Heavensward begins in the aftermath of patch 2.55 and sees the Warrior of Light and his allies seeking refuge in the xenophobic, religiously orthodox city of Ishgard in the frozen land of Coerthas. At this point, the ongoing saga of Eorzea and the Warrior of Light is incredibly lengthy between the original story of A Realm Reborn and the subsequent, serialized stories of patches 2.1 to 2.55, the story is long and complex. Much like A Realm Reborn, Heavensward is a highly story-driven experience. Now, two years later and nearly five years since its initial, troubled beginnings, the game’s first full-length expansion has arrived: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. A ground-up rebuild of the original version, A Realm Reborn not only revived the beleaguered MMO, but in many people’s eyes the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. After stagnating in limbo for three years, however, it came back with a vengeance as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. After its initial, rushed launch in 2010, it was widely regarded as one of the biggest MMO failures in recent memory, even managing to snag RPGamer’s coveted “Biggest Letdown” award. The gear feature here isn’t always individually labeled, but some outfits put the subjects in some nice, dynamic poses.Final Fantasy XIV has had a long, rough road. The art for the Alexander raid series is incredibly cool and has a lot of detail. Although if you are looking for more on the process of conceptualizing and creating places, people, and things for the game there is a small section dedicated to that in the back of the book.Īs always, the art on offer here is absolutely stunning and having it be larger allows you to appreciate every stroke of the pen. While I would have preferred even more insight into each piece, there’s a surprising amount of lore added here in the patches leading up to Stormblood. The second book in the set is The Scars of War, which has less developer commentary but in turn allows the art to take up more space. I may sound like a broken record at this point, but they all look fantastic and getting to see the finer details is a joy. Some art you may recognize from the game’s loading screens are concepts of the city of Ishgard, but there are more pieces here showing individual locations and dungeons too. For example, the Falconer’s set just looks more interesting on the page. I’ve seen some of these pieces in game and, not to knock the work of the modelers, some of them look great in 2D even if I’m not a fan of how they look in game. There’s also a lot of gear in this book, everything from Job gear to equipment found in dungeons or crafted. I really like some of the more beastly designs as well and almost wish those could be added as a variant the muscular female designs and more beastly Viera look very cool. I really enjoyed reading their commentary on some pieces to get to know how they interpret directions they’re given and their personal styles.Ī highlight of this book was the Au’Ra concept art and seeing how the race went from something inspired by the Viera (who would eventually be added) to the dragon inspired race we know and love today. Several artists contributed to these concepts and, while you can tell slight differences, they’re great at keeping a consistent style. Stone & Steel is up first, opening it up you’ll see several pieces of key art for the expansion which are absolutely gorgeous. While I may have missed out on the artbooks for this expansion, thanks to a recent reprint we’ve got the chance to check out both Heavensward books covering the expansion and it’s patches. This expansion introduced a new race, the dragon-like Au’Ra, and a whopping three new jobs, Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist. It was a nice change of pace aesthetically as well, moving from slightly technological fantasy into dark fantasy. I remember this as the time when I really got into the game and the story started grabbing me more than the base game or 1.0. While there’s not much competition with only three with a fourth on the way, it’s certainly up there with Shadowbringers in terms of fan favorites. Heavensward is regarded as one of Final Fantasy XIV’s best expansions.
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