Ranking the Expansions of Final Fantasy XIV

Dawntrail is out, and I’ve finally beaten it. How did some of you get through it so quickly? Phew. I’ve sat with it a bit, and want to have a little talk about what my favourite to least favourite expansions of Final Fantasy XIV are. I don’t necessarily think that this means they’re the best ones, but the ones I enjoyed the most.

I started my FFXIV journey when it was on PS3, and it has become one of my favourites. I play it with my partner and some of my best friends. My favourite game of all-time is Final Fantasy IX. This is potentially some good info to keep in mind when you get through this list and want to batter me silly for my sense of taste.

Spoilers ahead for every expansion, my dear Reader of Light.

I’ll start with my least favourite…

Endwalker

I conflate Endwalker and Shadowbringers in my mind so much, that I’ve come to realise when I think of Endwalker, I’m actually mostly recalling Shadowbringers. There are some really great moments here, but I don’t think it stands alone very strongly on its own two feet, and feels like Shadowbringers Part II in many ways. I enjoyed it, but I actually don’t have a whole lot to say about it, for better or worse. I took my longest break after playing this, and I think it’s less to do with that whole story coming to an end, and simply just not being overly enamoured with the expansion.

I was never wholly invested in the ascian plot, and although I think Emet-Selch and company really helped pull me into it, I was still never as invested into the overarching story that I’d have liked to be. I also think with the stakes at hand, I’d have liked to have seen more that truly felt at risk. At no point did I really think any of the Scions would be in danger, and when they actually are, it’s emotional but undercut by the fact that they then all “die” in rapid succession. Once it happens a second time (and it happens around four times) there’s no plausibility that there’ll be any lasting damage.

I wish the Garlemald stuff felt little more than a footnote, considering how long we’d been building up to it, then it’s not much more than a flash in the pan content-wise. You could really see where this should have been two separate expansions, with Garlemald and Elpis/Hydaelyn etc. Given how these stories were both coming to an end, it’s a shame that I don’t think either were given the time that they really needed to shine.

I do love that final fight with Zenos, that I can’t deny (hehe). I just wish the expansion had a bit more punch and lasting impact, but again, it was world-ending stakes localised to pretty much one place, so it didn’t feel like it encompassed the rest of the world. I’m a little down on this one for what it promised, but I’d still happily play Endwalker again.

In from the Cold is a banging solo instance, though.

Heavensward

It took me a bit of time getting through this one, but I just wasn’t all that enraptured by the main plot. I love the supporting cast, and they’re still some of my favourites, including Aymeric and Haurchefant. In some of the later expansions when you’re asked about if you have someone you’d like to bring back, or good memories to speak of, I like to think my Warrior of Light thinks back on his times with Haurchefant and Aymeric. Unfortunately, I’m not super big on high fantasy, so an expansion focused primarily on dragons was a barrier for me, but I loved the Ishgard families and WoL content a lot.

As a Dragoon, I really enjoyed how well that class was woven into the overall story, especially the job quests with Estinien. Never did I think he would become a favourite of mine, but we’re the Azure Dragoons for life, baby.

The supporting cast really carry this one for me, and Ishgard is lovely. I’d love the opportunity to spend more time with House Fortemps and Aymeric. Aymeric rocking up to the Ishgard housing area in his blue elephant costume will always be wonderful. This one felt like home for my WoL, and I don’t think that element has been surpassed in FFXIV yet.

Shadowbringers

I remember this one fondly, and everything regarding Eulmore was a bright spot. Emet-Selch is a fantastic antagonist too, and I really did grow to love him. Ryse and Gaia are fantastic, and I hope we get to see more of them in future as I absolutely loved their stories. This expansion finally made me warm to Thancred too, and of course introduced G’raha Tia. Similarly to Heavensward, I like to think my character often thinks about Emet-Selch. There’s a lot of things this expansion did right, but then I think its lows are some of the lowest in the game to date.

On another day, I’d consider pushing this higher, but then I remember what a dud of a character Ran’jit is and it sours me. Dreadfully boring character, awful implementation, and by far the weakest antagonist not only in XIV, but across the series. Antagonists in Chocobo GP had more to say than this fella. How forced he was to be your equal, or greater, never sat well with me, which is a shame because the ascian and Vauthry aspects of this expansion are fantastic. This and the next expansion, in my head, are very close in level to how much I love them.

But dang, Ran’jit is about as entertaining as falling face first in mud. Thancred has a great fight against him (one of my favourite instances outside of the final one in Stormblood), but also heshould’ve been the one to put him down for good. It’s a shame for him, but if Thancred can go toe to toe with Ran’jit, then he never posed a reasonable threat to our WoLs.

Dawntrail

What can I say? I’m still considering putting this one at the very top, honestly. Wak Lamat is such an engaging character, who gets such an unjust rap for her fantastic voice-acting, and I loved how well-developed her and the other cultures introduced in Dawntrail were. The writing team were operating at their best when bringing all of this to life. A great supporting cast yet again (Bakool Ja Ja and Gulool Ja are some of my favourites), and the whole expansion has such a great vibe to it. They promised a holiday, and it delivered. Kind of — it’s not really a holiday, but the music makes me believe it is.

It has a strong second half too. Sometimes in the expansions, I find myself enthralled with one part, then not as interested in the second part, but that didn’t happen here. I enjoyed the themes of loss, grief and acceptance, and they were so strong that it’s entirely unsurprising they used FFIX as inspiration. I think it’s tightly woven together on the whole, and admittedly my love for FFIX may have played a part. There are so many references here, and it plays such a strong part into the actual plot of FFXIV, that it was hard not to love. Now that’s a dev team that knows what the best Final Fantasy game is.

As a huge FFIX fan, I absolutely adored the final dungeon. I don’t think I’ve seen a thumbnail before and been so excited to dive in.

I hope we get a lot more of Krile and Erenville in future. I love them both so much.

Stormblood

Stormblood released at a time when I really needed it, and I was a journalist a long time ago and got to cover this expansion extensively. I even interviewed Yoshi-P and got something signed by him, which I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to do.

You might have thought this about me already if you’ve read this far, but I vastly prefer the more grounded stories to the big fantastical ones. I love the ascian story, but I really preferred Dawntrail and Stormblood for being smaller in scale and more intimate. I have some issues with Stormblood, such as lack of representation, but I love it all the same. The duty where you play as Hien along with Lyse and Yugiri is still my favourite single-player instance to date.

Stormblood really nailed down that the Warrior of Light can achieve anything, but still can’t be everywhere at once, which is something I wish later expansions focused on. Now they’re hopping between worlds and the impact feels lessened.

Again, loved the entire supporting cast one this one, and Yotsuyu is a fantastic character. She’s another character I sometimes find myself thinking of when playing FFXIV, and I found her arc to be really interested from a moral standpoint. I love Zenos, too. He’s such a likeable villain. I’m happy with the way his personal arc ended, but I loved the threat of Garlemald so much that I was expecting bigger things for them in Endwalker.

Triumph is still the best dungeon boss battle theme, by the way.

Gosh, I love Stormblood.

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Different to many player’s lists, I’d assume, given that I know Shadowbringers is generally the fan-favourite and Dawntrail is considered fairly weak, but Final Fantasy is a series that is constantly reinventing itself. The fact that there’s no real consensus on expansions, and that they’re all very strong, is proof of this and why we all keep coming back, right?

Whether you agree or not, I hope you’re all having a great time in Eorzea, Norvrandt, Tural, and whereever else we might end up next.