Bought Stormblood and Now Patching Again
The Legend Returns
Final Fantasy Xiv has now entered its "grab-up state." Whereas 4.0 was all about catering to the hardcore side with a four-level raid tier and new item cap to piece of work toward, four.1, known as The Fable Returns, doesn't shake up the formula in any monumental fashion until its single "Ultimate Whorl" battle drops in a few weeks.
While catch-up patches aren't quite as exciting, I'm still going to be actively playing until 4.2 hits — and so Square Enix did something right!
Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood(PC, PS3, PS4 [reviewed])
Developer: Foursquare Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
MSRP: $39.99 ($12.99 per month)
Released: June 23, 2015
Ala Mhigo has been saved, so what's side by side? Zenos Yae Galvus left a big pigsty in the story, and now the entrada has to deal with the aftermath and all of the unresolved plots therein. I'k withal invested in seeing where the whole reconstruction effort goes, bolstered by strong new leads like Lyse andRaubahn.An impressive solo boss fight with Lakshmi caps it all off, and makes a great instance for AI-controlled dungeons and boss fights (which is something you tin can practice with the enhanced Squadron mechanic).
iv.1 introduces only ane new dungeon, the Drowned City of Skalla, which follows the aforementioned linear pattern since ii.0. That's not ever a bad thing as Skalla is going to mix up the expert roulette a bit, merely I really exercise wish at that place were more to cull from at level 70. While I get the idea of staggering content (4.two will allegedly go two dungeons), and the dungeons themselves are high in quality, the idea of doing the aforementioned three or 4 locations over and over overstays its welcome past the fourth dimension I've ran my fourth roulette.
Creature Tribe quests never really engaged me the same way grinding for Exalted status did in Globe of Warcraft, simply it'south here if you want it now in Stormblood with the ninja turtles. It's an excuse to visit the Carmine Ocean once more, albeit an innocuous one. As you outset to dig down into the nitty gritty though, The Legend Returns really showcases how masterful Square Enix'due south Xiv squad is at making loftier-end content.
The 24-person raid, while curt and generally a boss rush, is beautiful. Render to Ivalice is sure to turn some heads as Keita Amemiya, moving-picture show manager and illustrator collaborated with Matsuno Yasumi, managing director of Tactics Ogre, FF Tactics, and XII to create this casual raid experience. Equally one of the just post-launch confrontations with phonation acting and quite a few new mechanics, the mashing upward of Tactics and XII works far better than yous'd expect it to.
An incredible soundtrack and a decent micro-narrative are also a bonus, making this the best 24-person attempt yet. The whole idea of a mid-grade experience that I can leap into at whatsoever time calls to me when my static isn't bachelor to become for parse runs (read: high-score attack) in Omega Savage. One criticism I do take is at a macro-level — the raid roulette, which shuffles all 24-person raids outside of Ivalice, provides extremely poor rewards and has no incentive whatsoever.
Speaking of raid-level content, Shinryu EX, a remake of the last boss fight from Stormblood'due south story, is another fun, challenging, and finely-tuned battle. The difficulty is supposed to hit right around V2S and V3S, which I feel is an authentic accept from the development team. Shinryu is simply an awe-inspiring setpiece that you'd show off to your non MMO-playing friends, and the constant shifting of mechanics volition keep yous on your toes. It has a few surprises too, like a really interesting fleck where you lot need to efficiently heal enemy mobs. Shinryu might not be as recognizable as say, Ifrit or Shiva, only based on his FFXIV incarnation, he's more memorable than most of the mainstay summons/primals/espers/eidolons.
Y'all want fluff? You got it with a new housing district of Shirogane. Sike! It sold out in ten minutes subsequently the servers went up in the wee hours of Tuesday morning! At the very to the lowest degree yous can visit information technology, become an apartment there, or get a tenant in a friend'due south house. Equally for me, I'grand keeping my cute seaside cottage in Mist, thank you very much. There are a few things that aren't coming just however either, including the Ultimate Vicious raid tier (4.xi), the Rival Wings mech PVP manner (4.15) and the Bard'due south "perform" activity (4.fifteen).
Stormblood as a whole has kept me playing every calendar week since its launch, and The Fable Returns only builds on that strong substructure. I'm still clearing Neo with a regular cadency on my Paladin, but given the enhanced power to earn lower tier gear I'm also working on my Scholar, Dark Knight, Bard, White Mage, Warrior, and Summoner. Three months until the side by side raid tier is a long way abroad, but I'll exist ready for information technology.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided past the publisher. Patch reviews are sort of a snapshot of the state of the game right now, including all past and nowadays content.]
Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-final-fantasy-xiv-stormblood-patch-4-1/
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