Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is the game's most ambitious expansion yet and feels like both a fitting ending and a new beginning all at once.

Despite a few flaws, Endwalker is a fantastic end to the current story arc of Final Fantasy XIV.

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.

It’s bittersweet and difficult to come to the end of a tale, especially if you’ve been following it for over a decade. Doing so must have been especially for the team behind Final Fantasy 14, which ends the current core story arc in Endwalker, its latest expansion, released officially on December 7 (and with early access on the 3rd).

Following a reboot and three exceptional expansions, Final Fantasy XIV’s fourth add-on, Endwalker, has a lot to live up to, especially as it’s billed as the conclusion to the storyline that’s been brewing since the defunct 1.0 release. I’m happy to report Endwalker masterfully delivers a dense narrative full of exciting twists, wonderful character moments, and well-designed battles. Its culmination offers a satisfying conclusion to the conflict between deities Hydaelyn and Zodiark and other threads that have been unfolding for well over a decade.

Endwalker may not outdo the previous expansion, Shadowbringers — a high point for the entire Final Fantasy series — but it ultimately has very different aims. Even as it ends the game’s first story arc, it has me looking forward to what’s next. For all its lofty ambitions, this operatic conclusion to a decade-long story peaks when focusing on how its core characters keep each other standing, even as the world falls down around them.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker succeeds in its most important mandate from the fans: delivering a proper and satisfying ending to the Hydaelyn and Zodiarc saga.

Endwalker concludes Final Fantasy XIV's decade-long story - and what a story it has been.

Naoki Yoshida and his team should be commended for the incredible amount of world building and story telling that they’ve been able to pull off for, now, over ten years. Final Fantasy XIV continues to be a game that we would recommend everyone experiences. That is, as soon as the game stops being so popular that it’s able to resumes sales.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker concludes a near 10-year storyline and does so in a layered and symbolic way.

When I started playing Final Fantasy XIV back in 2019, I wasn’t actually initially hooked. I wasn’t really an MMO player, and A Realm Reborn was kind of a sluggish bore for a good chunk of its run. But I persevered because I did like parts of the story, and other elements like simply being able to change class without creating a new character made the MMO aspects a lot easier to swallow. By the time I was finished with Heavenward in late 2020, however, I was hooked and finished up with Sh...