Was A Realm Reborn as good as I remember? A Final Fantasy XIV Retrospective & Story Recap

A retrospective and recap of Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn's main story. Was it as bad as so many players say? Well, it certainly has its ups and downs!
Check out the full series here: • A look back at the mai...
This whole thing came about as I wanted to go back through the story in the run up to Dawntrail's release. FFXIV's entire 10-year long story arc surrounding Hydaelyn and Zodiark came to an end with the fourth expansion, Endwalker, and I wanted to take a look back and see what it did well, and where it could be improved. This retrospective series is based on a more casual perspective of someone playing the game as a (mostly) single-player JRPG, as opposed to going over every aspect of the MMO (which would take SIGNIFICANTLY longer!). So get ready for some dodgy voice acting and awkward pacing as we revisit A Realm Reborn in 2024!
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Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:17 Our Journey Begins
09:01 Dungeons and Combat Basics
15:12 Trials
17:13 Midgame and Pacing Issues
26:16 Base ARR Endgame
37:41 Patch Quests Introduction
39:06 Seventh Astral Era
55:26 Coils of Bahamut
01:00:30 Crystal Tower
01:09:27 Before the Fall
01:19:40 Final Thoughts and Outro
#FinalFantasyXIV #FFXIV #arealmreborn

[@Yoyojojomojo]

This is going to blow up eventually. Great work on the video! There's a lack of this sort of recap for XIV in this style.

[@DynaChris]

Thank you! I don't know about "blowing up", but it's a relief some folks like it :)

[@Dogman415]

The algorithm has blessed me this day. I think this is the first time I've been suggested a channel under 1000, let alone 100. Here's hoping you have much success!

[@DynaChris]

Or maybe it's cursed you ;) But seriously, thanks! Really appreciate it!

[@FubukiShiromiya]

I’ve watched several summaries of ARR and this is easily the most engaging one, capturing the important events in a way that is informative and engaging. Really looking forward to the follow ups.

[@NokoFace]

24:05 To be fair, most people with amnesia don't have complete memory loss. More recent or more used memories tend to be lost while deeper, lesser-used memories are retained. It's very common for people with amnesia to not remember the names of friends they spend every day with, but things they didn't think about for years are easily remembered for them. It's not unreasonable to assume Cid knew about the corrupt crystals due to him being a renowned engineer, but because it isn't knowledge he actively uses it was retained.

[@cammokyle]

Can really see this exploding at some point. This is the kind of review and story summation that's been missing imo! Gives people who want to join in Dawntrail a way to catch up on important lore if they would like to etc! Great little series :)

[@SageofLight777]

Okay, the trousers bit during your recap on the assault on Castrum Centri got a laugh out of me. Especially since...yeah, why did we *not* grab pants off the soldiers we dispatched? Seems like a curious omission...

[@Tarrot]

One thing that probably should be brought up: Double Shield Boss (can't spell his name) was one of the most popular NPCs in the game before a large quest rework. Cape Westwind was the first 8-man trial in the game, vs. Double Shield Boss, and it became a community thing where if someone was new to act like it was going to be the most difficult fight ever, when due to item level scaling it was over in a minute. So even though the character is so forgettable, he was one of the most enduring NPCs from ARR because of the meme.

[@PatrickOchoa8a]

44:14 I remember when they announced they were trimming Post ARR questlines and I was devastated that they removed the chocobo sniffing.

[@iwzbravo]

seeing the quality of this video i expected someone with several thousand subscribers. Keep up the good work

[@Tolly7249]

Tempering is absolute nightmare fuel, and I respect the game for going 'yeah this is a terrible thing and we're forced to kill the people who are tempered because if we didn't they'd sacrifice people to the primal'. Not many games would have the sheer cahones to put something that outright traumatising into their story and make it front and centre of a fair amount of the plot. Legit the first time I was going through the aftermath of Titan I had to stop playing for the night because I needed time to process it. Those soldiers who were with us, who were pretty cool for the short time we knew them, they were *dead* because they didn't have the same lucky break as us. God I love this game.

[@thompson6223]

Are you doing this for every expansion? As a returning player, I love these because they give such a great summary of the plot!

[@DynaChris]

Sure am - weekly til we're caught up with current content :)

[@sreid4313]

Bruh... better than most YT creators with 1000x the subs. Thanks for this! It could not have been better timing for me! You rock!

[@zedorian6547]

The last hour of the ARR msq was incredible and NOTHING in the game has made me more excited for the future of the game since. Nothing has even come remotely close.

[@caleblancaster]

Just watched your Heavensward video, now time for this one!! I love the way you approach explaining the story and also including your opinion on gameplay aspects like the trials and dungeon, I feel like a lot of other FFXIV story recaps don’t comment on those as much. Great stuff!

[@DynaChris]

Thanks! The original plan was a straight up series of retrospectives but I didn't have the time to comment on as much as I'd have liked in that regard, so it's kinda both critique and recap in a weird sorta way. I rushed the ARR one a bit but I'm much happier with how the others have turned out so far.

[@YoutubeCommentor1]

Found this video by chance through recommendations. As someone who beat ARR years ago in 2019 and replaying them again with my girlfriend this video did a great job of doing a quick and easy overview of the main and post msq content for ARR. can't wait to watch/listen the rest of the expansions as they come out.

[@DynaChris]

Thanks! They should all be released in time for Dawntrail! :)

[@bleh491]

Hi i just discovered your videos recently have been very much enjoying listening to them. Their is a very interesting hypothesis about the end of the crystal tower questline when Nero walks off. Some ominous beeping like sounds can be heard. These beeps can be translated using morse code that spells out a certain infamous quote from a certain birdy.

[@farlado5459]

I recommend doing Coils synced at least once! It's an unforgettable experience and *will* make you a better raider.

[@BryerTuckGames]

I really enjoyed this. I've tried to watch other summaries of the FF14 story, but people always try to sound so dramatic and over the top I have to turn it off. I like this style. Straight forward, informative. A+

[@FiendDrow]

Well I'm hooked. Been playing since the tail end of Stormblood and I always enjoy a trip down memory lane. Excited for the next videos!

[@DynaChris]

Thanks! The Stormblood one is out tomorrow! Dreading the Shadowbringers video cos it's over 2 hours lmao

[@Matthewsumarki]

Great recap. Thankyou for putting the work in for this! U get my sub!

[@alieremainsalie6469]

these were the first videos you ever made??? jeez! incredible work!

[@DynaChris]

Unless you count some old Twitch VODs and *very* basic highlight videos, then yeah this is pretty much my first "real" KZbin project. I know there's a lot I could've done better but I appreciate the compliment! 😅

[@Calculusman1084]

Can't wait to see this entire series finished. AMAZING work

[@aster4jaden]

Personally, I actually liked the early dialogue it really helped me get into the Game.

[@TauEmpire22]

This is the exact sort of video I've been wanting for months. Subscribe well earned

[@EmilyTempest81]

enjoyed your video. nicely done. cant wait to see what else you do.

[@sino112]

Great work. ❤ Playing since 1.0 and looking back like this is really nice :) Since ff14 was my first mmo I never had much hate for 1.0 since I didn't know what to expect from a mmo. But going into the beta and then into arr, it was a fantastic journey. I didn't feel the slack much since 1.0 was worse paced and other older rpgs as well, so it was pretty refreshing in comparison. The combat was more exiting back then since you did had more skills and more skill options from the crossclass skill system, sch alone had 5 dots. So it was a bit busier and I see how ppl feel underwhelmed til 50 or even 60 nowadays. But happy you enjoyed it and many more even today.

[@alexfishing88]

Great video man! Keep it up!

[@RetroNekoArt]

I´m not a Final Fantasy Fan at all but your Video was really good explained and i liked the funny comments here and there! Keep up the good work this is good, really good!

[@sgtflamingo6532]

Great video! You deserve more views!

[@General_Draco]

Look forward to the rest of the videos!

[@yagagang1854]

We need more high quality ffxiv videos like this. Ty keep it up

[@ruinerdown1614]

Awesome work, this was a great watch

[@qSephirah]

This is exactly the video i was looking for, im currently playing through heavensward and needed a video to listen to. You have an incredible voice and did a great job on this video. ❤

[@DynaChris]

Thank you! I kinda hate my voice (I think most people don't like their own though) but I appreciate it!

[@nerdychocobo]

also, it might be worth trying to run the final dungeons with min ilevel sync and no echo, it makes it much more close to the intended experience

[@mintmuffin2588]

I would like to point out (if it has not been pointed out) we are basically on an elevator fighting the ultima weapon. it's a fun little joke me and my friends like to make ever time we get the trial in MQS roulette.

[@DynaChris]

And it's the best damn elevator music I've heard :p

[@mintmuffin2588]

@@DynaChris Yep nothing can't stop this elevator with such devastation around it.

[@paul77904]

Well done video sir!

[@SailorSetsuna7]

1:14:30 I had to double check because could swear this was a trial. I keep forgetting it was removed in 6.2

[@DynaChris]

Yeah I didn't remember it when I went back through, either. That and Cape Westwind. Is it bad I miss the 30-second Ultima Weapon fight at the end of Praetorium? :p

[@andrewl7367]

I loved the heavensward video so much I had to come back for the ARR one! 😊

[@MegaVbnz]

Thanks for an awesome video!

[@Tom-Pendragon]

Excellent video, going to watch your heavenwards video now.

[@XenosFFBE]

I had to run it again through with an alt because my first time through I skipped everything and plus it was 10 years ago LOL. Getting through 2.0 wasn't NEARLY as bad as everyone cried about. Doing the post patches is where it felt like it never ended. Anywho, great job on the video!!! 🙂🙂🙂

[@DynaChris]

Yeah it's definitely the patch stuff that's the worst. I think a lot of the complaints are because Heavensward onwards are just so much better than ARR, rather than ARR itself being bad.

[@the_dark_soul_of_man]

I dunno about the holy trinity my man, all I'm seeing is blue dps, red dps, and green dps :D Also man the lore of Sastasha was dark once you payed attention...

[@katnerd6712]

You used to be able to mix and match abilities from classes but I'd imagine it was a nightmare to balance when they started developing Heavensward so they abandoned it along with the ability to increase your base stats with accumulated points per level.

[@mcsavi1538]

Why would they keep ramuh alive aren’t primals dangerous to the lands because of the constant need of aether which effects other living things?

[@YoutubeCommentor1]

It's not mentioned here but the hard mode quest for Ramuh requires you to fight and finally put him down because of the threat his presence makes.

[@nerdychocobo]

I think there's a lot about arr that I still really enjoy, especially in comparison to a lot of fans. however the one thing that really annoys me is how many cutscenes there would be during the dungeon. it always gave me a lot of anxiety doing them, trying to read the cutscenes as fast as possible and sometimes having to skip them because someone accidentally pulled the boss before I got there. of course, everyone was lovely and didn't mind waiting, but I'm very glad that's no longer an issue, with any cutscenes after the initial one being very short, and big story moments waiting until after you leave the dungeon

[@DynaChris]

Yeah I think ARR gets a lot of undeserved hate. It's probably due to everything after it being so much better, though. I feel you on the anxiety btw - I remember my first runs through quite a few dungeons (and especially alliance raids) ending with bosses being pulled right at the start of the cutscenes. The way I see it, if I'm playing healer and my teammates die because they were too impatient, that's on them ;)

[@Tarshtra]

1:17:26 Your comment here asking about when Monks will get that move that Yda does inspired me to double check. Sure enough, Monks get it at Ultima Weapon: it's their LB3.

[@DynaChris]

Haha yes! I actually noticed that when I hit one during the Lakshmi trial in Stormblood. I barely play melee DPS jobs, let alone get a chance to hit an LB3, so I hadn't noticed before.

[@Trollexis]

Hey ! Fantastic video that was a pleasure to watch ! If I can add a fun fact about the poor voice acting in ARR, It's not just a problem in English, but in French too. And like for english voice cast, a big improvment was made during Heavensward !

[@DynaChris]

I didn't know about the French voice cast, that's interesting! As I said in the video, I think a lot of the problem was voice direction, because there's actually a few really good actors in the ARR cast. Either way, it definitely improved in HW! :)

[@odiechan]

It’s such a shame that the voice direction in ARR wasn’t very good because it featured two of my favorite voice actors (Sam Reigel and Taliesin Jaffe) who ARE very good actors. I think it simply suffered from poor direction. 😢

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

"Poor voice directing"? I'm pretty sure there wasn't any.

[@DynaChris]

Wouldn't surprise me tbh, what with the sheer amount of weird mispronunciations and all. "ALFY-NORD!?" definitely stands out :p

[@nerdychocobo]

considering how short the turnaround is, yeah, i doubt anyone on the team could spare the time to direct the poor actors properly, or even do more than a few takes

[@RED_Theory038]

It's been so long since I've seen that yda cutscene. Wow has the voice acting come a long way. Idk maybe the characters think you're stupid or something since you're never voice acted ever lol

[@markup6394]

4:30 --- She doesnt say "six" specifically, just that you have to find the crystals :P The more interesting part is, "by thy deeds will the crystals reveal themselves to thee". Also, not everyone is a FF veteran ;) 7:50 --- Its true, it wasnt the VAs "fault" that some of their lines feel flat... but you forgot to mention that SE back in the same was close to bankrupt from the failed 1.0. Thats (probably - we dont know) the reason the VAs got no direction and each only one take with minor or no time for preparations.

[@DynaChris]

Yeah she doesn't SAY six, but there are six :p And yeah they were close to bankrupt (again) but as you say, we don't know and probably won't ever know if that's why the voice direction sucked. Either way, I'm glad it got much better from Heavensward onwards!

[@ExileTwilight]

32:00 if anything having only you on the magitek reaper makes most sense doesn't it? It's not like there's multiple Maggy's. But it would be very difficult to design the dungeon to only allow one person to use it..

[@nerdychocobo]

I actually ended up missing that you're meant to interact with the magitek armor in that dungeon lol. This was before the cutscenes were unskippable, so my entire experience of the dungeon was desperately trying to read everything, then sprinting to catch up with everyone else, who couldn't be bothered to wait for the cutscenes, and by that time had already completed the next fight triggering the next cutscene. and when I did catch up... I realised everyone had a maggy and I was doing chip damage to the enemies, struggling to stay alive while everyone stormed ahead in the armor x.x I know we all laugh at the unskippable cutscenes now, but experiencing it skippable was one of the worst experiences of my life xD

[@ExileTwilight]

@@nerdychocobo Oh I can definitely imagine that it was hell for a first time player before the redesign.. I luckily came in right around the last ARR rework myself (6.1 to 6.2?).

[@DynaChris]

@nerdychocobo I did the exact same thing in my first Praetorium run! Completely missed the armour and just ran along with everyone. Oh god it makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not the only one xD

[@jpchato]

Yes

[@Hopes91]

Hell even i understand this. Veru beginner friendly explanation!

[@DynaChris]

Thanks mate :p

[@jereboy2005]

This is an excellent recap. Just the main msq and the raid stories. I started this game when endwalker came out so it's all still relatively fresh to me. But I'm happy to have watched this all. It will be a great thing to see as we approach dawntrail and refresh my memory on everything. Count me along for the ride! Also I'm really glad you basically skipped over the boring filler stuff before titan and garuda. Cause even slimmed down like it is now it's still a boring slog and cuts the pace of the story so badly.

[@DynaChris]

Thank you! The pacing in ARR is all over the place. Pre-rework ARR was tough to get into. Took a few tries for it to really stick with me, and now I just regret not getting into XIV sooner!

[@jadajp1782]

I haven't finished heavensward yet. But when i do ill watch beyond this video.

[@karurosu4121]

ydas voice in ARR is the same as tiki from fire emblem and i can atleast say that tiki usually is voiced well enough but i think thats because tiki is a child and it just fits better

[@theonesithtorulethemall]

Didn’t xande make the vorrannte with the cloud for the sole purpose of destroying the world!??

[@DynaChris]

When he realized it was all pointless in the end, yeah. Think I might have skimmed through that flashback when it happens. Minor Endwalker spoiler, but there's a flashback involving him, so I'll be sure to add something about it when I record the voiceover for that video :)

[@hickknight]

A good video. And a good recap, but I'm worried this is going to be... a long project. A long, long, loooooong project, considering how many hours you get out of just the MSQ. Well, godspeed.

[@DynaChris]

Haha, thanks! And don't worry - I've been putting these together ahead of time. 3 were already uploaded before the first went public :)

[@kuchkuch6341]

as someone who just started the story starts incredibly slow

[@DynaChris]

It does, but it ends up more than worth the slog in the end :)

[@ponderingForever]

We here

[@asham868]

ARR is a slog. But honestly it does much needed work setting up things for the later expansions.

[@DynaChris]

It has its moments. I'm a fan of the older FF games and it's definitely got that sort of vibe to it. Patch quests drag on for far too long though, even after the big rework.

[@star20alpha]

FAST FACT! @DynaChris The whole "Sister playing as brother" thing that you complained about with Nael with the Coils Raid series was ENTIRELY due to a general communication breakdown and translation error ALL THE WAY BACK TO 1.0! Nael was always intended to be a girl, and Japan's lack of gendered pronouns made it easy to disguise it, but it was never communicated to the English team, so they did everything assuming Nael was a guy. By the time that Raid series went out, then they realized just how big a hole they had dug, and had to desperately throw something together to make it all make sense.

[@DynaChris]

I was probably a bit too harsh about that, to be honest. Interesting that it all stemmed from a mistranslation, though! I did do a little bit of research when putting these videos together, but only really found the backstory. I wish the 1.0 storyline was playable in some form (and properly translated!) but I doubt we'll ever get something like that :(

[@nerdychocobo]

​@@DynaChrisI know there is a fan project at the moment to get 1.x running, however it takes a lot of setup and is pretty finicky, basically requiring you to set up your own mini server. it's also built off of the most recent patch, which means the environment is all apocalyptic (and personally feels like a shame to me, as I'd love to explore how the game evolved over time firsthand) it's called project meteor if you're interested

[@DynaChris]

@@nerdychocobo Yeah I've seen some of that! I'll have to look into it after I've played through Dawntrail!

[@HavyrlValdoria]

Gaius in ARR is popular?

[@DynaChris]

Is monologue is (and "such devastation" as well), but the rest of him... not so much 🤣

[@Rivvy250]

Ah yes, a jrpg mmo with cat girls, mainly an anime kind of race, has a anime like cgi in coils. Lol Jab aside, enjoyed the video lol

[@DynaChris]

I guess I just wasn't ready for "old man gets super powers" lol

[@daedalusflights1337]

Heck yeah!!!

[@DotOgg]

MORE

[@Moonman4272]

I dont understand when people call post ARR a slog its SOOOO much more interesting than the base game

[@DynaChris]

A lot of it stems from how it used to be before the rework. It's nowhere near as bad now, but it used to be really tedious. I think the story vastly improves but the questing is still pretty sluggish. The payoff, though... *chefs kiss*

[@WinchesterxNL]

Gaius logic: Wants to rule over all of Eorzia, and will do so by force if he has to. Having a massive army, willing to go over bodies to reach his goal. Lahabrea: Puts a little hole in the ground, to show off some of Ultima's power. Gaius: Oh no this goes too far for me! This was not my intention!

[@DynaChris]

Can't rule over people if they're all dead ;)

[@ivykinz5992]

Yeahhhh… Laha wanted complete devastation. Gaius wanted to rule. They did actually want two different things. Gaius didn’t mind causing some destruction if he eventually was gonna rule, but you cannot rule if everything is dead and destroyed. 😅

[@1011skarn]

Yes. IT ACTUALLY HAD DUNGEONS.

[@meteorwalkergg]

@ 52:23 A great feedback method for far fewer controlled-waves & much bigger wall-to-wall pulls would be if sweaty players used Party Finder / Discord to PRE-FORM, rather than using blind matchmaking and then complaining about casuals 🙃 It's really simple cause-and-effect. Pulling ahead of the tank or being disagreeable to smaller pulls; getting upset that others aren't playing the way YOU want them to play - it's an indication you're doing Olympic backstrokes in the shallow end of the YMCA pool (which is obnoxious behavior, in case whoever is reading this doesn't pick up on social cues) - this issue is super easy to avoid ever having to deal with & that's by using Party Finder / Discord for their intended purpose: PRE-FORM. Please, please STOP blind-matchmaking queueing if you're just gonna backseat & whine about it on Reddit later: it objectively makes the game worse for both of us, just because you couldn't click a few buttons (and give us both faster queues, btw ✨) The more you know 🌠