Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker review: Exciting mechanics without any risk

It’s useful to think of Final Fantasy XIV: EndwalkerAs the final step in a journey, particularly when reviewing the game. After all, some of the more common uses of a game review don’t really apply here; folks who’d be inclined to pick up the game have likely already done so, and me asking if you’ve heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV feels like it won’t end well for yours truly.

Rather than approach all this as “should you play this game?” I think my aim is instead to talk about… well, how the journey felt. BetweenEndwalker’s early access and its first few weeks in the wild, I’ve managed to power through the game’s main story quest. (For you non-FF14 types, when people talk about “MSQ,” this is what they mean: plot-focused progression quests that gate content.) At this point, I’ve seen MostThe available Endwalker content.

There’ve been plenty of things I have enjoyed. Most of the game’s playable combat classes (“jobs”) have changed very minimally between the previous expansion, ShadowbringersThis is the right time. A playlist with job-change videos can be viewed from FF14 content producers — I’m partial to Larryzaur’s, myself — you’ll likely notice that in most cases, the changes are few, and largely amount to shuffling strength values or adding/removing extra benefits. For example, tank abilities now allow the user to self-heal, or regen, which can be very useful in order to help with survival.

Square Enix

The exceptions — Summoner and Monk — were heavily reworked, and as someone who’s played both extensively, the changes feel great. Monk, in particular, was at a weird place near the end. ShadowbringersAs the FF14That was the realization of our team uhhhhh keeping up stacks of the all-important Greased Lightning buff was incredibly boring and thus removed it, despite it being central to the job’s design philosophy. Masterful Blitz, a new combo mechanic that turns different sequences of attacks into flashy finishers, feels like a more fitting approach to “martial artist” than maximizing buff uptime did.

Changes to Summoner are even more significant; it’s effectively a brand new job. Arcanist – the base class for both Summoner and the healing job Scholar – was the new hotness in 2.0, particularly for returning 1.0 players, as it was the only new class at the time of release. It was a damage-over-time-based pet job, similar to World of Warcraft’s Warlock, and it worked. But it was routinely embarrassing. It was not a traditional feeling. Final Fantasy summoner — bringing big-ass spectral beasts onto the battlefield to blast the bejeezus out of some poor sap with a huge lightning bolt, or whatever – FF14’s Summoner commanded tiny, almost cartoonish replicas of the game’s summon beasts (“primals”) that did not feel viscerally impactful.

It was a boy! This change.

Summoner Get it now, as of max level, goes right for that old school Rydia/Garnet/Yuna feeling: when you tag in Titan, that gigantic stone asshat shows up, taking up a huge amount of the screen and setting off an exploding earthquake that really does, the first few times you do it, give you that “DAMN, girl!” feeling. It is now a continuous buzzsaw full of multiple elemental summonings or attacks that can be cast instantly and are not affected by time. The job is very mobile because of all this. Consider that FF14’s boss design (and its emphasis on constant movement) has not changed a whit, this is welcome.

Square Enix

The term “class fantasy” and its ilk feel increasingly abused, but it’s a useful frame for talking about the success of the Summoner and Monk rebuilds. Summoner play Feels likeThis article is available in English FF-series Summoner in a way it didn’t before. It has nothing to do w/ ability potencies and anything like that; this has everything to do w/ audio-visual aesthetics, the overall mechanical approach and general mechanics. Monk also has this same approach; creating your ideal Blitz combo, and then actually executing it is Monk. Feels great. It is it the best damage-wise? It doesn’t matter. It was like I had turned into a Phoenix and kicked a Jackass so hard that he burst!

There are many bad feelings, but there are also good things. Endwalker. The huge elephant in the room has got to be the game’s currently beyond-screwed login queue and capacity issues. Getting into a popular MMO during early access or an expansion’s launch week is going to be hell by default; us aging MMO veterans know this by now. However, this usually ends relatively quickly. You can find it here. Endwalker’s case, that has not happened. I am writing this review toward the end of my first hour in a queue with 1700+ people ahead of me; two hours has not been an unusual wait, and the persistent pest of the “2002 error” means you can’t just log in and wander off to play Yahtzee for a few hours until it finishes. If you don’t watch it like a hawk, you could easily lose your place in the queue and have to start that 2+ hour wait all over again.

Much of this is not really Square-Enix’s fault. Supply chain, labor, and pandemic issues have gotten in the way, as Yoshida has said, of the hardware upgrades necessitated by the game’s sudden population explosion over the past year. I am hopeful. FF14Team can quickly find an answer or solution for my sake and theirs. Knowing much of it is beyond their control helps with being patient — but that won’t last forever if this keeps up.

Square Enix

There are certain flaws that you cannot avoid once the game is started. The standout example is the game’s reliance on “stealth/tailing” quests. Each new quest is a historical example. FF14Expand after 2.0 Introduced or Refocused on Some Quest Mechanism and Then Beat It into Absolute GroundThe MSQ will be completed over the duration of this exercise. If you don’t believe me, replay Stormblood and count how many times you’re asked to look at something through a telescope.

Endwalker, this mechanic is “follow behind an NPC and don’t let them see you.” It gets deployed a lot. You might like a lot, a lot. It’s a bummer. I think so, and so do lots of people in the game’s public chat every time I am doing one, day or night. These missions offer the player too little information, and the cost of failure is universally “start over.” Given that some of these quests involve standing in one spot and waiting for the target to stop looking in your direction, this feels Realität bad.

Another issue that is related to the title is the fact that it often drags out things unnecessarily in the service of its main story. A number of main story quest chains in the back half of the game’s plot seem as if they will Never end; a constant series of either Wal-Mart runs to get soda and chips for some NPC, or worse, a string of “go here, right click to talk, 10 minutes of dialogue, repeat four times” situations that absolutely Disable the plot’s momentum.

I can’t even really blame that on Endwalker, however; if you’ve played the other FF14Expandions will see the exact same thing happen there. This is a problem in itself. FF14Since 2.0 is a game with a minimal design and structure, it’s not a risky one. I have not played FF14It’s 1.0. That makes me sad. For all its reported flaws — most of my FC mates were 1.0 players and they think of it fondly, but they are also glad to not be playing it anymore — I get the impression 1.0 was much more willing to make risky design choices, to introduce things that might fail and aren’t “safe” design choices.

Square Enix

However, I could predict many things. Endwalker’s decisions because they hewed so closely to the model that Heavensward set six years ago — you know new dungeons will pop up at [x] [y]There are different levels; a new trial will appear at each level [z]That is when the plot element [a]If it does, then there will be a specific range of consequences. I was surprised — Genuine surprised — fewer than five times over the course of the expansion. I don’t want to overvalue surprise, here; “I didn’t see it coming” doesn’t automatically mean “good content.” But I still found myself hungering, now and then, for something truly off the rails, or something that wasn’t heavily lampshaded.

Considering I powered through the MSQ in around a week, I think it’s pretty clear that I enjoyed my time with the 6.0 EndwalkerRelease patch is just the beginning of new content. A second article would be a lot more interesting. solely about my experience with the plot, which had some genuinely incredible and emotional moments for me as a longtime player who’s built a relationship with these characters, even though that plot is also hamstrung by its Big Cosmic Focus, when FF14’s narrative strength has ever been smaller, interpersonal stories. Who knows what’s going to happen now that all this Hydaelyn/Zodiark stuff is behind us?

Endwalker hit me well enough that I am interested to find out, but it also made me acutely aware of things I want that I’m not getting right now. It’s a MMO expansion. EndwalkerThere is a fine line to walk between offering more of the same things players love and something completely new. If it’s working, it feels amazing. When it doesn’t, it’s often a reminder of the game’s frequent aversion to risk or significant change. This may mean that it’s time to break this hold. FF14Future requirements.

Final Fantasy 14, Endwalker The release date was Dec. 7, 2007. Windows PC. Windows PC. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.