MrAlexvizz just a tip Stormblood is kinda super important for endwalker so i would suggest get through to me stormblood is just above arr and way below shadowbringers and heavensward. Try and get through. Enjoy the ride :)
@@MrAlexvizz I wasn’t really invested in he earlier parts, I started to like stormblood a bit more once I hit kugane. I would definitely recommend hanging in there if only for the story around ghimlyt dark. It is by far one of the best dungeons in my opinion. And like gameshypenow said, there is an absolute ton of stuff Important to shadowbringers in stormblood.
In defense of Dravania, I feel its actually brilliant. You've only ever known it as the land of evil dragon worshipping cultists, and going in you almost expect some kind of legion-esque hellscape or maw type place of evil. After all, it's where the heretics come from, and they're bad. And then you get there, and it's not some twisted evil place. In a lot of ways it's pretty beautiful albeit in that Untamed nature kind of way. When I played through the game it was enough to completely catch me off guard and really made me start to reasses things, Moreso then meeting iceheart did.
Heavensward has one of my top moments in FFXIV, just with how it impacted me. The scene where you regain your power from Midgardsomr and he deems you worthy of the gift, and then he becomes the full sized dragon, then he proclaims they’ll ride off together to fight their enemies Not only does that already have your character, whether your cool looking character, your meme character, etc, like ARR it’s YOU in the center of the cutscene. So in the cinematic, seeing your character ride away on the dragon, with the cinematic giving you the text at the bottom “you can now fly in Asyz Lla, you can now use Midgardsomr as a mount” I found this genius in so many ways, just the fact that by this point, you’re already passively/actively looking for aether currents to fly. You get to AL, but no discoverable currents, just questing, I remember noticing this and how wondering. But then ending with that huge moment where he deems you worthy, then you end the cinematic floating in asyz lla on your new mount. Getting a mount like that really amazed me :)
Let's not forget that Michael is _still_ going through content that is part of the free trial! Speaking of which... Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.
Idk, I think this my be a not so popular take, but I loved the middle bit of heavensward where you travel with ysayle and estinien. It really feels like a classic jrpg where you and a party of 3 others are exploring distant regions while learning of a story along the way. While also allowing more than enough time to get to know the characters more deeply
I wish he'd stop talking about World of Warcraft already, honestly. Shuddup and enjoy your Fillet Mignon! No one cares about the McDonalds across the street ya noodle :P
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
@2:35 That "blending of new characters" is a common recurring theme in XIV. They always do this, as much as possible. The final two .x patches are always a mix of tying one expansion up, while beginning the setup for the next. The final .x.y patch is always the prelude to the next expansion. You are never left scratching your head wondering what the next expansion is going to be. Even if you avoid ALL social media, liveletters, news, etc and just play the game, you will know what the next expansion is going to be about, in general, just from the final couple story patches.
That editor's note about keeping him away from crafting had me rolling. It's true though! Can attest, summer of 2.x was a blur, all I did was craft and gather...
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
@@andrewg319 to be fair he started the video with a full screen saying "giant spoilers ahead" as a fair warning to those that haven't seen heavenward yet
i always forgot that character existed, I nothing'd them and their demise honestly. Was actually sad when Moynbreda died and Gosetsu almost died, even papalymo sacrifice. But _him_ I'm like who are you again 🤔
17:00 ish. this is the first time I have heard of the player character in the movies referred to as "meteor". Been playing since launch. I call him something else, and I think many others do as well. Guess it doesnt matter for reasons. Yet.
There’s so much references, characters, music from the old Final Fantasies - as a FF fanboy it’s so strange people play through and don’t know about it :)
There's the sense of beauty in that as well though. The fact that they don't know those references encourages them to want to know more about them. Which, in essence, makes them end up researching into them or playing the games. It's a win/win imo.
@@julinde Yes maybe that’s true. Looking forward to experience more of those omg moments in Endwalker hopefully. I heard Lennas theme is in the game 😍😍
I kinda love it though. I've been a FF kid since the first one and now I hear people who are like half my age talking about the Tower of Zot dungeon or Pandemonium. It's such a good time to be a fan. I hope FF is like Star Wars and one day I can have a grandkid who will know what a chocobo or a black mage looks like.
Really glad youre liked Heavensward. Hope you do another impression Video after you finish the Epilogue and maybe Alexander. But youre really blasting through it now.
Note for those that like the extra dialogue in cutscenes; if you go to an inn and read the book next to the bed to review cutscenes, cutscenes with extra dialogue based on the classes you have leveled will be marked with a yellow icon to the side.
stormblood has the unfortunate position of having to be thing that came after heavensward and before shadowbringers. it's not bad just different compared to HW
@17:50 And this kind of thing is why there just isn't room to trim much more from the ARR 2.0 or 2.x experience. Worldbuilding for Ishgard and Heavensward began back at lv35, when you stepped into Coerthas Central Highlands and met Haurchefant. Worldbuilding for Ala Mhigo and Stormblood began back at lv25, when you met with Ala Mhigan refugees in Quarrymill and Southern Thanalan, and moreover during the slowest parts of 2.x helping the Domans refugees... all the Ul'dah politics in 2.x, the bits in 3.0, this is all story adding to Stormblood as well. And the seeds of Shadowbringers and Endwalker are being quietly planted in front of you as well. It's almost like they plan their game's story, imagine that!
@@GrishnakAthanor1 You're actually asked that question quite a lot. Usually rather incredulously. I've been watching Asmon's play through videos and it came up in 2.0 as well.
Oh yeah, about splitting the story into sections: The "common way" to do it, is to count (X-1).4 to X.3 as one story arc, and then X.4 to (X+1).3 as the next, and so on. That is of course a bit of an artificial division, as there is some overlap of maybe already start to build in the next in a .3 or still wrapping up loose ends in a .4, or you could for example have a X.2 or .4 patch setting of the story for the X+2 or X+3 expansion or something, but that's _roughly_ how it gets divided, usually.
Glad you're loving the game Bellular! Heavensward for me too was such an awesome experience from the even better storytelling to the raids to just quality of life in nearly every way. Not that ARR was bad, it's just that HW shines so much brighter. Certainly appreciate it more looking back than perhaps I did at the onset. But yeah, there are also many plot points set up in this expansion that you'll only realize are just now coming to fruition down the road and it's glorious.
I'm not sure if this was posted already, but if you want more epilogue story content for Heavensward there's a non-blue quest chain starting with the quest called "The Paths We Walk" you can do before going into Stormblood. It's a nice little journey of reflection of everything you've done in the expansion.
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
I'll be curious to see how you respond to the Stormblood story. I know WHY most people rank it lower than Heavensward, but I am ALSO someone who is very interested in the themes and struggles that take place in Stormblood, so it resonated with me more than Heavensward did. I love Heavensward as well, but I'm all about liberation stories, so the events that take place in Stormblood just really did it for me. I even like the first section of the game, which is commonly the part that most people seem to NOT like.
Well, only thing left to hear your thoughts after you finish Dragonsong, didn't get too far in Stormblood due some personal stuff, but the 3.X made sure that I will get back into FF14 as soon as I'm able to
How many times does WoW just stop to let its characters breathe and become real, like the campfire scene when you're traveling through the Churning Mists. Plus the whole Scholasticate plotline, like a 5 hour quest line that takes place in a religious school to show you how things have been in upheaval.
Could argue that FFXIV stops TOO frequently (black screen loading into winded cutscene followed by a black screen loading out of said winded cutscene). I prefer FFXIV over WoW but I call it like it is.
Edmont's voice actor died recently. It was a sad day, especially for a character that sort of feeling like most character's adoptive father in a lot of ways
LOL at the ShB title'ing/text error on the Sakaguchi tweet. It's a completely understandable mistake but i did get a chuckle out of Sakaguchi playing WoW in addition to his XIV binge. Nice vid I enjoyed it quite well. Glad you and your crew are enjoying themselves in Eorzea. Y'all keep safe.
The talk about SB is all relative, tbh. It's a solid expansion, the narrative just doesn't quite reach the peaks HW and ShB do. Which is fine, I still found it really compelling and enjoyed it. I think there were some mechanical complaints from some of the high end raiders maybe as well? But you probably wouldn't experience them either. Also they patched out Raubahn Extreme which obviously bumps up the expansion score a couple of points.
I enjoyed SB more than expected because I wasn’t constantly being told how I would feel by other people. Like HW best for the record but I was always on edge from what I heard
Stormblood's a decent story stretched a little too thin, with a few characters that people have strong and divisive feelings about. It's pretty damn good overall, though! And the real power of Stormblood as an expansion, as someone who played through it at the time, was a real tightening of class design, encounter design, and game mechanics. Heavensward's iteration on high-end content and class design and crafting was "let's make this REALLY challenging!" to the point that some people found it unfun. Some classes could be really stressful to play well, and the first set of Alexander raids just almost killed raiding entirely. Stormblood was proof that the team could learn from mistakes and successes and genuinely improve the gameplay of the game, so I'll always love it for that.
@@BottledDelusion I think the problem with SB is it was split into 2 different stories in 4.0 with almost no connection between the two. Both stories got fleshed out in 4.1 and afterwards making it a better experience.
@@BottledDelusion Me too. HW is cool but I just unable to like it as WoL is on constant state of need to "think about others", limiting reach of a personality. SB is neat because WOL actually got opinion and discuss it with other Scions, able to mention dissatisfaction, incite rivalry with Zenos, befriending an Ascian hunter. All by own decision and not hindering what players thought about their character.
ARR was the set up to the story overall, there are certain things that come into play in shadowbringers that brings oh shit moments, heavensward, stormblood and shadowbringers are as good as they are because ARR set up the foundation they are build upon. What is exciting about Endwalker is that 6.0 will be complete it will be more like the previous expansions plus their patches included they wanted to put the whole story out there then use the patches as a new starting point for the next big Arc, and with Square putting more backing into FF14 it will be exciting to see. Also helps that Yoshi-P is still in charge and he seems to have more energy right now then previously.
Glad to hear you finally beat Heavensward, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Alexander raids, the Warring Triad and of course The Final Steps of Faith. Looking forward to more videos.
The cutscenes from fitting the drill to the front of the newly named "excellsior" till the end of the pope turned super knight trial were incredible, arriving back, victorious, riding a dragon. Im playing on xbox (finally) and i finished 6.0 this morning, im so hooked now 😅
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
Loving you going through the story and that you are enjoying it. Trust me Stormblood isn't as bad as many make it out to be. It's a solid story overall that just looks worse when bookended by two S tier level expansions, but that doesn't make Stormblood any less of an A tier itself.
I cant wait for you to do the patch content. Freaking amazing content. One thing i found in wow was that i couldnt really connect with the story/characters etc. FFXIV is just so good at it. And you can hear the passion you now have in your voice for the game
Regarding the 3.0 ending, from this point on in the expansions, the "true ending" for the expansion tends to be in the x.3 patches. And like with ARR, the subsequent patches of that expansion build what is coming in the next expansion. I will say I am looking forward to your 3.3 ending video if you do one.
Reliving this is bringing back some of the best moments of my life… not exaggerating. I was able to experience this with my 20 year old son after not seeing him for a number of years. Thank you for this wonderful series
Partly because its 2 expansion condensed in space of 1. There were definately not enough Ala Mhigo in this expansion, planned to be about Ala Mhigo. Its like if only 30% of Heavensward were about Ishgard and Coerthas. And partly its circlejerk. Lots of ppl who were happy with SB when they played it, see ppl talking trash about it and join to be in "club".
The split into 2 regions hurt the expansion and said regions both. Doma and Gyr Abania maps both feel lacking and empty due to it. The dungeons and trials however are way better than HW.
Gameplay and design is way above HW. It’s just poorly paced and feels like a lot of setup. Of course, as of 5.55 it feels way more satisfying given everything that’s happened since but at the time it felt kinda weird.
Aye, you are giving the opportunity to actually BE part of it, not just hanging about fringes and being told stuff. The lore is being told with your actions, duties, experiences and quests....thoroughly enjoyable and unique. You are just going to love what is to come. Adventure on.......
I really hope you enjoy Stormblood, it IS a bit of a return to the set-up phase of the narrative of XIV much in the same way ARR was, but I guarantee everything about Stormblood (and really every previous expansion) is a deposit in the narrative and emotional bank that gets cashed in in MAJOR ways in Shadowbringers. :)
Very cool video ! I had the same as you with my expectations, everyone saying Heavensward is awesome but I didn't know it would be that great. I also really liked what you said about the main cast of character, they do really grow on you. after a while you realized that they are your companions for this big journey, characters talk with you and not AT you.
I've always felt the problem with WoW's A plots is that you felt more like an observer to the NPCs story than an actual participant like you are with the WoL. FFXIV does a great job of putting you in the thick of things and making you feel like you matter. And if you want to know how prepared SE is, HW literally sets up plot threads that end up resolved TWO expansions later in ShB. That's how much they plan ahead.
By the way if you complete Hildabrand ARR, it unlocks a non-Hildabrand relaed questline in ishgard that deals with their religious college after your major reveal about their past and how they are dealing with that. A lot of people miss it (and the nice glams and emote it gives)
Heavensward was really like
Dragons: "You killed my family!"
Ishgard: "Dude thats was ages ago"
Dragons: "THAT WAS THIS MORNING!"
Kinda yeah. I think it's actually worse. The dragons come off as really immature IMO. The idea that one murder means a ton of people who weren't involved, don't support it, and are in all practical meanings of the word innocent of the act, should be brutalized for an indefinite amount of time because a single immortal being older than nations can't cope, is just stupid.
IDK why I wrote so much. Feel free to ignore this.
Nidhogg: "THIS AKH'MORNING"
@@davidburnett5049 that's the whole point tho, the main driving point of the conflict is based on the supposition that the values and viewpoints between dragon and men are so wildly different that it seems kinda silly when put into perspective.
@@davidburnett5049 It's less "one murder" and more "they killed your sister and stole your eyes." This isn't the death of a random person. It's the death of one of your closest family members.
@@TurinTurambar200 not to mention the one killed was of the first brood, one of the first of the dragons born on the planet
The greatest quote I ever saw with regards to the difference between ARR and HW:
A Realm Reborn is where the game was brought back to life
Heavensward is where the game began to live
Yeah, ARR is like when a white mage casts Ressurection, and HW is like when they cast Benediction.
Strong agree, but also the naming of the two reflects that feeling already too. A Realm Reborn is pretty obvious without explanation. But Heavensward has a bit of fun wordplay. Heaven's Ward, defenders/guardians of heaven, shown directly to us with the knights of the Heavensward, our knights most heavenly, etc. But it's also a portmanteau of Heaven and toward. The FFXIV team were really looking up to the brighter future they wanted to craft for this game. Their eyes fixed heavensward you might say?
While "A smile better suits a hero" moment is really good, the part that makes me ugly cry was the scene afterwards... the one with Edmont. I also found the "my dream of tomorrow where no child need freeze in the snow" scene to be really powerful as well. Heavensward was the first feelbringer :).
Heavenward was the first time the game made me cry, but shadowbringers made me cry the most. Especially the patch content. 5.3 wrecked me
5.3 the cutsecen with the big puppy bird
@@metalpunk696 Totally, Shadowbringers... made me an emotional wreck... just thinking about what happened in 5.3 makes my stomach churn and eyes become misty. Can't wait to see what kind of emotional damage Endwalker is going to do!
And it got even worse at the end of the DRK storyline T_T was ugly crying for quite a while
I already had the first Feelsbringers moment in 2.55. "Goddammit, I know it's poisoned, don't drink it, don't kill Nanamo on me, they can't do that, she's too big a city character, they can't do it..." Objectively, the almost-retcon feeling "Game of Lalas" resolution of schemes undermining schemes, Nanamo being alive, etc is a bit bizarre and jarring. However, they do turn it into good character development for both Nanamo and Lolorito.
The one that got me the most was still the Healer Role Quest though. Second place was The Twinning's post-dungeon recorded audio log.
You weren't lying when you said you were making more time for FF
No shit, he cleared 3.0 out in no time flat.
Yeah after taking forever to beat arr, dude just rocketed through HW.
@@JackgarPrime As someone who started playing a few months ago and also went very slowly through ARR, I must say that the thing with HW is that it was hard to put it down. It had that "one more quest" feeling all the time.
@@azahel542 I distinctly remember the conversation where Hraesvelger divulges a lot of his history, just thinking "oh shit no ok this story is extremely cool" and a flip switched in my brain hahaha
@@azahel542 You got that right. Took me a while to get through ARR and constantly went to work on 2 hours of sleep while playing through HW. lol
Michael slowly learning why FFXIV players "evangelize" the game. It has nothing to do with recruiting players to our game, it's about sharing that joy that comes with feeling rejuvenated and invested in a game.
Very well said. Underrated comment right here.
Yo, off topic but seeing your Muncher profile photo brought such a big grin on my face.
And yet WoW fanboys continue to call us "cultists"... I wish they would understand this.
@@spiritofthewolf1880 To be fair, some of us CAN act cultist like.
@@spiritofthewolf1880 well as a longtime Wow player myself I understand the borderline Stockholm Syndrome involved with being sucked in. And honestly some people are relentless in their FFXIV suggesting too. It's just a shame that MMOs became so tribal. Competition is good.
The thing that continues to hit me every time I watch the cutscene at the end of the vault is the fact that for basically the first time in an MMO someone died for ME.
Not for a random NPC and I just happened to be there.
Not for a story character to advance or grow.
Not for some plot redundancy or advancement or even just to trim the cast.
This was someone who died for MY character to live, who was MY friend and willing to take one for me just so that he didn't have to live in a world without me, just to keep me smiling.
This exactly. This is exactly why I will always wear jewelry with the shield of House Foretamps. He didn't save us to save the world or for the greater good. He saved us because he was our friend. Before his sacrifice we were fond of saying, "No one loves us like he does." After his sacrifice, we realized how true it was.
I literally shouted at the screen : "Noooo, you *******. What the hell?!?!"
Heavensward 3.1-3.5 is some of the best stuff in the game IMO, only topped by Shadowbringers. Excited to see what you think of it.
Agreed, though given how fantastic Heavensward was, I was shocked at how much Shadowbringers surpassed it.
@@kaitlynstewart7672 Agreed, playing through it now, and even at 72, I can feel the build up.
It Really shocked me how far they actually planned some Storybits out. I mean we saw Yugiri already in the ARR Epilouge as a Foreshadowing for HW...the whole WOD Story is a Foreshadowing for Content that came out over 3!!!! Years after that.
And i already forgot about all the Scenes with WOD and Elidibus.....ON THE MOON!!! I mean how freaking crazy is that? The Devs teased Content player see more than 5 Years Later 😲😲.
What's so good in Heavensward? I recently finished it and it's overrated asf. Story is overrated asf. I mean yeah for MMO games story is good (because in others there are only quests like kill 8 X, gather 6 Y etc) but comparing to single player games story just sucks. I won't even comment lack of any animations, poor graphics and bad & rigid cutscenes.
Oh, humanity bad! Hurt dragons so much! Dragons revenge! But wait! There is Warrior of Light (always nodding and smiling in every cutscene) who will save the world once again. Like it's made for 12 yo teens...
@@quelzar you actually have no idea what good storytelling is, your opinion is useless.
While it does feel like a small dip, Ravana was a BIG deal when HW was released. Up to this point all the big trial fights have been older FF bosses brought into the XIV style.
Ravana was the FIRST primal/boss unique to XIV. Which made it equally as exciting for players who knew any number of older games because it was the first primal not relying on previous knowledge by fans.
I love Ravana, he's like a Kamen Rider/General Grievous bug man fighting with honour for the thrill of combat.
REJOICE!
As a very casual FF fan and FF14 enjoyer, I didn't know this. Thanks.
What about Bismark ?
@@dazzlemasseur Bismarck was in 6
One thing I realized on playing through the story again is that each post-expansion story not only sets up the next expansion, but the one _after_ as well. There's post-ARR stuff that sets up Stormblood; there's post-HW stuff that sets up Shadowbringers; there's post-StB stuff that sets up Endwalker.
So they're not only setting up the next expansion, but the one after that as well.
Dude, Stormblood was being set up from lv25 when the Ala Mhigan refugees wanted to steal crystals to summon Rhalgr. ;D
@@jaeusa160 You know what I mean.
It's funny the advice to Blizz is to take note of how good Heavensward is, because that's a 6 year old expansion.
To be fair...
...one could also advise Blizzard to take note of LEGION, their OWN past expansion. Or Mists. Or Wrath. Or Burning Crusade. Or even potentially Cataclysm. Heck, they went all the way back to Vanilla to make Classic (which is probably played by more people than retail). I used to love WoW and Blizzard, but Blizzard has gone to pot and killed WoW in the process. Even their own PAST expansions are better than what they have today, so they don't even have to leave their own game or studio to have better ideas, they just have to turn back the clock.
The problem is, I think they've fired and/or laid off all of those people, so they don't have any of that talent to go back to...
@@SubduedRadical > good past expansion
TBC OMEGALUL Legion wrath and cataclysm i agree but MoP and TBC ? Kekw
@@leeroy1986 I disagree. Wrath was MOSTLY liked other than hardcore raiders complaining that Naxx was too easy and that didn’t like the Argent Tourney raid. The only other complaint (at the time) was how long the final patch lingered before the next expansion and the “Wrath babies”. Uldar, in particular, was massively praised, as were the Wraithgate and Battle of Undercity events, and longtime fans of the series enjoyed the conclusion to Arthas’ story.
Legion and Mists were largely liked at the time (other than the panda haters), and Warlords was heavily disliked at the time and since, as was BfA.
Conversely, ARR was enjoyed at the time but even then people felt the MSQ was a slog. HW was beloved at the time and since. SB was disliked but largely for the reasons mentioned - its focus was too split. And ShB has been loved as current and I don’t see that changing.
I know it’s hip to be cynical, but that isn’t really warranted here.
Slowly, Bellular will join us in becoming a walking advertisement for FFXIV.
Bellular & Matt started the whole Big wave exodus with wow content creators moving over to ffxiv in 2021.
lol he already has ... how do you think the Mald one started playing the game.
@@salesiteisina7098 Eh, no? The exodus began with ordinary WoW players quitting or not playing anymore discovering FF14 on their own. The tubers and streamers just want to appeal to their viewer base, hence the smarter creators starts the exodus before others.
@@gandalf8216 Eh, no it didn't. Been following this shit for a least going on a year now. The "BIG" Exodus started when matt recommended FFXIV to bellular a couple months back, which in turn lead to folks like asmongold for instance finally giving FFXIV a proper try and we all know the history after that. Been smoking too much of that weed pipe old man. I myself am one of those players that had started playing FFXIV in the early 2020's way before this "BIG" exodus.
@@salesiteisina7098 Been telling everyone that XIV was way better than WOW for a few years now...
Bow before my legacy chocobo, peasants.
Jokes aside, the moment FF entered HW, wow was basically defeated, you guys just needed to give it a try.
I always felt the take away from heavensward was not Pope bad, but that blind adherence to religion for adherence' sake is evil. A much broader condemnation of blind faith than a slight against Catholicism. At the same time I took away from heavensward the message that no faith is also bad. It seemed to me, back when I played it years ago, that the writers were trying to say that you should understand your beliefs and know why you believe them. I loved that expansion because I think it was the only one with a very clear moral lesson to ponder.
In addition to what you said it shows what can happen to a religious order when they fall to despair. If their god cannot or will not help them, then they may try to take the place of that god and do what they think needs to be done.
Thordan wasn't entirely evil, he was radicalised by despair from his lack of power to end a war that he knew would never stop if they kept fighting as they always had. So when power was presented to him he snatched it. I do think it's cool that while his pursuit of power to end the war blinded him to how is actions would make everything worse, he was still sharp enough to not only see that the ascians were not his allies but also had a legitimately successful plan to deal with them when he got what he wanted.
yes, because you start the expansion with church good heretics bad, and you find out that its actually church head bad and heretics not so bad. but the problem is that the heretics are also not right, they were fighting for a lie that iceheart only finds out later when she meets Hraesvelgr, just like the ishgardian church was also based on a lie.
As a religious man, I love HW’s story. It’s a rare case of a story condemning blind faith in a way that’s actually thoughtful and compelling without being “church bad, naysayers good”. Thordan wasn’t just generic evil pope stand-in. He’s easily the most underrated antagonist in the franchise.
@@RaddyC Thordan wasnt even super generic evil imo, he wanted to end the dragonsong war because he knew the truth behind it knowing that it would never end and that it was essentially meant to be eternal punishment to his people. He just decided to do it in the worse way possible. He also chose to perpetuate the lie behind Ishgard because he thought it was too harsh of a truth for Ishgardians, thinking it would end Ishgard.
You can also see that in 5.3 when you defeat a certain boss. It's important to know what you're fighting for ☺️
"All these characters, they're going to be sticking around, right?"
Yeah, yeah, they're sticking around, we're all going to a farm where you can pet the Bunny girls...
*Heavy Sobbing*
of Minions and Men
there there, little one. A smile better suits a hero
@@Varichan Q_Q
@@Varichan you a piece of work you know that 😜😂
@@unrelentingdoom1390 promise you'll take me with you on your next adventure
What's nice about the new actors is that they've stayed on the whole way after Heavensward. It's actually kind of jarring going back to HW after Shadowbringers and seeing how much they've grown into their roles.
The first half of HW really feels like you are taking a party of adventurers into u known lands, you even have a 4 man party consisting of Estinien, Alphinaud, Ysayle and the Warrior of Light
I got massive Xenoblade Chronicles vibes during the first journey through The Churning Mists. Grand area, quiet with little civilization, beautiful music, with your small party of companions.
I love the road trip, with all the conflict between the characters, getting to know them better in the process. if it wasn't for so many boring distractions, like the fucking moogles, it could have been so much better. also its a arc of the game that REALLY could have used the trust system.
If only they had Trusts back then. Granted everyone would have to role flex, mostly Alpi, in order to accommodate players who are healers. Estinien is so chad he could be a Tank even without the "lol DRG floor tank" memes.
The solution is obvious-Carbuncle would have been the flex character.
When the story is so good that come Shadowbringers one word said in the right context rips out my heart and turns me from an excited catboy into a bawling baby in the space of a second.
Shhh.. come now. Dry those tears. A smile better suits a hero.
hell, not even a word, just a saunter and a wrist flick were enough!
@@Rex_the_Badger remember that we once lived.
@@Rex_the_Badger "Ardbert?"
When i got the option to select "a smile better suites a hero", there was no not picking that option.
Starting Heavensward is super funny after having leveled Dragoon to that point because Aymeric goes to introduce you two and the WoL and Estinien are both just looking at each other like "fuck, this is awkward"
If I remember right Estinien even says something along the lines of "Oh, its you."
I leveled dragoon recently and that shit I wish I experienced considering how the are job quest ends it would've been hilariously weird to run into him.
@@FarikoWishless New Game+ my dude. Or go to the in and rewatch the CS. There's a box you can click to reflect relevant quest progression
@@hobogray6385 Did not know this thanks. I'm just about to do all the side content and hear theres different stuff for having completed coils and stuff.
I've mained dragoon for my playthrough of MSQ for FF14. That moment was hilarious. Like the two spiderman meme all over again. I really appreciated they added dialog throughout heavensward that acknowledged you playing a dragoon though. Really nice little touch.
"A smile better suits a hero."
Remember. Remember that line was uttered.
It's also the best way to make a Fanfest room cry in unison
I did use the rains of ceased and we are blessed with another beautiful day, but you are here to see it at my buddies funeral a few weeks ago felt appropriate since it he would of loved that reference
That line hits so hard later. Also so many callback lines and scenes in later expansions and MSQ fells rewarding to those paying attention and doesn't feel forced to those who may have forgot. New players have the benefit of having all the content back to back but older players had to wait, HW released 6 years ago.
@@Bobnotk2point5 Such pain, such suffering... nobody could endure so much. Yet there you stand. Unbowed. Unbroken.
Gay ShB crystal was erected in honor of Haurchefant.
@@cyanmage1 That line hit especially hard for me in the wake of my own mother's passing late last year, and then her sister's this May. Ouch. OUCH.
Speaking of characters knowing your character, if you're a summoner, you would e already met yshtolas sister and she talks to you during that situation like she already knows you and acknowledges it
It's funny just how integrated into the MSQ and lore in general summoners end up being, you already know Y'mhitra and Rammbroes, the questline is the only one that actually deals with Ascians outside the MSQ, the interview explaining why the lv70-80 abilities are based on Phoenix reveals that orange corrupted crystals are actually remnants of phoenix's restoration power (and thus also explaining how Bahamut was being revived in the Coils), the fact that it branches from Arcanist gets you a bit of extra dialogue when you visit the guild with Tataru, a whole bunch of lore about Allagan and primal stuff, Arenvald and FRL being classed as Summoner characters according to the lv80 quest.
And then there's the fact that Endwalker's changes look like they're integrating some of the 5.4 stuff about how tempering works by essentially giving OURSELVES a mild tempering with our Egi and using the resulting elemental attunement as a buff
I don't think any job is as tied into the MSQ as much as Summoner is.
From my understanding if you play the job Meteor is using in an xpac’s trailer (dragoon, monk/samurai, dark knight) you get some extra dialog along the way.
The summoner job quests are among the best ARR job quests overall in the game.
@@gateauxq4604 You don't. Monk/Samurai and Dark Knight got nothing for SB and ShB.
@@AdamG3691 There was a lot of integration for Dragoons in Heavensward. Obviously, you already knew Estinien by the time he's introduced in HW, and get some different dialogue throughout the MSQ if I recall. It also just hits different when your character's job is invested in the dragonsong war set dressing.
@@ltmuffler3482 The most noteable change I noticed playing Dragoon in Heavensward is that most NPC's will refer to you as "The Azure Dragoon" instead of stranger, outsider or Hero of Eorzea. And at least in Ishgard most dialogue would be noticeably more respectful early on than it usually is. It is a small, but indeed very welcome change.
And thus he learned why they include heavensward in the free trial
Hope his people will let him know about the Alexander and Void Ark raids and the Warring Triad trials, there is some pretty important lore bits there.
Glad he's enjoying HW. Also, we will probably see another video soon with 3.3 xD
Im sure they will but it will definitely be an unsync story blitz, its still going to be a hell of a run for him to finish everything through 5.55 by the 19th
I hope so too. I was told by my FC to make sure I did the Alexander and Omega questlines before getting anywhere near the ShB expansion. I'm so glad I did. Had me like: "When are those questlines going to pay... OHHHHH SHIT!"
Was going to say the same thing. Lol.
@@vanslanzerdefanel They don't really need to do an unsynced blitz with those raids and trials since they are all story mode. Honestly I don't think he will hit the end by the 19th but I could see him getting there in the first few weeks.
He def needs to do Alex if for nothing more than the music!
People dog on SB's story (and to each their own), but I think most people would concede the SB dungeons are a HUGE step up, in terms of immersion, set design, etc. I hope you love them!
its a general consensus that the content in SB is probably some of the best in the game, some arguably even better than ShB (like the optional trials in my opinion, the weapons are awesome, specially the solo duties, but for me the holy beasts are a LOT better in every aspect).
as for the story, I think its mostly Gy Abania, there is nothing compelling there, and Lyse is not a character that is developed very well. but Othard I kinda love, specially the Azim Steppe arc, it has some amazing characters and great story. its like they did the exactly same kinda of story twice (helping locals fight for independence from a oppressive force side by side with a great leader from the locals, also a villain with a redeeming arc, also you find out some of the locals are not great people), but one is infinitely better.
And I still like "Triumph" the most for dungeon boss themes. Insatiable is amazing, Revenge Twofold (3.x dungeons), but Triumph gets me going the most.
SB was hurt greatly by being split between Doma and Gyr Abania.
Doma feels empty except Kugane and The Ruby Sea
and Gyr Abania is just.....boring.
Take away Zenos and it becomes........nothing. Just sand..and the zones blend into each other way too much. I couldn't tell you from a picture which zone's which except if Ala Migho is shown.
SB’s story just feels like a lot of set up because that’s exactly what it is. And it feels like a pace breaker after the high of HW
STORM OF BLOOD!
BORN FROM BLOOD!
OF OUR FALLEN BROTHERS!!
The emotion in his voice when he started on about the bridge scene. Love seeing reactions to it. Knowing that I'm not the only grown man to shed a tear there.
Bell really needs to realize that blizz could have changed their storytelling many many years ago now. Heavensward is from 2015 gods damnit. What he and we all are gushing over is content thats many years old already. Blizz went to sleep and now its too late to wake up
I think Blizz tried. Legion - > BfA -> SL is a clear shift in focus to more emphasis on an overarching story updated per patch compared to WotLK or MoP. By that time FFXIV, ESO and SWtoR were all MMOs with strong story lines. GW2 tried the same thing as well. Problem is Blizz either didn't understand what made it work, or half-assed it, banking on iconic character appearances to carry the story so they didn't have to spend the money properly telling the story.
One of the big things of FFXIV is also that the npcs change location and dialogs outside of the main quest line. And when the story process to a point were it doesn't make sense characters standing around at places they will not be there! Making the world seem more alive, only issue is that old FFXIV raids were it feels a bit weird...
You know it's really understated how much that can help a world. After 100 hours of New World, it always bothered me that 99% of the NPCs are rooted to the spot they're standing on and never leave (save the few main story npcs) and it makes the world feel really empty.
You are right, but also, doesn't ARR Urianger still hang out in the walking sands, no matter how far into the story you are?
@@LarsisLP he does but its explain in the story that he works there so its fine, after the move it kinda becomes his office. After you do the hard/extreme quests however he sometimes not is there anymore
@@codernerd7076 Yeah, I guess he only hangs around as long as you do not finish those quests.
It's just that, since the game usually is so carefull to not break immersion by having NPCs be in multiple places at once and/or appear somewhere while they definetly should be incapacitated, it's just so hillarious when it doesn't (usually because it just can't without actively locking some content).
Doing any Sidequest involving Nanamo during the beginning of 3.0 is probably the best example
also the world itself changes, not just the NPCs. in some parts of the world you will see visual changes that are only visible for you depending on where you are on the story and what quests you did. the most obvious examples being the first with the light and a scene in raghar's reach. also Doma's restoration.
Oh boy, you are gonna have so much fun in 3.3
The issue with every single other mmorpg is that they just feel like a collection of systems instead of a full game. No other mmorpg is at the same level as 14 in terms of storytelling, and very few come close to the full package as an mmo
Basically, yeah. It just... "here are a bunch of mobs you can kill to level and some fetch quests on the side, oh and some sprinkles of what the fuck is going on here and there" they're just MMO games to kill time no real RPGs, they shouldn't have MMORPG in their description.
This is more of a story you play through, FFXIV is basically an RPG game with MMO features.
most games of this type suffer from feature creep, trying to bring in more shiny new features to get people buying the next expansion (or just to keep playing the game for a F2P model). FF14 on the other hand builds and iterates on many aspects while not being afraid of removing outdated aspects. And not in a way that feels reductive either, like in WoW.
@@Nirual86 It Does help that FF14 doesn't make older content or locations useless like most mmo's do or not trying to ram mechanics down your throat that require you to do everythiing in order to progress. Freedom of choice is what makes ff14 great, you can choose when you want to play unlike most who fight to keep your attention for money
@@Volfur2251yeah really the only thing it forced you to do is the MSQ, and thats for good reason.
@@Volfur2251 I think my favorite is how some characters from side content makes an appearance in other side content that has to do within that part of the world. Most other character’s in other games feel like Sylvanas for maybe 5 minutes then revert to Dudu from PSO2 for the next 10 years
Playing through heavensward for the first time as a dragoon felt so good
RIGHT!? I went through each expansion as the job in the trailers it's awesome for emersion
@@dragondaddykushala7133 that sounds awesome. I havent leveled any alt classes yet because I'm trying to catch up for the new expansion. So just summoner and scholar for me so far
The amazing part of this game is replaying NG+ and realizing that foreshadowing for current content has been in the game SINCE at least 2.0. They absolutely know where they're going!
They actually talked about the making of their plot before. Its not that they knew everything, but always look back to see what they established and should expand on
Ng+ in a mmo?
@@MNtoCali Yep. but unlike single-player games, this just activates the quests that are already done for MSQ. and if i didn't rmb wrongly, there's no exp.
There's some mentioning in even lvl 10 quests :) going through the story again has blown my mind
@@MNtoCali you can go to an inn and replay any old missions and cutscenes with different jobs or whatever you want whenever.
I am so glad you enjoyed 3.0! I just started Stormblood, and honestly 3.1-3.5 was the best narrative gameplay I have experienced in a while.
StB has a rough start to it, kinda like some of those dragging spots in ARR. Hang in through 'em. The expansion has its own share of greatness, it's mostly compacted into the back end.
Stormblood is definitely a step down from Heavensward and the only expansion where I actually prefer the patch quests over the base patch. 4.3 and 4.5 makes up for everything Stormblood does wrong.
It does have its moments though.
Back in Heavensward, they were still limited in what mechanics they could actually use in Quests. Pretty much it came down to interact with object or kill object. It wasn't till ShB that they had time to start expanding the mechanics they could employ.
they did so at end of SB actually, experimenting there and adding it towards SHB.
I know people think that the usual quests are kinda boring, but IMO, where XIV truly shines in questing content is the _solo duties._ The solo duties are always awesome, and they will always be better than mundane quests, and some of them (YOU KNOW WHICH ONES I MEAN!) are just freaking _awesome._
@@Dhalin Custody Battle (Ultimate)
yes, solo duties become a lot more common after HW, and that really spices up the MSQ. that way they can focus on just storytelling and not feel forced to add too many boring mechanics to the quests.
@@Jepegish oh my god I’m stealing this.
While Stormblood does not necessarily top HW story, I would argue that the side content is definitely worth doing and tops the main storyline of Stormblood.
The only feature where Stormblood doesn't trample Heavensward is story. Which is why I say Stormblood was better, because everything but the story was such an improvement. Also, the story isn't bad at all.
@@otaviofiochi570 lol
Ruby Sea is such a great place to journey,
The side story that led to the 4 Beast battle
The under water area
The community as a whole views Stormblood as the weakest expansion for the most part, and while I do think that's true, I think it's important to note, that (at least in my opinion) that does not make it a bad expansion at all, there are some excellent story moments in Stormblood and having replayed it myself recently, I find myself having a bit more of an appreciation for it. While I can't go into specifics because obviously you're not at that point, Stormblood's main narrative is a little bit split so some parts suffer (again, in my opinion) because of that.
But honestly? Stormblood has some of the best trials in the game, especially it's patch trials. And the later set up has a few twists and turns that I really appreciate for their whole mystery aspect going into Shadowbringers. Main point is, while it's the weakest expansion, it's still extremely solid and enjoyable, wouldn't worry at all about it going in. You're gonna have a blast beyond Heavensward, I'm fairly certain of that. Also extremely happy to see you enjoying the game so much as well, it's very gratifying seeing so many new people come into the game and have such a wonderful time :)
Yes, this is very true. Weakest narrative for me, but some of my most favorite trials, music, and dungeons. Also, I just completed the Omega raid series. That was very enjoyable and didn't have any bloat. While the Ivalice raids are breathtaking, running them with a single bad alliance makes me want to pound my head against the wall. Lol
Story maybe but the some of the best content in the game
The story of the dragons isn't over with Heavensward either. The pay offs for some plots points come much later. Some lovely lore bombs in Omega raids for example and apparently, its also important for Endwalker too.
I mean we already have seen one major part of it being brought back in 5.5, so it's not just "apparently" but "definitely". I won't get into anything more specific but if you've completed the MSQ you'll know what I'm referring to.
That was a plot thread wrapped up two expansions later. So brilliant.
Ngl, the editors note about why they're not showing Bellular crafting or Ishgard Restoration made me laugh out loud. I'm so glad you've gotten to see some of the awesomeness that FF storytelling has to offer. Brace yourself for those patches, they're REAL good!
I, too, had a legit LOL at that. :D I also had a chuckle about his commentary on "Ediblius" and "Meteor"
And crafting and gathering each have their own fully fleshed out quest storylines. Fishing.... could be a stand alone game. (I say, as I wait for fog in Southern Thanalan to go for another Big Fish achievement...)
I just recently discovered the joy crafting. Im now broke as im trying tol level them all to save money but bored of gathering... Oh and ive not made any progress on ShB patch content in 3 weeks.
If you complete leveling a dragoon to 80, there's an optional quest at the Observatorium that gives unique insight into the incident that started the whole war with the dragons. It certainly doesn't excuse the elezen, but it makes it just a tiny bit more understandable why they did what they did.
oh nice
Coming from WoW I LOVE how all FF expansions are perfectly blended into each other for one amazing story. WoW feels so crazy disconnected and hit and miss with how they do their expansions and the broken, disjointed stories in them
The smile suits a hero scene.. I felt that .. but I felt it more when I had to tell the count.. that's when it really hit.
He's definitely going to make another video talking about the post-heavensward content.
Great video as usual! As someone who spent the past 6 months playing through the MSQ (just finished 5.0) I really enjoyed Storm Blood, and thought it felt like a natural progression of the story. Will be interesting to see your take.
Post-Heavensward, 3.1 to 3.5 is even better! Can't wait for you to experience that!
He's in Stormblood already.
20:10. The other characters know my character.
You mean, unlike characters like Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas, with whole you quested for 3 expansions and with the next expansion acts like she never saw you be froe? Yes, i agree.
Glad you're loving the game. a friend and I are frantically clearing older raids to make sure we have as much context as we can possibly have for Endwalker. Stormblood is quite interesting, especially the antagonists. Shadowbringers is just phenomenal and I am having issues waiting for Endwalker.
I started Stormblood and it sucks.... I am at level 63 quests right now and super uninterested... I am thinking of skipping it with the potion.
@@MrAlexvizz just a tip Stormblood is kinda super important for endwalker so i would suggest get through to me stormblood is just above arr and way below shadowbringers and heavensward. Try and get through. Enjoy the ride :)
@@MrAlexvizz I wasn’t really invested in he earlier parts, I started to like stormblood a bit more once I hit kugane. I would definitely recommend hanging in there if only for the story around ghimlyt dark. It is by far one of the best dungeons in my opinion. And like gameshypenow said, there is an absolute ton of stuff Important to shadowbringers in stormblood.
In defense of Dravania, I feel its actually brilliant. You've only ever known it as the land of evil dragon worshipping cultists, and going in you almost expect some kind of legion-esque hellscape or maw type place of evil. After all, it's where the heretics come from, and they're bad. And then you get there, and it's not some twisted evil place. In a lot of ways it's pretty beautiful albeit in that Untamed nature kind of way. When I played through the game it was enough to completely catch me off guard and really made me start to reasses things, Moreso then meeting iceheart did.
That editor note was hilarious because I feel that man. I remember getting lost in crafting for months.
Heavensward has one of my top moments in FFXIV, just with how it impacted me.
The scene where you regain your power from Midgardsomr and he deems you worthy of the gift, and then he becomes the full sized dragon, then he proclaims they’ll ride off together to fight their enemies
Not only does that already have your character, whether your cool looking character, your meme character, etc, like ARR it’s YOU in the center of the cutscene.
So in the cinematic, seeing your character ride away on the dragon, with the cinematic giving you the text at the bottom “you can now fly in Asyz Lla, you can now use Midgardsomr as a mount”
I found this genius in so many ways, just the fact that by this point, you’re already passively/actively looking for aether currents to fly. You get to AL, but no discoverable currents, just questing, I remember noticing this and how wondering.
But then ending with that huge moment where he deems you worthy, then you end the cinematic floating in asyz lla on your new mount. Getting a mount like that really amazed me :)
Let's not forget that Michael is _still_ going through content that is part of the free trial! Speaking of which...
Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.
Idk, I think this my be a not so popular take, but I loved the middle bit of heavensward where you travel with ysayle and estinien. It really feels like a classic jrpg where you and a party of 3 others are exploring distant regions while learning of a story along the way. While also allowing more than enough time to get to know the characters more deeply
This was my favorite bit and made me love Alphi too.
That Editor note lol so, true.
Also Michael is acting like a cute kid that just discovered fun.
I wish he'd stop talking about World of Warcraft already, honestly. Shuddup and enjoy your Fillet Mignon! No one cares about the McDonalds across the street ya noodle :P
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
@@johnmatthews3226 And unless you cut his access to the comments, he now knows about them ;)
You think the mans got time to read the comments?! Only reason I do it is to make my ego bigger after a video ahahaha
@2:35 That "blending of new characters" is a common recurring theme in XIV. They always do this, as much as possible. The final two .x patches are always a mix of tying one expansion up, while beginning the setup for the next. The final .x.y patch is always the prelude to the next expansion. You are never left scratching your head wondering what the next expansion is going to be. Even if you avoid ALL social media, liveletters, news, etc and just play the game, you will know what the next expansion is going to be about, in general, just from the final couple story patches.
The Editor's Note at Ishgard Restoration was just fantastic.
That editor's note about keeping him away from crafting had me rolling. It's true though! Can attest, summer of 2.x was a blur, all I did was craft and gather...
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
@@johnmatthews3226 the effort will pay off!
When he showed that scene, I immediately began to tear up, it's been YEARS and I still cry at it.
That scene is also a massive spoiler for fans of that character so I am very surprised that he showed it in the video.
@@andrewg319 to be fair he started the video with a full screen saying "giant spoilers ahead" as a fair warning to those that haven't seen heavenward yet
i always forgot that character existed, I nothing'd them and their demise honestly. Was actually sad when Moynbreda died and Gosetsu almost died, even papalymo sacrifice. But _him_ I'm like who are you again 🤔
Seto always gets me...
@@HyouVizer Same thing happened to me, probably because I had some breaks during Heavensward, but I remembered everyone else.
17:00 ish. this is the first time I have heard of the player character in the movies referred to as "meteor". Been playing since launch. I call him something else, and I think many others do as well. Guess it doesnt matter for reasons. Yet.
Meteor is the 'official' name for the poster boy(aka stand-in player character).
his lorebrain will truely temble if he decides to do warring triad.
Just wait until he does the void quests
There’s so much references, characters, music from the old Final Fantasies - as a FF fanboy it’s so strange people play through and don’t know about it :)
There's the sense of beauty in that as well though. The fact that they don't know those references encourages them to want to know more about them. Which, in essence, makes them end up researching into them or playing the games. It's a win/win imo.
@@julinde Yes maybe that’s true. Looking forward to experience more of those omg moments in Endwalker hopefully. I heard Lennas theme is in the game 😍😍
@@dreamer6737 It issssss and it's really pretty. Can't wait for the future soundtrack, ngl.
I kinda love it though. I've been a FF kid since the first one and now I hear people who are like half my age talking about the Tower of Zot dungeon or Pandemonium. It's such a good time to be a fan. I hope FF is like Star Wars and one day I can have a grandkid who will know what a chocobo or a black mage looks like.
Really glad youre liked Heavensward. Hope you do another impression Video after you finish the Epilogue and maybe Alexander. But youre really blasting through it now.
It is SO weird hearing Derplander being called by his canonical name.
I was today years old when I learned he has a canonical name
Wait, what? He has a name?
@@Brad933 Meteor Survivor.
Not kidding, that's his canonical name.
Meteor, for short.
yeah Ardbert
@@Brad933 Meteor Survivor is his name. I hope that wasn't his name in 1.0 though. If so I'd be hella paranoid.
Note for those that like the extra dialogue in cutscenes; if you go to an inn and read the book next to the bed to review cutscenes, cutscenes with extra dialogue based on the classes you have leveled will be marked with a yellow icon to the side.
stormblood has the unfortunate position of having to be thing that came after heavensward and before shadowbringers. it's not bad just different compared to HW
Its worse than Arr
@17:50 And this kind of thing is why there just isn't room to trim much more from the ARR 2.0 or 2.x experience. Worldbuilding for Ishgard and Heavensward began back at lv35, when you stepped into Coerthas Central Highlands and met Haurchefant. Worldbuilding for Ala Mhigo and Stormblood began back at lv25, when you met with Ala Mhigan refugees in Quarrymill and Southern Thanalan, and moreover during the slowest parts of 2.x helping the Domans refugees... all the Ul'dah politics in 2.x, the bits in 3.0, this is all story adding to Stormblood as well. And the seeds of Shadowbringers and Endwalker are being quietly planted in front of you as well. It's almost like they plan their game's story, imagine that!
In my opinion, Thordon asked arguably THE most important question at the end of 3.0
Yeah, and it wasn't until very recently that it paid off. I love this game so much ahah
It’s been a rough minute since I’ve done 3.0. What was the question he asked?
@@vexmilklatte3904 "What are you?"
[You clutch the crystal of *Redacted* to your breast and wish upon it with all your heart.]
@@GrishnakAthanor1 You're actually asked that question quite a lot. Usually rather incredulously. I've been watching Asmon's play through videos and it came up in 2.0 as well.
Oh yeah, about splitting the story into sections: The "common way" to do it, is to count (X-1).4 to X.3 as one story arc, and then X.4 to (X+1).3 as the next, and so on. That is of course a bit of an artificial division, as there is some overlap of maybe already start to build in the next in a .3 or still wrapping up loose ends in a .4, or you could for example have a X.2 or .4 patch setting of the story for the X+2 or X+3 expansion or something, but that's _roughly_ how it gets divided, usually.
Omg, the Dragonsong story is even better!!!! Wait till you get into the post MSQ
Glad you're loving the game Bellular! Heavensward for me too was such an awesome experience from the even better storytelling to the raids to just quality of life in nearly every way. Not that ARR was bad, it's just that HW shines so much brighter. Certainly appreciate it more looking back than perhaps I did at the onset. But yeah, there are also many plot points set up in this expansion that you'll only realize are just now coming to fruition down the road and it's glorious.
Gotta say though, extreme trials and savage raids really picked up in Stormblood, and the dungeons were a huge step up as well
I'm not sure if this was posted already, but if you want more epilogue story content for Heavensward there's a non-blue quest chain starting with the quest called "The Paths We Walk" you can do before going into Stormblood.
It's a nice little journey of reflection of everything you've done in the expansion.
Lol the editors note on crafting, I can relate. I finished the msq a few months ago and I am now a main DOL/DOH.
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
I'll be curious to see how you respond to the Stormblood story. I know WHY most people rank it lower than Heavensward, but I am ALSO someone who is very interested in the themes and struggles that take place in Stormblood, so it resonated with me more than Heavensward did. I love Heavensward as well, but I'm all about liberation stories, so the events that take place in Stormblood just really did it for me. I even like the first section of the game, which is commonly the part that most people seem to NOT like.
Well, only thing left to hear your thoughts after you finish Dragonsong, didn't get too far in Stormblood due some personal stuff, but the 3.X made sure that I will get back into FF14 as soon as I'm able to
I’m so happy that you’re enjoying your time and really enjoying this Lore and story !
How many times does WoW just stop to let its characters breathe and become real, like the campfire scene when you're traveling through the Churning Mists. Plus the whole Scholasticate plotline, like a 5 hour quest line that takes place in a religious school to show you how things have been in upheaval.
Could argue that FFXIV stops TOO frequently (black screen loading into winded cutscene followed by a black screen loading out of said winded cutscene). I prefer FFXIV over WoW but I call it like it is.
Its been interesting hearing your opinion and point of view as someone who loves story congrats on getting through Heavensward
Edmont's voice actor died recently. It was a sad day, especially for a character that sort of feeling like most character's adoptive father in a lot of ways
My son…
Also for most people the first time they met a Count that wasn’t evil or some sort of vampire of questionable repute.
His entire house is such a bunch of nice people,
I can't help but feel like Ishgard is my 2nd home
While I feel nothing toward starter city
Kudos to the editing team; that crafting note was hilarious.
Storm blood is my favorite expansion
LOL at the ShB title'ing/text error on the Sakaguchi tweet. It's a completely understandable mistake but i did get a chuckle out of Sakaguchi playing WoW in addition to his XIV binge. Nice vid I enjoyed it quite well. Glad you and your crew are enjoying themselves in Eorzea. Y'all keep safe.
The talk about SB is all relative, tbh. It's a solid expansion, the narrative just doesn't quite reach the peaks HW and ShB do. Which is fine, I still found it really compelling and enjoyed it. I think there were some mechanical complaints from some of the high end raiders maybe as well? But you probably wouldn't experience them either. Also they patched out Raubahn Extreme which obviously bumps up the expansion score a couple of points.
I enjoyed SB more than expected because I wasn’t constantly being told how I would feel by other people. Like HW best for the record but I was always on edge from what I heard
Stormblood's a decent story stretched a little too thin, with a few characters that people have strong and divisive feelings about. It's pretty damn good overall, though! And the real power of Stormblood as an expansion, as someone who played through it at the time, was a real tightening of class design, encounter design, and game mechanics. Heavensward's iteration on high-end content and class design and crafting was "let's make this REALLY challenging!" to the point that some people found it unfun. Some classes could be really stressful to play well, and the first set of Alexander raids just almost killed raiding entirely. Stormblood was proof that the team could learn from mistakes and successes and genuinely improve the gameplay of the game, so I'll always love it for that.
@@BottledDelusion I think the problem with SB is it was split into 2 different stories in 4.0 with almost no connection between the two. Both stories got fleshed out in 4.1 and afterwards making it a better experience.
@@BottledDelusion Me too. HW is cool but I just unable to like it as WoL is on constant state of need to "think about others", limiting reach of a personality.
SB is neat because WOL actually got opinion and discuss it with other Scions, able to mention dissatisfaction, incite rivalry with Zenos, befriending an Ascian hunter. All by own decision and not hindering what players thought about their character.
@@mizuhashiriku5219 You, my friend, need to check out Dark Knight. That's where you'll get your WoL-centric plot.
ARR was the set up to the story overall, there are certain things that come into play in shadowbringers that brings oh shit moments, heavensward, stormblood and shadowbringers are as good as they are because ARR set up the foundation they are build upon.
What is exciting about Endwalker is that 6.0 will be complete it will be more like the previous expansions plus their patches included they wanted to put the whole story out there then use the patches as a new starting point for the next big Arc, and with Square putting more backing into FF14 it will be exciting to see.
Also helps that Yoshi-P is still in charge and he seems to have more energy right now then previously.
Watching Bell’s video after 3.3 is gonna be so wonderful
Glad to hear you finally beat Heavensward, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Alexander raids, the Warring Triad and of course The Final Steps of Faith. Looking forward to more videos.
I think you have an editing mistake around 13:45-13:46 where you start to talk quest design and then the audio noticably jerks to a different thought.
The cutscenes from fitting the drill to the front of the newly named "excellsior" till the end of the pope turned super knight trial were incredible, arriving back, victorious, riding a dragon.
Im playing on xbox (finally) and i finished 6.0 this morning, im so hooked now 😅
17:12 yes yes editors keep him on track we got 3 weeks left 😂
Trying to stop michael from discovering fishing, ocean fishing and the diadem system has been one of the hardest challenges for us throughout this entire thing aha
Loving you going through the story and that you are enjoying it. Trust me Stormblood isn't as bad as many make it out to be. It's a solid story overall that just looks worse when bookended by two S tier level expansions, but that doesn't make Stormblood any less of an A tier itself.
Heavensward completely destroyed me. It's such an amazing story.
I cant wait for you to do the patch content. Freaking amazing content. One thing i found in wow was that i couldnt really connect with the story/characters etc. FFXIV is just so good at it. And you can hear the passion you now have in your voice for the game
I absolutely love listening to the dragons speak. The sound design on their speech was excellent.
My favorite thing about HW. The dragon voices/languages are art man.
There are official resources (a dictionary and a grammar guide) on the game forums if you're interested.
Heavensward is a trip, but the remaining patch story you're still to go through is INCREDIBLE. You're not done yet, dude. ^_~
Regarding the 3.0 ending, from this point on in the expansions, the "true ending" for the expansion tends to be in the x.3 patches. And like with ARR, the subsequent patches of that expansion build what is coming in the next expansion. I will say I am looking forward to your 3.3 ending video if you do one.
Reliving this is bringing back some of the best moments of my life… not exaggerating. I was able to experience this with my 20 year old son after not seeing him for a number of years. Thank you for this wonderful series
I never understood why Stormblood gets sneered at to some degree. Stormblood is great, and I hope you enjoy playing through it as much as I did.
Partly because its 2 expansion condensed in space of 1. There were definately not enough Ala Mhigo in this expansion, planned to be about Ala Mhigo.
Its like if only 30% of Heavensward were about Ishgard and Coerthas.
And partly its circlejerk. Lots of ppl who were happy with SB when they played it, see ppl talking trash about it and join to be in "club".
The split into 2 regions hurt the expansion and said regions both.
Doma and Gyr Abania maps both feel lacking and empty due to it.
The dungeons and trials however are way better than HW.
Gameplay and design is way above HW. It’s just poorly paced and feels like a lot of setup. Of course, as of 5.55 it feels way more satisfying given everything that’s happened since but at the time it felt kinda weird.
Aye, you are giving the opportunity to actually BE part of it, not just hanging about fringes and being told stuff. The lore is being told with your actions, duties, experiences and quests....thoroughly enjoyable and unique. You are just going to love what is to come. Adventure on.......
I really hope you enjoy Stormblood, it IS a bit of a return to the set-up phase of the narrative of XIV much in the same way ARR was, but I guarantee everything about Stormblood (and really every previous expansion) is a deposit in the narrative and emotional bank that gets cashed in in MAJOR ways in Shadowbringers. :)
Very cool video ! I had the same as you with my expectations, everyone saying Heavensward is awesome but I didn't know it would be that great.
I also really liked what you said about the main cast of character, they do really grow on you. after a while you realized that they are your companions for this big journey, characters talk with you and not AT you.
If you think this cannot get any better, wait till you get to Shadowbringer ;)
Glad you are enjoying it still!! Can’t wait for you to get further along and realize how many layers are in this delicious cake!
I've always felt the problem with WoW's A plots is that you felt more like an observer to the NPCs story than an actual participant like you are with the WoL. FFXIV does a great job of putting you in the thick of things and making you feel like you matter.
And if you want to know how prepared SE is, HW literally sets up plot threads that end up resolved TWO expansions later in ShB. That's how much they plan ahead.
By the way if you complete Hildabrand ARR, it unlocks a non-Hildabrand relaed questline in ishgard that deals with their religious college after your major reveal about their past and how they are dealing with that. A lot of people miss it (and the nice glams and emote it gives)
Can’t wait to see shadowbringers and stormblood breakdown love your input on these type of things it’s very intriguing