Take a moment to thank SE

[Barghest1210]

So admittedly in HW I tended to ignore the side quests so I was pleasantly surprised at how truly interesting the side quest stories were in SB. I truly loved how they would converge in each zone. Spending years in wow I'm just conditioned to expect that each quest hub is their to tell a singular story that despite being in the same zone is separate from any other quest hubs within the area. It was especially entertaining in yanxia, and when pushing the MSQ to see a certain brother that was mentioned heavily in only side quests I lost my shit. To that effect please if at all possible I'd love for more side quests to revisit these stories in each zone. Are "Ross and Rachel" in the Axum steppes ever gonna get togeather? Are we gonna see the lupin brothers reunite? How's the confederacy doing? I want these answers almost as much as I want to know what omegas doing. But anyway thank you for a truly enjoyable leveling experience.

[Anonymoose]

Agreed. Side quests as a whole felt like they had a formula to them: If you did them "on time", there wasn't excessive map zig-zaggery, and if you did them all you ended up with precisely two sets of gear (taking the MSQ into account). Moreover, they really set the tone for where you were and what it was like there "at the time".

Another thing I noticed was that more of them than not fit the moment. There was a, "We can't make any progress until they open up to us." or "We have nothing better to do while we wait." vibe. Only a few times did it feel like, "So, I know terrible things are happening and time is a factor, but if you could move these boxes for me, that'd be greaaat." It felt like we had a positive impact on the area that will resonate after we're gone.

I think they've weeded out most of the kinks in the flow of the free EXP platters.

[Kyan]

Agreed. Side quests as a whole felt like they had a formula to them: If you did them "on time", there wasn't excessive map zig-zaggery...

I think this is such a brilliant design this time around. Of course, I do all the side quests, but I enjoyed how they fit into the main scenario's pace this time. It was very clever.

Post-70, I am also enjoying how quests have changed reflecting on my current personal events. Doing job quests now adjusts dialogue reflecting what I achieved as the Warrior of Light in Stormblood - I know they did this mildly in previous story, but I feel it has been done really well this time around and I know that could not have been simple to map and plan.

Round of applause! :-)

[Ramesses]

Yeah, this will be a perfect thread for me to thank Yoshi and the entire Development team for a job spectacularly well done... and to give my brief but honest opinion of what I think of Stormblood. By the way, +1 to you for posting this, Barghest1210... oh look, its Moose again! I swear I'm not following you around on the forums (laughs)

Dev Team, this will be a long one yet I promise to punctuate the wall of text with images here and there. It is a lengthy review because Yoshi has repeatedly said he really wants to candidly hear from the silent majority now and again. So here's my humble and unbiased review:

Yoshida-san, first and foremost, when you find all the ones responsible for the DDOS attacks, you need to do this to them...




So now that we have that out of the way, on to other items. I'll try to use my same review format I used way back on the alpha and beta forums). I'll also respectfully keep spoilers to a bare minimum and keep whatever minor spoilers hidden out of sight with the hide tags.

The story
I will be blunt... Stormblood is a magnificent story and I'm almost short of declaring that it is better than Heavensward; my main sense of hesitation stemming from the fact that it is still missing... something. And perhaps that something will be added as the Stormblood story progresses. Nonetheless still loved the large amount of quests and cinematic sequences a lot... brilliant way of fleshing out this new world in a sophisticated manner.

The "Sisterhood"

They made the FFXV Brotherhood pale in comparison and I'm glad for it... because I still insist that FFXV was a gross disappointment story-wise. Moving along though, there were a couple periods in the SB tale when both Lyse and Yugiri came across as woefully annoying with their naivety. I found that surprising because Yugiri's core signature behaviour was the cool calm collected Ninja and Lyse was always the hothead. So I want to assume that without Papalymo's chiding and Hein's direction, these two understandably went a little...awry...in their story direction.

Y'shtola on the other hand was relegated to the background which was brilliant... it gave the spotlight to Alisie, Lyse --and at times Yugiri-- to actually shine for a good portion of the tale. Great art direction there by organically making her injured for most of the tale which clever explained her absence but please gradually bring Y'shtola back into the limelight.

Armour design

• Stays amazingly true and honest to the overall theme of the Ala Mhigo, Doma and Kugane regions.
• For Ala Mhigo, gear looks more leather oriented which ties in very realistically into the harsh and high temp environments.
• Also emphasized that the need for lighter wears were much more suitable for ease of movement and guerrilla style battle with the Imperials. Doma and Kugane locked into the Japanese style of fashion to perfection… and by the way, Kugane is absolutely gorgeous. Grrrrr, it's annoying how my PS4 still randomly tags some of my photos at the top left corner as its saving them. Ruins the look but... meh.

Music
Amazing and extremely fitting for almost every zone and instance event. Even minor echoes and resonating sounds were flawless. Indeed, Nobuo Uematsu, Soken and the entire sound department did a spectacular job. Enough said.

Battle System
BLM slide casting more flawless but Enochian still drops unexpectedly for me when I play on the PS4. However, damage is almost on par with Samurai whenever we get the chance to stand in one position and turret (which is rare considering some of the jump-rope boss battle dynamics).

Nonetheless, my experience with landing critical hits with Foul has been slightly randomized (ranging from a low of 9k to as high as 28k) so I’m currently experimenting with loading more 40+ critical hits materia onto my gear to see how much critical hits modifiers really affect its output. I shall share my results on this at a later time.

That said, even simple and mundane movements like getting on one's mount are now almost flawless. Thanks for that Dev Team, and I'll be sure to post more reviews on this in the technical forums.

Other pending questions

• What has become of House Darnus?
• What other heirs does Varis have? Knowing that his son Zenos was a monster, I’m quite certain he already started making arrangements for a subsequent “back-up” heir. Once again, I ask: Can we please have our Larsa NPC now so that we feel justified in our assumptions that not all Garleans are horrible?
• Where is the Raen Princess Yuki Of the Yatsurugi clan???
• And when can I finally be able to repair my gear in at the Inn without having to exit?

And on that note, I leave the Dev Team with a few pictures of how we celebrated the ending of Heavensward and ushered in Stormblood on the Excalibur server (in the final hours before server shut down on the night of June 15th 2017):










This was where a lot of us logged out prior to the launch of Stormblood's early access: right in front of the door to the Rising Stones. By the way, one of my friends kept insisting I take this pic with her flying over my head with her Phoenix mount... came out surprisingly well.

Once again, thank you Dev Team for the phenomenal work so far and we sincerely expect excellent followups to the great momentum you currently have on-going.

[Vayanne]

Where is the Raen Princess Yuki Of the Yatsurugi clan???

------------

You meet her again in the ninja questline.

[NightFire19]

My only problem with the MSQ was how they shoe-horned in the Far East, and I feel like the story could be a bit more coherent if Ala Mhigo and Far East were in their own expansions.

[Barghest1210]

My only problem with the MSQ was how they shoe-horned in the Far East, and I feel like the story could be a bit more coherent if Ala Mhigo and Far East were in their own expansions.

hardly shoehorned in, Doma and its predicaments had been established since the end of ARR

[Soulforge]

I thought the arc sidequests became too repetitive. WoL finds a misfit, then nudges them along over several quests to find their purpose in life, and sometimes they meet each other. They were overall still an improvement though. For Doma and Ala Mhigo, I thought Doma actually overshadowed Ala Mhigo. By the time we reach the Lochs, we barely spend any time there relative to other zones, much like Azys Lla in Heavensward.

[Ramesses]

Just getting back to this appreciation thread in order to keep my word that I would establish the remainder of my feedback for Stormblood. Plus, with all the new information released regarding during the live stream to mark Final Fantasy XIV’s fourth anniversary, now is a good time as any to express my feedback.



Most importantly, the Dev team have continually stated that they really want to candidly hear from the silent majority now and again. So here's my remaining part of my humble and unbiased review. Even though I actually completed the MSQ on June 19th, 2017 (just before early access ended) I held off on giving an expansive feedback because I wanted to prevent spoilers for the newer players. Also took me several weeks to finally get round to this partially because I have been alarmingly busy recently plus I wanted to an extended time to lapse between launch day... all so as not to toss in any potential spoilers. Anyway, this will be a long one, so have a coffee mug and some biscuits at your elbow.





The Warrior of Light:
Yes.... its been four glorious years now since 2.0 launched and as always I'm still immensely proud now more than ever to be a Legacy player... the journey since 1.0 has been nothing short of legendary. Thank you once again for the truly phenomenal work. One aspect of Stormblood that I truly liked was the fact that it fully began to address stage six of the twelve stages of the hero’s journey – that basically tougher enemies and obstacles have now been thrown in the hero’s path and he/she begins to confront the fact that they are still weak compared to the greater environment of our world. I thoroughly enjoyed my charcaters evolution this time around, that's for sure.

Ever since 1.0, we had finished stage four (meeting our mentor – Louisoix) and hovering around stage five and six for almost an enire full expansion. The fact that Prince Zenos trashes us soundly in our first bout and toys about with us in the second bout was excellently written in a manner that lets us understand how much we still needed to evolve. I loved that. But here is my one burning question about all this: Is our current sole purpose now to just keep liberating provinces from the great Garlean Empire? What next…on to Thavnairia? The rest of Hingashi? Or constantly being tested by some out worldly being? I fervently hope that the upcoming patches will address these.

Zenos
As one other player said somewhere on the forums “I wish I could have been Zenos’ friend longer” is a sentiment that many people seem to echo...

(MINOR SPOILERS HIDDEN BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED THE MAIN STORY)

...And I'm still livid that the Dev team initiated his demise this early in the Stormblood series. Extremely Livid, and now we have another Gaius-like scenario.

For all intents and purposes I actually liked his character a lot. Immensely. For the few who thought his voice sounded prissy, I reckon that’s just hogwash. Not to steal his own quote but Zenos did play his part to perfection, voice included… his voice accent style is actually very similar to the “Received Pronunciation” accent and I highly commend Koji and his team for delivering this speech in such a manner.

One has to remember this: He is fourth generation royalty, a respected warrior Legatus and the Crown Prince of the Empire (almost comparable to Prince Maximillian from Valkyrie Chronicles). Thus, he’s allowed to sound conceitedly prissy. And bossy. And vain. Notice how he’s even loosely modelled off “Vayne” Solidor from FFXII? [Insert another plea here for us to soon have our own Larsa Solidor in the FFXIV universe]. Honestly, I think his English voice acting was perfect… yes, perhaps a little overdone for only a couple of his lines but ultimately perfect. One also has to remember: in the real world, royalty and aristocrats are traditionally trained in certain oratory speech intonations and eloquence to exhibit power, status, and intelligence. I would have been furious if the Devs just drafted someone to give him a deep baritone without any charismatic hint.



Story wise, he was delivered excellently as an uncomplicated villainous character but what exactly in his youth amalgamated his spirit to become this? It’s impossible that he was born this way and there had to be a powerful occurrence in his youth that triggered his path to monstrosity. That’s what I find fascinating and I wish there were flashbacks about his upbringing. Was he an unwanted child within a loveless arranged marriage between his parents? A bastard son of a young Varis' indiscretion?

As I said above and a few times before Stormblood was released, I stated I’d be furious if the Devs disposed him at the end of this patch… and that’s exactly what happened. I’m still irritated about this because I still believe it was a seriously missed opportunity of having a solid villain at the central point of the story for the entire 4.X series. I honestly expected him to remain the main protagonist throughout the entire series of patches related to 4.0. In fact, when he and Shinryu merged, I expected that to be one of the chain reactions that would lead us all into a fresh set of chaos (both to Eorzea and Garlemald) and would thus usher in the 5.0 expansion to be located at the empire.

When he merged with Shiryu, I thought: Awesome, we fight, I win, and he’ll run off to unleash havoc on the rest of the province or begin a series of events that will make the alliance fight tooth and nail to liberate Ala Migho. Possibly even blackmailing his father Varis to abdicate or he would lay siege to the Garlean capital. But instead, Yoshi said nope, he’s done. What a waste of a memorable monster.


Au Ri Characters.
Love them. As an Au Ra myself, one can imagine how interested I was in learning about the Raen and Xeala clans… and SE delivered this package with a stunning bow tie. But we need more of this story in the coming patches.... I've completed EVERY single quest in the Azim Steppe area and I'm fascinated at how well the quests really fleshed out their world. Cirina is awesome by the way, her stalwart yet anxious facial expressions were absolutely brilliant.

The dynamics between Magnai and Sadu (Sun and Moon) was superb, well delivered and one can tell that their relationship is one of the pillar foundations of the MSQ. They better get married and I will write a petition letter.

All enjoyed the numerous quests in that region. The Au Ra quests with the Mol, at Reunion area and of the three lost kids and so many more. Well done developing those in a manner that really enriched the game.

Other NPCs:
Estinen… by the gods, if I’m reading this right does it now mean that he’s in absolute control of Nidhogg now? That is seriously impressive. So, since he can now apparently communicate effortlessly with our dragon brethren, can he help us get answers on where exactly Middy and his first seven offspring really originated from? We please need more on this tale of events.

And I'd really like more lore regarding the Othard and Hingashi regions over the next patches... Kugane is gorgeous.



Fordola:
Obviously has some redemption story arc prepared for her that will possibly lead to us gaining a foothold against the Ascians. Remember that she is now a Resonant with augmented power from our dear Professor Aulus --(is it weird that I wanted that madman to survive so that we could discover more of his other mad creations?). So yes, I tentatively think Fordola is key to some future storylines… she also strikes me as that misjudged character who simply wanted to be accepted.

She’s never fully integrated into the two worlds known to her (Garlemald and Ala Mihgo) and is thus confined to the crushing space between a rock and a hard place. So understandably, she unleashed her frustrations by displacing it upon whoever she was instructed to destroy. I would have LOVED to see more of her past explained to us and what it was like being a “protégé” of sorts to (Gaius?). It is my fervent hope that she ends up being a powerful resource for the new Ala Mihgo state… and her redemption will be all the more heartwarming if she turns out to be a friend of the real Yda in the past. The irony of it ehhh?

Hein.
I thoroughly liked Hien, his honesty, his sense of honor, his glaring weaknesses, his voice acting and the fact that at the core, he just wants to be a great successor that would live up to his father’s expectations. Almost like a Simba Lion King of sorts… a young prince having to return from exile and fill the very big shoes of his truly illustrious father. I expect some really excellent Doma side quests in future patches that will uncover the insane challenges of rebuilding and defending a nation. It also makes solid sense to me now why Gotsetsu was kept alive... Hien will have serious need of his wisdom and encouragement in the future. Plus his future military force will need a seasoned General.



Varis
As said in one of my recent posts (I guess I'll just copy paste my earlier comments)... will he turn out to be Garlemald’ s epitome of the philosophical King? Or is he grooming one? At least it’s almost certain that he’s not a tyrannical totalitarian. This is another character that I have been very intrigued with ever since he was introduced… he strikes me as the ruler that Garlemald needs and deserves. He has technically lost three solid Legati to the Warrior of Light and two provinces ---three if you count the fact that by losing Doma the Garleans have also arguably lost their trade route monopoly to Kugane. How does this now affect the morale of his troops? How does this affect sentiments within the other provinces in the empire? How is this affecting socio-economic issues at his capital?


NPC and known in-game Characters:
Alphy is still great, and contrary to strange complaints from a few players about how there was too much focus on him, I reckon there was actually much more focus on Alisie this time around.
Closer examination into the MSQ shows that a lot more focus was placed on Lyse and Alisie. I’d say the subtle sisterhood camaraderie between them was also a wonderful touch and completely humanized them.
There were times I felt Lyse’s hot headedness was a little out of place until I remembered with clarity that that has been her core character since 1.0 when both she and Palaymo dropped out of the sky (in Gridania).


Additional feedback on other dynamics of the expansion:
The new treasure and loot system is great. Not only do we now get a piece of item when running the higher level dungeons but we also get our job class AF gear "packaged" into one chest which we can "unpack" into our inventories at our own convienience. Love it.

The "Megalith game" that apparently originated from the Garlean empire... what exactly is this and when can we hope to see it in the game? Varis is apparently a genius at it and it seems to involve strategy of some sort. I'm intrigued.

The entire theme of the Azim Steppe is magnificent (yes, I say this possibly because I'm biased since I'm Au Ra). However the chant-like music, the mobs, the scenery and the Bardem's Mettle dungeon are amoung my favourite in the game. I seriously hope to see more exploration areas being opened up in The House of the Crooked Coin and Chakha Zoh.

Story and Quests:

• I'd please like to see more tales regarding House Fortemps and how the new young Count is coping.
• Are those railroads in Ul'Dah (around Blackbrush Camp) ever going to be used? We have been asking since 2.0 launched!
• The Dark Knight questline is amazing and solidifies the template of what a real hero truly is. Almost reminds me of Yuri Lowell from the Tales of Vesperia game. Hope we get more quests like these that forces us to understand the far reaching chain reactions related to our decisions.
• The quest chain where we assist in helping the residents of Little ala Mhigo to make the journey back to their homeland was heartwarming and I will please like to see more of these types of quests.
• When can we get the Magitek Scorpion and the Hexadrone mounts? Is this a possibility? And while we're on the topic of mounts, can we still hope to see the Ultima Weapon as a mount... perhaps in expansion 5.0? Or 6.0? or 7.0?
• Hope to see more quests related to the Kojin and the Ananta... by the way, the Ananta reminded me greatly of the Lamia race from FFXI.

Other pending questions:

• When can I finally be able to repair my gear when Im in my Inn room? I still find it strange that we cannot carry out this function.
• What has become of House Darnus? Are they in ascendance or in demise back at the Imperial capital?
• Can't we get speed boosts for our mounts in PvP? A suggestion is that we are eventually able to purchase speed enhancement for our mounts (one per mount for 20,000 wolf marks). Plus, this will actually give me more stuff to spend my marks on.
• What other heirs does Varis have? Knowing that his son Zenos was a monster, I’m quite certain he already started making arrangements for a subsequent “back-up” heir. Once again, I ask” can we please have our Larsa NPC now?
• Where is the Raen Princess Yuki Of the Yatsurugi clan?
• And when can I finally be able to repair my gear in at the Inn without having to exit?

Thanks again Dev team... I earnestly look forward to seeing what patch 4.1 and the Return to Ivalice event has in store for us. The Ivalice world remains my favourite Final Fantasy environment and is also one of the reasons why I love FFXII till this day. Keep up the great work and congratulations again on achieving the 10 million player milestone.

[Theodric]

I just want to say, it's great to see such in-depth feedback!