So, after one huge expansion and three patches, the story arch of the Shadowbringers had come to a conclusion and setting up the stage for the next whatever it is expansion.
Patch 5.3, which was delayed by the COVID-19 situation by two months was much anticipated. It does not only bring a conclusion to the storyline of The First, but tons of other contents that, unless you are a content burner, would keep you busy for a while. For me, I just want to know what’s happening and pray for the safety of my trusty comrades – Final Fantasy XIV is not afraid of killing off beloved characters after it made you attached to them.
If you haven’t played the content yet, I would try to avoid any spoilers but there bound to be spoilers if I want to talk about the story, so SPOILER ALERT here.
On the surface Shadowbringers is an appendix story arch about The First, a shard that got shattered from the original world but developed into its own. When we first arrived at The First, it is ravaged by the Flood of light that turned the night skies into eternal days. The world, apart from dying in this light, is also fighting the encroaching tyranny of the ruler of Eulmore, who, during the story we found out had a special relationship with the Sin Eaters – monsters born from this blinding light. The world was divided into those who have it and those who don’t, and left to die in the hands of the Sin Eaters. Countering this was the Crystarium lead by the mysterious Crystal Exarch. When you got summoned from your world to help the Crystarium to fight back the Light and bring back the night, you became the Warrior of Darkness.
What I really liked about the Shadowbringers story is that it completely turned the concept of light and darkness upside down. Light in Shadowbringers became the beast that’s consuming the world and turning it into a wasteland. The Warrior of Light, a role you as a player has assumed in the past 6 years, became a curse to this world. In order to become the saviour of this world, you have to become The Warrior of Darkness, whom are the people you fought all the way back in Heavensward. This is quite significant as now you understand why this company of warriors you fought back then called themselves Warrior of Darkness, and throughout the course of the main story and individual side quests, you understood their actions a lot better and slowly develop strong empathies towards them. This turn of attitude from they were just thorns on your side in Heavensward to now you wanted to be their comrades and complete their task was what was so brilliant about the story telling of Final Fantasy XIV, especially in Shadowbringers.
Final Fantasy XIV had built an expansive lore in the last 7 years with their main story quests and myriads of side quests including what they called The Chronicles of the New Era. What Final Fantasy XIV amazed me was the throwback to some of the things you thought were done and gone in the earlier parts of the narrative and then making them relevant all over again, while at the same time sow seeds of what were to come in the new contents. Shadowbringers shocked everyone when it turned out that the story tied closely to the Crystal Tower Alliance Raid quests all the way back in the A Realm Reborn era (The Crystal Tower was the first Alliance Raid that played homage to Final Fantasy III). Characters from that questline popped up here and there, some were more relevant and some were less. But how they reintroduced these characters and storylines and making them relevant for both old and new player alike up till the very end of the Shadowbringers story arch was nothing less than brilliant.
As I mentioned in my first review of the expansion, Shadowbringers was a bleak story in a bleak world. What impressed me throughout the whole story was how Square Enix managed to craft a story that really drew you into it. You will laugh, gasp and cry with the characters on the screen as you watched through those countless story cutscenes. You could feel their emotion and understood their actions because you felt that you were with them. And to be honest with you, managed to created two villains who were initially nothing but annoyance and then turned your views upside down when you understood the motivation a lot better through the quests was a masterclass in storytelling. It completely blurred the line of right and wrong, just like our original understanding of the dynamic between light and darkness.
The Shadowbringers story arch was really a rollercoaster ride of emotions and twists and turns of plots. For me it completely trumped Stormblood where I didn’t really care that much about most of the characters and their dragged-on storylines. I thought Square Enix had run out of steam with Stormblood but Shadowbringers had completely turned the tide and I could arguably say that it is one of the best Final Fantasy storylines I had ever played through.
Final Fantasy for me has always been about great stories tied in with great gameplays. After a series of disappointments, including the initial launch of the game by the old executive producer, I think Final Fantasy XIV under the helm of Naoki Yoshida had delivered one of the best games in the series. And to think that it is an online MMO that had built a ridiculously massive scale of lore that tied together so tightly with a great and coherent story that had completed one great arch after another is no easy task. I personally think that with Shadowbringers it proved that when Square Enix put its heart into its games instead of just trying milk some cows, it can deliver a great experience.
