I really hope Shadowbringers is better than Stormblood

[Ambrosius Costeau]

Im a new player and i just finished Stormblood but man What the hell happened? Heavensward was a fantastic expansion with an amazing story and awesome characters, it was well paced, interact and it felt like a massive improvement compared to ARR, i just finished the MSQ of Stormblood and man what a trainwreck.

The story felt so disjointed, unfocused and the pacing is all over the place, the imperials were far worse compared to how they were in ARR and lyse is probably one of the lamest and most horribly written characters i have seen in a very long time now this in itself is not a problem if she was a minor character but guess what? she is with you throughout the entirety of the expansion and she has no chemistry with any of the characters, dont get me wrong there are some of the main characters that i liked like gosetsu, yugiri, twins and hien but the problem is that for some reason the expansion revolves around her she devours the screen time that many of the other characters could have used like alamhigo was supposed to be raubhan's arc, speaking of which the split of doma and alamhigo was a huge mistake and i felt that they realised this very later in development and it shows.

Now its very important to give credit where it deserves, the art direction and visuals are fantastic, the dungeons were good and i have been doing the level 70 blue side quests and they are fantastic im also really enjoying the omega quest aswell.

Anyway im just very frustrated by how terrible the story was and im just wondering is shadowbringers more of stormblood? are they finally going to sideline lyse for actual good characters that need that screen time? are the villains compelling ? stormblood tested my patience way more than ARR(minus the level 50 MSQ these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucked) atleast ARR was paced very well and was easier to follow.

[Wyrlish]

It definitely gets better don't worry.

On a side but related note; it is my personal opinion that Stormblood was a good expansion, it just has the misfortune of being in between two amazing ones.

[Zordiark Darkeater]

Shadow Bringers is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome. So don't worry the Meat of the Story Starts with Shadowbringers.

[They always leave]

Stormblood isn't that bad, it's just not awesome like heavensward. Post stormblood compensate this fact.
We get introduced to interesting characters like Fordola, Arenvald, Zenos, Gosetsu, Yotsu, Steppe wise woman (vident), Sadu, etc...Stormblood is not bad.
We learn how to dive, Heavens on high, four lords, epic Susano battle...

[Xcogumelo]

It is, although I really appreciate all the experimentation they did with Stormblood, Shadowbringers and Endwalker are only so good because they tried new things with Stormblood and learned what works and what doesn't.

Also this expansion got retroactively better for me after finishing Endwalker, it might happen with you as well.

[GeminiEclipse]

A good portion of people think Stormblood is the worst expansion. I'm one of those. It's really easy to bounce off the main character of 4.0.

Although I do like the 4.1+ content.

[Raansu]

Stormblood tried to fit two arcs into a single expansion and it definitely suffers from it, though the post expansion msq stuff is fantastic.

Content wise though stormblood was the best expansion. Had some of the best ex trials and savage raids in the game.

Shadowbringers is hands down the best expansion MSQ wise though. The setting allowed them to have a fair amount of freedom with the storytelling.

[Bladez]

i agree with what you said, i just finished shb, rest assured, its ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing.

[Qau'lthir]

Shadowbringers has a good vanilla story but what comes after that sucks harder than a Thai woman trying to make a living.

[Rhyagelle]

Shadowbringers is superb.

It's only smooth sailing after boring Stormblood. lol

[Kitsune Dzelda]

Honestly I hear they switched writers after Stormblood:
They took the person who wrote the job quests for Dark Knights storyline and put her in charge of shadowbringers.
Seeing as I am in your position, with the same opinion about Stormblood OP, without experience of either, Ive been meaning to check both out to see how her writing takes.
I know I havent been impressed so far. (Hw was fine, but I wouldnt put it on a pedestal or anything)

Actually, you know what really gets me about HW and SB?
In HW, you spend pretty much all your time trying to end a war, explaining why its so bad, and then in SB, you do a 180 and tell us why war is so essential to freedom.

I know Im overthinking it, but I cant help but feel confused about the overall message of the game after that. Also apologies for potential spoilers. I dont know the tag.

[They always leave]

Originally posted by Xcogumelo:

It is, although I really appreciate all the experimentation they did with Stormblood, Shadowbringers and Endwalker are only so good because they tried new things with Stormblood and learned what works and what doesn't.

Also this expansion got retroactively better for me after finishing Endwalker, it might happen with you as well.

Same

[They always leave]

Originally posted by Kitsune Dzelda:

Honestly I hear they switched writers after Stormblood:
They took the person who wrote the job quests for Dark Knights storyline and put her in charge of shadowbringers.
Seeing as I am in your position, with the same opinion about Stormblood OP, without experience of either, Ive been meaning to check both out to see how her writing takes.
I know I havent been impressed so far. (Hw was fine, but I wouldnt put it on a pedestal or anything)

Actually, you know what really gets me about HW and SB?
In HW, you spend pretty much all your time trying to end a war, explaining why its so bad, and then in SB, you do a 180 and tell us why war is so essential to freedom.

I know Im overthinking it, but I cant help but feel confused about the overall message of the game after that. Also apologies for potential spoilers. I dont know the tag.

There is a few things that makes Stormblood more special and they didn't have enough attention during the MSQ.
For example, 100 years before Stormblood we had a war between Ala Mhigo and the "alliance" (Coerthas, Gridania, Ul'dah, Limsa), this event is explored better in BRD quest line (Autumn War). You are not only helping refugees to recover their own land, you are helping your enemies from another time.
Stormblood teach us that war is about freedom, justice and redemption when possible while Heavensward is more tragic, it's a fight for survival against a rage stronger and longer than your own time and certainly it's a justified rage.

[Raansu]

Originally posted by Qau'lthir:

Shadowbringers has a good vanilla story but what comes after that sucks harder than a Thai woman trying to make a living.

Spoken like someone who skips cutscenes.

[Ambrosius Costeau]

Originally posted by GeminiEclipse:

A good portion of people think Stormblood is the worst expansion. I'm one of those. It's really easy to bounce off the main character of 4.0.

Although I do like the 4.1+ content.

iam at 4.1 and while i do think its an improvement im still not 100% on board with the story and it does not help that i dont like redemption arcs.

[Ambrosius Costeau]

One thing i really hope shadowbringers and EW does is to keep lyse's screentime to an absolute minimum im honestly baffled that a character like this has this much screen time.