by Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
By now, most people have heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy 14. With an extended free trial and all, you know the whole deal at this point. More importantly, however, this year was when we all finally went to the end. The game’s fourth major expansion, Endwalker, released and concluded a decade-long story in development. A story that has taken us from protecting our own homes to the literal edge of the universe, and I know it’s not one I’ll soon forget. We got all of this along with a bunch of new features and content to carry us through the year.
You could argue that the most important thing for an MMO to have is tons of content to keep players engaged, and while Endwalker may have seen more space between updates, those updates have been fantastic. New alliance raids with interesting themes, great boss designs and fantastic music have all been highlights. Even with the slightly harder wild raids, I know my group has had fun clearing the levels. Where else can I have a good time beating up a sexy vampire theater geek with seven of my best friends while an awesome boss theme plays that includes silly little surf-rock breakdowns? It’s Final Fantasy 14 Online, baby! This also doesn’t even mention the new Adventurer Plate system, the PvP rework, and the Overwatch-like payload mode which is amazing to play. Or even the survival game and Animal-Crossing-like Island Sanctuary mode that lets you relax and collect materials while building up your own island. The development team has been busy trying to give us lots of things to do, and it shows how much they care.
The biggest thing for me, even this long after it came out, is the story. The game managed how we ended a decade-long story and started a whole new adventure. The themes and moments that took us to the end really made a big impact on me, and they all hit especially hard after the outstanding expansion before it, Shadowbringers. I’m not going to spoil anything because I still think FFXIV is a game that everyone needs to experience, but it’s something to see how far this game has come in all the years I’ve been playing it. Storylines and characters that accompany you throughout your journey grow and change, and seeing it all come together in a wonderfully emotional end zone is something I won’t soon forget. It does much more than just ask your character things and will sometimes even directly ask you as the player to reflect on your journey and what it meant to you. It’s a story about endings, accepting that death is inevitable, and even though things may get tough or seem impossible, it’s always important to do your best, not lose hope and move on. The sorrow of a thousand worlds weighs heavily, and yet we can all move on. — Ben Janca
