Final Fantasy XIV has come a long way since its rebirth nearly six years ago.
Now with its third expansion, Shadowbringers,
it’s safe to say that the development team headed by Naoki Yoshida have outdone themselves once again.
This latest journey delivers in just about every way possible, and by the end of this adventure,
you’re going to want much, much more.
Shadowbringers picks up right where Stormblood left off -
on a cliffhanger as the Warrior of Light and allies are being afflicted by a mysterious ailment.
As the last one standing, you finally succumb to the same force that bested your friends
and find yourself transported across space and time to a brand new world... the First.
In this foreign land far from home, the inhabitants live in constant fear of annihilation
due to a terrible disaster called the Flood of Light.
This event nearly destroyed the world and in its wake of devastation,
left behind monstrous creatures known as Sin Eaters that terrorize the remaining survivors.
Upon your arrival in this new world, you learn that you were summoned here along with your friends
in hope that you could deal with this new threat in order to save not only this world,
but your own world in the process.
Shadowbringers does a great job of introducing you to this new setting
and easing you into the cultures and plotlines of the First.
It pulls no punches when it comes to the harsh realities of horrific situations, which
makes overcoming them all the more satisfying.
The narrative also expertly weaves together multiple plotlines
that hold your interest throughout the adventure,
knowing just when to update you about various threads
while also ensuring they have significant impact on your current situation.
You’ll come across wonderful new characters that leave their mark,
especially your adversary Emet-Selch, who is one of the most well-written characters to date.
It’s a fantastic story from start to finish that rivals the emotional tale of Heavensward, which itself
is one of the best narratives in not only the Final Fantasy series, but in games as a whole.
Shadowbringers avoids Stormblood’s pitfall of dragging certain beats out for too long,
though it does creep close to the edge once or twice.
The game’s narrative is mostly doled out through extensive cutscenes featuring solid voice work,
but after three expansions,
there are still several instances during the main story quests when you’re stuck reading dialogue.
While it’s not so jarring that it switches mid-scene,
these unvoiced sections have become a distraction that breaks the immersion.
If you want immersion, though, Shadowbringers is ready to indulge.
The new zones are some of the best looking environments in the game.
The gorgeous set pieces and landscapes of Il Mheg look like something straight out of a fairy tale,
and later areas are dazzling.
It’s a most welcome improvement over the sometimes dreary backdrops of Stormblood.
Then there are the dungeons, which are spectacular themselves.
The first is set outdoors, in a forest that eventually leads to a burning village under assault from the Sin Eaters.
It’s just a setting you wouldn’t expect to be used for a dungeon.
The next dungeon, Dohn Mheg is full of breathtaking detail, with vibrant colors and captivating sights.
That’s without even mentioning the boss encounters.
Dungeon bosses are fantastic with varied mechanics
that feel refreshing after the rinse-and-repeat nature veterans were getting accustomed to.
The two primal fights in particular are on a whole other level.
The first, Titania, is a formidable dance of elaborate mechanics.
It requires plenty of coordination with your teammates, but it’s also a marvelous battle experience
because of the way the arena transforms and evolves over the course of the fight.
We won’t spoil it, but it would be criminal not to mention
how the devs have absolutely outdone themselves with a magnificent finale.
It’s elaborate, ambitious, and awe-inspiring.
Having an ending worthy of such a build up is a rare thing these days,
and it feels so good to be rewarded in this manner.
These amazing zones, dungeons, bosses, and set pieces are further elevated
by an out of this world effort from Final Fantasy XIV composer Masayoshi Soken.
It’s not just the phenomenal new theme song that impresses,
but the wide range of styles throughout this expansion is just astounding.
The soundtrack covers tranquil trance, upbeat techno, soothing jazz,
beautiful vocals, and there’s even a dungeon theme that would make David Wise grin in satisfaction.
It’s an amazing soundtrack, and Soken proves once again why he’s one of the best in the biz.
Shadowbringers also brings many new changes and revisions to the core experience.
Most notably, all of the existing jobs have undergone major overhauls,
and two new jobs, Gunbreaker and Dancer have been added to the mix.
The new jobs are extremely fun to play and deliver on the flashy abilities,
and at this early juncture, all signs indicate that both are going to be incredibly viable
for high-end content, too.
The only small hiccup is that, once again, the new jobs are set at a starting level lower
than what you need to begin the new expansion’s content.
This means veterans who want to play a Gunbreaker or Dancer
are forced to grind through old content in a repetitive fashion, which
doesn’t make for the best first impression of the new material.
There obviously needs to be consideration for newer players,
and the current system beats out being forced to start at level 1,
but it still leaves us wondering if there’s another way to go about this
so we can dive into an expansion’s content faster with new jobs.
Changes for existing roles definitely shake things up.
After spending significant time playing with the healer jobs through all of the content,
including the extreme primal fights in Shadowbringers,
there’s definitely a noticeable shift in their playstyles.
There’s a stronger emphasis on raw healing,
though the balancing act of juggling when to DPS and when to heal still exists.
Scholar and Astro jobs have definitely lost some of their luster
with the removal of several key abilities, and overall,
the three healers have all lost a bit of diversity.
However, the retooling of White Mage is definitely for the better.
The new lily system feels useful and makes sense within their toolkit,
and they also gain a higher degree of mobility
with new instant-cast healing abilities.
White Mage feels great to play, and it’s nice to see the community’s newfound love for the job
after it got the short end of the stick for several years.
Shadowbringers also addresses several long-standing issues that have sprung up over the years,
most importantly the notorious queue times for DPS jobs.
The new expansion introduces players to the Trust system,
which allows you to go into certain instanced content -
in this case, the new expansion’s dungeons - and form a party with AI controlled partners.
They’re competent enough to get the job done and provide a much needed alternative
to waiting more than 20 minutes for the duty finder system to match you with a party of other players.
Obviously there is concern over the long term implications of the Trust system,
but there are a few caveats to consider
if you think you no longer have to play with other people in this MMO.
On average, it’s more efficient to play with others than to use Trusts when running a dungeon.
Average completion times with an AI party
are significantly longer than running with most random players,
and as alluded to previously, Trusts can only be used in the new dungeons -
all previous content as well as any non-dungeon content is off limits.
Additionally, once you complete the main story, your Trusts will de-level back down to 71.
This means you can only take them back to the first new dungeon until they level up.
This restriction is meant to encourage players to join up with others
rather than going it alone, which feels fair,
given that this is a multiplayer experience that needs its player base to engage with one another to work.
Shadowbringers is easily the best Final Fantasy XIV expansion to date.
It marks the highest point in the MMO’s lifespan,
which has seen its fair share of impressive updates over the years.
If you’ve been dismissing XIV because it’s not a single-player Final Fantasy,
you’re missing out on one of the best installments in this series and letting an excellent game pass you by.
Easy Allies Reviews are made possible by generous viewers just like you.
If you like what you see, check out patreon.com/easyallies to help us make more.
For just $1 a month, you can gain access to weekly updates, spoiler discussions, and exclusive shows.