Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
The grand finale expansion of FF14's eight-year epic. Though there are issues with version connection and narrative pacing, the ancient times segment is exquisite, Hydaelyn's character development is perfect, still excellent as a phased conclusion.
Art Appreciation
Rating Breakdown
Deductions
The alliance raids, normal raids and Extreme trials all lean easy; they feel more like playing through the story than taking on combat content.
The main story adds variety like tailing and stealth assassinations, but these are elements single-player games have long worn out, so the innovation is limited.
Highlights
The Mothercrystal trial can be cleared with the Trust system, a first, and the design is clever with real narrative meaning. The NPCs don't understand the mechanics and have to eat the damage twice before they start moving for them, which upends past conventions.
The main story adds plenty of variety, enriching the experience, and the Trust system is put to use at a new height.
Deductions
The Main Theme goes for neither tragic grandeur nor epic scale; instead it feels somewhat unfamiliar and didn't leave a deep impression.
Highlights
Models in 6.0 are much more refined, a clear step up in technical presentation.
Model detail has improved significantly, and the visuals are all the better for it.
When "Flow" plays during the ancient-times segment, the emotion melds with the work, like music from heaven. "Emotion" is precisely the soul running through 6.0.
Deductions
The end of 5.x and the start of 6.0 are joined too tightly, with no clear dividing line between the major versions. The Ending Theme didn't even play, so it doesn't feel at all like stepping into a new expansion.
Early 6.0 runs straight back and forth between two fronts, which feels rushed and contrived, as if just to unlock all the new maps. The leap is startling: at the old story pace, reaching the Garlean homeland would have taken until 7.0 at least.
Highlights
The return to the ancient times really is the highlight; the essence of 6.0 is all here. The opening and ending echo each other in tightly linked fashion, and every unsolved mystery surfaces in this segment.
Hydaelyn and Venat are perfectly characterized; the writer has succeeded in creating yet another hugely popular character. Every member of the Scions has their own BGM, which shows that the overall characterization of the NPCs was long complete.
The usual JRPG happy ending: the Scions disband and each one's path is wrapped up, and the Ending Theme finally plays. Each member's own BGM reflects how complete the characterization is.
The emotional cards are played superbly in the mid-to-late game: the level 89 dungeon goes deep into the sea of stars to commemorate characters who have died, and gathering the NPCs at the port of Sharlayan creates a grand-finale atmosphere.
5.0 and 6.0 are one whole; the concepts of the ancients and the Final Days are perfectly filled out and tied up in 6.0. Although the framework was reconceived later on, the way the beginning and end echo each other is done very well.
Deductions
Because 6.0 was already the grand finale, the 6.x patch content feels like "making work for the sake of it," a drought with no ripples at all.
Many hardcore MMO players feel that, as an expansion, this one has less MMO content than any before it.
Island Sanctuary was the feature everyone had their eyes on, and the result is disappointing: it lacks basic multiplayer functions, going against the very nature of community and online games.
Highlights
As the grand finale of an eight-year epic, it's rich in content: from the Empire to the ancients, from the moon to the edge of the universe. The scope is staggering, but the content is substantial.
As an online game it will keep getting updates; Emet-Selch's words lay groundwork for future versions, there are still many places on the planet not yet implemented, plus the reflections and even content beyond the star.