FF14 after 15 Years of WoW – WoW Player Tries FFXIV Stormblood
I’d love to know your thoughts on Stormblood 4.0:
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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 FF14 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 Stormblood and anything before. This contains heavy spoilers for the ending of 4.0 and the main characters and events
I’d love to know how you feel about 4.0 and especially zenos lease and the differences between Ala Mhigo and Doma. This expansion was definitely a love hate relationship, I loved Doma, but really struggled to enjoy Ala Mhigo!
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
2:05 Ananta Beast Tribe and Emanation
4:15 Master Of Birds
6:40 Castrum Abania
9:30 Fordola Was Great
13:10 Shrinyu WOW
16:00 My Thoughts on 4.0
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I think the ultimate problem with Stormblood is that it should have been two expansions not one. Ala Mhigo suffers because its has been boiled down to fit as bookends while doma had the lion share screentime and arguably coud have easily been further developed.
Ala Mhigo had the potential to be phenomenal but it was boiled down to basic due to scope and at best feels rushed at worst tacked on.
Though I wish I could say I didn’t, I totally skipped a ton of stormblood. Didn’t like it at all. In hindsight I do wish I had drudged through it.
I think I really liked the characters in SB rather than the actual storyline in this expansion. They made up for it.
The patches after made up for it as well. Dealing with the aftermath and the raids! The raids are really good! You learn some very interesting things!
Also finish up the all side quests cuz of the emotional payoff in ShB.
I don't really care if someone like or dislike Stormblood or, to be honnest, anything. Oppinion are a very special thing and really personnal. But I think you had such a bad feeling about Ala Mihgo right at the start that you cut it of the rest despite it really being connected with everything else. The extention is to blame for some part because it doesn't really make it clear. For exemple, you speak about Shinryu and Omega. Well one of the reason behind trying to reach Gyr Abania is trying to find out about these two (and in fact… some things are said about it, but not really in the main scenario : writing to blame here). But to reach Gyr Abania, you have to confront the Empire. And for that you have to shake their stability. The first part of Ala Mihgo is just for that : see by yourself that this time, just rush and try to free the country won't make it. And, the solution is to divide their force by going to Doma and make a big boom. Because, thanks to Shinryu and Ilbert things, Garlemald have their eyes mostly on the Eorzean front, not Othard. For me, the big problem with stormblood main quest (it gets really better during the patch content) is not the story in itself, but more the fact that some connection are not made and it's more of a political extention then Henvensward. It's more about "Is it right to destabilize a country for another ?" "Have I to kill people from my own country to free the others ?". Lyse is not best written, i will agree, and Zenos is weird. But the theme of their internal battle are more… ethical in some ways. For lyse, a lot is about honor and what is the heritage of all the blood her father have on his hand. And for Zenos, about what can motivate someone that have already averything, what can be a challenge when everything and everyone is already under you at the point you can kill them and don't fear anything ? Well, sorry, too much rambling. In fact, everything I said don't change the main problem : the extention have a problem in the writing and explaining what is really put on the table ahah
You pretty much share my opinion of Stormblood, with the exception of disliking Zenos. I really like him because his lack of care and only focusing on one thing really resonate with me.
I personally loved Stormblood but you have some very valid points. There's a real problem with the pacing and Doma / Ala Mhigo feel very disjointed.
With that being said, Stormblood was the first expansion I could do on release and playing with my best friend had me gather some great memories. Being a huge fan of FF6, hearing Cyan's Theme when first meeting Hien or fighting bosses from my childhood in Castrum Abania was pure bliss. I found the musics to be on par with Heavensward and Stormblood's zones and fights are among my favourites in the whole game.
Still watched the end of your vid though and your honesty is refreshing. I'd rather hear you rant with sincere disappointment than lying about liking the story just to stay positive. I hope the raids and patch story will redeem the expansion in your eyes.
I think the reason why Ala mhigo part of the story is so weak compare to Doman part is bc Natsuko Ishikawa is the one that wrote the Doman half aka the writer who writes Crystal tower , Rogue and DRK story quest also the best Expansion Shadowbringer also upcoming Endwalker
main part of the reason why me and many other don't mind stormblood that much like "It was ok" if u will is mostly bc post patch which is sooooooo GOOD
Not saying they are racist, but you can tell they cared more about Doma's portion than Ala Mhigo because it was closer to their culture. Even the au'ra tribes (which have a japanese-inspired subrace) have more fleshed out and interesting character than the Ala Mhigans. It's kinda a shame because they used all their good ideas on that and not the other region. Lyse is a nothing character. She doubts herself and people just cheer her up instead of her just growing herself. I love Zenos because I love Sephiroth, ironically. I like a guy with a big sword, that is powerful, and just doesn't get his shit together unless someone stronger than him comes around. It's just cool to me xD I knew you wouldn't like him lol Lyse should have been like Fordola or we should have got Fordola. Lyse kept taking the moral high ground and being "the right way" while Fordola is treated like she's the devil. I'm told about Lyse and Ida, but I SEE Fordola's story, I FEEL her pain, I CARE that she ended up where she is. Lyse should have been deleted or been given her story.
Stormblood was made for me with the Azim Steppe and Zenos. I didn't care about Lyse or the Ala Mhigans. Hell, I wanted to become friends with Zenos after he reached out because he wasn't boring. He was important, way more important than Lyse. Only time I cared for Ala Mhigo was when I remembered Raubahn deserved his homeland back. Lyse wasn't on my mind and I'm glad I don't see her again (for a while).
To answer your question about ff14 lead writers, here ya go:
The ARR and HW writer was Kazutoyo Maehiro. He left FF14 to be the head writer of ff16 after HW. For stormblood, they split up the duties between Natsuko Ishikawa and Banri Oda. Ishikawa is credited with writing the Coils and Omega raid along with the Dark Knight and Rogue quest. Oda has been basically the main lore guy since the beginning. Ishikawa wrote the story for Doma while Oda wrote the story for Ala Mhigo. The lack of pacing and lack of emotional connection that many players feel with that half of stormblood, i think, can be attributed to that as Oda seems to be a lot more interested in themes than character development and building an emotional connection (or just might not have the skill to do so).
Ishikawa is the main writer for Shadowbringers and Endwalker
Stormblood may have been marred by the Ala Mhigo story but the 4.X patches are a considerable improvement and when you start to "throw wide the gates" you'll know that you've reached the start of a climb to the highest peaks in FFXIV thus far.
Also thanks to your constant mentions of fishing I finally got around to levelling that class to 80, it had been sitting at 63 for the past 4 years.
I wasn't a fan of Zenos for a while either, but he grows on you. He's literally just there for the good fights. A fightsexual, even.
Minor correction, though: he wasn't controlling Shinryu until he let him out of the allagan cage, Baelsar's wall was all Ilberd.
they really killed off Yda and Papalymo just so we could be bored out of our minds with Lyse and Ala Mhigo 🥱 also i think Zenos’ disinterest is what makes him a good character in future storylines
Out of all of the expansions, you could say Ala mhigo was your Lyse favorite area. Glad you made it this far and some of the 4.x is amazing stuff but yeah…. Shawdowbringers knocks everything out the park.
The lochs is such a great area, its ost are so great tho !
Then now, prepare yourself for the story te become and more great !
It's okay to not like parts of Stormblood, I didn't like Ala migho too =p Except Fordola, I knew from start that she would be interesting !
Yeah, I feel the same about Stormblood. The patch content really is the best, most memorable part aside from The Azim Steppe. The dungeons and trials are the main highlight of the expansion for me. It's just unfortunate that it's a pretty mediocre story sandwiched between Heavensward and Shadowbringers. While it's an okay expansion/story it just gets weaker when you consider what came before and after it. I can't wait to see you get through the patches and eventually ShB!
Stormblood 4.0 suffered a lot from Split storylines, there’s a clear division between Doma and Ala Mhigo, when there realistically should not have been. Yes Doma is an entire continent away from Ala Mhigo, but there’s Narative tricks to interconnect these stories more meaningfully. Stormblood is a fantastic expansion AS A WHOLE, and FOR A SPECIFIC TYPE OF PERSON. 4.0 cannot hold up without the patch stories, and the patch stories are only really interesting for people who like Political Intrigue. It feels like Square decided to let Stormblood suffer, so that future expansions can flourish. Stormblood’s story is not for everyone but it sets up alot going forward so it’s worth paying attention to
No, The Royal Menagerie is not the best trial in the game.. period; also stop apologizing about Stormblood sucking, its general opinion that Stormblood story took a hit but Shadowbringers makes the suffering through Stormblood so worth it.
My thoughts on Stormblood are pretty similar to others'. Doma was great, though even some parts there dragged on for me. The Azim Stepp was awesome. I appreciated making Lyse grow as character, though she still can be annoying. I did like the environment look of places in Ala Mhigo mostly because they were reminiscent of FFXI actually. (Bastok and Sauromugue Champaign in particular) Which really made me nostalgic, so there is some bias there haha. Definitely post patch content is where its at as they build up everything for Shadowbringers. I think that content will further develop how you feel about all the characters. For me order of favorite expansion to least favorite would be Shadowbringers > Heavensward > Stormblood > ARR (and really only post ARR because I've just been through ARR so many times, its such a slog for me.)
All in all, I appreciate your opinions whether agreeable or not! I can't wait for you get into the Shadowbringers content!
I also had a hard time caring about the Ala Mhigan part of the game… I liked that Lyse was taking initiative and not beholden to her guise as [redacted] anymore, but she was one half of an act that just felt naked without someone to play off of.
I know I'm a fekkin' weeb, so of COURSE Kugane and the Doma stuff hit me. Also, because Doma is a place in FF6 and the music there is from FF6 and…. Ahem.
The Artificial Echo is a very interesting plot point.
It's already been noted before, but SB had two writers – one for the Ala Mhigan content, one for the Doman front. I think they should have worked together at points to make things more interesting.
Yotsuyu and Fordola certainly do make interesting adversaries… both of them are fueled by hatred and wanting to put one over on others, just by… different means.
man i hope you can learn to appreciate zenos as time goes on. i really love what he brings
Don't worry Marty. Nobody cared about Ala Mhigo.
Zenos is a blood knight, he is always up for the big fight. You're his big fight. Zenos isn't really the main villain of Stormblood, he's… a supporting villain I'd say. Fordola and Yotsuyu and XXX are the main villains of Stormblood. Zenos… is…. well, you'll see.
I hope you'll continue to 4.3 first before starting the Ivalice Raid. On the other hands, Ivalice raid is the best raid so far in FF14 for me. I love the story, the themes, the boss mechanics, the song, and the whole raids.
Stormblood was a dividing expansion in the FF14 community. It is better than A Realm reborn by a huge margin, but eclipsed by the impactful story of Heavensward. The Doma-part feel so natural, progressing all the Doma-part is fun and indeed they have a great protagonist in Hien and Gosetsu, thus providing a great antagonist in terms of Yotsuyu. On the other hand, the Ala Mhigo-part feels stretched. It seems we can cut half of the MSQ and it doesn't impact anything. Fordola is a great antagonist, but unlike Yotsuyu, she is not the central antagonist in Ala Mhigo-part. It would be better if we put away Zenos and give Fordola more "power" and role in the Ala Mhigo-part. Not mentioning that Lyse character as the major protagonist in Ala-Mhigo-part is really weak, unlike Pipin and Raubahn. We should see her character growth within the Stormblood story, but the writer fail to do justice for Lyse.
Just FYI, the head writer of Doma-part is Natsuko Ishikawa (the head writer of Shadowbringers) and the head writer of Ala Mhigo-part is Banri Oda (the lore guru of FF14, he is the one that make sure that everything in FF14 is accroding to the lore). It seems that Natsuko is a better story maker than Banri. The head writer of ARR and HW moved to FF 16 team, so Yoshi-P need to find new head writer. It seems that Yoshi-P also heard the feedback about Stormblood story, so he give Natsuko Ishikawa full role in SHadowbringers and it will be continued in Endwalker.
Stormblood is not a story about us, it is a story about our world where we are there to help and become a hero of their own story. Because of this kind of storytelling, the accompanied protagonist must be good enough to carry the whole story. Doma feels good because Hien is a really good protagonist. Lyse is not a good protagonist, even though she is provided with a good antagonist (Fordola). In order to defeat the Garlean, Hien must do the unthinkable, uniting war-thirsty nomadic tribes and gaining respect from pirates. He even have to flood down the castle and willingly to sacrifice things, just to get Doma freedom. Lyse is not like Hien, she relied too much from her comrades. If not by Raubahn and Alphinaud help, the alliance of Eorzea will not help her fight. Hien and his Doman army also help because of us, not Lyse. In this kind of storytelling, Lyse is just a side character that given a huge role. No wonder that people are not attached to her and feels unsympathetic.
Stormblood ending doesn't hit the marks because we end the story with less impactful part of the whole story.
Zenos is also a weird villain. He is just a simple one dimensional chaotic evil. A normal type villain for "old Final Fantasy" story. A villain that just want to destroy the world for fun, a blank canvas for further story. It would be great if Zenos was introduced in Stormblood but not as the main villain. He can act as a supporting villain (but could be expanded as bigger role villain in future expansion) and put Fordola (or Yotsuyu) as the main villain of Stormblood. Put him as the main villain make the expansion feels pale in comparison, because we just had great villains in terms of: Gaius van Baelsar, Teledji Adeleji, Slooopeeehhh, and Nidhogg.
ARR<STORMBLOOD<HEAVENSWARD<SHADOWBRINGERS
a bit of opposite opinion from me on this one. I hated Fordolla, though not as much after I got into post-SB. I found Shinryu fight pretty mediocre, it was cool, but rather easy, which didn't keep me engaged. I do expect better on extreme though, like many other trials.
Ala Mhigo after Kugane feels like the devs realized how uninteresting Ala Mhigo pre-Kugane was and decided to speed run the pace lol. "No more talking we LIBERATING this place". Odd, but alright.
Expect a lot in the next patches. I really like the story SB brings after 4.0, definitely a lot better
He's so close to starting shadowbringers, he'll probably finish it within like 2 days for how good it is
Don't feel bad about not liking Stormblood – your points are pretty much the same as how I felt when I went through them a few years ago as well. Don't worry though, the story goes 10000% better once you get past the whole STB era
I'm sorry you didn't like Stormblood as much! Personally, I liked it a bit more than HW, and a LOT more than ARR, and Zenos is my favorite villain so far. But admittedly, I really like the 'villain who is a remorseless force of nature' archetype. I hope you enjoy the post-expansion patches, and I'm very much looking forward to your reaction to Shadowbringers!
Stormblood was the weakest for me, even more so than ARR. I felt like when they revealed Ida was Lyse they kind of killed off her character. They didn't develop her potential on screen well enough to make her feel like she deserved the limelight they gave her at the end of the expansion.
Just a note: It's not tremendously important for 14 but Omega (eh) and Shinryu are rift-walkers. That is, like Gilgamesh they are the same character throughout the rest of the mainline FF numbered series.
I'm 100% with you in not really liking Stormblood. I didn't hate it, but IMO it is the weakest entry of the FFXIV parts (including 1.0 & ARR). Luckily now that you are done with 4.0 you get to do the post 4.0 and the prelude to 5.0 😀 Keep at it, you videos are great! 😀
Apparently the Heavensward writers were taken off XIV to write FFXVI’s story during Stormblood’s development
Thanks to SB, I've come to like ARR so much more. I just wished they stuck to their guns and told the story of Ala Mhigo instead of jumping around regions. It lacked focused. I wished Doma could've been post content or allowed you to do what you need in Ala Mhigo instead of being a passing fart of "Oh yeah, the war."
I struggled through the whole ala mhigo part of the story too. Stormblood was too much politics that I felt my poor WOL fall asleep at all the talks. I also get the whole "You're not a WOL you just a strong soldier for their stupid wars" kinda feels. Gosh I hated it tbh. Did like the end though because of Pipin and Raubahn, and just bonding with our bestie Raubahn is good. Lyse sadly didn't spike any big feels for me. I like Zenos and the ending of him there really shook me, maybe because I have depression and him just going "ah this was nice, I don't need to live anymore, this was the only enjoyable thing in my whole life" was kinda breaking my heart bro. :/ like he clearly is fucked up, but gosh… he doesn't care about his own life at all (hence him being bored cause his life bores him and WOL literally being the only thing that brings him joy lol)
Is anyone else getting a bit bored with the streamer obsession to min ilvl synced? If the streamer LIKES doing it than fine but Im totally fine with Marty just…. Spamming what he wants to lol
most of your points about SB are fairly shared with a majority of the community regarding 4.0 stuff. Zenos is to this day a super polar character. some people like, others don't care for him. I personally love him cause he's my hate BF and also, my main reason for liking him, he's his own faction consisting of only himself. it's better not to think of him as part of any existing groups since all of his character is built around being uninterested in the war or garlean expansionism, he only cares about fighting strong opponents, most prominently you, and will remove anything that gets in between you and him. the purest form of love , the hate/fight boner. Also don't worry too much about not likeing things in 4.0 cause a vast majority of love for SB comes from the patch content IMO. Still weaker than HW but is arguably better than ARR, just that some of the patch content will likely make the 4.0 stuff feel a little better.
Still loving this series. It's always fun seeing new players going through this game and hearing/discussing all of the views on the stories and fights. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on SHB when you get there and i really hope you have been able to avoid spoilers for the beginning since there is one part early on that changes drastically between players. Keep it up!!
I liked the areas and characters of Stormblood, but good lord the story was an absolute mess.
4.0 really ends with a whimper. It doesn't help much of the expansion is lead by characters that are a vaccum of charisma like Lyze, Hien and Yugiri.
There's still a bit more of this, but once it starts setting up shadowbringers, things will pick up the pace again.
It's true that compared to the other expansions, stormblood rates low but if you judge it objectively it's still a solid 7/10 =)
Most think SB combat content was top-notch, but the story was weak. I still stand by my statement that FFXIV couldn't be what it is without SB, but I do grant it has weaknesses not present in HW or ShB. It's in a similar boat as ARR: it's putting down tons of pieces and doing tons of things and a lot of that is subtle and small and, as you said a lot, spending a ton of time talking to people.
Fordola being made Resonant is absolutely a huge on-running story element. The long-haul consequences of Stormblood really continue to pay dividends across all of 4.1-5.55, and we're gonna be facing even more consequences in Endwalker. So…while the consequences are hard to see early on, they really do pay off repeatedly over time. Fordola is definitely an important character going forward, so I'm glad you liked her. You're…probably going to need to try to remember a bunch of the things that happened in Ala Mhigo because of how much these events (such as stuff about Fordola) come up later.
BTW, Zenos has only JUST gotten control of Shinryu at this point, it's worth noting. His control only came after he was made Resonant, which happened sometime after Fordola was experimented on to test the procedure. (The scientist guy that you fight as the 2nd boss of Ala Mhigo is the one who made both Fordola and Zenos Resonant, giving them the artificial Echo.) All of his crazy powers from before the Royal Menagerie fight remain unexplained.
Fortunately, many of your concerns (e.g. "The Scions don't exist") are corrected in 4.1-4.5, and there are HUGE consequences for things in that span of time. With luck, you'll find things you really like, especially in the lead-up to Shadowbringers.
I am sad. why don't straight boys like Lyse? The only ppl who don't like her always seem to be straight guys lol its bizarre. Lyse is fantastic. 🙁
Castrum Abania is one of my fave dungeons, if for the music (and the glamour pieces) alone. It's a remix of the Peaks music. I sometimes go through unsynced to grab some glamours and just listen to the music. (That one and Baelsar's Wall, which is a remix of Gridania SO GOOOOOD)
FORDOLA Vs LYSE WAS JUST 'FINE?!' the fight where you find out all the Boss AOEs and attack indicators are you seeing the fluctuations in the aether thanks to the power of the Echo? THis fight blew my mind. It was one of the most memorable moments in Stormblood for me. T-T Whenever I think of Stormblood this fight (and the final boss) are the first places my brain goes. (And my husband Estinien's BRIEF cameo)
Maybe I'm just a smoothbrain, but I didn't 'predict' anything in Stormblood. I loved the whole journey.
I am glad you liked Fordola as the villain of Stormblood, Fordola is one of my favorite characters. She really resonates with me, I know some people hate her but I can understand where she's coming from. Im half native american so I def resonated with her on the whole – i am part of the culture that annihilated my culture, do I go along with it, do i resist it, I am just trying to survive in the colonizers world. So, yea, she really hit a soft spot for me. I want to see more of her.
I mean, the Zenos cutscenes, sure think what you want about them, I loved them tho I think the edgelords make Zenos a bit overrated for the wrong reasons, but YES! SHINRYU! That fight is one of the best and greatest encounters in the entire game hands down – THE MUSIC my goodness. My mind was exploding when I first did that trial, and every time I get it in roulette my heart starts racing, ah its such a good one. But i disagree with you on the point that I think the story around it made it better. BUT THAT MUSIC – makes me think of one of those really old classical films that are like 4 hours long and have this breathtaking epic score…. ajsdklahsdk so good
Maybe the Fordola thing ties in to why you hated Stormblood and I loved it. Tying back to my heritage, I was ON BOARD with the "overthrow the colonizers!" thing from the beginning, in fact, I was on board since 1.0/2.0 when we first hear about Ala Mhigo, and I was like "When we gonna overthrow them colonizers?" TBH i have no idea what your point is about the pacing I never noticed it; but the thought of overthrowing the colonizers and reclaming the homeland was like, a huge driving force to me so maybe i never realized there was any kind of pacing issue. Every quest from helping an Ala Mhigan citizen with blowing their nose to blowing open the gates of the city was meaningful to me because of that motivation, I think. Mybe that's why I love Fordola and Lyse and the whole Ala Mhigo plot and other people call Lyse flat and Fordola a b!**h and some think you ran around the desert doing nothing for 20 hours. In fact, my opinion was that the Doman side of the story was a bit slower than the Ala Mhigan side (not worse, I loved them both).
Im not angry, just sad. Obviously you can feel however you feel about something, but its like, I really enjoyed something, and I want other people to share in that joy, and when they don't its like, very saddening. Like rationally, sure its not important they didnt like the thing you liked, but emotions arent really rational lol. I just love the game so much so I get very passionate lol
From what I hear, the patches are more enjoyable for people who didnt enjoy Stormblood so you have that to look forward to at least. (And when the build-up to Shadowbringers begins….and youll KNOW when it begins…..OH MAN….YOURE ALMOST THERE I CANT WAIT!!!)
SOrry for the long post. I am still enjoying the journey.