So! Now that you’ve seen what I thought of Shadowbringers in the 10 days before Shane and I started the story, let me tell you about my experiences with the expansion itself!
HEADS UP
I'm going to do my best to avoid spoilers, but there may be mild, unintentional ones below.
First of all, holy moly the map size.
The first thing I noticed when I reached the first city was just how massive the map is. You can tell how far we’ve come in terms of computing power since the days of A Realm Reborn, for sure.
Kholusia, for example, instead of being three maps with their own aetherytes like you’d see in the original areas, is all one map with three aetherytes.
Same with the Crystarium, which I’m pretty sure in any other expansion would have been at least a two-zone city like Uldah.
The actual design is absolutely stunning.
I know I can be a little biased in terms of overexposed photos, which is basically what the entire world of Norvrandt is, but still. The party my eyes held when I saw the Crystarium for the first time was real.
I was entirely sure that I wanted the new housing area for Shadowbringers to be in Ishgard until I saw that beautifully shabby-chic, mildly steampunk city and let me tell you.
Every part of my heart that loves brick-walled lofts and exposed beams hopes that’s what we get.
The story is by far my favourite.
This is the first time Final Fantasy has ever let the player act as the Warrior of Darkness instead of Light, so my expectations were high for the story going in.
I’m maybe 10 quests in or so, and so far, it’s exceeding every expectation I had.
No spoilers, just…it’s amazing. Heartbreaking, but well, that’s just Final Fantasy, isn’t it?
I can’t wait to see what else is in store with Shadowbringers, and I also can’t wait to share more of it with you! I especially want to dig into the new build for my machinist, so stay tuned for that soon.
YOUR TURN
One thought on “Into the night: My first impression of Shadowbringers”
I’m really liking it so far! You’re right that it’s great to have Crystarium all accessible in one area without loading screens. The story so far is solid and the new areas are wonderful. I’ve spent a lot of time gposing in Il Mheg because of just how gorgeous it is 🙂