Instead of overhauling core game systems with each expansion like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 14 tends to play it safe. These features are less exciting only because they so closely follow the same template that Square Enix has laid out since Heavensward. The new Gunbreaker and Dancer are both fun new jobs (FF14 parlance for classes) that each have a distinct playstyle and the new bunny-like Vi and tiger-esque Hrothgar character races are natural additions to the world (though I hate how many bikini-clad Vi I'm seeing everywhere now). Though its story is the best reason to play, Shadowbringers adds a lot of other neat features. He's batshit crazy but so charismatic and likeable that I wish we didn't have to be enemies. Few stories ever manage to make me sympathize with a villain while still retaining what makes them detestable, but Emet Selch could be the best Final Fantasy nemesis since FF6's Kekfa. Thancred's story is especially gut-wrenching and brings a bittersweet end to one of FF14's longest character arcs.Įven better was Shadowbringers' ploy to have the MMO's grand villain, Emet Selch, tag along for most of the adventure. Shadowbringers addresses these heavy subjects well in the face of Final Fantasy's extensive melodrama, but my favorite part of the story is how much depth it adds to my cast of longtime companions.
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Elsewhere, the city Eulmore is full of upper-class elite living in excess as they wait for the impending apocalypse while, just outside the walls, the poor, sick, and starving waste away. Without a cure, the caretakers' only option was to delay the inevitable and then euthanize them. One early quest led me to a sanitorium full of people who had been infected with the light and, in time, would turn into Sin Eaters. The writing and voice acting has been steadily improving since A Realm Reborn, but the bleakness of Shadowbringers casts the drama in a much more mature, and at times disturbing, new light. (Image credit: Square Enix)Įmet Selch could easily be the best nemesis of any Final Fantasy game since FF6's Kekfa. Shadowbringers' eclectic cast is one of its best strengths. If you hate fetch quests in MMOs, Shadowbringers unfortunately has those in spades but I hardly cared because the context of those quests-and the cutscenes that often followed-were so enticing.
It's these long and meandering character arcs that make my adventures feel MMO-sized, like if Game of Thrones was a high-fantasy anime.ĭespite being an MMO, Shadowbringers does a remarkable job of emulating that golden era of JRPGs through well-written dialogue and evocative cutscenes. When the hero Arbert first appeared all the way back in Heavensward as a minor character, for example, I never could have imagined the pivotal role he would grow to have in Shadowbringers.
Characters, lore, and story beats that have been left to simmer for years suddenly boil over in dramatic narrative twists and turns that make this 50-hour journey an absolute rollercoaster. Though previous expansions have always been a direct continuation of the main story, the scope of Shadowbringers is almost dizzying by comparison. Shadowbringers' success is, in part, owed to the way Square Enix has carefully built the world of Final Fantasy 14 over these past six years.
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