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a dedicated page for the critically-acclaimed MMORPG FFXIV with an expanded free trial that goes up to level 70 with unlimited playtime and includes the award-winning expansions Heavensward and Stormblood, now also on xbox. beware of spoilers and self-indulgent headcanons.

status: post DT grind
how it started: the pandemic started in March 2020 for us here in the east, I joined a discord chat, made some cool online friends, and in August of the same year, finally started the free trial. played it on-off until October/November, then the EW trailer dropped and i was so fucking impressed i bought all the expacs and pre-ordered EW before even finishing the free trial. i made friends, got better at art and now we're here.

inspired by another ffxiv player on the (not) bird app, here is a relationship chart of sorts for all characters up to patch 6.55. go here for the cringe art i made for them.

expansion	overall	distress level is how i measure how good a story is
A Realm Reborn	⭐⭐⭐	as far as jrpgs go, pretty basic, and that's ok. the base MSQ has a few horrors here and there, then they amp it up at the end of the patch (rip Wilred). the Crystal Braves portion is insane - i was legit fearful for the scions who joined the braves (please no second Waking Sands massacre).
Heavensward	⭐⭐⭐⭐	i call this 'roadtrip expac with dragons'. at the end my heart got broken so bad i couldn't stand to listen to the expac music after finishing base MSQ. i was given the "enjoy cutscene" treatment by an online friend who ran the dungeon with me... what a fool i was. "i thought you knew!" "i knew he was going to die, but not when!" was the conversation in a nutshell. wish i could dig up the discord chat because it was funny as hell. this expac has a very specific kind of banger music, but it might not seem much compared to newer expacs. it has a 24-man raid that fuck people up to this day, introduced Alexander and its banging raid music, and also gave us DRK. the patches are epic and sad at the same time (i'm talking about Baelsar's Wall and Revenge Twofold).
Stormblood	⭐⭐⭐⭐	it is at this time that i realized: for those who started in Gridania, the accomapnying scions never made it to the end with you. this is 'roadtrip expac but horrors of war', just a sad MSQ all round. at least we have Ivalice raids though! my toxic trait is that i hard-queue the raids for fun. i don't care if i ruin your roulette, i want to run Ivalice raid! the amazing Omega raids concluded with a cute NPC hunt for everyone who completed the storyline (Alpha and Omega around the world), plus an extra sidequest in EW. was not a big fan of Eureka because of the leveling so i'm not done with it yet, but i look forward to the Baldesion Arsenal and Ozma.
Shadowbringers	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	i sped through ShB to prep for EW, but i can still remember most of the story beats - which tells you how good the expac is. of course i'm not just talking about the shipping/simping aspect... but it is a big part of why it wrecked me, the other being the whole last potion - phantom Amaurot. the optional content is fun, but i have mixed feelings about the story. Nier raids absolutely wrecked me (it coincides with what my WoL was going through in MSQ); Eden raids are pretty cute; i can't say much for STQ storyline because i don't have the energy to finish it (yet); weapons storyline... eh, the story could be better (it's not the right kind of sad).
Endwalker	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	this expac has a lot of buildup and a lot of story treads are supposed to be resolved here. personally i think it wrapped up fine. oh and it managed to make me cry halfway thorugh MSQ at lvl85. then proceeded to gut punch me with the Elpis segment. it's the first time you're meeting these people and yet it feels like you've known them for a long, long time... then you are forced to leave your new old friends behind, fight the mothercrystal who loves you all very dearly, then... anyways, nobody is immune to crying when listening to Flow. Pandae raids wrecked me (again); twelve raids are interesting but the ending is kinna ehhh.
Dawntrail	⭐⭐⭐	people are divided about the story, but there's nothing to complain about and i enjoyed it. there's a few emotional beats in the middle of MSQ, but everything pales in comparison to the last zone. spent aorund 2 hours crying until it's time for bed, just to wake up the next day and do the same thing for more hours. it's that good. people can hate on the story but no one said a bad thing about the duties.