Operation Backlog Completion 2026

An Epic Adventure in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

 Reviews, Video games  10 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jul 282021
 

It’s been two years since I beat A Realm Reborn, and yesterday I also finished the first Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Heavensward (which is now included in the free trial).

Heavensward gets a lot of praise from fans, and the quests building up to it after A Realm Reborn started out slow but then reached levels of suspense where I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

(In between A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, I also met Hildibrand, a character at the center of the funniest quests I’ve seen in the game so far. That was definitely a highlight.)

And of course, Heavensward is set in Ishgard, the land of holy knights and dragons, so how could I not be interested?

I enjoyed the plot of Heavensward much more than the plot of A Realm Reborn, and it felt like there were less times where I had to run back and forth on busywork quests instead of actually advancing the story. It also gave me a new favorite Final Fantasy XIV character and some pretty exciting moments!

While I wouldn’t rank it up there with my favorite Final Fantasy games like some people do, it was still really good, and my enjoyment of the story might have been hindered slightly by how long it took me to complete.

(I’ll try not to drag out the other expansions quite as much.)

I’ve stuck with my same class through my entire playthrough so far, but in Heavensward I finally improved my own gameplay by switching over to gamepad controls, which I found to be more intuitive for combat. Making a few small changes like that also helped me enjoy the game much more.

Meanwhile, there have been plenty of entertaining seasonal events and other optional parts of the game that I enjoyed quite a bit. Most recently, I did a special event quest at the Gold Saucer that makes you investigate a crime without any quest markers, so you have to search for the information you need to piece together the correct answer.

I intended to take a break from serious Final Fantasy XIV playing after finishing Heavensward, but it ended on a note guaranteed to drive me forward to see what happens in the patches!

And so for the foreseeable future, it looks like my Final Fantasy XIV adventure will continue! Here’s hoping for exciting stories ahead!

I Finally Finished Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (Base Game)

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Jul 102019
 

Just under a year ago, I started Final Fantasy XIV for the second time and vowed that this time I would stick with it to the end for the sake of the story.

And I did!

I mean, I got distracted by the Gold Saucer too. But after just under 108 hours of gameplay, I completed the main story of the base game, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

You really can play a lot of Final Fantasy XIV by yourself if you just want to experience a story. Dungeons and trials (bosses) are the main things you’ll need to team up with other players for, and that’s what pushed me away the first time. I disliked going through dungeons with other people, mainly because they’d rush through while I wanted to look around and take my time.

So I joined up with a nice Free Company, and thanks to the other players there, I made it through the dungeons and could largely enjoy the story the way I wanted to.

Now, when people praise the story of Final Fantasy XIV, they’re mainly talking about the expansions, not A Realm Reborn itself. For the most part, A Realm Reborn’s story is just… decent. It’s bogged down by a lot of filler quests, which annoyed me, but then I reached a certain point in the plot where things got shaken up a bit and I was genuinely invested in what would happen next.

(Ironically, it occurred shortly after the point where I quit the first time… although I remember going to Coerthas even though I wasn’t that far in the plot, so apparently my first attempt to play Final Fantasy XIV resulted in me wandering to random places before giving up. On the other hand, the Coerthas section was one of my favorites in the game, so I might have been wishing I was there in the plot instead.)

The plot had some good moments, and overall I enjoyed myself much more this time around. I picked up Heavensward during the free promotion earlier this year, so I’m looking forward to progressing through the in-between quests to reach it.

I’m happy I stuck with Final Fantasy XIV this time, and I don’t intend to quit anytime soon! Have you played Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn? How do you feel about it and its expansions?

Final Fantasy XIV Will Be My First MMORPG… Again

 Video games  8 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Aug 012018
 

Remember a few years ago when I announced that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was my first MMORPG?

I did keep playing it after my free 30 days and made some progress through the story, but I ended up quitting. Online games really aren’t my thing.

Yet I still hear people talk about how the main story for Final Fantasy XIV is actually pretty good, possibly the sort of story you want if you miss the old Final Fantasy games.

They recently did a promotion where inactive players could rejoin the game and play for four days for free. Since it’s been so long, I made a new character, but this time I think I’m going to really stick with it and see how Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn’s story turns out.

Or I could end up sidetracked by the Gold Saucer again. We’ll see.

Have you played Final Fantasy XIV? If you’re primarily a single-player fan, like I am, are there any MMORPGs that won you over with their stories?

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