Within the wake of saving the universe from a time-ending calamity, the query that continues to be for the world of Last Fantasy XIV after the occasions of 2021’s Endwalker growth is: How will we transfer on? This query units up the quests instantly following Endwalker’s climax to turn out to be an arc that completely acts as an epilogue to the whole lot that got here earlier than, punctuated by a superb character within the type of newcomer Zero. With a decade-long overarching narrative additionally having come to an finish in Endwalker, the post-expansion “patch quests” function an awesome blueprint for the way forward for the sport.
To get it out of the best way, I do know I’m late to the occasion. As I’ve documented already, I’ve not too long ago been making my approach by means of FF14’s many expansions and haven’t fairly made it to Dawntrail but. Put up-expansion patch quests are nothing new. As expansions usually have two to 3 years between them, the staff at Sq. Enix doles out smaller story and content material updates to tide gamers over. With previous expansions, these patch quests have typically labored in two elements. The primary wraps up the story of the previous growth and the second units up the subsequent. For Endwalker’s patch quests, the staff had a singular alternative to buck that components, because the growth’s launch served as its personal finale and an ending to the overarching Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga of the MMO’s previous ten years. That meant that the Endwalker patch quests might be their very own contained story.
The brand new freedom turns the post-Endwalker quests right into a mini-expansion of its personal. They introduce new characters, locales, dungeons, and a giant dangerous for Warriors of Gentle to cope with. However, in order to not begin solely from scratch, the story offers with the Void, a world engulfed by darkness that has come up infrequently previously. It’s a setting that has at all times appeared prime for an growth, and whereas this isn’t fairly that, the smaller strategy works to its profit.
The Void is a world misplaced. Now engulfed by darkness and ravaged by beasts corrupted by that energy, it’s successfully past saving. It’s a distinction to a lot of what we’ve encountered previously of FF14. Shadowbringers launched us to a world known as the First, which was engulfed by mild and on the point of demise, however might be pulled again with our assist. Right here, nevertheless, we’re confronted with a world that our limitless heroics can’t do a lot for. It’s there that we encounter certainly one of its denizens, Zero. Like the opposite inhabitants of the void she is cursed to a deathless existence. Within the years since her world was misplaced she has shed lots of her reminiscences, and her humanity with it. After we first meet Zero she is a chilly, uncaring one who has one thing in widespread with Endwalker’s antagonist; each see existence as an limitless cycle of struggling with little to justify it. But as a result of she can’t die, Zero can’t get the remaining she yearns for.
The majority of the post-Endwalker patch quests see us dragging Zero round as we attempt to rescue an ally from the Void whereas additionally managing restoration efforts after the nearly-avoided apocalypse on our personal world. In distinction to your complete MMO’s story as much as that time, the Endwalker patches relegate your hero, the Warrior of Gentle, to a supporting position. That is Zero’s story, and it’s a great one. After spending a whole growth crammed with existential dread and defeatism, serving to somebody who has given up hope for a greater life is extremely cathartic. It’s mainly a narrative about studying the ability of friendship, a cliché thought if ever there was one, however it does this with sharp writing and great character moments for its main woman, and let’s be actual, Last Fantasy has by no means been delicate with its themes.
The story additionally parallels Zero’s journey with that of the folks of your world. In life, Zero was a loner who believed she couldn’t belief anybody and needed to work to avoid wasting the world on her personal. It’s the identical drawback that the patch quests’ major villain has, however it’s additionally one that everyone making an attempt to get again to a traditional life goes by means of. That is finest exemplified whenever you go to the folks of Garlemald, a now-fallen nation that lengthy served because the MMO’s evil empire. Now, they’re beneath occupation from you and your allies, and whilst you have one of the best intentions, they’re not so prepared to just accept your support. Each side have to put apart their delight to maneuver ahead collectively, as it’s the solely approach they’ll each rebuild. The state of affairs has a profound impact on Zero, who displays on her personal selection to show down the assistance of a pair of heroes hoping to stave off the tip of their world earlier than it turned the Void.
In the end it’s revealed that the surviving member of the duo she encountered so way back is the arc’s huge villain, Golbez. It’s a poignant second for Zero, by which she realizes how a lot her closed-off lifestyle has impacted these round her. She isn’t liable for the Void solely, however she does really feel a brand new sense of guilt and missed alternative. If solely she might have reached out a hand again then. The patch quests don’t fairly stick the touchdown of their predictable finish to the battle at play, however as a personality research of Zero, it excels. When Zero is lastly in a position to deliver a spark of sunshine to the Void, it’s a mirrored image of how we’ve introduced a spark of hope into her life as nicely.
Although there’s solely about half as many quests right here, they convey a way of narrative impression and journey worthy of a full Last Fantasy 14 growth. Following Endwalker, I nearly hoped that smaller, extra targeted tales turned the brand new norm for the MMO. After all, that isn’t what occurred, and proper now hundreds of gamers are exploring the grand new growth, Dawntrail. However based mostly on what I’ve been listening to about its construction, it could at occasions really feel extra such as you’re taking part in a sequence of episodic mini-expansions, and to me, that seems like a great factor.
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