![]() In the seven years since Heavensward was released, each expansion has continued to deliver the quality content fans have grown to expect. It became clear that Heavensward was just the start of what Yoshida and his team could do with Final Fantasy XIV when not held back by the original’s failure. Astrologian remains one of the most complex and satisfying jobs to master in the MMO.Įndgame content for Heavensward improved even more on the melding between incredible gameplay and well-written stories with the Alexander raid series. Each of these offered a new variation on the tank, DPS, and healer formula, respectively. Heavensward added three new jobs to FFXIV with Dark Knight, Machinist, and Astrologian. The questline was written by Natsuko Ishikawa, who would go on to be the main scenario writer for the Shadowbringersexpansion.īut of course, all this storytelling only works in an MMO if the gameplay is equally as good, and it is. In addition to the main story, side content like the new Dark Knight job quests demonstrate an increase in the quality of the writing. It does not reduce the sacrifice of any of them as necessary, but as a tragic inevitability for these people who were shaped for centuries to live and breathe this war. Ysayle is not the only ally lost, and the story makes the player grapple with these losses. Where many stories about war would end at this resolution, Heavensward sits in the uneasy aftermath. Just the beginningĪstrologian feels as good as it looks. Sadly, Ysayle sacrifices herself to make this happen, laying down her life yet one more causality in a meaningless war. By the end of Heavensward, the Warrior of Light can bring an end to the Dragonsong War. Ysayle must grapple with the truths she holds dear, realizing that to justify her goals and to cope with the trauma that endless war has caused she built a story that helped her survive. In many ways, this reveal is akin to a similar crisis of identity in Final Fantasy 7. Instead, due to her own trauma from seeing her loved ones die, she prayed so much that she willed herself into a Primal in the image of Shiva. The dragon Hraesvelgr reveals that she is not the reincarnation of Saint Shiva, who before the Dragonsong War lived in peace with the dragons. While other characters like Estinien grapple with the false pretense of the War, Ysayle is confronted with a lie about her own identity. She reveals to the Warrior of Light that this loss of life eats away at her, and she worries she is turning into a monster to stop what she sees as unnecessary violence. In an early meeting with the Warrior of Light, Ysayle helps allow the Dravanian Horde to attack Ishgard, leading to numerous innocent deaths. Ysayle encapsulates the way Heavensward interrogates the way in which people seek to escape cycles of violence. Through the intervention of the Warrior of Light, the two eventually attempt to work together and bring about a peaceful resolution to the war. Ysayle is branded as a heretic by Ishgard for allying with the dragons in hopes of ending the Holy See’s rule.īoth see each other as mortal enemies, with no course to peace. Estinien is the Azure Dragoon, a soldier whose only purpose is to kill dragons and hunt down Nidhogg. The Ishgardian soldier Estinien acts as a representative of the Holy See. Two of your companions act as a distillation of the expansion's themes on war and its effect on people. One stretch of Heavensward sees the Warrior of Light trek across Coerthas to uncover these truths. Cold as iceĬharacter stories are the driving force behind Heavensward. ![]() This ages-long deceit had led to both Ishgard and the Dravanian horde to be locked in a battle so long that the cultures and identities of Ishgardians and dragons have been shaped with war as their one constant. It is revealed that dragons and men lived in peace for some time until a power-hungry Thordan killed Nidhogg’s sister to obtain her eyes which provided great power. The Church of Ishgard has lied for centuries about the beginning of the war, creating a story in which Nidhogg murdered the founder of Ishgard, King Thordan, for no reason. Over the course of the roughly 70-hour campaign, Heavensward looks at both sides of this war and interrogates the motivations of each, as well as revealing new truths about its origin.ĭeep into the expansion, it is revealed that the entire Dragonsong War is built on a lie. This ages-long conflict is the backdrop for Final Fantasy XIV’s most human story. The Ishgardians have been in a thousand-year conflict called the Dragonsong War with the Dravanian Horde led by the great wyrm Nidhogg. Players had long heard of Ishgard, a theocracy under the rule of Archbishop Thordan VII. Heavensward brought players to the city-state of Ishgard, a place rising out of a deep canyon nestled between the snow-covered mountains of Coerthas.
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