FFXIV has lost it's heart

[sindriiisgaming]

Playing again through arr, i see something that is now lost within ffxiv, and while endwalker did try to keep that vibe in check, it was never quite the same. The heart being that feeling of being in a final fantasy universe with a great magical and mystical quest. with magic and high fantasy, hope against despair, of unity and friendship.

but lately i don't feel this way about ffxiv. The story lastley seams to move away from traditional ff themes and go for darker and edgier stories, and what's weird is. i didnt feel this way when playing some of the edgier FF games. like ff7 which ends with summoning the embodiment of hope. or the ending of ff8 literally about always finding your way back to those you love. end the ending of ARR you and your friends ALL team up to defeat lahabrae, in the ending of HW hraesvelgr gives you his final eye that you finally end the war. they all FEEL like a traditional final fantasy. but what happens in dawntrail? idk wuk lamat shows up and you both hit the robot ig? thats not the same at all. and that great feeling of heart and soul is really missing. and if you try to tell me that cant be achieved in the base msq.. ill tell you ARR/ HW/ SHB and EW all felt that way. hell even stb wasn't all that bad. the ending was kinda nice.

And its not just in the MSQ either. its the games content design. arr / hw both focussed heavily on team/party combat systems, and didn't make a huge deal out of savage ultimate content. barley anybody modded, because the game wasn't about doing giga deeps or speedrunning savages. it was just about fun. lately. the game doesnt feel this way another. its an endless tredmil of the next pointless achievement. when everybody knows.. the real achievement.. the real adventure.. was just the friends you made along the way.

seriously tho, what happened to this? now the game is just the SIMS 4. filled with weird cyberpunk neo futuristic imagery that betrays its core foundations. no longer does ff feel like a magical fantasy/ its a dystopian future fitting of its current art direction