Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker Review

00:00:03.760[Music]

00:00:05.200from the very beginning the big cosmic

00:00:07.839conflict between the semi-deities

00:00:09.519heidelin and zodiarch has been at the

00:00:11.440heart of final fantasy 14 story and

00:00:14.240incredibly the end walker expansion

00:00:16.320delivers a powerful ending to that story

00:00:18.720and one that should remove any doubt

00:00:20.400that square enix's mmorpg spins one of

00:00:23.519the best final fantasy tales to date all

00:00:26.320of that comes with a small but potent

00:00:27.920set of new classes and some outstanding

00:00:30.240boss battles

00:00:31.550[Music]

00:00:39.280end walker picks up right where 2019's

00:00:41.280phenomenal shadowbringers expansion left

00:00:43.440off eventually resolving many unanswered

00:00:45.840questions in satisfying ways here the

00:00:48.320warrior of light heads out with the

00:00:49.760scions of the seventh dawn as they hunt

00:00:51.920for a way to destroy towers that the

00:00:53.760nefarious aseans have summoned to bring

00:00:56.000about the end of the world the following

00:00:58.39950 or so hour journey takes us to many

00:01:00.399locations we've heard mentioned but

00:01:01.840never visited be they the scholarly city

00:01:04.080state of charlene the south asia

00:01:06.159inspired island of thavenir or the

00:01:08.240frozen waste of garlemald and yes in

00:01:11.280walker eventually takes us to the moon

00:01:13.680but if you want an idea of how wild it

00:01:15.680gets that's not even the craziest of

00:01:17.840places you'll go one great strength of

00:01:19.759van walker's story is how successfully

00:01:21.680it subverts ideas of how this year's

00:01:23.920long story would come to an end while

00:01:26.240it's overall less personal than what we

00:01:28.240saw in shadowbringers its strongest

00:01:30.320moments are those that highlight the

00:01:31.840impact of war and strife at an

00:01:33.920individual level in the process the

00:01:36.640writing ventures in the dark places that

00:01:38.720other mmo stories would hesitate to go

00:01:41.119and it handles them well

00:01:43.280its moments with the main villains

00:01:44.880initially come off as a tad weaker but

00:01:47.119the ending brings their arcs to

00:01:48.479conclusions that are both surprising and

00:01:50.799satisfying

00:01:52.780[Music]

00:01:55.840end walker's story works so well in part

00:01:58.000because it's carried by carefully

00:01:59.600crafted cutscenes so extensive that they

00:02:02.399often last 15 minutes or more you could

00:02:05.360skip them technically but the voiced

00:02:07.280ones in particular

00:02:08.479are so integral to the plot that doing

00:02:10.959so runs the risk of missing out on

00:02:12.879essential information or finding

00:02:14.879yourself in strange new places with no

00:02:17.120idea of how you got there taken together

00:02:19.680they take longer to watch than whole

00:02:21.520seasons of many popular tv shows but

00:02:24.239it's a testament to the strength of in

00:02:26.000walker's writing that only a few feel

00:02:28.239like a drag to watch was your curt

00:02:30.239dismissal truly the best you could offer

00:02:32.560much of your time outside the cutscenes

00:02:34.640involves simply running from one point

00:02:36.480to another the advantage of this

00:02:38.640approach is that the storyline isn't

00:02:40.400tarnished by the ridiculous scenarios

00:02:42.480other mmos come up with to justify

00:02:44.959asking you to kill x of y enemy and many

00:02:47.920quests of non-combat objectives some of

00:02:50.640these work better than others my

00:02:52.640favorite style of new quest simply has

00:02:54.480you walking around with npcs and

00:02:56.400chatting with them for a bit of extra

00:02:57.840lore

00:02:58.800less successful are the new stealth

00:03:00.800missions that make you trail in npc but

00:03:03.519end immediately if your quarry spots you

00:03:06.000no one liked those in the old assassin's

00:03:07.840creed games and are no better here

00:03:10.080the absolute worst quest technically

00:03:12.159involves little more than finding

00:03:13.760specific people to chat with in a

00:03:15.440village but they're sometimes so hard to

00:03:18.080find that i felt like i spent half an

00:03:20.080hour on it

00:03:21.200mercifully such moments are rare in end

00:03:23.360walker and their memory is often swiftly

00:03:25.519shoved aside with some awe-inspiring

00:03:27.599sight or a tear-jerker cutscene

00:03:34.000square enix complements this masterful

00:03:36.000storytelling with some of the most

00:03:37.440intriguing combat classes it's

00:03:39.440introduced in years so far my favorite

00:03:41.920is the reaper a surprisingly intuitive

00:03:44.560dps class that swooshes through enemies

00:03:46.799with a gigantic slide and calls upon a

00:03:49.360rafe to aid in battle it's flashy it's

00:03:51.760heavy hitting and yet it's surprisingly

00:03:53.519simple and it's a fun new way for

00:03:55.280newcomers to finish their journey to the

00:03:56.879new level cap of 90. the new sage job is

00:04:00.000considerably more challenging as it's

00:04:01.920all about keeping barriers on allies and

00:04:04.239healing friends by doing damage to

00:04:06.720enemies it plays like a combination of

00:04:09.040scholar and white mage and honestly i'm

00:04:11.599still getting the hang of it but i can

00:04:13.439tell from watching more experienced

00:04:14.959healers that it's a rewarding powerhouse

00:04:17.040in the right hands

00:04:22.240beyond that ian walker doesn't add much

00:04:24.560to the traditional final fantasy 14

00:04:26.560gameplay the bosses for trials and

00:04:28.560dungeons are some of the best i've ever

00:04:30.160fought in this game but the dungeons

00:04:32.160themselves still involve little more

00:04:33.759than jogging down a very pretty corridor

00:04:35.919from one boss to the next considering

00:04:38.000some of the places we go in in walker

00:04:40.160i'm surprised square enix wasn't more

00:04:41.840creative with their design fortunately

00:04:43.919end walker does much to make up for the

00:04:45.600absence of big new features with a pile

00:04:48.080of welcome quality of life improvements

00:04:50.160some are small like the way many maps

00:04:52.160now pop up when you use the fast travel

00:04:54.080network in cities others are more

00:04:56.080substantial such as how the pile of

00:04:58.240abilities needed for gathering

00:04:59.759collectibles has been replaced by an

00:05:01.600intuitive mini-game even combat classes

00:05:04.320got some much-needed love summoner for

00:05:07.039instance went from being one of the most

00:05:09.039complicated dps classes to one of the

00:05:11.680simplest while retaining everything that

00:05:14.160made it appealing in the first place and

00:05:16.320then some

00:05:17.520i'm especially pleased that my samurai's

00:05:19.600aoe rotation is simpler and monks no

00:05:22.160longer have to worry as much about

00:05:24.400standing in specific spots to deal the

00:05:26.400most damage

00:05:26.960[Music]

00:05:31.120end walker delivers a powerful emotional

00:05:33.680story with some bold choices but it's

00:05:36.240important to understand that you'll get

00:05:37.840the most out of it if you've been with

00:05:39.759these characters from the beginning and

00:05:41.759with roughly 50 hours of story piled on

00:05:44.800the hundreds and the expansions that

00:05:46.400came before it its barrier to entry is

00:05:48.880now so high that well it almost reaches

00:05:51.360the moon but if you've been on that

00:05:53.360journey for a while now this is an

00:05:55.520expansion well worth seeing to its end

00:05:58.319packed with meaningful story cut scenes

00:06:00.400and unforgettable new zones and walker

00:06:02.880marks a satisfying conclusion of final

00:06:04.960fantasy 14 story as we've known it until

00:06:07.759now

00:06:08.639while it doesn't introduce many new

00:06:10.479gameplay elements it does deliver two

00:06:12.880new excellent dps and healing jobs that

00:06:15.440should appeal to both new and

00:06:16.800experienced players and some of the best

00:06:19.520boss battles we've seen in this decade

00:06:21.360old game

00:06:22.479if this is how final fantasy xiv show

00:06:24.800runners end the story then i'm more than

00:06:27.120ready to walk with them from the

00:06:28.400beginning to the end of the next one

00:06:33.280[Music]

00:06:36.800for more on final fantasy watch our tour

00:06:39.360of some of in walker's new areas and a

00:06:41.600review of 2019's expansion shadow

00:06:44.240bringers and for everything else

00:06:47.039stick with ign

00:06:50.670[Music]

00:06:51.060[Applause]