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As a long time FromSoft fan, I'm extremely pleased with Shadow of the Erdtree. They've managed to up the difficulty without making it so overbearing as to kill the fun. Easily some of the best battle content from FromSoft to date, although I do feel Bloodborne still presents an overall better experience on that front. Every fight is fair and can be cleared with a minimum of issues if you're willing to spend even a moment analyzing boss attack patterns. Even the final boss, who some erroneously claim to be fair, really isn't. Everything is clearly telegraphed and easy to react to. The new equipment has been most welcome. We received several new weapon types, examples of which are sufficiently tuned to be used in all forms of content present within the game. These new items, barring a handful of exceptions, have been introduced without damaging the delicate balance of PvP. FromSoft is known for leaving a lot of questions hanging in the air once their games are complete. In an uncharacteristically charitable move, they deviated from their norm by providing answers to just about any question regarding the games lore. One need simply go seeking, and they'll learn just about anything they want to about Marika, her consorts, her children, her origins, etc. It's all right there, waiting to be found.

The most recent season fixed a lot of Diablo IV's problems, but it still has a fair few. I'd have given it a 2/10in prior seasons. It may yet be a decent game if Blizzard stays the course and continues listening to player feedback.

Dawntrail is a drastic departure from previous entries. The story proceeds at an almost plodding pace, shifting back and forth between world-building that amounts to nothing and forced interactions with NPCs many find to be insufferable. The writing is unquestionably the worst it has ever been. Final Fantasy XIV has never exactly been at the cutting edge as far as its combat systems go, but they were at least serviceable until the two-minute meta and oversimplification of jobs came into play. The changes introduced in Dawntrail build upon groundwork laid in Shadowbringers and Endwalker to give an experience I can only describe as being mid at best. Is it the worst gaming experience I've ever had? No it is not, but it does serve as a stark reminder of how fast things can change in the industry. Dawntrail is most certainly comparable to Blizzard Entertainment's own Warlords of Draenor, or perhaps Shadowlands, in terms of its poor pacing, inadequate story, and the overall degeneration of gameplay

A fantastic continuation of the base game. It takes everything that made ARR great and makes it that much better. The new jobs were fantastic, and the story was far superior to the predecessor it succeeded.

The story was simply an enormous letdown. It had such a tremendous amount of potential coming in hot off the heels of Shadowbringers, but the last second decision to change it out for something with a lighter tone - and more one dimensional, I'm forced to say - really destroyed what otherwise promised to be something great. The loss of nuance, as well as the horrendous number of plot holes, resulted in a final product that was both jarringly dissonant and highly unappealing. The dumbing down of the combat system is another strike against this expansion. Jobs were streamlined to the point of identity loss, and the forcing of everything into a two-minute burst window forced encounters to be simplified to the point of absurdity.

The story was primed for excellence, but it was held back from reaching its potential by the plodding pace at which it progresses. Many of the side characters were unfortunately rather one-dimensional. The English localization left much to be desired, but it was at least faithful enough to the original Japanese for you to somewhat understand what was going on. PvE content was firm but fair, and the game was far more approachable during this era than it is today.

A top notch story to go with some of the best mechanical interactions the game ever had. Combat flowed seamlessly, and endgame fights were challenging but fair. This was definitely the high point for PvE players.

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.