Heavensward was sublime... I miss it already! Give me hope for Stormblood please!

[TheUltimate3]

The best part of Stormblood for me was the patch content and that Alisaie got more time in the MSQ.

I enjoyed being able to help the Domans because I owed them that, and I thought the gameplay for it was fun even if the storytelling was not.

But yea, learning more about the empire was really the only highlight of anything involving Ala Mhigo for me.

I think the only reason we even went to Ala Mhigo was because it was a promise from 1.0 to 2.0 and they couldn't think of a better reason to justify us going.

[Bright-Flower]

I think the only reason we even went to Ala Mhigo was because it was a promise from 1.0 to 2.0 and they couldn't think of a better reason to justify us going.

It definitely seemed to me like Ala Mhigo was a plot point they 'had' to address but their heart was in the doma content.

I'm still a little irked that Kugane was as irrelevant as it ended up being. Expansion is 1/2 doma focus 1/2 ala mhigo, and the main city is neither and just serves as a pit stop on the way to and from doma. Even its status as a neutral port isnt really touched upon as much as the concept could be.

[Altera]

Heavenward was a very good expansion, Stormblood was also a good one, even though I still enjoyed Heavenward more. But Shadowbringers........masterclass.
My ratings for expansions: HW 8, Stormblood 7, Shadowbringers 9.5. Hoping next expansion is a 10/10 ^^
If take WOW expansions for comparisons that I played
TBC 6
WotLK 7,5
Cataclysm 4
MOP 5

[Silverquick]

and man that dungeon out at sea was amazing! Stormblood has gotten a little better for me!

Despite all of the things I said early on in this thread... honestly the one redeeming quality of Stormblood is indeed the uniqueness of its dungeons, alliance raids, and 8 mans.

Those are the things that do stick out. And you'll see as you get to them. While not all the dungeons are of the same quality of the First 2, many of them have unique mechanics. And things like the Trials where there are all kinds of innovative things in there including Real Time interactions and Duty Action buttons specific to the Trial or Raid.

And I'm not going to mince words here, the Ivalice Series of Raids remains deadly even with Shadowbringer gear because some of the mechanics are so deadly they still cause full raid wipes. Despite a new expansion you can't really outgear those. Exception being the very first one. The rest are still intense sometimes.

The Omega Raids are odd but fun because of this.

So from a gameplay standpoint, the content is solid... but the MSQ and storyline... well that seriously subpar.

[monk-dps]

I liked SB way better than HW... I actually hated HW.

[monk-dps]

I don't think you know me well enough to openly insult me like you just did, so I'll end my discussion with you here. Have a nice day.

They aren't wrong tho. The backstories you may have seen aren't shortcuts. It's stuff that has happened and can happen. And it can be powerful stuff depending on how it's written. You can not like going -there- all you want but that doesn't take away the fact it exists.

[Bright-Flower]

Despite all of the things I said early on in this thread... honestly the one redeeming quality of Stormblood is indeed the uniqueness of its dungeons, alliance raids, and 8 mans.

Those are the things that do stick out. And you'll see as you get to them. While not all the dungeons are of the same quality of the First 2, many of them have unique mechanics. And things like the Trials where there are all kinds of innovative things in there including Real Time interactions and Duty Action buttons specific to the Trial or Raid.

And I'm not going to mince words here, the Ivalice Series of Raids remains deadly even with Shadowbringer gear because some of the mechanics are so deadly they still cause full raid wipes. Despite a new expansion you can't really outgear those. Exception being the very first one. The rest are still intense sometimes.

The Omega Raids are odd but fun because of this.

So from a gameplay standpoint, the content is solid... but the MSQ and storyline... well that seriously subpar.

Yeah for all my story gripes about SB, gameplay wise it was good. Even Eureka wasn't too bad (outside of Pagos good god)

[Vahlnir]

Yeah for all my story gripes about SB, gameplay wise it was good. Even Eureka wasn't too bad (outside of Pagos good god)

Pagos…



The dragons. Oh god, the dragons...

[Saefinn]

Whilst it can be used as a cheap plot device, but the fact it's used doesn't mean it's a cheap plot device. Whether you feel it's cheap I guess will depend on how they've done it and how you're measuring how cheap something is. But sometimes it can be there because it is a part of reality, a harsh reality, and unfortunately more common in times of conflict than we'd like to think. Fortunately, it doesn't go into any depth. And I can understand people who have been affected by the topic not finding it an easy one, which is why I am glad there's little depth in its presentation. And I can also understand the argument that fantasy is often generally a form of escapism, which usually attracts people who have something to escape from (and this is the real reason trigger warnings exist, not because people are sensitive and don't want their feelings hurt, even if abused by that stereotype).

But on cheapness, to me, what's cheap is not that something is used as a plot device, but how it's used. Take killing off favourite characters as an example, when done well, it has a meaningful impact and work well as a plot device, for example, the death of Haurchefaunt, who we all still mourn this day.

However, Nanamo's 'death' felt more like...they realised Game of Thrones was popular and it seemed like the plot device was used to get an end of game reaction that...at the time, was not well received, not because they killed off Nanamo, but because it didn't seem to make sense and it was jarring and kinda cheap. When it came to Heavensward, they fortunately retconned that death.

As an RPer, it's something I see sometimes happening in people's backstories, there's certain tropes that when done well, are fine, but when not, feel cheap.

[Vahlnir]

the death of Haurchefaunt, who we all still mourn this day.

I mean, it kind of sucked I guess, but I think they were and still are trying too hard to make us care about him and his death. I liked his character, don't get me wrong, but I didn't have an emotional attachment to him. So when he died I was like "sorry man, but I could have taken that hit." The emotional investment just...wasn't there for me. And I didn't like how they tried to make me feel something I didn't. lol I used to joke that they would kill off any character that had a personality greater than a robot. And I was fully convinced of it until the end of the Stormblood MSQ launch stuff.