Ultimate Fantasy 14 is over 10 years previous and gamers are ending up its latest enlargement, Dawntrail. With six expansions, together with A Realm Rebron, Ultimate Fantasy 14 is one among gaming’s biggest comeback tales. From a critically-panned launch to turning into one of many greatest video games of all time for Sq. Enix, all of it was due to the persistently wonderful work from the builders.
However which enlargement reigns supreme? With so many to select from, and every enlargement with its personal distinctive traits, it is onerous to decide on. However we have gotten collectively to rank each Ultimate Fantasy 14 enlargement to seek out out which one we liked most.
So hit the soar to see our favourite expansions in Ultimate fantasy 14 under.
Ultimate Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn
The story of Ultimate Fantasy 14’s rise from the ashes is well-documented. Following a disastrous launch, producer Naoki Yoshida took reins on the challenge and rebooted the sport with A Realm Reborn, which accurately destroyed the world of the launch recreation, and constructed on prime of it the beloved MMORPG we all know and love at present.
A Realm Reborn was a two-fold challenge that mounted the irritating gameplay and RPG programs of the launch model whereas telling a narrative that actually incorporates the destruction of the launch model into the broader narrative. And whereas A Realm Reborn fairly actually saved FF14, the necessity to reboot a complete MMO and reintroduce gamers to the sport is its biggest weak spot. In comparison with later expansions, A Realm Reborn feels downright glacial in terms of pacing, and the necessity to revamp the world means its story is much extra bloated than it must be in later expansions. Whereas A Realm Reborn will at all times be cherished for saving Sq. Enix’s MMORPG, you’ll be hard-pressed to say the later expansions aren’t higher. – Matt Kim
Ultimate Fantasy 14: Stormblood
Stormblood is usually checked out as one of many lesser-liked expansions, which, to me, speaks to how robust the remainder of them are. That’s as a result of Stormblood remains to be an important piece to Ultimate Fantasy 14 that labored to conclude long-standing conflicts and present you simply how evil and damaging the Garlean Empire was. I vividly keep in mind the sensation of taking again Ala Mhigo in spite of everything these years of them being below Garlean rule, and taking again Doma Citadel after seeing how Domans had suffered from the occupation. There are moments by which Stormblood undercuts its personal messaging and maybe didn’t absolutely discover the nuance essential to elegantly inform a politically charged story. Nevertheless, it will get the bigger image proper, and the liberation of the peoples throughout the completely different areas was invigorating nonetheless.
Stormblood’s zones won’t be probably the most thrilling of the bunch, however there’s a tranquility I nonetheless really feel when flying throughout the Ruby Sea, over the plains of Azim Steppe, and previous the rice patties in Yangxia. I typically replicate on the tales of oppression and revolt in these moments due to the smaller tales instructed all through the enlargement. I additionally keep in mind Yotsuyu as one of the complicated villains of FF14 – her heartbreaking story represents how sadistic and corrupting dwelling below oppression might be, which culminated in top-of-the-line boss fights to at the present time. Stormblood might not have been one of the best enlargement, nevertheless it had peaks that make FF14 what it’s at present. – Michael Higham
Ultimate Fantasy 14: Dawntrail
With Dawntrail recent in my reminiscence, it’s a bit onerous to gauge its place within the Ultimate Fantasy 14 pantheon, however even with all its implications but to be explored, it nonetheless stands as a worthy addition to the MMO’s lengthy historical past. The land of Tural opens FF14 to so many alternative themes and cultural influences it wasn’t capable of incorporate previously, and though it does include some blended outcomes, the colourful basis it lays leaves much more room for development. Newcomer Wuk Lamat is a big focus and though she’s not the strongest character in FF14, she has the center needed to hold out Dawntrail’s message of discovering peace via mutual respect and embracing our variations.
Dawntrail’s lasting legacy is within the second half of its story the place issues flip in unpredictable instructions. Its fusion of references to historic civilizations, its Latin American roots, and the old-timey American West by some means make sense after they conflict with the cyberpunk-tinged sci-fi parts that finally come to the forefront. It’s capable of contact on traditional Ultimate Fantasy narrative themes from a recent perspective. We explored the depths of the ache we really feel from shedding the issues we love most throughout Shadowbringers and Endwalker, however the best way Dawntrail contextualizes mortality is powerfully intimate. In its finest moments, Dawntrail might be as impactful as the rest present in FF14, and for that alone, this enlargement deserves its flowers. – MH
Ultimate Fantasy 14: Endwalker
Endwalker is the fruits of a 10-year lengthy story arc for Ultimate Fantasy 14. From the times of A Realm Reborn, gamers grew to become embroiled in a celestial battle between the gods Hydaelin and Zodiark. Beset within the real-world by a world pandemic that delayed the enlargement by a yr, Endwalker was a reward for gamers who caught with the MMORPG from its earliest days who can now see the conclusion to a long-running storyline.
The stakes have been excessive however Endwalker is FF14’s most emotional enlargement so far, reinforcing Ultimate Fantasy 14’s core themes of how friendship and braveness can overcome even the best challenges. And with a lot of Ultimate Fantasy 14 now playable in single-player, a brand new participant may play from A Realm Reborn via Endwalker and really feel that they’ve completed top-of-the-line Ultimate Fantasy video games of all time.
However fortunately, Endwalker is just not the tip of FF14, and the most recent enlargement, Dawntrail, is setting the stage for the subsequent 10 years of Sq. Enix’s beloved MMORPG. – MK
Ultimate Fantasy 14: Heavensward
What a distinction an enlargement makes. Free from the necessity to repair a complete MMORPG, Ultimate Fantasy 14’s subsequent enlargement after A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, is ready to soar proper into the motion. With the Warriors of Gentle on the run, they escape to the frozen, holy land of Ishgard which has been too busy embroiled in a warfare in opposition to dragons to do a lot in Eorzea.
What’s instantly obvious in Heavensward is that it rapidly establishes the themes and storytelling the FF14 crew appears to experience: dramatic, excessive fantasy that harkens again to the previous pixel video games like Ultimate Fantasy 6. Heavensward is such a throwback to the traditional sword and sorcery fantasy of early Ultimate Fantasy video games, whereas additionally introducing the darkish courtly politics that might make George R.R. Martin grin. If A Realm Reborn took a variety of time to get going, Heavensward is action-packed virtually from the soar and from there units the bar for all later FF14 expansions.
To cite FromSoftware, the actual Ultimate Fantasy 14 begins with Heavensward. – MK
Ultimate Fantasy 14: Shadowbringers
Ultimate Fantasy 14 actually discovered its voice in Shadowbringers. Lead author Natsuko Ishikawa stepped into the function and her poetic storytelling fashion gave the enlargement its identification, specializing in its characters with a degree of depth and emotional sincerity by no means earlier than seen in FF14. From the second you step into The First, there’s an instantaneous sense of urgency that units the tone for a way dire the flood of sunshine has been on all the realm, flipping the script on typical gentle versus darkish tales. And in horrifying methods, leaned on exhibiting somewhat than telling.
Shadowbringers captured its grand moments with a weight and pleasure that few RPGs are capable of pull off. It earns these moments by constructing characters just like the Crystal Exarch, Ardbert, and Emet Selch in a posh net of heroes and villains to hold its heavier themes, and contextualize despair and tragedy in a world separate from something we’d recognized in Eorzea. FF14 started to ask the large questions on loss, grief, and the lengths folks will go to protect the issues that matter most to them, and did so with nuance.
And if we need to depend the post-launch content material, Patch 5.3 capped off what was already top-of-the-line tales within the sequence with one other unimaginable conclusion, reaching a top that I don’t suppose FF14 will ever have the ability to prime. My treasured crystal cat boy gave his all to avoid wasting a realm, and all of my Scion pals have been there to witness his greatness as he immortalized his life’s work on the Seat of Sacrifice. From its writing and narrative themes to its music and visible storytelling, Shadowbringers not solely proved itself as peak FF14, it’s arguably peak Ultimate Fantasy. – MH
These are our rankings for our favourite Ultimate Fantasy 14 expansions. Tell us under within the feedback which expansions are your favorites.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor. You’ll be able to attain him @lawoftd.
