Am I the only one?

[YatoShishi]

nah I also didnt like it one bit, same with the areas, I hate them, their so ugly. SB however I enjoyed - Story / Area / etc. Excited what ShB will bring

[Jennah]

I never understood why we were supposed to like Hauchefaunt before he sacrificed himself. Or why he sacrificed himself. Or why the WoL couldn't take the hit in the first place, like the 50 or so we just did a few seconds ago. Or why we couldn't revive him afterwards. Or why the game treats his death as the worst thing that's ever happened to us, like we're up every night crying about Hauchefaunt.
I also couldn't stand the DRK quests. For more or less the same reasons - that the game is telling me I feel a certain way that I just don't. Neither as the player nor in-character.

But I mean, most of the Heavensward story was pretty good; and the mechanics and gameplay were at least as good as FF14 has ever been.

[Friske]

This may be a tad masochistic, but I mainly enjoyed Heavensward for its difficulty and the frustrations I had during it. Whether it was battling through O4S's crudely designed mechanics, or even battling with your own job's mechanics (most of the HW DPS jobs comes to mind), it was fairly challenging stuff that I doubt we'll ever see again in a savage tier. I mained BLM back then, and the atmosphere surrounding that job was fierce at a time where either summoner or even a machinist was more preferable, as BLM was so severely undertuned even compared to BLM at Stormblood's launch. Some of it's probably nostalgia, but playing BLM back in HW was some of the most memorable experiences I've had in the game. It was absolutely brutal, it was punishing, and it was like walking across a tight rope while it was on fire. As much as I enjoy how dps are played in Stormblood, I still look back fondly at HW and almost miss its clunky, punishing design. Getting off even one Fire 4 made me sweat, and made me value each and every nanosecond of enochian and astral fire/ umbral ice - knowing that 1 miscalculation could destroy my already poor HW BLM dps. Though there are advantages to the extra leeway added in stormblood, that thrill I had back then is missing. Despite that, I'll still pick Stormblood's rendition as the older systems were vastly archaic, unfriendly to casuals, and, were needlessly complicated at times.
I felt mostly frustration back then with the battle systems, the raids, diadem, the pointlessness of lord of verminion. But in hindsight, it was definitely a unique experience that I won't forget. It was experimental (by FF14 standards haha...) which also furthered my appreciation.

[SaberMaxwell]

I never understood why we were supposed to like Hauchefaunt before he sacrificed himself. Or why he sacrificed himself. Or why the WoL couldn't take the hit in the first place, like the 50 or so we just did a few seconds ago. Or why we couldn't revive him afterwards. Or why the game treats his death as the worst thing that's ever happened to us, like we're up every night crying about Hauchefaunt.

Separation of gameplay and story. Similar to how Nathan Drake can eat magazines of rounds in game but a .45 will take him down in a cutscene.
Separation of gameplay and story, but it's worth noting "Raise" only works on unconsciousness; in combat WoL is never "killed" unless the party wipes, they're only KO'd. Haurchefant was murdered outright (lots of jokes about him trying to block magic, at the time PLD couldn't block magic).
Aside the fact Haurchefant sacrificed himself so we could live, which itself is an act deserving of respect, he's the sole reason we got into Ishgard in the first place. He was the guy who stood by our side and vouched for our asylum when we were under suspicion for regicide. He had a base of operations set up at a moment's notice when he heard we were in trouble. There's a lot of undertones lost in translations, but he felt he was our best friend and he did a lot for us.

But if we were to add to it, maybe it's because we, the Warrior of Light, the Guardian of Hydaelyn, were at that point racking up loss after loss. We couldn't protect the Sultana, couldn't protect Ul'Dah, couldn't protect Aymeric, and now we literally watched Haurchefant die in our arms. I can see that wearing on any character's psyche when they're told it's their job to protect the world, but they can't even protect one person.

Maybe that's not how you view how your character would react, and that's fair enough; but they can't make WoL a complete blank slate without alienating just as many players as letting them react in very human ways to very inhuman events would.

[Jennah]

Well, I had the same reaction when Aeris died 22 years ago. Sure, she'd taken 50 swords to the face before, but that one was special enough we weren't going to try to stop it or heal her?
Heck, for that matter I wasn't sure why Cloud would be so into someone he met, like, yesterday, as opposed to his childhood friend who clearly cared for him.
I guess Hauchefaunt was supposed to be a callback, now that I think about it...

[DumdogsWorld]

I find Heavensward to be a very good expansion in terms of theme. However, one of my reasons for feeling this way is the fact that it's the first expansion.

If Square Enix made the game all about:

Step 1: Fight the empire.
Step 2: Fight the empire.
Step 3: Fight the empire.
Step 4: Fight the empire.
...
Step 9001: Fight the empire.
...


...then it would get old FAST. I understand that the empire and the ascians are like the main enemies of the game, but taking a detour here and there keeps it fresh.

[SnugglesD]

It's pretty simple, really. Weeaboos liked Stormblood better; non-weeaboos preferred Heavensward.

[DumdogsWorld]

It's pretty simple, really. Weeaboos liked Stormblood better; non-weeaboos preferred Heavensward.

N-Nani? But I'm a megaweeb and I loved both!

[Insertcoins]

It's pretty simple, really. Weeaboos liked Stormblood better; non-weeaboos preferred Heavensward.

None of that makes sense since this is a JRPG.... so techinally the entire game would be weeb. I NEVER understood that mindset that HW isn't anime.... when it def is anime. It's just not in japanlike town.

[Mixt]

Sure, she'd taken 50 swords to the face before, but that one was special enough we weren't going to try to stop it or heal her?

Interesting bit of obscure lore there actually.

During the Nibelheim incident, when Sephiroth left his sword behind like he tends to do and Tifa picked it up and tried to use it against him, only for him to overpower her, pull the sword out of her hands, and slice her open so hard she goes flying down the stairs.

The reason Tifa wasn't there when Hojo showed up to grab Cloud and Zack's half-dead asses afterwards is because her martial arts teacher showed up to carry her away first.

And here is the interesting bit.

He tried to heal her, but nothing worked.
Cure spells? Nothing
Potions? Nothing

The wound the Masamune left was not affected by any sort of magical healing.

He thought she wasn't going to make it, but she ultimately pulled through and recovered via the natural healing process of the human body.
She's still got a hugeass scar hidden under her clothing from that event.

Aeris took that same sword right through the spine.

Make of that what you will.