I Did NOT Expect This (My Endwalker Journey Continues...) 

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Here is some advice for future deaths: When you accept your ressurection you get an 5 second buff that makes you invincible to all damage. The buff DROPS as soon as you use a weaponskill/ability. So sometimes it's better to just get ressurected and hold on for a bit until you get healed back full, get back into position etc. and you won't instantly die when you accept the ress.

Bellular: "So I'm level 88" Everyone who knows: "he doesn't know yet :)"

There's a idea called hedonic adaptation where you give time to the audience to adjust to the new normal after big climactic positive/negative event before ratcheting it up again. Without those plateaus on the line plot you never have room to breathe and absorb your surroundings, and eventually you just get numb to the big action and drama set pieces happening around you.

Speaking of "jumping the shark," when we actually meet a certain character in person for the first time, she literally *jumps* a shark. I think the writers knew what they were doing.

From the moment Answers started playing until the very end of *that cutscene*, I was goosebumps all over and cried at every line she spoke.

The "Greetings, can you hear us" gave me goosebumps from the sheer HORROR of that scene. I was literally petrified during that entire scene. Now I want to see a pure horror game by Yoshi P

I really love how Endwalker retroactively made Shadowbringers better by expanding on SO MUCH. It's a true testament to the power of having an overall plan.

Oh come now, it's been a gripping tale. Unbreakable bonds and noble sacrifice, sprinkled with moments of levity to counterbalance the pathos. It's got it all.

Elpis made me cry like a baby on the very first Cutscene in there, the whole Elpis MSQ was deep and emotional to me, bring me tears just to walk around there. I can't define how i loved that zone and not only for Story, it's OST and Design it's gorgeous, one of the most beautiful places i ever seen in a game 😭.

The part where she walks in darkness past people and getting that black ooze as she walks and then we see us walking to Emet, made me realise she’s been weaker as she’s taken all the hits meant for us. One bring light one bring darkness :o That’s just what I thought of that scene

Can't wait for Endwalker New Game + Gonna replay the entire story again.

Bellular: "Your eyes go down and distract you with text boxes" Anime Sub watchers: "I have no such weaknesses." Edit: I was not expecting this to become so contentious. I was just trying to joke.

16:00 blue carrot have a prompt which references to "Hitchhiker Guide" and later, one side quest has reference

As far as pacing goes: I think people erroneously conflate "slow pace" with something negative. Yes, some parts of Endwalker are a bit slower. Absolutely. But that is in no way a bad thing. Quite the contrary, I'd argue. They're *intended* to be slow, and if you don't go in with the expectation of "Everything needs to move fast and be bombastic and there need to be lots of fights all the time cause this is an MMO, so why is it expecting me to read text???" (which, in the context of this game, is really kind of an idiotic mindset to have), you'll actually come to appreciate it.

A big part of how people pick up mechanics quickly is the fact that the mechanics are consistently telegraphed across most fights.

People complaining about Endwalker being slow don't remember the slow parts of Shadowbringers. Like Il Mheg, or Raktika, or the second trips through Amn Araeng or Kholusia.

To quote Soken and Koji, "To begin we first must see the end".

Funny thing, Amon keeps saying that he lived as himself and his decisions were his own, despite he having Hermes' memories, yet his choices were verily consistent with Hermes' own choices.

19:09 that scene,. How Vrtra saves his people and literally is hope incarnate to drive the shadows away.. that was just amazing storytelling. Even we couldn't guarantee to save the babe and he saves his people and the babe.. and ofc being a dragon even talks to the baby.. just.. amazing.. I absolutely loved that.

TBH, looking back at Shadowbringers now, I love how Endwalker tied into that, especially the end of Shadowbringers. This was by far the most amazing story i have played in a game and it isn't even done yet

The unanimous reaction from my friend group was, we expected zone 4 to be zone 6, we had no idea what zone 5 could possibly be, and once we saw zone 5, all bets were off for what zone 6 could be. The details we thought were important only seemed that way because they were the part we knew ahead. The mystery runs so much deeper than what we were given in the trailer.

Endwalker's story is a modern version of a crazy over the top 90s SNES style JRPG story. And it cannot be executed better.

the beautiful thing about that trailer they released is it hid almost the entire story even though it was showing us alot of different scenes (that did in fact play out just differently). it was brilliant.

The Loporitts really did remind me of Hitchhiker's Guide. Especially when when they were so nonchalant about our world ending. Also the connection with cute creatures being incredibly smart (mice).

in the last zone,there is a sidequest where an npc asks you what's the meaning of the universe, and if you respond "42" like in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy,he tells you that you are very cultured

"The next two levels are about to be madness" he had NO idea.

I find a lot of people take the Final Days cutscene way too literally. It was supposed to be a metaphorical journey through them followed by Venat (now Hydalaen) walking with us through history, constantly moving forward despite the pain and walking with us to the end like she promised. But some people seem to need everything spelled out to them. They were complaining about her becoming Hydalaen on her own, for example, but we know from ShB that's not what happened. The whole "I sunder us" scene wasn't meant to be taken literally.

when someone beat Shadowbringers: "Man, that was intense." People in EW Zone 1: "Oh you sweet, summer child." People finishing EW Zone 2, to Zone 1 players: "Oh, you sweet summer child". People finishing EW Zone 3, to Zone 2 Players: "Oh, you sweet summer child" People finishing EW Zone 4, to Zone 3 Players: "Sigh...." People finishing EW Zone 5, to Zone 4 Players: "Yeah..... I..... I don't know....." People finishing EW Zone 6: They say nothing, they just.... breathe, staring off into the middle distance. They attempt to return to the Starter cities, but.... it's just not the same now, and they know that they no longer belong in this place. Even the merriment of Starlight, and the banter of Limsa doesn't truly reach them, for they have seen the End, and carry it with them.

Yeah I completed Endwalker in 4 days and honestly thought I needed every single second of downtime because the high tension times in that story are just so damn impactful :P So people who wanna get rid of the filler just make no sense to me haha. And yes that first trial I also thought like: WAIT, ALREADY!?!?

The one thing I’ve liked is the fact that many of these ex-WoW content creators are so invested in the lore of FFXIV.

This time around, music played during sad parts destroyed me. The song Flow is also an exceptional music to listen to. And also we cannot forget the song "Answer". It has been 8 years since the song was created. And we finally understand the meaning of it. That in itself boggled my mind. That's something that no MMORPG has ever done.

I'm 99.9% sure that Hitchhikers Guide was a major influence to the piece you mentioned. One of the NPCs even provides the question "What is the meaning of life", with the only appropriate answer, of course.

Enters trial 1: Hell yeah LETS GO. I'm 83. Wait I'm 83?! Also 14 has done 2 successful time travel stories.

That final Venat cutscene is more true to the promise of Shadowbringer than Shadowbringer itself was, it owns.

Zone 5 has me convinced that Blizzard have an insider in SE. Like there is no way they suddenly start marketing 9.2 as the end of the story arc and make a zone where primordial forms of existing creatures are created. Like there are just too many coincidences

You REALLY should do all the side quests in zone 5 at the same time as the MSQ, the amount of backstory is enormous. I'm amazed in general by how good the FF14 community is at doing encounters compared to WoW. Turns out if you force people to learn they do.

I beat 6.0 last weekend and loved every second of it. It's one of the best stories in games, asking some seriously deep philosophical questions and giving its players some serious food for thought. All on top of delivering a very satisfying conclusion to the story since at least 2.0 (I never played 1.0, so I don't know if it really wraps up anything there) and still making me excited for the future. SPOILER STUFF: I loved the change in the tone and focus of the story on the moon after Zodiark. I didn't expect it, but the Loporrits and the moon habitat let me have time to process what had just happened with Zodiark, and think about where it's going after that. And then it was genuinely funny and cute at parts. Too bad Michael didn't pick the "humm humm hummmm" option in that bit shown in the video! I got so hyped up when you "first" meet Hythlodaeus in Elpis, and he says "Hello, my new friend." He always greeted you with "Hello, my new old friend" in Amaurot, and at least for me, Hythlodaeus always stood out to me as this interesting guy who raised some questions for me. "Hello, my new friend" is just removing one word but giving SO MUCH CONTEXT for what he said in Amaurot, and paying off so well. Meteion and Hermes are fantastic villains, too. And then on top of that, they let you do the 87 dungeon with Emet-Selch, Hythlodaeus, and Venat as your trust allies? God, the love they show for the story and the players is incredible. Then that amazing cutscene at the end of Elpis, where you see Venat's life in Amaurot and dealing with the Final Days in the unsundered world, how it recontextualizes the lyrics to Answers, how it shows why Emet-Selch had that sudden realization about your past in Amaurot at the end of 5.0. It's incredible storytelling, so much better than what I'm used to in games. I don't even want to talk about what comes after, because Michael's spoilers end before getting to the last couple dungeons and trials, and the final zone, and it's too good to even accidentally spoil for someone.

This is a SPOILER timestamp: 15:45 Bellular, PLEASE tell me you ate the blue carrot. There’s a straight up reference to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in there.

Just a quick note for a future: every expansion has 6 zones and the last one is always a secret. They showed 4 and one drawing at the fanfest so everyone knew that the Moon won't be the last 😀

"I'm level 83..."

So he has not done the second trial yet. I’m really curious what his reaction is going to be.

Eplis was a complete surprise when I got there and I was just delighted. I wore the glamour, I did all the sidequests, I wanted to absorb everything. Then I'm interested in hearing your thoguhts on the ending, because frankly, I need help.

Its hard for me to compare endwalker to the other expansions. The other expansions felt more like an adventure. This one is about the Beginning and the End of the saga, which happens to revolve around the universe itself, the final days, the first gods, etc. In terms of an adventure im not sure i like this more than Heavensward or Shadowbringers. But this one sure does explain pretty much everything, and also gives screen to everything you wanted to see. Meeting the ancients, sparring with venat, the zodiark trial, the dungeons sure are great, the scions and allies have good moments on screen.. In terms of production i gotta say this is probably the best thing i've played.

Thancred: "This is Thancred"

Man, I've watched your videos for a long time, and I don't think I've ever seen you this happy doing a deep dive on a game. It's really amazing what a wonderful experience you can get from a team that has such a reverence and love for their own creation. From one old wow nerd to another, I hope this keeps bringing you joy.

Gonna say it: Endwalker feels like the final disc of a Final Fantasy game from the PS era. And it’s amazing!

Excited to see your full thoughts on it all once youve finished and had some time to digest it all. Great vid as always.

Did you notice when the moon rabbits talk about calculations, the answer is, of course, 42.

Honestly, I felt the pacing was spot on. It was like the ebb and flow of a tide to me, fast and intense bits, slow and chilled bits to allow you to relax, take in and process everything so far then up the pace again. This is meant to be the absolute grand finale, the curtain call to 10 years of story that the entirety of previous expansions have been building up to. Need a bit of both to get that ultimate flavour and experience. The rabbits are absolute god tier btw, some of the best patter in the game comes from them alone in this expansion :'D

Just finished Endwalker last night. Omfg best expansion so far. Never have i played a game that has so many heartfelt and wholesome moments. At one point actually shed a tear (later in the content). The writing in this game is just phenomenal. Cannot wait for you to finish. I couldnt have predicted what would have happened at the end.

you can tell how much fun your having in your tone, glad your having fun man!

God the energy you have here, the fun you are having just telling this story... so jealous. I have a sub to FinalF. but I couldn't get into it will the server issues. So happy that everyone is enjoying their time in this very magical world.

Can't wait for your reaction on the last zone/map and the quests leading to the final MSQ trial ☺️

I went into this game with as low expectation as possible. I also expected this game to stab me in the heart repeatedly and take away everyone I love. I didn't expect to smile so much. And how gently this game shepherd me through the extreme dark.

Awesome impressions. Can't wait for the next update video once you finish!

I finished the msq a week ago or so and it's absolutely insane! I loved it so much! I love hearing your opinions about it but since you didn't mention the lvl 87 trust options. I knew I HAD to do that with trusts the first time and it did not disappoint. I highly recommend it even if you don't use trusts often

I love doing new dungeons when they are first released. Everyone understands we're doing it blind and there is no animosity when someone screws up.

He's not ready for the next part, and the feelz. The best part of the last zone, was that chat was going thru it with me, at the same time, and we shared our experiences. Thanks chat, you made me able to do that final push.

19:51 - "Twins must be protected at all costs." - Don't worry. Writers got that covered.

I love watching your reactions Michael. I can almost picture your brains being blown out by the finale... ENJOY EVERY SECOND OF IT!

@Bellular When you get ressed you are immune to all dmg and most mechs for 5 seconds as long as you don't use any skill(not even sprint), you are allowed to move around. There, now you won't die again right after being ressed, hf! :)

@10:15 The counterbalance in high difficulty content is that dps checks are TIGHT. They're fair, they're well tuned, non-meta comps without 100% BIS have gotten world first in brutally hard raid tiers like E8S because the determining factor is that people play well, execute well, don't die, etc. The damage penalty for death is enough to make/break a clear at [some dps check] when hard raids are fresh. You might res spam and buy a minute or two to learn and practice, but something's gonna wipe you for shorting it on dps. One or two World First Ultimates were cleared by Pet+DOT damage while all 8 players were incapacitated for the fancy enrage animation. WoW's balance is SO off base that they could never do that. They barely even test most of Mythic at all, relying on the WF racers to beta test the encounters live really, and it's mostly a factor of nerfing/fixing the encounter enough from the live pulls to be barely clearable with good RNG.

This expansions' story is a masterpiece even in comparison with other video games let alone other mmorpgs...

I share your feelings! I just hit max level today and have had tears in my eyes for most of the day as I played. Still no idea where its going to go. What an emotional story

I recommend doing the level 89 dungeon with the trusts. I believe the dialog changes depending on who you take with you.

24:00 is exactly why being spoiled never bothered me in the slightest as I still fully enjoy the journey. It makes me more curious to see the events leading up to it and how it turns out the way it does

man bellular, you are so good at predicting the story. It is absolutely 100% right. Do not think any further. Though seriously, good analysis and thoughts, and matt is probably even more red than ever.

I cant wait your spoiler discussion with Matt later on, I dont mind if it going to be a few hours podcast, just love to hear it.

The Scooby Gang bit is the best part of this expansion.

A very important thing a lot of people forget is that after respawning you have res immunity. With LB3 it is less, but normal res gives you 5-6 seconds of immunity as long as you do not press any spell/skill (sprint included). Make sure to use that to your advantage and you will not die instantly in content.

You speaking of creating a playerbase that intuitively understands mechanics made me remember a feeling I had while playing through Endwalker. A feeling of "wow, is this really this easy, or have I just learned how this game works?" as I went through the dungeons, and being able to predict (to a lesser extent) the mechanics of trials. For the most part, this game uses the same markers and the same visuals to tell the players what's happening, and only in certain aspects does it throw a wrench into the gears to make things unique mechanically. Time stopping or the arena rotating, etc. The game trains you to not need a DBM equivalent, and it's great.

Can’t wait for your final reaction and take!

I keep the subtitles on because I use JP voices, I really don't have any issues with just glancing down to read and watching it play out.

I was so surprised over how loooooong this story was. I thought the ending was close so many times. Game is a 10/10 for me, story is amazing.

Everyone knew that Mare Lamentorum was not the final zone. SE never reveals what the final is during Fanfests and live letters leading up to an expansion's release and that zone was one of the first revealed.

The Loporrits are so adorable that I will not tolerate slander about them!

Nobody who knows how the devs do things actually expected the moon to be the final zone, as they always leave the actual final zone a mystery without even teasing it

You are actually immune for 5 seconds after being resurrected. It's a buff called Transcendent, it even prevents knockback mechanics from killing you iirc. (edit: wasn't sure abt the knockback thing hence I wrote "iirc" but it seems it doesn't) BUT, it goes away as soon as you use any action (moving does not remove it). So an optimal way to use a rez is to keep the transcendent effect to re-orient yourself and keep it as long as you need to survive the current mechanic, then start attacking when you're safe.

another lovely vid, I recogmend clearing the MSQ before the raid comes out on tusday. First day raids are some of the most fun experiance iv ever had.

I especially enjoyed your comments around 24:20 about spoiling the end. I’m one of those people who generally isn’t bothered by spoilers because I often find I enjoy seeing how we get to the twist (set up, payoff, etc.) as much as the twist itself. I call it “reading from the back of the book to the front.”

First time playing ff14 at an expansion launch and I loooved doing the trials blind. Cuz everyone is going blind! First trial we were down to 3 minutes on our timer. It was a blast learning the mechanics with everyone and just being so pumped up

Trial 1 boss always struck me as a pot device to drive characters forward anyway, no real depth to it really. So I loved how it was so easily scrapped so early on in the story; it's both shocking yet not at all disappointing, because I'd never cared about Trial 1 guy to any real level. So, I thought creating such a surprise twist was the perfect finale for it.

Best way to play MSQ is with Nameplates turned off unless in battle, and having chat on the "Events" tab. Turns into a SP game.

Can't wait for when you finish it! You'll love it!

I was completely flabbergasted the whole time we were on the moon after downing Zodiark. All I thought when the Loporrits were giving us a tour of the moon infrastuctures was "Are we really Fleeing and ABANDONING Eitherys ?!". The moon tour also took quite a while to complete so it felt really disconnected to me, but it works imo

Coming from ffxiv, I was blown away with how disastrous LFR raids went. The constant wiping to simple mechanics and all the dropouts were insane.

18:00 - Yea, especially when you try to figure out what's going on and certain prick refuses to tell you what's up until you move some boxes of junk around. I would love to have a Mass Effect renegade button during that scene.

The last three videos have had the smoothest ad transitions I've ever seen. What a pro

[REDACTED]'s Sacrifice cutscene is by far.... BY FAR the most impactful cutscene I've seen in an MMO. It might be damn close to ANY video game.

Can't wait to see a video o Matt explaining the parallels with other FF games on Endwalker.

last area and that last dungeon made the entire expansion for me, such a masterpiece and sets up perfectly for the future of the series I get chills just thinking about it lmao 11/10 without a doubt flawless masterpiece

I have 0 idea what other parts people would consider slow ngl. but since you mentioned zone names mean spoilers I can guess and I highly disagree cuz those zones were badass also you really really need to stop showing new footage in the spoiler-free section. its kinda a dick move after saying its a spoiler safe section then u show all kinds of scenes lol

I went back and listened to answers again after watching that entire scene. The scene broke me a bit already, but then I went back and listened to the lyrics of answers. And you hear the laments in the pain in her voice and once I realized that this is venat herself lamenting for what she had done regretting wandering for years upon years if she made the right choice praying that something will come out of this praying that there will be a light of hope at the end of this tunnel, carrying on beaten and battered, to the point of unrecognizability, and seeing the pain that people had gone through for years upon years, and realizing that we are living this pain, I just lost it and bawled like a baby

You are right in that I was completely shocked by how early in the story the 83 trial actually happened.

The expansion is a treat...and watching these videos is a treat.

Oh man, Michael hasn’t yet reached that one Urianger scene, it’s gonna destroy him if he’s an Urianger fan

this guy freaking out over the starting zones and first trial, i hope he has a fresh pair of pants on standby for that lvl 89 dungeon and the final trial

So much of his questions near the end are answered with the always best answer: Just keep playing.

If anyone was wondering, the 68.3% of the universe being made of dynamis is almost certainly a reference to work done in 2013 based on the Planck spacecraft observations of the CBM (Cosmic Microwave Background), which gave an accurate estimate of 68.3% dark energy, 26.8% dark matter, and 4.9% ordinary matter (which includes anti-matter and regular energy), for the composition of the universe.