Our author Irie has awakened from her shock and absolutely needs to tell you how good the story of the new expansion Shadowbringers for Final Fantasy XIV is. Seriously.
Since June 28, pre-order customers have been able to try the new expansion of FFXIV: Shadowbringers. There have already been many reactions and feedback, especially regarding the story of the expansion.
Me? The expansion sent me on an emotional rollercoaster. So hold on tight, kids. I really need to vent right now.
This article has been kept spoiler-free. All information about the story found here comes from producer letters or interviews with Yoshida.
On the right track from the start
The developer team got everything right with the story of the expansion. It all started long before the launch with the release of the trailers. They were designed so that we had no idea for a long time what the hell would happen in the expansion.
This caused tons of theories to circulate in the community. People wanted to know what would happen. I had long discussions with other players, in-game, on Discord, or on social media. We speculated for a long time about what would happen in Shadowbringers.
There was real tension. And that contrasted with Stormblood, where it was immediately clear how the story would unfold: You go to Ala Mhigo and Doma, liberate them, end, applause.
In Shadowbringers, you could only guess and speculate about what would happen. And I had to think for a long time about why the story of the expansion affected me so much that I spent half the weekend shoveling ice cream to calm myself down.
Does anyone have a tissue? Or two? Or ten?
Now that I look back at the early access weekend with a more or less clear head, I can identify three aspects of the story that made the expansion so special for me:
- The theme of the story
- The characters
- My own role in the events
It was known from live streams that the plot of Shadowbringers will take place in another world. This world is on the brink of disaster. And what surprised me immensely was that right from the start, you empathize with the people of this world.
The game makes it clear within the first few missions that shit is really hitting the fan here. The people suffer under the tyranny of light, face horror every day, yet continue to fight.
And their determination is contagious. You arrive as an unknown wanderer in the first city, Crystarium, and feel at home right away. The NPCs are all friendly and awakened real protective instincts in me. I wanted to scream: “I’m here now, guys! Everything will be alright! I will protect you all, I promise!”
Shadowbringers sucked me into the story, whether I wanted to or not
In general, the NPCs were utilized very cleverly in this story. While in the old expansions there were always NPCs I’d rather send off to where the sun never shines, I was positively surprised by Shadowbringers.
No character irritated me. Even those I initially feared would. On the contrary: They drew me into the story. It was a good mix of new, interesting characters and old companions you know from before.
Final Fantasy XIV has always had a strong focus on the player character. He is the chosen hero, the Warrior of Light. This is supposed to make players feel special. It’s a pragmatic gameplay feature.
To be honest, I’ve always found that a bit silly.
I’m not a role-player and don’t identify with my character, as is often the case with other MMORPG players. Therefore, I have always viewed the story of FFXIV with some distance. But the story of Shadowbringers changed that.
It addressed me directly as a player. As if I were truly a part of this story. When NPCs said to me, “You are not alone” or “Please take care of yourself,” it felt like they were speaking directly to me and not to my character.
It just wouldn’t let go, and I repeatedly noticed while playing that I was sitting there grinning like a fool because one of the NPCs had just said something really sweet to me.
I think one of the reasons for this (besides the great narrative) is the long, long road that has led us to this expansion. The devil knows, I can’t stand the countless fetch quests in “A Realm Reborn” and the leveling before level 60. But no matter how annoying they can be, they serve a purpose.
They lay the foundation for everything that comes after Heavensward. Every interaction with the NPCs is justified in the lore; it makes sense. And I think without this foundation, the story of Shadowbringers would not have had the same effect on me.
This expansion is the result of six years of ongoing story, which had its ups and downs. And it is a result that easily stands alongside the best J-RPGs. The last game that emotionally moved me this much was Journey, and that’s an incredibly high bar.
The developers have learned from the previous expansions
But even from a sober perspective, the story missions are well-structured. They are crisp, get straight to the point, and focus on the most important story elements. It is clear that the developer team has improved in this regard compared to the old expansions.
At no point did I feel like the story was dragging me by the hair from one fetch quest to another (Mogrys from Heavensward say hello). Even when there were fetch quests, they were mixed with funny tasks or mini-games.
The story quests still had minimum level requirements, but the leveling phases were short. I think I only had to grind for several hours in one single instance.
And by that time, I had another emotional breakdown because of the story and wanted to know quickly how it would continue. At that point, I didn’t care how long I had to grind.
It was also a good idea that there was no split between two locations in the story. I think that’s one of the issues that was problematic with Stormblood. There was no red thread, as you constantly jumped back and forth between Doma and Ala Mhigo. The focus of Shadowbringers was on the world of The First, with occasional scenes in other locations, and that was optimal.
Without the music, the story wouldn’t be so atmospheric
As has always been the case with FF titles, the music in Shadowbringers is excellent. The composer Masayoshi Soken has delivered first-class work in the past and is very popular in the community.
But I felt that this time the directive decision for the expansion regarding music was not “It should sound like a Final Fantasy.” But rather “It should sound like Final Fantasy XIV.”
In Heavensward and also at the beginning of Stormblood, I still had the impression that Soken was trying to orient himself more towards the classic FF music and even used tracks from the 1.0 version of FFXIV composed by the master Nobuo Uematsu.
In Shadowbringers, he lets loose. The expansion has a very strong identity when it comes to music. For the first time, normal music in areas features tracks with vocals, such as in the Rak’Tika Greatwood.
Maybe the reason for this is simply that you travel to another world and it should also differ “musically” from The Source, our world. But I hope that Soken has simply received more freedom in the scoring, and that it remains that way in the future.
When hobby becomes work becomes hobby
When you have as much to do with a game as I do with Final Fantasy XIV, at some point, your perspective on it changes. This began for me long before my work at MeinMMO.
I enjoy analyzing games. Trying to look into the minds of the developers, understanding why they made certain decisions. That’s not a bad thing. I still have fun gaming.
From this perspective, I have viewed all expansions of FFXIV so far. The stories of the expansions were interesting, but this lens of analysis was always present.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers completely threw that out the window. In the last few days, I suffered and laughed with the characters. I had no head for analyses. The story of the expansion elicited so many emotions from me that few other games have managed.
What’s next?
Of course, the hype around the story will cool down again. An expansion consists of more than just that. Especially with Final Fantasy XIV, the expansions don’t end after release. Players can expect ongoing updates over the next two to three years.
And there are also things that parts of the community are dissatisfied with, such as some changes to existing jobs. But that’s a completely different story. I will deal with that later, being annoyed, happy, or relieved.
But for now, I’m just going back into the game and going through Shadowbringers with my second character. I still have half a pack of ice cream in the fridge.
