I did not enjoy Shadowbringer (SPOILERS)

[ProstheticSoul]

Shadowbringer is a poorly thought-out and messily-written hodgepodge of contrived plot devices and and plot elements.

It strings the player along in ways Stormblood never did. It poorly explains developments in obtuse ways using overly-verbose dialogue, long-winded and convoluted monologues that Stormblood never did either. There is more busy-work and errands for the WoL to undertake than in any portion of Stormblood or Heavensward, and it shows in every facet of the expansion. The only high point of this add-on is the very climax, the culmination and the points leading up to the confrontation with "Hades." Even then I would scarcely exclaim it was worth it.

In revealing the Crystal Exarch to be Graha Tia, Square-Enix expects the player to retrieve a character from memory that appeared maybe once or twice about 70-80 hours previously in the MSQ--and that's only assuming that was done relatively recently--dropped monthly subscription renewals would most certainly be needed to be taken into account here. Many returning players would be absolutely up **** creek without a paddle here.

And while I cannot speak for anyone apart from myself when making such an assertion I can easily say that such was the case for me. When his hood got blown off during that cut scene this was my reaction:

-_- "Uh....Ok?"

No, I wish I was making that up. I am returning to this game after a seven-year hiatus. I was just about done with Heavensward when I came back and was about two months in when I beat Shadowbringer. So Yoshi P. has a lot to mull over here, because I have discussed this on other message boards, and I know I am not the only one whose head this whole "big reveal" completely flew over.

My other big criticism concerns Urianger and Square-Enix's insistence on designating him as the go-to "exposition character." It is bad enough that merely listening to him speak impels me to break out a thesaurus, but the issues compound on one another when his explanations don't make a lick of sense concerning the Scion's difficulties in returning to their own bodies across worlds.

I didn't understand one iota of why Auricite wouldn't work in transporting their souls and their "psyches" back to the source. I saw this word "silcarum" or some such, and it came completely out of left field. Now, normally, this plot complication wouldn't necessitate such a grievance out of me. I would just chalk it up to a bunch of jargon and technical speak and try to paraphrase it in my mind thusly:

"Auricite won't work because it's not a stable enough of a crystal or something, whatever, time to move on."

But when you dedicate an entire arc to this nonsense and numerous cutscenes trying to explain to this to the player, as well as send the WoL on a bunch of fetch quests to solve said conundrum, that is when I begin to take umbrage. And this is exacerbated by the fact that Shadowbringer on the whole made very little sense to me.