When does Stormblood get good?[Spoilers?]

I still don't get why Lyse was the face of the liberation when Raubahn's been fighting to liberate Ala Mhigo since 1.0 ... It is his home land while Lyse hardly lived there.
Ilberd would have made such an amazing anti-hero during SB and maybe faced Raubahn again. It didn't make sense to have these already established characters with so much background and depth only to get them shafted aside so we get Lyse spoon fed to us through the whole of SB.

I don't hate Lyse per say, but I really felt her role was forced. They could have very well just made a whole new character there without the identity reveal.

Just my two cents. :x

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MuseTraveller

I still don't get why Lyse was the face of the liberation when Raubahn's been fighting to liberate Ala Mhigo since 1.0 ... It is his home land while Lyse hardly lived there.
Ilberd would have made such an amazing anti-hero during SB and maybe faced Raubahn again. It didn't make sense to have these already established characters with so much background and depth only to get them shafted aside so we get Lyse spoon fed to us through the whole of SB.

I don't hate Lyse per say, but I really felt her role was forced. They could have very well just made a whole new character there without the identity reveal.

Just my two cents. :x

---

Preeetty much.
I'm at level 69 on the MSQ right now and I can say, the most emotion I got was seeing Estinien with Nidhogg.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wereotter

It's funny but for me, that was my least favorite part of it all... but maybe that's because by that point I was so sick of being in the Far East.

For me, Stormblood going into it was going to be the tale of the liberation of Ala Mhigo, and I felt the story gave me total whiplash when at level 61 it whisked me off to Othard and left me there until near the end of the expansion. The fact that Ala Mhigo was so glossed over in favor of everything happening in Doma and Kugane made me not much enjoy the expansion as a whole. Compound that with the fact that I started in Ul'Dah and the issue with the Ala Mhigans is something that had been presented to me since level 2 of the main story, so there was an added feeling of dissatisfaction with how they handled that story.

So to that end, my answer would be the expansion gets good when you get to start playing Shadowbringers.

---

When the story is basically forcing me to focus on the Far East I'll be sure to pick out the Steppes since that area was so different compared to the Ruby Sea or Yanxia. I think at least to me the Steppes channeled the essence of what an Gyr Abania side story could be if done right and that's what really rubs me for it.

If they had advertised the story as freeing the Domans only no one would have these issues, however the lead in from HW and the Griffin was just absolutely fantastic and pretty much had the setup to liberating Ala Mhigo good to go.

It's no secret that during the story process the team got more focused on Doma so much so they HAD to be reminded to put things in Gyr Abania so bring people back. I remember when the devs were talking about primals they said they originally wanted to use Amaterasu as the second story primal, but realized if they did that there would be no reason to visit Gyr Abania until lvl 69, so instead they used Lakshmi.

The beginning of 4.1 had promise with more topics brewing in GA but then 4.2 happened and oof. Really hoping a future msq lets us revisit GA areas or use it as the setup for the next expac akin to how Ghimlyt Dark set up for Shadowbringers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MuseTraveller

I still don't get why Lyse was the face of the liberation when Raubahn's been fighting to liberate Ala Mhigo since 1.0 ... It is his home land while Lyse hardly lived there.
Ilberd would have made such an amazing anti-hero during SB and maybe faced Raubahn again. It didn't make sense to have these already established characters with so much background and depth only to get them shafted aside so we get Lyse spoon fed to us through the whole of SB.

I don't hate Lyse per say, but I really felt her role was forced. They could have very well just made a whole new character there without the identity reveal.

Just my two cents. :x

---

Oh Lyse was definitely forced. Most don't know anything about her or her 'unique' Ala Mhigan heritage until the very end of Heavensward. It's either they wanted a main character Scion or someone conventionally appealing in appearance as the face of the expansion, because I guess a rugged, grizzled war veteran with one arm wouldn't sell.

Not that I hate Lyse though. I just think she's a bucket full of wasted potential.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Siete

I'm up to level 62 and I feel like never talking to Lyse ever again, I'm done so done with her attitude.
I miss Heavensward.

---

Not sure if if it's been mentioned, but the story does pick up a little bit when you got to the Azim Steppe and start doing all the Au Ra quests, and getting ready for the Naadam. But the interesting parts are towards the end of the expansion when the emperor gets involved. Overall, it wasn't nearly as good as HW. But as others have said Shadowbringers is well worth the wait.

Edit: Also one thing I forgot to mention was that my biggest problem with SB was that the WoL felt like a background character who was simply along for the ride. By contrast, both HW and ShB do an excellent job making you feel like the main character, and the hero of the story. It made me more emotionally invested in what was going on, and it also made me care more about the characters around me, and the quests I was doing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Noitems

When the story is basically forcing me to focus on the Far East I'll be sure to pick out the Steppes since that area was so different compared to the Ruby Sea or Yanxia. I think at least to me the Steppes channeled the essence of what an Gyr Abania side story could be if done right and that's what really rubs me for it.

If they had advertised the story as freeing the Domans only no one would have these issues, however the lead in from HW and the Griffin was just absolutely fantastic and pretty much had the setup to liberating Ala Mhigo good to go.

It's no secret that during the story process the team got more focused on Doma so much so they HAD to be reminded to put things in Gyr Abania so bring people back. I remember when the devs were talking about primals they said they originally wanted to use Amaterasu as the second story primal, but realized if they did that there would be no reason to visit Gyr Abania until lvl 69, so instead they used Lakshmi.

The beginning of 4.1 had promise with more topics brewing in GA but then 4.2 happened and oof. Really hoping a future msq lets us revisit GA areas or use it as the setup for the next expac akin to how Ghimlyt Dark set up for Shadowbringers.

---

n
Yeah, that's also more of my complaints with Ghyr Abania in general too. The zones, in my opinion, are beautiful and the setting is very interesting... but we were only there for like two minutes at the start of the expansion, and again at the very end, then they tied up the whole thing in 4.1. Side notes, The Fringes is now the only expansion zone without a dungeon in it... which to me shows just how little attention they they put into it.

I just hope that they put more story later into those zones, even if it's just side story for rebuilding Ala Mhigo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wereotter

n
Yeah, that's also more of my complaints with Ghyr Abania in general too. The zones, in my opinion, are beautiful and the setting is very interesting... but we were only there for like two minutes at the start of the expansion, and again at the very end, then they tied up the whole thing in 4.1. Side notes, The Fringes is now the only expansion zone without a dungeon in it... which to me shows just how little attention they they put into it.

I just hope that they put more story later into those zones, even if it's just side story for rebuilding Ala Mhigo.

---

Oooo..... Ala Mhigo reconstruction for 6.0 crafter endgame mb? That would be awesome.

But to parrot what has been said, Azim steepes is when it gets a bit better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brandedblade

Oooo..... Ala Mhigo reconstruction for 6.0 crafter endgame mb? That would be awesome.

But to parrot what has been said, Azim steepes is when it gets a bit better.

---

Doesn't even have to be crafter/gatherer thing for me to be content. Even something like the Doman Enclave reconstruction would be enough to satisfy me. Though I really would want it to be a fully explorable city at some point.

IMO stormblood is probably the weakest of the stories and for me it never really got good.

One problem was with the villians. Fordola was fine but I really did not like Yotsuyu or Zenos and having one enemy coming out of nowhere that can somehow beat us without breaking a sweat is just not great story telling imo.
Then using Lyse as main character for this expansion was not a good idea either. First I dont understand the "I am my sister" change because suddenly we have a new character that we have not a single connection with instead of using the old one and developing her further. She just felt blank and forced. Conrad then later giving her the job instead of M`Nago was bad too, especially since the other woman was at least fighting all the time for Ala Mhigo and was the one that made him continue the fight..

The split between two countries and the liberation of both also made it feel way too quick and made it bad for both countries. (But Ala Mhigo got it the worst) Its probably not that great either that we just had a fantasy expansion with war as theme..and here we are again in another war...a war that on the first view has nothing to do with the Ascians..so why are we forced into this? Why are we used again for that instead of doing our job and trying to find out more about the Ascians? Heck my character choose the option that this was not her fight to fight yet she was still forced into that. Of course I am fine with helping the common people out..its what our character does. But I would have found it better if we would had contributed to the story like that while the war was happening at the same time. They could have even explored the feelings of some of the city states and some of the scions who are disappointed in us not outright helping while later understanding that we are still a person and not a weapon..

In the end it was just another war story that did not feel like a war story..and on top of that one country was put down to focus more on the other..and somehow in a small time period we just free countries that has been conquered over 20 years ago..and that with a character like Lyse on our side that felt like she even overshadowed our character quite a bit..even though we were the one making it even possible..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Siete

I was expecting war, not funny slice of life anime jokes over and over.

---

really? are we playing the same game?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nora_of_Mira

really? are we playing the same game?

---

Yes? I didn't have that in Heavensward, a bit in ARR but all the SB campaign up until the Steppes was all some SoL anime with Lyse as the MC.

You know how in the Star Trek prime timeline, the odd number movies suck, while the even number movies are good? I feel like that's what's happening with FFXIV's expansions.

It never got better for me. If anything, I'd say it got worse. Can't really explain much without spoiling anything, but a few of the patches were based around a narrative trope/cliche that added nothing of actual substance to the story (though it did give us a very cool fight) When I say that it added nothing of value I mean that it was just filler. If that hadn't happened the ending of SB would have still been the same.

I know a few people that really enjoyed that particular storyline though so you might enjoy it yourself (some in this thread are even referring to it as being their favorite part of SB.) But personally I thought it was one of the cheesiest things to have happened in FFXIV and most of my friends seem to agree with that sentiment. But maybe we're just being snobs.

Shadowbringers is amazing though, I think it might be my favorite expansion to date. So at least you'll have that to look forward to.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hiedra

Shadowbringers is amazing though, I think it might be my favorite expansion to date. So at least you'll have that to look forward to.

---

I hope the patches will keep that level of quality! ShB had its weaker moments but nothing comparable to Stormblood.

I guess you are mentioning 4.2 and 4.3 story that a lot of people loved but you found it cheesy. Yeah, I think it was overall good and well written but it could have been tied up in a patch and not dragged on two. 4.4 and 4.5 are also pointlessly long and uninteresting when things could have been solved in a few quests.

But this essentially comforts my position, this is all about "smaller stories" with little to no impact on the bigger plot. Stormblood is quite horizontal, there is a lot to it, but nothing really builds up on anything, compared to the "investigation" on the Dragonsong War in Heavensward or the WoL's path in Shadowbringers.

Hate to play pile-on but another thing bad about SB was the girl who worked for Zenos that had good potential but they didn't do mich with her. The one from Ala Mhigo that ended up jailed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AncientCrystal

Hate to play pile-on but another thing bad about SB was the girl who worked for Zenos that had good potential but they didn't do mich with her. The one from Ala Mhigo that ended up jailed.

---

I was always disappointed the story didn't acknowledge that Fordola and her regiment were products of the situation they were born into, and that while it doesn't excuse their actions it makes it understandable /why/ they willingly served the Garleans in hopes of a better life. It really bothered me how the story and Lyse as it's mouthpiece were always demonizing people like Fordola who capitulated for the chance at a better life in spite of the fact that Lyse had be safely ensconced in Eorzea for the majority of her life and thus couldn't possibly understand what life was actually like there. It's okay if Lyse doesn't understand, she needs to grow and coming to understand that life isn't as simple as she thinks it is would have been a good character moment for her. But the writing itself never tries to turn it into a growth moment nor refutes her logic in the narrative beyond the most basic of 'these villagers grew up oppressed and don't want to rise up, but here come our heroes!' sort of moments. Which narrative are basically scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel in a war story.

Stormblood really wanted to be seen as this dark and serious tale with shades of grey marring the whole, but it's moments like that that brought the quality of the writing down to an almost juvenile level for me. There was rarely any nuance and that was especially true in the Ala Mhigo portion of the story which basically ended up being the red-headed step child of the expansion. It's like the writers had surface level thoughts about the implications of life under a regime like the Garleans but never thought to actually take a deeper, non-biased look at what the average person might do to survive in them with no hope of escape.

Well lets not forget that Fordula was quite ready to let poor people on the land be beaten nearly to death. She did not just serve Garlemald, she and her group went out of their way to torment others. Yes her dad died (but garlean soldiers looked away too..) but just with Yotsuyu, that gives her no right to let it out on those that did nothing to her. And in the end she even sacrificed her own comrades for her goal.

At least she is one of the few villian that truly have to go through a redemption arc by working for it and suffering the consequences of her actions..while the other two just kinda killed themselves...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AncientCrystal

Hate to play pile-on but another thing bad about SB was the girl who worked for Zenos that had good potential but they didn't do mich with her. The one from Ala Mhigo that ended up jailed.

---

You get news from her in one of the StB written stories, and thenn in the 80 SMN quest, and these are quite underwhelming too.

Fordola is a great character because she does not check most of typical villains, she is always in between.
She had a heavy past, but she is not so endearing for that too. (And that bit was explained in 4.1 if I remember correctly? So 4.0 was her pure evil)
Ses she is cruel but she is not pointlessly evil (like Zenos). She has moments of tension and moral struggle (like the part where she decides to kill part of their allies in The Peaks) when neither Yotsuyu or Zenos show that. She is a very good balance to Lyse (who is the weaker character of the two).
She has strong loyalty, accepting the Resonant experiment to punish herself from her own failures. She is condamned to suffer it for the rest of her life.

The character is not perfect but it has a great potential, it's too bad they did not build up on her. Although it's still possible to have her back in the game with Gaius and Zenos at some point in that conflict!

IMO stormblood is 'good' in 4.1 and 4.4 and 4.5. SB overall is a step down from HW, but SHB is a step back up afterwards.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enla

I was always disappointed the story didn't acknowledge that Fordola and her regiment were products of the situation they were born into, and that while it doesn't excuse their actions it makes it understandable /why/ they willingly served the Garleans in hopes of a better life. It really bothered me how the story and Lyse as it's mouthpiece were always demonizing people like Fordola who capitulated for the chance at a better life in spite of the fact that Lyse had be safely ensconced in Eorzea for the majority of her life and thus couldn't possibly understand what life was actually like there. It's okay if Lyse doesn't understand, she needs to grow and coming to understand that life isn't as simple as she thinks it is would have been a good character moment for her. But the writing itself never tries to turn it into a growth moment nor refutes her logic in the narrative beyond the most basic of 'these villagers grew up oppressed and don't want to rise up, but here come our heroes!' sort of moments. Which narrative are basically scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel in a war story.

Stormblood really wanted to be seen as this dark and serious tale with shades of grey marring the whole, but it's moments like that that brought the quality of the writing down to an almost juvenile level for me. There was rarely any nuance and that was especially true in the Ala Mhigo portion of the story which basically ended up being the red-headed step child of the expansion. It's like the writers had surface level thoughts about the implications of life under a regime like the Garleans but never thought to actually take a deeper, non-biased look at what the average person might do to survive in them with no hope of escape.

---

After reading this, I'm convinced Fordola would have been a much more interesting main character for Stormblood, rather than Lyse. And I actually like Lyse.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alleo

Well lets not forget that Fordula was quite ready to let poor people on the land be beaten nearly to death. She did not just serve Garlemald, she and her group went out of their way to torment others. Yes her dad died (but garlean soldiers looked away too..) but just with Yotsuyu, that gives her no right to let it out on those that did nothing to her. And in the end she even sacrificed her own comrades for her goal.

At least she is one of the few villian that truly have to go through a redemption arc by working for it and suffering the consequences of her actions..while the other two just kinda killed themselves...

---

Hence the 'it doesn't excuse their actions' portion of my post. Fordola did truly awful things but the story never stops to take a second and imagine /why/ she turned out that way or even sympathize with her troops and their circumstances that led them into the Garlean's service. Fordola doesn't need to be a good person and we don't need to excuse with her heinous actions - she did wrong and she is now rightfully paying for it. However by refusing to provide any nuance to people like her in the narrative it drags itself down as a whole. How did someone like Fordola come to exist? Why did so many youths decide that being in service to Garlemald was a preferable alternative? Are some of them doing this under the slim hope it'll make things better for their families? Are some doing it out of greed? Just how far has Garlemald truly gone that this would even be an issue? Do some of their wages go home? Do they even get a wage? And did the change in Stewardship between Gaius and Zenos cause more issues like this or were they always there? For a story that tried to show the harsh realities of war these were questions that at the bare minimum needed to be considered during the conceptualization stage. And yet it doesn't feel like they were beyond a handful of blink and you'll miss them lines. Instead we have a pretty black and white 'they bad, we good' scenario that would be fine in any other narrative that wasn't trying to constantly tout itself as being nuanced.

It's Stormblood's refusal to stop thinking it's deeper than it really is that gets it into some of the worst trouble narratively, right up there with the split focus hampering the overall impact.

Just finished Stormblood up to the main MSQ (Not the following patches)
Damn, Zenos got me right in the feels, that was relatable.
Wish I would have skept Lyse's following monologue and the cutscenes with her on the main screen.
Incredibly, she never redeemed herself as a character, she's a literal nobody and did literally nothing during the whole campaign but being a crybaby and getting lectured.

I didn't, not like SB. However, even for the WoL, liberating two nations was a bit far fetched for me. It wasn't a matter of "when does it get good?" but rather a series of highs and lows throughout the entire expansion:

4.0: "We just got our arses kicked. Let's go liberate Doma!
4.1: "Wait, what? He's not dead?"
4.2: "Who cares! God Kefka here I come!!
4.3: "I hate you Tsuyu." "I love you Tsuyu." "I hate you Tsuyu"... Seriously, well designed trial SE. "I love you Tsuyu!"
4.4: Where is this all going? I think SB is actually over.
4.5: Yup SB is pretty much wrapped up, and we're basically in ShB at this point.
Post: "You too, are my enemy, and my friend."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

I didn't, not like SB. However, even for the WoL, liberating two nations was a bit far fetched for me. It wasn't a matter of "when does it get good?" but rather a series of highs and lows throughout the entire expansion:

4.0: "We just got our arses kicked. Let's go liberate Doma!
4.1: "Wait, what? He's not dead?"
4.2: "Who cares! God Kefka here I come!!
4.3: "I hate you Tsuyu." "I love you Tsuyu." "I hate you Tsuyu"... Seriously, well designed trial SE. "I love you Tsuyu!"
4.4: Where is this all going? I think SB is actually over.
4.5: Yup SB is pretty much wrapped up, and we're basically in ShB at this point.
Post: "You too, are my enemy, and my friend."

---

"Farewell my first friend, my enemy"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAAAAAAA
I relate too much to this guy and it hurts
He was just a doomer

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Siete

I'm up to level 62 and I feel like never talking to Lyse ever again, I'm done so done with her attitude.
I miss Heavensward.

---

Stormblood is a low point. However, there are high points like Azim Steppe which is around 64/65. You will eventually run into the leader npc of that side of the world and that is mostly enjoyable. But then you gotta wait until... the end patches. Lyse is the low point. I am sorry. If it makes you feel better, by the time you get to ShB you will be hyped up like with HW. Keep plucking at it and you'll get to a more enjoyable story.

Basically, at the Azim steppe/end of the churning mists/garuda/raktika greatwood. It's literally around the same point every expac, but SHB has just been really well paced compared to the other two and not take like an entire century to get to do something fun and not just overly rely on the side-stories/never-ending quests

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Siete

"Farewell my first friend, my enemy"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAAAAAAA
I relate too much to this guy and it hurts
He was just a doomer

---

I feel your pain, and I'm all too familiar with the "relationship" between these two. It comes with a lot of hurt and shame to admit he is pizza.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enla

Hence the 'it doesn't excuse their actions' portion of my post. Fordola did truly awful things but the story never stops to take a second and imagine /why/ she turned out that way or even sympathize with her troops and their circumstances that led them into the Garlean's service. Fordola doesn't need to be a good person and we don't need to excuse with her heinous actions - she did wrong and she is now rightfully paying for it. However by refusing to provide any nuance to people like her in the narrative it drags itself down as a whole. How did someone like Fordola come to exist? Why did so many youths decide that being in service to Garlemald was a preferable alternative? Are some of them doing this under the slim hope it'll make things better for their families? Are some doing it out of greed? Just how far has Garlemald truly gone that this would even be an issue? Do some of their wages go home? Do they even get a wage? And did the change in Stewardship between Gaius and Zenos cause more issues like this or were they always there? For a story that tried to show the harsh realities of war these were questions that at the bare minimum needed to be considered during the conceptualization stage. And yet it doesn't feel like they were beyond a handful of blink and you'll miss them lines. Instead we have a pretty black and white 'they bad, we good' scenario that would be fine in any other narrative that wasn't trying to constantly tout itself as being nuanced.

It's Stormblood's refusal to stop thinking it's deeper than it really is that gets it into some of the worst trouble narratively, right up there with the split focus hampering the overall impact.

---

Huh? We know how Fordola and people like her came to be. There was a flashback scene to her dad getting stoned. Did you forget? The youths were the children of those that didn't fight the empire and tried to adapt and were shunned by the revolutionaries.

Honestly, i get the feeling people were half asleep. Stromblood is awesome. Now that i finished Shadowbringers, Stormblood was honestly my favorite story (not that i didn't love Shadowbringers too). I know it's not popular, but the characters introduced were way more fascinating. Yotsuyu and Fordola in particular were great villains. You could see Yotsuyu's regrets, you could see Fordola's pain, you could see Zeno's loneliness. I don't understand how this didn't resonate with people...
I guess FF fans just prefer stories of the distant past. :/

I enjoyed Stormblood. I ran story many times with my alts. I have to say however that Shadowbringer was simply amazing in my view and I was very pleasantly surprised to see how good it is. My favorite xpac to date. One can only hope that 6.0 will be as good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Siete

Just finished Stormblood up to the main MSQ (Not the following patches)
Damn, Zenos got me right in the feels, that was relatable.

---

Uh...how was Zenos relatable to you?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Siete

Just finished Stormblood up to the main MSQ (Not the following patches)
Damn, Zenos got me right in the feels, that was relatable.
Wish I would have skept Lyse's following monologue and the cutscenes with her on the main screen.
Incredibly, she never redeemed herself as a character, she's a literal nobody and did literally nothing during the whole campaign but being a crybaby and getting lectured.

---

...and now that you finished the SB MSQ I can tell you that I was literally shocked watching Lyse being head of the parade of heroes, Scions, allies et all in the last cutscene. As if she did anything heroic at all! At that point I felt a strong urge to throw the monitor out of the window... and, no, I didn't.

As for Zenos, he never struck a chord with me; he is what in literature is defined as "a flat character pretending to be round". The best villain is yet to come though.. but you are close. Enjoy Shadowbringers!

Personally i do not think Stormblood was too great. Story was ok but the content.. questionable.
Heavansward was the best but Shadowbringers while stil learly in the expansion has taken crown now for best expansion (at least for me)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Noitems

It's no secret that during the story process the team got more focused on Doma so much so they HAD to be reminded to put things in Gyr Abania so bring people back.

---

Funny thing about that.... The Fringes is still the only zone in the game that doesn't house a playable dungeon. Gyr Abania is just so empty, especially compared to Othard that its painfully obvious the development team just didn't give it as much love or attention

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ishgardian

As for Zenos, he never struck a chord with me; he is what in literature is defined as "a flat character pretending to be round". The best villain is yet to come though.. but you are close. Enjoy Shadowbringers!

---

I agree. Zenos is a very weak villian with poor character development and poor motives. This really is a shame considering how much more developed even minor villians like Yatsuyu and Fordola were.

And we know that we'll never be rid of him as a villian unless we can manage to deal with his manufactured echo...

I'll be honest, I'm glad the entire expansion wasn't all about Ala Mhigo. I don't think they can really achieve the same thing they did with Ishgard and the Dravanians etc. because the Garlean Empire as a plot tool has been overdone at this point wouldn't catch a strong interest for most players. The Far East was a good addition and it had multiple nations/regions, most not even accessible yet. That and we barely know anything about it so I can see why they put more attention on the Far East than Gyr Abania/Ala Mhigo.

I thought SB was okay, but definitely nowhere near what HW was. Zeno's to me just isn't a very compelling villain. If you enjoyed HW then I think you'll really like ShB. HW is still probably my favorite but ShB for many is either just as good as HW, if not the best.

Stormblood had a lot of potential IMHO, but the pieces felt like they were put together all wrong.

Should have started in the Far East, everything wrapped up nicely in Eorzea with 3.5 so we sail out with Yugiri to find Hien and see what we can do about Doma.

Far East side of things plays out mostly as it did with the main difference being that somewhere around the middle of the Doma arc we get word from Eorzea that everything is going out control.
The Griffin, ignored by the alliance and scions both has unleashed a primal, without the WoL to slay it the Alliance has panicked and unleashed Omega, the Garleans have not taken a massive primal fighting an allagan super weapon right on their border very well at all, and basically everything is kicking off on the Western Front just as we're gearing up to attack the Empire in the far east and liberate a nation.

Much more drama and tension from that than there was from the way round we actually did things. Do we drop what we're doing and head back? Do we finish what we've started over here? How will the Alliance do without us there? Hien, buddy, can we rush this attack along?