Home
Creators
Search Recent Missing Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Endwalker review (no spoilers for Endwalker) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-12-12 22:15:54
Imported:
2026-06

Content

So some of you know that I play ff14 on Balmung, and Endwalker released two weeks ago.  I just finished it today.  So a little (slightly spoilery) background for those who don't know.

In Final Fantasy 14 you play as the "Warrior of Light".  You've got an inexplicable connection to this being called Hydelynn and this irrepressible drive to do good and help others.  This is the Main Story Quest and you really have no choice but to follow it to progress through the story.  FF14's story is as long as Horizons, so if you're a fan of long haul narratives, you'll love it.  All this is happening in the world of Eorzea.

Anyway, you are talent scouted by this group called the Scions of the Seventh Dawn who immediately exploit your inability to deny the help of others, along with your ability to see the past AND immunity to being mind controlled by summoned monsters to kill summoned monsters.  This draws the attention of the evil empire of Garlemald (because empires are required to be evil, naturally) who target the Scions and summons monsters to active their ancient super weapon, Ultima.  You also learn there are these evil space wizards called Ascians who are causing most of the shit in the world that you are dealing with.  Naturally, you blow up the Ultima Weapon cause course you do.

The first expansion has you framed for murder, and you go to the world's version of Canada and play diplomat between the country's pope and dragons (It makes sense when you play it.)  You find out that religion is bad and that another evil empire called Allag made the Ultima weapon and even MORE toys that Canada's pope wants to play with.  You defeat the pope and two of the space wizards, and then spend a while where everyone says sorry.

The Second expansion has more problems with that first evil empire which is threatening to invade Eorzea again.  You go to the world's Afghanistan only to learn it is too brown and dusty to win and so you go to the far east to the world's Japan, China, and Mongolia to open a second front so Afghanistan can rise up.  Somehow this plan works, the evil prince of the empire merges / becomes a bad dragon and you beat it.  The evil prince then... yeah.  Look Stormblood is weird...

The Third expansion (the one everyone couldn't shut up about) has you forget all about the evil empire and yeet off to another world where everything's been frozen in eternal light.  Too much light is bad for your eyes so you go around turning all the lights off only to discover the king of the evil space wizards who decides to swan around 'helping you' in the spirit of 'understanding'.  This is where the plot actually gets explained and you realize, oh shit, the first game and both earlier expansions were all just SETTING THE FUCKING STAGE for the actual story!

And now we get to the actual story where you actually have to do the saving thing but the enemy is within and without and all about and holy shit, the evil empire wasn't so evil, the evil space wizards actually had a fucking point, and instead of just saying 'trust us' you get a front row seat to how this whole clusterfuck got started AND is going to finish.

I'd like to think I'm a smart guy with pretty keen narrative sense.  I thought "Oh, yeah, they're gonna go here and then maybe there and do this, and that, and then done" because I'd played the last four bits and this one couldn't possibly go that far off my expectations, right?  And they must have been expecting assholes like me because in the first ten hours they took every single one of my predictions and told me to go fuck myself!  My story would have been a nice narrative arc culminating with the bad guy being beaten.  Nope.  Fuck off.  That's boring storytelling we've done before.  Why don't we just throw three red herrings and seven actual fucking twists that make sense and oh my god why do I keep CRYING?!

And that's the fucking point of Endwalker.  You think saving the world is easy?  You think it's heroic?  You think that there should be a party at the end?  Where there is a party but you GODDAMN EARN IT!  And while the ending isn't quite Horizons tier, it definitely hits you with the feels every chance it gets.  But that's fine because it also hits you with hope and funny too.  Yes, it's not just a grim march into grimness (because oh my god does it get fucking GRIM), no, it also can tell stories of your friends taking their clothes off as babies and let you watch them get embarrassed.  It throws the weirdest fucking shit at you because Final Fantasy has 12 more games to pull weird shit from.  And if you played those other games you'll go 'Holy shit, they used the thing from the place!' and you'll smile.

Endwalker isn't perfect.  A lot of the zones seem a little too big and empty.  A lot of quests feel like they're just there to give you a little bump of EXP.  But that's fine because the rest of the game takes a back seat to some of the greatest writing I've ever seen!  Writing that challenges fucking philosophy.  When have you challenged your own philosophy and assumptions?!  Trick question, no one does, but play Endwalker and you'll have to answer "Why does suffering exist and is it a bad thing?" and the answer is NOT what you fucking expect in a video game!  You know that stuff about seeing the past?  Explained.  That stuff about being immune to mind control from summoned monsters?  Also explained!  The whole MSQ?  EXPLAINED!  Holy shit, I thought I was playing a game, not having an existential experience!

But this game has an entrance fee and I'm not talking the game's cost or subscription.  I'm talking the 150 hours you must play to truly get emotionally obliterated by the awesome moments.  "Oh, but I don't want to play 150 hours...." Well you could just buy a skip... but DON'T.  Because if you do you'll see a thing and everyone will be sad and you'll be watching it going 'I don't get it' and that's because you didn't bawl your eyes out twenty levels ago!  Because that's what Final Fantasy and Endwalker is.  It's a saga.  A quest.  It starts slow and dull and just keeps getting better.  And yeah, it can seem like there's boring stuff in there.  Read it.  Read it all.  Do it all.  Because when you get to Endwalker, all of it is paid off in spaces.  When two dozen of the NPC's you've interacted with all game gather to meet you, I talked to each and every one and was touched by it.

Endwalker is a masters level example of good story telling.  It's what Rian Johnson wished he could have pulled off in Star Wars.  It's twists are compelling and matter, building on the events of the past.  It portrays seemingly inconsequential players and villains as people with complex psychologies.  The evil space wizards aren't evil... they're just wrong, and THAT is far more complex than most stories ever attempt.  And if you want to buy a skip, well then buy a skip.  Just know that it's the equivalent to jumping to the Return of the King without knowing what the heck this ring is or why its so important.  You don't buy Endwalker.  You EARN Endwalker.  And I hope you do.  Because at the end of this game I'm left in awe, gnawing on my own envy, wishing I could ever write something so beautiful and convoluted as this.

And that's your spoiler free review.  Now if only I wasn't stuck behind a 3000+ queue every time I want to log in...

Comments

Tnpcook

> the 150 hours you must play to truly get emotionally obliterated by the awesome moments. "Oh, but I don't want to play 150 hours...." Well you could just buy a skip I did this for ARR then Stormblood. my 'actual' play began in shadowbringers. It's fascinating how capable they are of roping you in, and establishing a player experience even for the shorter contexts. I had my favorites, and my relations in the narrative. And since they don't trivialize things for the sake of arc, or sensation, anything you form is likely to become substantiated. But I'll also say that I READ most of stormblood and ARR and enjoyed the lore and story. There is definitely information you need to know. If you have the whim to skip, definitely do not skip past Shadowbringers, and DEFINITELY make sure not to do so solely for the purpose of arriving at the end faster. The game is an experience, and it delivers it in a way that can define narratives in the genre. If you want to have an experience, it can deliver, but you must let it. I skipped some of the gameplay, but made absolutely sure to indulge in the story as much as possible in its' absence. It's a very strange statement, but allow yourself to enjoy the game, if you are getting into it. Skips should only remotely be considered to mitigate pain points. Because you WILL be skipping parts of the journey that make the experience cohesive. But if you must, rest in the knowing that with a little reading, you can resume in a way that it still delivers. All that aside, the game was a narrative masterpiece. It delivers an experience to the player not exclusively as an observer, and retains the highest fidelity to the ideas it wants you to exercise. You aren't getting quest text as you farm a progression system. You're listening to your favorite character explain their woes, and the mechanism they find to persist despite them. Not because they want exposition, but because that character is trying to help *you* learn that reason, because you are likely carrying similar burdens.

NTG

Meanwhile in WoW “There’s an evil bad guy who wants to do really evil stuff. Go stop him!” Never played FF 14. In fact, I only played three Final Fantasy games ever. So, I can’t really add anything useful. But based on that description the story really sounds like a masterpiece. Which is unusual, especially for an MMO.

Morgan E. Harvey

Awwwwww I had no idea you played ff14 too! That's awesome. I'm on Leviathan, and god I love it so much. There's just so much care and love that went into this game. " The evil space wizards aren't evil... they're just wrong, and THAT is far more complex than most stories ever attempt. " YES yes yes yes this There's so much grey area that it plays with that I love (Which is also why I enjoy your writing, so go figure)