In a genre that is leaving many fans exhausted, Final Fantasy 14’s Endwalker is a breath of fresh air. The release paired with the influx of players from streamer exposure, this is easily the best time to jump in. When it comes to narrative, Endwalker has wrapped up a saga that has spanned across 10 years and 4 expansions.
From Rags to Riches
If you’ve found this article, you’ve likely heard about Final Fantasy XIV’s rough start. But how did it become so great? Well, it was a change in management, Yoshi-P and his team have shown the players how good this MMO can be. When first released, the game drowned out by its contenders in the genre, like World of Warcraft. On top of that, the game could barely function, let alone obtain a substantial player base. To fix this, the whole game got destroyed, servers, world, everything. This shutdown of 1.0 would later tie in nicely for the rerelease. As they were seeking to improve the game, Yoshi-P would tell his team to play World of Warcraft. He did this as a method to improve their understanding of a more modern MMO. It’s poetic really, because as Final Fantasy XIV player base has exploded, Wows has continued to dwindle.
Endwalker Combat
When Endwalker released, there was already a plethora of dungeons, bosses, and casual content for their players from expansions past. But with 6.0, the game has added to its already impressive list of content, most of which just doesn’t become irrelevant even in the Endgame. From design to mechanics, I felt challenged as I learned and memorized the mechanics of every dungeon boss. Eventually everything just clicked and I just wouldn’t get hit by anything unless I just wasn’t paying attention. For trial bosses, I became amazed the first time fighting each one, as each boss intro was simply jaw dropping. Unfortunately, I felt each fight lost the magic in the extreme version, as that initial shock I felt went away. I cannot speak for raiding, as a more casual player I just can’t set aside the time for them.
Endwalker Casual Content & Jobs
What is there to do for a more casual player such as myself? Well, Endwalkers six new zones come with a variety of new things to harvest, quarry, or fish. Along with these new materials to go after, Endwalker also includes a large list of new recipes to craft, such as food or armor.
Endwalker also comes with two new additions to the already crazy number of jobs in this game. 6.0 brings in Reaper, a melee DPS with some entity summoning abilities, and Sage, a new barrier healer that goes along with scholar, evening out the amount of barrier and pure healers we have. Leveling in Final Fantasy can get tedious, but with how many ways there are to go about it, leveling feels a lot smoother.
The Story of Endwalker
Endwalker’s story is a culmination of all things Final Fantasy. The planning began back in a realm reborn, the games re-release in 2013. Now that planning has paid off in the form of a tearjerking story about light and dark, the forces of good and evil. Something I loved about Shadowbringers is how in the story I could never side with one character, the antagonist was so well written that I was torn between his cause and my own. This is something I feel in Endwalker too, though admittedly much less so. What has carried over much better from Shadowbringers however is the pacing of the story. In stormblood, the only other expansion where the story is split between continents, this story is split between 3 continents, and also space. Where Stormblood was lacking, they learned in Endwalker, because it is something I was thinking about even during the credits.
