Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood Review: An Elegant and Moving Refinement

I'm like you: I was looking on at Final Fantasy XIV from afar, and wondered for years if it could possibly be worth a monthly subscription fee. I'm like you: I put in my time and invested thousands of hours into World of Warcraft in its prime and branched out a bit with Guild Wars 2, but figured my MMORPG days were pretty much behind me. I'm like you: when Stormblood was announced and Square Enix revealed that it would be offering jump potions as a way for new players to dive head-first into this vibrant, polished world filled with millions of dedicated fans and experience the new content right away, I was intrigued. Maybe you'll do what I did and take the plunge and, if you're like me, you're going to love every second of it.

My review of Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood is a bit unique since I walked into the world of Eorzea as a a total noob. I initiated my journey into Stormblood's new story as a level 60 White Mage, and started a fresh toon to experience the base game from the very beginning. I was burning the candle at both ends, so to speak, and for those of you still on the fence I can tell you that Final Fantasy XIV is worth your time and money.

Stormblood on its own tells one of the most coherent and relatable stories told in the Final Fantasy series. There's nothing overly esoteric or ambiguous to wrestle with here, just a simple and effective war story; a story about a ruthless empire and its oppression of disparate nations and groups of freedom fighters who must band together to fight for their right to exist. I quickly fell in love with characters like Lyse and Raubahn, who I hear my contemporaries refer to as if they were as canonically significant as Squall or Barret. These are characters who you'll love to learn, and you'll feel compelled to see their story through.

Presentation is something that Square Enix is known for, and Final Fantasy XIV is a flagship title in Square's quiver as far as I'm concerned. From its moving, world-class soundtrack to its painstakingly detailed cities, Final Fantasy XIV stands out as one of the most sensuously gratifying games in the series as well as the genre. If for no other reason, you owe it to yourself to work through to Stormblood's new content so you can see the city of Kugane for yourself.

Some things haven't changed, though, and if you were an MMORPG junky in a past life then you may be disappointed to see that some things haven't changed. When it comes to gameplay, Stormblood isn't without its fair share of fetch quests. Even throughout the course of the main scenario quests you'll often be asked to go here to click on this thing, and then there to click on that thing. Then you'll need to travel to these five areas on the map to find these five NPCs before returning to your quest giver.

My Stormblood play sessions were long, and so the frustration and boredom from some of these more tedious fetch quests was perhaps exacerbated by the fact that I'd encounter more than one in a single sitting. I was rather hoping that it would be one compelling main quest after another, but there is a bit of uninspired filler to get through. I can promise you that it's worth it, however, since Stormblood also introduced some raid segments and incredibly cinematic boss fights that had my heart racing (and my hands sweating).

Combat in Stormblood feels more hands-on and refined than in any MMO I've played. Apparently I have it easy, since Stormblood introduced some progression systems to significantly streamline the leveling up process. As you level up, upgraded skills and abilities automatically take the places of older ones, spells and skills that are shared across jobs introduce needed flexibility so that you're not imprisoned by your role, and there are advanced systems of level scaling and matchmaking to ensure that you can always find someone to raid with. PvP has also be sectioned off somewhat, with its own action bar and completely unique skills. This provides one of the most fun ways to level up by far, even for a White Mage.

For those of you starting fresh, you'll be relieved to know that while the story segments in A Realm Reborn are definitely dull in comparison to what you'll find in Stormblood, a variety of experience buffs will enable you to sweep through early content fairly quickly. I highly recommend starting a toon on a new or preferred server for this very reason.

You'll also find that the community in Final Fantasy XIV is the most welcoming and helpful in all of gaming. I mean that. The majority of games I play are online games, cooperative and competitive, and I've never felt more welcome than I did when I joined my first Free Company (guild) in FF XIV. With both of my characters I played in the game world for no more than a couple of hours before I met entire groups of people who were more than willing to answer my questions, help me with quests, shower me with beautiful magic, show off their mounts and minions, and just enjoy my company generally.

And it's the community that I find myself thinking about and missing as I sit here at my desk writing this review. There's a nostalgic space deep inside of me that felt convinced that I'd never miss virtual company the way I missed my guild mates in World of Warcraft, but now I find that throughout the course of my day, images of Kugane or Gridania flash into my mind and I feel a longing to return to that world. I can't wait to plumb the endgame and earn more incredible gear. I can't wait to eventually see how Square Enix takes us back to Ivalice and continue to improve what is undoubtedly the most finely-tuned MMORPG in the world.

I'm like you: I have very limited free time in my day, and when I get home from work, it can be tempting to fire up the same old game, sink a few mindless hours into the competitive grind, and then call it a night. I know how daunting it can be to start a new adventure that you know could take potentially thousands of hours of your time, but Stormblood offers the promise of an adventure worthy of that investment. Check it out, and if you're like me, you won't look back.

WWG's Score: 4/5