I feel so weird about this expansion.
There is so much good about this expansion, yet I can't help but feel like I'm a crazy person when I'm literally staring at something I KNOW I should like but I just don't seem able to.
Is the story good? It's one of, if not THE best FF story in decades. Emet-Selch is a wonderful villain. G'raha Tia deserves a pat on the head and to be given a belly rub. The Scions finally feel like the actual allies and party members the game has been trying to tell you they are. Every side character has something wonderful about them that keeps them memorable. Yet I can't help but dislike the fact that it feels so disconnected to the entire history of the story thus far. Yes, there is a reason we're here on The First and yes they cut over to Gaius and Estinien's Weekend in Garlemard, but I just don't like the fact that despite all the blood, sweat and tears we've shed it really has nothing to do with Eorzea. Sure we prevented the calamity but there's no one in Ul'dah, Doma, or Garlemald who is truly effected by this. Previous expansions had a ripple effect where major victories and losses had things happen across the different cities. By structuring the story as they did I feel like I'm kinda being forced to basically forget Eorzea even matters.
I'm also of two minds about the environments in 5.0. They're bigger and in many ways more fantastic than areas have been in the past, it's clear the team is getting more and more comfortable with the tech they can use now that we're a full expansion away from dropping the PS3. However I just don't like that when I run around these places I'm just running around in "Area from 2.0, but edgy". I really should be liking this, I've always loved being able to see a familiar idea re-done with better tech/different themes, but I just can't shake this weird... anxiety? This odd feeling comes up when I see how much bigger and better the new towns and areas are, that I feel like they're making the older areas look bad in comparison. Kugane was the first city in FF14 to be fully open with no loading screens, yet it feels absolutely tiny and looks like crap compared to the Crystarium now.
I feel legitimately insane when it comes to the music. I can't stop hearing about how Soken has reached new heights, yet I can only count the number of tracks I actually like on one hand and on said hand I think Soken actually did really well on maybe two to three of them. This is really weird for me, as every other expansion has completely crushed it musically. I'm also just not into the regular dungeon boss theme this expansion. They went for something different, which I appreciate, but to me it's the worst dungeon boss theme thus far.
Lastly, a minor thing for me, but while I understand that there's a tone they're going for and also probably story reasons that your character doesn't do a victory cheer when you defeat a boss for the first time it's begun to grate on me. At the very least I thought that maybe the victory cheer would return with the Expert dungeons since I was thinking that they take place after the main scenario, so perhaps with the world having been saved that your character would brighten back up a bit, but you still do that pained sigh every time.
Era, what is wrong with me?
