If ARR was the kindling to something huge then Heavensward is the bonfire, and boy does it roar. It is not only fantastic fantasy storytelling in its own right, it is actually one of the best Final Fantasy stories, MMO or otherwise, in many years. During your new journey, you are destined to become a target for the Warrior of Darkness, all the while piecing together the puzzle to reunite your friends from the story in ARR. The main tale follows our warrior of light (the character you create) getting embroiled in a thousand-year old conflict: The Dragonsong War. Heavensward jumps straight in where ARR left off, and does so with amazing effect.

To sum up where we are at, the endgame main quest line in ARR took a pretty brutal turn with the assassination of a key character in its final act and was easily the best writing the entire game had seen since its launch. It certainly doesn’t feel as scattered as some of ARR was at times. The engaging and original story is one of the biggest drawcards here and the game features probably one of the most focused MMO stories ever told. The good news is that this is a fantastic addition to an already solid MMO, and has taken all the best bits from A Realm Reborn and amped it up tenfold in terms of just about everything. Now, we fast forward to 2015 and after many patches, fan festivals and skyrocketing sales we have the title’s first sequel/expansion: Heavensward.

Director Naoki Yoshida and the Squeenix team behind the game have taken a lot of the best bits from other titles like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Ultima: Online and created a unique experience that was hardcore enough for veterans of the genre but also welcoming to new players. Since its relaunch a couple of years ago, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (ARR) has become one of the most well-received MMOs on the market, both critically and financially. Writers note: Reviewing an MMO is no small feat and FFXIV: Heavensward has an enormous wealth of new content that I have not had the chance to fully explore just yet. I have clocked well over 1500 hours with the game since its launch as FFXIV: A Realm Reborn on PC/PS3 and this review is based on my experiences with the new expansion’s features, story and overall experience thus far.

Final fantasy xiv heavensward ps3