FF14 First Impressions of Shadowbringers
I’ve played WoW for over 15 years but given the state of WoW right now and the lack of content, some of my friends convinced me to try FF14. So I’ve been documenting my FFXIV first impressions, showing my journey through FF14 and giving my feedback along the way.
Throughout I will be comparing FF14 to WoW and references the differences between the two. Obviously, I do have some bias, but I will try and keep an open mind all the way. This will contain spoilers for FFXIV Shadowbringers, areas, character and main story and will also discuss optional content along the way.
I’d love to know your thoughts on Shadowbringers, what were your first impressions and how did it compare to the other ff14 expansions? The theme, tone and story is perfect for me and I’m absolutely loving it, but I’d love to hear everyone elses thoughts on this expansion!
Catch us live on twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/medievalmarty
Or join our amazing discord community:
https://discord.gg/a5bU6VsUqy
FF14 First Impressions Playthrough (ARR Complete):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiLzc…
FFXIV First Impressions Playthrough (Heavensward Complete):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtdVd…
0:00 Intro
4:40 The Crystarium and Ardbert
6:05 Alisae Story – WOW!
7:45 Alphinaud Story
10:40 First Shadowbringers Dungeon
14:40 Eurika is FUN!?
17:50 Shadowbringers Characters
19:40 First Shadowbringers Trial
23:50 Outro and First Impressions
source
Thanks everyone for watching this video! Feels so good to be in Shadowbringers, absolutely loving the story so far!!
Subscribe to the channel to see the rest of this series, or come follow on twitch to watch live: twitch.tv/medievalmarty
The trust NPCs will comment about stuff all through the zone. For Tesleen for example, Alisaie will actually comment on it as you approach! A little bit of extra immersion by using the trusts because of this, but to be honest… this is the only zone I did with the trusts first. I just enjoy having real people, even if the trust system is pretty decent. You can always come back with them though.
For more information regarding Titania, you need to do the side quests in Il Mheg, and there will be a beast tribe in the area that also gives you more lore about her and the area.
First thing I wanna say: Titania's 'they' not 'she'. All of the pixies are 'they' including the Fairy King Titania. Please get their pronouns right. It's not hard. It's really not.
Aside from that… I am really glad you're enjoying Shadowbringers. I will say it's weird to hear you praise Shadowbringers for things they also did in Stormblood… especially when you criticized Stormblood because of the same things.
To an extent, Stormblood is to Shadowbringers what ARR was to Heavensward – an experiment in storytelling. ARR was an experiment in linear, character-driven storywriting, while Heavensward took those same ideas and styles and learned from the lessons – the mistakes – they made in ARR. Stormblood was an experiment in non-linear, more world-driven storytelling… while Shadowbringers learns from the lessons they made in Stormblood and does the same type of story, just without the same stumbles.
As to Urianger, that's how he is supposed to come across. He's the passionate nerdy friend in a group – the one that, when he gets going about his passions, speaks over everyone's heads and occasionally needs to be reminded there are people without his extensive education present. You're supposed to listen to him and have to take a second to re-read what he says to understand the full context of what he's said. The fact that he's a bit confusing and comes across as verbose means he was written excellently.
If you want more about the OG Titania, unlock the Pixie beast tribe questline.
That moment when you bring night back to Lakeland hit me the same way – it was just such a powerful moment. <3
You learn a lot more on titania in one of the beastribe later on
Welcome to Shadowbringers!! When I first played, lockdown was starting to take a toll and this expansion helped me get throught the worst of it.
You get used to Urianger's Shakespearean dialogue, but maybe that's just me cuz I like that sort of speech in fantasy games.
Nastuko Ishikawa is the writer! She wrote the 1-50 alchemist quests, the rogues quests, the Binding Coils, the Crystal Tower, parts of ARR & HW. She wrote about the Azim Steppes and the Omega raids. She wrote ALL of the Dark Knight quests.
When it was revealed she was the head writer for Shadowbringers, there was a STANDING ovation, with her crying.
Something to note, she tends to sprinkle in breadcrumbs of some really big lore early on. Some are very obvious when learning about it later.
The OST is great!! This is the first time Soken took over as the main composer! He killed it!
Both will continue to do so for Endwalker!!
P.S. if you get all your jobs to level 80 (excluding Blue Mage) you get an amaro mount!
How is Stormblood Disney-esque if its about war, occupation, death and subjugation?
And you said that ShadowBringers is different and doesnt have linear story telling because each zone had its own story then you compare it to the Azem Steppe because it had its own story. Meanwhile, every zone in Stormblood, Heavensward and the three city states of ARR have their own story and all of them, including ShadowBringers have a linear story thats woven together by the story of each zone.
I dont think you understood what was happening in Stormblood or you need to read and edit your script before recording because none of that was true nor did it make sense
Ishikawa always gets a standing ovation at fanfests. She wrote not only Shadowbringers MSQ, but the Rogue and Dark Night job quests too. Soken is just a musical god.
I suspect you do not enjoy Stormblood because you see it as an contained story. It pays off in a way in 5.x.
If you like the writing in ShadowBringers, I will say, we know that the same head writer is helming End Walker; so we’re all looking forward to this next expansion
Welcome to current content! It's been absolutely wonderful to watch your journey from way back in ARR to now. You can bet that Shadowbringers will take you on an adventure.
T-Rex: My friends and I have had the same issue with the lockpick inside Eureka Amenos. For whatever reason she doesn't drop the T-rex horn. I got mine and several others from the lockpick NPC on the docks of Kugane. My friends had the same experience. Not quite sure why.
Titania: If you're interested in a bit more story on her follow the Pixie Beastman tribe quests from there. They also give a TON of exp as an alternative way of leveling up other jobs as well as tokens you can use to buy stuff.
I was the same way with Urianger, his way of speaking always got on my nerves and I just never liked interacting with him. Shadowbringers was the expansion that changed how I feel about him, he went from one of my least favourite characters to my of my favourites. You really start to look at him differently when you spend an extended period with him and realize that he is actually a HUGE dork.
You should do the pixie beast tribe quests when you finish with Shadowbringers.
Marty, you can know more about the il mheg lightwarden if you do the tribe quests of the pixies, and you help her.
if you like Eureka then Bozja will be right up your alley. Issue is EW is just a few weeks away and Bozja will most likely be less populated. But if you have time, spend a day or 2 to unlock Bozja, and eventually try out all the skirmishes, Castrum, Zadnor, etc…
Ranjit is an odd villain. You are right he does not fit, not in your story as the WoL. So keep that in mind, he is not your antagonist.
First Urianger, I just imagine that every time he talks all the characters just smile, nod, and pretend like they know what he is saying. It makes me feel better because I have to read most of his lines a couple of times to comprehend what he is talking about.
A tip for turning in items. Instead of hunting through your inventory for stuff to drag and drop try this. Right click the box you drag to and click the item from the drop down. You are welcome.
Natsuko Ishikawa is the main writer for the main MSQ of Shadowbringers, along with the DRK storyline. She was also the head writer for the Doman side of Stormblood, which included the Azim Steppes. Doma's story was, by far, the best part of Stormblood. She absolutely knocked it out of the park with Shadowbringers.
I can't wait to see what she has in store for Endwalker.
Omg this is finally here I've been waiting for you to get the shadowbringers and then talk about it for agessss <3!!! FEELSBRINGERS WE'RE HEREEE.
When does it takes a turn you don't like? LOL, he doesn't know… he really doesn't know.
That intro was fucking genius.
Here's a fun bit of mindscrew trivia: Titania and Y'shtola have the same voice actor.
The Trust system is great for people like me who dont like to feel rushed and want to explore the whole dungeon content. Also it flows better that your comrades would join you to take out the monsters than the story broken up by queueing in and waiting until a bunch of others kill everything and then they show up after. So I love it ….is it for you? Not sure. You have a great group of ppl you are happy to play with so you may not feel like youre missing anything by not using it.
Hey Marty wanted to leave you a comment about Eureka, which I also loved doing. If you haven't already go and buy yourself a Kirin's Osode. It's a piece of equipment you get for completing the final raid of Eureka and severely boosts your power while inside all 4 Eureka zones (elemental Bonus and haste). You don't buy the Kirin's Osode directly you buy a 'Cryptic Seal' off the marketboard and trade them to an NPC in Kugane on Pier 1 (Nostalgic Fellow). You need 2 Cryptic Seals for a Kirin's Osode and it will really help you out. Also look into utilizing macros to change your Elemental wheel to match you're fighting. If you want to do more damage you can make a macro for /magiaattack and it will swap your element to the opposite of the current target. If you want to survive more you can utilize /magiadefense, but typically you'll just want to use the /magiaattack bonus.
Eureka is a great grind and rewards some awesome glamour options as well as tons of gil making opportunities. Have fun in there, and good luck getting the mounts!
You learn a bit more about Titania in the beast tribe quest