PC User Reviews

Is it okay to cry? This was peak man, it was peak. Best expansion of the set.

Shadowbringer and endwalker is the greatest fictional story of all time! This is coming from someone who's experienced thousands of movies and games. Nothing has ever made me feel so much emotional impact over and over again. The cinema just never stops. The music is S+ tier. Every song tug at your heart or makes you feel so damn hyped! It'll make you laugh, it will make you cry (lots of crying), but all of it'll make you feel good. So good you'll want to watch other streamers play it just to experience it again. The dialogue and voice acting is the absolute pinnacle of rpg story telling. World building is akin to attack on titan level in terms of how much it all make sense. Shadowbringer also boast arguably one of the greatest if not the greatest villain of all time! If you've got to the ending of FF10, remember the emotional impact? It's done way better here, over and over again not letting up for a second from beginning to the end. The only flaw about it are the expansion you must complete to get to shadowbringer. They are not bad, heavensward is actually pretty good, but none of it is even comparable. Nothing is really comparable in terms of story to these two expansions.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Very good story. This is the masterpiece of Final Fantasy. It will be a piece that will go down in history.

Best expansion ever, say no more. We will never forget about you Emet, my favorite character in FFXIV.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

没什么可说的，其他人没有。《Endwalker》的开端和结局都非常棒。它很好地重现了 2.0 甚至 2.0 预告片的场景。石川在这里做得非常出色，他不仅开始找到一种方法让旧元素具有相关性，还发展了角色，让你关心多年来在玩家角色生活中来来去去的所有这些 Scions。

Best story experience of all time. Sometimes you can catch lightning in a bottle it seems.

giving it a 10 bc it’s my favorite still after two expansions. emet selchs character has motivated me as a person to bear the legacies of the long fallen.

Simply one of the best written RPGs ever made. This is also the xpac that introduced npcs helping with story content, and some of the best large scale events to date in the ishgardian restoration and bozja.

The golden age of FFXIV. It takes everything good about the writing, story, music and improves it tenfold. I honestly cannot think up any negatives, only positives. By far the best expansion.

FFXIV is good, and in shadowbringers you finally get answers and the story just grabs a hold of you, leaving you aching to get to play Endwalker. So worth it, as a story alone one of the best games I've experienced.

The turning point in a massive franchise that marks when things get really good. Shadowbringers takes some twists and turns to bring you a fresh adventure and managing to lose some of the shackles that brought the previous expansions down.

There's not a lot to say that other's haven't. It's genuinely a wonderful start to the end that is Endwalker. It does a great job of reaching back to 2.0 and even the trailer for 2.0. Ishikawa has done an amazing job here of not just starting to find a way to make old elements relevant, but also character development and making you care about all of these Scions who have come and gone from your player character's life over the years.

The first expansion they got a different main writer, and had some balls to get some dark fantasy stuff going to feel like I’m fighting for something.

A phenomenal expansion that captures everything an MMO should be, especially a Final Fantasy one. Story that can't be matched, characters that grow and climax in their story arcs, music that took a gigantic step forward and will forever be in my personal playlist (and made me buy the soundtrack in appreciation) and above all, some of the best content and mixture of content in this game's now 11 year lifespan. I've seen people that don't enjoy video games enjoy this MMO, and I've seen people that never cared for FF fall in love with the series thanks to this one. You will not regret picking this game up, especially with the very generous free trial that for some reason doesn't allow you to make parties?

Awesome expansion, really got the story moving and introduced more mysteries that need answers.

The storytelling for this expansion was absolutely top notch. It had everything you could want. You had drama, romance, action, etc. The writers managed to take a nuanced approach to the whole darkness versus light subject, setting up a scenario where both Hydaelyn and Zodiark were right AND wrong.

This company steals from **** you pay for a subscription and then cancel, they will take your money the next month even though you cancelled. They took my money and then refused to give it back. I was a loyal customer of theirs for many decades, occasionally buying games and services but after this experience, I will never buy another game or service from Square Enix ever again!

8/10

Shadowbringers is where you truly get a massive pick up in story. This expansion was truly great, plenty of laughs and crying in this. Story is solid, raids are stunning and fun, crossover with Nier: Automata was perfection. If I could replay this with no memory I would easily.

All the marks were hit with this expansion, XIV has had it's shares of ups and downs with content and I must say it's been a rollercoaster trying to figure out where much of my opinions lie when it comes to each featured expansion. Shadowbringers however I can't bring myself to fault, it brought us the new continent within one of the Reflections, a highly developed landmass telling it's own story with it's own unique cast. Harping on tropes without relying so heavily on them as to stifle the creativity of the story itself. Shadowbringers was perhaps the best expansion of XIV to date, only just ahead of Stormblood as my personal favorite. From sympathetic, fleshed out and well-concluded villains to satisfying, sentimental and meaningful interactions with companions, XIV Shadowbringers holds the best of all the game has to offer within it's story. The expansion doesn't overstay it's welcome, maintaining pacing and enjoyment throughout; Shadowbringers brought us Bozja, Zadnor, some of the best high end content we've seen to date all while managing to deliver some amazing casual and story content to boot. This is the definitive XIV expansion to date. My only gripe is what it comes to mean when set against the other expansions, taking place in a realm outside of our own, the story felt isolated away from our experiences and as such the world of Norvrandt doesn't evolve with the newly passing expansions as we do.

Tout simplement la meilleure extension d'ff14 niveau ambiance globale. Malgré le peu de contenu qu'elle et Endwalker propose l'écriture est un vrai délice et pas du tout incohérent .

One of the best stories ever toid in an MMO, with so many multifaceted and unique characters culminating in a storyline that you'll likely never forget that could stand on its own entirely as a great final fantasy game.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is a masterpiece of an RPG that manages to tell an emotional & heartfelt story and has some great gameplay & encounter design along the way. It still bears a few of FFXIV's pacing problems, but it's still come a long way since A Realm Reborn. The music of this expansion is also superb! 10/10. “Remember… Remember us… Remember that we once lived.”

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

worth it and glad to play this game again. so much memories and nostalgia within this fourteenth game in the series. this expansion is breathtaking!

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

An MMO expansion is not just its story. Yes, the 5.0 MSQ storyline is great. Yes, the 5.1 through 5.3 storyline is overall good. However, the rest of the expansion was noticeably lacking compared to prior expansions. We've gone from getting 3 dungeons per patch, to 2, to just getting one. Instead of getting 4 grind zones, we instead only get 2. No Hildibrand questline. We went from getting dozens of job questlines, to only 4 role questlines and all of them are meh, not even scratching "decent". Instead of getting 3 jobs, we got 2. We get fewer new armor sets and more recolors of old stuff we already got. There is a noticeable lack in the amount of new music produced for ShB, with one trial boss reusing the generic dungeon boss theme, the 5.3 trial boss not even getting a second theme for his second phase, no new dungeon boss theme for 5.4 and 5.5 dungeons, and Bozja pretty much just reusing FF12's ost.

I got into FF14 right before this expansion came out. This review is late, but I didn't think to talk about it here til now. The story from the base game to the expansion before this was fascinating. There were several highs and a few lows throughout my blast through ARR, HW, and Stormblood. When this game came out I started a bit burnt out, but once I started getting into the main story quests (MSQ) I got a HUGE second wind. I beat the MSQ in a few weeks, not because it was short, but because I couldn't stop playing. Music - some songs are decent, but the main song for my playthrough was called "High Treason." Such a powerful musical movement that I listen to when I'm not playing the game, even to this day. There are lots of songs like this within the game that just captivate me. Gameplay - I started the new Tank class, Gunbreaker, when it released and I had a lot of fun getting to learn new rotations and play through the class quest. The dungeons and bosses were a lot of fun to play through and the overall experience of the game was my favorite for an MMO at the time. Story and Characters - This is where the meat of the playthrough occurred. The main villain is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Only other ones that come to mind at this level are from playstation 1 games I played back in the early 2000's that continue to live with me today (Ghaleon from Lunar 1 and 2 really come to mind). This story is also an amazing bridge to Endwalker. Overall - This game is a love letter to fantasy and mmo players. Story is rich with content, characters are phenomenal, and the experience within the community is something I will treasure in my gaming life. You'll notice a trend with FF14 players talking about how important it is to experience the story (and I'll mention please feel free to experience the game the way YOU want to). If you're someone who enjoys the elements I discussed above, take the time to enjoy the journey. I remember into a month of this game existing, IGN's FB group had a lot of people saying this should be game of the year, and it was mine and many other's game of the year. Be safe and be sure to give this game a shot!

Amazing expansion. Has the best areas, cities, characters, story and dungeons of the game imo. I think Stormblood wins on trials by a tiny bit. Shadowbringers and FFXIV in general is one of the best experiences in gaming.

Probably one the best expansions from the game, i'm conflicted if i liked it more than endwalker or not as this point. but i loved everything about this expansion

The story for this expansion is as great as everyone says. On par with any of the great RPGs available today, owing to the dedication of the whole FFXIV team. Each named side characters introduced are well fleshed out and not throwaways for the sake of the story. The music for each zone and dungeons are fitting and a joy to listen to even at many repetitions. As for the looks of the zone, most of them are improvements to previous content partially owing to the use of larger range of colours. A minor gripe storywise for me is that sometimes, even when our character is at a position to do something to resolve a situation to a happier end, they just watch instead for the sake of the story. For example, our character may be well in position physically to intercept an enemy to rescue someone but instead just looks on in shock, leading to a death that could have been avoidable. I think it would add more believability if, for example, our character was on the other side of a chasm as he looks on, but that is not the case on some NPC deaths. There were also changes to all classes. I can only speak of my experience playing as a Dark Knight, however. The new DRK changes are pretty straightforward and removes the spammy element. The only underwhelming skill I have encountered is the final skill which is to summon a shadowy figure to unleash some damage using DRK skills. My problem is, its just that. Its only function is to be used on cooldown as a damage increase with no interaction with the player. I was expecting it copy what the player would do, and so summoning it must needs preparation to deal the most damage, which sadly is not the case. Some new content available is more of the same as previous expansions. A respectable amount of dungeons each with a unqiue aesthetic and atmosphere, and three trials with an additional extreme modes for two of the three, all of which are suitably challenging. However, FATES in the new zones have been revised and now gives incentives to players to acutally do them for more than just for experience by adding a rank system and currency to it. Earned currency can be spent on various rewards ranging from mount speed increase of the zone, materials to chocobo bardings. You will have a rank for each zone which determines what items can be bought from the Gem Traders, which are the vendors for the FATE rewards. Rank goes up to 3 with the better rewards unclokced for purchase at rank 2 and 3. Levelling to max will take a mix of main scenario quests, dungeons, and other activities such as FATEs. More on the dungeons, Shadowbringers also introduces the TRUST sytem, which now allows our characters to do dungeons with certain NPCs that are integral to the story. This feature boosted my immersion to the story immensely as you can now take your time on the dungeons to look at every detail you desire without the pressure of potentially wasting other players' time. The NPCs also engage in colourful banter, which makes it all the more immersive. Additionally, they are helpful in learning the dungeon boss mechanics as they are coded to do them properly. The only downside would be that the TRUST NPCs will have potentially a lower damage output compared to players. Potentially. However, after completing the story, the NPC levels will drop and will require you to level them up by taking them to dungeons. They acquire a set experience per run and will require multiple runs to level up, but according to some players, your experience gain will outpace theirs, which in my opinion, is a problem.

What a phenomenal expansion. Story takes a while to pick up and become interesting but since it went on a darker tone and cutscenes are pretty great you don't mind as much as in Stormblood. Once it does pick up its a blast until the end.

easy 10/10 best mmo - good story and good savage fights. only thing lacking is good pvp

This game is juste amazing. The story is probably one of the best we ever had in FF games. The new map is also amazing. Can't tell more without spoil but this game is for sure one of the best MMO and one of the best final fantasy

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

MSQ very same-y, more voice acting and interesting cut scenes than previous expansions, still far too many unvoiced poorly animated cut scenes though. Some nice introductions, like the trust system which makes the MSQ dungeons much more engaging, lots of solo trials also as part of the MSQ... Overall the MSQ is still below par unfortunately but it's an improvement. Raids offer an acceptable level of difficult which makes them accessible to the vast amount of players, but could do with a more difficult version of savages/ultimates to extend the amount of content in the game for PvM players.

Great story and great music. Definitely worth the money and so worth playing!

This expansion cemented my love for this amazing MMO. Fantastic story telling, memorable zones and characters. I was sad to leave it when Endwalker was announced. Super great expansion!

Perfect expansion. If only devs could muster up some courage and finally kill some major npc. The only thing this story lacks is some stakes, actual risks.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is one of the best video game experiences, period. The story of the game thus far has slowly been rising in quality, but in this expansion, the growth was exponential—so much so that it has become one of the best video game narratives I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. The foreboding tone, the themes of indolence and finality, and the overall "feel" were very consistent and executed to nigh-perfection. Supporting this narrative was a cast of characters that felt more real and relatable than any before, with the returning Scions truly feeling like a group of companions and friends one can rely on. It must be said that no few tears were shed in some scenes and character moments. Gameplay-wise, it is more of the same which is not a bad thing; in fact, some dungeons and trials still stand out as fun and interesting. Shadowbringers was the expansion wherein I finally told myself, "That FFXIV might be among the best JRPGs I have ever had the joy playing".

It's kinda ironic that this 2019 Final Fantasy Fourteen Shadowbringers is much better than 2013/2018-? Grand Theft Auto+Red Dead Online not to mention remind me to 2020 Hades PC too.

This is the first time I play FFXIV in general, as a long time (over 8 years) WoW player. I simply cannot explain how good this game actually is. From the story, to the zones, to the system, to actually having meaningful choices. It's sooo good. If you're looking for a MMORPG/RPGMMO, this is the game for you, it does not waste your time, it respects it, this is one of the many things that the game does right.

Mit Abstand das bisher beste FFXIV Addon. Tolle Geschichte Super Musik Nier 24er Raids FF7 Weapons als 8er Raids … Wer wollte zB Rubin Weapon nicht auch mal in „modern“ sehen ;)

If you don’t like the Trial / “Realm Reborn” take my word, you won’t like any of it… New players hope you are ready for 200+ hours of MSQ which is mainly reading text. I fell for the recent hype. To all the people who says “it gets better” seriously, what is wrong with you? This constant insincerity is what kept me going. IT DOESN’T GET BETTER (a least to the point it serves as a valid argument). I just finished Shadowbringers 5.5 MSQ, and let me tell you, this is an “interactive Novel” more than it is a video game. Sure with each expansion the game (novel) gets a little better, in terms of graphics, animations, storytelling, but the CORE of the game doesn’t change, it is still this outdated mmorpg tab targeting, with its main FOCUS on MSQ, which is basically walls of text. Your quests in order of occurrences is: talk, travel, click objects, kill NPCs, do dungeons/trials/story instances. They added one different mechanic in Stormblood lol, which is to “click stuff in FPS mode”. I can count the EPIC moments of the story in one hand! 3 of them were in Havensward and 2 in Shadowbringers (forget RR and SB). The main focus of this game is the MSQ, but the problem is; the MSQ is 90% fluff pointless writing and storytelling, you could cut out 80% of this writing and still get a concise accurate description of the story, albeit just more on point. What Square Enix is doing is inflating game time content with more and more text and sloppy animation screens, which I’m not kidding stretches the MSQ than it really needs to be. I’m not even talking about important background build up, I’m talking about content you won’t even remember because it served no purpose in the grand scheme of things. (Anything you wont remember a month from now isn't worth reading about). Because the MSQ is mainly storytelling, and single player orientated, why not just play better solo video games that are much, much better technically advanced in gameplay, like GTA 5, Witcher 3, red redemption 2, and hundreds of others titles? There were times I was so desperate to just “play” the game, because there is so few dungeons/trials and killing quests in-between all the walls of text. One could always pay a story skip potion, but the fact is MSQ is the focus of this game, the endgame is extra stuff. Players and Square have both said that MSQ is the focus of the game, and the more casual player base. WoW = focuses on repeatable endgame content after a short introductory (and often crap) storyline. FF14 = 200 hours of MSQ (at minimum) at which point you can cycle through some endgame content and get max ilvl gear fairly easily. But levelling others job/crafts, which has its own questlines seems be one of the most popular things to do. I won’t be buying Endwalker. People who enjoy reading fluff for hundreds of hours to see one good cutscene here and there, you do that, enjoy! I’ll watch it in a recap YouTube video and do more productive things with my life than read FLUFF MSQ content, which is intentionally used to extend game play time. “You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time” think about if you’re really enjoying that 200 hours or if you’re only enjoy small amounts of it. Whilst the epic moments were epic, the pain of going through so much unfun content to see it was not worth it. The balance is definitely not there. Even most fans think the post RR quests are so bad, yet square hasnt fixed it by just removing it for new players short narration cutscene to bring players up to date for havensward. (And i heard it was even worse, oh dear God).

In 2021 I started playing from ARR to Shadowbringers and I am blown away that a 10/10 game could get better. 100/10 easily

Having played FFXIV actively for two years now, I can honestly say it is one of the best video game experiences I have had the pleasure of playing. Shadowbringers is the highlight of the journey, bringing a story that made me cry more times than every other game combined. If you enjoy a good fantasy story, you can't go wrong with Final Fantasy XIV. Every expansion is like a new book or a season of a fantasy series, and Shadowbringers is where the game rewards you for the investment of getting so far.

Played Lineage 2, World of Warcraft, was in need of a new MMORPG and tried FF. The walls of text, the bad UI and the super boring tutorial just didn't do for me.

The Shadowbringers expansion is the pinnacle in Final Fantasy series, while the early game can turn some people a way but the overall gameplay is only getting better and better over time.