Can we all have a moment of silence for the editors being spoiled on the story purely because it's their job, F.

I really thought that Heavensward would be the pinnacle of storytelling for the game, and that nothing would ever top it. Then I reached Shadowbringers.

So it has been said, so it shall be: Either quit in ARR, or become a walking advertisement for the game after Heavensward

Well this meme continues to hold true: you either quit during ARR or you become a walking advertisement for FFXIV by the end of Heavensward

"I really don't want to put any spoilers in the video, because I know a number of people are not up to where I am.." climax of iceheart's story playing in the background lol

If you go to Azys Lla after Estinien walks out with flowers for Ysayle, you can find a spot where his bouquet is resting.

The best story in gaming is the story of Mike's unbaldening. Seriously, it's looking good.

To hear Preach talk about the WoD. He's in for a treat.

We don't lie when we make the memes about the award winning HW and it's FREE!

Heavensward was one of the best story telling experiences I’ve ever played. And then I hit Shadowbringers and proceeded drown my house in tears

Preach ain't ready for 5.0 and 5.3

Love how you put Grim's "I saw you skip the cutscene you little twerp!" in there. I've always agreed, it isn't for everyone, but I'm really glad to hear you've been enjoying it all so far despite the scepticism.

The fact that Preach is gushing this much over Heavensward makes me even more excited to see his review of Shadowbringers.

I liked that after the Warriors of Darkness present themselves and you as a player are thinking that it's kinda cringe, Kryle comes out and says basically that.

Part of the way through stormblood myself and so far Yotsuyu has been everything that Blizzard wanted Sylvanis to be but Blizzard could never pull it off.

Preach loves Thancred. He knows its his favorite character, he's just in denial. 😊

I love how you pointed out the commonality between Aymeric and Hraesvelgr because that's honestly the crux of Heavensward right there: the conflict between humans and dragons is bridged by two people who have been abused by Thordan's lies and who decide to heal instead of let those wounds fester any longer. Man and dragon are not so different after all. Healing is possible for both sides. The beauty of Heavensward I think is due to how the game switches the story at the patch quests. For the base expansion, Heavensward was Estinien's story - how he will stop the war and get revenge by killing Nidhogg. But then the story changes and becomes Aymeric's story - how he will rebuild Ishgard and lead this nation into the future. And then the two stories are brought together again in 3.3 in a masterful, emotional way.

For those of you who don't know. "The shadow man" story in Divinity Original Sin II refers to him playing Lohse as the main character in that game and following that character's story line.

Watching you play and commentate on the shadowbringers narrative experience is literally one of my most anticipated pieces of content on youtube. Yes you've heard it a million times, but one RPG story gamer to another, it really does get even better.

One of my favorite conversations about the story was when I asked my FC leader about something in the story, and he said “We’ll get an answer in three years, don’t worry”

Preach, you make a good point about leaving threads from ARR until the end of HW.... but more impressive as you will see is how they leave threads from ARR until the end of Shadowbringers!

Shadowbringers is absolutely going to destroy him.

“The end of [The Warriors of Darkness] story crushed me completely” 🤫

While Stormblood starts slowly, it is a fantastic expansion in its own right. The dungeons and trials are especially magnificent compared to Heavensward, but the narrative lacks the same mysticism and romance of Heavensward. When you're through it, however, you have Shadowbringers waiting for you and _that_ expansion is the best of the three, for sure.

Anti-spoiler minfilia is unironically terrifying and stares into my soul.

To all those who've played and experienced it for themselves, no, you don't sound like a shill.

It's amazing to see you happy to play a game. Love the vods and content !

Glad you enjoyed it! Been really enjoying your streams, including the housing contest. They're a lot of fun.

Would love to see a spoiler-full video from preach on what he thought about the story and what his favorite parts were

I took me 6 years to realize what Preach has learned in over the months he played. I was a story skipper until I saw shadowbringer trailer. It was then that I gave the game another try and play it properly. I am so glad I did because the game has changed me. It taught me to take my time. The game is not about where you end up, it's the journey itself that's worth it. I am here now kicking myself for skipping story for so long.

The best way I can describe it: ARR was good. Stormblood was good. Heavensward and Shadowbringers both felt the same as a book that I just couldn't put down until I either passed out at 5AM or finished it one.

Look at him, he's almost a walking advertisement now, just two more expansions lol. Glad you thoroughly enjoyed the HW story Preach, please keep doing so at your leisure!

I loved how he had a mini breakdown when he noticed Ardberd story mirrored what was happening with him and the Wow development team

I've been watching Preach's streams with a very wary eye, because he always seems so cynical. He makes it very clear that he doesn't like the anime moments, it's just not his thing. And yet, I wanted him to enjoy FF14, because it's just such an enriching experience. I had been waiting for him to finish 3.3, because it is a signature moment in the game, and it would bear the truth of if it's for you. After this big 3.3 battle and cutscene, when he immedietly said it was one of the best story's ever, it was like the tension bubble I had been holding for months finally burst. Glad you're here, Mike!

This was awesome to see. Glad you’re enjoying it Preach.

I love this series you're doing, keep it up :)

Oh boy can't wait for him to get through 5.0 and 5.3

I'm happy to hear that you are appreciating the story Preach. I hope Shadow Bringers blows your expectations away!

Having watch you play through RPG Feb on stream, having experienced Chrono Trigger and Divinity some years beforehand...it's been a pleasure watching you discover this path. I finished 5.4 last month and think it might just be my #1 video game story of all time! Let the tears flow, Mr Preacher. The best is yet to come.

Man do you have a good time ahead of you, enjoy it mate!

Love how people are seeing how awesome FF14 really is. ARR and Heavensward was out around the same time of WoD and Legion, so remember this is 6-8 year old content. FF14 has always been awesome, just took a while for people to experience it.

I can't play Dragonsong in the car if I'm driving, it makes it so I can't see the road...

We love and appreciate you Editor!

glad u enjoy it man. its just gets better

After watching this... holy shit... Mike might actually really like Stormblood if he's cool with the slow burn. I'm one of the few crazies that actually preferred it's story to HW (which also fantastic)

I remember rolling my eyes when the Warriors of Darkness were introduced, but I feel completely differently about them now. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Stormblood, but I am especially excited to hear your thoughts on Shadowbringers.

Okay so i skipped the text boxes, but watched the cutscenes or the voiced dialogues when i first played heavensward way back when, watching you voice everything actually made me realise that there is so much more attention to detail than i first thought.

Really glad you're enjoying it. There is one thing I recommend you do before hitting SB, it's a "generic" (gold) quest chain starting in Fortemps manor called "The Paths We Walk". 5 quests each starting where the other ends, super easy to miss but I'd say very important to a few loose ends from HW. Even has it's own space in the NG+ log.

A perfect example of the devs taking their time and how long into the future they plan for the story: At the recent kupocon, one of the VAs (not saying who to avoid possible spoilers for some players) was asked about something they talked about at one of the previous kupocons, which is, back before Heavensword, this VA was told about a huge story moment for their character, to help the VA understand their character and how they should act that character over time for future expansions. Well, that VA said that they still haven’t recorded the lines for that arc, and that's including for Endwalker….. In other words, the devs have had something planned for a character and the overall story since before Heavensward, which began development in 2013-2014, and we still aren’t at that point and won't see that until after Endwalker. And that’s just one character and one plot point, who knows what the story team has planned besides that. So when Yoshi-P recently talked about how they have been planning for the next 10 years, he meant that very literally. These devs are on another level!

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on 5.3! I am so glad you're enjoying the game :) !

When the FFXIV Sub-a-thon goal was revealed, this was the video that I wanted to see, and the one I was most afraid I wouldn't get to. I absolutely love, and feel immensely honored that I get to watch this journey through a new MMO experience that I absolutely know will forever alter Mike's perspective going forward. It allows me to externally appreciate the same journey that I went through, and helps inform my own view of how FFXIV has impacted my own perspective of what can be done with story in a game. In regards to FFXIV itself and the extreme competence that YoshiP and his crew demonstrate, I think what hits me the most is how so damn thorough they are. You can really see this in the care and effort they apply to constantly updating the idle text (and physical location) in characters around you. It is overwhelming to consider, and that is with non-MSQ content considerations. That they take the time to address such a breadth of threads, even when it boils down the the fate of a minor or incidental character that you encounter in the MSQ, is mind blowing. That they have the balls to let that thread sit for one (or more) expansions so that it appears forgotten, is masterful.

Preach your hair is out of control man! Looking good dude awesome to see it worked for you :)

Oh dude, I definitely teared up in The Witcher 3 at that one scene...

Preach i think you realize why some of the community wants people to play through MSQ i think other games have given people the wrong mindset about story usually thinking its not important waste of time.. If people take there time through FFXIV MSQ i believe it will pay off i honestly love seeing gamers genuinely enjoying FFXIV to see them feeling connected to certain characters..

I can't wait to watch you touch up on this topic again in the later expansions.

Slowly plugging away at MSQ during my free trial that ends here soon. Been loving everything I've done thus far! Your content helped make the jump. Looking forward to the story going forward.

To think this was our YEARS AGO when we were suffering through and bitching about WoW. I don’t regret many of my EARLIER (keyphrase xD) years with WoW, but I imagine this was really incredible to the folks experiencing it as it was being released.

Right, I've only just finished going through all expacs... But bloody hell the story is so, so good. Can't wait until you get to the end of Shadowbringers so I can see your reaction to that!

Thanks for this Preach. I’m nearly done with ARR and this will help motivate me to finish up over the weekend and maybe start Heavensward

Keep plugging along, i loved your advice about letting it breathe. it took me the better part of the year to progress slowly through the game. Certainly not because I couldn't play it but more for the joy of the story itself, I wanted to take it in fully and immerse myself in it. A small word of advice for your future endeavors, one adventurer to another, pack a box of tissues for Shadowbringers. You'll thank me later. Happy travels mate!

I hope that you can go into Stormblood with as open a mind as possible. The community likes to talk it down, but there are many fantastic elements to it and I think it suffers from the fact that people insist on ranking things.

HW is 10/10 story. SB is 7/10. ShB is 11/10. Preach will be singing its praises from the high heavens in a month or two.

I'm so glad you're enjoying the story Preach, I'm about half way through Heavenward myself, just finished the Vault dungeon and I just can't get into it, I hope the second half is able to capture me because I so want to enjoy this story with everyone else.

Mike, you better have a box of tissues ready for the Sorrow of Werlyt questline in Shadowbringers. Hands down, the best story telling I've ever seen in any video game. It left me shook to say the least. Please make a note to make a video after you complete this one. The fights are excellent too, but the story... omg.

Stormblood is alright, but it's a hard act to follow Heavensward.

I tried playing ff14 2 times and just could not get through the not voice acted cutscenes. I just gave up. Wasn't for me. Then I saw Preach stream the game and 'voice act' the cut scenes. Hey, now I know the story, now I can play the game. And now my summoner is level 52 and going strong. So, thanks for that. :D

Glad to see Preach join us in the "Walking advertisement" phase :D

It always fills me with happiness to see new players - both veterans to MMOs and the true sprouts who take the time to really immerse themselves in the world - especially the main story content. If you take the time to watch some of the media with YoshiP you can see he truly cares about the game and sincerely apologizes (even to the point of tears) when his team and himself make an error.

"I feel like a shill but..." Yup. Sums it up perfectly. I feel like a shill but...it really is that good.

Stormblood has some pacing issues in the base expansion but is still a good story, it just takes a while for it to get its act together. But after you hit the patch content it's just a rollercoaster ride until the end of Shadowbringers. Enjoy Preach, it makes me happy seeing a behemoth in the WoW community discovering this game just like I did years ago.

You summed up exactly how I started, coming from wow with no patience for dialogue, getting absorbed into the story before realising I had learned to love storytelling again

wow, you look happier, cheers mate, have fun !

If we're talking about video games that moved us: for all it's technical blunders, I found Cyberpunk's stories very strong emotionally. At the end of my ~100% 120 hours playthrough, that's a world I was genuinely sad to leave, a journey I felt very sad to end, and characters I felt very sad to say goodbye to.

something you could say to your friends who are only into endgame is that you dont have to shoot to max level to take part in the endgame. explain how much fun you had with ramuh ex. and then tell em to let it breathe like you said.

The editor was having all of the fun in this video.

Stoked that Preach is enjoying the game - honestly, so stoked.

I will say being a dragoon main during heavansward was an amazing treat. The few extra dialogs you get just makes you feel better but man. Heavansward is amazing.

Its a great game

"Only once in my life has video games moved me to tears" 2 expansion later...he is at 6

the joy I feel from hearing a fellow gamer appreciate the same mind blowing experience I did, can't express fully. It's hard to not almost be mad people are missing this. Not that it's for everyone obviously, but damn. For an MMORPG even, just unreal. It's not perfect, but it certainly raises the bar, right? I have friends who are huge FF or RPG fans that refuse to play this, so watching you go through it has filled that void of enjoying it with someone who shares my passion. Thanks for that :D

Once I was through with Heavensward I decide that FFXIV was the best RPG I have ever played..and believe me, I have played A LOT of them. Stormblood and Shadowbringers of course just solidifies that belief for me. Shadowbringers was SO good. So good, in fact, I struggle to think of even *how* can a story be better than it? Guess we’ll found out in Endwalker

I was honestly expecting Planescape: Torment to be the #1 storytelling game, but Divinity is good too!

I'm so excited FOR YOU, Mike, to be experiencing this fully. I spent about 14 years years playing WOW-- it's heartbreaking to see what became of it. But... like you, playing and experiencing FFXIV... man, it just makes me smile. When you've finished it all, I'll share a fan-made video that's amazing and wraps up ARR through ShB.... but after so nothing is ruined. I sincerely believe after Shadowbringer, you'll be saying IT is the best MMO story you've experienced, the whole of it. And I'm thrilled you're taking your time, not rushing. Like opening a fine bottle, you're letting it breathe. Well done!

Great video.

This dude really thinking Heavensward is the best thing ever when Shadowbringers exists. And you know what, I hope Endwalker emotionally obliterates me.

If you think heavens ward was that good, wait for shadowbringers. Shadowbringers raises the bar so God damn high because of how good it is, I can't imagine how they gona surpass with endwalker.

God you're going to have so much fun with everything that comes next :D

So nice to see that he's taking his time and enjoying the journey. The story is worth it.

Sir Aymeric triggers that part of my manly heart that knows a good leader and a good man when it sees one. It makes me understand how men before the time of corporations and crooked politicians could have loyalty for a leader, trusting their choices to be just and good. Also, you think the Warriors of Darkness story was sad before, lol.

Waiting for him to call shadowbringers a masterpiece

most impressive about the later stories is that everything leading up to that point, somehow has an impact and the people in it have believable relations to it. As a lover of rpg you simply cant skip this, its world class.

I cried at 5.3 so you really are in for a treat

i recommend ff9, story is soulcrushing and touches themes like the meaning of life, even doe is the most goofy looking ff it seems to be the deepest when it comes to story, ending is wholesome and sad at the same time.

Dev's ideal takeaway: The long game pays off the most, but requires the most investment.

I like that Preach is going for a more complete approach to the game instead of just rushing through the MSQ. Something I’ve noticed from many recent streamers who seem to Zerg the MSQ really fast is that they don’t remember a lot of the nuance things presented and thus miss out on many connection points to the overall story and the world. Just like with any great story, sometimes you’ve gotta let it digest and maybe talk about it with others before you flood your brain with new information. The side content also helps to further the overall story of the world and is often referenced in other content if you’ve completed it.

I caint wait for your Video after you Finished Shadowbringers. It just blew me away.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seto is going to destroy him.

I started in May and just finished up to current. All I’ll say is just wait until you finish Shadowbringers and then watch that endwalker trailer that was released a few months back. Absolutely incredible one of the best trailers I’ve ever seen when knowing all the context.

Just finished HW last week and I’m loving SB so far as well!

When Preach hits Shadowbringers...