In the wake of saving the universe from a time-ending calamity, the question that remains for the world of Final Fantasy XIV after the events of 2021’s Endwalker expansion is: How do we move on? This question sets up the quests immediately following Endwalker’s climax to become an arc that perfectly acts as an epilogue to everything that came before, punctuated by an excellent character in the form of newcomer Zero. With a decade-long overarching narrative also having come to an end in Endwalker, the post-expansion “patch quests” serve as a great blueprint for the future of the game.
To get it out of the way, I know I’m late to the party. As I’ve documented already, I’ve recently been making my way through FF14’s many expansions and haven’t quite made it to Dawntrail yet. Post-expansion patch quests are nothing new. As expansions typically have two to three years between them, the team at Square Enix doles out smaller story and content updates to tide players over. With past expansions, these patch quests have often worked in two parts. The first wraps up the story of the preceding expansion and the second sets up the next. For Endwalker’s patch quests, the team had a unique opportunity to buck that formula, since the expansion’s release served as its own finale and an ending to the overarching Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga of the MMO’s past ten years. That meant that the Endwalker patch quests could be their own contained story.
The new freedom turns the post-Endwalker quests into a mini-expansion of its own. They introduce new characters, locales, dungeons, and a big bad for Warriors of Light to deal with. But, so as not to start entirely from scratch, the story deals with the Void, a world engulfed by darkness that has come up from time to time in the past. It’s a setting that has always seemed prime for an expansion, and while this isn’t quite that, the smaller approach works to its benefit.
The Void is a world lost. Now engulfed by darkness and ravaged by beasts corrupted by that power, it is effectively beyond saving. It’s a contrast to so much of what we have encountered in the past of FF14. Shadowbringers introduced us to a world called the First, which was engulfed by light and on the brink of death, but could be pulled back with our help. Here, however, we are confronted with a world that our endless heroics can not do much for. It is there that we encounter one of its denizens, Zero. Like the other inhabitants of the void she is cursed to a deathless existence. In the years since her world was lost she has shed many of her memories, and her humanity with it. When we first meet Zero she is a cold, uncaring person who has something in common with Endwalker’s antagonist; both see existence as an endless cycle of suffering with little to justify it. Yet because she cannot die, Zero can’t get the rest she yearns for.
The bulk of the post-Endwalker patch quests see us dragging Zero around as we try to rescue an ally from the Void while also managing recovery efforts after the nearly-avoided apocalypse on our own world. In contrast to the entire MMO’s story up to that point, the Endwalker patches relegate your hero, the Warrior of Light, to a supporting role. This is Zero’s story, and it’s a good one. After spending an entire expansion filled with existential dread and defeatism, helping someone who has given up hope for a better life is incredibly cathartic. It’s basically a story about learning the power of friendship, a cliché idea if ever there was one, but it does this with sharp writing and wonderful character moments for its leading lady, and let’s be real, Final Fantasy has never been subtle with its themes.
The story also parallels Zero’s journey with that of the people of your world. In life, Zero was a loner who believed she could not trust anyone and had to work to save the world on her own. It’s the same problem that the patch quests’ primary villain has, but it’s also one that everybody trying to get back to a normal life is going through. This is best exemplified when you visit the people of Garlemald, a now-fallen nation that long served as the MMO’s evil empire. Now, they’re under occupation from you and your allies, and while you have the best intentions, they’re not so willing to accept your aid. Both sides need to put aside their pride to move forward together, as it is the only way they can both rebuild. The situation has a profound effect on Zero, who reflects on her own choice to turn down the help of a pair of heroes hoping to stave off the end of their world before it became the Void.
Ultimately it’s revealed that the surviving member of the duo she encountered so long ago is the arc’s big villain, Golbez. It’s a poignant moment for Zero, in which she realizes how much her closed-off way of life has impacted those around her. She isn’t responsible for the Void entirely, but she does feel a new sense of guilt and missed opportunity. If only she could have reached out a hand back then. The patch quests don’t quite stick the landing in their predictable end to the conflict at play, but as a character study of Zero, it excels. When Zero is finally able to bring a spark of light to the Void, it’s a reflection of how we have brought a spark of hope into her life as well.
Though there’s only about half as many quests here, they convey a sense of narrative impact and adventure worthy of a full Final Fantasy 14 expansion. Following Endwalker, I almost hoped that smaller, more focused stories became the new norm for the MMO. Of course, that isn’t what happened, and right now thousands of players are exploring the grand new expansion, Dawntrail. But based on what I’ve been hearing about its structure, it may at times feel more like you’re playing a series of episodic mini-expansions, and to me, that sounds like a good thing.
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