We have completed the new expansion of Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood. Here you can read our review.
Man, saving the world is really exhausting. In Stormblood, I am the Warrior of Light, and everyone tells me how important I am and how often I have saved Eorzea in the last years, but that doesn’t stop anyone from sending me three times across the countryside to run errands.
When I do that, I get a tiny amount of experience points and a small tip. Then I’m sent on the next errand.
But that’s only half of my career in Stormblood. In my second life, I kill huge fantasy beings that represent the will of a people. I grapple with megalomaniac despots, am part of a community of heroes, and sweat it out in quarter-hour boss fights.
Anyone who still thinks after these epic boss fights in Stormblood that the combat system of Final Fantasy XIV is old-fashioned, is no longer thinking straight, as the heroine of Stormblood, Lyse, would put it.
The hero of Stormblood is not me; it is others. They make the decisions. I am more responsible for the rough stuff, hacking my way through hordes of monsters. Why I ended up enjoying Stormblood after all, there’s more on that in this review.
Stormblood basically consists of three games:
- First, there is a miserable side quest grind with bland fetch and kill quests. You quest through a total of 6 zones. The zones themselves are lovingly designed – but the gameplay of FF14 is boring during normal “fighting”.
- In the MMORPG part of the game, in instances and boss fights, the gameplay, on the other hand, is fantastic. The instances are really fun, and the boss fights are the highlight. So much happens every minute of battle that I always have plenty to do.
- Additionally, there is a strong RPG component. The main story is well-crafted, nicely narrated; cut-scenes are voice acted. Stormblood is an RPG that is hard to find, with interesting characters, believable conflicts, and beautiful, loving staging.
Stormblood in Review: A Game to Overindulge
The mix leaves me with a strange feeling: I am glad to be able to say: “I made it.” While I was playing it, however, for large parts of the time, I felt like doing homework until I could finally go out and play.
Stormblood is like a roast pork in a world where you only know bite-sized portions. While most other games are broken down into short gaming episodes of 15 to 25 minutes, Final Fantasy XIV is something where you sit for several hours at a stretch and then also feel like you’ve overindulged.
New Features – What Does Stormblood Bring to Final Fantasy XIV?
Stormblood is basically a pure content expansion with only sparse innovations and fresh features.
Features include:
- two new classes, the Red Mage and the Samurai – I had little to do with them; I continued playing my Bard. Both classes are damage dealers. I at least unlocked them. They are both fun to play, but that’s more for later when it comes to twinking.
- the new Underwater and Swimming feature appears only sparsely in the game; it doesn’t have much influence on FF14. In one zone, you swim a lot – but it’s more annoying than it really brings anything.
- the “Jumping Potions” don’t interest me much as a regular player; they are more for new or returning players
However, there are detail changes that you notice:
- the inventory has been enlarged to the point where I didn’t even think about it in 60, 70 hours. Before, I had to constantly tidy up.
- thanks to the “automatically equip the best gear” feature that came a while ago, I also didn’t have to think about equipment.
- Changes in the skill system make the game smoother and more logical. The “please stay still” bonus that was imposed on the Bard in Heavensward is now gone, and I can move more freely again. Yay!
These are not changes that make one click their tongue, but they make an already rounded game a little better and more enjoyable. Fairly, it must also be acknowledged that FF14 brings new features and improvements also in “normal patches.” One does not have to wait for the next expansion, as other MMORPGs like to do.
Final Fantasy XIV: Progression of Skills and Equipment is Linear
However, one can also see this simplification as a criticism: I didn’t have to think about equipment or skill points for 60, 70 hours.
This shows that individualization in Final Fantasy XIV is not far. The game is linear. One actually doesn’t make decisions in character creation until the endgame, where one then thinks about how to possibly enchant the equipment.
In fact, you only have to answer one question during the progression in Final Fantasy XIV: “Which class do I want to play?”
The reward system is surprisingly unsatisfying for such a large and good MMORPG. After a quest, I have the choice between 3 items, of which often none are suitable for my class, and a piece of material with which I can enchant my equipment, but also don’t have to because the benefit is marginal and each time represents a medium hassle.
The area of “items and individualization” is grayed out during the leveling phase and only starts at level 70.
The Story: Tool of a Higher Power
The story is interconnected in countless ways. Characters were introduced years ago and now return. There is a squad of characters, good and evil, all of whom have their appearances.
The story usually unfolds like a movie. Final Fantasy XIV wants you to feel like the player is at the center of this turmoil, but in reality, you are only the spectator who is guided through the story.
I really have no influence on what happens. At some points, that really annoys me when I am part of a completely idiotic plan where I want to shout after 2 seconds: “Don’t do that, that’s totally dumb!”, but I have to stand there silently, smiling, and nodding because the acting characters lead the way. I have no say.
My role is basically that of the “deus ex machina”: The heroes get themselves into some super big mess and then shout: “Warrior of Light! The situation is impossible, but you have done the impossible before. Kill the revived god/all our enemies/this tax collector.”
And then it’s said: “Oh, how do you always manage that! You are a great role model for all of us.”
Heroes are all incredibly good and dutiful
The characters on the “good side” are a motley crew of people who are all incredibly good and only want to do the right thing. The conflict that arises here is: “A hero must overcome his doubts and accept his destiny as a leader.”
Stormblood takes the story seriously. Especially at the beginning, the underlying conflict of a country under occupation is shown: The inhabitants have no freedom and no choice but to submit to their fate. They can only submit to their fate because they are powerless. Either they die or they continue to live under oppression.
This is well done, and the horror of the “good liberators” at the lethargy of the population is intense. This is celebrated over hours in the narrative.
Villains are the stars of Stormblood
But the real stars of Stormblood are the villains. Time and again, the focus shifts to them and their sinister actions:
- There is the pleasure-seeking prince who does not indulge in women or food as normal people do, but who seeks his salvation only in battle and waits for a suitably challenging prey.
- There is a governor who is basically a twisted dominatrix and has a dull thug as her subordinate who keeps losing but doesn’t quite understand why.
- The best character in the villain parade is a Mhigitin, meaning a member of the oppressed people who has joined the oppressors to have a future. She is contemptuously treated by the “master race,” the Garleans. Driven by ambition to prove herself, she has a tragic aspect to her. Like the heroes, Fordola believes she can overcome all obstacles if she just tries hard enough – but she is on the wrong side. The strongest character in Stormblood.
Story resembles Star Wars, still outstanding
FF14 fans do not like to hear it, but: Stormblood is strongly reminiscent of Star Wars. The character constellation is similar: a motley crew against a faceless empire. The liberation motif is strong, and in a subplot, there is even a princess and her double.
But the story and world of Final Fantasy XIV are clearly the strengths of the game.
The attention to detail and care in the game must also be highlighted. This, however, also contributes to the arduousness of Final Fantasy XIV.
- In one situation, you must knock out guards. Any other game would have left it at that. In Final Fantasy XIV, you must actually return each one individually to their sleeping places so that the other guards do not immediately notice that something is wrong, but think that the knocked-out guards are just sleeping.
- At another time, you have to carry stones, and the timer you need for the normal “I interact with an object” action is noticeably slower than you are used to.
These are details that may make you roll your eyes in the moment, but they contribute to making the game feel really serious.
Final Fantasy XIV is getting better, but not really different
Final Fantasy XIV is what it is. The expansion Stormblood will not excite anyone who has been indifferent to the game until now. But those who like the MMORPG will probably love it after Stormblood.
The story is well done, the zones are cool – the Asian atmosphere benefits Final Fantasy XIV.
It is a great, unique game that you must forgive its weaknesses if you love it:
- The combat system is great for raids, where 20 things happen in a minute. It is brutal during solo questing, where nothing exciting happens in a fight.
- The main quests are exciting and fully voiced; the side quests are just done. You forget them while you are completing them.
- The zones are beautifully designed, and when you can fly, you can fully enjoy them. Until then, you ride your Chocobo back and forth through the landscape and enjoy the beautiful music, even if you are repeating the same route for the fifth time and cursing an NPC who has one more fetch quest left.
But the sum of the game is greater and better than its parts. Through the tedious world-saving in the small, the reward at the end is all the greater when you have done it again and can celebrate with your friends. Because of the hours spent fulfilling your everyday duties as a hero, the epic boss fight at the end becomes all the more significant and beautiful.
Stormblood is a game for a small group of players. It is for players who think that a good deal of work belongs to an MMORPG. Maybe that doesn’t fit as well into our times as it did a few years ago, but Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood is a masterfully crafted MMORPG with a great story, into which you can dive for many hours.
For those who want more opinions about Final Fantasy XIV, we recommend this review.
