Evening folks - the queue gods were cruel to me this afternoon but we got there. Spoiler timestamps are on the video and down below. Are you on the anti-Lyse team like Mike or the pro-Lyse team with me? - Chris 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - Pre Stormblood Spoilers 04:30 - Minor Early Stormblood Spoilers 15:40 - Major Early Stormblood Spoilers
To touch on a tiny detail, commenting about Zenos' "gold club carrier". He's garlean, means he can't use magic. And as we know a lot of the martial arts used by people in this setting are pretty magical! Even the simplest. His job is Samurai, pretty much. His abilities are all based on a Samurai's. And that's why he has the carrier with three swords- Because of Samurai's battle mechanics: The three Sen that are needed to use the Iaijutsu abilities. It's basically an artificial recreation of those techniques using machinery more or less. Which is pretty cool once you realize, imo.
Given stormblood is also the expansion that has rabanastre, it's also a nod to the Tactics version of Samurai. Whose abilities were literally swords you went around collecting, and they all had special abilities. One could even heal.
During the bit with Y'shtola, if you are a healer job you get a special dialogue from Krile. "Don't just stand there gawping! You're a healer, aren't you?"
If someone used a reshader that can remove that bright light... Oh in the further scenes where you can see her shoulders, there's straps for her undergarments.
@@valenten89 There's also a debuff that the guy who killed Haurchefant puts on you in the trial when he uses the same attack against you. It prevents healing and the hover text is "There's nothing you could have done."
@@algame3 Yeah, it's great, no matter what job you are currently, the game takes what you've done into account. If you encounter NPCs from other jobs, they'll remember you, even if it was from a crafting job quest.
Preach really went from "pfft I don't get attached to characters" to "if anything happens to any of my favorite characters I'm going to kill everyone".
@@aircraftcarrierwo-class In fairness, pretty much all other game vets. I gave up on WoW ages ago and have gotten semi sorta attached to various game characters, but XIV just takes it to another level.
Beginning of the video was the legendary “Wall of Yol” My opinions on things: - While the classic MMO fetch quests aren’t *fun* I find it makes sense from a story prespective as to why you are doing them. As the Warrior of Light, you have been operating in a free Eorzea this whole time, Gyr Abania and Othard are your first forays into places that aren’t free/aren’t Eorzea. So people aren’t going to know your past exploits, expecially the people in Doma. Also doing small things like picking herbs helps gains the trust of the locals without endangering the entire village by slapping around the Garleans, so that in the second half of the story when the fetch quests go away, you have that foundation of trust to have the villagers be more excepting of you taking direct action against Garlemald on their behalf. By the way, the fetch quests do stop coming by the time you get into the third Othard zone. I’d say that is where the MSQ starts picking up.
For a lot of people, I see opinions on Stormblood divided somewhat by what people find relatable. There is a big group in the West who can play HW and see "the church lies and our creation myth lies and maybe our ancestors were the bad guys actually" and relate to that. But there are a lot of people (myself included) who related more to being under colonialism and the long term effects and how "resist" is...not feasible in a lot of ways. When you grow up with friends/family who become Fordola-like the story really hits different. When you've lived or known people who grew up in the disapora and try to reconnect, Lyse hits differently. Overall, I'm just glad FFXIV took the time and space to tell such different stories.
I think that it is only a partial explanation. First of all, you have to notice that some western countries (especially in Europe) have known similar problems (occupation by a foreign force). While they may not be modern problems, this should resonate at least a little bit with a western audience. I think the other aspect that you have to take into account, is the lack of focus of the story. I would like to say that it is the story of two countries occupied by another, but it is not even that. It is the story of one courty oppressed by another, told twice in a row. I think this is the main problem. If the story was focused either on Doma or Ala Migho, it would be a better story. Or if it showed different aspects of their situation, so that it does not feel the same. Because some parts of the story felt good, but then it was done again in another setting and it felt bad. There is also something to be said about the pacing of the story. As preach pointed out, there are some parts that feel like filler in a story that already lacks focus.
My problem with Stormblood is that everything that happens in Gyr Abania is dull. I love everything that happens in Doma, but Gyr Abania is... just kind of there. I'd go into more details, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything for Preach if he happened to read it
This take is fire. I was born and raised in a place that was literally the /first/ SPANIARD colony in the New World. Religion is still a stupidly big deal to this day to the country but I was thankfully raised with "Believe what you wish" types of parents in secret. So I could understand the Ishgard side of things. But my parents were literally born when the country was still trying to escape Colonialism and become a capable, independent country of its own without relying on foreign powers. So the Stormblood shit hit the right notes and it quite literally fits the mythos of the (obviously somewhat) embellished stories regarding our independence and the bloodshed that surrounded it that is STILL talked about to proudly to this very day after such a long time.
I think Stormbloods intro felt a bit stereotypical MMO compared to the rest of the MSQ, but watching this I forgot how much setup was done back in Heavensward and Stormblood for Endwalker. Hope you keep enjoying the story Preach!
For me literally every expansion was like that. Heavensward, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker all had the same beginnings. But that’s just me. There’s clearly a different lens of some sort.
ARR teased the Garlean Empire, then Heavensward put that story on the backburner. Stormblood brought it up again, and started to make it juicy. Shadowbringers put it on the backburner again. Endwalker it returns with a fury, and then everything begins to click... Stormblood was every bit necessary to Endwalker's Story as A Realm Reborn was.
I didn't forget 😂. As I want through Stormblood I saw the pieces falling into place for them long game, which, imo was a big part of the reason the story was lackluster on either side of Doma.
I think Thancred is a Character that benefits a lot from knowing more about 1.0 lore a bit at least for me. The moment he finally clicked with me was 3.1 in Heavensward and his scenes with Emmaelion and I've loved the character since (I'm in like 4.1 of stormblood at the moment).
I think his ARR portrayal is just terrible, and it sours people on him for quite a long time. He's basically out of the action half the story, and when he is around he's little more than a one dimensional trope of a snarky playboy. Also most people get the impression that he has the hots for Minfilia, and they don't do a very good job of establishing the actual relationship between them for a very long time.
@@chrisanderson7820 I agree, Thancred role in shadowbringers elevates his character a lot, I would say the same for Urianger, he does not have that big of part, but I started liking him at shadowbringers.
Can't wait for Mike to get to the trial. I mean there's a moment there, everyone knows the moment I mean, and it just makes you go "that's awesome". And I want to see Mike reach that point.
I'll agree you don't see Thancred doing much, but I believe that's just a consequence of his skillset. He's an infiltration specialist, and he works better alone. He got on my good side when he punched the shit out of Emanellain.
I was originally a bit meh with Thancred, but he gets alot of character development over the next few expansions which makes me much more fond of the character. He's quite a late bloomer in that regard. People are going to hate me for this, but while I still like Ysh'tola, out of the core Scions I think she's my least favourite of the bunch by the end of Endwalker. I still feel the same way about her in much the same way I used to think about Thancred. Probably because I feel she gets the least character development of the lot, and while she's cool she doesn't really change much over the course of the game series, nor does she have too many moments of vulnerability to endear you to her. Afterall, she always tells you she'll be fine, and I believe her. I suppose that comes with being such a strong and confident character to begin with in general, but I think there is still ways to do it without compromising that. Afterall she's basically Scion Mommy in the way Thancred was basically Scion Daddy, but they managed to pull it off with him. I hope they take the opportunity to do something a bit more with her next expansion to make me worry about her more or find myself as endeared to her as I am for the other Scions. And while some people may rap on me for being somewhat lukewarm towards her, surely those same people wouldn't say no to the opportunity to see more of her? ^_^
18:35 Because I was playing a WHM, I got an extra bit of dialogue in this scene. Krile said “You’re a healer, aren’t you?! Don’t just stand there!” and I knelt down and helped with the healing. GOD, I wish they did it more! There were quite a few scenes in the game when my character didn’t even try to heal, even though I’m a WHM main…
Another big thing about the Ala Mihgan's lack of willingness to fight also comes from the fact that they already tried and lost, The Griffin already recruited most of the most willing, and then promptly had them all killed to do a summoning.
The thing that stood out to me the most in SB was how great mechanics were in questing, dungeons and trials/raids. The introduction of the duty icon was cool at the time, though in retrospect it feels like they’ve def done away with some of it. i think the Omega raid series is still one of my favourites now, even after ShB raids.
I think Stormblood was very good at world building. We learn so much about so many places all throughout the world, whereas ARR focused mainly on the city-states of Eorzia and Heavensward was almost entirely about Ishgard. Stormblood, on the other hand, takes us through at least four completely different countries/kingdoms, maybe more? And does a lot to set them up and establish them, giving each their own identity. It's not an _exciting_ thing to do, but just like the patch content of ARR, it's a necessary thing to do for the end.
@@Maria_Erias I think the main issue with stormblood is purely its pacing. It completely drops the story for a large portion, to go do something else. If we had stayed in ala mhigo it would have prolly been better. I love everything once we get to azim steppe, but it just feels a little directionless during the middle.
Most of the issue lied in how flat ala mhigo needed to be. By all rights there was enough story here for two expansions, but there was no way they could have kept us chained up in barely differentiated desert areas for an entire expansion. So they were left with a need to address the ala mhigan occupation, but needed something "more" to add some visual contrast. The result is a plot that ends up split between two geographically distinct areas, giving a a fair portion less than the amount of attention needed for either to be great. It comes back around by the end by them basically abandoning the ala mhigo part and elaborating more on the far east plot, which generally had characters that the player character was more sympathetic towards anyways.
Many dont like Stormblood compared to HW. I actually liked Stormblood more, the gameplay in that expac was awesome when it was recent, especially for AST, which was dumped down sadly. The first SB Primal is also one of my favourites of all
Lyse's lie/deception was really inconsequential. We never knew the real Yda so it didn't really matter that she was pretending to be her. It allowed Lyse, going into Stormblood to become a bit of a blank slate to grow from throughout the expansion.
I've noticed people tend to hate characters in FFXIV for relatively minor stuff. Like oh Lyse lied because her sisters death was traumatizing and she wanted to wear the mantle to help people and be stronger than she was. Oh but she lied so she sucks. Oh Lyse isn't perfect and makes mistakes? Fuck Lyse. Let's ignore the mistakes that all the Scions make, Lyse making mistakes is a bridge too far! Urianger was presented with an impossible situation and did his best to save not only his friends but these Warriors from another world? Oh he lied so fuck him for keeping secrets. Let's just ignore him telling anyone would ruin the plan and possibly make things worse. I dunno I think people just don't bother trying to see characters for who they are. They all have strengths and weaknesses and together make an extremely strong cast of characters. However, I can't fault normal humans for that because we all have our hangups, strengths, flaws, preferences, and opinions. I just personally find it odd to write characters off over 1 incident.
I preferred Stormblood a lot over Heavensward, I think in the end it just comes down to which kind of story resonates more with you (and as some others have already said, it's probably also a bit of a cultural thing). That said, I'll be the last to deny that it didn't suffer from the region split and - partially as a result of that - some pacing issues. I just think that the story it told was infinitely more interesting and relateable, but that comes down to personal taste in the end :)
Heavensward is overrated. The narrative is written predictably and succeeded mostly because it's miles better than ARR. There's no surprises in Heavensward and Nidhogg reoccurring isn't that exciting. It's still a good expac, but HW is good, not great. Same goes with Stormblood, it's good not great. Shadowbringers and Endwalker are the "great" expansions.
@@Goujiki this is so true. HW is massively overrated. Stereotypical corrupt church, dragon having grey morality, hell even dragon romance. The villains are just as one dimensional as Zenos but Thordan was way worse since he was rushed in during the end. Also HW has the ABSOLUTE WORST cop out in franchise history. Imagine trying to stop a war then randomly going back to where you're SUPPOSED to be a fugitive for a shitty copout. HW overrated AF
@Creepy Girl its shit and forced writing. Nanamo should've stayed dead. The whole back and forth is annoying considering we're trying to stop an ancient war. And also since we were fugitives you'd think it be harder to go back to Uldah constantly but nope. Your entire existence is a nah existence
They figured out the pattern for dungeons for the most part in Stormblood and most stay the same up until the ones I've done in EW so far, basically 2 big pulls -> Boss -> 2 big pulls -> Boss -> 1 or 2 big pulls -> Final Boss seems to be how it goes, so as a healer you can plan CDs appropriately since I tend to burn them on the big pulls instead of the boss fights.
some dungeons will still have split pulls or elevators though, what I kinda hate. but at least in ShB basically all dungeons have 2 pulls between bosses.
As someone who finished sb recently, I feels like the focus on stormblood for them is not the story, but the content quality like raid, dungeon ,and trials. You can feel the quality increase by at least 3x
Stormblood's problem, honestly, is that they try to do the same story twice with rebellion in Ala Mihgo and Doma. Lyse, who I actually like, doesn't get the screentime she needed to grow from where they started her. The writers pay more attention to Raubhan and others so she never grows as much as she should. It's a problem of pacing and it's a shame.
I wonder what it would have been like if they just picked one nation and stuck with it, really digging in to the culture of oppression and classism. Although, personally, I am much more interested in Kugane and Doma and would prefer to see things expanded and fleshed out more in those regions, rather than Ala Mhigo. While Ala Mhigo does pull its weight in the narrative, I don't think I want to see an entire expansion set only in that region.
it felt like they had the groundwork for an interesting character for Lyse, but every time she could DO something, the devs choose to use her as scenery instead. The amount of cutscenes where she basically stands still and reacts to everything that's going on without actually participating is just painful
@@SkyraM The real problem I noticed, especially towards the end, is that every time something comes up for her character the spotlight shifts to Rauhban as though he were the main character for the expansion. All the important Ala Mihgo parts went to him. The Doma section had to spend all its time on introducing and expanding Hien in a short period not to mention Gosetsu. Lyse got screwed during what was supposed to be her character arc.
I love Zenos, he's so one dimensional but done so well, plus you got villains like Emet-selch that fill the multifaceted baddie so well that it's ok to just have one bad guy that just wants to see shit burn.
I think that's the one thing they learned from SB is that Zenos is a good nuisance side baddie, not a Big Bad End Boss, just like hey let's have a duel I'm kind of empty without challenge.
Something that might be worth mentioning is that the MSQ was squished down to a smaller size for ARR not all that long ago. There used to be more of the classic MMO "kill X things" and "collect X things" in there, and they weren't really important, so they were cut for brevity. One result of that, though, is that when they have a few of them later, they feel just a bit more out of place. For me, the WoL is almost defined by stopping to do all these trivial things despite how important they're becoming to the world. It's a way of not forgetting your roots as just a kindly adventurer, I feel. Also, even though those are tired old quest formats, they always keep them concise, which is appreciated. No 15 bear asses.
It's kind of a double-edged sword, actually. When you remove action quests, all that remains are the fetch quests, and if you do ARR from scratch, that really shows - sometimes, you spend hours on end just walking places. And it's not like most of those quests are even related to what you are doing - so you don't spend time thinking about the main story, you just run RUclips videos on the second monitor while fetching wine in-game or whatever.
I feel that Stormblood is heavily underrated as a story. It's just a different story. It's more political, rather than emotional. Although it is that too, but not in same manner. I love it. And I love Lyse's development through it. Patch content kicks ass BTW. Some of the best patch content in FFXIV.
I feel that while it may not have appeal to everyone, I think group think and memes have exaggerated the dislike to comical proportions. It’s annoying and impossible to take seriously.
I just didn't care about Ala Mihgo side of the story. For me it was boring, the characters did nothing for me on that side. Ford corolla is the only exception to that. Everyone else on that side I could care less about. Doma side has tons of memorable characters that I just get happy when they get screen time in the future.
I think the big issue is we went from a very high fantasy expansion with dragons and all that to a more grounded political rebellion expansion. Both are amazing stories but some people just dont like or relate to the kind of story Stormblood was. People who have never been under occupation or colonized by another country cant really relate to the emotions that the people in Kugane and the rest of the eastern alliance goes through. Though I will fight to protect Cirina to the end because she is precious.
@@Loki_Trickster This is where I am. I love Doma. I love Doma A LOT. Meeting Hien was quite possibly my favorite scene in the game (to where I am anyway) because of the music and I'm a huge Final Fantasy VI fanboy. But everything in Gyr Abania... Is just there. You don't spend nearly as much time there. You do the split path missions there (always my least favorite part of an expansion) and then you almost immediately leave... And then you do barely anything in those zones when you get back. Also, I don't like Zeno. Easily my least favorite villain in the series
Stormblood's story problems were more so on its pacing than its story itself in that it was having too retell the story of rising up 2 countrys against the empire but there was also a clear bias from the team towards Doma than Ala Mhigo by just how much time is spent there. But the patch story is pretty solid overall but jammed between Heavensward and Shadowbringers brings it down more in most people's eyes because of how good they were.
I really like the way they did it though. The players struggle with Zenos mirrors what ala mihgo and doma are going through. You are right though that the pacing was a little weird.
The pacing of the Doma section was trully rough. Especially since Stormblood starts on 3rd gear with all the early stuff in Ala Mhigo but come to a screeching halt at Kugane. The lenght of time between entering Kugane and meeting Lord Hien is twice as long as it should have been for my tastes. I do get how important it was to meet, help and learn about all those people in Doma, but it just felt so slow. Once the assault on Doma Castle starts, the rest of the game flies by, the patch content is great and the setup for ShB is S tier.
Another thing about Stormblood that I think is why people don't really enjoy it quite so much is that it's not as fantastic. As in, in Heavensward you're literally going into the skies, meeting dragons, resolving a thousand year war... It's all very fantastic and you feel so very much like some superhero. Meanwhile in Stormblood you're IMMEDIATELY grounded, both with a more "boots on the ground" sort of warfare, but also literally smacked down by Zenos almost immediately, and the rest of the expansion you're struggling against the Garleans in this war. It lacks the same high fantasy superhero "look at me I'm a pillar of hope and nobody can stop me" and feels like it levels you down a bit to a more realistic warfare scenario.
People complain about stormblood's pacing but let Heavensward's "We're going to drag you back to deal with Ul'Dah right when things are getting interesting MULTIPLE TIMES" slide.
I never understood the Yda/Lyse hate. She's a hotheaded youth who lacks the experience of every other scion, she pretty much just knows how to punch things (and we see she's clearly good at that) and not much else. She was thrust into this situation, forced to face her demons with no wisdom to apply to it. We see her grow, accept responsibility and learn to see the world through eyes other than her own. She had a damn good character arc in Stormblood.
the problem with lyse is that she isn't an actual scion, but a stand in for her older sister who she is pretending to be up until the point she reveals ehrself as lyse, in that context yda not being developed well. would basically be a course of her not actually being yda, and she only really hung out with the person who already knew that
But she doesn't grow, at all. Every time she should be growing someone steps in and takes her spotlight. After hanging out in Orthard with Hien for a while i expected her leadership qualities to grow a lot since she had 1 hell of a symbol to strive for but she just stays the exact same.
I like Stormblood. It's a very different tone from Heavensword, but I think it's a nice adventure story. And one thing it achieves (which HW didn't) is that I genuinely felt like I was on a journey to the far reaches of the world, totally cut off from home. HW kinda botched that by having us return to Eorzea all the friggin' time in the MSQ. Stormblood was a bit of a slow starter, though. I think the story really picks up afer you get out of Ala Mhigo and into the next leg of the journey.
I think most will find StormBlood have some pacing issue in the beginning and middle. The raids/dungeon/trails are great and the story will pick up big time in post 4.0 quest lines. You know, getting you all ready for SHB.
Moments of respite are needed when you have intense battles, so its not really a big deal to have a few msq fetch quests. IMO a story can't always have successive intense moments one after the other. Also the city tours were useful as they give you understanding of the area.
I agree. and honestly, I kind of like them. I think FFXIV does a good job of putting the WoL in a role where they really care about the people they're trying to protect, and part of setting that up is having us do normal things with them.
Going from HW with its high of Shinryuu vs Omega to the slower start of SB seems jarring when you do not have the waiting time for the new expansion to drop imo. ARR into HW works amazingly when you can just keep playing, HW directly into SB does not. On the other hand SB into ShB works like ARR -> HW again but last patch of SB was not that far away from ShB release. TL;DR: The start of Stormblood profits/profited from the wait between two expansions.
I really like Zenos tbh, he doesn't have any grand motivations that makes you question yourself. He's just violence incarnate, the first and only such villain to date. His power too, seems like it's out of nowhere at first glance but then you take a step back... look at yourself and think, where did *your* strength come from? Why are *you* so strong? You came in on the carriage (or ship) a novice adventurer hardly able to face a nannygoat, let alone something *really* threatening. Fast forward two days and you've laid low the Lord of the Inferno, the motherfucking *Scions* are like children in your shadow and you learn new disciplines of spellcraft or martial inclinations with the ease of a lesser man picking up a kitchen knife. Some people are just exceptional like that, you and Zenos are among those some people. You are the hero, and he is your nemesis. Other villains that you'll come across will be deep and nuanced characters and they are incredible for it, but not him. He doesn't need any of that, he has no time for it. The only thing he lives for is the hunt, and the only adversary he knows that can offer him any sort of sport is you, and he will move heaven and earth to make you give it to him.
I really hope preach does the side quest that "unlocks" that tower - Deep dungeon content (especially solo) is an amazing piece of side content with a respectable solo challenge for those willing to embark on it.
I love how people ignore how tragic and fucked up Lyse is as a character just because SE doesn't throw it on their face. She lost her parents, lost her sister, got adopted by a group of adults that didn't have the time to teach or help her with anything, and were just happy to use her as a DPS for their little crew, and then she loses the only guy that ever thought of her as more than just a minion that punches things. After that she desperately tries to pick up the last pieces of her life, the desire of freeing the land that her sister loved and every player just shits on her because she is not perfect at it. And I'm not even going to go in details about things that happen in SB to not spoil people. Mike saying "she lied to us pretending to be someone else" when it was the coping mechanism of an orphan kid with a bloody past is just the perfect illustration of it.
Hi Preach - odds are you won't see this comment, but on the off chance, I just wanted to say that I really really appreciate this series. I wasn't a follower before, didn't know anything about your channel tbh, so no idea about your history (gather you have rocky time with Wow, and that's probably putting it simply!). So I only know you from this ffxiv impressions series, and it's just a genuine pleasure to follow your playthrough and experience. Your honesty and legit opinions coming through are the best part of it for me. I've been playing xiv for years and obviously am coming as a massive fanboy, so when I started to watch I recall you being underwhelmed by the actual gameplay. And you know, I initially reacted really poorly and thought 'right, don't want to watch this now, grumble, grumble'. But I stuck with it and now your views are some of the best I've seen and it's really made me stand back out of my fanboy bubble and see xiv through fresh eyes. It's all too easy to end up buried in your own bubble and echo chamber, but I'm so happy that I was able to realise that your opinion was different from mine, and that was OK! In fact, you have taught me to be more true in my own mind. So thank you not only for entertaining content, but also being honest, genuine and true to yourself. Really valuable to me and hopefully others. Peace Jim
I *just* (like not even 24h ago) finished the base stormblood main story (not patches yet, doing some more random stuff currently) and i have no idea why people did not like it. I think it might be on par if not above heavensward for me personally, just due to me more liking the npc's and enjoying to go to those teased places and conflicts from ARR and pre Heavensward. i couldn't wait to see Doma or Ala Mhigo. not to mention all the background lore that was given in those places for different people and tribes was awesome and i might only have a small bias for au'ra. Also the end, was artistically *fantastic* whoever came up with that ending, areadesign wise, got damn. good job. ALSO LYSE IS AMAZING AND SHE ISNT EVEN AU'RA! edit: oh yeah, the pacing for the quests is weird and *very* repetitive in stormblood sadly
I've also just finished Stormblood base story and personally, I really disliked it. For me, the two big issues were the chore quests, which made me feel like an errand boy with no agency of my own (a certain yellow garbed faction really drives this point home for me) and Zenos. I disagree with Preach that he's not quite over the line of being lame. He came across to me like a cartoon villain that stole the spotlight from far more interesting characters and villains and ruined nearly every scene he was in in the process. That's just my take though, I can understand some of the arguments I've seen on Stormblood's strengths, but it's just not there for me.
The way I see it, a lot of people have emotional attachment to Heavensward because of the individual character stories. The problem was that it kind of sacrificed the overarching story to do so. The result is that most segments of Heavensward are great, but the overall story is a bit messy and lacking. If people were into the story and asked if any part of the overall story could have been taken out for a more cohesive one, it would be Heavensward. By comparison, Stormblood sacrificed this individual level of storytelling for a larger, more coherent narrative. The exception is that Azim Steppes, which was a mini revolution within another revolution.
The launch MSQ wasn't as well received as Heavensward but it wasn't looked at negatively at all while it was active. The patch content is especially excellent, although it was written by the woman who wrote ShB/EW, and the community worships her.
@@ohnosmoarlulcatz might be my au'ra bias shining, but i loved the azim steppe and the nadaam and learning about the tribes and the cultural clash of classic doma (gosetsu) and some of the tribes (notably the dotharl)
@@jamesclawk852 oh yeah, the chore quests were not only gameplay wise weak, they were also in design INSANELY repetitive and expected "new area, speak to local, do menial tasks for locals, proceed to new area repeat", like gameplay wise it was... hard, but the story and lore behind it was fun.
Give how Preach feels about Sylvanas, there is one character in particular that I'm curious what he'll think about them by the time he gets to Shadowbringers.
I think it's going to be quite a bit different honestly. It's incredible what can happen when you spend hours setting up, building, and developing characters that cannot happen over the course of a two minute cinematic. Nuance is important. I also think the Sylvanas thing just feels hollow because if you accept the retcon then a slew of her behavior make absolutely no sense, making it feel undeserved and frankly, a copout from the writers.
Who are we talking about? E.-S.? Z.? F.? Because we gain a lot of extra understanding about many characters in ShB/EW that could be considered a redemption story, but ultimately I don't think any of them are. Justifying WHY a character did something that seemed right from their perspective and gaining insight into that perspective isn't the same as excusing what they did/do.
@@MrKnaives Some people do believe that he was redeemed and in some cases even justified in his belief. I get liking the character but some people just take it to far.
Stormblood was the first time they split the story majorly into two zones. At the end of the Doma section it was like "Ok, we're done" but then "oh yeah, we have to go back to Ala Migho". It was very odd. The dungeons and riads were definitely the best part of the expansion. Just wait till you see Shisui of the Violet Tides.. The pacing is very differnet to HVN and I think they learned from it in SHB. Anyway, enjoy SB. it's not as bad as people say.
@@BazzFreeman no but laying out a timeline might be for some. That usually why I stay offline about something when I want to do it. Just knowing the chain of travel drastically increases the chance I'll figure our how things play out before they do. And seeing through the plot takes away from the investment and wonder.
@@jonathanbaker4361 Sure.. I think it was the slowdown of the pace compared to HVN that made people think it wasn't as good. Overall, the story is good, but a little disjointed. I loved the Doma part, the Ala Mihgo bit, not so much until the end.
18:37 - Hahahahaha. Side characters Preach, side characters. Also I totally forgot about this particular Y'shtola's "death". There has been way too many.
Stormblood is such a great Expansion with some of the best Villians, some very emotional Moments, and a fantastic Story. I love Stormblood. Omega is also great and the Trials are mega. This Expansion has it all.
Stormblood hits really differently for people of different values. There was a reddit post I was reading where the themes of oppression and war resonated with them with their real life issues and dreaming of heroes like the Scions coming to liberate/help them. That being said, Stormblood still has its pacing issues for the 4.0 MSQ but I found the 4.1-4.5 patches to be absolutely incredible as well as the side raid content.
Nothing beats the scene where they sing their national anthem after being free. I also enjoyed seeing the aftermath of liberation from the Garlean Empire, it applies to multiple events from human history. I liked Stormblood slightly more than Shadowbringers for that reason.
Your editor speaks sense... damn Alphinaud lover! :P Glad your loving the game Preach. My system died on me this past week and not being able to play is pure torture. So here I shall enjoy it vicariously through you.
I don't remember this "Stormblood starts off slow" sentiment being a thing when the expansion was new. Probably because we had like a 4 or 5 month gap between patch 3.55 and Stormblood release. I get how going from seeing that epic clash between Shinryu and Omega and then straight into Stormblood's start can be underwhelming though.
Right? I'm confused where that sentiment even came from, because Stormblood pretty much opens with a bang (the whole Zenos raiding Rhalgr's Reach thing) that everyone was losing their minds over. Or, well, at least anyone who could get past Raubahn EX, lol. Yes the story does slow down after that and I still think it suffered from the split, because everytime you got remotely invested in the people and situation, you were torn away to interact with the other side instead, but that's irrelevant for the start.
As someone who waited for stormblood I also don't understand this sentiment. The sadness of binging expansions I suppose. Mike is never really gonna have a true experience of an expansion until he catches up
@@sleepysera Exactly, you can make the argument that every expansion starts off "slow" because they all take the time to set things up for future events. I only started hearing this recently as more and more people picked up the game. I don't think it has anything to do with how it starts just that all the content is out now and you can go straight into stormblood the minute you finish the last heavenward quest. Also heavenward ends on a pretty nasty cliffhanger and it hits different when you can just continue right away and don't have months in between. When all the events that just happened are still fresh in your mind, you're not gonna really be as interested in the set up that happens at the start of stormblood.
As someone who played through it all as a newish player trying to catch up. SB was incredibly slow compared to everything else. The pacing felt terrible at the start but the end was just incredible! I totally agree with the sentiment that the pacing is off though, they save too much for that finish line (which is amazing tbf).
I do feel like it's more the case that people feel like it's slowed down compared to having just finished heavensward. I mean I thought the beginning of heavensward itself was pretty slow but that was just off the back of the post ARR content so it seems more forgivable I guess? Obviously no spoilers but shadowbringers starts pretty fast, especially if you go through the alise quests first. ShB has its slower moments spaced throughout instead of just ramping up like the other two
Lyse's character develops throughout the entirety of Stormblood. I never found her unlikeable, but hopefully she'll grew on you a little by the end of the expansion. Stormblood's overall story is of the same quality as all other expansions in mine opinion. There are some lulls during certain questing periods (*cough*rubysea*cough*) but those moments exist through every expansion.
Does she though? Every time she should be doing something, someone else takes the spotlight. She is just a passive onlooker. If anything Stormblood damages her to the point she is now a meme.
I dont know about same. I think it's for sure weaker than Shadowbringers and Endwalker story. They just have more compelling characters as a whole. I still think Stormblood story is good though :)
I actually never really interpreted it as having to build up Lyse from scratch because who we knew first was Yda and rather that the character of Yda was ALWAYS Lyse. We never knew the real Yda. So I just see it as a the same character with a different name now.
most the Realm Reborn dungeons were left over assets or Zone parts that in FFXIV 1.0 were actually open area's that you would take a EXP farm team down into.. They decided to use those assets as dungeons and cut a lot of the asset off, so those areas were a Lot Lot larger.
Mike, It has been a real pleasure to watch you as you play through FFXIV. I am suuuper looking forward to your thoughts when you reach the end of the line.
Enjoy watching these videos. I think you're very fair with your comments and critiques. I'm glad you're liking it for the most part as I'm in the group of people who enjoyed this expansion. It's only recently tho, watching the WoW guys, that I realised that people hated Lyse. Unlike the Stormblood critique tho, I kinda get it after hearing you explain it. But I still like her (tho I disagree with your editor who thinks she's the best wifu, haha)
This is a debate had by many on whether it's good or not, I think it depends on the person and how they like the beginning because first impressions matter. A LOT It definitely has negatives BUT, so did HW I think both HW and SB are great but have different strengths and weaknesses.
SB just has a really rocky start. It repeats itself thematically, character development wise, and even plotwise. Once the ball starts rolling though, it gets really good. Personally, it started clicking for me 3/4s of the way in. And that's why the Stormblood .1 to .5 patches were so amazing and is where Stormblood redeems itself. Compare it to HW and SHB which had better starts and got the ball rolling earlier, and you get what I mean.
SB was a developmental story on the bigger overarching story of the world and had to build up a lot of things whereas HW was a tale playing off another developmental story(ARR). It wasn't as good in a lot of opinions but it did play its part well and its essential to the story. Also it had like the best gameplay content to date so theres that.
I think the problem is that SB is not bad, its just don't have a delivery as good as HW and ShB, and being sandwiched between the two hurts it a lot. so if people will say they like it or not will depend on if they can judge it alone, or judge it compared with the other expansions.
Stormblood is the build up expansion wich made it kinda meh at the time but damn it pays of later also i still think it had some of the best contend ,besides Eureka, we got up to this day. Also "The burn (savage)" is one of the funniest moments in msq
Stormblood has some questionable characters and some very slow bits, but overall it’s a decent msq. The patches have some of the best story moments in the game imo and I personally find Zenos to be very fun villain.
Kugane is a representation of the Dejima, Nagasaki during the Tokugawa Shogunate, where the policy of "Sakoku" or closed country was in effect, and no foreigners were allowed to even set foot on Japan except in Dejima, a dutch trading post, with the penalty of death.
I love them for being the one and only time in video game history I have ever seen the good guys successfully seal the great evil away instead of failing spectacularly and making me fight them.
stormblood really was the worst of the expansions for me but it was still amazing. it's like critiquing a dish from a 5 star restaurant. there may be one small thing you don't like as much but it's still incredible.
I feel the story overall doesn't connect as well and feels a bit disjointed, but the more I look back on it, the more I realize that some of my favorite individual moments are from that expansion.
I'm working on Shadowbringers right now, but so far I think my favorite expansion so far in the storyline as a whole was Heavensward but for individual character arcs/storylines. My favorite most heartfelt part is within Stormblood I can't say precisely what it is yet, a certain villain's storyline really floored me. Stormblood has some longer lull periods but I think it really hits hard later on. I hope my fellow down bad fans don't ruin it for him and he appreciates it. Even the instanced fight related to it is amazing.
I loved Stormblood. It did struggle with telling two stories of rebellion at the same time. But the times of drinkin and waxing philosophic with Hien are some of my favorite moments
Being fair, you DO end up doing fetch quests and stuff in heavensward too (just look when you end up helping Haurchefants brothers, and you end up doing a bunch of fetch/search quests). They feed directly into other story lines though (such as the Bismark reveal, etc) and the storylines themselves tie into character arcs (apologising for leaving you behind as rearguard, etc). And part of it is just pacing too (and also timing, the dragonsong war was ongoing, but it had been for 1000 years, while the current anti-garlean war is FAR more pressing)
I still see people say the same thing with Stormblood but you got to understand in every story out there there's ALWAYS going to be that slow, world-building section. This was the expansion that did that and in all honesty I loved it immensely, atleast he gave us a different view of the world of Eorzea and its people even more and how MUCH influence Garleans actually has in the world. Sure while teh story didn't focus on us, I still loved how we were involved in it, though I admit Lyse was given the short end of the stick with her "development", it was much too little until you hit the level 67+ quest when the story and her finally starts picking up. But still this was the expansion that expanded the world even more for me, in size, lore and its people. Also I miss the raids from this expansion the most. xD My god the Omega-raid was a grand Nostalgia run.
I think Stormblood itself was a good expansion but suffered from the drawn-out war/Ala-mhigan storyline and the experimental Eureka. I enjoyed many jobs and most of the trials and raids.
Agreed, the Trials and Raid are super fun and the Alliance Raid is a great upgrade from the CT and Void Ark . That and Kugane jumping puzzles are a great way to make you punch your monitor if you are looking for an excuse to upgrade to a new one. ;)
Eureka isn't for everybody, but when it's busy, it's one of the best places to hang out, imo. You have 100+ people all going around killing bosses, and it feels pretty great. The problem being, if it's not busy (like it is now), it's one of the worst places to be.
They had been building up Ala Mhigo since 1.0, it couldn't be left unresolved for much longer. Especially with us turning increasingly confrontation towards the garlean empire. It would be hard, for example, to explain why the Eorzean Alliance would be willing to lend aid to the Doman bid for independence while Ala Mhigo remains occupied quite literally spitting distance away from the four city-states. EDIT: And tactically speaking, it would be even more foolish. They would be weakening their own military strength by sending it overseas while an enemy army sat just outside their borders and could march on them if they wanted.
So many great moments in Stormblood. People are going to like/dislike different expansions for sure. I found that I liked all of them a lot equally but for very different reasons. Great game, great expansions, great story. Glad I'm playing. Endwalker content has been fantastic. Looking forward to seeing Preach and other streamers get through Endwalker and hear their thoughts.
I know people have disliked Lyse for a long time (although I didn’t start hearing about it until Shadowbringers, as with a lot of things people hate about Stormblood), but to be mad at her for lying? The player is literally the only one who didn’t know, and they never even knew the original Yda. So I’m not sure what changed exactly.
It's the fact that you are supposed to trust that person with your life in game, and then you find out they kept a secret as big as who they really are from everyone (she didn't know they knew) How are you ever supposed to trust that character in the future? It's exactly why they never make Alphi lie or be untrustful because you need to know that you can trust what he says. He fucks up sure, but he fucks up honestly.
Its a deal only if you explore all the details from 1.0 where you will learn Yda is a big sister figure, thus Yshtola mentioned she already noticed it without any details within ARR beforehand. The reveal basically confirming Yda original plot design in regards to Ala Mhigo get nuked with 1.0 resulting on Lyse.
Hey Mike, glad you're enjoying the game! I don't comment on a lot of things but I just felt compelled to say HOLY SMOKES your hair is looking amazing! Enjoy the rest of the MSQ!
Having played a bit of Endwalker (still havn't finished it yet) and watching everybody new player through each expansion I realized how each expansion flow into the next so naturally it's actually amazing compared to other mmo where an expansion is almost a one shot.
Stormblood was the first expansion without support for PS3 which is most notable in Kugane. It is the first big city that is not cut into two district but a full metropolis. And a lot of small details in the architecture.
I always loved the way that zenos is the first time we meet our match. Hes the first time we actually fight someone all out and lose. Its crushing after having just killed an ancient super dragon and all these other foes like thordin to not only have a character show hes a threat by beating ur teammates but also kicking ur ass. Really gets u invested in that character right away
@Creepy Girl im sorry you feel that way. but i disagree. i dont think gameplay and story need to interact in that way. gameplay is gameplay and story is story. the fight itself is not relevant to his strength. zenos IS stronger than you(at first), whether he's the easiest fight in the game or the hardest. and you, as the WoL, lose that fight, regardless of forced loss or not, not really relevant to the canon i definitely think the zenos battles could have be better from a gameplay standpoint. though that's more a criticism i have of solo instanced bosses in general in 14. they are designed super easy so that even the most dogshit player could beat it so most of them are underwhelming.(there are only like 3 that i really enjoyed) and i do find that disappointing. my biggest problem with SB/zenos was he ends up a dungeon boss and you never get a final epic 1v1 boss battle with him. they...kinda make up for this at some point. but idk where you are so ill avoid spoilers
Regarding the point of "strange pacing doing classic MMO stuff": I strongly believe that this is part of their basic strategy, to ground you and lower the tension so when the big moments happen the ramp-up is much steeper and the strong moments feel even stronger. I always call it "the silence before the storm" :P
The small fetch quests is how you make friends with people and get to know about their life in the simple ways. You do what they would usually do, so you empathise with the life of the NPC. You aren't just there because you can fight, helping with the small burdens can be just as important to some people.
yeah... I agree with editor. best wifu is Lyse along with Yugiri and Arya. (I'm also just starting Stormblood... looking forward to the story its amazing so far.)
Don't worry mike. The story is a rollercoaster as i'm sure you'll find out lol. Your opinion on which Scions are your favorite may yet change quite a few times as you go forward lol.
Stormblood is a mixed bag, it has some real good highs, but a lot of meh as well. To that particular battle displayed at the end there, the one thing that sticks with me to this day about it is it was the first time the game acknowledged you were a healer if you were one at the time. I was like 'WHAT?! Actual dialog change for me being able to heal?! What is this?!' :)
Evening folks - the queue gods were cruel to me this afternoon but we got there. Spoiler timestamps are on the video and down below. Are you on the anti-Lyse team like Mike or the pro-Lyse team with me? - Chris
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Pre Stormblood Spoilers
04:30 - Minor Early Stormblood Spoilers
15:40 - Major Early Stormblood Spoilers
Pro Lyse
Pro Lyse once sue has her red outfit ❤️
USELYSE
she grew on me really, i like her development throughout the expansion. I wouldnt go as far as her being best waifu, but shes good :D
I liked her less and less as the story went on, but she's grown on me again in the later expansions
To touch on a tiny detail, commenting about Zenos' "gold club carrier".
He's garlean, means he can't use magic. And as we know a lot of the martial arts used by people in this setting are pretty magical! Even the simplest.
His job is Samurai, pretty much. His abilities are all based on a Samurai's. And that's why he has the carrier with three swords- Because of Samurai's battle mechanics: The three Sen that are needed to use the Iaijutsu abilities.
It's basically an artificial recreation of those techniques using machinery more or less. Which is pretty cool once you realize, imo.
That actually didn't cross my mind until you mentioned it, but that's a really cool smaller detail imo.
you just fuckin blew my mind. I always thought it was just a cool sword holder.
Honestly mans just wanna have a rotating sword holder, good on him
I thought of FF Tactics Samurai, where every time you use an Iai move you have a chance of breaking your katana so you had to carry several, lol
Given stormblood is also the expansion that has rabanastre, it's also a nod to the Tactics version of Samurai.
Whose abilities were literally swords you went around collecting, and they all had special abilities. One could even heal.
During the bit with Y'shtola, if you are a healer job you get a special dialogue from Krile.
"Don't just stand there gawping! You're a healer, aren't you?"
If someone used a reshader that can remove that bright light...
Oh in the further scenes where you can see her shoulders, there's straps for her undergarments.
I really like how they started putting those things in there. is a fantastic touch.
I got similar dialog in endwalker and I was surprised because I wasn't playing a healer.
@@valenten89 There's also a debuff that the guy who killed Haurchefant puts on you in the trial when he uses the same attack against you. It prevents healing and the hover text is "There's nothing you could have done."
@@algame3 Yeah, it's great, no matter what job you are currently, the game takes what you've done into account. If you encounter NPCs from other jobs, they'll remember you, even if it was from a crafting job quest.
Preach really went from "pfft I don't get attached to characters" to "if anything happens to any of my favorite characters I'm going to kill everyone".
that's FF14 for you
"I don't care about NPCs" is a mentality WoW kinda pushes you into, so FF14's treatment of NPCs tends to catch WoW vets off guard.
@@aircraftcarrierwo-class In fairness, pretty much all other game vets. I gave up on WoW ages ago and have gotten semi sorta attached to various game characters, but XIV just takes it to another level.
@@VorAbaddon ironically the wow characters i get attached to usually are villains or end up becoming villains lol.
*i dont get attached to bad writing* is essentially what it translates into
Beginning of the video was the legendary “Wall of Yol”
My opinions on things:
- While the classic MMO fetch quests aren’t *fun* I find it makes sense from a story prespective as to why you are doing them. As the Warrior of Light, you have been operating in a free Eorzea this whole time, Gyr Abania and Othard are your first forays into places that aren’t free/aren’t Eorzea. So people aren’t going to know your past exploits, expecially the people in Doma. Also doing small things like picking herbs helps gains the trust of the locals without endangering the entire village by slapping around the Garleans, so that in the second half of the story when the fetch quests go away, you have that foundation of trust to have the villagers be more excepting of you taking direct action against Garlemald on their behalf.
By the way, the fetch quests do stop coming by the time you get into the third Othard zone. I’d say that is where the MSQ starts picking up.
MSQ was a bit of a slog until post Hien entering for me
For a lot of people, I see opinions on Stormblood divided somewhat by what people find relatable. There is a big group in the West who can play HW and see "the church lies and our creation myth lies and maybe our ancestors were the bad guys actually" and relate to that. But there are a lot of people (myself included) who related more to being under colonialism and the long term effects and how "resist" is...not feasible in a lot of ways. When you grow up with friends/family who become Fordola-like the story really hits different. When you've lived or known people who grew up in the disapora and try to reconnect, Lyse hits differently.
Overall, I'm just glad FFXIV took the time and space to tell such different stories.
I like this take. Never looked at it this way.
Very good point. I feel this way when I hear many people's criticism of Stormblood
I think that it is only a partial explanation. First of all, you have to notice that some western countries (especially in Europe) have known similar problems (occupation by a foreign force). While they may not be modern problems, this should resonate at least a little bit with a western audience.
I think the other aspect that you have to take into account, is the lack of focus of the story. I would like to say that it is the story of two countries occupied by another, but it is not even that. It is the story of one courty oppressed by another, told twice in a row. I think this is the main problem. If the story was focused either on Doma or Ala Migho, it would be a better story. Or if it showed different aspects of their situation, so that it does not feel the same. Because some parts of the story felt good, but then it was done again in another setting and it felt bad.
There is also something to be said about the pacing of the story. As preach pointed out, there are some parts that feel like filler in a story that already lacks focus.
My problem with Stormblood is that everything that happens in Gyr Abania is dull. I love everything that happens in Doma, but Gyr Abania is... just kind of there. I'd go into more details, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything for Preach if he happened to read it
This take is fire.
I was born and raised in a place that was literally the /first/ SPANIARD colony in the New World. Religion is still a stupidly big deal to this day to the country but I was thankfully raised with "Believe what you wish" types of parents in secret. So I could understand the Ishgard side of things. But my parents were literally born when the country was still trying to escape Colonialism and become a capable, independent country of its own without relying on foreign powers. So the Stormblood shit hit the right notes and it quite literally fits the mythos of the (obviously somewhat) embellished stories regarding our independence and the bloodshed that surrounded it that is STILL talked about to proudly to this very day after such a long time.
I think Stormbloods intro felt a bit stereotypical MMO compared to the rest of the MSQ, but watching this I forgot how much setup was done back in Heavensward and Stormblood for Endwalker. Hope you keep enjoying the story Preach!
For me literally every expansion was like that. Heavensward, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker all had the same beginnings.
But that’s just me. There’s clearly a different lens of some sort.
ARR teased the Garlean Empire, then Heavensward put that story on the backburner. Stormblood brought it up again, and started to make it juicy. Shadowbringers put it on the backburner again. Endwalker it returns with a fury, and then everything begins to click... Stormblood was every bit necessary to Endwalker's Story as A Realm Reborn was.
@@adambaker4590 Ya, even if people didn't like SB "THAT" much, it is still an absolutely necessary expansion for the whole series.
I didn't forget 😂. As I want through Stormblood I saw the pieces falling into place for them long game, which, imo was a big part of the reason the story was lackluster on either side of Doma.
@@Fractured676 Many of the stakes in SHB and Endwalker would make no sense without stormblood. World was so small before it
I think Thancred is a Character that benefits a lot from knowing more about 1.0 lore a bit at least for me. The moment he finally clicked with me was 3.1 in Heavensward and his scenes with Emmaelion and I've loved the character since (I'm in like 4.1 of stormblood at the moment).
He also takes a huge step up in character in shadowbringers so we'll have to wait to see what Mike thinks then.
I think his ARR portrayal is just terrible, and it sours people on him for quite a long time. He's basically out of the action half the story, and when he is around he's little more than a one dimensional trope of a snarky playboy. Also most people get the impression that he has the hots for Minfilia, and they don't do a very good job of establishing the actual relationship between them for a very long time.
Shadowbringers is Thancred's expansion, he plays a big, constant role there and he's done well.
@@chrisanderson7820 I agree, Thancred role in shadowbringers elevates his character a lot, I would say the same for Urianger, he does not have that big of part, but I started liking him at shadowbringers.
@@chrisanderson7820 Shadowbringers kinda finished his character arc in a way. He matures a lot from the playboy misfit from 1.0 and ARR.
Can't wait for Mike to get to the trial. I mean there's a moment there, everyone knows the moment I mean, and it just makes you go "that's awesome". And I want to see Mike reach that point.
Does it involve high places?
@@samb123078 no I think their referring to the sword block
@@lj_aderyn oh that was cool af as well. SB really had the best trials. Let’s us revel in the joy of combat!!!!
He actually did it today!
REJOICE
For Omega Weapon - that's the raid content for Stormblood, ala Coils or Alexander. If you skip the raid you won't see what happens with it
and for the love of god don't skip it lol. It's very relevant to the story of both Shadowbringers and Endwalker.
KWEH!
@@gateauxq4604 Alpha is the most precious boy ever
I'll agree you don't see Thancred doing much, but I believe that's just a consequence of his skillset. He's an infiltration specialist, and he works better alone.
He got on my good side when he punched the shit out of Emanellain.
I was originally a bit meh with Thancred, but he gets alot of character development over the next few expansions which makes me much more fond of the character. He's quite a late bloomer in that regard.
People are going to hate me for this, but while I still like Ysh'tola, out of the core Scions I think she's my least favourite of the bunch by the end of Endwalker. I still feel the same way about her in much the same way I used to think about Thancred.
Probably because I feel she gets the least character development of the lot, and while she's cool she doesn't really change much over the course of the game series, nor does she have too many moments of vulnerability to endear you to her. Afterall, she always tells you she'll be fine, and I believe her. I suppose that comes with being such a strong and confident character to begin with in general, but I think there is still ways to do it without compromising that. Afterall she's basically Scion Mommy in the way Thancred was basically Scion Daddy, but they managed to pull it off with him.
I hope they take the opportunity to do something a bit more with her next expansion to make me worry about her more or find myself as endeared to her as I am for the other Scions.
And while some people may rap on me for being somewhat lukewarm towards her, surely those same people wouldn't say no to the opportunity to see more of her? ^_^
Part of the reason I and a lot of other people like the “This is Thancred” section of Endwalker.
18:35 Because I was playing a WHM, I got an extra bit of dialogue in this scene. Krile said “You’re a healer, aren’t you?! Don’t just stand there!” and I knelt down and helped with the healing.
GOD, I wish they did it more! There were quite a few scenes in the game when my character didn’t even try to heal, even though I’m a WHM main…
Another big thing about the Ala Mihgan's lack of willingness to fight also comes from the fact that they already tried and lost, The Griffin already recruited most of the most willing, and then promptly had them all killed to do a summoning.
The thing that stood out to me the most in SB was how great mechanics were in questing, dungeons and trials/raids. The introduction of the duty icon was cool at the time, though in retrospect it feels like they’ve def done away with some of it. i think the Omega raid series is still one of my favourites now, even after ShB raids.
I've always said SB is the worst expac as far as story and open world, but it has the best instances in the game.
Stormblood had great content, introduced ultimates and exploration content. It’s story had a very mediocre start though, but it finished strong.
The patches are actually on shadowbringers level
Once ishikawa takes over midway it starts ramping up hard.
I think Stormblood was very good at world building. We learn so much about so many places all throughout the world, whereas ARR focused mainly on the city-states of Eorzia and Heavensward was almost entirely about Ishgard. Stormblood, on the other hand, takes us through at least four completely different countries/kingdoms, maybe more? And does a lot to set them up and establish them, giving each their own identity. It's not an _exciting_ thing to do, but just like the patch content of ARR, it's a necessary thing to do for the end.
@@Maria_Erias I think the main issue with stormblood is purely its pacing. It completely drops the story for a large portion, to go do something else. If we had stayed in ala mhigo it would have prolly been better. I love everything once we get to azim steppe, but it just feels a little directionless during the middle.
Most of the issue lied in how flat ala mhigo needed to be. By all rights there was enough story here for two expansions, but there was no way they could have kept us chained up in barely differentiated desert areas for an entire expansion. So they were left with a need to address the ala mhigan occupation, but needed something "more" to add some visual contrast. The result is a plot that ends up split between two geographically distinct areas, giving a a fair portion less than the amount of attention needed for either to be great.
It comes back around by the end by them basically abandoning the ala mhigo part and elaborating more on the far east plot, which generally had characters that the player character was more sympathetic towards anyways.
I genuinely love these videos and your analysis of the experience. Favorite series on RUclips right now.
Shout out the the editor who has excellent taste in waifus. They definitely deserve a raise.
Many dont like Stormblood compared to HW. I actually liked Stormblood more, the gameplay in that expac was awesome when it was recent, especially for AST, which was dumped down sadly. The first SB Primal is also one of my favourites of all
Lyse's lie/deception was really inconsequential. We never knew the real Yda so it didn't really matter that she was pretending to be her. It allowed Lyse, going into Stormblood to become a bit of a blank slate to grow from throughout the expansion.
I've noticed people tend to hate characters in FFXIV for relatively minor stuff. Like oh Lyse lied because her sisters death was traumatizing and she wanted to wear the mantle to help people and be stronger than she was. Oh but she lied so she sucks. Oh Lyse isn't perfect and makes mistakes? Fuck Lyse. Let's ignore the mistakes that all the Scions make, Lyse making mistakes is a bridge too far! Urianger was presented with an impossible situation and did his best to save not only his friends but these Warriors from another world? Oh he lied so fuck him for keeping secrets. Let's just ignore him telling anyone would ruin the plan and possibly make things worse.
I dunno I think people just don't bother trying to see characters for who they are. They all have strengths and weaknesses and together make an extremely strong cast of characters. However, I can't fault normal humans for that because we all have our hangups, strengths, flaws, preferences, and opinions. I just personally find it odd to write characters off over 1 incident.
I preferred Stormblood a lot over Heavensward, I think in the end it just comes down to which kind of story resonates more with you (and as some others have already said, it's probably also a bit of a cultural thing).
That said, I'll be the last to deny that it didn't suffer from the region split and - partially as a result of that - some pacing issues.
I just think that the story it told was infinitely more interesting and relateable, but that comes down to personal taste in the end :)
Heavensward is overrated. The narrative is written predictably and succeeded mostly because it's miles better than ARR. There's no surprises in Heavensward and Nidhogg reoccurring isn't that exciting. It's still a good expac, but HW is good, not great. Same goes with Stormblood, it's good not great. Shadowbringers and Endwalker are the "great" expansions.
@@Goujiki Objectively you're incorrect.
@@MooseCastle objectively, your opinion doesn't matter.
@@Goujiki this is so true. HW is massively overrated. Stereotypical corrupt church, dragon having grey morality, hell even dragon romance. The villains are just as one dimensional as Zenos but Thordan was way worse since he was rushed in during the end. Also HW has the ABSOLUTE WORST cop out in franchise history. Imagine trying to stop a war then randomly going back to where you're SUPPOSED to be a fugitive for a shitty copout. HW overrated AF
@Creepy Girl its shit and forced writing. Nanamo should've stayed dead. The whole back and forth is annoying considering we're trying to stop an ancient war. And also since we were fugitives you'd think it be harder to go back to Uldah constantly but nope.
Your entire existence is a nah existence
When you get to the first Primal, you will revel in joy :D
Stormblood might not have the best story or lore, but great fights.
I concur. I did all the Omega Normal fights yesterday and omg O11 was fun
WILD AND PURE, AND FOREVER FREE!
That is one of my favorite fights in the entire FFXIV.
I see what you did there
The lore was essential to set up Endwalker
They figured out the pattern for dungeons for the most part in Stormblood and most stay the same up until the ones I've done in EW so far, basically 2 big pulls -> Boss -> 2 big pulls -> Boss -> 1 or 2 big pulls -> Final Boss seems to be how it goes, so as a healer you can plan CDs appropriately since I tend to burn them on the big pulls instead of the boss fights.
Yep that's how I plan out my CDs as a tank. Usually the 2nd big pull out of each group is a little bigger or has mobs that hit a bit harder.
some dungeons will still have split pulls or elevators though, what I kinda hate. but at least in ShB basically all dungeons have 2 pulls between bosses.
And then you get Mt Gulag with a massive fuck off pull right at the start
I loved stormblood, it felt so grounded and personal. I have the most nostalgia for that expansion.
As someone who finished sb recently, I feels like the focus on stormblood for them is not the story, but the content quality like raid, dungeon ,and trials.
You can feel the quality increase by at least 3x
stormblood still has the best content in the game.
6:00 The Editor, on contrary to Preach, is a man of culture. :v
Stormblood's problem, honestly, is that they try to do the same story twice with rebellion in Ala Mihgo and Doma. Lyse, who I actually like, doesn't get the screentime she needed to grow from where they started her. The writers pay more attention to Raubhan and others so she never grows as much as she should. It's a problem of pacing and it's a shame.
I wonder what it would have been like if they just picked one nation and stuck with it, really digging in to the culture of oppression and classism. Although, personally, I am much more interested in Kugane and Doma and would prefer to see things expanded and fleshed out more in those regions, rather than Ala Mhigo. While Ala Mhigo does pull its weight in the narrative, I don't think I want to see an entire expansion set only in that region.
it felt like they had the groundwork for an interesting character for Lyse, but every time she could DO something, the devs choose to use her as scenery instead. The amount of cutscenes where she basically stands still and reacts to everything that's going on without actually participating is just painful
@@SkyraM The real problem I noticed, especially towards the end, is that every time something comes up for her character the spotlight shifts to Rauhban as though he were the main character for the expansion. All the important Ala Mihgo parts went to him. The Doma section had to spend all its time on introducing and expanding Hien in a short period not to mention Gosetsu. Lyse got screwed during what was supposed to be her character arc.
I love Zenos, he's so one dimensional but done so well, plus you got villains like Emet-selch that fill the multifaceted baddie so well that it's ok to just have one bad guy that just wants to see shit burn.
I think that's the one thing they learned from SB is that Zenos is a good nuisance side baddie, not a Big Bad End Boss, just like hey let's have a duel I'm kind of empty without challenge.
Sirensong is taken directly from FFV, and it's wonderful.
Something that might be worth mentioning is that the MSQ was squished down to a smaller size for ARR not all that long ago. There used to be more of the classic MMO "kill X things" and "collect X things" in there, and they weren't really important, so they were cut for brevity. One result of that, though, is that when they have a few of them later, they feel just a bit more out of place. For me, the WoL is almost defined by stopping to do all these trivial things despite how important they're becoming to the world. It's a way of not forgetting your roots as just a kindly adventurer, I feel. Also, even though those are tired old quest formats, they always keep them concise, which is appreciated. No 15 bear asses.
It's kind of a double-edged sword, actually. When you remove action quests, all that remains are the fetch quests, and if you do ARR from scratch, that really shows - sometimes, you spend hours on end just walking places. And it's not like most of those quests are even related to what you are doing - so you don't spend time thinking about the main story, you just run RUclips videos on the second monitor while fetching wine in-game or whatever.
I feel that Stormblood is heavily underrated as a story. It's just a different story. It's more political, rather than emotional. Although it is that too, but not in same manner. I love it. And I love Lyse's development through it. Patch content kicks ass BTW. Some of the best patch content in FFXIV.
I feel that while it may not have appeal to everyone, I think group think and memes have exaggerated the dislike to comical proportions. It’s annoying and impossible to take seriously.
I just didn't care about Ala Mihgo side of the story. For me it was boring, the characters did nothing for me on that side. Ford corolla is the only exception to that. Everyone else on that side I could care less about. Doma side has tons of memorable characters that I just get happy when they get screen time in the future.
The big thing is that it had to follow Heavensward which was never going to be an easy task
I think the big issue is we went from a very high fantasy expansion with dragons and all that to a more grounded political rebellion expansion. Both are amazing stories but some people just dont like or relate to the kind of story Stormblood was. People who have never been under occupation or colonized by another country cant really relate to the emotions that the people in Kugane and the rest of the eastern alliance goes through. Though I will fight to protect Cirina to the end because she is precious.
@@Loki_Trickster This is where I am. I love Doma. I love Doma A LOT. Meeting Hien was quite possibly my favorite scene in the game (to where I am anyway) because of the music and I'm a huge Final Fantasy VI fanboy. But everything in Gyr Abania... Is just there. You don't spend nearly as much time there. You do the split path missions there (always my least favorite part of an expansion) and then you almost immediately leave... And then you do barely anything in those zones when you get back.
Also, I don't like Zeno. Easily my least favorite villain in the series
Stormblood's story problems were more so on its pacing than its story itself in that it was having too retell the story of rising up 2 countrys against the empire but there was also a clear bias from the team towards Doma than Ala Mhigo by just how much time is spent there. But the patch story is pretty solid overall but jammed between Heavensward and Shadowbringers brings it down more in most people's eyes because of how good they were.
Sadly I was so insanely burnt out because of stormblood at the end that I dont remember much from the post stormblood story
I really like the way they did it though. The players struggle with Zenos mirrors what ala mihgo and doma are going through. You are right though that the pacing was a little weird.
The pacing of the Doma section was trully rough. Especially since Stormblood starts on 3rd gear with all the early stuff in Ala Mhigo but come to a screeching halt at Kugane. The lenght of time between entering Kugane and meeting Lord Hien is twice as long as it should have been for my tastes. I do get how important it was to meet, help and learn about all those people in Doma, but it just felt so slow.
Once the assault on Doma Castle starts, the rest of the game flies by, the patch content is great and the setup for ShB is S tier.
Another thing about Stormblood that I think is why people don't really enjoy it quite so much is that it's not as fantastic. As in, in Heavensward you're literally going into the skies, meeting dragons, resolving a thousand year war... It's all very fantastic and you feel so very much like some superhero. Meanwhile in Stormblood you're IMMEDIATELY grounded, both with a more "boots on the ground" sort of warfare, but also literally smacked down by Zenos almost immediately, and the rest of the expansion you're struggling against the Garleans in this war. It lacks the same high fantasy superhero "look at me I'm a pillar of hope and nobody can stop me" and feels like it levels you down a bit to a more realistic warfare scenario.
People complain about stormblood's pacing but let Heavensward's "We're going to drag you back to deal with Ul'Dah right when things are getting interesting MULTIPLE TIMES" slide.
I never understood the Yda/Lyse hate. She's a hotheaded youth who lacks the experience of every other scion, she pretty much just knows how to punch things (and we see she's clearly good at that) and not much else. She was thrust into this situation, forced to face her demons with no wisdom to apply to it. We see her grow, accept responsibility and learn to see the world through eyes other than her own. She had a damn good character arc in Stormblood.
the problem with lyse is that she isn't an actual scion, but a stand in for her older sister who she is pretending to be up until the point she reveals ehrself as lyse, in that context yda not being developed well. would basically be a course of her not actually being yda, and she only really hung out with the person who already knew that
But she doesn't grow, at all. Every time she should be growing someone steps in and takes her spotlight. After hanging out in Orthard with Hien for a while i expected her leadership qualities to grow a lot since she had 1 hell of a symbol to strive for but she just stays the exact same.
Editor is a man of culture
I like Stormblood. It's a very different tone from Heavensword, but I think it's a nice adventure story. And one thing it achieves (which HW didn't) is that I genuinely felt like I was on a journey to the far reaches of the world, totally cut off from home.
HW kinda botched that by having us return to Eorzea all the friggin' time in the MSQ.
Stormblood was a bit of a slow starter, though. I think the story really picks up afer you get out of Ala Mhigo and into the next leg of the journey.
Fun fact...you're never "returning" to Eorzea in HW. Ishgard is part of it. Same continent.
I think most will find StormBlood have some pacing issue in the beginning and middle. The raids/dungeon/trails are great and the story will pick up big time in post 4.0 quest lines. You know, getting you all ready for SHB.
Moments of respite are needed when you have intense battles, so its not really a big deal to have a few msq fetch quests. IMO a story can't always have successive intense moments one after the other. Also the city tours were useful as they give you understanding of the area.
I agree. and honestly, I kind of like them. I think FFXIV does a good job of putting the WoL in a role where they really care about the people they're trying to protect, and part of setting that up is having us do normal things with them.
Going from HW with its high of Shinryuu vs Omega to the slower start of SB seems jarring when you do not have the waiting time for the new expansion to drop imo.
ARR into HW works amazingly when you can just keep playing, HW directly into SB does not.
On the other hand SB into ShB works like ARR -> HW again but last patch of SB was not that far away from ShB release.
TL;DR:
The start of Stormblood profits/profited from the wait between two expansions.
I really like Zenos tbh, he doesn't have any grand motivations that makes you question yourself.
He's just violence incarnate, the first and only such villain to date.
His power too, seems like it's out of nowhere at first glance but then you take a step back... look at yourself and think, where did *your* strength come from? Why are *you* so strong? You came in on the carriage (or ship) a novice adventurer hardly able to face a nannygoat, let alone something *really* threatening. Fast forward two days and you've laid low the Lord of the Inferno, the motherfucking *Scions* are like children in your shadow and you learn new disciplines of spellcraft or martial inclinations with the ease of a lesser man picking up a kitchen knife.
Some people are just exceptional like that, you and Zenos are among those some people. You are the hero, and he is your nemesis. Other villains that you'll come across will be deep and nuanced characters and they are incredible for it, but not him. He doesn't need any of that, he has no time for it.
The only thing he lives for is the hunt, and the only adversary he knows that can offer him any sort of sport is you, and he will move heaven and earth to make you give it to him.
I really hope preach does the side quest that "unlocks" that tower - Deep dungeon content (especially solo) is an amazing piece of side content with a respectable solo challenge for those willing to embark on it.
Huh, who knew Preach's editor had such good taste :P
Zenos having a golf bag for his swords... I never really made that connection before and it is elite levels of hilarious.
Lol, that editor comment on Lyse was on point. Definitely a very human story arc. I hated lyse at the start, but then she grew on me.
I love how people ignore how tragic and fucked up Lyse is as a character just because SE doesn't throw it on their face. She lost her parents, lost her sister, got adopted by a group of adults that didn't have the time to teach or help her with anything, and were just happy to use her as a DPS for their little crew, and then she loses the only guy that ever thought of her as more than just a minion that punches things. After that she desperately tries to pick up the last pieces of her life, the desire of freeing the land that her sister loved and every player just shits on her because she is not perfect at it. And I'm not even going to go in details about things that happen in SB to not spoil people. Mike saying "she lied to us pretending to be someone else" when it was the coping mechanism of an orphan kid with a bloody past is just the perfect illustration of it.
I love that there is a lore reason why we as the WoL have no problem doing stupid little tasks for people.
i love that the dark knight story is basically just the warrior going crazy from all the stupid little tasks
Hi Preach - odds are you won't see this comment, but on the off chance, I just wanted to say that I really really appreciate this series. I wasn't a follower before, didn't know anything about your channel tbh, so no idea about your history (gather you have rocky time with Wow, and that's probably putting it simply!). So I only know you from this ffxiv impressions series, and it's just a genuine pleasure to follow your playthrough and experience.
Your honesty and legit opinions coming through are the best part of it for me. I've been playing xiv for years and obviously am coming as a massive fanboy, so when I started to watch I recall you being underwhelmed by the actual gameplay. And you know, I initially reacted really poorly and thought 'right, don't want to watch this now, grumble, grumble'. But I stuck with it and now your views are some of the best I've seen and it's really made me stand back out of my fanboy bubble and see xiv through fresh eyes.
It's all too easy to end up buried in your own bubble and echo chamber, but I'm so happy that I was able to realise that your opinion was different from mine, and that was OK! In fact, you have taught me to be more true in my own mind.
So thank you not only for entertaining content, but also being honest, genuine and true to yourself. Really valuable to me and hopefully others.
Peace
Jim
I *just* (like not even 24h ago) finished the base stormblood main story (not patches yet, doing some more random stuff currently) and i have no idea why people did not like it.
I think it might be on par if not above heavensward for me personally, just due to me more liking the npc's and enjoying to go to those teased places and conflicts from ARR and pre Heavensward. i couldn't wait to see Doma or Ala Mhigo. not to mention all the background lore that was given in those places for different people and tribes was awesome and i might only have a small bias for au'ra.
Also the end, was artistically *fantastic* whoever came up with that ending, areadesign wise, got damn. good job.
ALSO LYSE IS AMAZING AND SHE ISNT EVEN AU'RA!
edit: oh yeah, the pacing for the quests is weird and *very* repetitive in stormblood sadly
I've also just finished Stormblood base story and personally, I really disliked it. For me, the two big issues were the chore quests, which made me feel like an errand boy with no agency of my own (a certain yellow garbed faction really drives this point home for me) and Zenos. I disagree with Preach that he's not quite over the line of being lame. He came across to me like a cartoon villain that stole the spotlight from far more interesting characters and villains and ruined nearly every scene he was in in the process. That's just my take though, I can understand some of the arguments I've seen on Stormblood's strengths, but it's just not there for me.
The way I see it, a lot of people have emotional attachment to Heavensward because of the individual character stories. The problem was that it kind of sacrificed the overarching story to do so. The result is that most segments of Heavensward are great, but the overall story is a bit messy and lacking. If people were into the story and asked if any part of the overall story could have been taken out for a more cohesive one, it would be Heavensward. By comparison, Stormblood sacrificed this individual level of storytelling for a larger, more coherent narrative. The exception is that Azim Steppes, which was a mini revolution within another revolution.
The launch MSQ wasn't as well received as Heavensward but it wasn't looked at negatively at all while it was active. The patch content is especially excellent, although it was written by the woman who wrote ShB/EW, and the community worships her.
@@ohnosmoarlulcatz might be my au'ra bias shining, but i loved the azim steppe and the nadaam and learning about the tribes and the cultural clash of classic doma (gosetsu) and some of the tribes (notably the dotharl)
@@jamesclawk852 oh yeah, the chore quests were not only gameplay wise weak, they were also in design INSANELY repetitive and expected "new area, speak to local, do menial tasks for locals, proceed to new area repeat", like gameplay wise it was... hard, but the story and lore behind it was fun.
Give how Preach feels about Sylvanas, there is one character in particular that I'm curious what he'll think about them by the time he gets to Shadowbringers.
also EW
I am very excited to see his response to 4.3
I think it's going to be quite a bit different honestly. It's incredible what can happen when you spend hours setting up, building, and developing characters that cannot happen over the course of a two minute cinematic. Nuance is important. I also think the Sylvanas thing just feels hollow because if you accept the retcon then a slew of her behavior make absolutely no sense, making it feel undeserved and frankly, a copout from the writers.
Who are we talking about? E.-S.? Z.? F.? Because we gain a lot of extra understanding about many characters in ShB/EW that could be considered a redemption story, but ultimately I don't think any of them are.
Justifying WHY a character did something that seemed right from their perspective and gaining insight into that perspective isn't the same as excusing what they did/do.
@@MrKnaives Some people do believe that he was redeemed and in some cases even justified in his belief. I get liking the character but some people just take it to far.
im with you editor
lyze for me is right up there with y'shtola in terms of waifu
Stormblood starts out really iffy and slow but it builds and it gets quite amazing and the finale is just... incredible.
Stormblood was the first time they split the story majorly into two zones. At the end of the Doma section it was like "Ok, we're done" but then "oh yeah, we have to go back to Ala Migho". It was very odd.
The dungeons and riads were definitely the best part of the expansion. Just wait till you see Shisui of the Violet Tides..
The pacing is very differnet to HVN and I think they learned from it in SHB.
Anyway, enjoy SB. it's not as bad as people say.
Your dropping spoilers in the comments? Man...
@@jonathanbaker4361 I don't think just the name is a spoiler.
@@BazzFreeman no but laying out a timeline might be for some. That usually why I stay offline about something when I want to do it. Just knowing the chain of travel drastically increases the chance I'll figure our how things play out before they do. And seeing through the plot takes away from the investment and wonder.
@@jonathanbaker4361 Sure.. I think it was the slowdown of the pace compared to HVN that made people think it wasn't as good. Overall, the story is good, but a little disjointed. I loved the Doma part, the Ala Mihgo bit, not so much until the end.
The dungeons of Stormblood are top tier. And the music is amazing.
18:37 - Hahahahaha. Side characters Preach, side characters.
Also I totally forgot about this particular Y'shtola's "death". There has been way too many.
Stormblood is such a great Expansion with some of the best Villians, some very emotional Moments, and a fantastic Story. I love Stormblood. Omega is also great and the Trials are mega. This Expansion has it all.
Stormblood hits really differently for people of different values. There was a reddit post I was reading where the themes of oppression and war resonated with them with their real life issues and dreaming of heroes like the Scions coming to liberate/help them. That being said, Stormblood still has its pacing issues for the 4.0 MSQ but I found the 4.1-4.5 patches to be absolutely incredible as well as the side raid content.
Nothing beats the scene where they sing their national anthem after being free. I also enjoyed seeing the aftermath of liberation from the Garlean Empire, it applies to multiple events from human history. I liked Stormblood slightly more than Shadowbringers for that reason.
I am very much enjoying the story analysis from Mike and I can't wait for more videos as he makes his way through each expansion.
Your editor speaks sense... damn Alphinaud lover! :P
Glad your loving the game Preach. My system died on me this past week and not being able to play is pure torture. So here I shall enjoy it vicariously through you.
love the editor input on lyse :)
This is so awesome to see Preach playing through FFXIV.
i support u chris !!!!! Lyse is cute and enthusiastic to a fault and she deserves love
I manage to catch ypur streamnearly in the morning, i enjoy it! Keep going, we are waiting for you in the moon!!
I don't remember this "Stormblood starts off slow" sentiment being a thing when the expansion was new. Probably because we had like a 4 or 5 month gap between patch 3.55 and Stormblood release. I get how going from seeing that epic clash between Shinryu and Omega and then straight into Stormblood's start can be underwhelming though.
Right? I'm confused where that sentiment even came from, because Stormblood pretty much opens with a bang (the whole Zenos raiding Rhalgr's Reach thing) that everyone was losing their minds over. Or, well, at least anyone who could get past Raubahn EX, lol.
Yes the story does slow down after that and I still think it suffered from the split, because everytime you got remotely invested in the people and situation, you were torn away to interact with the other side instead, but that's irrelevant for the start.
As someone who waited for stormblood I also don't understand this sentiment. The sadness of binging expansions I suppose. Mike is never really gonna have a true experience of an expansion until he catches up
@@sleepysera Exactly, you can make the argument that every expansion starts off "slow" because they all take the time to set things up for future events. I only started hearing this recently as more and more people picked up the game. I don't think it has anything to do with how it starts just that all the content is out now and you can go straight into stormblood the minute you finish the last heavenward quest. Also heavenward ends on a pretty nasty cliffhanger and it hits different when you can just continue right away and don't have months in between. When all the events that just happened are still fresh in your mind, you're not gonna really be as interested in the set up that happens at the start of stormblood.
As someone who played through it all as a newish player trying to catch up. SB was incredibly slow compared to everything else. The pacing felt terrible at the start but the end was just incredible! I totally agree with the sentiment that the pacing is off though, they save too much for that finish line (which is amazing tbf).
I do feel like it's more the case that people feel like it's slowed down compared to having just finished heavensward. I mean I thought the beginning of heavensward itself was pretty slow but that was just off the back of the post ARR content so it seems more forgivable I guess? Obviously no spoilers but shadowbringers starts pretty fast, especially if you go through the alise quests first. ShB has its slower moments spaced throughout instead of just ramping up like the other two
Lyse's character develops throughout the entirety of Stormblood. I never found her unlikeable, but hopefully she'll grew on you a little by the end of the expansion.
Stormblood's overall story is of the same quality as all other expansions in mine opinion. There are some lulls during certain questing periods (*cough*rubysea*cough*) but those moments exist through every expansion.
Does she though? Every time she should be doing something, someone else takes the spotlight. She is just a passive onlooker.
If anything Stormblood damages her to the point she is now a meme.
I dont know about same. I think it's for sure weaker than Shadowbringers and Endwalker story. They just have more compelling characters as a whole. I still think Stormblood story is good though :)
I actually never really interpreted it as having to build up Lyse from scratch because who we knew first was Yda and rather that the character of Yda was ALWAYS Lyse. We never knew the real Yda. So I just see it as a the same character with a different name now.
I don't think anyone actually hates stormblood, its just that its sandwhich between two expansions that they like a lot more
This is it, sure I might come out and say it's the worst of the expansions, but when the bar is set so high in general worst doesn't mean bad.
most the Realm Reborn dungeons were left over assets or Zone parts that in FFXIV 1.0 were actually open area's that you would take a EXP farm team down into.. They decided to use those assets as dungeons and cut a lot of the asset off, so those areas were a Lot Lot larger.
Mike, It has been a real pleasure to watch you as you play through FFXIV. I am suuuper looking forward to your thoughts when you reach the end of the line.
Enjoy watching these videos. I think you're very fair with your comments and critiques. I'm glad you're liking it for the most part as I'm in the group of people who enjoyed this expansion. It's only recently tho, watching the WoW guys, that I realised that people hated Lyse. Unlike the Stormblood critique tho, I kinda get it after hearing you explain it. But I still like her (tho I disagree with your editor who thinks she's the best wifu, haha)
This is a debate had by many on whether it's good or not, I think it depends on the person and how they like the beginning because first impressions matter. A LOT
It definitely has negatives BUT, so did HW
I think both HW and SB are great but have different strengths and weaknesses.
SB just has a really rocky start. It repeats itself thematically, character development wise, and even plotwise. Once the ball starts rolling though, it gets really good. Personally, it started clicking for me 3/4s of the way in. And that's why the Stormblood .1 to .5 patches were so amazing and is where Stormblood redeems itself. Compare it to HW and SHB which had better starts and got the ball rolling earlier, and you get what I mean.
SB was a developmental story on the bigger overarching story of the world and had to build up a lot of things whereas HW was a tale playing off another developmental story(ARR). It wasn't as good in a lot of opinions but it did play its part well and its essential to the story. Also it had like the best gameplay content to date so theres that.
I think the problem is that SB is not bad, its just don't have a delivery as good as HW and ShB, and being sandwiched between the two hurts it a lot. so if people will say they like it or not will depend on if they can judge it alone, or judge it compared with the other expansions.
Stormblood is the build up expansion wich made it kinda meh at the time but damn it pays of later also i still think it had some of the best contend ,besides Eureka, we got up to this day.
Also "The burn (savage)" is one of the funniest moments in msq
Stormblood has some questionable characters and some very slow bits, but overall it’s a decent msq. The patches have some of the best story moments in the game imo and I personally find Zenos to be very fun villain.
Kugane is a representation of the Dejima, Nagasaki during the Tokugawa Shogunate, where the policy of "Sakoku" or closed country was in effect, and no foreigners were allowed to even set foot on Japan except in Dejima, a dutch trading post, with the penalty of death.
Stormblood trials are so so so good!
I love them for being the one and only time in video game history I have ever seen the good guys successfully seal the great evil away instead of failing spectacularly and making me fight them.
Oh wow you're still very early Stormblood. I can't wait for more of these videos, hurry up lol jk
Mike, you *must* do a video about your throughts on the Alliance Raid of Stormblood once you've done them, they're amazing, especially the last one.
Glad your enjoying it. I’m really looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Need you to go faster!!!! Lol
stormblood really was the worst of the expansions for me but it was still amazing. it's like critiquing a dish from a 5 star restaurant. there may be one small thing you don't like as much but it's still incredible.
I feel the story overall doesn't connect as well and feels a bit disjointed, but the more I look back on it, the more I realize that some of my favorite individual moments are from that expansion.
Stormblood is a real solid 8/10 but it’s stuck between the heights of Heavensward and Shadowbringers
@@Jettison42 my only issue was how boring late was. I had no issues when I got to the far East but things felt a bit dry before and after.
I'm working on Shadowbringers right now, but so far I think my favorite expansion so far in the storyline as a whole was Heavensward but for individual character arcs/storylines. My favorite most heartfelt part is within Stormblood I can't say precisely what it is yet, a certain villain's storyline really floored me. Stormblood has some longer lull periods but I think it really hits hard later on. I hope my fellow down bad fans don't ruin it for him and he appreciates it. Even the instanced fight related to it is amazing.
I loved Stormblood. It did struggle with telling two stories of rebellion at the same time. But the times of drinkin and waxing philosophic with Hien are some of my favorite moments
Being fair, you DO end up doing fetch quests and stuff in heavensward too (just look when you end up helping Haurchefants brothers, and you end up doing a bunch of fetch/search quests). They feed directly into other story lines though (such as the Bismark reveal, etc) and the storylines themselves tie into character arcs (apologising for leaving you behind as rearguard, etc).
And part of it is just pacing too (and also timing, the dragonsong war was ongoing, but it had been for 1000 years, while the current anti-garlean war is FAR more pressing)
Zenos's weapon: Golf Clubs
Preach's weapon: A Moogle on a Stick.
What a perfect couple :)
I still see people say the same thing with Stormblood but you got to understand in every story out there there's ALWAYS going to be that slow, world-building section.
This was the expansion that did that and in all honesty I loved it immensely, atleast he gave us a different view of the world of Eorzea and its people even more and how MUCH influence Garleans actually has in the world. Sure while teh story didn't focus on us, I still loved how we were involved in it, though I admit Lyse was given the short end of the stick with her "development", it was much too little until you hit the level 67+ quest when the story and her finally starts picking up.
But still this was the expansion that expanded the world even more for me, in size, lore and its people.
Also I miss the raids from this expansion the most. xD My god the Omega-raid was a grand Nostalgia run.
Yup. Qests lines like Talk to locals and ask them how you can help to gain their trust are overused in FF14.
It's almost a must have meme at this point
I think Stormblood itself was a good expansion but suffered from the drawn-out war/Ala-mhigan storyline and the experimental Eureka. I enjoyed many jobs and most of the trials and raids.
Same I loved it but the pacing issues felt particularly bad
Agreed, the Trials and Raid are super fun and the Alliance Raid is a great upgrade from the CT and Void Ark . That and Kugane jumping puzzles are a great way to make you punch your monitor if you are looking for an excuse to upgrade to a new one. ;)
Eureka isn't for everybody, but when it's busy, it's one of the best places to hang out, imo. You have 100+ people all going around killing bosses, and it feels pretty great.
The problem being, if it's not busy (like it is now), it's one of the worst places to be.
They had been building up Ala Mhigo since 1.0, it couldn't be left unresolved for much longer. Especially with us turning increasingly confrontation towards the garlean empire. It would be hard, for example, to explain why the Eorzean Alliance would be willing to lend aid to the Doman bid for independence while Ala Mhigo remains occupied quite literally spitting distance away from the four city-states.
EDIT: And tactically speaking, it would be even more foolish. They would be weakening their own military strength by sending it overseas while an enemy army sat just outside their borders and could march on them if they wanted.
my appreciation for stormblood came well after i finished shadowbringers.. it comes but later.
So many great moments in Stormblood. People are going to like/dislike different expansions for sure. I found that I liked all of them a lot equally but for very different reasons. Great game, great expansions, great story. Glad I'm playing. Endwalker content has been fantastic. Looking forward to seeing Preach and other streamers get through Endwalker and hear their thoughts.
I know people have disliked Lyse for a long time (although I didn’t start hearing about it until Shadowbringers, as with a lot of things people hate about Stormblood), but to be mad at her for lying? The player is literally the only one who didn’t know, and they never even knew the original Yda. So I’m not sure what changed exactly.
It's the fact that you are supposed to trust that person with your life in game, and then you find out they kept a secret as big as who they really are from everyone (she didn't know they knew) How are you ever supposed to trust that character in the future? It's exactly why they never make Alphi lie or be untrustful because you need to know that you can trust what he says. He fucks up sure, but he fucks up honestly.
Yeah all it was for us was a name change. I never saw it as that big a deal.
@@coderpup4639 Its awkward writing but she didnt lie for any insidious reason it was more of a personal and emotional one.
@@coderpup4639 Lmao, all it was was a different name, nothing else she did was in any way different or damaging.
Its a deal only if you explore all the details from 1.0 where you will learn Yda is a big sister figure, thus Yshtola mentioned she already noticed it without any details within ARR beforehand.
The reveal basically confirming Yda original plot design in regards to Ala Mhigo get nuked with 1.0 resulting on Lyse.
What really got me in the scene with Yshtola was that if you play a healer during that, Krille will tell you to help with healing.
Hey Mike, glad you're enjoying the game! I don't comment on a lot of things but I just felt compelled to say HOLY SMOKES your hair is looking amazing! Enjoy the rest of the MSQ!
Having played a bit of Endwalker (still havn't finished it yet) and watching everybody new player through each expansion I realized how each expansion flow into the next so naturally it's actually amazing compared to other mmo where an expansion is almost a one shot.
Stormblood was the first expansion without support for PS3 which is most notable in Kugane. It is the first big city that is not cut into two district but a full metropolis. And a lot of small details in the architecture.
I always loved the way that zenos is the first time we meet our match. Hes the first time we actually fight someone all out and lose.
Its crushing after having just killed an ancient super dragon and all these other foes like thordin to not only have a character show hes a threat by beating ur teammates but also kicking ur ass.
Really gets u invested in that character right away
@Creepy Girl im sorry you feel that way. but i disagree. i dont think gameplay and story need to interact in that way. gameplay is gameplay and story is story. the fight itself is not relevant to his strength. zenos IS stronger than you(at first), whether he's the easiest fight in the game or the hardest.
and you, as the WoL, lose that fight, regardless of forced loss or not, not really relevant to the canon
i definitely think the zenos battles could have be better from a gameplay standpoint.
though that's more a criticism i have of solo instanced bosses in general in 14. they are designed super easy so that even the most dogshit player could beat it so most of them are underwhelming.(there are only like 3 that i really enjoyed) and i do find that disappointing.
my biggest problem with SB/zenos was he ends up a dungeon boss and you never get a final epic 1v1 boss battle with him. they...kinda make up for this at some point. but idk where you are so ill avoid spoilers
Regarding the point of "strange pacing doing classic MMO stuff":
I strongly believe that this is part of their basic strategy, to ground you and lower the tension so when the big moments happen the ramp-up is much steeper and the strong moments feel even stronger. I always call it "the silence before the storm" :P
+1 for the editor, because they have the correct opinion of Lyse
We have always been at war with Gridania.
Stormblood starts out really slow but gets much better. I think you will really enjoy it as it picks up and the post patches are chefs kiss
So glad you like Xenos, excited for you to continue on :)
The small fetch quests is how you make friends with people and get to know about their life in the simple ways. You do what they would usually do, so you empathise with the life of the NPC. You aren't just there because you can fight, helping with the small burdens can be just as important to some people.
yeah... I agree with editor. best wifu is Lyse along with Yugiri and Arya. (I'm also just starting Stormblood... looking forward to the story its amazing so far.)
"They 're not afraid to kill off characters"
about that....
Don't worry mike. The story is a rollercoaster as i'm sure you'll find out lol. Your opinion on which Scions are your favorite may yet change quite a few times as you go forward lol.
Stormblood is a mixed bag, it has some real good highs, but a lot of meh as well.
To that particular battle displayed at the end there, the one thing that sticks with me to this day about it is it was the first time the game acknowledged you were a healer if you were one at the time. I was like 'WHAT?! Actual dialog change for me being able to heal?! What is this?!' :)