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Legacy/A Realm Reborn - Heavensward - Stormblood - Shadowbringers - Endwalker

"If history must be unwritten, let it be unwritten. Become what you must... become the Warrior of Darkness!"

• In the very first look at Shadowbringers we see a weary-looking Warrior of Light traversing across a ruined landscape and being tormented by a Gremlin; as he is confronted by a giant Kuribu enemy. Despite the Warrior's best efforts and utilizing multiple classes he cannot so much as put a dent on it as it proceeds to stomp on the Warrior. When it looks like the final blow is struck against the Warrior, a surge of darkness rises from the ground and the Kuribu's arm has been cleaved off. The Warrior of Light class changed to a Dark Knight and then unleashes a wave of darkness which utterly obliterates the Kuribu and cleaves the light of the sky in half. The Warrior of Light now stands as a Warrior of Darkness.
  • If you pay attention right before the Kuribu is destroyed, you see its eyes widen. It's an unthinking stone golem designed to fight and nothing more, but the Warrior of Darkness manages to make it scared for its life.
  • The extended trailer shows off Thancred with the brand new tank job, Gunbreaker. We see that he's taken to the new job like a pro, bouncing around and making short work of the beast before him, all while making a Declaration of Protection to what seems to be the reborn Minfilia!
  • Also from the extended trailer, Urianger and Y'shtola pulling a Screw Destiny as they face a raging firestorm.
    Urianger: What sayest thou, Master Matoya? We may accept this fate, or defy it...but we cannot deny it.
    Y'shtola: ..."deny"? I am not wont to run from my troubles. Until our friend returns, I will Hold the Line!
• Even the benchmark showcase has some epic moments. One such is the Warrior of Darkness and an entire army of adventurers taking on about a dozen Winged Lions, a miniboss mind you, along with a much larger monster. After the Winged Lions are defeated the large monster uses a Tidal Wave to wipe most of the adventurers, only for the Warrior of Darkness and the Scions to pull a Big Damn Heroes and fight alongside the adventurers.
• The first time that you kill a Lightwarden. The fact that you managed to save many lives by purging the monsters destroying a village and avenged the lives of those that fell would be good enough...But then your character absorbs the light from the Lightwarden. After just a moment of thought, your character raises their weapon aloft, channels their power skyward, and obliterates the eternal light from the sky. This is the moment that really hammers the point home: There's still hope for this world.
• Remember how much effort went into plucking Y'shtola from the Lifestream back in Heavensward? Enlisting the help of the Padjals, having to find a relative of Y'shtola so the elementals would have a general idea of what they're looking for, and a big ceremony at the Guardian Tree? A ceremony that wasn't even a guarantee to work? Well when Y'shtola uses Flow to secure the antidote to the poison Ran'jit had used on the Night Blessed and after a revelation from the Warrior of Light that she may not have actually fallen to her death, the scions are at a lost at how to save her yet again... until Emet-Selch steps up to help. Once he's on a proper current of the Lifestream he effortlessly pulls her out with little more a snap of his fingers and and mild annoyance that he can't remember what color her soul was off the top of his head. Then when she once again comes out naked as her nameday he recreates her clothes with yet another snap of his fingers. It really puts into perspective just how powerful Emet-Selch really is when he can casually do something that took a ton of legwork for what was still just a gamble two expansions prior.
• Thancred versus Ran'jit. By this point, Ran'jit has proven himself more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the Warrior of Light, but this doesn't stop Thancred from taking him on alone to buy them and Minfilia time to find the original Minfilia. The fight is a brutal battle between two men who deride each other's efforts to be a father figure to the young Minfilia. Thancred's ace up his sleeve is an alchemic concoction that slows the aether that sustains life in a person to disappear, escape Ran'jit's most brutal attacks, and to get particularly damaging blows in himself. Unfortunately, with Thancred down to his gunblade's final cartridge from Minfilia and on his last legs, Ran'jit sees through the deception the third time. This pushes Thancred even further with an even more potent alchemic concoction to completely sever the aether that sustains life. Once again incapable of locating Thancred, Ran'jit darts around the arena throwing out wide sweeping attacks in an attempt to simply kill him before the Gunbreaker can get close. However, Thancred succeeds and blasts Ran'jit with the immensely overcharged cartridge which both severely wounds Ran'jit and forces him to retreat. The aftermath sees Thancred alone and dying as he finally makes peace with the fact that his Minfilia is gone and content that he has died giving her latest incarnation a chance to lead her own life. Thankfully Y'shtola and Urianger find him and bring him back from the very brink. This made all the more awesome by the fact that you play as Thancred for this sequence.
• Alphinaud already went through major Character Development after A Realm Reborn, but he gets another notch in his belt during Shadowbringers showing just far he has come from his early days of being a stuck up brat. After Vauthry flees from Elumore, the citizens regain their senses and are confused about what happened. Alphinaud stands in front of all the nobles and explains that everything Vauthry told them about peace and paradise was a complete lie. While it was true that they were under his mind control when they attacked the Scions, Alphinaud points out that everything they did before the mind control was on their own conscious and thus they are responsible for how things turned out and how their not so well off neighbors suffered. All the nobles look down in shame and guilt, knowing that Alphinaud speaks true, but they are also willing to start anew and make things right again. Cue Alisaie saying "Well done, brother!" without a shred of contempt or sarcasm.
  • It's also worth bringing up that much of the progress through the second part of Kholusia is made possible by people that Alphinaud has saved or befriended.
• When the final plan to get to Mt. Gulg comes to fruition, the heroes bring everybody in Norvrandt to help, up to and including the formerly-worthless citizens of Eulmore, for a plan which is simply boggling in its audacity: to create a giant golem to grip the flying mountain, creating a land bridge which could be crossed on foot. Even the Fae get in on this, with Titania just a little bit upset at their lovely sapling's refusal to seek their help — and more than willing to work out their aggression on some of those Sin Eaters.
  Y'shtola: If we can't get to the mountain, perhaps we can get the mountain to come to us.
• In the scene right before the final battle, the Warrior of Light is almost completely consumed by the excess light within their soul. Ardbert appears and offers a hand by merging his soul with the player character, making the light be controllable once more. Once the light fades, we see the Warrior of Light actually speak (with Ardbert's voice) as they stand against Emet-Selch.
  Warrior of Light: This world is not yours to end. This is our future. Our story.
  • On top of this, the Crystal Exarch summons Warriors of Light from seven other shards to aid you and they're all other players who joined the duty.
    Emet-Selch: "How can you hope to defeat me alone?"
    The Crystal Exarch: "We stand together! [...] Let expanse contract, eon become instant! Champions from beyond the rift, heed my call!"
  • This summoning is important in of it's own right, as every prior group required content in the game was referred to as "The Warrior of Light/Darkness and their fellow adventurers" to maintain the concept that the player is the special person in their own story. This time, the boss is not just facing The Warrior of Light and their friends, but a full force of Warriors of Light intent on stopping him!
• The killing blow to Emet-Selch/Hades. When the Ascian catches his second wind and charges the Warrior of Light suddenly Thancred manages to break through the shroud of darkness enveloping the area. Evading Hades' attempt to grab him he throws the white auracite up, strikes it multiple times, and sends the shards piercing into Hades' body. The shards begin to grow and the Warrior of Light turns to see the other Scions and Ryne pumping as much aether as they can into them as Hades rages against his restraints. Finally the central shard grows to impale Hades completely and Urianger shouts for the Warrior of Light to hit him with everything they can. The Blade of Light begins to charge as Hades grabs the auracite with both hands as he fights to overtake the Scions' aether with his own dark aether and finally shatters it as the Warrior of Light draws back. The light fades, Hades rushes his enemy, and the Scions are left only able to watch and hope. At last the Blade of Light, forged of all the Lightwardens' aether, takes form in the shape of Ardbert's Bravura and the Warrior of Light throws it with all their might into Hades. A struggle ensuses until the light clearly punches through and when the dust settles the damage is blatantly fatal. The Ultima Weapon, Thordan, Zenos as Shinryu, all of them were lain low by the Warrior of Light and never got a second wind. Emet-Selch had to be taken down in a large group effort and the description of the final blow could never do it or how awesome it is justice.
• In The Stinger, despite having just witnessed the newly revived Zenos cut down Varis, steal the throne of Garlemald, and boast about how he plans to usurp Hydaelyn and Zodiark, Gaius shows absolutely no fear, only pure fury as he charges the man who murdered his Emperor.
  • Varis himself does not go gentle, forcing Zenos's blade out of his gut before snapping it in two, all while repeating what he said in The Stinger of Stormblood about Zenos being unworthy of Garlemald's throne.
  • Credit to Zenos, this was a crowning moment for him too, despite being in a vastly inferior body, and armed only with a katana and some standard issue armor, he was able to fight his way back to the Imperial palace, terrify Elidibus into fleeing despite having the advantage of Ascian magic and Garlean might, overthrows his father, derailing both the plans of the Ascians and Varis in one fell swoop, and plots to overthrow the most powerful entities in the setting with the ability to back it up. And all of this just to have another glorious fight with us, my friend, my enemy indeed.
• Garlond Ironworks in the bad future. To project the Crystal Tower across time and space, they had to unravel not only the mysteries of the Tower itself but also engineer and incorporate technology from Alexander and Omega to get it all working! Emet-Selch, an immortal Ascian who even reveals to have guided much of Allagan technology since he formed the empire, couldn't even decipher all the modifications himself and had to kidnap the Crystal Exarch to learn what they'd done.
  • As explained in the dungeon, the Twinning (which starts in the same place of Sycrus Tower, but instead of ascending the tower you go down), the datalogs detail that the Ironworks took the information from the Warrior of Light's battles against Omega and the primal Alexander, culminating in the creation of the Tycoon, a artificial Alexander built with the ability to control time and Omega technology to traverse the rift between worlds. The Garlond Ironworks, despite being in a timeline where the whole world was falling apart was able to backward engineer a primal and advance alien technology. Two hundred years of tireless work and research paid off.
• The very first fight of the Eden raids is against Eden Prime itself. Normally, the main threat of a raid is saved for last (Bahamut Prime, Alexander Prime, Omega-M/Omega-F), but it bears repeating that Eden Prime is the first fight of it's own raids, because the team intends to control Eden to bring aetheric balance back to the Empty. The fight itself, meanwhile, qualifies as one of these for a couple of reasons:
  • Eden is the first Sin Eater, the heart of the flood of Light consuming the First, and thus the first true planet-killer you fight. You've faced planet-depopulators before, yes, like Alexander and Omega, but while they could only gradually scour a planet's surface clear of life, Eden was taking bites out of continents before Minfillia and Hydaelyn shut it down. And you beat it into submission as soon as you meet it.
  • Long-time Final Fantasy fans will recognize Eden as the ultimate summon of Final Fantasy VIII, and the proud owner of one of the longest, most lavish, and most delightfully OTT attack animations in the franchise, Eternal Breath. Eternal Breath consists of Eden enacting a ritual to turn the entire planet into a Wave-Motion Gun, firing its target into a nearby galaxy so hard that its core implodes and becomes a colossal black hole. FFXIV faithfully recreates it in glorious HD... and then lets you take it right on the chin, dust yourself off, and go back to laying into Eden if you complete the mechanics properly. We're approaching the classic Final Fantasy endgame territory now, where it takes a half-dozen planets exploding in their face to even slow someone down.
• During the Eden storyline, Urianger suggests utilizing the aether lingering in the environment to try and restore balance in The Empty...by summoning a primal and slaying it to contain, balance, and return its aether. And the first element to tackle? Water. Putting two and two together, you're basically summoning your own version of Leviathan and kicking its ass, only this time it has a bunch of new tricks up its two-headed maws due to drawing from the Warrior of Light's experiences.
  • How do you top a two-headed Leviathan? With Titan. And this time, he has what looks like four wheels strapped to his back, which transform to suit his attacks, up to and including turning into an ATV. No, really.
• During the Role Quests for Physical DPS, Lue-Reeq, an unsuccessful bounty hunter of Sin Eaters who uses money from his family to hire helpers, soon learns that his escapades in hunting one of the Four Cardinals has brought shame to his family. When he learns that if he continues hunting, he'll be cut off and disowned, his response?
  Lue-Reeq: You may tell my mother and father the following: that I am Lue-Reeq, proud bounty hunter, slayer of Sin Eaters. That I have no intention of renouncing this cause, and that they are free to do as they deem fit. Tell them... that if they have no son, I have no parents-that I have no family save for Miss Olvara, who has shown me far more love then they ever have!
• Eden Savage's final fight introduces a different variant of Titan called Titan Maximum, who is easily one of the biggest bosses in the game so far. As par for the final fight of a savage raid tier, his introduction changes the entirety of the fight from that point on with new mechanics stacked alongside previous ones, and from that point on it looks like he's trying to squash the raid party like bugs. It gets even better after that. When the fight transitions to the final phase of the fight, he uses Orogensis to spawn a clone of his previous smaller form. When this happens the music changes from Landslide, which is already awesome to The Primals' version of Under the Weight.
• The level 80 Dragoon story quest has a moment where the hero reflects on Nidhogg, complete with a story-like wrap up to Heavensward and the roles of Nidhogg, the player character and Estinienn set to the tune of both Dragonsong and Ominous Prognostix. It serves as an excellent foil to the Dark Knight questlines by not focusing on the losses and introspection, but on the epic adventure and one of the heroes greatest triumphs.
• Hades's Elegy, the Extreme version of the final boss, is all the way awesome. After overcoming his first form, Hades summons shades of other Ascians before fusing them to become Ascian Prime. After beating that, he becomes his One-Winged Angel form and after casting the party into darkness, you use the Lightwarden's light to break free... only this time, you fight in the sky above the dying Star, and Hades responses by going further by merging with all of the Ascian souls, becoming ginormous in the process. The achievement for clearing it is called "Don't Look Back."
• 5.1 has Estinien return to recount what happened in Garlemald to the Warrior of Light. In the process, it triggers an Echo vision where you play through Estinien and Gaius's escape from the Imperial Palace, culminating in Estinien discovering that a new type of Ultima Weapon is in production, fighting one of these mechanical monstrosities in a one-on-one duel, and winning.
• 5.2 has The Ruby Weapon as a Trial. Whatever Garlemald was constructing in the capital, they've developed something that may possibly rival Ultima Weapon in terms of power. And they're determined to break that stalemate at any cost.
  • Things then go through a combination of Nightmare Fuel and an epic return of Nael van Darnus, summoning a copy of Dalumud to crush you all. Repeatedly.
• 5.2 introduces new Eden bosses from the remaining primals you must summon.
  • For lightning, it's a centaur version of Ramuh, making him a composite character of himself and Ixion, and is absolutely merciless with lightning he summons. If you're not on top of keeping up Surge Protection, he's more than likely going to destroy you.
  • For fire and wind, it's Ifrit and Garuda. Both of them at the same time. Fighting two primals at once is badass as it is, but when you get them weak enough, they do a Fusion Dance to become Raktapaksa!
  • The final fight of Eden's Verse, against Eden Shiva. From the start of the fight, Ryne already lost control over this variation of Shiva, and becomes a threat to their mission. How much so? She nearly causes a Flood of Light to happen again. Twice!
  • One tries to happen during a phase when the party is split up to fight elemental sprites, to keep them from reaching giant crystals in the center. If enough sprites reach the crystals, a Flood happens, resulting in a wipe.
  • The other happens at the very end of the fight, when Eden Shiva encases herself and the entire party in ice, with no one left to stop it... until Gaia forces her way into the arena, spawns a hammer from Darkness, and smashes everyone out. Gaia then uses the Darkness to slow the Flood of Light, and it is up to the party to take Eden Shiva down before the Flood happens.
• For the Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr quest, you dive into Cid's memory to relive the moments he had at the Bozja incident. Cid has mental locks in his memories to shield himself from an Awful Truth he suffered from many years ago and said mental locks take form of monsters. Your first boss fight is Bahamut and Answers plays during the fight while he pelts you with Gigaflres and similar attacks. Once you get past him, the final boss is Varis. Varis completely cripples Cid as he mocks him for failing to stop his father. The Warrior of Light uses their Echo to fight Cid's false memory and summons their memories of the Scions to fight at their side. The Warrior of Light, the Scions, and Mikoto all fight together against Varis and it is as awesome as it sounds. It also marks the first time in the game where a trial battle is conducted with a full party of NPCs. Even better is that how you interact with Varis' ultimate attack changes based on what role you're on. If you're a DPS or Healer, you'll join the Scions in breaking the attack before it overwhelms Urianger's barrier and Thancred's gunblade. If you're a Tank, Thancred has you join him in an Active Time Maneuver to defend the group from the attack.
• 5.3's 4-man dungeon, the Heroes' Gauntlet, has the Warrior of Darkness and the Scions having to Run the Gauntlet trying to get their way back to the Crystarium as a starshower falls across the first, making ghostly heroes attack. Everyone the Warrior has ever helped fights them in their own way, including Aenc Thon, Lord of the Fuath and Feo Ul, aka Titania, each of them using the same skills and mobs they've used against you in the past but now against other enemies! Once you get to Lakeland, your allies from the role quests, Granson, Lue-Reeq, Cerigg and Giott also lend a helping hand in fighting against the horde of ghost heroes.
  • Giott goes and demonstrates a "proper Dwarven decking" when one of the spectral heroes uses the Paladin's Passage of Arms, rendering itself and the two others with it nigh-invulnerable. Giott winds up and not only breaks the hero out of it, they nearly kill the summoned Paladin in one hit.
• When Elidibus attacks the Warrior of Light, the crystal of the unnamed fourteenth member of the Convocation reacts to it and completely blocks the strike. This crystal is all but outright confirmed to have been the one belonging to the Warrior of Light's original Ascian self, made for them in secret by Emet-Selch after they defected following their refusing to participate in summoning Zodiark. Once activated the crystal does just as the Ascian was always said to do: Summon their allies to their side as the voice of an aeons-past Emet-Selch rings out, at last naming the the Warrior of Light's original self: Azem. Consciously or not, through the power of the crystal you've invoked the power of your unsundered Ascian self, someone who Elidibus practically idolized, to stand against him. More than that, you've summoned seven people to your side effortlessly and in full. The Exarch needed the power of the Crystal Tower to do that and it left him exhausted, while Elidibus could only manage incomplete summonings merely capable of mindlessly doing what he needed them to.
  • Compounding this was a few lines uttered from the crystal.
    "Herein I commit the chronicle of the traveler. Shepherd to the stars in the dark. Though the world be sundered and our souls set adrift, where you walk, my dearest friend, fate shall surely follow. For yours is the Fourteenth seat—the seat of Azem."
• The Seat of Sacrifice, 5.3's MSQ trial and the Final Boss of the Shadowbringers storyline: Elidibus brings the fight to you by transforming into a Warrior of Light, himself — and not just any Warrior, but the selfsame Warrior featured in official artwork from the very first Final Fantasy game (as made popular in Dissidia). Halfway through the fight, Elidibus throws the party into the Void, but they manage to escape with help from an ancient — and not just any ancient! If the Badass Finger Snap doesn't clue you in, the nonchalant wave as he departs will: you just got saved by Emet-Selch!
  • The music for The Seat of Sacrifice doesn't start until the Warrior of Light summons their allies to the battle, and it only restarts after you are summoned back from the Void Elidibus banishes you to. Make no mistake, this isn't Elidbus' boss music for you, it's your boss music for him.
• The second chapter of [YoRHa]: Dark Apocalypse has 2P reveal that she was Evil All Along when a group of black clad androids like 9S end up turning white like her and she turns her sword on Anogg and Konogg. Suddenly pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment is the original herself, 2B!
• 5.3's continuation of the Sorrow of Werlyt story features a solo boss battle against the Sapphire Weapon. To take on this warmachina, Cid decides to fight fire with fire and sends you into battle piloting your very own Humongous Mecha! Not only is it absolutely badass, but it's basically a lore-friendly Gundam, right down to its name: "G-Warrior"! It even comes in two more upgrades!
• In 5.4, with the help of Garlond Ironworks, Alisaie and G'raha are able to put everything they've learned together and in doing so successfully create something the Allagans deemed unnecessary and Eorzea as a whole had long given up hope for: A cure for tempering.
  • Not to mention just how they managed to concoct said cure: they required a form of Allagan magick long lost and forgotten, so how do they recreate it? By cobbling together a literal magitek supercomputer out of Ironworks Terminals so as to run countless simulations and recreate said magick.
  • Though the technology does overload and shut down completely, G'raha concentrates on the screen that stays for mere seconds and memorizes the formula before the data is lost. Dorky as he is at times, he's an Archon for a good reason.
• Admiral Merlwyb gets the spotlight in 5.4 and she has plenty of moments of awesome, starting with allying with the beastmen before taking the fight to Garlemald.
  • She starts by convincing the last pirate hold-outs to give up piracy by pointing out they would make more money dominating the seas as merchants once the freed provinces can trade again, then winning a duel against the acting captain.
  • Next she walks into a kobold trap as bait so Alisaie can free the Kobold High Priest from his tempering, protecting her from a near-lethal blow in the process. After making her argument for peace, she seals the deal by giving the Priest her loaded pistol and letting him shoot her dead if that's what it'd take to put the past behind them.
• When it is clear to the 'Werlyt Children' that Valens van Varro will stop at nothing to complete the Weapon project, their long-term course of action is to get killed fighting Warrior of Light while piloting one of these machines on purpose so nobody else on the planet has to suffer this insanity they have gone through anymore, even though they could've run away to avoid the side effect of the Oversoul system and Valens' horrific abuse. Balls of steel does not even begin to describe them.
• In 5.5, after dealing with the Diamond Weapon, Gaius goes to collect its core, where he runs into Valens. Upon learning that he had Alphonse lobotomized and converted into the AI unit of the Weapon, Gaius proceeds to dominate Valens in combat. As Valen attempts to crawl away, the Diamond Weapon, fueled by not only Alfonse but the countless dead he sacrificed, proceeds to crush the bastard to death.
  • Even more cathartic is that Valens is forced to look at the ghosts of Alfonse and all of his other victims giving him nothing but a furious Death Glare as he's crushed to death.
• 5.5 has the Scions and Estinien cross the Godzilla Threshold by going to Azys Lla and releasing the one dragon they known can match Lunar Bahamut while Midgardsormr sleeps: Tiamat, who has been chained up for thousands of years by the Allagan Empire as penance for summoning the original Primal Bahamut. Alisaie cures her of the Primal's tempering as well before the dragon is finally freed, with Estinien riding her into battle, which shows he's gone a long way from his old hatred of dragons.
  • There's also Estinien's "Reason You Suck" Speech to Tiamat, calling her out for doing nothing but wallow in grief as her children suffer under the hands of Fandaniel and Zenos.
    Estinien: Your children's pain means nothing to them. They laugh at your kind's suffering. But tears will not right this wrong. Nor will lamentations see the perpetrators punished.
    Tiamat: What wouldst thou have from me, slayer of dragons?
    Estinien: Behavior befitting a great wrym. We came here to ask mighty Tiamat of the first brood, consort of Bahamut, mother of the dragons of Meracydia, what she intends to do about the crimes committed against her children!
  • Note how Estinien's voice sounds during that rant, it's not his normal angry voice, it's the gutteral growling he had when possessed as Nidhogg. That's not Estinien speaking, it's Nidhogg (Or, some part of him that still lingers in Estinien's psyche) lashing out at his sister for wasting away in despair when she can make it right. As a part of the Azure Dragoon's mind, Nidhogg might be finding a measure of redemption from beyond the grave.
• Throughout the Paglth'an dungeon, Tiamat and Estinien continually attack enemy forces, ranging from Timat landing and fighting by you as an NPC, to Estinien Dragoon jumping on enemies and then moving on to fight. Then there's Aymeric and Lucia arriving after the first boss and helping clear a village of tempered forces, demonstrating the power Ishgard has. All in all, it makes the dungeon even more epic than it already is.
• 5.5 has the Warrior of Light fighting through Paglth'an to reach and defeat Lunar Bahamut. Once the dragon is beaten, an Amalj'aa warchief not only thanks you for helping his people, but he also swears allegiance to the Eorzean Alliance, which is a huge historical event since the spoken and beastmen were at odds with each other for many generations and only splintered factions of the beast tribes were on friendly terms with man. Nanamo also states that the Syndicate also accepted the Amalj'aa as allies, which also gives hope to the other city-states that they too can mend their relationship with their beastmen.
• When Estinien asks the Warrior of Light if they will attempt to redeem Fandaniel, one of thier possible response may be a heartfelt callback but that does not underplay its inherently badass implications.
  Warrior of Light: "I will try, yes. And if that fails, I will remember him."
• The Tower at Paradigm's Breach has the Warrior of Light do what Zero and Caim were unable to fully do: fully kill the Grotesquerie Queen once and for all, as well as destroy the Red Girl, punching out two interdimensional Cthulhus at the same time in what is by far the most difficult alliance raid and one of the most difficult challenges in the game thus far.
• 5.55 presents a sight that was long thought to be a distant dream: the nations and beast tribes all gathering to unite as one against a common foe. A long-standing conflict is slowly coming to an end, and it would certainly make Minfilia proud. And what do you (or Alisaie) name this new alliance? "The Grand Company of Eorzea", the same name Alphinaud wanted to use, but had pushed aside after his doomed plans with the Crystal Braves. The entire moment moves Alphinaud to tears, having finally witnessed a forsaken dream become reality.
• In all other expansions, no matter how hopeful things looked in the future, it ended up for the worst for the Scions: A Realm Reborn ended with them scattered and betrayed, paving the way for Heavensward, said expansion ended with Papalymo having to sacrifice himself to stop Shinryu marking the start of the Ala Mhigan war, paving the way for Stormblood, which ended in the most depressing note yet, with the Scions in a coma and the Warrior of Light completely alone, setting the stage for Shadowbringers. How would 5.55 top this? It didn't, bittersweet as it was, Shadowbringers ends with the Scions victorious and ready to confront Zenos and the Telophoroi. It's message is clear, the journey has been dark and difficult and it's going to be even harsher still but hope is not lost, the Darkest Hour is close to it's end and the dawn is coming.
• The final battle in 5.55 cranks it up by several notches. You join all of the Scions in battle to take on the tempered before everyone splits up to attack from different fronts while confronting the lunar primals. The kicker? You get to play as Alisae, G'raha Tia, and Urianger to take on the primals before retaking control of your character for the final primal. Seeing the Scions coming together is one thing and playing as them isn't anything new since it was done before, but to play as them back to back as well as playing as Scions that weren't playable before is all kind of awesome and ass kicking.
• The Scions as a whole get to show how truly powerful they are, showing off their teamwork and skill. Think about that for a second; the Scions are now able to fight and defeat Primals by just working together. Back in the earlier expansions, they always had to defer to the Warrior Of Light. For notable examples:
  • G'raha Tia and Alisaie fight a small army of mechs and soldiers, then battle Lunar Ravana. During the fight with Luna Ravana, G'raha Tia stops him from using his powerful attack, prompting Alisaie to unleash a powerful attack that destroys his barrier.
  • Urianger, Thancred, and Y'shtola fight Lunar Odin. Near the end, Odin winds up a powerful attack so Urianger throws out a shield. Thancred decides to top it off by throwing out the Gunbreaker Limit Break, almost completely nullifying the attack.
  • The Warrior of Light, Alphinaud, and Estinien fight Lunar Ifrit. When Lunar Ifrit summons a bunch of spikes that threaten to overwhelm the trio, Estinien uses his powers to create copies of himself that all use Stardiver to destroy them. Then Lunar Ifrit starts throwing out powerful attacks as a last resort, and Alphinaud throws up a shield to No-Sell them, letting you finish it.
• The Bozjan Southern Front and Zadnor are perepetual battlefields... so naturally, there are a few moments like this.
  • During the skirmish chain in Zadnor against Delta Gabriel Kai, it's revealed that the one we destroy isn't the only model - in fact, there are at least five others that show up. Considering the danger ONE poses, this is a dire situation... but not one without hope, as the second generation of the Blades come to aid the Warrior of Light, leading to the final skirmish having a different battle track - one usually reserved for climactic battles, just like this.
  • The original bearer of Talekeeper, the Red Mage Resistance weapon, was Lovro, an escapee from Garlean slavery who learned Red Magic from the antagonist of the job's story. During the first two skirmishes, Lovro uses Crimson Scourge, his version of the Red Mage's unique Limit Break, to threaten the PC and Meryall (his apprentice and replacement among the Blades) and kill several resistance soldiers, while making Meryall doubt herself. During the final confrontation, though, Meryall finds her confidence, answers every boast of his, and manages to hijack his invocation and casts Vermillion Scourge (the "proper" LB3) at the same time, injuring Lovro and allowing us to catch him in the end and hopefully save him.
  • Perhaps the one that comes with the most foreshadowing, though, and came close to Tear Jerker territory, was the plan to ground the Dalriada. Mikoto saw a vision that the plan would succeed, but also saw a vision of her falling when it did. Her visions are true - they cannot be changed or avoided, and so she went on the mission resigned to the possibility of dying knowing that the Warrior of Light and the Resistance could storm the ship and end the fight. And indeed, it happens as she foresees, and she falls - only from Fran to show up on an air bike and catch her, which happened AFTER her vision cut off.
  • The secret weapon of the Legion has gotten loose and gone haywire. Even with the fight to defeat it, it charges up one last suicide attack that even the Warrior of Light can't stop. But someone else can: Misija, having been visited by Gunnhildr's spirit and reminded that there can be no Bozja without the Bozjans, arrives via teleportation thanks to Save the Queen and uses the last of its power to transform again and destroy the Allagan weapon, at the ultimate cost of her life.
• The story "An Unpromised Tomorrow" from the Tales from the Shadows substories, the predecessor of Biggs in the Bad Future successfully sends G'raha Tia and the Crystal Tower into the past so that he can rewrite history and prevent the bad future from occurring. One of Biggs's companions worry that they might disappear if G'raha is successful in rewriting the past. Not only does everyone remain as is (mostly due to G'raha Tia being sent to an alternate timeline where the main game takes place), but Midgardsormr wakens from his slumber and sees just how hard the Garlond Ironworks was working to help create a better tomorrow that they would likely never see in their lifetime, which impresses him enough to offer his aid in building a brighter future. G'raha manage to save not just the Warrior of Light's timeline, his actions (as well as the Ironwoirks) also inspires Midgardsormr to help mankind in the alternate future, which in a way saves it from its initial doom.