Review: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (Patch 3.1)

As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward was a tremendous expansion, all things considered. It brought in a whole new storyline that was worth getting invested in, new classes, and tons of additional activities including a raid. But that was back in June — MMOs need to constantly throw out content to keep people interested, especially if they sport a subscription fee.

While XIV is more packed than a lot of other titles (if you choose to dig into PVP, crafting, and RP activities), the worthwhile, meaty content dropped off sometime after the introduction of the Savage version of Alexander. While patch 3.1 is a stop-gap of sorts, it brings in a few brand new concepts that will help breathe some fresh life into the game for a while longer.

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (PC, PS3, PS4 [reviewed])
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
MSRP: $39.99 ($12.99 per month)
Released: June 23, 2015

Whereas past patches tended to lead towards an epic conclusion with a pesky Primal, 3.1, As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness in many ways is a table-setting diversion. The brand new trial encounter (Knights of the Round EX) is not gated by the main story questline — players can just pick that up from the Mor Dhona bar — and the tale essentially consists of a series of errands and cutscenes, with only one instanced mission at the end. All said, it will take you roughly an hour to complete.

It basically deals with locating missing comrades after the events of the story and has no real payoff other than furthering the Warrior of Darkness arc, which will likely slowly play out throughout the entire course of Heavensward, until another expansion comes around. That said, it still has a lot of personality. I enjoyed seeing the new cast interact with one another.

The real star of this patch though is the new exploratory mission mode. Billed as an open-world sandbox, you’re thrown into a randomly generated high-level zone with various objectives, including combat challenges and gathering activities. In a Guild Wars 2-like twist, players will share rewards and XP if they fight named creatures in this mode while encountering other parties, and everyone can contribute to objectives as a party. 

The rewards are excellent, and the entire affair plays out like a giant randomized hunt. It’s a rush to fly around with a bunch of strangers and locate targets, and killing a bunch of high-priority enemies will spawn newer, tougher bosses. While it’s meant to be played as a group you can still solo queue for it, as long as you’re okay with rolling greed for everything against everyone else. I played this more than anything else this patch and don’t see myself getting tired of it.

Players can also head into two new dungeons and the 24-person Void Ark raid, meant to mirror the Crystal Tower casual activities in vanilla Realm Reborn. I’m happy with how the two dungeons (Saint Mocianne’s Arboretum and Pharos Sirius Hard) turned out. The developers have it down to a science now (the same goes for the new EX encounter, King Thordan, which is just as fun as every EX in the past, and perfectly tuned in terms of difficulty). Bosses are fun without being too tough for people just passing through in matchmaking, and the locations, although heavily gated to prevent speedrunning, are full of detail. While patches typically provide three new dungeons, I’m actually fine with a pair of them, and the trend of one new location and one remake is something I can get behind.

The Void Ark is very similar in that regard, but it also provides a brand new arc, which I personally feel is stronger than Crystal Tower’s. The encounters are a tad easier than the previous casual raids, which I’m starting to have mixed feelings about. I get that the philosophy is accessibility, but at the same time, I feel like the developers aren’t preparing the player base for tougher activities, some of which support matchmaking tools. On the flipside, I’m a bit more invested in the story this time around, as they’ve weaved Diabolos into it, as well as another fan-favorite character from the series that I won’t spoil here.

So what else does 3.1 entail? A bunch of ancillary stuff. For one, you have the Vanu Vanu beast tribe quests, which will provide hardcore players with another faction to grind for. I was never big on the tribes as they felt far too repetitive for menial rewards, and only adding one tribe feels like a half-measure — people will just grind it out in a few minutes and move on daily.

The Gold Saucer also got a small update in the form of a new wing, two new mini-games, and the Lord of Verminion strategy game, as well as some new Triple Triad cards. I’m really glad the team is still pushing this zone, as it’s the perfect place to go while you’re waiting for queue times, or if you want to spend a few minutes in the game without doing anything important. No, Verminion isn’t quite Pokémon, but it adds in another use for minions, and it’s definitely fun enough to play a few times on a weekly basis.

Other quality-of-life fixes are in, like the fact that the DualShock 4 is now plug and play on PC. There are new camera options, enhanced companion functionality like full support for other mounts, a small Ninja buff to bring them in line with other DPS, more flying mounts, and the ability to ride in Idyllshire. Another controversial change is the “solution” to the housing market — demolition — or as other MMOs call it, “decay.”

After 45 days, your house will be demolished, unless you log in and prevent it. It’s…a very typical strategy for more hardcore games, but for a casual MMO like Final Fantasy, it feels out of place. I wish Square Enix would just fix the housing issue with bigger wards and more of them, but the developers haven’t actually addressed it in months.

All in all, I’m a bit conflicted on 3.1 I adore the exploratory missions, and find them to be one of my favorite gametypes in an MMO to date. The new dungeons (as well as the Void Ark) are strong, and the story, while brief, is engaging. But at the same time, this is clearly a catch-up patch, with the typical loop consisting of players grinding for Poetic Tomes to better face the existing Alexander Savage raid. Sadly, there’s no new wing for Alexander, and most disappointing of all, the anticipated continuation of the Zodiac weapon questline is nowhere to be found, as it has been pushed to a later patch

I’m not sure if As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness is enough to really pull anyone back in if they quit recently, but I’m having fun with it regardless. I can see myself doing the Void Ark weekly for the foreseeable future, and logging in regularly to do more exploratory missions. I just hope the team has more up its sleeve sooner than later.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}