Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Reviews
If you are invested in FFXIV, this DLC will probably excite and please you. It's a fun but forgettable romp that runs just the wrong side of boring during its hours-long retelling and bland A-B mission style. If this tickles your fancy, be sure to start and play with a team of friends - it will easily be 10 times more enjoyable, if infinitely longer.
Extremely lame animation and ultra-awkward pauses are just two of the many issues this game engine is plagued with. It’s been an issue since the beginning, of course, but as someone who dips in at the launch of an expansion and then drifts away over time, it’s always a harsh reminder of just how bad this system is each time I re-sub and fire up the game again. Why they insist on using it so often when it’s so bad is beyond me - there are other options, people!
Shadowbringers is the most balanced add-on for Final Fantasy XIV yet. The DLC makes a few missteps, but the magic of the new story and areas make up for it. The adjustments to the game invite new players while the new content entertains the veterans.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is, mechanically, the strongest entry in the franchise but the narrative falls short of being truly great.
While the story's over-reliance on genre tropes keeps it from being truly groundbreaking, it's still among the best in MMOs, as is the new content. Shadowbringers is a great experience that could've been an amazing one.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is the strongest start to an expansion since Heavensward.
The question that every Final Fantasy fanatic asks is probably whether it's worth taking on all the extra obstacles, just to experience another epic adventure. As an online role-playing game, it requires a standard monthly subscription and each individual expansion also has its price. Looking past that detail, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is yet another excellent game in the series, albeit a little too suited to online gaming to attract exactly all puritans.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
An abridged telling of the story up to Shadowbringers when you use a Tales of Adventure would go a long way towards smoothing the process. As of right now, I can’t recommend Shadowbringers as a direct starting point for Final Fantasy 14. Instead, play through the base content a bit and get a feel for it. You’ll thank yourself later.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is an awesome expansion that offers an incredible story that approaches the world we already know from a new perspective, as well as some new interesting additions in the form of jobs, races and gameplay mechanics. The bad part is that the narrative is kinda slow paced and take some time before starting to get deeper and darker.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Shadowbringers brings a lot to the table. From a great story, to amazing areas to discover and explore, Square Enix has truly outdone themselves this time. With many changes not only to the Jobs system, but also FATEs and just general gameplay, it's more than enough to bring new players and returning players alike to the game. Unfortunately, it's not all perfect, but the flaws are mostly revolving around issues not related to actual gameplay. Still, some will find the content boring, as per usual, but to me, it's pure fun!Score: 8.5/10
Thanks to a substantial story developed along the ten new levels available and to the rather well-built antagonists, Shadowbringers manages to bring the player to moments of tension, epic battles and espionage missions, allowing himself some dramatic moments that make us almost hope history took an even more tragic turn.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Shadowbringers is the highest point of Final Fantasy XIV to date and it brings some much needed changes, two exciting new classes and an unforgettable story that rivals even the very best Final Fantasy stories. An excellent music score elevates the package higher and with the promise of a 24 man raid series based on Nier Automata, there’s a lot more to look forward to.
With Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV does more than just cement itself as one of the best –if not the best – top-tier MMORPG’s today, but also the best Final Fantasy game since Final Fantasy IX.
Shadowbringers is a shining example of why that formula works.
Full of emotion and high adventure, Final Fantasy XIV's Shadowbringers expansion brings MMORPG storytelling out of the shadows. Two great new combat classes, two cool new races, and a nifty system for running dungeons solo round out the experience of FFXIV's best expansion to date.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is one of the best MMO expansions I've ever played. The story is incredibly good, the new jobs are ridiculously good fun, and the mechanical updates work well. The word of the First is a beautiful treat, and music is top-notch. If this sounds like your jam, you should absolutely play it.
Shadowbringers solidifies Final Fantasy XIV as the best MMO on the market.
Final Fantasy XIV is one of the best MMORPGs on the market, and is easily one of the best Final Fantasy games in the series. It's packed with content, including an engaging narrative and quirky quests that are an absolute delight.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a pretty cool game. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is an awesome extension of it, adding features that further distills the game's core appeal and adds an entire new game of shockingly excellent storytelling in terms of scale and quality. I don't really know what happens between those two points yet, and I have a long road of Final Fantasy XIV ahead of me yet. But after my experiences so far in learning the game, experiencing its latest expansion, and seeing just how much I have left to see and do, well, I'm in it for the long haul.