I Finished Stormblood: Here's My Honest Opinion.

[@bellulargaming9515]

Soft is the breeze that can set a petal free And yet 'tis the storm that doth see the petal soar High o'er the trees in the throes of Liberty 'Til unstirring skies consign her to memory Psst, while you're here: The Pale Beyond Reveal Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEuC8...

[@no-trick-pony]

Psst! Your link is broken! :3

[@osmaniqbal3792]

video not available anymore.

[@harperluu]

Hope it comes to console! The game looks amazing!

[@solidfisher9798]

As amazing as Heavensward is, I actual like Stormblood a bit more, not only am I a Samurai main since before playing through Heavensward, I'm a nerd for Feudal Japan so I may be a bit biased.

[@LameMule]

@@solidfisher9798 Honestly I did as well and I'm neither of those things. I enjoyed the much more grounded storytelling and development of certain characters on the eastern side of things, as good and epic as HW was.

[@yelenapavlenko2344]

I was born and raised in Kazakhstan for more than 20 years, lived, seen, toured our great Central Asian Steppe, learned and lived in that culture. So when I got to the Azim Steppe Zone I was blown away to tears of great love and nostalgia for my homeland. It all felt and looked so dear to me. And questing was also a blast, just because I understood and related too much than usual to what it was about) So whatever everyone else got to say, Stormblood would always be my personal number !

[@Icycrits]

This is awesome to read. Part of the beauty of FFXIV is that there's something for everyone, different backgrounds will give us different perspectives and appreciation for parts of the game we may not normally care for.

[@RickRate]

holy shit im from kazakhstan too and i feeled the same way ^^ soo good

[@DonaldTurner]

thank you for sharing that about yourself. great comment. azim steppe remains my favorite zone in the game

[@chrisanderson7820]

I LOVED the Steppe, to me it felt like a particular large scale National Park in Australia that I love.

[@ArchieGamez]

I love Azim Steppe for this reason alone, it really does gave me a lot of Kazakshtan, Central Asia, Mongolia vibes

[@AnimWolf]

Stormblood shines in the patches after the main story expansion.

[@jong.7944]

Yeah, it's nice to have the world-building and important developments that happened over the course of Stormblood... in many ways both the story and gameplay we appreciate today all happened during the Stormblood patches.

[@Er404ChannelNotFound]

Completely agreed. The build up to 5.3 was so great and Yotsuyu is one of my favorite characters in the whole game thanks to that. The trial itself is one of my absolute favorites as well with its perfect representation of story through in-game mechanics.

[@IncIceronix]

@@Er404ChannelNotFound 4.3*

[@CrispBaker]

Also brilliant raid/trial content. HW's trial series was okay but SB was on a whole different level, and the Alliance raid series featured some of the most iconic moments in FFXIV.

[@Escorducarla]

So true. The 4.0 content is a lot of setup with some pretty good patch payoff, IMO.

[@EverianKalim]

>Talks About Zenos >Chapter is Titled "Juicy" Hold up a Minute....

[@autisonm]

And it starts with him turned around...

[@Nehezir]

that is still the best mod

[@Isomeria450]

It's the 1st time I heard someone called Zenos "funny". Usual reaction is like "OH GOD IT'S ZENOS, RUN FOR YOUR LIFES!"

[@AlishN7]

I'm half-mongolian and Azim Steppe is a special place for me. It's just... in reminded me so much of visiting my grandma in a tiny village in the middle of the eurasian steppe, with wide expanse of land, harsh winds. Blue mountains rising in the distance. I also happened to be playing a Xaela Au Ra when I first arrived there, and I had no idea that's where they were from, and it was amazing. There is actually a special dialogue for Xaela when you first arrive in Reunion :) when you ask the merchant about the food they have for sale, they will ask "didn't your family cook this for you?" or something like that. Also. Buuz. The steamed dumplings you can see all over the tables and food stalls in the Azim Steppe. They are a real thing and they are damn delicious. My family always made them with a mix of pork and beef, with garlic and onions. You eat them in a very particular way because they are full of meat juice when cooked. You bite a small hole in the side of the buuz, slurp out the juice and then eat the rest of it, otherwise the piping hot liquid will spray all over your face :D

[@AlishN7]

@@Sonnabend00 yes, please do! They are wonderful.

[@DonaldTurner]

always loved azim steppe. Seeing several commenters, like yourself, share for personal experience, has added additional depth for my love of that area! thank you

[@HanabiraKage]

That sounds like the Chinese xiaolongbao! It's always interesting when different cultures come up with similar foods.

[@FF-tp7qs]

@@HanabiraKage well China and Mongolia have a lot of history together. The Grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan became the ruler of China when he conquered the Song Dynasty and established the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century.

[@mickbotcast]

@@HanabiraKage I try Xiaolongbao once in my China trip... and OMG that one of the best bao iml. Funny enough people in group tour are so afraid of oil and they didnXt touch it Ha wich I could slurp all the remainning one on that table

[@tashikat9040]

Also; fun fact. The final duty in the Steppes was the reason we now have New Game+. It was the amount of people specifically wanting to do it again.

[@throwmeaname]

It’s been years since I played SB, and I love how I know exactly which duty you’re talking about. That was an epic scene!

[@Kuripants]

it even has it's own Frontlines duty.

[@TheNameCannotBeFound]

We've lost him. He has reached unprecedented levels of speed with the MSQ.

[@CrispBaker]

He was dawdling around ARR for months and months, soon as he hits "a series of cutscenes" he goes bananas just like everybody else

[@nofilterneito]

This is what I hope to achieve with my friends LOL

[@khinzaw77]

Everyone is a chump compared to the founder of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi. That man harnessed the Speed Force.

[@buddah1978egypt]

@@khinzaw77 true

[@Boyzby]

I dunno, Sakaguchi's pace was pretty quick.

[@EternalFellows]

"Stormblood is a tad too ambitious - hammering home the themes of revolution twice results in some pacing issues, but it's still extremely good." THIS, this is how I feel about stormblood, it has so much good but its tackling too much at once.

[@xychogaming]

Thats because there is a LOT of side content that fills it in. Where the previous expansion did not have the new features of Stormblood. This is the problem with playing it when its not live. A lot of people still have yet to complete all the stormblood content despite completing shadowbringers...it really is that much side content they added.

[@DaremKurosaki]

I think it ran into the same issue the Matrix trilogy did: Too much for one, not enough for two. If they wanted to cover everything *properly*, they needed to split it into two expansions. However, if they did so, the two expansions would likely feel stretched out and the narrative beats would be too far apart. And knowing what was planned for Shadowbringers, they really couldn't have that share an expansion with anything else nor push it out further. So really, they were in a narrative trap: They HAD to include certain plot beats because of what had been set up before, but they hadn't left them with enough game-time to cover them properly. I'm not sure what they could have done better without cutting something and drastically changing the story (or padding it out to a horrible degree).

[@GamingDualities]

the game needs better action combat (u could make it hybrid combat and add more skillshots, dodge and less animation locks or better make true action combat Final Fantasy game like Smite, Vindictus, Destrega or the King's Avatar animation), blue mage being avaible in PvP or 1v1 blue mage only in Arena...(most popular MMORPG animations and games main character was classless class. like Kiritio from Sao or main character form the Kings Avatar animation)fun gamemodes/minigames like Capture the Flag or King of the Hill or Arena or Base Assault... good social system like voice chat or chat bubbles, innovations like the ability to tame open world monsters as your mount or open world Raid bosses player could fight over for.

[@xychogaming]

@@GamingDualities I am guessing you are new to MMO's? Funny I have seen this same thing copy and pasted under different names. Comes off as you are being paid to spread this.

[@beefkat5370]

@@xychogaming I really felt this when I finished 4.0 just last week. Especially with a lot of the blue quests for currents, they have follow up quests that add a lot, but the "must get to ShB before EW" pressure meant passing on a lot of those for later. But I'm sure there's a lot of great quests that would help flesh things out a lot.

[@jaeusa160]

@5:30 You probably did not notice in the Fringes. Most do not. There is a mountain to the north, it has a large hole in it from the Omega and Shinryu battle. Following its trajectory southward across the zone leads to picking up the 4.x 8man raid series, but also along the way I thought it was weird there were "these striking dummy things" on this random plateau. Then I realized those were trees, the upper portions having been burned clean off along that trajectory from the mountain. It's a really cool environmental detail that most people don't notice in The Fringes. It would've been so easy to just have the bit in the south with no damage trajectory.

[@campbellava]

oh I never noticed the damaged trees! gonna check the next time I play

[@SoSakashii]

Same! Gonna check it out when I log in.

[@ChainedFei]

There are constant details like this that blow me away from the games designers. My favorite is how NPC's will change dialogue between MSQ's, often in response to things going on, especially if they are likely to know about it. Talk to Arenvald's buddies in R'halgar's reach at various points, or the immense amount of dialogue from the B-tier Scions.

[@zoroarkdx4491]

@@ChainedFei How about speaking to people in Little Ala Mhigo as you go through Stormblood? Their dialogue changes as you progress further in it!

[@ChainedFei]

@@zoroarkdx4491 See, this i didn't even know! Damn, now I've got to new game plus it.

[@anacreon212]

the one thing about storm blood is that it really does capture the revolt and building of a revolution. I have friends who actually came from countries that experienced that kind of stuff and they loved stormblood because it really captured what it is like to rise up against an oppressive regime and how hard it is to convince regular citizens to rise up.

[@jacobb5484]

what makes it unique is that it isn't just a revolution, but a follow-up to a failed revolution. everyone is especially disheartened and the empire has recently shored up its power structure.

[@CrispBaker]

Yeah the thing about Stormblood is that it's quietly the most grounded and realistic of the stories. All the antagonists' motivation, and even Lyse's struggles over her identity, are incredibly authentic. (Even Zenos acts like a lot like real-world dictators' psychopath kids.) Like for all that we make a big deal of HW and SHB characterization, it was Fordola and Yotsuyu that were quietly the game's best antagonists, because of their realistic motivations. Their bitterness and struggle to be accepted by the Empire was powerful stuff. And while Yotsuyu's motivations specifically seemed a bit lurid, these are things that really do happen even now.

[@petriew2018]

They really built up the Garleans well to make the story work. They're not just some shadowy evil empire, they have clear motivations beyond simply world domination, they're intelligent and effective overlords, they're clearly very strong for reasons you believe (Their technology advantage). Overthrowing them is set up as a daunting task and it makes it believable as to why the 'common folk' would be reluctant to rise against such a formidable empire. For a high fantasy game, they're so good at making the world feel real.

[@IceAokiji303]

One interesting thing I've noted while checking some opinions people have had on Stormblood: Generally, it seems that people who come from countries that have had to fight for their independence etc in the last... 150 years or so have somewhat more of an appreciation for what the story was trying to do with the revolution stuff. Whereas people from other countries have less of that. Not as a hard rule by any means, have seen exceptions to both sides, just seems to be somewhat of a trend in that direction.

[@waking00one]

@@CrispBaker It's also a big part of why more people gravitate towards HW and such cause it's significantly more 'romantic' while a lot of the things in StB are... very real, and quite uncomfortable at times

[@renemuller7383]

I gotta admit.. i was laughing a bit when Belluar tried to defend himself for his messy keybinds because he thought he is going to be critizized for it, while at the same time he is messing up the easiest and most common mechanic, the "red eye" over and over again for all to see. :D

[@FalseGryphon]

Lmao yes, I thought it would be about that 🤣

[@vgpowerlord]

Silly Bellular, Hide doesn't stop you from getting hit by gaze attacks!

[@SubduedRadical]

@@samuelspencer6016 I'm not sure that's quite right. If you're in/on their hitbox, you can face away and your character will slash out at the air with their auto-attacks. I noticed this a few times when I've tanked things with that mechanic. I do agree that the first time to do anything should be blind, ESPECIALLY story stuff. One could argue Extreme/Savage is a bit different since you've already seen the normal mode content, but that first time should always be blind in MSQ for sure.

[@renemuller7383]

@@samuelspencer6016: Well.. i mean.. yes and no. In the first place i was more commenting on how he felt the need to pre-emptiv defend himself against possible critism for his keybinds, something that has to do with optimisation while missing the obvious part about failing at basic mechanics. and while you are right about learning "new mechanics" and stuff.. by the time someone reaches bardams mettle, things like the red eye or stack markers should be a known mechanic and are by far not new. i usually have auto-attack-facing deactivated but.. if you watched his vid you would see it was not bad timing but just plain ignoring the mechanic.. and this is not even counting on the fact we are talking about the second boss here, where the party doesn't do any dmg.

[@piprix4293]

@@renemuller7383 can confirm auto attacks doesn't turn my character but using targeted actions does

[@baichibee]

Gotta admit that Susanoo's introduction was great. The whole "did we just summon a primal" moment was so fun. I have a fan theory about what happens to the twins. I'm not gonna say because of spoilers.

[@danirusso469]

I love Susano. I just wish we would have gotten Lakshmi themed weapons instead.

[@harryb12993]

Endwalker would be a perfect expansion for alphinaud to die

[@BlumenCT]

Stormblood is something you're able to appreciate more, ironically, after Shadowbringers. You can see how much of modern XIV started in Stormblood via the side content. It's all much more streamlined and the systems for grinding various things makes a lot more sense. I think a good example is how streamlined the Omega raids are compared to Alexander, which goes on to get even more slimmed down in Eden. As awesome as Alexander is, I cannot imagine having those little trash segments in this game anymore, it feels insane it was ever a part of the pattern.

[@Eric998765]

As someone else has said: HW: great story, bad systems/gameplay SB: bad story, great systems/gameplay ShB: great story, great systems/gameplay (though I do like the SB story in the Far East)

[@gysahlfields7506]

@@Eric998765 On a scale from (with points): Masterpiece (3) > Great (2) > Good (1) > Mediocre / Average (0) > Bad (-1) (Nothing is Bad in FINAL FANTASY XIV outside of 1.0) ARR (10) = Great Story / Masterpiece World Building / Great Events / Good Gameplay / Great Systems HW (8) = Great Story / Good World Building / Great Events / Good Gameplay / Great Systems SB (13) = Great Story / Masterpiece World Building / Great Events / Masterpiece Gameplay / Masterpiece Systems SHB (10) = Good Story / Masterpiece World Building / Masterpiece Events / Masterpiece Gameplay / Mediocre Systems. SB = 13 ARR = 10 SHB = 10 HW = 8

[@kelvinrozeboom7313]

Omega raids are great, the 24mans are my favorite and the introduction of ultimates... Though Alexander was in no way shape or form bad... The jobs were just harder to perform on which was enjoyable to some people... Though a3s and a4s on release were nightmare fuel.

[@cosmosofinfinity]

Exactly, people don't give Stormblood enough credit for finally ditching those ARR antiquities and refining itself with newfound budget

[@askiia8713]

Honestly I thought some small trash was fine, like the trash for living liquid just being a damage check, I think it's cool, and we get to see more of the expansive raid area which is rly cool imo

[@KaiObelisk]

As an Irishperson, Stormblood's story of struggling against an unjust and uncaring Imperial power with no right to be in those countries resonated strongly. I can understand that doing both Doma and Ala Mhigo may have led to a repetition of themes, but to me it just showed the global reach and threat of the Bri-...the GARLEAN Empire.

[@benjaminford5043]

From my understanding a lot of how Stormblood portrays the plight of Doma and Ala Mhigo is directly based on colonial policies the British Empire had in India and the like, so it really is an apt comparison.

[@Aquilenne]

Ala Mhigo's not really so much a matter of the Garlean Empire but rather just how much of an impact bad rulers have in general. They were awful under the mad king before they were colonised, things improved while Gaius ran it, then went awful again once he left. You can see the same effect in Bozja where there was a lot of support for Gabranth's Legion among the Bozjan citizens themself.

[@MooseCastle]

The English had a right to be in ireland in that we're bigger and stronger. Give me your dinner money bitch.

[@rexex345]

I think the part that got me truly was the steppe, it felt like it had a degree of heart and world building and development that really made the things that happened after stick. Funnily enough that was ishikawa, and I definitely feel like I was getting a precursor for what shadow ringers would expand on.

[@Flistatec]

I felt so cozy in the steppes, I sometimes just go there to chill out, enjoying the music and the view.

[@drakelx]

Yeah, Azim Steppe had lots of fun moments! IIRC it was the place where our character personally got to know Gosetsu better. And the moment where he finally understood Sadu’s tribe’s traditions was really one of the high points for me personally in the Azim Steppe! Really made him my favorite SB character!

[@ye9945]

Ishikawa boot lickers are so exhausting. She isn't the only writer in the game

[@sarthakagarwal8964]

Ff10 had a similar area like that and it was one of the most fun area to explore in the entire game for me

[@kirazen3740]

@@drakelx Specially the moment that Y'shtola told that Xaelin guy about the 'man' thing. My God... That was devastating and funny as fuck!

[@hathbeenslain]

I liked the questing in the Azim Steppe because I loved learning about the differences between all the tribes. The Gosetsu scene with the dead Dotharl is my favourite scene in the entire game.

[@phatymcdaddy]

Sadu is my fav. Little sun!

[@alexandersrensen5131]

Jer same, also i felt that is was a great way to set up Hien

[@LastMinuteGuess]

Conceptually, Stormblood has always been my favorite expansion. The themes of revolution and oppression ring very strongly for people like me who have personal experiences with oppressive regimes so I will always be biased and partial to it. It's a shame that it's often discussed as being the worst expansion because of its shortcomings because I really loved everything about it - its themes, its aesthetic, the soundtrack, and the Omega raids too. In fact, Stormblood was what got me to start the game because I jumped in when 4.0 was released.

[@DAFIZZIF]

I think the most interesting arcs in the expansion share the theme of redemption for past sins. In fact I suppose this could be seen as an overarching theme for much of the game, at least since HW. Two of the characters introduced in the expac are my two favorite in SB (one in Doma and the other in Ala Mhigo). The one in Doma got enough screen time imo, but at least the one in Ala Mhigo has a chance for more if that sells it without spoiling it for everyone else.

[@askiia8713]

But they didn't do it justice imo. Oppression and rebellion against an unjust corrupt system or force is a theme we can all get behind and I think is a trope beloved by many fans of literature and storytelling in general, so yes there's bias there and it's great, however I think XIV's execution of these very fun themes were quite lacking, and I wish they had done better because the plight of the people is always an emotionally resonant beat that a lot of people can sympathize with.

[@BrokenArrowX]

While I agree the story is definitely a contentious part about Stormblood that always gets people arguing, nobody can debate the insane step up the expansion got in terms of instanced content. I know you're kinda rushing to get to the end of the MSQ before Endwalker, but if you have some time you really gotta check out the raid series and the Alliance raids. They are so fucking good, arguably the best out of all the expansions.

[@VideogamesPang]

Stormblood made a lot of positive steps with the combat and added tons of great features and QoL, and the overall production values of the game increased a lot, but I wouldn't say the content itself was a big step up from Heavensward. I don't think you could say any individual set of content was definitively better than it's HW counterpart. A LOT of people would disagree if you said Omega was better than Alex, or Four Lords was better than Warring Triad. Even Ivalice vs Mhach is kind of arguable.

[@mimi-fk6dp]

Absolutely agree! The Four Lords trials blew me away when I first did them and Suzaku is still among my favorites to this day. As mentioned by others it really is the beginning of "modern" FFXIV. Fight design and art direction really starts to get polished up and the difference is noticeable!

[@leafyr0kr]

Ivalice is the best alliance raid in the game for me, mostly because of the nostalgia factor. Seeing FFXII and FFT characters, the insane visuals, and then the fight with Ultima, The High Seraph... Going only by the intermission, that fight is a masterpiece.

[@hunterdavis9941]

​@@VideogamesPang Hard disagree there, Omega out classes Alex several times over. The first Alex tier is basically dog water except for A3 and then after that almost every other fight is pretty dull, A5, A7, A9 and A10 are all fairly forgettable. As opposed to Omega where you have maybe 3 boring fights in the whole thing with O1, O2 and O7, and then O4, O5, O8, O10, O11, and O12 all being incredible fan favorite fights, with O8 have reach outside the community and getting people into the game. Then with the alliance raids it's not even a debate, Void Ark is actually just bad and the first Half of Weeping City is pretty meh as well, while all of the Ivalice raids are just solid, much better trash distribution than anything before it and many fantastic bosses like Construct and Thunder God. The Warring Triad as a story I would say is better than Four Lords but the fights I would consider comparable, but even then overall Stormblood ends up smashing Heavensward's fights, and that's without even mentioning dungeons where Heavensward has to deal with having Neverreap in it's line up.

[@andrex1456]

“The music… look I know I’ve talked about it enough-“ No. Never enough LOL The things I’m most excited for in EW are the story and a close second is all the new music

[@Toksyuryel]

The few bits of music we have now from EW are already amazing, so excited!

[@ChainedFei]

If the launch trailer is any indication, it's going to be amazing.

[@fridgegremlin5496]

Stormblood was where I started, so I’m quite fond of it and its patches thanks to all my memories with them. It’s a wonderful expansion, but people get very hung up on the pacing, and I find that quite sad because there’s a lot of good beyond that. Stormblood was where the writers began adding in little, quiet moments between characters, and that’s what I remember most about the whole expansion’s story. However, Stormblood’s real strength lies, as many others have said, in its instanced combat duties. They’re so well made, fun, unique- and memorable. The spectacle of fights like Susano and Shinryu are worth absolutely every bit of time spent questing. I really recommend taking a look into Shinryu EX if you haven’t. It’s my favorite fight in the entire game, and has been for nearly three years.

[@lampdevil]

Stormblood is really where FFXIV began to truly come together mechanically. The encounter teams really standardized the telegraph language, the classes generally improved in accessibility (Samurai and Red Mage remain consistent favorites of mine and they originated here), and the 8-man and 24-man raids are great. Even if the story was weak, the game itself was great fun to actually PLAY at the time, and it continues to hold up well.

[@khinzaw77]

@@lampdevil The story isn't even weak, it just isn't as good as HW and ShB which set an extremely high bar. Additionally pretty much every character people complain about develop more in post SB.

[@Sandberry]

The split aside (I'm actually a little worried Endwalker will have similar problems since we're going to even more major locations), I think the biggest thing that people bounce off of Stormblood is that it's much more grounded than HW or ARR - at the end of the day it's just about peoples caught up in the horrors of war, and it never gets higher concept than that. I really love that, personally.

[@thomash341]

I think it was a good idea to have a more grounded story rather than having a massive world ending threat each expansion that somehow has to top the last. Without giving the story and players time to breathe and slow down, you risk experiencing burnout. I do have a soft spot for Stormblood because I like Zenos as a villain and Yotsuyu’s character development was very good.

[@nekogami87]

The thing is they announced that the msq has 30% more content than ShB which about the amount that SB was missing to tell a coherent story with good pacing imho. The whole ala migho part was seriously lacking in building and character development :/ (post patch kind of salvaged some characters but, that was rough.

[@thomash341]

@@nekogami87 The on,y character I didn’t really like was Fordola. Her motivations fell flat for me.

[@ChaosLightspeed]

Just remember that Storm blood was trying to tell a story on two very different fronts, while also re-reading ground between them like Bellular said, and the kind of story it was trying to tell didn't help either.

[@GetterRay]

@@thomash341 I think Fordola's motivations were great. She's such a realistic depiction of someone born during an occupation. Ala Mhigo hasn't existed since before she was born. She is a Garlean in all but genetics, fighting for her homeland against people who want to overthrow her country. I think Belluar brings up Northern Ireland and the IRA a lot and Fordola probably hits home for him a lot more because of how realistic her story is.

[@CaitSithDubh]

As someone who defends Stormblood frequently, that was a fair and reasonable critique. Nice stuff.

[@dscarmo]

I don't think you should talk about Endwalker trailer spoilers in a 4.0 review, a lot of people hold out before watching the trailers. A lot of wow refugees that watch you are in shadowbringers or 4.x right now and they haven't watched the endwalker trailer yet.

[@sonyno_more2851]

Bellular: "And that final Judy was FANTASIC!" Judy: *Blush*

[@arashikashi1117]

First Judy: * in shambles *

[@MonsterTeegs]

Careful, there is a potential Endwalker spoiler in the characters section. Was not expecting that. Didn't watch the launch trailer for that exact reason. Surprised you didn't say anything Bellular

[@hawklight21]

Yeah :( Wish he hadn't said anything about Endwalker, trying my damnedest to stay away from any spoilers, and suddenly he is talking Endwalker, when he is supposed to be talking only Stormblood :(

[@Bennell94]

Really wish you hadnt shared that bit about the endwalker launch trailer. Squarenix has a tendency to overshare major plot in their trailers and i try to avoid the launch trailers.(once you finish shadowbringers go back and see the launch trailer and youll see a good example). The responsibility is ultimately on me to avoid things that may contain spoilers, but i also dont think it was unreasonable for me to be expect to be safe in an impressions video about an expac from 2017.

[@CtrlAndF4]

I very much agree with this

[@torashiki5646]

The biggest issue of Stormblood was that its 2 different writers writing 2 different arcs in a single expansion. The part that people generally like the most, the Doma arc, was written by Natsuko Ishikawa, who is the Shadowbringers and Endwalker main writer. We all love her, really.

[@christianhagel6835]

strange you have written "Fear" wrong, never seen it spelled "love"

[@skyray16]

As far as I remember Ishikawa wrote the Steppe arc, not the whole Doma half.

[@mizuhashiriku5219]

Yup, Ishikawa only wrote Azim Steppe part. AFAIK the rest is joint between Matsuno and HW writer as they started incorporate politic aspect and establish Ivalice there thus Matsuno commenting about Bozja not continue but if they called him after Endwalker as he wanted to see the writing direction first after the first saga ended.

[@yamashirokirishima6397]

Kugane is still by far my favourite place in the whole game, especially at night the music and atmosphere is so good. And then the transition to the day theme at 6am when you watch the sunrise.

[@phatymcdaddy]

The night theme orchestration roll is all i use for my housing

[@alexandrostype-2211]

Stormblood's story is splitted in 2 parts, Ala Mhigo and Doma : 4.0 >>> This is a drawback 4.x patches >>> Let's use this "drawback" as a strength, by showing what Doma's and Al Mhigo's story have in common, by using the same storytelling techniques, but also showing how the outcomes are differing.

[@Tom-Pendragon]

Shame that you wont be experincing the alliance or the omega raid series, its the best in the games. Stormblood pacing might have been okayish, but the raids and dungeons are easily 10/10.

[@aaronh678]

Definitely hoping Endwalker brings back inspired raids and trials like Stormblood.

[@zedcream]

@@aaronh678 yea eden was pretty fun but it wasn't quite as interesting story-wise as omega or alexander, probably because there aren't many characters that could have been brought in for spoiler reasons

[@julianturberfield7101]

I found that the SB alliance/omega raids tend to fall super flat story-wise for people who aren't big FF fans already. 14 was my first FF game and I felt so bored doing the story for Omega, and the Ivalice raids felt the same but to a lesser degree, especially helped now that we're seeing these characters getting involved again in Bozja.

[@danirusso469]

@@julianturberfield7101 That's how I felt about it! XIV is my first Final Fantasy game, so having both raids in SB so heavily keyed in on nostalgia did absolutely nothing for me. In the same way that ShB's 24-man series did even less for me. I will not miss beige robot game hell. I generally do not mind the callbacks to older games I haven't played - and know that paying homage and iterating on the past is a huge part of XIV (and FF games in general) but these were...not my favorite. I am glad they are calling back to them in Endwalker and am interested to see how, but...eh! The Mhachi raids remain my favorite. I guess we'll see how Pandemonium plays out, but I am sososo excited for the 24mans and the original story they have planned for it.

[@aaronh678]

@@julianturberfield7101 Weirdly Ff14 was my first FF game and I loved the callbacks and hearing peoples reactions to them so. I dnt know what else to say to that. I've been playing all the way back since HW and SB hs so far had the best content.

[@danielaxc2900]

You should preface spoilers if you're going to talk about what happens in the trailer got Endwalker

[@LordMidichlorian]

6:25 And not only that. It is finally an instance of failure done right. You don't beat Zenos to 0 or an inch of his health to then have a cutscene going "You thought you won! Ha! you lost! Screw you". You have a long fight in which you barely scratch him and have a more or less tough time to stay alive that long, so you get completely the feeling, during the fight, "I can't beat this guy, I just can't, I can barely stay alive, how am I going to beat this?! I can't!". And just that would make me love the expansion a lot, despite any pacing issues it does have. It is so effing hard to find games that can do player failure correctly. And it does it so well. [This may be a spoiler for Michael as I don't know where he's as ninja] And the ninja quest has one such that is another example of how to make the player fail. The guy runs off the edge of the area before you can get him. I don't know however if you could've killed him. [End of possible spoilers for Michael] I don't have a main class. I got all to 80. The ninja is the job I enjoy returning to the most.

[@MogFlintlock]

I think the Zenos fight (and later, when they do something similar against a certain other individual in ShB) can potentially be hurt thematically by your class choice. As someone who has played through the game as a Warrior, I never really felt like I was under any actual threat from either of them. Yeah, I was killing them slowly, but my health was staying constant and theirs wasn't. Legitimately, the first time I got to the end of the same type of fight in ShB, my immediate thought was 'Oh no, down for the count, my one weakness.'

[@HanabiraKage]

@@MogFlintlock Healers get that too. He can't do nearly enough damage to actually put you in danger because most DPS classes don't have access to any heals other than Second Wind, and BLM not even that. This means that healers can just dps the whole time and then throw on a heal around the middle and never break a sweat. And meanwhile WHM has Regen...

[@jone543]

For me it felt forced. I wasn't barely surviving, I was actually doing quite well as a dancer. Had near full health and avoiding all the AOEs. Not only did I have the feeling of player agency being ripped out of my hands... contextually it just felt so strange to lose that badly. To not even give a decent fight after all you've accomplished in ARR and HW (especially after the final Nidhogg fight). Instead of feeling like he was strong, it felt more like a writer was at odds with me as a player saying "See? You're not as strong as you think you are". After doing so much yourself, there's just no context to his strength. They had a chance to justify it by saying he was "RESONANT" at the time he first fought you but they didn't even do that. And when you do fight him as RESONANT, you trounce him. Which also makes no sense considering how you lost so blatantly 2x prior. He should be stronger and we should have lost again. Stormblood doesn't just have bad pacing, there's just a lot of bad writing.

[@brunohenriqueazevedoborges5490]

12:55 - Question: why did you put stuff regarding the Endwalker launch trailer in a Stormblood recap video? There tons of people that go out of their way to not see that. I honestly think it is misplaced here.

[@Zatherothx]

Yep I’ve been avoiding it like the plague

[@marcieconrad9413]

Yep. I have been avoiding all Endwalker spoilers (trailer) because I want to go in blind. I don't want to be that person, but what the hell? >_> annoying.

[@khys4772]

Really bummed. I've just reached SB a few days ago and was excited to see what Bellular's opinion was, just to get a spoiler thrown at my face like that. I know that I would have ended up watching the trailer everyone was talking about sooner or later, and it won't spoil EW itself since it's a trailer so it's kinda fine, but still. What the hell.

[@levelperfecto]

Basically, Azim Steppe (There is Altai Steppe in Mongol) is Mongolia, Yanxia (I believe there is a large river called like this in China) is China, Kugane is Japan. As a Mongolian, it was very nice to see our culture, especially nomadic culture is not being treated as barbarians, villains or evils. You can see many NPCs with Mongolian names such as Magnai (Quite a modern name), Ogodei (2nd son of Genghis Khan who was a khan after him.), Suvd, Temulun, etc. Also, you can see historical inspiration. Mongolians were used to be a bunch of nomadic tribes across the land like how they do in-game, there are numerous questlines with Mongolian names, the most memorable one is NAADAM which is one of the biggest national holidays. YOL mount is basically a vulture because Yol means vulture in Mongolian. There are housing items like Morin Khuur, a Mongolian traditional music instrument, Therefore, if you notice, every place in Azim has horses, sheep, and NPCs wrestling, also our traditional sport. I could go on forever how much the place is inspired by Mongol. It is just nice to see it. I started as Hyur, the moment I came across Azim Steppe, I turned into AuRa.

[@GodOfWar187]

Azim Steppe is like the most praised zone story in Stormblood, so it's odd to hear you say you didn't like it much. Most of the Far East stuff was written by the same person that wrote Shadowbringers. Hope you're not letting the consensus of the more negative part of the community influence your opinion too much. Also, they added a lot of side quest lines in each zone that added a good bit to those zones and the people living there (you can tell which ones they are as each quest has a picture above the accept/decline). I'm assuming you missed those if you only stuck to MSQ.

[@DonaldTurner]

I've played through MSQ multiple times now on alts, just to re experience it. so much foreshadowing, so much detail, that can blazed past, and often missed, in the thrill of the first time through. Azim steppe, Lord Hien, Gosetsu.. soo much love, depth, joy. Thank you bellular!

[@alexrixey975]

Quick question Belluar since I’m catching you so soon after an upload - Have you ever uploaded a pastebin of your gshade? Your video on it was fantastic! But I assume you made numerous modifications to the Neneko Adventure modifications - you can export a pastebin for your fans to upload directly into their gshade so they can try exactly what you use

[@Cat_Sidhe]

THANK GOD you have REAL critiques about Stormblood. I really really mean that. Far too many people in the community vehemently hate the ENTIRETY of Stormblood because of one or two things that they personally don't like.

[@cainstuart2681]

Make sure to check out the raids. The Omega series was some of the best fights the game has had (mechanically and some thematically) in the opinion of many raiders.

[@no-trick-pony]

I did them yesterday albeit on normal. I don't know. It just felt too much fantasy/scifi/out of place. It felt like they were really trying to force FF references hard and were desperately looking for a way to do it and out came something that could have been made up by a drug addict. Regarding the fights, many were boring, some were really good and interesting though. There are so many obvious Final Fantasy references I just didn't get because I never played other FF games before and I really dislike that many of the things just try to live through that "HAH! the reference". My FC hated me for really disliking O8. It just was a REALLY boring fight. Like REALLY boring. It has exactly one twist and the rest is really boring. I have no idea why people love that boss so much but I assume it's just another FF reference I don't get and just one more thing that can't stand by itself. It doesn't hold a candle to O5 or O6 to me.

[@cainstuart2681]

@@no-trick-pony the savage versions are generally what people liked, as they're often less boring since they have functioning mechanics. There are people who get the one time "oh hey reference" but a fair number of raiders hadn't really played other FF games, they just saw and MMO and gave it a shot.

[@Zantetsudex]

@@no-trick-pony Stormblood started a tradition with end tier raid bosses where they are completely changed in savage. O8 is boring yeah, but O8S is incredible.

[@anacreon212]

stormblood hands down has the most fun savage content it is what got me started on savage raiding.

[@no-trick-pony]

Oh interesting - so the savage modes are the "real" fun then? Do you think there is a chance to even find people nowadays to get started with SB raiding who wouldn't expect me to know every mechanic by heart already?

[@skyray16]

I'd actually really like to see a video from you on rogue/ninja. On both playing it and story of it as the questline feels unique sometimes. It's also neat how Yugiri says Oboro taught us well (ninja main here) while we are shooting darts. Story-wise you've technically done all of it, though there will be optional finishing quest at lvl 80 after 5.0 final quest.

[@jasonleung2763]

Hey Bellular, I'm not sure if this is intentional, but most of the time the expansions include the subsequent post-launch patches as well. Unless you'd like to split each expansion in between 2 videos it might be more cohesive to make one video detailing all of the patch content to avoid any misunderstandings with your audience. This is to avoid people who are critical of the misunderstanding of others who review the game without finishing the patches as it shows the "real" ending. That being said this was a fantastic video, glad you loved the expansion, and Shadowbringers gets much better.

[@lexysteinberger7725]

One of the comments that I've seen that fits very well, is that it's setting a 7/10 next to a 9 and 10. Stormblood would be AMAZING on it's own right. . .had it been in any other game. It just happens to be book-ended by some of the best gaming I've ever experienced in my 30+ years on this rock careening through space.

[@Krocxigor]

I say 8/10 personally and have never understood the hate for it.

[@danielnolan8848]

Nice to see some uploads on the *Bellular Final Fantasy* channel

[@dragothica4925]

Bellular's character has such a cool design, she looks so ready for anything every time she is on screen!

[@GetterRay]

He looks like 99% of Catgirls that aren't cosplaying as Y'shtola.

[@Lacertos]

Having replayed the MSQ twice, I can safely say that Stormblood is the expansion that benefits the most from a second playthrough.

[@midlanderhyur6035]

I agree. I recently did a New Game+ until 5.5 and I come to really love Stormblood. The first time I played it, yeah I like it but I also thought so many things are happening and fixing Doma and Ala Mhigo's problems got a little bit tedious for me. Even so, I did my best not to skip cutscenes but I'd be lying if I said I understood everything. But going through SB the second time around, I finally had a deeper understanding and appreciation towards the story and thought 'hey this isn't really what I initially thought it is. This expansion is also amazing!'

[@VGJunky]

upset that i skipped the EW launch trailer due to spoilers and you dropped one in a Stormblood opinion video (with no warning)

[@Abundanceplayer]

That is what i was saying for ZENOS! people always want a anime style tragic background villian or expect us to go the WOW route where we are just gods and we keep beating everyone. Zenos grounds us and shows us we arent unbeatable. Not every villian we fight that we struggle with has to be a god/primal or some avatar of death for us to feel like we are going to lose. Same with how they showed we arent the only ones who can take on high powerful opponents as the others in the story can keep up or match our pace.

[@HanabiraKage]

I justified it to myself as the WoL specialising in primal-slaying, so non-primal enemies can still defeat them if they're strong enough. So the pope and Zenos really fucked up for their respective final fights.

[@victorpurificacao2855]

Damn, you got me on the endwalker trailer death spoiler. I'm starting shadowbringers and avoided the trailers from expansions I didn't started yet,. Thought I was safe from spoilers here, but it was foolish me of me.

[@tashikat9040]

"[Zenos] is a bit one dimentional right now," In all honesty, he always kind of remains one note throughout his entire story, and that's fine. You don't always need complex villains. If there is one thing this game has done is made me look forward to kicking his smug little face in.

[@DracoSuave]

A good villain is defined by how they affect the protagonist, not by how much of a protagonist they could be.

[@99range92def]

Every time i hear that, it reminds me of hisoka from hxh, he never goes through any sort of character arc, his goals never change but id argue he is one of the best antagonists ever.

[@QwertyBoredom122]

Yeh the idea that you always NEED a villain to be complex and deep is kinda silly in its own way, even in real life there are many people who are extremely simple and shallow and some also just happen to be awful (actually evil in some cases) people on top of all that, the fact that Zenos is one such character isn't really a negative to the story TBH, especially since you DO have characters who are fill the more "deep and complex" archetype.

[@cosmosofinfinity]

Yeah, simple one-note people exist! People who are just pricks exist! (reminds me when people on Twitter get mad at artists drawing women with big boobs, and actual women with big boobs have to come in and defend them so that people realize there are varieties of body types in the real world) And Garlemald is full of unrepentant Garleans, that's kind of the whole point, and their entire system fosters sociopathic people like Zenos to exist and be rewarded in their society. Don't get mad at Zenos, get mad at the society he was brought up in to necessitate a Zenos And much how we the protagonist as one-note and just always good all the time and always powerful and saving the day with that protagonist deus ex machina power, Zenos represents us, but what if we were born on the other side of the war. It would be a fellow unstoppable force, but operating under a different creed. Like Red Superman.

[@qamarqammar7629]

Thanks for your perspective and the thoughtful review. I also was impressed by the way occupied peoples were portrayed here, and the time they took to do this even if the pacing wasn't always perfect, this kind of detail was worth it. This is how you do "morally grey". The Azim Steppe was brilliant - I cannot think of another game that pays such attention to fictionalized Central Asian landscapes and cultures, or even many novels for that matter. (For the history buffs out there - Dimitri Chen's Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a fun historical novel set in Central Asia of the eighth century.) Don't sweat the keybinds. FFXIV players are far less totalitarian about how people keybind. Some of the best players out there have keybinds you wouldn't believe, but it works for them. For example, Angelusdemonus who owns the coveted Necromancer title on multiple characters plays entirely on keyboard (no mouse), and I could mention a few other well-known players, but it isn't important.

[@capnbarky2682]

The story is controversial but StB has some of the best encounter design. I can't remember a lot of the dungeons/trials in each expansion pack off the top of my head, but I can remember almost every trial and dungeon in StB.

[@willdabeast7447]

I just finished the MS Stormblood and I have to be honest I really, really enjoyed the expansion. Here are my takes: Pros: - I love the concept of unifying each nation to the cause of freeing themselves from Garlean occupancy - I love certain characters in the main expansion such as Hien - every map in the expansion left me in awe. - I agree that they showed off how dangerous the Garleans are. My first encounter with Zenos had me on edge. I was watching his health bar and it wasn't depleting much. I thought it was some sort of glitch or that there was a mechanic that I didn't know, but I was supposed to get my butt whooped. I like the concept of facing off the main villain a few times, establishing a sort of rivalry - I played as an Au Ra. When I made it to the Azim steppe, I got immersed. I don't know how to explain it, but I got immersed with my character so much that I felt like I was part of them, you know when you learn about the lore behind the Au Ra. - I adore the music of Stormblood, especially the music when you face off Zenos in the last dungeon and Shinryu. Cons: -I felt like I spent most of the main story expansion in Othard, especially Doma and the Azim steppe to the point where I almost forgot about Ala Mhigo. Most of the characters there were more interesting than the characters in the Resistance -this might sound a little picky, but the section where you fight off Lakshmi felt like a filler to me. Its like we don't spend much time with the medusa-looking tribe in the Fringes. The tribe wasn't memorable compared to the Koijin where you spend like more than 10 quests to solve their problems. - Lyse wasn't much of a good character and I understand why people find her annoying. For example, she always complained to every tribe or small group we meet why they can't stand up and take arms against the Garleans. Like the people don't have access to a lot of weapons against magiteks, they are malnourished, they don't have resources, and they don't have numbers to fend off the Garleans. - Okay I know this takes place after the main story, but personally didn't like how Omega turned into a raid. Its like Omega was an important part of post-dragonsong war and then gets casted off into a side content. I wanted to see majority of the characters from the Scions and maybe even the Eorzean Alliance to deal with Omega, like everyone seemed to have forgotten about Omega. That's just my personal opinion (DON'T GET ME WRONG: I'M REALLY ENJOYING THE RAID, I'M CONSTANTLY QUEING IN FOR ALPHASCAPE V4.0, its just that I wanted it to be part of the main story) - Lastly, the deaths of certain characters didn't leave me emotional, especially Meffrid and Conrad. We didn't spend too much time with them, so I didn't feel any connections at a personal level. There is one character that did leave me emotional, but anyone who played the main story has seen the end credit scene (you know the island scene). But I still enjoyed Stormblood nevertheless and I can't wait to play through the remainder of it's side content and post-stormblood quests. I just started the Ivalice allaince raid WOOHOO!!! (Note: I am honored to have FFXIV as my first and only MMORPG :) )

[@Zatherothx]

Great, the trailer I've been avoiding for so long gets spoilt by a Stormblood review :)

[@daniil5352]

Same. Please learn to respect spoilers if you keep covering this game Bellular :(

[@Zatherothx]

@@daniil5352 I love Bellular but this was a really dumb decision

[@TheoVorster]

This was an excellent review of the base 4.0 Stormblood expansion, you covered and broke down its various strengths and flaws very well. Stormblood was also where I first started my FFXIV journey as well, so while I never experienced the contrasts/changes directly like older players, I am told that the gameplay and system improvements really shone in 4.0, and even a present day new player can still somewhat appreciate that just from experiencing the new instanced duties and content that 4.0 brings. I also recommend anyone to check out some of the commentary and critiques from West Asian and non-Japanese East & Southeast Asian FFXIV players/reviewers who have some interesting stuff to say about the world building and design choices of both Gyr Abania and Othard and where/how FFXIV succeeds and where/how it falls short in creating its settings which draw heavily from real world cultures.

[@lampdevil]

I'm pleased to see someone else that shares my take on Lyse. Her concept and the writer's intentions were good, the execution was flawed, and I think she gets more hate than she really deserves. The same can be said of Stormblood as a whole, really. It's a weaker expansion narratively, but it was a great time for the game mechanically and I have a lot of fond memories of it since I started seriously playing when it was current. Enjoy those 4.x patches, there's some juicy stuff there!

[@ye9945]

@Jediberner8 Nobody asked bro, you people are exhausting.

[@lampdevil]

@Jediberner8 Well, that's just honest and valid critique! They needed to put her front and center because she had so much development to get through, but the hasty pace and repetition of that development falls flat for a lot of people. Thing is, I see a lot of "get her out of the story, she's the worst, let's call her names, she sucks, worst Scion" which I feel is being harsher than some weak storytelling calls for. I rather related to her a lot as I played through, to her uncertainty and her having to confront her ignorance and to her needing to grow as a person. There's some good there, fumbled as she might have been.

[@petriew2018]

she's not a bad character, it's just so painfully obvious they ran out of purpose for Yda and just kind of clumsily replaced her with someone more story relevant. The shift was not handled that well and it kind of undermines her story arc.

[@Kekira]

I started in Gridania and adventures with her and Papalymo for a while. So for me she didn't feel as forced as others.

[@ADADEL1]

@Jediberner8 (shrug) I just didn't like most of her dialogue. The concept was fine but I think her conversations should have probably had a second pass in the writers room. Maybe it was more of a translation issue?

[@WillHuizenga]

Been trying so hard to avoid spoilers for the release trailer and you blew it

[@Rhetoricdiscerpt]

Same

[@PetarBladeStrok]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Stormblood. It's really, REALLY good. That said, I still can't figure out why you have watched Endwalker launch trailer, it makes me so sad. It'll make a lot of later reveals so much more underwhelming. You were guarded from all the spoilers and still you succumbed. :( Still can't WAIT for your future videos on FFXIV. The quality is amazing! (BTW still wanna know your reaction to 3.3, when Estinien and Ysayle appeared, since you didn't mention it in your post-HW video. It's the first time FFXIV completely broke me to tears.)

[@drakelx]

Yeah, one of the reveals that I’d imagine would be really really underwhelming since Bellular watched the Endwalker (and Shadowbringer) trailer is Zenos committing suicide at the end of 4.0. But I kinda just gave up on that point, since with all the Reaper and Endwalker media going around, not finding out about Zenos’s fate would be really hard either way. I guess I can count myself lucky for doing SB before Endwalker became hype.

[@salami155]

@@drakelx I never watch the launch(in-game cutscene) trailers or patch trailers, never understood why people do. If you're already going to play it, why bother tainting a blind experience? But this is kind of the way our culture works now with the internet, people don't practice delayed gratification with their entertainment. It's more about hype and being a part of that hype.

[@DummyFace123]

Not everybody is bothered by spoilers. A lot of people are bigoted to this fact and take offense to it, but it’s proven fact.

[@PetarBladeStrok]

@@DummyFace123 But it's actually the fact that he stated before he IS, in fact, bothered by spoilers. In a lot of earlier videos. lol

[@GetterRay]

Eh, without context the Endwalker trailer really doesn't spoil that much, especially if you've seen the cinematic trailer, which is a marketing trailer and meant to be seen by everyone. By the time that he's able to make the connection between the Constellation Stone in 5.3 and the trailer, there is nothing to spoil.

[@danielchristensen8789]

Love your content. Was looking forward to your impressions with Stormblood, but haven't watched the trailer for Endwalker yet. Not cool with revealing things you saw relating to Endwalker, in a Stormblood review. Still love your content, but please announce at the beginning that your gonna discuss anything outside of Stormblood.

[@Torgrims_Adventures]

I cannot wait for you to experience feelsbringer. One of the best main villains in modern gaming.

[@dragocrafterr8286]

the patch villain too is real real good

[@phatymcdaddy]

@@dragocrafterr8286 the whole story arch with the exarch is pure emotion

[@Sarkkoth]

16:00 Bro you're not supposed to look at the glowing eye lol.

[@Toksyuryel]

The Stormblood patch series is amazing. Great pacing, incredible writing, and Lyse is so much more tolerable.

[@serisothikos]

The scene with Gosetsu and the dead Dotharl... honestly one of my favorites of all time. Ishikawa's writing is always so heartfelt. I have some complicated feelings about 4.1 and especially 4.2, but 4.3 has some of my favorite content of all in it and once you get to 4.4 you are in the Shadowbringers prelude and may god have mercy on you because the game will not.

[@SuperRamos619]

My biggest criticisms for stormblood is that the start of the expansion is excruciatingly slow and dull. And the second is, despite that we are taking the fight to the Garleans, this expansion sort of feels like the WoL is passive, letting all the other characters guide their actions. The expansion really puts Lyse as the main character and the WoL exists to support her journey.

[@VideogamesPang]

Yeah, that's one of the things that bothers me the most about it too. Your character has basically no motivation to be there besides being a nice guy. Combined with the other usual complaints (pacing, Lyse), the Stormblood MSQ looks pretty weak when you look back on it especially after Shadowbringers.

[@dominicdo2719]

I really didn't like lyse as she took more of a prominent role.

[@kegosan7622]

@@VideogamesPang most likely it is just us helping our friends to reclaim their country. Which is fine for me.

[@katomamundara8106]

The thing is we're like 'Fuck, we CAN'T take the fight to the Garleans' REALLY early on with that assault on Rhalgr's. We aren't a leader, we, the WoL, have never been the leader. Minfilia called the shots in ARR. Alphi in HW (and most of the 3.0 HW story focused on his growth). Lyse in StB (and likewise, her growth in 4.0). I won't speak to 5.X here. We are SO out of our depth in StB, we're a big fish (WoL) from a small pond (Eorzea) who is way out of his depth in the ocean (anywhere outside Eorzea). Zenos slaps us down, and we have no formal leadership, so we follow Lyse and support her plans. 'We' are always moving to support. 'We' move to support the Ala Mhigan resistance. 'We' move to support Ishgard and end the war. 'We' move at the Scions' behest to counter Ascian and Primal machinations. While we are the main character, we're like... Asta in Black Clover, or Naruto in DBZ, or Wolverine to Professor Xavier (for a Western relation). We have moments we might do our own things, but a majority of our time, we work to the direction of the higher ups (Whether Yami or the Magic King & King in Black Clover; the Hokage/Alliance in Naruto; or Professor Xavier) who are more leaders than us. And the leaders see the folly of fighting the Empire until the very end when we got Doma's support planned for the raid on Ala Mhigo.

[@ye9945]

LYSE BAD REEEEEE

[@sirdamned9272]

Stormblood also has fantastic Beast Tribe quests, which you'll no doubt be circling back and doing at a later time. Specifically the Anata and Kojin Beast Tribes.

[@Krocxigor]

I am with you on that as they are the only two tribes I have actually worked on.....I also work on my amusement park from time to time but that story is boring so I hardly ever do it. I stopped doing the ARR beast tribes.....well in ARR (2014) because they are so boring!

[@yourdude9942]

Not having more of M'naago and Raubahn in the Stormblood msq was the biggest "problem" for me.

[@dragonet111]

One of the best moment for me in Stormblood was when during a cutscene I was ask, as a healer, to help heal people after a Garlean attack. It was very rewarding.

[@reflion3688]

I have been avoiding the Endwalker Launch Trailer and all Details about it. At least give a spoiler warning for information about it.

[@Eckythump]

I can finally watch this video now I have finished Stormblood to completion. You're right about the beginning of Stormbloood being a drag, but boy oh boy. Once the pace picks up, it's a hell of a story and adventure. The way the story is told, and how fleshed out the characters are. It's great. The way you feel sympathy for Yotsuyu and Fordola is a credit to the writers.

[@ramsde68]

Nice to see the grounded take on the story of Stormblood and Lyse's character in general. Even as someone who adores Lyse, it's very easy to see where they botched her development during the SB storyline, but the amount of senseless hate she gets is honestly insane.

[@Nodnarb59]

Lyse would've been better if there was build up to her introduction than what we got, right off the bat you're already subconsciously comparing her to "Yda" and how they butchered two and to a degree three characters for her introduction. She also suffers from the Minfillia effect, as in game characters keep telling you she's grown constantly, but for me it felt like she took one step forward reverted back to her old ways and repeat. Lyse is either a character you like or don't and I'm the latter, they could've done better with her character than what we got and that's mainly what I'm upset about.

[@waking00one]

@@Nodnarb59 How did they butcher Yda? She never did *anything* in the ARR story beyond being the dumb punchline to jokes.

[@adognamedsally]

I found Lyse to be uncanny. She would pull me out of the story because it didn't seem realistic how people treated her versus what she did and I ended up rolling my eyes when she would show up. I resented her character a bit for that. I don't mind the idea of her character, but I found both her and Hien to be underdeveloped to the point where I just didn't believe that either of them were leaders yet I was being told by the game that they were.

[@drakelx]

Was the Azim Steppe portion considered badly paced? I don’t recall feeling that way personally, but then again it’s been half a year since I did SB. That being said Sadu and Magnai are great characters to have around, and I hope for more chances to interact with them and the Mol! Also, the parallels between the Doma and Ala Mhigo become so so much better in the patches, it’s great! I don’t wanna say anything too specific, but it really made 4.3 hit really hard!

[@jaeusa160]

NGL, Azim is a bit of a slog on the chores just for the MSQ portion. The sheer massiveness of the zone combined with kind of poor teleport points (esp since Doroh Iloh didnt exist during 4.0) made the sidequests really quite miserable just due to the travel distance.

[@Hexxer]

ALREADY? You picked up some speed, glad you're enjoying the journey!

[@dakotadoyle7573]

The thing about Zenos, during all his encounters he has stats on par with a level 70 dungeon boss

[@ReyReyzzz]

Just wait till he does Yotsuyu’s whole story. She’s gonna blast up there as one of his favorites im pretty sure

[@lampdevil]

Oh for sure. I want him to sit down and contrast Yotsuyu and Sylvanas. It might be no contest, but I think it's still an incredibly pointed and interesting contrast to draw.

[@jaeusa160]

I'll keep my comments as vague and non-spoiler as I can. I was a bit annoyed with two characters receiving similar stories but the one I felt was FAR more justified getting the shorter end of the stick as it were.

[@laxxboy20]

5:00 would love to see a back and forth between Pyro and Bellular bout this

[@JackgarPrime]

A lot of people complain about Zenos being a fairly one dimensional character, but I think it actually works to set him apart. The game is filled with villains who have their own complex and understandable motivations, some of which to the point where you could see yourself siding with them if the situation was different. These are great villains to have, and ffxiv wouldn't be nearly as good without them. But sometimes you just want an enemy who is a right crazy bastard, and revels in his bloodlust. And Zenos serves that role perfectly.

[@dannyboi7877]

Yeah, Zenos isn’t my favourite villain in the game, but my appreciation massively rose when I realized he’s basically the Kefka of ff14. Just straight bloody insane.

[@darkness_visible7227]

I am in agreement with you on most points here. What I find interesting is that you seemed more invested in the Ala Migo sections and struggled with the pacing out East. I was the same when I went through (in fact, I actually stopped playing for a while on the Steppe) but my sister is the opposite. She loved the stuff in the east but found the Ala Migo narrative very lacking in identity. Most people I know lean one way or the other. I think that highlights the problem with Stormblood's ambition: there's two great narratives there, but by trying to squish them both together people are inevitably left wanting more of the one they favour and disappointed that it came at the cost of the other.

[@soliquidsnake3990]

I felt like Stormblood was a necessary jumbleness. Two areas needing liberation being back to back expansions would have been too similar. And you can see it with how high quality the patches are in comparison.

[@TheGerrok]

Any time you have to establish characters and places the pacing goes down. It happened in ARR (city states), it happened in the ARR patches (Ishgaurd), it happened in stormblood. I don't mind that it happens because everything I learn about those places will pay off later.

[@marinefighter]

@@TheGerrok exactly.

[@aster4jaden]

@@TheGerrok Exactly!!

[@DracoSuave]

@@TheGerrok At least the story didn't decide 'Fuck the story, let's go ruin the ending of ARR AND the Dragoon plot with Deus Ex Machina and an idiot ball plot that feels absolutely stupid to anyone who knew who Estinien was before the MSQ brought him in' Stormblood never ruined past work despite its missteps. And its biggest misstep (The whole 'Yda is now Lyse' thing, which was dumb and unnecessary) was... in Heavensward. People might not be so dickish towards Lyse if they'd just not done that stupid plot twist. In Heavensward. People overglorify HW.

[@TheGerrok]

@@DracoSuave I'm not sure what you're going on about how HW ruined ARR. The ending of ARR was written with full knowledge of what was going to happen in HW, so saying it ruined it makes no sense. As far as the Lyse/Yda reveal I always figuered it had to do with something from 1.0, so I never put that much stock into it. The problems with Stormblood are different though. The scenes imply that there is simply no one left to fight the Garleans in Doma or Ala Mhigo because all the young people got drafted and sent off somewhere else, but then they manage to poof an army out of nowhere. The story in the ruby sea was a speedrun through three different factions (confederates, Kojin, Au Ra) just to introduce them, but the plot advanced because it needed too but not because it felt like it was earned. The steppes part was decently cool, but the doma part was another speedrun of no hope, oh now we have an army of ninjas that requires Garlean to commit their army. And then why they chose Lyse to lead the resistance made no sense either. The cat girl that had always been in Ala Mhigo seems like a natural choice, but it felt like Lyse was just shoehorned into the position because the plot required it. Additionally, Lyse's script was...uninspired. She came off bland every time she had dialog. Gosetsu, Yotsuyu, and Xenos were the pillars that supported the story through 4.0. I think the Skull commander lady was also much better written than Lyse.

[@ComXD211]

The MSQ on the Azim Steppe is a personal favorite of mine. My first time playing through Stormblood was as a Xaela Au Ra and I got some unique dialogue. It felt really personal, like my character was discovering their heritage and learning about their people's ways and culture. It wasn't just another step in my character's journey, it was a time of personal self-discovery. To learn and experience something they never got to do in their life.

[@MysticLlamaMan]

Whoa, already!? Man is on a mission.

[@Wrendy2k7]

I know right, I seriously think he will be in time for Endwalker at this pace damn!

[@miqotesoulia8620]

thank you very much for even briefly talking about the small characters that are present in ARR get some love in stormblood lore. cheers!

[@Blagno4]

Why would yo uspoil the endwalker trailer in a Stormblood video???

[@raiderglace8641]

The patches for Stormblood were what got me. Such a perfect setup to start Shadowbringers

[@selectioncrescimento]

Stormblood is still my 2nd most favorite expansion so far, it felt a lot more grounded and simple than heavensward, also a lot more lively. HW is just so bleak i still have trouble liking anything from it, especially the trials, raids , etc. Stormblood is better on all those areas for me

[@ninjafoxgamesgeekery]

I honestly think Stormblood is going to be a bit more like A Realm Reborn in that it will be appreciated more after Endwalker than it was when being played through. Stormblood feels like a midway set up where the final pieces needed to be introduced, established, and set up on the board for the rest of the story to play out. Introducing Zenos, the Resonant, a few little mystery bits that still remain now after Shadowbringers from Stormblood patches, the city states (we still have an entire zone plot in Stormblood to come back to that Shadowbringers may have given a preview for), there's a lot of seed planting in Stormblood that required it to be less action and fast paced. We'll see in Endwalker how much of it comes back up.

[@TheJamation]

I know I’m in a big minority, but Stormblood is my favorite expansion by far

[@kelvinrozeboom7313]

Story wise? Imo not that good Content wise? Couldn't agree more

[@cosmosofinfinity]

Still pretty hard to top Shinryu, Tsukuyomi, and Suzaku, as well as the Ivalice raids. And Alisaie finally integrated into the main cast, and more Yugiri and Gosetsu

[@kelvinrozeboom7313]

@@cosmosofinfinity I agree with everything, but you spelled Tsukimommy wrong!

[@liquidtoad3910]

same here, but that is due to the parches to be honest for me.

[@TheJamation]

​@@kelvinrozeboom7313 I actually really loved the story. I know it's not a popular opinion, but the emotions I felt while playing through it...I'll never forget them.

[@xaraphiel]

Loving your videos and happy you are enjoying the journey. Keep up the great work. (Good luck with your game too) Is there a place we can watch your reactions to key parts of the story?

[@TheMeGuy1]

My main issue with Lyse is that there’s no point where it really feel like she /does/ anything particularly important or special. She talks about wanting to and her inferiority complex, but she never gets a shining moment to transcend it at any point, everything she gains is handed to her like becoming head of the resistance. At no point did she earn that, she was given the mantle when honestly as far as the story was concerned at that point, it should’ve gone to M’naago. Combine that with the fact that they had to kill 4 characters to push her development (Yda, Papalymo, Meffrid, and Conrad), and she still feels undeveloped and poorly utilized, and it’s no wonder she’s such a divisive character. Also the Lyse plot twist was completely unnecessary and the same exact story could’ve been told the exact same way by just keeping her as Yda. I think they did it to try and make it more believable that she evolved from being a total ditz in ARR by presenting her as a completely different character, but idk the twist doesn’t hit for me.

[@ninjafoxgamesgeekery]

Hien got a lot of moments in Doma that Lyse needed in Ala Mhigo. Conversely, patch moments could have made things work after the fact with Lyse being/feeling in over her head with the role she's been thrust into. We've seen Raubahn take charge in moments, but we need some more development that Lyse is really leaning on him, or that they're finding a balance of his strength needed while she's more the heart her people need in the role rather than an experienced leader. All in all, Ala Mhigo didn't get enough focus and attention as a growing re-established self governing land.

[@thorn_lekoh]

Her not actually being Yda serves her inferiority complex, it plays into that theme of "not being worthy of your heritage" to the point of disguise in order to look more the part, and the whole journey's used to reinforce that even just as herself she is still the daughter of Curtis from Ala Gannha and she's just as much at home as she would if she still acted as Yda. If she was indeed Yda then there would be no doubt since Yda is already known and loved by the resistance.

[@MichaSennin]

There is a little side quest in the Steppes where you help a guy find his true self. This quest is my favorite Quest in the entire game. It's so random, so easy to miss but it hits you so hard in the feels that you probably never forget that Questline and the lad who found himself and his purpose with the help of the WoL.

[@bainbonic]

Saying Stormblood is below Heavensward and Shadowbringers isn't saying too much considering how good those two are. I think some people miss that, SB is still excellent, just that HW and ShB are more excellent.

[@DevastatingWarrior]

I would definitely say that SB was my least favorite expansion overall, still good, but definitely struggling. And following HW doesn't exactly help either. But as people say, the inbetween expac patches is where SB really gets to shine. And the music is also very top tier in a lot of areas of SB. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the 4.x patches. And then ShB is right around the corner, godspeed!

[@warhammerguy]

13:00 dude not cool....trying desperately to avoid endwalker spoilers here and i we were almost there....

[@Fimbulwinter2]

Stormblood also has the best raids. The Omega normal raids are amazing, Return to Ivalice is amazing, Byakko/Suzaku/Genbu/Seiryu are amazing as well.

[@Idividezero]

I wishlisted your game, and I'm super pumped to play it!

[@DevinOfBacon]

I remember when Stormblood released, and I was just starting it, I thought to myself "You know what? The Warrior of Light needs to lose to somebody in a fight for once. Not a Primal or Ascian or something, but a mortal being." I was so happy when it actually did happen, which is weird to say. I of course want the WoL to win and save the world and all, but I just felt they were being basically unbeatable, and needed some humbling.

[@ThatRedHusky]

That's the thing. Zenos isn't deep. He's about as shallow as you can get. But that's kinda what makes him a great villain. He wants one thing and he will stop at nothing to get it. Even to the point to where if there's something or someone he can HELP to get it, he does it.

[@wondermog4524]

I'm actually of the minority who liked Stormblood more than Heavensward. I just found it more interesting, though I will admit a lot of it is the setting, the bosses and I liked the Post patches more.

[@lukapitkanen3333]

damn you are going fast. I hope you get to experience some of the raids too because stormblood has some of the best imo.

[@doxull]

IM HERE BELLLLLLLL. The post patches for Stormblood are the highlights for me. I hope we can expect a 4.3 post update to this! I really love your videos!

[@Krocxigor]

After I beat 5.3 I found out about a dungeon that had a chest piece I wanted for a red mage glam. So I went to the ruby sea and started doing a quest chain involving four talking animals to unlock the dungeon and even after unlocking it and getting the glam my first run I was so hooked on that questline I completed it. I highly recommend doing it as it has some of the most fun Trials in the game! (my opinion) And that cutscene at the end was amazing!

[@Agarokk]

Why would you watch the Endwalker trailer if you are still in Stormblood MSQ? Doesn't make much sense but whatever floats your boat.