I do not play Shadowbringers yet, but I still love Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV recently saw the release of its third expansion, Shadowbringers, released on July 2nd. Everyone seems to like it. I have not touched this new content, but I still have a lot of fun playing role playing online.

It's because I'm working to level my character and progress in the massive story of Final Fantasy XIV. Square Enix has actually given codes to ignore this process. I could have given my dark wizard a level where he would be ready to dive straight into Shadowbringers.

I did not want to do that. A few weeks ago, I returned to Final Fantasy XIV. The last time I stopped playing, I had just finished the main campaign, the main quests launched with the game after its restart in 2013, A Realm Reborn. I had fun at the time, but other games (including World of Warcraft, which I still play frequently) have dismissed me.

I also stopped playing because I was intimidated. When I last stopped, the second extension of FFXIV, Stormblood was the most recent. But I had not yet integrated my character into the content of the first extension, Heavensward. And even before that, there was a long series of main quests that I had to finish between A Realm Reborn and Heavensward. These quests were originally launched between the launches of the two players, offering players of the time new missions and land development to discover.

But you can not just skip those quests and go straight to Heavensward after beating A Realm Reborn. They are an essential part of the story and are mandatory before unlocking the scenario that launches the first expansion.

A daunting task

At the time, it seemed too much of a commitment and I retreated to other less demanding games. But with all the excitement surrounding the release of Shadowbringers, I decided to go back there and see if I could fight my way through history.

As a player who played mainly at World of Warcraft, the contrast was clear. Aside from all the differences in gameplay and mechanics, Final Fantasy XIV has a really interesting and successful story. When I play World of Warcraft, I often listen to a podcast to give my mind something to focus on while I keep it away. World of Warcraft's attempts to tell stories are often dark, focusing on a rotating door of villains and non-player heroes. World of Warcraft will tell you simultaneously that you, the player, are awesome and important, while making you feel like a secondary character in each story.

This is not the case with Final Fantasy XIV. You are the hero. Your avatar is present in almost all cinematics. As long as you remain silent, you are at the center of the drama. It makes me involved in the history of the game in a way that World of Warcraft never manages. At first, I tried to keep my original habit of listening to podcasts when I returned to FFXIV. It was impossible because I focused on the story. In World of Warcraft, I could barely be bothered to read dialogs.

A story not to forget

Final Fantasy XIV still has dungeons and other multiplayer content, but it's his experience as a single player that sets him apart. This sounds like a great role-playing story, which is even better than the stories of many other Final Fantasy games. As much as I liked the fighting systems in Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XIV easily beat them in the story department.

This does not mean that FFXIV does not have a good fight. This is good. Yes, it's typical of MMO shortcut bars, but I like playing with my dark wizard, dancing between ice spells (which are weak but help me recover mana) and fires (which are more strong but cost a ton of mana). Final Fantasy XIV is also gorgeous and features incredible designs of enemies and bosses that have the kind of detail and quality of animation that make them a remarkable leap from what aging World of Warcraft can do. of.

I do not want to keep on cracking for WoW, which I really like at the moment thanks to patch 8.2. But Final Fantasy XIV often excels where WoW lacks, especially in the narrative department.

Right now, I'm in the middle of Heavensward. Everyone loves Shadowbringers, but I'm not tempted to use a character boost. I do not want to prevent you from seeing this story evolve naturally, from expansion to expansion. That means I'll be late for the Stormblood party, but I agree with that. My character still has a long way to go before he gets there, and I do not want to miss him.