When the Pawn...

When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king
What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight
And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring
There's no body to batter when your mind is your might
So when you go solo, you hold your own hand
And remember that depth is the greatest of heights
And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land
And if you fall it won't matter, cause you'll know that you're right

On balance? This is the best storyline in FFXI's long history. Zilart Mission? Silly. Chains of Promathia? Long, tedious, at times nonsensical, and, for many years, needlessly difficult and segregating. Treasures of Aht Urhgan? A feast for the eyes, but regrettably truncated.

And here we are at FFXI's swansong. It's shameful really. The development team had warned us that the "climax" of the storyline would occur at the Battle of Jeuno, which is why so many of us wondered if those would be the final missions. In spite, the storyline continued to deliver with the next round of missions, focused in the Northlands.

And it wasn't just the serpentine progression of the plot or the well-written dialogue that had enraptured us. The attention to detail was astounding. Even the subtle suggestion of Mayakov's "Lilithette" before the introduction of Lady Lilith was a touch of creative genius. The evergrowing cast of memorable characters and visually stunning cut scenes nearly suspended disbelief, made us feel immersed in a world outside the edges of the client—one of crisscrossing circumstance and three-dimensional characters. It begged this expansion to be free of fault.

Where did they go astray? The short answer would be both everywhere and nowhere. An unexpected plot twist seriously hurt the plot progression in my eyes. It seemed as though, unwilling to produce a new character, the development team resorted to needlessly resurrecting characters from previous expansions to fill plot holes, cheapening the experience. After the incredible cliffhanger after the previous set of missions, your final confrontation with the spitewardens is mournfully anticlimactic by comparison.

Among the category of questions not answered are the significance of the comet, Altana's divine impotence, Atomos' bipolar personality and the sudden benevolence of the fey folk, whose item augmenting ritual is almost petty in light of the calamity the hero has just averted and the grievous losses suffered by him and his allies. And, on the topic, there is a cut in cast to the point of distraction; beloved characters such as Noillurie and Larzos appear only in the background, while other characters, such as Cait Sith, make hasty and tearless farewells.

All of these considerations lead me to believe that Wings of the Goddess experienced a premature denouement; Lilisette's exeunt marked the beginning of the end of a tale already stretched to its limits.

But was it all worth it? Taking into consideration both the good and the bad, yes. The final confrontation and unexpected resolution were sufficiently entertaining to leave the expansion on a good foot. Drawn out? Yes. Rushed? Absolutely. I still believe, however, had FFXI not lost its creative talent, Wings of the Goddess could have found its place among the storylines of numbered Final Fantasy titles.