Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker review | PC Gamer - malonehaltoorroust
Our Verdict
A great but sometimes messy kickoff for a 10-time-consuming news report.
PC Gamer Verdict
A great but sometimes untidy send-off for a decade-long story.
Need to know
What is it? The MMO's latest enlargement closes out a long-running account arc.
Expect to pay £30/$40
Developer Square Enix
Publisher Square Enix
Release date Out now
Reviewed connected AMD Ryzen 7 1700X, Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super, 32GB Aries the Ram
Multiplayer? Yes
Link Official site
The Book 'enlargement' feels almost overly small for what Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker is. Not lonesome is it a full-length JRPG that'll easily take at least 50 hours to metre, it's also the windup of a plot line that's been running for over 10 days, which myself and millions of else players have been following that whole time through updates and expansions. Kind of than simply an add-on, it feels to a greater extent like the final book in a long-running fantasy series.
Thus, to get to the big questions—yes, Endwalker is a fantastic transport-off to the Hydaelyn/Zodiark saga (two ancient beings locked in a light versus dark conflict involving many an crystals—Final Fantasy fans know the drill) that celebrates all that came before; and yes, it leaves the room access wide open for new adventures that we know are on the way.
Hear to my story
In tying things rising, even so, things get a little messy. While its runtime is about the identical as the previous hefty expansions, information technology feels like there's loads more story than usual, for beneficial and ill. As your paladin and the Scions Of The Seventh Dawn battle to overcome the apocalyptic 'Final Days' they deal with multiple seemingly climatic threats, and dispatch a heap of villains, completely while moving speedily 'tween areas great distances isolated (you attend the moon, afterward altogether). IT almost feels the like the plot could have been dish-shaped impossible finished two or three expansions.
What's Here might be meaty, but it's not always mighty. Moments that take place in the ruins of a of a sudden tumultuous Garlemald—the Empire that's hounded our Eorzean friends for or s time—are memorable, just slight. The once formidable Empire now in ruins is filled with grieving people, citizens caught up in a brutal wizardly disaster, only it's non given the sentence in the highlight IT deserves. The identical goes for the vibrant, fluorescent Thavnair, the South Asian inspired land that we're only visiting for the foremost prison term here. First happening the chopping block when fiery plague begins to end run across the land, it's seeped in small tragedies that apply some of the hardest hitting moments the MMO has needed to wrangle. Within its lush jungles and ancient ruins there's exclusive a fistful of characters with public speaking parts, well drawn enough I wished I could learn more about them, simply just not allowed plenty metre to shine in this ambitious undertaking.
Rather than fashioning it feel like an anthology, it ends up introducing problems, like the miss of any real clear villain (the true final boss we fill for the first time about two thirds in), and narrative conceits that come along on the spur of the moment, leave you briskly through a rollercoaster, and then wrap themselves in the lead. It might be fun, but a rollercoaster is still on tracks. IT's a shame, as the little moments are great. Those WHO have played since the beginning will be clenched fist pumping as justified comparatively minor characters get a moment to shine—even if it feels like it has three distinguish "and my axe" moments where Allies show ascending with a wink and a nod.
Where last enlargement Shadowbringers was enjoyable arsenic a somebody-contained floor in a New World, Endwalker's commitment to bountiful everything its time under the faltering star is both its biggest triumph and at times its weakness. Though anyone who's made information technology this right will probably have a big grin on their faces. If you've non played the take a breather of the story adequate to this point, put on't use up the story skip—information technology's a so much stronger payoff if you've gone through the cram full journey.
Career prospects
Strip back the emotional and at times very barren story (apocalypses incline to be a little dicey, after all), and Endwalker provides what's expected. The headline additions include two new jobs: the Reaper, a physical DPS, and Sage, a healer (and the offse newborn one in a couple of years). You rear end then put across those new jobs, or your emeritus ones, through their paces with six new story dungeons, plus two extra endgame ones, and three trials (walloping-scale stamp battles). There's whole lot to explore, too, with six new maps to stomp around, along with two new cities for up-to-date players to pay heed come out in: Thavnair's Radz-At-Han, and the Greek-inspired Grey-haired Sharlayan (full of stuffy moderate scholars), both quite expansive.
All of these additions represent FF14's evolution team at their peak. Both jobs are terrific fun, and thanks to the way the MMO allows all users to alternate jobs flat from their stock-taking, light for anyone to jump into. Reaper is all about twirling a scythe or so A you replete up a few meters in order to power up your own personification of Death. Sage, interim, uses robo-scalpels to not only bring around, but put up barriers and blast lasers at monsters, totally while juggling a bit mech toggle that alters the mode of roughly of your abilities to, e.g., turn a single-hit blast into same that damages over time rather. It feels really active. As usual, though, these start verboten at A level a bit below the main quest (70 versus 80 this time around), meaning you'll need to put in more or less grind time if you want to take them on your travel. You'll be looking at 7-8 hours of levelling, which doesn't seem too long in MMO terms—but even this lav be a job when you're raring to take your Sage on the big new journey.
Debatably there's a third new job in Summoner, which has received a substantial modernize The cute lil' minions are out, and bigger pals are in, as you can now call directly on the power of Primals (FF14's versions of traditional summons), which flashily assume large chunks of screen space arsenic they rampage.
Every job has received tweaks, only it's many than just adding newly stuff. Old skills undergo been pruned to constitute way for the new, and as accustomed IT's all smartly cooked in a way that avoids things becoming overwhelming. My independent speculate, Railroad, has dropped an upkeep move in favour of automating IT, while adding a new area-of-impression finisher that makes information technology integrate more closely with the residuu of the moveset. A neutral modification to my standard hotbar in terms of space, which feels deliberate. It's specially utilizable when playing with a restrainer, which continues to be fabulously supported with the crossbar system that allows easy get at to triad or four parallel bars all at the touch of triggers. It's great to see the commitment to alternate ways to play continue.
Similarly, crafting and gathering have been run into big. Always a fun and deeper-than-expected deflexion, the disciplines could still feel a trifle bloated. With high-lineament materials blasted out of the game entirely to reduce the need to lift out threefold inventory slots, however, everything feels more streamlined. Preceding content like quests and skills take over wholly been altered to account for its absence, too. It's a huge undertaking that feels like it's prepaid off as those good with their hands prepare to juggle the wads of brand new gear Endwalker has introduced.
Boss babies
The same philosophy can be seen in the dungeons and trials you'll either be partying upwards for operating theatre undertaking with AI allies. MMO mechanics have ne'er been more readable, and boss battles, whether within dungeons themselves or the bigger break up-ups, feel thrilling as a result. Each has some great mechanics that make the bouts feel unique, while also remaining fair. Whether it's a snowy behemoth World Health Organization hides in a blizzard before popping out to run into most of the domain, WHO you can track by the snowy footprints it leaves butt, or juggling where to stand to deflect both a string of deadly butterflies and a offstage-blast all at once, it feels entertaining to pull polish off your moves all spell dancing around their attacks. The telegraphing of some classic mechanics has even been extended, with "tankbusters" now receiving a special red arrow to denote that your party's caramel brown buddy whipping is connected its way.
Trusts also feel better than of all time. This recent improver means that rather than queueing up to take aim on story content with friends, you can take NPCs with you to do IT unaccompanied. They're competent, too, so there's no excuse if you fetch up wiping—and it can be a great tool to learn boss mechanics. They even add to the story as they banter backward and forward. I commonly always experience with players for the ordinal clip, simply one instance struck ME sol much with how the cast of characters approached their mission that I simply had to see how it played out. I was non defeated.
Singleplayer duties also takings, giving you fixed-piece moments to play through all by yourself, sometimes as your own character and new times allowing you to step into the shoes of an ally (and today offering easier difficulties if you fail once). These smel inferior spectacular than they did in Shadowbringers, but fling approximately amazingly effective changes of pace and unique storytelling tricks while allowing you to stay in control of the action. Thancred's stealth commission is no Metal Gear mechanism Undiversified, but ameliorate than it has any right to make up, and another forces you to run atomic number 3 a much weaker character than usual which very makes you believe which fights to take on, and which to avoid.
Some of this inventiveness carries through into main quests, with more emphasis placed on keeping you present in the present moment rather than always arbitrarily bouncing 'tween quest markers. Allies will now sometimes join you as you paseo around, and there are places where you can study a break for some elective chats (not unlike to, though much more limited than, the Tales series' skit system). Less successful are tailing missions which, while thankfully few and uttermost betwixt, are as annoyance as any tailing system ever.
It's impressive that the team is still able to have FF14's trappings and crystalise them into new forms even thusly umpteen years along, from the way jobs and dungeons experience corresponding the best they've ever been, to their confidence when it comes to experimenting with the relationship between gameplay and storytelling. But while on that point are any disorienting vistas and lighting effects, and the detailing on new armour designs are entrancing, the historic period of the gist game can't help merely exhibit, smooth as information technology is to frolic. This is a great final chapter to a history that'll stick with me, and I'm excited to see the squad tell a new one—only I'm eager for some large changes to shake in the lead Eorzea when they do.
Final Fantasy 14
A great but sometimes messy kickoff for a decade-long story.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14-endwalker-release-date-new-jobs-story/
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