When does Stormblood get good?[Spoilers?]

[Ishgardian]

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!

[Maero]

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)

[wereotter]

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

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...

[dinnertime]

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.

[Nucah]

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.

[Jandor]

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?