Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
Japanese collector's edition cover art featuring a Dragoon
Developer(s)	Square Enix Business Division 5
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Distributor(s)	CHN: Shanda Games KOR: Actoz Soft
Director(s)	Naoki Yoshida
Producer(s)	Naoki Yoshida
Designer(s)	Naoki Yoshida Nobuaki Komoto
Programmer(s)	Hideyuki Kasuga
Artist(s)	Akihiko Yoshida
Writer(s)	Kazutoyo Maehiro
Composer(s)	Masayoshi Soken Nobuo Uematsu
Series	Final Fantasy
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Mac OS X PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4
Release date(s)	June 23, 2015
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (Japanese: ファイナルファンタジーXIV: 蒼天のイシュガルド, Hepburn: Fainaru Fantajī Fōtīn: Sōten no Ishugarudo, lit. Final Fantasy XIV: Blue Heavens of Ishgard) is the first expansion pack to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. It was released on June 23, 2015—nearly two years after the release of A Realm Reborn and almost five years after the ill-fated launch of the original Final Fantasy XIV. Naoki Yoshida served as director and producer and Nobuo Uematsu, who had not worked on the title since the original release, returned to collaborate with Masayoshi Soken on the soundtrack. The expansion pack was released as a standalone product for current players, as well as an "all-in-one" bundle containing A Realm Reborn and Heavensward. The latter was the only way to access the Mac OS X version of the game, which premiered on the same day as the expansion pack's release.

Heavensward focuses on a millennium-long conflict known as the Dragonsong War between the Holy See of Ishgard and the dragon horde of Dravania. Players seek asylum in Ishgard after being accused of murder and become involved in efforts to end the war. These actions uncover an ancient conspiracy concerning the origins of the war. In addition to the new areas, the expansion pack increases the level cap, adds three new character classes and a new playable race, and introduces flying gameplay through the use of airships and other airborne mounts.

Heavensward was well received upon release and earned nominations for "Expansion of the Year". In July 2015, Square Enix announced that the title had reached a cumulative total of 5 million subscriptions. However, the company suspended sales of the Mac version of the client that same month due to numerous reports of poor technical performance and offered refunds to those who purchased it. Mac sales resumed in February 2016. As with A Realm Reborn, major content patches are planned for every three months, though the first one—"As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness"—was delayed to November 10, 2015, to give the development team a break after shipping the expansion.

Gameplay

The gameplay and quest structure of Heavensward largely match that of its base game. As with many MMORPGs, players interact with each other in a persistent world that responds to their actions. The biggest change to the combat is an increase of the level cap to level 60, which allows each fighting class to learn five new abilities that significantly modify the flow of battle.^[1] Three new job classes are introduced as well—the abyssal tank Dark Knight, the gun-toting Machinist, and the star-powered healer Astrologian.^[2] These jobs begin at level 30 with their own storylines connected to the new setting.^[3]

Heavensward features new areas which are about three times as large as zones in the base game. The reason for the size increase is to accommodate flying gameplay. After completing certain quests and attuning to the air currents in an area, players gain the ability to use new flying mounts, such as airships, in that location.^[4] Flying allows access to previously unreachable points in the terrain. Airships built by Free Companies also have the ability to explore the Sea of Clouds for rare materials, as well as the Diadem—an open world area where players can challenge large monsters for high level gear and spoils.^[5]

In addition to new dungeons and raids, Heavensward introduces three new player versus player (PvP) modes. The Feast is an updated four-versus-four arena in the Wolves' Den in which players attempt to defeat other players to collect their medals. The team with the most medals at the end of the match wins.^[6] Unlike the Fold of A Realm Reborn, players respawn automatically in this mode and item boxes appear periodically around the arena which provide offensive and defensive advantages to the team who breaks them open. Players who maintain a high rank in the Feast are awarded with unique gear and trophies at the end of a season. An unranked version also exists for new players which features eight-versus-eight combat. The remaining new modes are for 24-player alliances to confront other Grand Companies. Seal Rock (Seize) is a capture the flag-style mode in which players must occupy and defend randomly spawning resource nodes from other teams.^[7] The Fields of Glory (Shatter) involves destroying objects around the battlefield for points.^[8]

Plot

Setting and characters

Heavensward takes place in the fictional world of Hydaelyn, a planet filled with multiple environments and climates covering three large continents. The region in which the game is set is called Eorzea.^[9] This expansion focuses on the Holy See of Ishgard in the snowy mountains of Coerthas. The three nations of the Eorzean Alliance—Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'dah—play a smaller role in the story compared to A Realm Reborn, as does their adversary, the Garlean Empire. Players are also able to explore Dravania, the homeland of the dragons, and islands floating in the Sea of Clouds above the Abalathia's Spine mountain range. In Dravania, the ruins of Sharlayan, which had been evacuated during the first Garlean invasion, have given rise to Idyllshire, a free city founded by goblins upon democratic principles.

The primary conflict of Heavensward is the ongoing Dragonsong War between Ishgard and Nidhogg's horde of dragons. The Ishgardian orthodoxy suggests that this thousand-year struggle originated when the Elezen first settled in Eorzea. King Thordan, purportedly led by the will of the deity Halone, was commanded to build a city upon Abalathia's Spine. This action angered the great wyrm Nidhogg who confronted Thordan and his knights twelve. After a tremendous battle which wiped out many of his knights as well as Thordan himself, Thordan's son Haldrath took up his father's spear and carved out Nidhogg's eyes. Nidhogg retreated and his eye became an Ishgardian relic with ties to the Azure Dragoon, a title given to the dragoon blessed by the eye's power. Since then, Nidhogg has waged a perennial siege on Ishgard and her people. This account of the beginnings of the war has been perpetuated by the Ishgardian Archdiocese which is currently headed by Archbishop Thordan VII.

The longevity of the war has engendered a strong isolationism in the Ishgardian government which filters down into the attitude of her people. Ishgard withdrew from the first Eorzean Alliance and declined to participate in the second, being preoccupied with their own war effort. This isolationism also manifests itself in a fanatic persecution of "heretics", i.e., anyone accused of consorting or sympathizing with dragons. In the lead-up to the events of the expansion, Nidhogg, who had been dormant for some time, bellows a great roar to rally the dragon horde to renew their assault on Ishgard. The player's character—an adventurer hailed as a Warrior of Light for fending off the Garlean invasion—comes into the good graces of Ser Aymeric, Lord Commander of the Temple Knights, for the defense of Ishgard during one such attack. When the player is caught at the wrong place at the wrong time during a coup attempt in Ul'dah, the hero flees to Ishgard for asylum from the charge of regicide with Alphinaud and Tataru, the only remnants of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn to escape the fiasco. Nidhogg's roar prompts a change in both sides of the conflict—Aymeric and Count Edmont of House Fortemps open Ishgard's gates to outsiders for the first time in years on the pretext of aiding the war effort. Meanwhile, Lady Iceheart grows her band of heretics and Estinien, the current Azure Dragoon, comes out of hiding in search of his archenemy, Nidhogg.

Story

Heavensward opens with the Warrior of Light finally entering Ishgard proper. With Alphinaud and Tataru, they are ushered into the manor of Count Fortemps who impresses upon them his progressive views about the role of outsiders in the Dragonsong War. After brief forays under the guidance of Edmont's sons Artoirel and Emmanellain, the player is dispatched to apprehend Lady Iceheart once again. A series of opportunities has the player travel deep into Dravanian territory with Alphinaud, Estinien, and Ysayle, the Lady Iceheart. Along the way, they challenge Ravana, a primal of the insect-like Gnath, and Tioman, Nidhogg's consort. Ascending to the Churning Mists, they seek an audience with Hraesvelgr, one of Midgardsormr's first brood. Here, they discover the true origins of the war.

The origins of the war date back to time immemorial when the dragon king Midgardsormr first arrived on Hydaelyn with seven eggs that would become his First Brood. Of his children, Hraesvelgr, Ratatoskr, and Nidhogg settled in Eorzea. The first Elezen to settle in Eorzea encountered these great wyrms and Nidhogg was initially mistrustful, having seen the fate of his brood brother Bahamut at the hands of the Allagan Empire in eras past. However, a woman named Shiva fell in love with Hraesvelgr and brokered a peace between their people. To overcome the brevity of her mortal life, Shiva allowed Hraesvelgr to devour her soul so they could be together for eternity. However, Thordan I betrayed the dragons' trust, conspiring with his knights to slay Ratatoskr and devour her eyes to gain unimaginable power. This becomes Nidhogg's true motive for his assault on Ishgard—his undying wish for revenge on Thordan's descendants.

With this knowledge, the Warrior of Light and his cadre return to Ishgard to confront the Archbishop. Thordan VII reveals his role in perpetuating the deception, as well as his plan to travel to Azys Lla to gain ultimate power. Azys Lla is an ancient Allagan floating colony that serves as the prison for the Warring Triad, a trio of Third Astral Era primals with unimaginable strength. By absorbing the Warring Triad, Thordan aims to deify himself into a primal using the prayers of Ishgard's people, gaining the power to end the Dragonsong War. The Warrior of Light pursues and decimates the mad archbishop. Lord Commander Aymeric assumes temporary rule of Ishgard, revealing himself as the Archbishop's illegitimate son. Under this uneasy peace, Ishgard rejoins the Eorzean Alliance.

In the next chapter As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness, the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud resume their search to find the other missing members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Upon hearing of someone who matches the description of Thancred, the Scions come across another band of adventurers who identify themselves as the Warriors of Darkness. During a brief confrontation, Thancred arrives to save the others. Meanwhile, riots form throughout Ishgard in response to Aymeric's decision to bring peace between the Ishgardians and Dravanians. The riots are quelled when a child is saved by one of the Dravanians, Vidofnir.

During The Gears of Change, the Scions work towards locating their missing leader Minfilia. The Warrior of Light manages to find Minfilia, who has now become the Word of the Mother to aid in Hydaelyn's ailing moment. Meanwhile, Aymeric works towards a conference to announce his intentions to end the Dragonsong War not with violence, but peace. Vidofnir arrives, representing the Dravanians, and accepts the Ishgardians' proposal for peace. This is short lived, however, as Nidhogg disrupts the conference, using the Azure Dragoon named Estinien as his new vessel. Before flying off, he warns of returning to end the Dragonsong War with one final attack on Ishgard.

In Revenge of the Horde, the Warrior of Light, Aymeric and Alphinaud race against time to find aid against Nidhogg, asking his brood-brother Hraesvelgr for assistance. After going through trials to prove their worth, the dragon joins the Warrior of Light in the final battle. After meeting his defeat by the hands of the Warrior of Light, Estinien is freed from Nidhogg's grasp, finally bringing an end to the Dragonsong War. Aymeric, moving forward from Ishgard's former rule of archbishops, reforms the city into a republic ruled by both the lowborn and highborn citizens, each represented by the House of Commons and House of Lords respectively. In the last scene, Count Edmont de Fortemps finishes the final page of his memoirs, aptly titled "Heavensward". (As his memoirs were a retelling of the game's main storyline for the Dragonsong War)

In the next chapter of the story Soul Sacrifice, the Warrior of Light and Aymeric meet to reflect on everything that has happened in Ishgard, only to be interrupted by news of Alisaie, Alphinaud's twin sister, arriving injured at House Fortemps. Thancred informs that she was attacked by the Warriors of Darkness, who overheard their plot regarding the primals of Eorzea. After stopping the Ixal beast tribe from summoning Garuda, the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud encounter the Warriors of Darkness. Their intent of summoning and slaying the primals is part of a plan to bring Hydaelyn to the point of destruction to restore their own home world. During their journey to stop the primal summonings, the Scions are reunited with Yda and Papalymo, who inform they were part of an Ala Mhigan resistance against the Garlean Empire. After meeting with a man known as the Griffin, Alphinaud accuses him of aiding in the primal summonings, which he denies. The Scions arrive to a failed summoning of Ifrit, to be met with a confrontation with the Warriors of Darkness once more. During the battle, Urianger reveals himself, siding with his Scion allies and invokes Hydaelyn's will to speak to Minfilia. He reveals that he learned of the world lost to the Warrior of Darkness, working secretly with the Ascians to find a way to restore their world without sacrificing Eorzea. Minfilia, sympathetic to his cause, agrees to depart from Hydaelyn with the Warriors of Darkness with the intent of giving back their lost world. With the primal threat quelled, the reunified Scions of the Seventh Dawn move forward, their goal to always be ready to defend Eorzea.

Development

Planning for Heavensward, along with the patches leading into its story, began well over a year prior to its announcement. Naoki Yoshida, the game's producer and director, decided between "Sea" and "Sky" as a theme, ultimately settling on Sky.^[10] The progression from the main game to its expansion was laid out in detail, and these elements were categorized so that developers would not get confused by things like between two different dungeons they were working on simultaneously.^[11] The development team worked within the constraints of existing lore and assets for the Ishgard area and elaborating on them.^[12] This includes an original language for the dragons which Michael Christopher Koji Fox, the director of English localization, had created during the development of the 2010 release.^[13] The expansion was officially announced at the Las Vegas segment of Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2014, which took place in October.^[11] Further details about the expansion were released at the London and Tokyo events, including the three new jobs, the new playable race, and the new raid. Yoshida also revealed a data center based in Europe to improve server performance for European players, as well as a service providing optional cosmetic items for purchase.^[14][15]

Unlike A Realm Reborn, the Heavensward storyline is an original story not directly inspired by previous Final Fantasy titles.^[16] Instead, it draws influence from real events such as religion-based conflicts around the world and the importance of recognizing the perspective that history is written from.^[12] The team chose to require new players to complete the A Realm Reborn story before accessing Heavensward because it provides necessary context for the player's actions. Yoshida referred to Heavenward as "the second season to a television program", remarking "you don’t watch it from the second season, you watch it from the first season so you know what’s going on".^[17] The team made adjustments to allow new players to "watch that first season on fast-forward", including increasing experience and adding gear rewards to main scenario quests, eliminating the need to grind to access the expansion.^[17] However, for future expansions, Yoshida has stated that story completion will not be a requirement.^[18]

Heavensward premiered the Mac OS X client at its launch on June 23, 2015.^[19] The port was handled by TransGaming.^[20] Unlike console and Microsoft Windows PC versions of the expansion, the Mac release is only available in a two-in-one bundle containing the base game and the Heavensward expansion, titled Final Fantasy XIV Online.^[21] Current players of other versions of the game, including Mac players running the PC install via Boot Camp, are required to purchase this bundle in order to play using the native Mac client.^[22] On July 3, 2015, Square Enix suspended sales of the Mac version because of widespread reports of poor technical performance and offered refunds to those who purchased it.^[23] Yoshida observed that the performance issues could be attributed to difficulties in transposing the game from Microsoft's proprietary DirectX graphical rendering libraries to OpenGL as well as a clerical error resulting in publishing the wrong minimum system requirements, both compounded by the hectic work schedule demanded by the release of an expansion pack.^[24] After new rounds of testing and optimization, sales of the Mac client resumed on February 23, 2016, accompanying the release of Patch 3.2.^[25]

Another major focus of the expansion is to update the game with DirectX 11 support. The DirectX 11 version of the game includes improvements to water physics, light refraction in water, reflections, and visual quality of shadows and textures over the DirectX 9 client. In addition, the new client is less resource-intensive on the graphical processing unit and may improve frame rates.^[26] However, there are no current plans to upgrade to DirectX 12.^[27] For consoles, the development team is committed to maintaining support for the PlayStation 3 client through the end of the Heavensward patch cycle. Yoshida plans to reevaluate the state of the PlayStation 3 player base with the game's second expansion.^[28]

Two new categories of content were introduced during the patch cycle of Heavensward, post-launch: Exploratory Missions and Deep Dungeon. Exploratory Missions are designed to emulate the feel of "first generation" MMORPGs in which players hunted notorious monsters in the field with hidden spawn conditions.^[29] It also fills a gap in the game's content repertoire for huge-scale battles with extremely large numbers of players. However, it was not well-received at launch because of the simplicity of its battle mechanics, the repetitive nature of the gameplay loop, and the randomness of the loot drops which were not tied to skill or effort spent.^[5] Deep Dungeon is a roguelike randomly generated instance, inspired by Chocobo Mystery Dungeon.^[18] Yoshida wanted to allow veteran players to party with their friends who are just starting out more quickly; as such, characters are temporarily reset to level one upon entering and level quickly back to the maximum over the course of the first 50 floors. The first section is considered casual content but reaching the 200th floor is meant to be a challenge for hardcore players.^[18]

Patches

The development team schedules the release of a major update approximately every three months. Each of these content patches includes a continuation of the main scenario as well as new raids, features, trials, and dungeons. Minor patches that come in between major updates focus on quality of life changes. As with A Realm Reborn, five major content patches are planned for Heavensward.^[30] Preliminary planning for the next expansion is already underway.^[31]

Music

Masayoshi Soken composed the majority of the expansion's score—over 50 tracks—in addition to his duties as sound director.^[35] On the other hand, Heavensward marked Nobuo Uematsu's first return to the Final Fantasy series since his work on the original 2010 release of Final Fantasy XIV. Uematsu composed the expansion's main theme, "Dragonsong", and Soken used it as a musical through-line which reappears at multiple points in the story. Susan Calloway, who sang the theme song for the original release, reprised her role for this piece.^[36] Soken emphasized the music's connection to the story as important to his composition process, ever focused on enhancing the player's experience through sound. He found that Heavensward's "dark" main story is reflected in the pieces he wrote.^[35]

Heavensward: Final Fantasy XIV Original Soundtrack is collection of music from the expansion pack including both the launch and Patch 3.1, "As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness". The album was released by Square Enix on February 24, 2016 on Blu-ray disc and includes a documentary about the sound production process featuring Soken. The first print run also came with a special "Spoony Bard" in-game pet, referring to the character from Final Fantasy IV.^[37] Unlike the previous Final Fantasy XIV album, all of the music was new to the album, though 16 of the tracks were previously released in September through November 2015 as Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward -EP- Vol. 1. through 3.^[38][39][40] The album was well received by Emily McMillan of Video Game Music Online, who lauded the soundtrack's "brilliant, varied, and extraordinarily fun to hear" themes. She praised the unique atmosphere of the new expansion's music, as well as its integration into the overall game's soundscape.^[41]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings PC: 87.30%[42] PS4: 86.00%[43] Metacritic PC: 86/100[44] PS4: 86/100[45] Review scores Publication Score GameSpot 9/10[46] GamesRadar [47] IGN 8.6/10[48] USgamer [49] RPGFan 95%[50] RPGamer 4.5/5[51] MMORPG.com 8.5/10[52] Digital Spy 8/10[53]

Critics and reviewers looked to Heavensward as a bellwether for the direction of the Final Fantasy XIV project—if it would continue its comeback story that began with A Realm Reborn or if it would falter and further damage the series.^{[46][50][51][52]} Reception of the expansion was "generally positive" for both PC and PlayStation 4 versions, according to review aggregator Metacritic, based on 14 and 20 reviews, respectively.^[44][45] Heavensward sold 47,000 units across PlayStation 3 and 4 versions in Japan in its first week, making it the third best-selling video game of the week in that region.^[54]

A focal point of praise for the game centered on the story. Pete Davison of GameSpot drew attention to the themes of racism and questioning of religious dogma as well as the dramatic arcs of characters like Ysayle, which he called "among the series' most memorable".^[46] Leif Johnson of IGN felt similarly, holding it as "the finest Final Fantasy tale that developer Square Enix has told in a decade".^[48] Mike Williams of USgamer took time to acknowledge the care and detail given to the side quests and commended the localization team for conveying their humor.^[49]

Many outlets made note of the requirement to finish all A Realm Reborn main story content before being given access to Heavensward. Davison argued that the decision made sense for the story-centric MMORPG and appreciated the adjustment to quests to make this process easier for new players.^[46] Daniella Lucas of GamesRadar agreed, saying "to bypass [A Realm Reborn] would be a disservice to a truly gripping tale".^[47] Johnson recognized the necessity of the story-based gate but criticized the decision to lock the new job classes behind it as well.^[48]

Reviewers compared the addition of flying gameplay favorably to World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Mike Salbato of RPGFan lauded the choice to lock flying until players had explored each area on foot.^[50] Williams echoed this sentiment, observing that it preserves the sense of exploration and wonder in the world.^[49] Lucas and Davison were more equivocal about this feature but ultimately agreed with the developers' decision.^[46][47] However, they all agreed the expansive new zones were a highlight of the game, with Adriaan den Ouden of RPGamer impressed by "spectacular vistas that are simply stunning to behold".^{[46][47][49][50][51]}

Johnson took issue with a particular content gap that exists toward the latter half of the expansion's leveling progression. Instead of completing a large number of "insipid" filler quests dealing with moogles, he opted to run the later leveling dungeons to overcome this hump.^[48] Williams and Salbato experienced a similar slow period during the midgame.^[49][50] Like A Realm Reborn, Heavensward continues the game's strong console feature set and controller support. Lucas maintained that Final Fantasy XIV is the best MMORPG for video game home consoles, though she cautioned that PlayStation 3 players might experience longer load times than on PlayStation 4.^[47] Taken together, the critical response to Heavensward indicate confidence in the game's direction.^{[46][50][51][52]} Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy summarized that "Heavensward feels like a reward for the fans who gave Final Fantasy XIV a second chance after its botched launch in 2010".^[53]

References

External links

• Official website