Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Diary - Weeks 3-5
Oops. I kind of neglected this for a few weeks now. Well, if it makes you feel better it's not because I was shirking my personal responsibilities within this game, no no, I was actually so engrossed in this game that I was playing it a bit too much, and not really making time for much else. And in the process I became so focused on hitting level 60, and getting my item level up to snuff to run Alexander, I kind of forgot to do anything else. So what have I been up to in Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward? Check it out after the jump.
At about week three, I managed to clear the main story content of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. And the final boss fight for this expansion pack is so ridiculously cool, but I avoided screenshots just to make sure I didn't spoil anything. What's funny about this expansion is how many references to past Final Fantasy games exist here, and the final boss even has a special attack that manages to out-epic the attack it is named after. The storyline thus far has actually been stronger than the entirety of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It has bits of narration, the characters have a lot more dialogue that feels like it builds them as characters, especially when you track down members of the Scions.
I've cleared all of the available dungeons that are available through patch 3.05, although I'm not quite at the level to be doing the EX Boss Fights, or Alexander Savage, I'm currently gearing up for a fight against EX Bismarck, which has been a thorn in the side of my Free Company for a few weeks now. The level 60 dungeons, Neverreap, and The Fractal Continuum are both fun dungeons, and have some enjoyable mechanics to them. Having to be aware of the edges of a boss arena for a normal dungeon instead of a Primal fight makes for a tense but satisfying battle.
Alexander is proving to be quite the challenge and is actually doing a pretty good job of weeding out the players who like to skip mechanics in fights. It's actually kind of disheartening to do the raids from A Realm Reborn, as the Crystal Tower is always a mess now, with people constantly trying to skip mechanics and causing group wipes because of it. Meanwhile speaking of skipping mechanics, it's interesting to try and take down dungeons without using the proper party make-up. It's a fun challenge, and I find that I need to make rather specific builds, where sometimes I'll need to switch off bard and go back to archer to make things work.
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward has been worth the investment in both time and money. The content has been great from start to finish, and the story is going in a great direction. Hopefully the post launch content is able to maintain this level of quality. If you've been curious about whether or not to get Heavensward, I have to say that you really should get it, although if you're still not through all of the content from up to patch 2.55, then it might be worth holding off as the Heavensward content cannot be accessed until the main story is complete. Otherwise, go get this expansion, do it now.
