The first expansion for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, titled Heavensward, is out. But as we and many other reviewers have already discovered, Square Enix has taken a bit of a different approach to implementing new content compared to other MMORPGs.
Instead of jumping ahead and getting straight to that content like other MMORPGs do, the makers of Heavensward want us to first go through everything they've already developed, which includes the original campaign, A Realm Reborn, and all of the content added in several major patches—all of which added massive new arcs.
Square Enix intends to tell one big contiguous story and it's one that's well written, well localized, and interesting. Over the course of the story, you see your organization and character grow, and witness seeds previously planted sprout and bloom into full fledged elements, including those that hinted at this expansion, that are part of an all encompassing, and very engrossing story.
Most MMORPG expansions act as resets—entry points for new players or attempts to draw back old players with new content. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward isn't quite like that. It's a continuation of all that’s come before. As such, the world they’ve built breathes in a way many others don’t.
Compared to other games within the genre, Final Fantasy XIV also takes a more personal, cinematic approach. You’re not just one nameless character in a world of nameless people and organizations. You, as do they all, grow in experience and recognition. In this sense, experiencing the story isn’t too different from playing a single-player RPG, except there are other players to adventure with.
Due to the way Final Fantasy XIV’s story is structured, reaching Heavensward’s campaign means putting in a lot of time into building your character and advancing the plot to the point where you can experience its content. It crafts a better narrative overall, through a more personal story as opposed to one that feels disconnected from the rest of the game.
Given the amount of content A Realm Reborn offered in patches prior to the release of Heavensward, it’s plain to see that Square Enix invested a lot of effort into building the game well beyond its initial offering. In fact, taken together the patches could easily be an expansion of their own. The updates for A Realm Reborn added new campaigns, dungeons, items, side-quests (even continuations of existing ones) and even a new class—Rogues.
A possible downside to the story focus is that much of the game feels initially less social as players spend a lot of time going through these missions to get to the end. Beyond the quests, there are mandatory dungeons and trials that you have to go through, but fortunately raids aren't a part of the content you have to experience to get to Heavensward so the new content isn’t quite as gated as one might imagine.
The other downside is that to unlock the expansion’s, three new classes, you have to go through all of the aforementioned content. While it makes sense to see them locked from a story perspective, it’s nonetheless disappointing to find the Dark Knight, Mechanist, and Astrologian unplayable right away.
Square Enix is creating a world that continues to grow and change as you play it, at your own pace. In our own case, we’ve got a lot of work yet to do to reach Heavensward, but it’s one we don’t at all mind thanks to Final Fantasy XIV’s rich, well-localized plot. We’ll have more to share soon, so stay tuned for updates as we continue to make progress through the world of Eorzea.
Disclosure: Two copies of Final Fantasy XIV, Heavensward and 60 days of game time were provided to Gameranx by Square Enix for the purpose of review coverage.
