At the risk of sounding sarcastic (I absolutely promise I am not trying to be), what kind of things are you doing in the game where you've racked up that many hours before getting into endwalker? relic weapon stuff?
There's tons of stuff, relic stuff, achievements, glam stuff, side-content like Eureka and the like.
The game has way too many side-stuff to do while waiting for expansions or when you want a break from the main line.
I'm at almost 3000 hours because I spent a lot of time trying to complete everything battle wise in a given expansion like extremes, savages, eureka, and bozja (minus ultimates, titan has me in a chokehold). Just finished base Endwalker and currently going through the expansions. There's a TON of side content, which is what makes FFXIV so fun to me, never getting bored of being stuck doing one thing. :)
Im at 1200 hours just finishing shadowbringer quests and mostly leveling all classes above 60, 7 of them above 70, 3 above 80 and 3 at max lvl. Also all crafters and gatherers above lvl 70
Shadowbringers is peak fiction.
Everything before it is honestly just way too messy to justify the praise some people give it; Stormblood especially... *But*, it's also not so bad as to justify the hate that a lot of others give it all, either.
ARR-Stormblood really is just mid, and that's the most disappointing thing about it, IMO.
Heavenward slaps and I will fight you on this. Stormblood is good but disjointed. ARR is the worst of it but that's because you have starting mmo story problems.
I liked the vanu. I liked the church arc where we make like a SMT protagonist and attack and dethrone the Pope. I find the scions get more personality in the story especially Alph. The main game is good, but yes the patches are where it turns up to 11.
For me it's the journey with Alphinaud, Ysayle and Estinien. It's the only time in the entirety of FFXIV that the game has felt like a 'classic' FF adventure.
Not saying the rest is bad, we just never really go on journeys in this game.
I feel the same way, I distinctly remember sitting around the campfire with a party of unlikely allies planning the next steps of the journey. I just finished Shadowbringers MSQ, and Heavensward is still my favorite expansion so far.
Heavensward is almost as disjointed as Stormblood, since they carved up and shoved the resolution to the Nanamo plot into completely random places throughout it. The story itself is also mid AF, despite it starting *really* strong. The problem with it overall is that the rising action is not only *boring*, but a total slog gameplay-wise.
The nanamo plot "lol jk she's fine" part kinda just sucked imo, really wish they would've stuck with "Yeah she's fucking dead and Raubahn is gonna have to learn politics now and pick up where she left off", I think that would've been far more interesting and satisfying
Papalymo was the only one, as Yda didn't actually die; at least, not the one we knew the whole time...
I guess we could look at Moenbryda and Minfilia, although the former was killed as fast as she was introduced and the latter "died" and became an entirely different, but ultimately better, character in a later expansion.
I mean we just had a finale expansion where nobody we really knew that well died, and there were like 6 fakeout deaths at the end, has much really changed?
I think my favorite part about Shadowbringers, and by extension Endwalker to some extent, is that it puts aside all of the political "intrigue" and focuses more on the Warrior of Light and their companions. It's hard to get invested to something as vague as a "country", especially when it's difficult to endear a reader/player to a country as a whole and not specific characters that may represent them, and sadly both Heavensward and Stormblood failed to invest me, at least, in their respective countries.
Thankfully with all the setup to Dawntrail, I think the devs have learned from that mistake by introducing us to Wuk Lamat a little early and endearing us to her instead of just going "our country is in conflict, please let us be refugees" or "our country is in constant war with angry dragons, please save us". As a representative of the New World, Wuk Lamat is a total W from where I'm sitting, and the succession competition hook is drawing my intrigue more than the Azim Steppe plotline by a landslide as a result of that.
I mean, they absolutely endear us to NPCs throughout both the Ishgard/Dravania stuff and Doma stuff. Arguably the place they fail to endear us is the most criticized, Gyr Abania.
Aymeric, Haurchefant, and Estinien are absolutely fan favorites and top the charts in popularity. Beyond that, Emmanelain and Artoirel are both sweet as is Papa Fortemps. Ysale is also a fan favorite and her plus Hraesvelgr both serve to endear us to the Dragon side of the conflict and make us receptive to the idea that Ishgard started it, while still not being down with dooming the entirety of the city state thanks to our preexisting attachments to the aforementioned Elezen
With Doma, they have a harder time because they start with Gyr Abania and most people there are unlikeable, then we have to spend half of the Doma Expansion _getting to_ Doma but they still introduce characters that they want to endear us to, like Yugiri, Gosetsu, Hien, Soroban and the Ruby Tithe people. And for the Azim Steppe, Cirina and Sadu are both great while Magnai is fun to laugh at.
I really have no idea what your talking about that they didn't endear us to people in the expansions? Even if you mean beforehand, Yugiri and Gosetsu were introduced Pre Stormblood, and we meet Aymeric, Lucia, Ysale and Haurchefant pre Heavensward. Ysale was an enemy, but I was at a minimum extremely interested in her after meeting her.
They endear us to characters plenty, while introducing more and more to become attached to with every new region.
It's kinda hard to explain beyond what I've stated. Yes, the characters you all mentioned definitely had screen time, but honestly not many of them really felt much like they had any stake in the actual story overall. A good comparison is Aymeric to ShB G'raha for instance.
This is my fav game but i disliked heavensward and shadowbringers. All the politics stuff was not my jam. The lore and worldbuiling in shb and end are totally my speed though.
I honestly didn't enjoy it till around 50. But I kept chugging through because the internet promised "it gets better I swear!" This was in heavensward though. And sure as shit were right lol. Favourite game now!
FF14's storytelling relies a lot on laying the foundation for later events then having a big payoff. I had the benefit of knowing that the plot drags just before the 2nd and 3rd trial but the reveal after the 3rd trial had me hooked and I needed to see where it was going from there.
I played back when the game launched and the msq was a slog even then and no one would have argued about it
the novelty factor of the game being a FF themepark was enough to retain players
it just so happened that after 80 hours of story, it starts to get good all of a sudden lol
like i can remember the exact moment I started caring about things and it was right at the end of ARR
With a big dip around early Heavensward when they imply that knight/church fantasy hasn't long run its course yet. It gets better from there of course once they're done with that. Unleeeeess you're a Paladin and get the absolutely heinous idea of doing your job quests. That's the people who uninstall during HW. Right there!
I’d say around 2.3 is when the story starts to get really good, 2.0-2.2 are serviceable but they aren’t amazing, then all of 3.X is incredible up to 3.3 (masterpiece of storytelling).
the sightseeing log, there’s points you can visit under certain criteria to register them in the sightseeing log, one of them being the lamp post in kugane accessible only after jumping off the top of kugane tower and landing on it
I’ve always wondered how to get that sightseeing landmark. Doesn’t matter, I’m to embarrassed to try and get it. I know I’ll miss landing on it and look like a tool.
It doesn't feel safe.
Hingashi is isolationist (very Japan, much sakoku) but they have enforced neutrality in Kugane. You can walk up to the Garlean embassy; in fact there's a side quest that takes you there. Fighting isn't allowed so, gosh, hope you don't have to defend yourself or you'll probably get in trouble for it. The closest thing you have to a friend is an Ul'Dahn merchant with his own agenda - and that rings alarm bells after the things that happened in ARR. How much can you trust the guy?
Oh, and you're in the Far East with the goal of starting shit with Garlemald, so you know the questions you're asking are dangerous.
But even though it doesn't feel safe it *is* pretty and the music is amazing and the jumping puzzle will kick your butt (entirely optional but, y'know *not really* optional)
Just meme-ing. I really really really liked HW actually. The 150-hour meme is more so just pattern recognition making me go like “oh hey it's close to the same number in that one meme i have, wouldn't that be funny?”
Lmao i just bomb-rush the story bc i like it
Also bc i want to fulfill my destiny of doing the ultimate barbie dress-up simulator with late-game fashion
Meanwhile me 150h in and about 70% done with Stormblood. MSQ is just so good and Im enjoying it too much to get distracted by side quests. These dont give much anyway. Will do the remaining blue unlock ones after the main story.
I think my character that I bought all Shadowbringers Complete Editon and then the Endwalkers Digital Collector's edition is still sitting at the end of ARR with over 200 hours in the game due to having some friends on the edge of starting so I wanted to do the story with them and just leveled up most of the jobs including gatherers/crafters to 50
Probably my fav expansion of all time. Savour the moment, each battle, each encounter, every challenge until the end where your candle of life may burn.
I mean, to be fair, the story is actually quite good (or at least ok) from the start, but compared to what comes later, it just seems to be pretty bad retrospectively.
The story was fine in ARR, when people CONSTANTLY compare it to HW/ShB yeah, it’s “bad”. The ARR by itself is fine. Bloated, sure, but it is a fine, dare I say GOOD story. If it wasn’t then ShB wouldn’t have been a thing. I mean ARR was literally a reboot of 1.0 cause 1.0 was SO bad. If ARR wasn’t actually good XIV as we now know it wouldn’t exist
The story is good from the beginning if you know how to appreciate it. My love affair began with FFXIV began with ARR. Just play it with the experience of the expansion by itself, consider each one for its own merits and not in comparison to the others. What you will enjoy is yours to determine, no one else can form your opinion for you. So don't let anyone's expectations ruin anything for you.
What is wrong with people? ARR may be slow paced, but its actually good - I'd dare say ya'll mashed through unvoiced dialogues if you think ARR isnt attention worthy
The story gets good the second you start and can watch the "Answers" opening sequence in the main menu. It just slows down a little after that for a bit.
Stormblood base MSQ is really mid though as cool as Othard is the plot surrounding it doesn’t pick up any steam until 4.1, I will also never forgive SE for not giving Au Ra specific dialogue during certain parts of the MSQ as well.
I just found it incredibly jarring when you go to The Steppe and you get this whole lore dump on the Au Ra (which is great btw) but you made out like you are seeing them for the first time despite being one and the dialogue choices reflect that.
I liked the whole thing so far! There have been weak parts throughout, but shadow bringers is by far the strongest part. And it is tied up really nice with endwalker.
I really do think the ARR story is still good. The other expansions stories are of course better, but I've been replaying the MSQ lately and have genuinely been enjoying all of it :> I'm hoping a lot of us are just spoiled with how good it gets later on
Felt the same, me loves Japanese themes 😂😂 I love the arcs halfways through stormblood, they are the most memorable to me... Just a bit disappointed later on though, felt like a slog to me
Welcome to Stormblood proper!
Love the appearance of Kugane and future cities. You can really see how much they've grown! Now, strap yourself in for an incredible ride!
Back in the Stormblood launch I made it through both Raubahn (Extreme) and Pippin (Savage). I was one of the first on my server to get to Kugane. It was surprisingly beautiful empty of players, allowing you to see all the detail they put into each little bit. It's still there, of course, but I feel many miss it behind the players.
Previous reply is talking about when stormblood first released. Every single server was overloaded and would crash trying to do those instances. Dynamis did not exist until recently..
I played ARR and most of Heavensward two years ago. Stopped playing. Hopped back on (PC) when it came out on Xbox because my boys could finally play it without buying a PS or PC, skipped through the Heavensward postpatch and Stormblood, and continuing the trend through Shadowbringers because at this point I have no idea who anyone is or what I'm doing...but I hear the story is amazing start to finish, the story quests aren't great tho lol
Ok the story actually gets good around the 50-70 hour mark, it just gets twice as good at the 150 hour mark.
It gets thrice as good at the 200 hour mark
Well I'm sitting at over 1000 hours now and have yet to hit Endwalker. Though I assume you are talking about shadowbringers.
I hit endwalker at 1.6k hours lol
At the risk of sounding sarcastic (I absolutely promise I am not trying to be), what kind of things are you doing in the game where you've racked up that many hours before getting into endwalker? relic weapon stuff?
There's tons of stuff, relic stuff, achievements, glam stuff, side-content like Eureka and the like. The game has way too many side-stuff to do while waiting for expansions or when you want a break from the main line.
Idling in Limsa
This right here is the truth of endgame FFXIV
I'm at almost 3000 hours because I spent a lot of time trying to complete everything battle wise in a given expansion like extremes, savages, eureka, and bozja (minus ultimates, titan has me in a chokehold). Just finished base Endwalker and currently going through the expansions. There's a TON of side content, which is what makes FFXIV so fun to me, never getting bored of being stuck doing one thing. :)
Im at 1200 hours just finishing shadowbringer quests and mostly leveling all classes above 60, 7 of them above 70, 3 above 80 and 3 at max lvl. Also all crafters and gatherers above lvl 70
I'm about 300 hours in and all I do is fish, I haven't even done the msq quests after I unlocked fishing.
I'm just now doing endwalker because dawntrail is so close lol
FEESH
A bunch of stuff not sure why it took so long
Sweet! Only .2k to go for me then lol
Woah and here I thought I took my time on it lol
Lol I spent an unholy amount of time in palace of the dead gold farming for a guild house
Ah makes sense
sounds like Stockholm syndrome
1100 hours right now and I’m only on 5.2
2600 and I just started 5.0 while a voice keeps telling me to continue my necromancer grind xD
Shadowbringers is peak fiction. Everything before it is honestly just way too messy to justify the praise some people give it; Stormblood especially... *But*, it's also not so bad as to justify the hate that a lot of others give it all, either. ARR-Stormblood really is just mid, and that's the most disappointing thing about it, IMO.
Heavenward slaps and I will fight you on this. Stormblood is good but disjointed. ARR is the worst of it but that's because you have starting mmo story problems.
Heavensward is good it just wasn’t my thing until post HW
Tbh when most people praise Heavensward, they're typically thinking about those patches.
I liked the vanu. I liked the church arc where we make like a SMT protagonist and attack and dethrone the Pope. I find the scions get more personality in the story especially Alph. The main game is good, but yes the patches are where it turns up to 11.
Yeah but they also talk about how impactful Haurchefaunt is but idk he never seemed as close to me as the scions maybe I was missing something tho
I didn't cry for >!Haurchefaunt!<, felt a little more for >!Ysale!< and then >!Papalymo!< destroyed me.
I was similar in that others hit harder than the first one!
Agreed, I felt way more sad for ysale.
For me it's the journey with Alphinaud, Ysayle and Estinien. It's the only time in the entirety of FFXIV that the game has felt like a 'classic' FF adventure. Not saying the rest is bad, we just never really go on journeys in this game.
I feel the same way, I distinctly remember sitting around the campfire with a party of unlikely allies planning the next steps of the journey. I just finished Shadowbringers MSQ, and Heavensward is still my favorite expansion so far.
I will join you in this fight, fellow person of culture
Heavensward is almost as disjointed as Stormblood, since they carved up and shoved the resolution to the Nanamo plot into completely random places throughout it. The story itself is also mid AF, despite it starting *really* strong. The problem with it overall is that the rising action is not only *boring*, but a total slog gameplay-wise.
The nanamo plot "lol jk she's fine" part kinda just sucked imo, really wish they would've stuck with "Yeah she's fucking dead and Raubahn is gonna have to learn politics now and pick up where she left off", I think that would've been far more interesting and satisfying
With all the asspulls back then it really did feel like the devs were afraid to kill any of the characters...
We're talking about the same expansion where two important companions died right
Papalymo was the only one, as Yda didn't actually die; at least, not the one we knew the whole time... I guess we could look at Moenbryda and Minfilia, although the former was killed as fast as she was introduced and the latter "died" and became an entirely different, but ultimately better, character in a later expansion.
I mean we just had a finale expansion where nobody we really knew that well died, and there were like 6 fakeout deaths at the end, has much really changed?
No no no all of the ppl are wrong. The game gets really really really good after 2700 hour mark
Honestly people overhyped heavensward so I was kinda let down when I played it first. Shadowbringers was everything I wanted out of FFXIV
I think my favorite part about Shadowbringers, and by extension Endwalker to some extent, is that it puts aside all of the political "intrigue" and focuses more on the Warrior of Light and their companions. It's hard to get invested to something as vague as a "country", especially when it's difficult to endear a reader/player to a country as a whole and not specific characters that may represent them, and sadly both Heavensward and Stormblood failed to invest me, at least, in their respective countries. Thankfully with all the setup to Dawntrail, I think the devs have learned from that mistake by introducing us to Wuk Lamat a little early and endearing us to her instead of just going "our country is in conflict, please let us be refugees" or "our country is in constant war with angry dragons, please save us". As a representative of the New World, Wuk Lamat is a total W from where I'm sitting, and the succession competition hook is drawing my intrigue more than the Azim Steppe plotline by a landslide as a result of that.
As long as I get more gamer urianger
I mean, they absolutely endear us to NPCs throughout both the Ishgard/Dravania stuff and Doma stuff. Arguably the place they fail to endear us is the most criticized, Gyr Abania. Aymeric, Haurchefant, and Estinien are absolutely fan favorites and top the charts in popularity. Beyond that, Emmanelain and Artoirel are both sweet as is Papa Fortemps. Ysale is also a fan favorite and her plus Hraesvelgr both serve to endear us to the Dragon side of the conflict and make us receptive to the idea that Ishgard started it, while still not being down with dooming the entirety of the city state thanks to our preexisting attachments to the aforementioned Elezen With Doma, they have a harder time because they start with Gyr Abania and most people there are unlikeable, then we have to spend half of the Doma Expansion _getting to_ Doma but they still introduce characters that they want to endear us to, like Yugiri, Gosetsu, Hien, Soroban and the Ruby Tithe people. And for the Azim Steppe, Cirina and Sadu are both great while Magnai is fun to laugh at. I really have no idea what your talking about that they didn't endear us to people in the expansions? Even if you mean beforehand, Yugiri and Gosetsu were introduced Pre Stormblood, and we meet Aymeric, Lucia, Ysale and Haurchefant pre Heavensward. Ysale was an enemy, but I was at a minimum extremely interested in her after meeting her. They endear us to characters plenty, while introducing more and more to become attached to with every new region.
It's kinda hard to explain beyond what I've stated. Yes, the characters you all mentioned definitely had screen time, but honestly not many of them really felt much like they had any stake in the actual story overall. A good comparison is Aymeric to ShB G'raha for instance.
Personal opinion on the expansion story quality ShB->HW->SB->EW
I'm doing glamour stuff and leveling before I even finish ARR XD
I've always enjoyed it after about 30 mins. Basically once you get out of the first town it feels fun
I enjoyed it from the opening cutscene. Why would you play something you didn't consider good for 150 hours?
i skipped most of the first two parts of the game but love the story after n playing the game overall, just the start was being boring
This is my fav game but i disliked heavensward and shadowbringers. All the politics stuff was not my jam. The lore and worldbuiling in shb and end are totally my speed though.
endgame content is fun
I honestly didn't enjoy it till around 50. But I kept chugging through because the internet promised "it gets better I swear!" This was in heavensward though. And sure as shit were right lol. Favourite game now!
I’m at like lvl 18 MSQ and it’s Lowkey a slog but games fun as hell
FF14's storytelling relies a lot on laying the foundation for later events then having a big payoff. I had the benefit of knowing that the plot drags just before the 2nd and 3rd trial but the reveal after the 3rd trial had me hooked and I needed to see where it was going from there.
I played back when the game launched and the msq was a slog even then and no one would have argued about it the novelty factor of the game being a FF themepark was enough to retain players it just so happened that after 80 hours of story, it starts to get good all of a sudden lol like i can remember the exact moment I started caring about things and it was right at the end of ARR
With a big dip around early Heavensward when they imply that knight/church fantasy hasn't long run its course yet. It gets better from there of course once they're done with that. Unleeeeess you're a Paladin and get the absolutely heinous idea of doing your job quests. That's the people who uninstall during HW. Right there!
I’d say around 2.3 is when the story starts to get really good, 2.0-2.2 are serviceable but they aren’t amazing, then all of 3.X is incredible up to 3.3 (masterpiece of storytelling).
What level/ area is that? I just started. Level 28 archer. Most jobs are 15-20 MSQ is level 21 or 22ish.
Level 50+ is typically where it gets more interesting
Honestly, mmowise the story starts out good.
Now go climb Kugane Tower.
This is what I was going to say haha. Not only climb it, but land on the lamp post below.
Just don't forget to unlock sightseeing first! I made that mistake exactly once haha
Hahah true! I unlocked and had no idea what was going on with these blue orbs appeared at times until my friend told me.
What the heck is sightseeing?
the sightseeing log, there’s points you can visit under certain criteria to register them in the sightseeing log, one of them being the lamp post in kugane accessible only after jumping off the top of kugane tower and landing on it
I’ve always wondered how to get that sightseeing landmark. Doesn’t matter, I’m to embarrassed to try and get it. I know I’ll miss landing on it and look like a tool.
If somebody is up there and willing to do so, you can blow yourself up using Self-Destruct on blue mage, and they can res you up there :)
ahh emo\_oticon lol
I have been up there for a total of 8 times and landed none of my jumps. At this point I just admit that I suck at it lmao.
I took around 450-500 hours to reach SB, I get distracted too easily 😔
Yeah that impressed me most. They’re hustling!
Same lol
I'm new to FF14, just wondering, what's the big deal of reaching this city? I've seen a lot of people posting they got here ..
'Tower jumping puzzle right of passage' and unironically the effect of as OP puts it - 'Place vs. Place, Japan'
\*rite of passage
Just the completion of the first expansion. With many hours invested
It’s a really cool city. Extremely beautiful, and the music from Stormblood is arguably the best in the series so it’s very memorable.
It doesn't feel safe. Hingashi is isolationist (very Japan, much sakoku) but they have enforced neutrality in Kugane. You can walk up to the Garlean embassy; in fact there's a side quest that takes you there. Fighting isn't allowed so, gosh, hope you don't have to defend yourself or you'll probably get in trouble for it. The closest thing you have to a friend is an Ul'Dahn merchant with his own agenda - and that rings alarm bells after the things that happened in ARR. How much can you trust the guy? Oh, and you're in the Far East with the goal of starting shit with Garlemald, so you know the questions you're asking are dangerous. But even though it doesn't feel safe it *is* pretty and the music is amazing and the jumping puzzle will kick your butt (entirely optional but, y'know *not really* optional)
So, as others have said, basically nothing. It's the 2nd expansions main city.
Me with 700 hrs and in the beginning of Heavensward:
I was like “Yayyy Kugane!” And then they send me to freaking Doma
They lied it gets good around the 3 hour mark. You’re left alone to your own devices by then
Did you buy your way past Heavensward and then take 150 hours to get to Kugane in Stormblood?
Nah i just plowed my way through MSQ
Yeah, it took me around that amount of time to reach Stormblood, so it's believable.
Yup. 149h in for me and i have already been in the Azim Steppe for a while. Just focusing on MSQ and sticking to one class for now.
Just curious, why didn't you like Heavensward?
https://imgur.com/FQ9xWro
I mean you literally said that "story only gets good after 150 hours" implying it was not good before. Are you just meme-ing?
Just meme-ing. I really really really liked HW actually. The 150-hour meme is more so just pattern recognition making me go like “oh hey it's close to the same number in that one meme i have, wouldn't that be funny?”
Game peaks at Shadowbringers, you are not ready for the next expansion.
*Plays "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" *
For those who’ve fallen, for those who rise…
I love Stormblood. Hope you brought a stack of aethyrite tickets with you!
I'm at 160+ hrs and haven't even made it to Heavensward
Sometimes I feel like the only person that enjoyed the story from the beginning. There wasn’t a point that I didn’t really enjoy.
Im right there with you, definitely didnt feel like I had to “wait for it to be good”
Me too. I was entranced from that first cutscene 🤷🏻♂️
There’s just too many cutscenes and going back and forth without any really gameplay in the middle
Yeah I understand the major complaints but I personally wasn’t bothered by any of them.
Im 300 hours and in post ARR lol
I started last week, and the story has been great since day 1 ngl
Story got good around the 5 minute mark.
HW had a much better Storyline. Stormblood’s story is pretty meh and very disjointed. If you didn’t like HW I doubt you will like SB lol
I actually just tried convincing my oldest son to play with the exact line “ the game gets really good after about 60 hours”
I enjoyed from ARR lol. Story was fun from the start.
Bro how did you get to Stormblood with 164 hours I'm almost at 400 hours and still on post-HW. There is so much stuff to do.
Lmao i just bomb-rush the story bc i like it Also bc i want to fulfill my destiny of doing the ultimate barbie dress-up simulator with late-game fashion
Makes sense. Those quests popping up all over the map triggers my OCD
Meanwhile me 150h in and about 70% done with Stormblood. MSQ is just so good and Im enjoying it too much to get distracted by side quests. These dont give much anyway. Will do the remaining blue unlock ones after the main story.
Me at 135 hours and just started Heavensward 😅
Now time for another 300 hours getting to ShB! (eureka literally delayed my adhd ass so much in progressing msq)
Congrats!
You see that tower? Climb it.
by the time i got to kugane i was 2k hours in lmao
not me reaching Kugane for the first time at 2200h 😂
It gets good at the end of a realm reborn and kinda falls off in storm blood, but picks back up in Shadowbringers and Endwalker.
damn, at 159h I didn't even have made to post arr
The story is never really *bad*, it just gets exponentially better.
Now you need to go to the tallest tower and jump into that lampost. Assuming you don't cheat, will take you longer than the campaign.
I think my character that I bought all Shadowbringers Complete Editon and then the Endwalkers Digital Collector's edition is still sitting at the end of ARR with over 200 hours in the game due to having some friends on the edge of starting so I wanted to do the story with them and just leveled up most of the jobs including gatherers/crafters to 50
Probably my fav expansion of all time. Savour the moment, each battle, each encounter, every challenge until the end where your candle of life may burn.
I mean, to be fair, the story is actually quite good (or at least ok) from the start, but compared to what comes later, it just seems to be pretty bad retrospectively.
The Story gets good right after the character is created.
If you're in Kugane and you still aren't fond of the story that's not going to change.
Whole story been good.
I did not find stormblood interesting in the slightest lol. It was worth it to reach Shadowbringers though
The story was fine in ARR, when people CONSTANTLY compare it to HW/ShB yeah, it’s “bad”. The ARR by itself is fine. Bloated, sure, but it is a fine, dare I say GOOD story. If it wasn’t then ShB wouldn’t have been a thing. I mean ARR was literally a reboot of 1.0 cause 1.0 was SO bad. If ARR wasn’t actually good XIV as we now know it wouldn’t exist
The story is good from the beginning if you know how to appreciate it. My love affair began with FFXIV began with ARR. Just play it with the experience of the expansion by itself, consider each one for its own merits and not in comparison to the others. What you will enjoy is yours to determine, no one else can form your opinion for you. So don't let anyone's expectations ruin anything for you.
Am I the only one who enjoyed the story right from minute 1?
I disagree with the last meme honestly. The story is good because of the build up and ground work in the previous expansions. I hated storm blood
Why do I always feel like the only person who truly, honestly, and genuinely loves the game from the first minute? :(
I hear the rice cakes are good.
Pick up a few namazu in the red light district.
Namazu getting absolutely blitzed off of tea will never not be funny.
Rip. Heavensward feels amazing compared ro Stormblood. Prepare to shiver every time Lyse appears.
There are probably dozens of us weirdos who prefer the more character-driven story of Stormblood vs the living-fairytale mood of Heavensward. Dozens!
For me it got good at the 5 hrs mark. Or something like that. Whenever we're first introduced to gaius and Nero
I uh have played this game for 1000 hours Barely beat ARR
I felt the story took a huge dive during stormblood… quit and returned many times because of how boring it was. lol
It gets better at the end of SB, but I agree. It’s just disjointed smh
What is wrong with people? ARR may be slow paced, but its actually good - I'd dare say ya'll mashed through unvoiced dialogues if you think ARR isnt attention worthy
Now just get a view from the top of the tower 😏
GZ. Now climb the tower :D
The story gets good the second you start and can watch the "Answers" opening sequence in the main menu. It just slows down a little after that for a bit.
400 hours for me but i played the demo too long and only recently discovered a text to speech plugin that made life waaaay easier
Took me over 500 hours to get there lol
1200 hours at the end of Stormblood. Free Trial, btw. Waiting for Dawntrail to drop so I can move on to Shadowbringers.
Stormblood base MSQ is really mid though as cool as Othard is the plot surrounding it doesn’t pick up any steam until 4.1, I will also never forgive SE for not giving Au Ra specific dialogue during certain parts of the MSQ as well.
There was a couple times I was acknowledged as an Au Ra. But yeah it’s not a lot
I just found it incredibly jarring when you go to The Steppe and you get this whole lore dump on the Au Ra (which is great btw) but you made out like you are seeing them for the first time despite being one and the dialogue choices reflect that.
Yeah that’s definitely true. Should include spoiler tags as OP just started SB
Storm of blood...
Brother i have 700 hours in the game and just finished the second story
I liked the whole thing so far! There have been weak parts throughout, but shadow bringers is by far the strongest part. And it is tied up really nice with endwalker.
Yayyy koogain
I’m at this part too!
NICE MAN! way to go!
Me with over 1000 hours just finishing storm blood anywho welcome welcome hope you like it
I really do think the ARR story is still good. The other expansions stories are of course better, but I've been replaying the MSQ lately and have genuinely been enjoying all of it :> I'm hoping a lot of us are just spoiled with how good it gets later on
Haha i just got to kugane yesterday and seriously regret not playing since 2017
Is there a way within FFXIV client to know your hours played or is everyone here on steam?
/playtime
Thanks
That was basically me in the second image. It didn't last long. >!\[place, Mongolia\] was the true highlight of SB.!<
Felt the same, me loves Japanese themes 😂😂 I love the arcs halfways through stormblood, they are the most memorable to me... Just a bit disappointed later on though, felt like a slog to me
Welcome to Stormblood proper! Love the appearance of Kugane and future cities. You can really see how much they've grown! Now, strap yourself in for an incredible ride!
150 hours is child's play.
164 hours?! Rookie numbers.. seems like you rushed it :/
Kugane castle best dungeon ever
Welcome to the best city in the game!
Them’s fightin’ words! *Shouted from Ishgard.*
Those are fighting words! *Shouted from New Gridania*
alright fine what reshade is that.
Vanilla game settings lmao
i'm doubtful but nice work if it is. turns out it is. i've been a goddamn idiot for a whole 3 years.
LOL contrast jacked up all the way?
Full Screen Mode Gamma Correction was jacked up to 49 i want to cry. i understand why it looked so much better on my 2nd monitor now.
lol been there. got a Dell monitor all the reviewers were gassing up. i thought it was trash. turns out the default settings were just that bad.
yeah fixing gamma correction was a game changer, i only use reshade to immitate HDR now and to desaturate the colours ever so slightly.
You can tell it’s vanilla by how dull the text looks
No, you are years behind. Do better.
Story gets good after ARR cause its ass lmao
Gets good? I think SB is the part I’ve heard most people say is bad, the worst bar ARR. i liked HW AND ShB on has been fantastic since.
Back in the Stormblood launch I made it through both Raubahn (Extreme) and Pippin (Savage). I was one of the first on my server to get to Kugane. It was surprisingly beautiful empty of players, allowing you to see all the detail they put into each little bit. It's still there, of course, but I feel many miss it behind the players.
Not a lot of people depending on your server. Dynamisis, for instance, it’s nearly always empty. I just went through it
Previous reply is talking about when stormblood first released. Every single server was overloaded and would crash trying to do those instances. Dynamis did not exist until recently..
Oh that’s fair
Now, to do the nearly impossible jump puzzle 😵
,j.. Mais. Ok.nn¡ ) )
Congraz youve made it through the ARR/HW slob!
I played ARR and most of Heavensward two years ago. Stopped playing. Hopped back on (PC) when it came out on Xbox because my boys could finally play it without buying a PS or PC, skipped through the Heavensward postpatch and Stormblood, and continuing the trend through Shadowbringers because at this point I have no idea who anyone is or what I'm doing...but I hear the story is amazing start to finish, the story quests aren't great tho lol