At one point, a Garlean boy breaks down after an Ala Mhigan soldier offers him a hot spot of tea to alleviate winter’s cold embrace – my eyes were halfway across the room by the time the melodramatic orchestral strings kicked in. While that expansion certainly didn’t stick the landing with some of its loftier talking points, Endwalker is a bit too eager to lend these former oppressors a helping hand. Stormblood even had us liberating countries like Ala Mhigo and Doma from Garlean occupation. Imperialism – specifically the long-lasting and frightening effects on people – has been part of Final Fantasy 14’s overarching narrative for years. This is largely because Endwalker at least partially wants you to feel sorry for Garlemald and its people, which is unfortunately a pill I could only swallow if someone held my mouth open. Those still among the living curse me and every other member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn for desecrating the kingdom’s memory with our so-called filthy footsteps. Formerly towering monuments lie broken and bare atop cobblestone streets, while frostbitten bodies encompass every other snowbank. Yet this once thunderous war machine is more akin to a lawnmower choking on fumes by the time you reach it in Endwalker. Long had I fantasized about storming across its icy tundras towards the capital city’s gates, eager to dish out some well-earned payback for an empire’s rabid, forceful growth. Imagine my surprise when one of those stunning locales was Garlemald, an imperial nation at the forefront of virtually every major conflict in Final Fantasy 14. Nobody knows who is belting out the tune aside from Endwalker itself, which has no reservations in dragging poor sods like me across blood-soaked battlefields to discover the sinister songster’s identity. An apocalyptic ballad echoes across Etherys, releasing a miasma of pain and suffering one deadly note at a time. That’s easier said than done when the skies rain fire and everyday folk contort into unholy abominations hellbent on swallowing former neighbors whole. Yet Endwalker’s chronicling of how Etherys defiantly stands tall opposite the piercing glare of nihilism is most captivating of all – especially when it asks the same of you. Final Fantasy 14’s fourth expansion is rife with electrifying white-knuckle trials, hauntingly beautiful landscapes, wildly imaginative new job classes, and countless other facets that make up this excellent game. Not in the disappointing Game of Thrones series finale kind of way – more like a sincere nudge encouraging you to think about everything that came before. By Endwalker’s curtain call, every fan will question if the journey was worth it. The mere notion of plowing through five RPG’s worth of sprawling landscapes, high-stakes battles, and seemingly endless cutscenes would probably turn me off hadn’t been there from the start. Those critically-acclaimed-free-trial memes roll off the tongue easily enough when you’re already at home in Square Enix’s MMORPG, yet folks on the receiving end likely see little more than an enormous time sink ahead of them. Convincing anyone to give Final Fantasy 14 the time of day is tough.
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