The Dungeons themselves are incredibly creative (one even partly takes place on a moving train!), and each boss is a mountain to be overcome, giving away just enough information that players might at first fall victim to an onslaught, but immediately rebound and be able to swiftly identify what they did wrong and why.įinal Fantasy 14: Endwalker is a landmark achievement in narrative development. Each is superbly built up over a few hours of narrative developments, so you feel like you’re genuinely stepping into something momentous when you enter the Tower of Zot in Thavnair, for example.
There’s similarly brilliant fun to be had in Endwalker’s new Dungeons. Final Fantasy 14 brings its usual eclectic mix of side stories to bear throughout Endwalker’s new areas, and the result is some brilliantly memorable and populated lands that are just demanding to be explored. Every new area in Final Fantasy 14’s latest expansion is intriguing in its own right, whether it’s venturing around the grandiose spires of Old Sharlayan’s port city, exploring the tight-knit jungles and sprawling sandy beaches of Thavnair, or stalking the barren ruins of Garlemald. Nonetheless, fighting through Endwalker’s locales in pursuit of foiling Zenos and Fandaniel’s plans is a dream. Zenos and Fandaniel, by comparison, are just a little too aloof throughout Endwalker, sort of acting like a means to a catastrophic end rather than being the active harbingers of doom we’ve seen before. 2019’s Shadowbringers offered up the fascinating Emet-Selch, a villain who we were at times reluctant even to fight, and anyone following in the Ascian’s footsteps sadly has a near-insurmountable task of standing toe-to-toe in memory with him. If Endwalker does have any narrative shortcomings, it’s unfortunately in its villains. Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker can rightly stand on its own as a fantastic accomplishment, but it’s forever intertwined with a decade of story and character developments that have come before it. So long have players been with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn that reviewing Final Fantasy 14’s latest expansion feels like writing about Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s final act on the eve of its release, or standing outside a theatre shouting spoilers at a queueing crowd waiting to see Avengers: Endgame. The trouble with reviewing Endwalker is that every minor development can be conceived as a major spoiler. There are massive narrative payoffs that’ve been years in the making for the likes of Alphinaud and Alisae, while stalwarts like Estinien and Urianger get stuck into the plot in extremely active roles. Instead of primarily playing out as a farewell tour for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, lingering around like a friend that doesn’t want to say goodbye for what could well be the final time, Endwalker manages to give our companions meaningful actions and developments over the course of 50 hours. With its usual roster of characters though, Endwalker succeeds in avoiding the trap that Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King fell into all those years ago.
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