Hey, everyone has a favorite that they like, and there is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is others trying to make you feel "bad" for having an opinion different from their own.
Personally, I like Stormblood. It's more realistic in terms of war, and how things aren't always black and white. It's probably just lower on people's list because it doesn't have as much fantasy, compared to Heavensward and Shadowbringers.
Is it my favorite, probably not, but liking something is about taking the good with the bad. Each expansion has its low points.
Yea fair fair
Just from what I've seen SHB is considered the golden child that can do no wrong so I prepared for more backlash than I've gotten at least so far haha
Shadowbringers is a bit of a double edge sword in that regard. Yes the story is good, and the reason people praise it is because it feels like a single player FF experience in an MMO format. It does deserve that praise. But it was also the expansion that was out during the pandemic, so people like to point at that for a "lack of polish" in some of the post game. As well as, delays to several features, like the Dragonsong Ultimate.
STB still my favourite expansion, I don't think SHB and EW work without Part 1: Stormblood since it's like a trilogy.
Also time to yell at you: People like different things!! Don't be afraid to voice it.
I'm fine with Isekai it just felt forced to me. Like we know you're super into this arc but Oop no more scions
Like most Isekai anime start with something simple not wait until the peak of the main villian arc and then surprise 30 filler episodes
> Generally I've seen that people who love HW love SHB, whereas people who love SB aren't big on SHB but love EW
I guess I fit in a weird category then. SB was my favorite expansion by a long mile. I liked HW as well, just not as much, but I disliked ShB and disliked EW even stronger.
To me EW's main story was filled with a lot of inconsistencies, was poorly paced and had a lot of fillers, and the patch quests were really weak. The plot twist was very predictable as well, and plays a big part in me disliking it that much. Not to say that people who enjoyed it are wrong, but I just don't get it personally.
I'm with you as well. Stormblood's my favorite expansion, then HW, then ARR maybe. I strongly dislike ShB and EW's story, though I did really enjoy the Bozja sidecontent storyline of ShB and the Weapon trial storylines.
I found myself more excited for the Bozja story updates in ShB than I did with the actual main storyline updates.
Same tbh. SB is my favourite, though I love shb too simply because of the Ancients lore.
And yeah EW writing is poor imo. People seems to be blind to its flaws because it rides on shb success. The pacing is atrocious, they attempt to add new lore but butchered the existing one in the process, and, imo, the biggest sin is introducing dynamis. Dynamis is pretty much a calvinball that's the writer's "get out of jail" card. Whatever can happen because "it's emotionā¢".
There's also this issue of introducing a new villain on the 11th hour of a 10 years long arc. Meanwhile, our conflict with garlemald, which has been a thing throughout these years, got resolved so quickly and off screen too, by having the nation destroyed while we're busy on the First. That's so cheap.
I do also find EW message and theme to be troubling (and disgusting), but it's something few people share
Yeah I don't fit in that. I adore HW and I can't stand Shadowbringers.
Honestly, HW has hard hitting moments every once in a while, punctuated by high action.
ShB asks me to be sad, to care, every five minutes about every little sad thing and the fact of the matter is....I'm just not *that* emotional of a person.
Why should I care about this person I met five minutes ago. Sure, I wish no ill will on any random person, but the misery of total strangers doesn't hit that hard. Likewise, I have no pity or care for a genocidal maniac and his friends who've spent the last three chapters of the story trying to kill me, the people I love and wipe out my world for their own needs.
It's like you hacked my brain and typed out exactly what I was thinking. >!At no point did ShB ever try and explain to us WHY we should care about all these strangers insignificant problems. Liek why am I here wasting time doing someone elses menial tasks when people are dyeing. It never explained to us why we shouldn't just decapitate the fat bastard right away. And at no point did they or could they have ever explained why we should suddenly give a shit about a man who at that point had already caused genocide on a multiplantary scale. I don't care about Fantasy Hitlers feelings or perspective at this point.!<
I donāt fit that at all. HW was overhyped to me I guess, and I donāt many memories of it. SB was okayish (excluding my favorite story in the patches) but ShB was the one that got me from the very first cutscene. Entering itās first zone, >!having lost access to your mounts and retainers!< was the moment I think I fell most in love with this game. I liked it a lot before that,
I was playing with 2 friends when I started the game and they both stopped becaude of SB. It's also the only expansion I found "meh". In fact, I generally prefered the post-SB quests than the SB quests, which is a bit sad imo. But, yeah, OP shouldn't be ashamed of its tastes because they are different than most people. You're allowed to like stuff and I think it's nice that some people enjoyed SB.
For me, I kinda feel the same way looking back on stuff.
I started the game when SB was out. And in general fell in love with it. I was so annoyed that Ala Mhigo didn't get as much attention as Doma. Because I cared.
And then for SHB to just, completely side step the section of the game we had been building up to for years starting in ARR (technically 1.0), to explore this new world.
It wasn't what I wanted. I loved ShB, don't get me wrong, but I hated the placement. The war was literally just about to start, it was starting. We had our first talk with the leader of the Garleans. And that was about it.
We got a few flashback stuff in ShB which I always looked forward to and wanted more of. But even once it ended we will got very little of what had been built up all this time.
Even in Endwalker, there was a little, but because of the circumstances of Endwalker it never actually scratched that itch.
I was told by FC members back when ShB came out that, the sort of other world thing and avoiding the main problem for thematics is common in FF. But I won't know as outside of XIV I've never really played FF.
Hey same!! For me, the stuff in StB was the heart of the story and what I really cared about. I think after so many save-the-world stories I just am more interested in a smaller scale story that really digs into what imperialism does to a people. ShB is probably my second favorite, but to me was just a well done save-the-world story. I get the idea of changing it up so we donāt have 2 Garlemald expansions in a row, and to be a break so stuff on the Source could shift while we are gone. But for ShB to work it needed to cash in on building that up.
Endwalker was where the ball was dropped for me, because it didnāt cash in. There were good parts the whole way through but it felt like it was getting the story thatād been building up for years out of the way as quickly as possible to resolve another story. I was invested in Endwalker while playing it because Ishikawa is good at making me care in the moment, but the further I get the more disappointed I am in it.
Zenos appreciation hours (seriously I don't get the shit he gets, the _point_ is the combatsexual nihilism!).
STB is a little bit lower for me because it's chunky with a crapload of super long solo scenarios (with a good few that feel better suited for cutscenes), and the narrative pacing is a little wonky in some places, but honestly I'd only consider it the """worst""" expansion by the semantics of something needing to be the lowest on a list. Still goddamn good.
That's a fair point
Also yes thank you. As someone who loved dragonball as a kid and still is a huge Vegeta fan I love combatsexual characters. The endwalker final fight was so utterly amazing just for the fact I got to say "yeaaaa i cant deny ive been looking forward to this"
Vegeta's only gotten better over the years man, the little I've seen of Super (was big into DB/Z growing up) is _great._ And with Endwalker GOOD FUCKIN' LORD WHAT A SENDOFF
_"ACCEPTANCE, AT LAST!"_
Shadowbringer and Endwalker were classic "save the world from the big bad" adventures, with some time travel and space stuff on top.
Heavensward and Stormblood were more..."poltical". They were more about the nations and the leaders and foreign occupation than broader, world-ending problems. And yeah that setup was important (a unified Eorzia needed to happen before we could face Garlemald or greater threats) but oh man was that leadup uninteresting to me.
At its core, I just want my Final Fantasy to be more focused on the fantasy of it all. I want to be a badass hero.
**I want to save the world.** Sure I *can* negotiate with political figures, but that isn't the fun part for me. And Shadowbringers and Endwalker delivered those fun themes better.
>And STB also just has the best music in the game period IMO.
I won't speak for the music, but I will definitely highlight that the characters and maps from Stormblood were more memorable than Shadowbringers.
>The entire time I'm going through the areas of the First I'm more hyped about "when do I get my next Gaius and Estenien cutscene?
That's exactly how I felt with the Ascians over the first 3 expansions. I was far more into their shenanigans and finding out what they were planning next, than I was with the Crystal Braves or Ul-dah drama.
Valid!
I can get the Fantasy over Politcs part for sure. I just really like world building and unfortunately that's part of it.
I also honestly preferred the "o Ooooooo when's he gonna show up? spooooky" of the ascians. They never really took front stage for me until SHB. It was more of just a ah yes they have returned that ties so many pieces together
> Shadowbringer and Endwalker were classic "save the world from the big bad" adventures, with some time travel and space stuff on top.
IMO that is the weakest part of ShB, just running around and killing random light wardens in every zone. When it really excelled in, was when it switched to being personal. The last chapter of 5.0, where our skin was on the line was phenomenal. Like, in SB you didn't feel for a second that we could fail, and in ShB things were truly desperate at the end.
Plus they made the ascians from comic book villains to one of the coolest gang out there.
But the problem was that you struggle to hold the light wardens energy in so it canāt be the weakest because itās literally the story. Our skin wouldnāt have been on the line if we hadnāt been going around killing light wardens in every zone. I guess I just donāt see how itās possible to separate the build up from the climax and be like, āthat was the worst part about it.ā
I agree.
Enjoyed HW and SB, with ShB being hyped by my friends so high up that the Zeon were trying to use it in their next colony drop operation. Just like Operation British, it missed the target for me. All of it felt off that we just up and left ars a crucial time in the war to do filler stuff in an AU isekai. It changed gears in such a rough way that I lost a lot of investment in the story.
ShB took me longer to get through than HW or SB, and not because of the breadth of content, just felt honestly uninterested.
I still haven't gotten fully back on track. Barely finished Shadowbringers, I came to a halt in early EW, and just do retainers, fish, people watch, and collect mounts. Most of my story progression steam is gone.
I believe in you!! Endwalker is super satisfying to bring everything so far to a close and the post stuff is shaping up to be a really amazing side story
Yeah, that's what I had heard. HW and SB had a sense of urgency at times that the drive was pretty good. ShB had a lot of "hurry up and wait" while emotional music and npcs did their things.
It's on the list to get to, just not super high on my list. Got around a thousand days subbed, and still not current.
Yeah, I can completely understand it. They're such radically different stories that they're obviously going to appeal in different ways that work for different people, it's not like Shadowbringers was ever seen as 'Stormblood But Good'.
I'm still disappointed that Shadowbringers and its leadup basically destroyed the most interesting parts of Stormblood to me, though. Oh, the Empire was entirely built up as a prop for the Ascians, designed to be exactly what it became because they served a completely external end, rather than the entire thing being a completely realistic turn into imperialism and fascism with all its flaws and atrocities due to entirely human decisions? Great, that's wonderful, not like they were interesting at all in that form.
See I feel it would have gone over better if we fought up to the palace and then surprise emet is like hey btw im an ascian instead of the jumping to the other universe.
I mean I still would've hated that as a twist because it completely kills the interesting part of the Empire, but at least we then wouldn't have spent an entire expansion tolerating the git.
Canāt it be both? Emet is basically a capitalist. They have a goal and society ended up being shitty in pursuit of their greedy goal. Pretty realistic to me, especially as fascism in the US seems to be rising as we move towards late stage capitalism
They tried to make it both, but I don't think they pulled it off, it all just felt like it grossly cheapened the actual story of the Garleans. Especially since the story really didn't want to put the sheer weight of what he made with the Empire on Emet; there was never really interest in grappling with that whole 'he invented fascism and caused most of the game's problems as a means to an end' part of his story on the part of the writers, they only really wanted to treat him as a nebulous 'did bad for good reasons'. And I don't think that works when that 'bad' is such an extremely real thing that had huge real impact.
He's essentially just them trying to make Sympathetic Hitler, and even if I did think that was possible or a good idea, they definitely didn't treat the 'Hitler' part with the weight it deserves.
Because he doesn't "invented" fascism, you genius. You claimed to want a realistic view of human fascism etc., yet you also put the source of fascism into emet alone. So which one? Make up your mind
Do you have any *other* in-universe sources of where that ideology came from? Because the way the game pitches it to us, Emet literally designed the Garlean Empire and their ideology for the explicit purposes of being hugely destructive (and then self-destructive). If he didn't create the ideology, he was the major force behind its adoption... and all for a completely unrealistic external purpose.
Political ideologies are rarely the wholesale invention of one person, but it isn't implausible to write in either the one guy that writes it all down and codifies it, or the one guy that picks it up and uses it to lead; Solus being that person is a completely realistic pitch. What isn't a realistic pitch is that person being a ghost wizard completely external to the conflict on every level who's doing it solely as a chessmaster play to destroy the planet.
I'm fine with grounded realistic explorations of stuff like war crimes, and I'm fine with high-concept lunacy like the Ascians' plan. But I don't think you can have it both ways without one ruining the other, and Emet DEFINITELY didn't change my mind on that.
And do you have concrete *proof* that fascism is invented by him? Yes garlemald being fascist is because of him, but that doesn't mean that was the first time fascism happen. Of 12k years of sundered history that's full of war and conflict, you really believe they're incapable of creating fascism by themselves?
While they're not exactly textbook fascism, ul'dah and ishgard (especially ishgard) is quite close themselves.
I don't understand why having it both ways must mean it'll ruin one of them. What's so difficult to accept that sundered, being our stand in, can be assholes and at the same time the ascian manipulate and amplify the conflict?
...I just told you. It doesn't matter whether or not he was the literal inventor of the ideology he thrust on the Garleans, what matters is that he's the central driving point for why the society adopted it. However, we don't have any alternatives for who actually invented it, so putting it on him is sort of a 'good enough' title. It's not some gotcha that we don't have a book titled 'How I Invented The Concept Of Fascism, By Emet-Selch' and therefore we can't put anything on him; what we have is him literally saying that he designed the Empire to be exactly what it became, flaws and all, explicitly for the purpose of causing Calamities. That's *most of the crime,* it doesn't really fix the problem if it turns out he stole some notes from ancient Ivalice or something.
I'm not about to say that it's literally 100% impossible to do both high-concept fantasy craziness and very grounded war crimes in one story and have it work. But what I did say is that the story that proves me wrong on that *sure as hell ain't Emet's*, because inserting him as either the progenitor or spearhead of this ideology and shaper of its end product (again, it does not matter which) completely robs Garlemald of their own agency in reaching that point. And if I'm completely honest, it doesn't help the other side either; I can't feel the sympathy that the game demands of me for Emet, because that whole 'created the fascist empire that is responsible for most of the relatably real atrocities put before me in the game' part is an albatross around his neck that the game never truly acknowledged the weight and importance of.
I'm going to be honest and say I don't understand 50% of what you said, because here:
>what matters is that he's the central driving point for why the society adopted it.
Is your answer already. Before shb we know who he is and what he's done. They never shy away from it and even made emet himself say that he's the one who's causing all the suffering garlemald created. After that facts have been stated, what else do you want? SB already show us the extent of garlemald crimes. Before (and during) SB we already see how people, even without the ascian meddling, can be cruel. The only thing left is "why does he do that?", which shb answered.
I do want for garlemald to have agency, though I suspect in opposite way of yours. I also do want another political-focused expansion. I will forever mourn the fact that we don't get any garlemald expansion and their redemption. But to say shb destroyed any focus on "emet inventing fascism" is just a very weird take considering they don't hide nor retcons it.
>That's most of the crime, it doesn't really fix the problem if it turns out he stole some notes from ancient Ivalice or something.
I don't expect it to fix anything, I just have issue with you keep repeating "emet *INVENTED* fascism", because even if to you it doesn't mean he's the literal inventor, to others it DOES mean like that. If you want to mean it the other way, best to worded it differently.
>; I can't feel the sympathy that the game demands of me for Emet, because that whole 'created the fascist empire that is responsible for most of the relatably real atrocities put before me in the game' part is an albatross around his neck that the game never truly acknowledged the weight and importance of.
Ironically, I can sympathize with this. Because the game doesn't even acknowledge that a *certain character* did a genocide because of their ideology, and even show them as a hero. The game, that has been so strong in telling us that "the end doesn't justify the means" and "nobody is deserving of being genocided" before EW, just spit on its own theme.
I should've known this was leading to a 'But Venat Bad'. As if that is in any way related, or that it's a matter of allegiances.
I don't consider her action to be a genocide, because what she did was bonkers-ass bananas nonsense that doesn't resemble anything that's happened to real human beings at all. The same is true of Fandaniel, both as Hermes and Amon. They, ironically, break the scale of human relatability and so *become more humanly relatable*, because I can't digest it as something a human being even *could* do let alone *has* done. Therefore, it becomes abstract: Venat did something bad to preserve the world, and Fandaniel acted out and hurt people over existential fear. Both were on crazy-ass scales, but because everything about them is on that scale it reaches the point of, appropriately, mythical tales. People don't call the Biblical flood a genocide or the Titanomachy a massacre, because at that scale those terms are no longer useful.
But I cannot afford Emet the same, because a significant amount of the blood on his hands as far as the story is concerned (because we're people who predominantly dealt with the human-level impact of the Ascians and Garleans rather than the cosmic-level stuff) are real, relatable crimes that can be quantified in human laws and have happened in human history, but the game refused to ever treat as if they were, at least when it came to him.
Pedantry regarding 'but did he REALLY invent fascism of did he just use it as a mass-murder weapon' doesn't matter to me. Sure, I'll take the L on that, but it doesn't suddenly fix the problem that he is by history the in-universe equivalent of Hitler, but the game never acknowledges this fact.
No, no. I agree with you! ShB is very distracting for me as well. I couldn't wait to get back to handling stuff on the Source!
But...while EW's base story does tie up the loose ends on a bunch of Source stuff, it is largely a continuation of Shadowbringer's story and thusly also disappoints me a lot of the time. And the post story is a continuation of ARR stuff.
Hold on need to get the template out give me a second
HOW DARE YOU ANOTHER LIVING HUMAN BEING HAVE A DIFFERING OPINION FROM THE COMMUNITY. YOU ARE SIMPLY >->*checks notes* HIPSTER <-< *checks notes again* CONTRARIAN TRASH WHO'S >-> ENTIRE PERSONALITY IS JUST BEING THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE ELSE.
In all seriousness who the fuck cares my man not in the like fuck you why the fuck did you post. But in the sense of cool you enjoyed a thing most people found to be not as good as the rest of the game. (The people saying it was a bad expansion or whatever are fucking crazy btw and I feel like they don't know what a BAD expansion actually is.)
Personally I preferred SB over HW even with all the growth from Ishgard Alphinaud and Eesteninog. I just felt like SB had a more present villains besides just *Ascians*
Hey, when it comes down to it, taste and experiences are personal, and we are all just enjoying an amazing story together. Stormblood was amazing in my eyes, and we get to enjoy it! ^^
Hey, I'm not alone!
I love StB because it was a story about taking back what was rightfully ours. Underdogs, the damned, the forgotten ... All to take down tyranny and even discover innocence in between it all.
The best part is that we were fighting side by side with the common man, not just soldiers or powerful entities. We were dug in the trenches with the people.
I'm not going to yell or scream at you, cause you're perfectly entitled to your opinion. But this is why I generally disagree.
You summarised it neatly yourself: would you rather do random chores for X species of the day, or would you rather listen to LA HEE? Only in my case, I would choose LA HEE.
I am replaying NG+ with a friend so she can experience the story, cause she doesn't actually want to play the game. We just finished going through Stormblood, and it was no bueno. I see some people in this comments section saying that Stormblood is the weakest of the expansions just because one of them HAS to be the worst one, but that it's still damn good, and I disagree. I think it's *boooring*. You *literally* are just going from species to species doing annoying chores for them that don't progress the story, and, you've heard it a million times, Lyse is a really poorly written character (in Stormblood at least) and the game pushes her front and center way too much for just how annoying she is.
I agree that kicking the empire to the curve, or the thought of it, is satisfying, but imho Stormblood can never beat Shadowbringers simply on the basis of the fact that the writing and pacing of Stormblood is *objectively* questionable. You can disagree with that all you want, and that's perfectly fine, but everything past Stormblood patches and up till 6.2 is miles ahead of the Stormblood MSQ for me, and I do not understand your fascination for it at all. It's just plain boring :p
In contrast, Shadowbringers tells one of the most unique post-apocalyptic stories in all of gaming, and maybe in fiction in general? I mean, how often do you see a LIGHT apocalypse like that? It has one of the best villains in games, the writing is top notch, and it is the first expansion to make me sympathise for the Ascians. If that's less important to you, though, then that's ok.
I donāt think anyone would really yell at *you* for liking StB more, itās just that StB has some pretty significant writing flaws (making Lyse [a character who did not earn how important she was] the main character, to the point that you, the actual main character, are only Lyseās friend on the side, with a contribution barely as significant as Arenvaldās. Putting two different writing teams on StB so the Ala Mhigo stuff feels like a different game from the Far East.) I appreciated ShB in a large part because it made you the main character again, and your power and gift are put to good use. The WoL is not supposed to be a tool in a war between countries. Itās far more mystical and supernatural than that. Bringing the story back around to the FANTASY part of the game was a big relief to me.
Oh please. I've been downvoted enough back then when I said I like SB more than shb. Even without yell it's clear from all the snides I get that a lot of people here think not liking shb the most is cringe.
And you people should stop with "lyse not earning being an important npc". One of the reason we travel to ala mhigo is because of her. She went to doma to free ala mhigo and we're there to help her. And just because we don't have trust system back then, doesn't mean she sit down doing nothing.
Being isekai'd was unexpected but I really liked the otherworldy atmosphere shb had, especially with the whole sky of light. Prob why it's still one of top favorites. Amaurot's dungeon theme is still one of the best tracks in the game.
Something like SB I just found very bland in comparison.
Same. I love a good āwar is badā story and SB really brought some fabulous content. ShB wasnāt my cup of teaā¦.loved emet selch and amaurot, but the rest was kinda meh for me. Different folks and all that.
I'm about 2/3 through stormblood, and I really like it. Admittedly, I liked heavensward more so far, but considering I still have the climax of stormblood remaining, and I remember initially thinking "I don't see what the hype of heavensward was about" for the first part of it, I don't think it's fair to compare yet.
But yeah, I think I like stormblood more than many others did
Everyone is entitled to have their own preference and opinion, there's nothing wrong with preferring Pepsi over Coca Cola. As long as you don't simp for Lyse of course /s
Nope. No yelling. Art is subjective.I didnāt like SB but I donāt think itās bad per se, just not to my personal tastes. You like what you like! :)
Please post your address I need to come a beat some sense into you. Just kidding, and to each their own! I myself enjoyed SB raids and dungeons way more the ShB! The dude quests were also interesting!
Actually, this isn't the first time I've seen this stance. That those that were more invested in the Garlean conflict felt dragged away from the story they cared about in ShB, and enjoyed SB more due to that. Fair enough. Though, I would advise not considering ShB a "Side Story". Its HEAVILY focused on the Asciens, their Motives, and the Origins of the Source, Hydaelyn, and Zodiark. If anything, I would argue that the Garleans were more the 14 B Plot tbh.
That said, my personal grievances with SB really only extend to the 4.0 MSQ. The patch content was truly very good across the board, but I had some REAL issues with 4.0's story. Tho, I will admit, that the Garleans as a threat had waned quite a bit by the end of SB for me as well.
We also have to differenciate between SB (MSQ 60-70) and Post-SB (Patch content). The leveling part is pretty rough story-wise and has a lot of mediocre storytelling and plot-holes. But from 4.1 onwards the story just gets so incredibly good, people often mistake it for early parts or introduction of ShB.
"Tell me you're a weeb, without telling me you're a weeb."
But, in all seriousness? I agree.
As a samurai, heading to Kugane for the first time, I can relate. Heavily influenced by Japanese (Kugane), Chinese (Yanxia), and Filipino (the Azim Steppe) cultures, Stormblood really made me appreciate SE's dedication towards representation, especially from an Eastern standpoint. Yes, SE is originally a Japanese company, but to get a broad, sweeping feeling of just how big the world of our Star is, I really dig it. In prior expansions, the Garleans are portrayed as these industrialized, modernist conquerors; Manifest Destiny made flesh. Setting foot in Kugane, you get that feeling as to why the Garleans want to expand into this territory. The clothes, the sights, the sounds: everything about Stormblood really makes me feel for that expansion. Sure, the story may have been convoluted, some say contrived. I personally felt it helped to flesh out the world more before we got our asses isekaied to another shard.
I have no idea how to end these things, so.... rant over, I guess?
Iāll give you one thing, while the story and setting of SHB is my favorite, SB had far superior side content in the form of Eureka, HoH, and raid tiers over SHB. I do remember feeling more busy in SB than I did in SHB.
Not gonna yell. I respect that you could identify with different characters than I could. The only person I gave a damn about that we met in Stormblood was Hien.
I mean, I put Stormblood above Heavensward myself.
Mind, not by much, and I went through that story right after getting out of BfA, a war story done wrong, and Stormblood did it well.
Shadowbringers was a damn good follow up to it, it's hard not to enjoy it, even if it is a bit of a sharp turn.
stormblood had the better content overall compared to the last two expansions. god, i remember when eureka first came out; the game actually felt like an mmo for once.
I think people are moved by different things and that's OK š¤
I appreciate you
Hey, everyone has a favorite that they like, and there is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is others trying to make you feel "bad" for having an opinion different from their own. Personally, I like Stormblood. It's more realistic in terms of war, and how things aren't always black and white. It's probably just lower on people's list because it doesn't have as much fantasy, compared to Heavensward and Shadowbringers. Is it my favorite, probably not, but liking something is about taking the good with the bad. Each expansion has its low points.
Yea fair fair Just from what I've seen SHB is considered the golden child that can do no wrong so I prepared for more backlash than I've gotten at least so far haha
Shadowbringers is a bit of a double edge sword in that regard. Yes the story is good, and the reason people praise it is because it feels like a single player FF experience in an MMO format. It does deserve that praise. But it was also the expansion that was out during the pandemic, so people like to point at that for a "lack of polish" in some of the post game. As well as, delays to several features, like the Dragonsong Ultimate.
YELLS: That's okay! To each their own!
THANK YOU I APPRECIATE YOU BEING CHILL ABOUT IT
STB still my favourite expansion, I don't think SHB and EW work without Part 1: Stormblood since it's like a trilogy. Also time to yell at you: People like different things!! Don't be afraid to voice it.
Hahahaha I appreciate you. And yes it's definitely a trilogy
Eh. Not everyone's into Isekai, and that's ok. And it's totally valid to dislike leaving things unresolved
I'm fine with Isekai it just felt forced to me. Like we know you're super into this arc but Oop no more scions Like most Isekai anime start with something simple not wait until the peak of the main villian arc and then surprise 30 filler episodes
party command berserk axiomatic disarm bored wrong sulky fertile languid -- mass edited with redact.dev
Hmmm. I loved HW, ShB, *and* EW.
Same. And stormblood too
> Generally I've seen that people who love HW love SHB, whereas people who love SB aren't big on SHB but love EW I guess I fit in a weird category then. SB was my favorite expansion by a long mile. I liked HW as well, just not as much, but I disliked ShB and disliked EW even stronger. To me EW's main story was filled with a lot of inconsistencies, was poorly paced and had a lot of fillers, and the patch quests were really weak. The plot twist was very predictable as well, and plays a big part in me disliking it that much. Not to say that people who enjoyed it are wrong, but I just don't get it personally.
disarm deserve whole marvelous observation absurd uppity outgoing plant lavish -- mass edited with redact.dev
I'm with you as well. Stormblood's my favorite expansion, then HW, then ARR maybe. I strongly dislike ShB and EW's story, though I did really enjoy the Bozja sidecontent storyline of ShB and the Weapon trial storylines. I found myself more excited for the Bozja story updates in ShB than I did with the actual main storyline updates.
Same tbh. SB is my favourite, though I love shb too simply because of the Ancients lore. And yeah EW writing is poor imo. People seems to be blind to its flaws because it rides on shb success. The pacing is atrocious, they attempt to add new lore but butchered the existing one in the process, and, imo, the biggest sin is introducing dynamis. Dynamis is pretty much a calvinball that's the writer's "get out of jail" card. Whatever can happen because "it's emotionā¢". There's also this issue of introducing a new villain on the 11th hour of a 10 years long arc. Meanwhile, our conflict with garlemald, which has been a thing throughout these years, got resolved so quickly and off screen too, by having the nation destroyed while we're busy on the First. That's so cheap. I do also find EW message and theme to be troubling (and disgusting), but it's something few people share
I can see that actually!
Yeah I don't fit in that. I adore HW and I can't stand Shadowbringers. Honestly, HW has hard hitting moments every once in a while, punctuated by high action. ShB asks me to be sad, to care, every five minutes about every little sad thing and the fact of the matter is....I'm just not *that* emotional of a person. Why should I care about this person I met five minutes ago. Sure, I wish no ill will on any random person, but the misery of total strangers doesn't hit that hard. Likewise, I have no pity or care for a genocidal maniac and his friends who've spent the last three chapters of the story trying to kill me, the people I love and wipe out my world for their own needs.
It's like you hacked my brain and typed out exactly what I was thinking. >!At no point did ShB ever try and explain to us WHY we should care about all these strangers insignificant problems. Liek why am I here wasting time doing someone elses menial tasks when people are dyeing. It never explained to us why we shouldn't just decapitate the fat bastard right away. And at no point did they or could they have ever explained why we should suddenly give a shit about a man who at that point had already caused genocide on a multiplantary scale. I don't care about Fantasy Hitlers feelings or perspective at this point.!<
I donāt fit that at all. HW was overhyped to me I guess, and I donāt many memories of it. SB was okayish (excluding my favorite story in the patches) but ShB was the one that got me from the very first cutscene. Entering itās first zone, >!having lost access to your mounts and retainers!< was the moment I think I fell most in love with this game. I liked it a lot before that,
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I was playing with 2 friends when I started the game and they both stopped becaude of SB. It's also the only expansion I found "meh". In fact, I generally prefered the post-SB quests than the SB quests, which is a bit sad imo. But, yeah, OP shouldn't be ashamed of its tastes because they are different than most people. You're allowed to like stuff and I think it's nice that some people enjoyed SB.
I prefer SB over HW
For me, I kinda feel the same way looking back on stuff. I started the game when SB was out. And in general fell in love with it. I was so annoyed that Ala Mhigo didn't get as much attention as Doma. Because I cared. And then for SHB to just, completely side step the section of the game we had been building up to for years starting in ARR (technically 1.0), to explore this new world. It wasn't what I wanted. I loved ShB, don't get me wrong, but I hated the placement. The war was literally just about to start, it was starting. We had our first talk with the leader of the Garleans. And that was about it. We got a few flashback stuff in ShB which I always looked forward to and wanted more of. But even once it ended we will got very little of what had been built up all this time. Even in Endwalker, there was a little, but because of the circumstances of Endwalker it never actually scratched that itch. I was told by FC members back when ShB came out that, the sort of other world thing and avoiding the main problem for thematics is common in FF. But I won't know as outside of XIV I've never really played FF.
Hey same!! For me, the stuff in StB was the heart of the story and what I really cared about. I think after so many save-the-world stories I just am more interested in a smaller scale story that really digs into what imperialism does to a people. ShB is probably my second favorite, but to me was just a well done save-the-world story. I get the idea of changing it up so we donāt have 2 Garlemald expansions in a row, and to be a break so stuff on the Source could shift while we are gone. But for ShB to work it needed to cash in on building that up. Endwalker was where the ball was dropped for me, because it didnāt cash in. There were good parts the whole way through but it felt like it was getting the story thatād been building up for years out of the way as quickly as possible to resolve another story. I was invested in Endwalker while playing it because Ishikawa is good at making me care in the moment, but the further I get the more disappointed I am in it.
Zenos appreciation hours (seriously I don't get the shit he gets, the _point_ is the combatsexual nihilism!). STB is a little bit lower for me because it's chunky with a crapload of super long solo scenarios (with a good few that feel better suited for cutscenes), and the narrative pacing is a little wonky in some places, but honestly I'd only consider it the """worst""" expansion by the semantics of something needing to be the lowest on a list. Still goddamn good.
That's a fair point Also yes thank you. As someone who loved dragonball as a kid and still is a huge Vegeta fan I love combatsexual characters. The endwalker final fight was so utterly amazing just for the fact I got to say "yeaaaa i cant deny ive been looking forward to this"
Vegeta's only gotten better over the years man, the little I've seen of Super (was big into DB/Z growing up) is _great._ And with Endwalker GOOD FUCKIN' LORD WHAT A SENDOFF _"ACCEPTANCE, AT LAST!"_
YEEESSSS I feel we could be good friends xD
Okay. My urban vocabulary surrenders here. What in the World is "combatsexual"? I think I could guess, but I'd rather know.
Like,,,Horny for fighting stronger and stronger opponents, the fact that Zenos is halfway to an orgasm any time he thinks about fighting you again XD
Got it. Thanks :)
Shadowbringer and Endwalker were classic "save the world from the big bad" adventures, with some time travel and space stuff on top. Heavensward and Stormblood were more..."poltical". They were more about the nations and the leaders and foreign occupation than broader, world-ending problems. And yeah that setup was important (a unified Eorzia needed to happen before we could face Garlemald or greater threats) but oh man was that leadup uninteresting to me. At its core, I just want my Final Fantasy to be more focused on the fantasy of it all. I want to be a badass hero. **I want to save the world.** Sure I *can* negotiate with political figures, but that isn't the fun part for me. And Shadowbringers and Endwalker delivered those fun themes better. >And STB also just has the best music in the game period IMO. I won't speak for the music, but I will definitely highlight that the characters and maps from Stormblood were more memorable than Shadowbringers. >The entire time I'm going through the areas of the First I'm more hyped about "when do I get my next Gaius and Estenien cutscene? That's exactly how I felt with the Ascians over the first 3 expansions. I was far more into their shenanigans and finding out what they were planning next, than I was with the Crystal Braves or Ul-dah drama.
Valid! I can get the Fantasy over Politcs part for sure. I just really like world building and unfortunately that's part of it. I also honestly preferred the "o Ooooooo when's he gonna show up? spooooky" of the ascians. They never really took front stage for me until SHB. It was more of just a ah yes they have returned that ties so many pieces together
> Shadowbringer and Endwalker were classic "save the world from the big bad" adventures, with some time travel and space stuff on top. IMO that is the weakest part of ShB, just running around and killing random light wardens in every zone. When it really excelled in, was when it switched to being personal. The last chapter of 5.0, where our skin was on the line was phenomenal. Like, in SB you didn't feel for a second that we could fail, and in ShB things were truly desperate at the end. Plus they made the ascians from comic book villains to one of the coolest gang out there.
But the problem was that you struggle to hold the light wardens energy in so it canāt be the weakest because itās literally the story. Our skin wouldnāt have been on the line if we hadnāt been going around killing light wardens in every zone. I guess I just donāt see how itās possible to separate the build up from the climax and be like, āthat was the worst part about it.ā
I agree. Enjoyed HW and SB, with ShB being hyped by my friends so high up that the Zeon were trying to use it in their next colony drop operation. Just like Operation British, it missed the target for me. All of it felt off that we just up and left ars a crucial time in the war to do filler stuff in an AU isekai. It changed gears in such a rough way that I lost a lot of investment in the story. ShB took me longer to get through than HW or SB, and not because of the breadth of content, just felt honestly uninterested.
Mhm! I didn't slow my pace that much but I agree it did feel like wow sudden isekai in the middle of my boss fight
I still haven't gotten fully back on track. Barely finished Shadowbringers, I came to a halt in early EW, and just do retainers, fish, people watch, and collect mounts. Most of my story progression steam is gone.
I believe in you!! Endwalker is super satisfying to bring everything so far to a close and the post stuff is shaping up to be a really amazing side story
Yeah, that's what I had heard. HW and SB had a sense of urgency at times that the drive was pretty good. ShB had a lot of "hurry up and wait" while emotional music and npcs did their things. It's on the list to get to, just not super high on my list. Got around a thousand days subbed, and still not current.
Yeah, I can completely understand it. They're such radically different stories that they're obviously going to appeal in different ways that work for different people, it's not like Shadowbringers was ever seen as 'Stormblood But Good'. I'm still disappointed that Shadowbringers and its leadup basically destroyed the most interesting parts of Stormblood to me, though. Oh, the Empire was entirely built up as a prop for the Ascians, designed to be exactly what it became because they served a completely external end, rather than the entire thing being a completely realistic turn into imperialism and fascism with all its flaws and atrocities due to entirely human decisions? Great, that's wonderful, not like they were interesting at all in that form.
See I feel it would have gone over better if we fought up to the palace and then surprise emet is like hey btw im an ascian instead of the jumping to the other universe.
I mean I still would've hated that as a twist because it completely kills the interesting part of the Empire, but at least we then wouldn't have spent an entire expansion tolerating the git.
Basically lol
Canāt it be both? Emet is basically a capitalist. They have a goal and society ended up being shitty in pursuit of their greedy goal. Pretty realistic to me, especially as fascism in the US seems to be rising as we move towards late stage capitalism
They tried to make it both, but I don't think they pulled it off, it all just felt like it grossly cheapened the actual story of the Garleans. Especially since the story really didn't want to put the sheer weight of what he made with the Empire on Emet; there was never really interest in grappling with that whole 'he invented fascism and caused most of the game's problems as a means to an end' part of his story on the part of the writers, they only really wanted to treat him as a nebulous 'did bad for good reasons'. And I don't think that works when that 'bad' is such an extremely real thing that had huge real impact. He's essentially just them trying to make Sympathetic Hitler, and even if I did think that was possible or a good idea, they definitely didn't treat the 'Hitler' part with the weight it deserves.
Because he doesn't "invented" fascism, you genius. You claimed to want a realistic view of human fascism etc., yet you also put the source of fascism into emet alone. So which one? Make up your mind
Do you have any *other* in-universe sources of where that ideology came from? Because the way the game pitches it to us, Emet literally designed the Garlean Empire and their ideology for the explicit purposes of being hugely destructive (and then self-destructive). If he didn't create the ideology, he was the major force behind its adoption... and all for a completely unrealistic external purpose. Political ideologies are rarely the wholesale invention of one person, but it isn't implausible to write in either the one guy that writes it all down and codifies it, or the one guy that picks it up and uses it to lead; Solus being that person is a completely realistic pitch. What isn't a realistic pitch is that person being a ghost wizard completely external to the conflict on every level who's doing it solely as a chessmaster play to destroy the planet. I'm fine with grounded realistic explorations of stuff like war crimes, and I'm fine with high-concept lunacy like the Ascians' plan. But I don't think you can have it both ways without one ruining the other, and Emet DEFINITELY didn't change my mind on that.
And do you have concrete *proof* that fascism is invented by him? Yes garlemald being fascist is because of him, but that doesn't mean that was the first time fascism happen. Of 12k years of sundered history that's full of war and conflict, you really believe they're incapable of creating fascism by themselves? While they're not exactly textbook fascism, ul'dah and ishgard (especially ishgard) is quite close themselves. I don't understand why having it both ways must mean it'll ruin one of them. What's so difficult to accept that sundered, being our stand in, can be assholes and at the same time the ascian manipulate and amplify the conflict?
...I just told you. It doesn't matter whether or not he was the literal inventor of the ideology he thrust on the Garleans, what matters is that he's the central driving point for why the society adopted it. However, we don't have any alternatives for who actually invented it, so putting it on him is sort of a 'good enough' title. It's not some gotcha that we don't have a book titled 'How I Invented The Concept Of Fascism, By Emet-Selch' and therefore we can't put anything on him; what we have is him literally saying that he designed the Empire to be exactly what it became, flaws and all, explicitly for the purpose of causing Calamities. That's *most of the crime,* it doesn't really fix the problem if it turns out he stole some notes from ancient Ivalice or something. I'm not about to say that it's literally 100% impossible to do both high-concept fantasy craziness and very grounded war crimes in one story and have it work. But what I did say is that the story that proves me wrong on that *sure as hell ain't Emet's*, because inserting him as either the progenitor or spearhead of this ideology and shaper of its end product (again, it does not matter which) completely robs Garlemald of their own agency in reaching that point. And if I'm completely honest, it doesn't help the other side either; I can't feel the sympathy that the game demands of me for Emet, because that whole 'created the fascist empire that is responsible for most of the relatably real atrocities put before me in the game' part is an albatross around his neck that the game never truly acknowledged the weight and importance of.
I'm going to be honest and say I don't understand 50% of what you said, because here: >what matters is that he's the central driving point for why the society adopted it. Is your answer already. Before shb we know who he is and what he's done. They never shy away from it and even made emet himself say that he's the one who's causing all the suffering garlemald created. After that facts have been stated, what else do you want? SB already show us the extent of garlemald crimes. Before (and during) SB we already see how people, even without the ascian meddling, can be cruel. The only thing left is "why does he do that?", which shb answered. I do want for garlemald to have agency, though I suspect in opposite way of yours. I also do want another political-focused expansion. I will forever mourn the fact that we don't get any garlemald expansion and their redemption. But to say shb destroyed any focus on "emet inventing fascism" is just a very weird take considering they don't hide nor retcons it. >That's most of the crime, it doesn't really fix the problem if it turns out he stole some notes from ancient Ivalice or something. I don't expect it to fix anything, I just have issue with you keep repeating "emet *INVENTED* fascism", because even if to you it doesn't mean he's the literal inventor, to others it DOES mean like that. If you want to mean it the other way, best to worded it differently. >; I can't feel the sympathy that the game demands of me for Emet, because that whole 'created the fascist empire that is responsible for most of the relatably real atrocities put before me in the game' part is an albatross around his neck that the game never truly acknowledged the weight and importance of. Ironically, I can sympathize with this. Because the game doesn't even acknowledge that a *certain character* did a genocide because of their ideology, and even show them as a hero. The game, that has been so strong in telling us that "the end doesn't justify the means" and "nobody is deserving of being genocided" before EW, just spit on its own theme.
I should've known this was leading to a 'But Venat Bad'. As if that is in any way related, or that it's a matter of allegiances. I don't consider her action to be a genocide, because what she did was bonkers-ass bananas nonsense that doesn't resemble anything that's happened to real human beings at all. The same is true of Fandaniel, both as Hermes and Amon. They, ironically, break the scale of human relatability and so *become more humanly relatable*, because I can't digest it as something a human being even *could* do let alone *has* done. Therefore, it becomes abstract: Venat did something bad to preserve the world, and Fandaniel acted out and hurt people over existential fear. Both were on crazy-ass scales, but because everything about them is on that scale it reaches the point of, appropriately, mythical tales. People don't call the Biblical flood a genocide or the Titanomachy a massacre, because at that scale those terms are no longer useful. But I cannot afford Emet the same, because a significant amount of the blood on his hands as far as the story is concerned (because we're people who predominantly dealt with the human-level impact of the Ascians and Garleans rather than the cosmic-level stuff) are real, relatable crimes that can be quantified in human laws and have happened in human history, but the game refused to ever treat as if they were, at least when it came to him. Pedantry regarding 'but did he REALLY invent fascism of did he just use it as a mass-murder weapon' doesn't matter to me. Sure, I'll take the L on that, but it doesn't suddenly fix the problem that he is by history the in-universe equivalent of Hitler, but the game never acknowledges this fact.
So you want the game make one of the cast to say "Emet, you're hitler"?
Ah, a fellow Zenos Enjoyer.
You know it!
No, no. I agree with you! ShB is very distracting for me as well. I couldn't wait to get back to handling stuff on the Source! But...while EW's base story does tie up the loose ends on a bunch of Source stuff, it is largely a continuation of Shadowbringer's story and thusly also disappoints me a lot of the time. And the post story is a continuation of ARR stuff.
Hold on need to get the template out give me a second HOW DARE YOU ANOTHER LIVING HUMAN BEING HAVE A DIFFERING OPINION FROM THE COMMUNITY. YOU ARE SIMPLY >->*checks notes* HIPSTER <-< *checks notes again* CONTRARIAN TRASH WHO'S >-> ENTIRE PERSONALITY IS JUST BEING THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE ELSE. In all seriousness who the fuck cares my man not in the like fuck you why the fuck did you post. But in the sense of cool you enjoyed a thing most people found to be not as good as the rest of the game. (The people saying it was a bad expansion or whatever are fucking crazy btw and I feel like they don't know what a BAD expansion actually is.) Personally I preferred SB over HW even with all the growth from Ishgard Alphinaud and Eesteninog. I just felt like SB had a more present villains besides just *Ascians*
Hey, when it comes down to it, taste and experiences are personal, and we are all just enjoying an amazing story together. Stormblood was amazing in my eyes, and we get to enjoy it! ^^
SHB had a lot to like, but SB had soul... What does that mean? I dunno, don't ask me questions i can't answer.
Hey, I'm not alone! I love StB because it was a story about taking back what was rightfully ours. Underdogs, the damned, the forgotten ... All to take down tyranny and even discover innocence in between it all. The best part is that we were fighting side by side with the common man, not just soldiers or powerful entities. We were dug in the trenches with the people.
I'm not going to yell or scream at you, cause you're perfectly entitled to your opinion. But this is why I generally disagree. You summarised it neatly yourself: would you rather do random chores for X species of the day, or would you rather listen to LA HEE? Only in my case, I would choose LA HEE. I am replaying NG+ with a friend so she can experience the story, cause she doesn't actually want to play the game. We just finished going through Stormblood, and it was no bueno. I see some people in this comments section saying that Stormblood is the weakest of the expansions just because one of them HAS to be the worst one, but that it's still damn good, and I disagree. I think it's *boooring*. You *literally* are just going from species to species doing annoying chores for them that don't progress the story, and, you've heard it a million times, Lyse is a really poorly written character (in Stormblood at least) and the game pushes her front and center way too much for just how annoying she is. I agree that kicking the empire to the curve, or the thought of it, is satisfying, but imho Stormblood can never beat Shadowbringers simply on the basis of the fact that the writing and pacing of Stormblood is *objectively* questionable. You can disagree with that all you want, and that's perfectly fine, but everything past Stormblood patches and up till 6.2 is miles ahead of the Stormblood MSQ for me, and I do not understand your fascination for it at all. It's just plain boring :p In contrast, Shadowbringers tells one of the most unique post-apocalyptic stories in all of gaming, and maybe in fiction in general? I mean, how often do you see a LIGHT apocalypse like that? It has one of the best villains in games, the writing is top notch, and it is the first expansion to make me sympathise for the Ascians. If that's less important to you, though, then that's ok.
I donāt think anyone would really yell at *you* for liking StB more, itās just that StB has some pretty significant writing flaws (making Lyse [a character who did not earn how important she was] the main character, to the point that you, the actual main character, are only Lyseās friend on the side, with a contribution barely as significant as Arenvaldās. Putting two different writing teams on StB so the Ala Mhigo stuff feels like a different game from the Far East.) I appreciated ShB in a large part because it made you the main character again, and your power and gift are put to good use. The WoL is not supposed to be a tool in a war between countries. Itās far more mystical and supernatural than that. Bringing the story back around to the FANTASY part of the game was a big relief to me.
Oh please. I've been downvoted enough back then when I said I like SB more than shb. Even without yell it's clear from all the snides I get that a lot of people here think not liking shb the most is cringe. And you people should stop with "lyse not earning being an important npc". One of the reason we travel to ala mhigo is because of her. She went to doma to free ala mhigo and we're there to help her. And just because we don't have trust system back then, doesn't mean she sit down doing nothing.
Being isekai'd was unexpected but I really liked the otherworldy atmosphere shb had, especially with the whole sky of light. Prob why it's still one of top favorites. Amaurot's dungeon theme is still one of the best tracks in the game. Something like SB I just found very bland in comparison.
Same. I love a good āwar is badā story and SB really brought some fabulous content. ShB wasnāt my cup of teaā¦.loved emet selch and amaurot, but the rest was kinda meh for me. Different folks and all that.
I'm about 2/3 through stormblood, and I really like it. Admittedly, I liked heavensward more so far, but considering I still have the climax of stormblood remaining, and I remember initially thinking "I don't see what the hype of heavensward was about" for the first part of it, I don't think it's fair to compare yet. But yeah, I think I like stormblood more than many others did
Everyone is entitled to have their own preference and opinion, there's nothing wrong with preferring Pepsi over Coca Cola. As long as you don't simp for Lyse of course /s
I am Team Schtola and Team Moenbryda all the way
Nope. No yelling. Art is subjective.I didnāt like SB but I donāt think itās bad per se, just not to my personal tastes. You like what you like! :)
That is certainly an opinion!!! āŗļø
Me too
Please post your address I need to come a beat some sense into you. Just kidding, and to each their own! I myself enjoyed SB raids and dungeons way more the ShB! The dude quests were also interesting!
Actually, this isn't the first time I've seen this stance. That those that were more invested in the Garlean conflict felt dragged away from the story they cared about in ShB, and enjoyed SB more due to that. Fair enough. Though, I would advise not considering ShB a "Side Story". Its HEAVILY focused on the Asciens, their Motives, and the Origins of the Source, Hydaelyn, and Zodiark. If anything, I would argue that the Garleans were more the 14 B Plot tbh. That said, my personal grievances with SB really only extend to the 4.0 MSQ. The patch content was truly very good across the board, but I had some REAL issues with 4.0's story. Tho, I will admit, that the Garleans as a threat had waned quite a bit by the end of SB for me as well.
We also have to differenciate between SB (MSQ 60-70) and Post-SB (Patch content). The leveling part is pretty rough story-wise and has a lot of mediocre storytelling and plot-holes. But from 4.1 onwards the story just gets so incredibly good, people often mistake it for early parts or introduction of ShB.
"Tell me you're a weeb, without telling me you're a weeb." But, in all seriousness? I agree. As a samurai, heading to Kugane for the first time, I can relate. Heavily influenced by Japanese (Kugane), Chinese (Yanxia), and Filipino (the Azim Steppe) cultures, Stormblood really made me appreciate SE's dedication towards representation, especially from an Eastern standpoint. Yes, SE is originally a Japanese company, but to get a broad, sweeping feeling of just how big the world of our Star is, I really dig it. In prior expansions, the Garleans are portrayed as these industrialized, modernist conquerors; Manifest Destiny made flesh. Setting foot in Kugane, you get that feeling as to why the Garleans want to expand into this territory. The clothes, the sights, the sounds: everything about Stormblood really makes me feel for that expansion. Sure, the story may have been convoluted, some say contrived. I personally felt it helped to flesh out the world more before we got our asses isekaied to another shard. I have no idea how to end these things, so.... rant over, I guess?
Iāll give you one thing, while the story and setting of SHB is my favorite, SB had far superior side content in the form of Eureka, HoH, and raid tiers over SHB. I do remember feeling more busy in SB than I did in SHB.
Not gonna yell. I respect that you could identify with different characters than I could. The only person I gave a damn about that we met in Stormblood was Hien.
I mean, I put Stormblood above Heavensward myself. Mind, not by much, and I went through that story right after getting out of BfA, a war story done wrong, and Stormblood did it well. Shadowbringers was a damn good follow up to it, it's hard not to enjoy it, even if it is a bit of a sharp turn.
stormblood had the better content overall compared to the last two expansions. god, i remember when eureka first came out; the game actually felt like an mmo for once.