My FFXIV journey continues, and today, it’s time to report back after finishing The Heavensward 3.0 MSQ!
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0:00 Intro
0:28 Characters & Setup
5:09 Lore & Story
8:59 Overall Presentation
11:24 Narrative Construction
13:21 Gameplay
14:55 Heavensward vs A Realm Reborn
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I always assumed the voice actors got replaced because the original set had left at the end of 1.0 – and that what we saw of them in 2.x was just pre-recorded. There was a lot of time between 1.0 and when the game looked viable enough to start working on new content. But regardless yes – I liked the original Alphinauld voice actor and it took me a while to get used to his replacement (both of them are very talented). For the rest it was generally an upgrade.
I greatly look forward to the day when the YouTube Algorithm lets you guys fully focus on FFXIV, with some side videos on 'industry wide content' and toss all the WoW stuff into the trashbin where it belongs. 😉
If you are a Dragoon you meet Estinin at level 50, so you have a little moar connection, pretty cool.
“They can tell a worse story better.”
STORMBLOOD enters the chat
I just finished Heavensward, as well. FFXIV really grows on you as you play and progress through the story. I find myself longing to watch more cutscenes simply because they are more emotional and imperative to the storyline. I'm lvl 64 and I'm really loving this game.
iirc the firmament only unlocks after 3.3 anyways
I cried so much at the end of 3.3 lol. Glad to know you're still enjoying the game 🙂
@17:50 And this kind of thing is why there just isn't room to trim much more from the ARR 2.0 or 2.x experience. Worldbuilding for Ishgard and Heavensward began back at lv35, when you stepped into Coerthas Central Highlands and met Haurchefant. Worldbuilding for Ala Mhigo and Stormblood began back at lv25, when you met with Ala Mhigan refugees in Quarrymill and Southern Thanalan, and moreover during the slowest parts of 2.x helping the Domans refugees… all the Ul'dah politics in 2.x, the bits in 3.0, this is all story adding to Stormblood as well. And the seeds of Shadowbringers and Endwalker are being quietly planted in front of you as well. It's almost like they plan their game's story, imagine that!
Stormblood is OK but a bit more detached from "the big plot" than ARR, HW & ShB. Though it is by no means bad, just weaker from story perspective. All other aspects like dungeons, bosses, trials & raids are some of the best.
To Blizzard's "credit" they have started adding the player to cut scenes, it just doesn't work very well though because being called "champion" or "this champion" all the time feels weird. Ironically enough, "Maw Walker" worked much better when called it by the NPCs in Shadowlands because it's a title not a description, but the rest of the story kind of fell flat in that it's really every other main characters story and you are just along for the ride.
I listen to your video while fishing in FF14 🙂
Heavensward is a trip, but the remaining patch story you're still to go through is INCREDIBLE. You're not done yet, dude. ^_~
Can't wait till you get to 3.3.
Deal with Sylvannas while leveling would have worked and there is precedent for it working in WoW. The Lich King was integral to the story of WotLk and that's probably the last time WoW was anywhere near the level of FFXIV in terms of player experience and story telling.
Glad you enjoyed HW, SB isn't as bad as people make out. Tbh, I'm waiting for you to hit and complete ShB, I went in thinking "nah, HW was amazing, SB was so good, how can ShB be better than that?" and fucking hell, they beat themselves again and did it with such skill. If this were WoW I would be feeling like I'd just played Legion and dreading the inevitable bad expansion, but FFXIV just doesn't have it. ShB is a modern masterpiece, EW looks like it might finally put FFXIV up there with the audience and recognition it deserves.
It’s the X.3 patches that are the end of a expansion and the ones after set up the next expansion usually
at 13:45 theres sort of an anomalous skip in the video and narration, anyone else see that.
Good video! Seeing that gshade filter feels so weird to me though. I feel like most people that use gshade are really downgrading the games aesthetic. Felt so weird to me hearing him say that wows graphics are "timeless" when personally I always hated warcraft's artstyle, even when I was more into their game like during Warcraft 1, 2 and 3. To each their own though!
I.dib.blius
The little aside about WoW getting more realistic emotes and putting the player into the cutscenes cannot be understated. Like he said at the end, WoW absolutely never has your character feel like they are a part of the stories. It’s all their own characters, but the character you play is just an observer all the time and never actually feels like they make an impact. They really need to work to make the player character the main character, instead of their own characters.
I honestly believe WoW would benefit more from scrapping these big world ending plots and go back to Azeroth and just focus on dealing with the issues between the various groups that live there and how they are dealing with the aftermath of Sargeras and BfA, get back to the Alliance & Horde territorial conflicts and settle that stuff before moving on to the next big bad.
And either have npc's recognize the players achievements or have them simply refer to them as Adventurer or as General considering that was the rank we got in WoD and keep it consistent.
SB brought A LOT to the table. Weaker on main story but huge on side story, subsequent patches, world building, combat, systems and designs.
Apart from graphics, FF14 does not amuze me in the same way a lot of people were amuzed because that's what I expect from Final Fantasy games, I haven't played all, but most of them, and almost all begins slow (I mean story wise, ignoring 1.0 gameplay) and ramp up in quality and size. I loved FF14, I don't share the same surprise everyone does because this quality in lore is a staple for SQE
the editors note is the best thing in the video LOL
oh man, that editors note was fantastic haha!
FF14 characters aren’t like WoW, we get an expansion interact with them, then never see them again. Lol
Lmao at "Redacted Shadowlands Spoilers" on the screenshot of Sakaguchi playing Shadowbringers
Please, don't pay attention to the stormblood hate. It's been around so long and I've never understood it. Stormblood is AMAZING. IMO personally it's just better than HW through and through, and I ADORE heavensward. I feel like it's just one of those bizarre things that started getting planted in people's heads then they started believing it despite everything, probably due to something like extreme rose-tinted goggles already for HW considering how monumental it was compared to ARR, as well as how monumental Shadowbringers is compared to Stormblood, but I still wholeheartedly believe Stormblood is a step up from HW even if it's not as extreme as the other expansion upticks.
The last song playing in the vid… what version of bozja is that? Its not the battle theme or the field theme exactly, is it a remix?
You are doing what Marmot could have been had he not been coopted. You are a Gamer who is able to intellectually analyse things like he was, but built you own business. Lore ended up joining Blizard, and he disappered into the black morass. It looks like you are going to be around to stay too with the ability to swing from good game to good game. I plan on being around to see you swing over to the next game, because things change.
Damn you finished 3.0 already? Talk about a binge run lmao. Glad you're enjoying it.
Just think about leaving off after the dinner and having to wait half a year for any sort of answer.
I overall like the content of the video though I feel the BGM choice is a little too chaotic overall, especially as the song itself has Lyrics and is an 'action' song which doesn't mesh too well with a talky video.
So generally in FF, X.0 – X.3 patches are all part of the same story. x.4 – x.0 are part of the next story.
So 2.0 – 2.3 is really all of the "A Realm Reborn" storyline. 2.4 – 3.3 is all part of Heavensward's story including the prologue which was in 2.4 – 2.55. 3.4 – 3.55 is then the prologue for Stormblood, with 4.0 – 4.3 being the full Stormblood story. Then 4.4 – 4.55 being the prologue to Shadowbringers, and 5.0 – 5.3 being the full Shadowbringers story.
Blizzard lost their DM's and primary players when he OG's brain drained as the prom kings of business moved in. Now the prom kings are all about the MONEY, and I left as I saw the writting on the wall… Whoever is behind the Final Fantasy plotline is a prime asset they need to keep, even if Gollum is kept in a basement that they throw fresh meat into once in a while to keep things live and wriggling.
Kept wondering why you were thanking business unit 3, thinking aren’t they just the film devision of square? Did not know business devision 5 was merged into it.
I mean, this is precisely why I never understood WoW's popularity. This is all cool and new for you and I'm happy, but as someone who played FF11 for 10+ years (and now 14 as well) it's standard fare; That is, FF11 set very high standards that 14 has mostly (I have issues with the game in some areas and it's a different kind of MMO altogether) kept up with or even exceeded in some cases, such as accessibility and streamlined combat etc.
It's also why I laugh at other FF fans who cite any of the offline games as their favorites. Yeah this is me being a bit smug I won't lie, but 11 and 14 really are just the cream of the crop and for damned good reason. Looking forward to streaming Endwalker in 3 weeks time, and then 11's 20th anniversary is in May <3
Once again, Glad you're enjoying yourself man.
Something I'd hoped you mention was flying. I hated the way you unlock flying in new Wow zones with long achievement goals. The FF14 way that they started in HW feels so much better to unlock.
No one gonna notice that note from the editor? That was freakin hilarious cuz we know its true 😂😂
17:07 LMAO