My FULL review of Shadowbringers.
00:00 – Intro
00:55 – Main MSQ 5.0
03:31 – The Patches
07:03 – Gameplay and Side Content
09:53 – Summary
10:40 – Outro
11:30 – Bonus Message from Me
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This was absolutely MORE than everyone hyped it up to be.
Many nights you came in crying, or so excited to talk about what came next
Honestly? I don't know. I enjoyed a lot of ShB; but I wouldn't call it the best. Now a lot of this comes from my perspective of joining the game pretty much at the end of HW patches; leading into the build up for SB, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm mostly gonna ramble on about gameplay stuff; and its a me thing, I'm not gonna claim to speak for anyone else on this one. lol
I think; from a gameplay stand-point, ShB had a ton of issues that never really gelled well with me. SB gets a bad wrap from a lot of players (some for decent reasons, like pacing, and some from people with an uncomfortably unhealthy hatred of Lyse lol), but the game really came into its own by the time it came out. Between dungeons becoming better, stats being streamlined, jobs being adjusted, the speed of the game going up, and tons upon tons of QoL fixes. . . it was fantastic. Not to mention the 4.X stories and raids are some of the best I have played in any MMO. This was also the time I started learning SCH (which in itself lost some complexity from HW, but was still super fun); and I really think job changes were mostly great.
Fast-forward to ShB; and a lot of hype in those lead-up patches. A great plot; with some not so great villains carried by one of the game's best, but great dungeons and good fights. But what really hurt was some of the changes. Healers got their kits pretty gutted; with the devs putting huge emphasis on the "healers should only have 1-attack" button strat. That one REALLY hurt my SCH; considering just how much of their identity revolved around DoTs, and having access to multiple ways of spending aetherflow outside of Energy Drain. . . which they took out and patched back in, after the backlash from SCH players running low on MP halfway through any fight. But regardless of that; I think the raids were ok. Story-wise I loved the Werlyt and Eden raids; even if I think the fights themselves are kinda just ok at best (leagues above Alexander/Coils, Crystal Tower/Void Ark).
I think what ShB did best is set up for one hell of a finale in EW. I know a lot of people throw out that line of "ShB is good as a stand-alone"; but I kind of feel like if I didn't enjoy the characters from the Source enough to get invested in say: Thancred's evolution from hotshot ladies man to Dadcred, I'd be way less invested in his growth and relationship to Ryne. Same goes for Y'shtola and that catman from the first; knowing how badly she destroyed our "little sun", her having any actual romantic subplot is immensely more satisfying. I could go on about Alisae and Go Bu, or even the Crystal Tower connection to cat-fan-boy; but I think my point is the other expansions make ShB "one of the best" in my eyes, and without them I'd like it a lot less.
That all being said; i don't think I can put any one expansion as the best, as they all had things I'd knock points off from their grades that the others kind of fix or make worse. ARR is a clunky mess cobbled together from the remains of a failed game, that in retrospect still has a better than most MMO story out there currently. HW is a wonderful story but it has some of the roughest designed content and had some terrible design decisions for jobs (bow mage and having to drop like 20 levels to play new ones lol). SB has some of the best QoL changes in the game's history, but its pacing and the feeling that they put way too much effort into the Othard side of the story hurts the experience. ShB has a unique isekai-ish tale and some huge story moments, but walked back a lot of what I enjoyed from SB content-wise. And now EW; which isn't even done, but has a satisfying end point for the game.
TL;DR I can tell ya SB is my favorite; but I don't think I could tell you with my bias which is the best expansion. They just all have things I like and dislike enough for me to like them mostly evenly lol
Shadowbringers has to be my second favorite expansion as of now since EW is my first (in terms of the x.0 patch for now since we still have the patches left for EW), though we can save that for an EW video. ShB was just phenomenal in its story telling. Something I loved a lot was the eerie setting where this story took place, you didn't know what to expect at all. The zones had this beautiful eerie feeling about them, the OST's for these zones specifically making them even better such as Kholusia, Lakeland, Ahm Areng, and the Tempest. I also appreciate the high fantasy zones that were in this xpac that one mainly goes to Ilh Mheg but as well as the shrouded sky full of light making each zone look so mesmerizing. The trials were fun and amazing to play through and felt like they had a purpose which was to take down the lightwardens whereas in SB, for example Lakshmi, although a great trial, just felt like a side task just for us to do something around that level. The trials in ShB all had one purpose and lead to the end goal of the story which was really well done. The characters were also handled very well, we had this new cast of characters that we knew nothing about and then by the end of 5.3 you realize how connected you were with each of them. Heck even Tesleen who we only knew for a few minutes left a great impression on me. The only thing that I did not find as memorable were a few of the dungeons such as Dohn Mheg, Qitana Ravel, Malikah's Well, The Grand Cosmos, and Anamnesis Anyder. They were fun in their own right, but just didn't really leave that much of an impression for me.
Now the side content is amazing as well. Eden's story was beautifully crafted and added more lore to the Ascians as well as the First, the fights themselves were super fun and I love how even though we fought similar bosses as those of ARR, they still were completely different and challenging. Werlyt I absolutely loved the story and it broke me in the end, I loved the character development Gaius got in that short amount of time spent with him, and the fights themselves were fun and challenging as well, they for sure left an impression on me. The Nier raids, the story didn't really capture my attention cause like you I never played any Nier game at the time. But the alliance raids and glams themselves were amazing, the raids themselves were super fun and had great boss encounters, the glams are an absolute must have as they are so elegant and make you look like a badass. So I do recommend doing the Nier raids whenever you get to it as they are for sure worth it for the raids and glams alone.
Overall a really amazing expansion that is high up on my list and is what made FFXIV my most favorite game of all time. It was a blast to be with you on that journey. I may not comment a lot on your videos or chat in your live streams but I do tune in here and there and always look forward to your next videos! Have a lovely day! :3
I like the Shadowbringers expansion best so far. I recommend you play Neir Automata (all playthroughs) before playing the Yorha Dark Apocalyse.
Shadowbringers set the new bar that Heavensward set and Stormblood came short of.
The Post Amarout Dungeon Cutscene Leading into The Dying Gasp was breathtaking and was so damn hype!
5.3 was a great conclusion, especially with the Emmi cameo during the Elli fight.
And then…there was the set-up and HYPE for Endwalker, which was a totally different experience for me as I was done with 5.5 well before Endwalker launch. So the wait was intense, with my main question being could Endwalker atleast match the bar Shadowbringers set? Needless to say, Endwalker not only matched it, but imo, topped Shadowbringers in almost every way, but that doubt and worry was there because of how excellent Shadowbringers was.
NieR on its own is a fantastic DARK fantasy sci-if epic. It also has the most eccentric writer/director in video game history, someone who likes to retro-retcon his own timelines in making his narrative. Sadly……the NieR in Shadowbringers are just an advertisement for that franchise. Yes, these raids are (or will be via retcon) canon to NieR. As far as canon and lore to FFXIV? It involves some dwarves from Kholuscia and that’s it. The raids are okay in terms of PvE content and a look into what NieR presents, but there is zero stakes and zero world-building to them. Easily the worst part of Shadowbringers but not altogether terrible. The devs understand they messed up with it and promise original XIV-based lore in Endwalker’s 24 man raids.
It helps that it's a game grounded in reality, treated with it's due respect, and handled realistically instead of "POOF! A WIZARD DID IT!"
And they continued that on into Endwalker, I feel. Personally really like the writing and musical teams FFXIV has, and am Optimistic for what 6.1-7.0 and beyond will bring.
a striking non-game-related moment for me was the minute Soken revealed he had been doing his work from the hospital while fighting cancer, and ALL you saw in Party Finder descriptions were "WELCOME BACK SOKEN" on top of the fact it made some of the core staff on stage at that time cry shows just how much they all care for the others well being, and I feel like that all shows in the quality of the game they put out.
Yoshi-P is on record for saying that the biggest thing he missed from the physical fan fest during the digital one is the actual personal interaction with the players and fans. To me that also speaks volumes that he missed getting to spend time in person with the community, hearing everyone's reactions and feedback to the stuff they had been working on.
This is all on top of the high quality game we get. Is it perfect? No. There are things I would change for sure, but it nails so much of the other stuff that it's more than worth the sub every month, even when on the waiting bus.
Excellent, looking forward to you experiencing the remaining Role Quests for more back story on Ardbert and his companions, I really enjoyed them
I'm glad you got to enjoy Shadowbringers so much. Been having a blast watching your Endwalker journey, too. I think you'll have a hard time deciding which expansion ends up being the best 😅❤
I can't wait until you review EW. I'm still in the boat of Heavensward > Shadowbringers… but just barely. HW hit so many heart strings that I am hard pressed to say any ex-pack is better than HW. That said I'm a EW > HW > ShB > StB > ARR > ingrown toenail > ARR post patches.