Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Reviews
Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker expansion brings its longest story arc to a satisfying close and cements its place as one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever told.
A great but sometimes messy send-off for a decade-long story.
Endwalker rounds out a decade of swirling story developments and character arcs with a triumphant finale, ensuring Final Fantasy 14's legacy as one of the best MMOs ever made.
Endwalker caps off a story over a decade in the making in spectacular fashion and cements it as one of the series' best entries.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker reaches for the stars with its ambition and gets there--but not without a few turbulent hiccups along the way.
Perhaps the other somewhat related issue is that the game often drags things out unnecessarily, particularly in service of the main story. A number of main story quest chains in the back half of the game's plot seem as if they will never end; a constant series of either Wal-Mart runs to get soda and chips for some NPC, or worse, a string of "go here, right click to talk, 10 minutes of dialogue, repeat four times" situations that absolutely destroy the plot's momentum.
As usual, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is worth playing through in full if you’re into the story. I still hope that one day — I’m talking a decade-plus from now — Square Enix preserves this tale by any means necessary, even with a single-player rework. It’s timeless, and exceeds the quality of many other mainline games in the series. Whether you stick around for the theme park rides afterward is entirely up to you. The rides I’m going on still have some life left in them.
Once you're past the horrendously long queues to actually get into the game, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker was an almost flawless experience. This conclusion to a decade-long tale is told with a visual, musical and narrative artistry that isn't often seen in any medium. Endwalker doesn't quite reach the heights of earlier parts of the series, but it sure as hell ends the current arc with a bang and everyone involved with this game should feel damn proud of themselves.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is the perfect sendoff to a saga that was started over a decade ago.
Not only does Endwalker offer a satisfying conclusion to one chapter of Final Fantasy XIV, but it creates an amazing foundation for the MMO’s future. Endwalker will ensure that Final Fantasy XIV’s recent meteoric rise won’t come crashing back down to earth any time soon. Final Fantasy XIV’s prospects are over the moon.
Despite a few flaws, Endwalker is a fantastic end to the current story arc of Final Fantasy XIV.
"...aside from some pacing issues and a few blown payoffs, Endwalker delivers a conclusion worthy of the thousands of hours fans have poured into the game so far and plants the seeds for more adventures to come."
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker caps off a lengthy story arc in the best way possible. The main quest has tons of unexpected twists and turns with satisfying payoff for fans both new and old. Sage and Reaper are a ton of fun to play and the new dungeons and trials will put your skills to the test. If you're not already playing, you should be.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is a satisfying conclusion to ten years' worth of stories. It is rife with hundreds of hours' worth of content, tight gameplay, and a fully realized world to explore. MMORPG and Final Fantasy fans will not want to miss out on this epic finale.
As a long time fan it fills me with so much joy to see this story come together so well. Along with the new jobs, amazing new zones, and some much appreciated gameplay tweaks, this is potentially the best expansion we've seen for Final Fantasy XIV yet.
While Endwalker fails to eclipse Shadowbringers in most areas, it succeeds in what is by far its most important mandate: properly ending this extremely long storyline in an incredibly satisfying way. It’s a solid tale from start to finish. The expansion adds beautiful new areas, well-constructed new jobs, and all in all, ticks off everything that you want a Final Fantasy XIV expansion to do with the level of polish that players have come to expect. So take a deep breath Final Fantasy XIV fans, Endwalker is fantastic.
Final Fantasy XIV closes its first colossal story arc with an exceptional expansion. The sense of completeness once you reach the end credits is tangible, and the mere fact that we are talking about the expansion of an MMOPRG in these terms should give you an idea of the incredible work done by Naoki Yoshida and his team.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Endwalker isn’t a conclusion to the Final Fantasy 14 saga by any means, as the team has previously expressed. It’s an intense and heartfelt “thank-you” letter to the fans who have put time, money, and heart into the MMORPG all these years. This expansion is a lofty, ambitious epic that ties together story threads, characters, and powerful themes in a way that only a story so trusting of its players can pull off. It’s not perfect, but Endwalker’s tale feels so authentically conveyed, even despite how big FFXIV has become, that many players will feel like it might as well be.
An expansion that's better than it has any right to be, Endwalker succeeds at wrapping up a decade-long story arc providing a satisfying send-off for players.