The ending to Stormblood...

Stormblood: 6.8/10

This was such a letdown and doesn't earn a place next to the ending of ARR or Heavensward. If it sits at that table, it sits there out of formality rather than the quality of its plot.

This did not need to be its own patch.

When the WoL goes to help Hien & Co as quickly as they can.

https://i.imgur.com/i7gM3ke.gif

I suspect I might like the MSQ for the patch more than most judging how down on it a lot of people posting on the forums seem. Though I think they could have ended it earlier :D but then I suppose there would have been a lot of complaints about three months of suspense over what was going to happen to the WoL. I didn't like the reveal of the mysterious voice. Up till now it's just be a voice and then bam, full NPC. I'd have preferred a gradual build, voice, vague glimpses, but they jumped straight in.

And as for the saviour - I didn't have an issue with that though I can understand why perhaps others were bothered by it. (As per suggestions I think and RP section for that could have been very cool. But then people might also have complained about how unrealistic it was for a DRG with 4 skills to do something like that.)

It definitely didn't seem long enough for its own patch but the length didn't bother me that greatly.

It was okay I guess, I definitely don't see the need for the split across two patches aside from saving the "big reveal" for the Fan Fest and in doing so subverting the whole shocking reveal in game for everyone who got the news at the Fan Fest.
What's annoying me a bit is

the part at the end where the Garleans start manufacturing their chemical weapon again (Dun-Dun-DUN) while it's clear we're heading off to traipse around on the First.
Has me worried we're going to do a two-pronged narrative again where we do our business in the First and then head back to the source as an afterthought because apparently there was a war going on and everyone is getting tired of waiting for us to come back in the nick of time.

If you raise the urgency levels while making it clear that there's not a lot I'll be able to do about it I just stop caring.

It was absolutely terrible in all aspects. Everything is super vague and the game STILL hasn't explained a lot of the mysteries.

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Originally Posted by AxHell

Sorry guys can't post my thoughts because I've been stuck on the credits phase since this morning. Any tips?

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I think you need to press the scroll lock button on your keyboard - i seem to recall having this at the end of heavensward as i'd hidden my UI - may be wrong but i thought it had crashed and i'd have to do it all again back then.

Things i did like:
WoL vs Elizenos fight
New mystery guy
Tataru scene (stupid onions)
A lot of screenshot / wallpaper worthy moments

Things i didnt like:
Estinien offscreen fight and rescue of WoL
Zenos alive (Ascian bloodline i guess)
MSQ to short
To many open questions left

It was ok...

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My three problems with it are, the setup feels off. Alliance vs. Empire is a stalemate at the moment, apparently, although that in itself feels rather forced to me to be honest, but whatever.
The stalemate is presumably why we feel like we can go off searching for the Scions, but whether that works is really going to depend on how the transition to the 1st pans out in ShB. The current holding of the line at Ala Mhigo feels way too fragile for us to just voluntarily take ourselves out of the equation and go an otherworldly adventure.

Frankly, the reason why we decided to disappear in the middle of a war and sail off to the other side of this world was one of my least favourite bits of Stormblood. Deciding now is the perfect time to go off gallivanting on a different world altogether currently feels a bit ridiculous to be honest.

Still, this might be a complaint due to lack of info, a lot depends on how exactly things play out at the start of ShB.

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Secondly, feel like we've left some decent plot threads just dangling with no resolution, especially in Gyr Abania.
Off top of my head I'm left wondering what exactly happened with the Ananta and their constant attempts to temper Ala Mhigans and summon their god?
Also, what happened to Fordola? Where did she go? Evil eastern lady got a full story arc, but evil western lady feels like she was forgotten.

I want endings to this stuff, but I also don't want it dragging on into ShB. Would have been nice to wrap some of the loose ends up before 5.0.

Edit: Actually a lack of resolution to things is an issue with Stormblood overall, it doesn't really feel like Stormblood itself got a true ending.
We started the 4.X series fighting the Empire in Gyr Abania, and we have ended 4.X series with us still fighting the Empire in Gyr Abania.

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Third problem is, I really want to see that Estinien vs. AscianZenos fight.

Azure Dragoon, held onto a dragon eye for ages, had two dragon eyes at one point, got possessed by said dragon eyes, even got turned into a dragon. This guy has got to be absolutely juiced up on funky dragon magic at this point, that fight had major epic cutscene potential and we got to see exactly none of it.

You know, I've been encouraged by everyone I know who plays to pay attention to the story, so I rewatched every cutscene and asked questions to lore I didn't know and was ready for this final sequence.

I don't think I could've watched a more disappointing and mundane lead up to ShB.

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Originally Posted by CarnivalNights

You know, I've been encouraged by everyone I know who plays to pay attention to the story, so I rewatched every cutscene and asked questions to lore I didn't know and was ready for this final sequence.

I don't think I could've watched a more disappointing and mundane lead up to ShB.

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I kept waiting for that one possible moment that would have wowed me.
A garlean victory,

Seeing the purple crystal,

Elezenos making a grand entrance,

The black rose's deployment,

Someone's death...

Instead, I'm pretty convinced now that I won't be enjoying shadowbringers.

I'm pretty darn sure they said we'd be getting a lot of answers from the end of the MSQ, yet we ended up getting absolutely nothing.

We scarcely even got anything to speculate about, so it's hard for me to feel very excited for what's coming next for the time being.

expectaions: epic trial fight with the ascian behind zenos

reality: a boring solo duty vs zenos who use the same mechanics as in 4.0
oh and yes we can control Hien who can use 3 different skills, ... the leader of Doma
bravo SE

borinnnnng to do

i rushed all the sb part to discover the end with my rerol char

and here what i get after 5h? just 10 min of scene.

really i didnt ask a complet story but something more longer and deeper, i was just intrigued by the voice, all we know is we will go to the alternate world
maybe the only thing entertaining in sb story which was kinda boring all along.

it just killed my envy to play it for a moment.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I was really expecting to get a better picture of what exactly Shadowbringers was going to be about.

We didn't get even a slight explanation from our mysterious voice as to what was going on and just know that we're needed at the First, which was a given considering what we learned from the recent fanfest. Not so much as a word as to why we need to become the Warrior of Darkness or anything.

I felt like Heavensward got a more satisfying send-off personally, since we were left with a clear goal in mind that we were simply waiting to act on, whereas this time we're just left hanging.

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Well i thought exactly,
for me hw got a full complet story, and all the plot with ascien and so on was a side, here that reversing sb story, which was really boring to be honnest, is just a side to the main story with the end of the world stuff, and also wanted to know about this voice, but here just nothing.

And i dont know for you, but me i dont trust a guy who put your mate in half death and ask you to get him an item.


zenos real is back , like no one die in this story lol;

wanted to see gaius.

anyway frustrating, while i spent time to rush the sb part story on my rerol to see this? 5h for nothing, killed my envy to play.

HW for me has been the best expansion to date. I think SE realise this and keep slotting in iconic characters/scenes from HW.
Hopefully SHB will get near those levels. Even close would be good.

I, too, was a little underwhelmed. I don't think the ending was terrible, it just wasn't very impactful. Going by the trailer, with the WoL wandering an empty wasteland alone and bereft of succor, I was expecting (or, hoping for) Really Bad Things at the end of this patch, for example:

the WoL did not get to Hien and company in time, and they were killed by AsciZenos, who was finally destroyed for good when the WoL went Super Saiyan in a fit of rage and despair (yeah, very cliche, but it would be satisfying). Now the WoL has to go through Shadowbringers carrying that weight; the guilt of, for the first time, being too late.

This goes right back to what I said ages ago about the ending to HW, when Thordan looks at us and sees a profound darkness. Fordola even sees it, when her articifial Echo gives her a glimpse into all the terrible things we have seen and done, and she asks how we can stand there, unbroken. It is a side of the WoL that I have been wanting to explore for a long time, and maybe ShB will do that, but I thought the end of SB would have a been a perfect time to bring that back. We need something to turn us into the Warrior of Darkness other than the usual "it's the right thing to do and someone has to do it" reasoning that defines most of our actions. I still want to see my character as a man with doubts and fears, as someone who on occasion needs the comfort of a friend, instead of always being that comfort.

I'm still psyched about Shadowbringers. After all, none of us knows how the story will play out.

I feel like SHB will have the longest series of MSQ before we actually get to the new areas out of all the expansions we’ve had. HW had foreshadowing of course but it had an actual ending in the last patch.

However for many ppl myself included think that overall SB storyline was rushed.

Pretty underwhelming for me as well, considering Shadowbringers' premise made it sound like we were going to be in a much more dire situation than what we're left with.

Positives:

-The solo instance was fun, with a good sense of tension since they could've easily offed someone at the end of the storyline.
-Estinien confirms DRGs are best heroes.
-No Elezen deaths.
-Making Crystal Tower relevant again, this time in the MSQ.
-My DPS is at least better than Hien's.

Negatives

-Pre-credits ending with the Emperor's face suggests...nothing other than the Emperor can make a creepy face when told about manufacturing death gas.
-We're left with "we'll look for the thing the mysterious guy told you about" instead of looking for and finding it, a process that has no reason to take long.
-The issues going on with the The First seem to be detached from the Empire. So we built up all this tension with the Ascian + Empire connection, only to be sidetracked because someone wants to make use of us out of nowhere for reasons he won't divulge. Aymeric all but says "Let the NPCs take care of the Empire while you do your thing." I'm sure it won't hold, but it sounds like there's gonna be one hell of a detour before we get to any semblance of a conclusion there.
-No Gaius anywhere to be seen.
-Zenos bodyswaps with an Elezen, so when we eventually kill him, the Elezen death count will climb yet again.
-Ultimately, whole thing felt like just another patch rather than a conclusion to a storyline.

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Originally Posted by Derio

I feel like SHB will have the longest series of MSQ before we actually get to the new areas out of all the expansions we’ve had.

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Maybe they did that because they decided to make a solo duty not long after/before arriving to the First. So they kept some story to dilute the flow of people going into the duty to avoid Raubahn 2.0, some people will rush without reading, some will read without waiting for voice acting, some will wait until all voice over is done, etc...

Weird but could be one of the reason.

Sooo....mixed bag for me.

I didn't hate any of the individual plot points except for the Voice guy being annoyingly vague and unhelpful. You can't spare two minutes to give me the cliffnotes version of what's going on here? Because the pitch you're giving me isn't very convincing.

But there was no big moment. Then again maybe that's for the best. 2.X ended with the Ul'dah situation blowing up. 3.0 quickly reigned the status quo back in and it ultimately just resulted in the scions being put on a bus for a while to focus on HW characters and Alph. 3.X ended with Shinryu's summoning and us risking activating Omega to deal with it. But at the end of 4.0 we just uncerimoniously kill Shinryu as if it were any other primal.

So maybe it's for the best they don't pull out some big shocking thing for 5.0 to deflate like an old balloon. But I do wish we knew more. I want to know how many people will be able to travel between the Source and the First. Will it ultimately be viable to visit the First in RP? Or having a new character born on the First come to the Source? I'll have to wait for 5.0 to see if the lore allows for people to travel or if it'll just be the special WoL who gets to.

The benefit to this is it might allow for 5.0 to start off with a bang. 3.0 and 4.0 kind of started off slowly with us chilling in Ishgard for a while before heading out and then getting a tour of the Fringes with Lyse in 4.0. It took a while for things to get moving. So maybe this will leave room for 5.0 to start off with more of a punch to it.

I do felt the ending was kinda "meh" not bad but not awesome either, but I loved...

That they let you play with some of the characters that have been with you so far, the fight with Hien was simple but fun. It was interesting seeing the point of view of your friends while you are on your way to the fight.

The credits scene with the art of some of the characters was really good, whish they let us use some of them as wallpapers, loved the Gosestu and Yotsuyu art, Yugiri was really good too.

And the free outfit was a nice addition too.

Still, wish they gave us more insight of what's going to happen in SHB.

There was no ending!
left pretty much everything open..
Shadowbringers is Stormblood part 2

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Originally Posted by Anselmet

I dunno guys. I think I'm gonna have nightmares from

Varis sos Galvus's face. Like omg please do not zoom up on his face like that ever again!

I thought it was a tad short. But other than that I am ready for ShB.

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Reminded me of Tataru's satanic smile from that one cutscene.

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Originally Posted by Corue

Yeah it was quite good. I loved the part where

all tension was immediately removed by an off-screen deus ex machina

and that final scene was just

extremely disappointing because there was no kind of build-up or cliffhanger that left you wanting more. It was just a big cop-out that just screamed "PLEASE BUY OUR NEW EXPANSION FOR THE GOOD STORY". So I'm pleased to know that our story will lack any kind of risk or challenge and we'll just hop on over to another shard and do everything we normally do but with a different coat of paint. .

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Every once in awhile someone on the forums hits the nail on the head. I want to be excited about Shadowbringers but when I compare the end MSQ of Heavensward to what I just saw, well, there's no comparison.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I felt like Heavensward got a more satisfying send-off personally, since we were left with a clear goal in mind that we were simply waiting to act on, whereas this time we're just left hanging.

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Doesn't help that they spent 50 MSQs setting us up to go to Garlemald and exterminate the Ascian corruption there and then swerved it to the shard storyline that got all of five minutes attention during Heavensward.

My theory on the guy in the Ala Mhigan soldier gear:

He's the real Zenos and the Zenos you faced since the beginning of the expansion was fake.

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Originally Posted by Sassychan

My theory on the guy in the Ala Mhigan soldier gear:

He's the real Zenos and the Zenos you faced since the beginning of the expansion was fake.

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This cant be as he mentions when we see him for the first time, how he remembers being beaten by us and ending his life, but waking up in this body. Elezenos is the Zenos we killed.

The most unpredictable twist were credits after seemingly nothing. My face was like:"whaaaat? thats it?"

I agree with everyone else. This patch's MSQ was heavily underwhelming. The MSQ itself, ended on such a lighthearted note, that I don't even feel the need for us to become the Warrior of Darkness. Idk, maybe there's something that's going to take place during the opening of ShadowBringers that's going to explain why, but this definitely wasn't it. The battle again Zenos was okay, but compared to ARR and HW, I would've preferred a trial against that Angel thing from the ShB trailer after we supposedly defeated Ascian-Zenos.

Late to the party. This was pretty underwhelming, but not surprisingly so. Kind of inline with off-paced expansion as a whole. Some great content and moments, but not satisfying like the HW or ARR final arcs. No one cares but I'll break down the comparisons as I see it.

::ARR left plot open but cleanly cut you (with jaw dropping finality) from that story to start anew in HW.

::HW gave you a deep sense of completion of its own arc at an early 3.3 (Nidhog/Estinian conclusion) and firmly setup our move into SB with 3.4, 3.5 and 3.56.

::SB neither cleanly cuts us from the current plot nor does it conclude anything. Much like the dual stories it attempted to tell with 4.0 MSQ, the conclusion was abrupt and unsatisfying with us knowing ShB will be on The First while the firmly established plot is pointing to Garlemald.


Switcharoos can be good, but they need to be cleverly executed. Or at least fully introduced our upcoming journey to The First. Rather than having the players knowing so much more than the WoL regarding where we are going, why, and much of what we are doing there. In an oddball turn of events, we now have to wait for the game story to catch up to us. Makes for an unsatisfying non-end feeling.

I was extremely disappointed with the epilogue. For starters...

The sequence with Hien was, personally pretty boring. I don't mind this type of content, but fleshing out their hotbar would be nice. I personally don't find it fun to press 1 button throughout the fight, with the occasional 2 and 3. Not saying to put the whole toolkit there, but at least something other than 1 attack button would be nice.

With that being said, the scenario is just pretty bad. An Ascian that could fight and defeat multiple people by himself, ready to land the finishing blow on us, was distracted by another person... who we haven't heard of in a long time, yet was conveniently there just to save us and nothing else. Cool.

We also learned nothing that we haven't already known, nor was anything even concluded. The only thing we got that is leading us toward the expansion is literally "Go to the Crystal Tower. I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain, just do it".

When the trailer gives you more information than the quests that are suppose to lead up to it, then that's honestly some pretty bad writing.

I loved the Hien phase of the Zenos fight where you have to stall Zenos long enough for your character to arrive to the battle.

Other than that, the cliffhanger makes me want the expansion right now. lol

Very underwhelming ending to SB, in my opinion. ARR & HW both ended with a bang, but Stormblood ended with more of an exhausted sputter. Even factoring in the bits after the credits, it still left a lot to be desired.

Also I cannot get over how ungodly pixelated Varis' eyes look, what is happening there lol

At least you're all invested enough in this game's overall story arc to be upset that you didn't get more questions answered in this patch. In a lot of MMO's I've played, people don't find the story engaging enough to really care one way or the other. I also thought it was a bit on the short side, but for the most part, I enjoyed what was there.

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Originally Posted by Sassychan

My theory on the guy in the Ala Mhigan soldier gear:

He's the real Zenos and the Zenos you faced since the beginning of the expansion was fake.

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The Zenos in Ala Mhigan gear is the real Zenos we fought until the MSQ quest Stormblood. Then Elidibus took his place as he was supposed to be dead but in the end Zenos survived and left his grave. There is a quest about people wandering near Zenos grave and when you investigate its empty.

At least that's how I see it.

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Originally Posted by SilverObi

Was hoping for a bit more to be honest, especially in comparison to how 2.0 and 3.0 ended. This didn't need to be split into two patches

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When 4.46 ended I was like meh... they're saving the stuff for 5.0.

Zeno's should of been a 8 man trial. Like the ARR one.

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Originally Posted by Sesera

The Zenos in Ala Mhigan gear is the real Zenos we fought until the MSQ quest Stormblood. Then Elidibus took his place as he was supposed to be dead but in the end Zenos survived and left his grave. There is a quest about people wandering near Zenos grave and when you investigate its empty.

At least that's how I see it.

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Almost, but not quite.

The 'real' Zenos died - he killed himself at the end of Stormblood - and yet since then we have had "two Zenoses":

1. ELIDIBUS, who possessed Zenos's corpse and has been posing as him since he was shown to have "miraculously survived" in the patch stories.

2. The KATANA-WIELDING SOLDIER, the real Zenos's soul who - rather than doing whatever souls are supposed to do after the body's death - has somehow survived and transferred into the body of the Elezen soldier. It's likely related to Zenos's artificial Echo, which in the recent patch was confirmed to have transferred to his new body (indicated by the briefly glowing red eyes), but I've also see it suggested that it's something to do with the Ame-no-Habakiri katana which was suggested to have some kind of significance, but hasn't been elaborated on.

it's weird having all scions unconscious because i'm late in many sidequests and they magically appear in them, like if they had woken up XD
the ending wasn't good, but it wasn¿t as much of an ending as a prologue for 5.0. nothing really happened in the last story quest, we could have killed the ascian for instance, or even not us, our timely savior. we could have actually become the hero or darkness, or a big hint to it at least.

even aymeric feel like different from hw, i dont know i find him just boring, he was more alive in the hw extension,