Final Fantasy: StormBlood New Tab for Chrome

The world of MMORPG is now far away from those old glory days. The MMORPGs, which were the kind of locomotives of the PC platform for a while, came to the brink of extinction and started to replace them with more casual but still online-oriented productions. The number of games that can still stand firmly in the MMORPG type does not exceed the fingers of a hand. If you need to give an example to these games, the first ones to come to our minds are World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online and Final Fantasy 14.

This is the only game that requires a monthly fee to play the game like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 14, but it is good to keep in mind, a game is a monthly fee, it has confidence in itself. Final Fantasy 14 is definitely a very confident construction. Even hundreds of hours of content, even with no additional version of the production, Heavensward content with the content has added, many innovations together with the players presented. Today’s subject is the new add-on package Stormblood of Final Fantasy 14.

In our review, we’ll take a short look at what Stormblood brings, new content and features, I say briefly, because I still haven’t reached the new level limit.

First of all, the most important innovations are of course the level limit. With our new add-on package Stormblood, our level limit of 60 has increased to 70. With the new level limit and stat increases, naturally our characters have become much stronger. We can now move to higher DPS levels, face more damage, and continue with more solid characters.

Another important innovation is the two new classes added to the game. One of these is Red Mage. As can be seen from their names, our class, which looks very nice with red capes, mixes white and black magic, and manages to present a very impressive performance in the range DPS. Red Mages that have become one of the most elegant characters of the game in the visual sense is one of the classes I would like to experience personally.

Another class is the Samurai class we all know well. The Samurai, which uses two hand held floors, are close to the DPS. Samurai, a class that loves to play DPS and who should not miss out on those who are interested in eastern culture, may even be enough reason to buy the StormBlood DLC by itself. If you’re thinking of buying the new DLC, I’d say don’t go without trying the Samurai. It is also necessary to underline that they have stopped very stylish.

Another important innovation of the Stormblood DLC is that it gives players greater mobility. With Heavensward’s DLC, the actors had explored the sky with their flying horses. In Stromblood, we know it now and we can dive deep into the water. Together with this talent, the world of Final Fantasy 14 has expanded to include the underwater areas and more remains to see.

Of course, the only new places that we can discover together with the Stormblood add-on package are not under water. In addition to the new additional package, many new zones have been added to the game. The most remarkable one is the city of Kugane, which is the capital of the new package. Kugane, which has its east here, seems to be beautiful enough to take us on a trip to the Far East.

Here, at last, the story shows us the sandy battlefields of beleaguered Ala Mhigo, which we’ve never seen since Final Fantasy XIV’s 2013 relaunch, even though it’s been the subject of frequent name-drops from the cast. The zone bookends the long leveling experience from levels 60 to 70, but in many ways it’s a sideshow to the stuffing in between. Stormblood is Final Fantasy XIV’s “Asian” expansion, and the shift in setting and culture seems to have spurred developer Square Enix to new heights of creativity. I saw the fruits of this creativity in the wild plains of the Azim Steppe, where tribes of Au Ra battled in the Mongolian-inspired Naadam to choose their ruler for the next year. I saw them in the towers and busy markets of the Japanese-inspired port of Kagane, the only port in the country open to foreigners.

Of course, the new regions are not limited to a single city, but new regions like Ala Mhigo and Doma are waiting for us. In addition, a new raid 8 Omega named many new dungeons, new equipment and armor, improved equipment bag and the new war system is also among the innovations of Stormblood. If you’re a Final Fantasy 14 player and like the game, you’re probably already playing Stormblood. No, if you’re not, you should play the normal game before you buy Stormblood, because the build is hundreds of hours even without additional packages.

The new combat gauges inject some clear meaning into the ability rotations for both classes. All classes have them now, but it’s clear that Square Enix spent the bulk of its creative resources on the Samurai and Red Mage. (I found my Monk’s gauges rather boring by comparison.)  In the case of the Samurai, perfectly executing three sets of combos lights up three icons on the screen, which then signal that it’s time to unleash a devastating single-target attack that chops away huge chunks of enemy health.

I especially like the system as it essentially becomes a game in itself, particularly when I’m trying to pull off the combos in the brilliant new dungeons and primal fights where success demands constant complicated dances. They’re some of Final Fantasy XIV’s best encounters to date, as they shake up the standard formula with elements like a boss that doesn’t really attack you but instead requires careful placement and dodging decisions. There’s a visually stunning Primal fight with a god who slams a train-sized sword down on the main tank, who must pull off a QTE event while the rest of the group tries to knock the sword off him or her. Elsewhere I ran through a besieged castle while mortars rained down around us and later fought against a gorgeous goddess who tried to try to smother us with love. Or something like that.

It’s the finest execution of the template Square Enix has largely followed to the better for half a decade now. Of course, a little unfortunately, it’s still that same template. You’ll still eventually find yourself gated out of main scenario quests until you unlock them by leveling up, which generally requires grinding your way through the (thankfully enjoyable) dungeons or by jumping in the PvP battlegrounds (which grant a ton of XP and quite quickly). There’s also a mass of side quests but they’re rarely worthy of the time and effort needed to secure their meager rewards. Most of the time they sent me trotting miles across the map only to dig in some dirt or to chat with some chap, and in almost every case these encounters lacked a fraction of the punch of the main story. Along with the underwater content, they’re the only elements of Stormblood that ever bored me.

Thankfully they’re but small blemishes on a golden package. I say without hesitation that this is one of the finest Final Fantasy games to date. There are deaths here, as Square Enix is careful to drive home the lesson that war is just as much about loss as it is about triumph. There are transformations, particularly in the form of a relatively minor character who believably becomes an inspiring leader. I care about these characters. I felt sympathy for the villains. I admired its notion that a single heroic act could wash away the pain and regret of a lifetime of screw-ups. There’s little that’s final about this fantasy. It’s a tale that will endure.