I really liked the MSQ. From a gameplay and general narrative perspective, it had good pacing and it didn't really feel 'boring' at times. There were enough high moments to compensate for the quiet moments. So overall I like the approach they have taken and it's a step up from Heavensward. In truth, I think this is the best MMO Expansion I've played, and I played a boatload of them. So eh..well done SE. 
However, there's a couple of minor gripes which can mostly be summarized into one thing: 'Lack of lasting impact.'
So going in order of events in the story somewhat, these are the things I somewhat disliked or had problems with. -Everything else- I loved to bits.
- Y'shtola - Urgh..I love her to bits really (her character, not her..physical appearance). And I have to admit that parts of Y'shtola rubbed off on my own character's do's and dont's BUT: She's got a real huge case of plot armour. This was the -perfect- moment for her to die as it would have had true meaning that she did everything to save her friends even if it would mean standing against huge odds. But no..she literally spits blood from a sword the size of a car being stuffed into her gut and she survives like some sort of Goldshire superhero. ARGH. I've seen stuff like this happen during RP events and since I always RP the 'mender' type in every MMO, basically what Krile and my character (the WOL actually heals Y'shtola instead of Alphinaud/Allisae if you play a healer class) had to go through is exactly the same thing that happened to my characters in several RP events in many MMO's in the past had to go through: Healing wounds which you are highly unlikely to ever heal from. And we already know Y'shtola is getting weaker and weaker due to the strain of the Aether being put on her. And yet she survives...somehow. *sighs* I get she's the poster-girl and that killing off poster-girls are bad for business, but if she had really died it would have really felt like a loss...at this point I think they are never going to kill her off. She's too popular as a mascot. The one thing I did like is that at the end of the story she gets snarky and sarcastic as a jest. More of that please, much more. I haven't really seen much of -that- side of Y'shtola since the start of Heavensward.
- Lyse - Okay, I see where they wanted to go with her. At first she's young, stubborn and due to the defeat in Rhalgr's Reach, she goes on a journey to Othard in order to do soul-searching and help an old friend. And for a while, she actually -does- learn some stuff. However, what she is missing is a 'mentor' character. It would be sappy as hell but I think it would have been better if Hien and Lyse got closer and that Hien would learn Lyse about 'restraint'. When we return back in Gyr Albania, it's as if all the things Lyse learned while being in Othard are gone again and she acts once more like a spoiled child. I really felt we were watching another Cirilla from The Witcher series: Always thinks she's right, screams and rarely listens when others say: Don't do this please. In the end, I don't really like her and I hope they kind of push her aside in favor of other characters from now.Â
- Hien - Urgh I like his personality but they made him look way too much like generic Asian dude mixed with Conan the Barbarian (heck some of the Steppes music takes a few notes from the original Conan the Barbarian soundtrack which took place in Hyrkania = Asian steppes)....but he's way too much Hanzo.Â
- Gosetsu - I liked the gentle giant. What I didn't like is how they make him survive multiple rounds to the chest, blood spitting (Y'shtola style), an entire palace coming right down on top of him and we see him not having a single scratch in the ending cinematic. NO, we accepted his loss literally 20 or so hours before that cinematic! He should have just stayed dead! This is a case of resurrecting a character for no reason whatsoever.
- Yotsuyu - This has been a rollercoaster character for me. At first they gave little detail nor context to her behavior so I thought her to be a generic Star Wars kind of villain. Then they give you a tiny bit of context to her character by showing you a flashback to her childhood where it is detailed she was a second rate child to her mother. This I liked. However, they didn't really explore that angle much at all. It would have been great if we got a line of sidequests where we got more of these echo scenes. But we didn't. Instead, she got into complete crazy mode when literally her palace comes crumbling down around her...Persona 5 style. And she survives it, somehow. And I betcha she will become a major character in the future where she is also redeemed and gets a change of heart, Persona 5 style. I just hope they pull it off well because she did commit a ton of atrocities against her people. What would have been better in my opinion is that Gosetsu would have died and that it would actually have been Cirina who finds Yotsuyu and have showed her the wrongs of her ways. In the end, I think Yotsuyu will become somewhat of a Aranea Highwind character: Good looking, kick-ass at swordfighting (from Gosetsu) and morally grey.Â
- Krile - A case of bad cause and effect. She's kidnapped by the Garleans, then used on experiments to change personal traits of the Garlean people in some sort of horrible Nazi-like experiment and she has shows absolutely no mental nor physical scars. In fact, she is but rescued several hours ago and she already wants to fight again. It's almost a little insulting to people who had to actually endure such atrocities in real life.Â
- Nero - We see him barely at all during this expansion yet he does show up at the very end like some sort of Ignis from FFXV cosplayer. During the final parts of the Heavensward MSQ's we seem him cooking up some plan with a demonic laughter. Yet we don't see him at all during Stormblood. I had nearly forgot about the guy entirely.Â
- Fistpalm Punch - This needs to become an emote. They WOL does it SO often it almost has become comical at this point.
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So that was my rambling. Overall I loved the expansion and it had some really deep and nasty moments, but I do hope they learn to put in 'lasting impact' for the next couple of expansions because otherwise characters start to become literally unable to die which would kill all tension in the story for me.
However, there's a couple of minor gripes which can mostly be summarized into one thing: 'Lack of lasting impact.'
So going in order of events in the story somewhat, these are the things I somewhat disliked or had problems with. -Everything else- I loved to bits.
- Y'shtola - Urgh..I love her to bits really (her character, not her..physical appearance). And I have to admit that parts of Y'shtola rubbed off on my own character's do's and dont's BUT: She's got a real huge case of plot armour. This was the -perfect- moment for her to die as it would have had true meaning that she did everything to save her friends even if it would mean standing against huge odds. But no..she literally spits blood from a sword the size of a car being stuffed into her gut and she survives like some sort of Goldshire superhero. ARGH. I've seen stuff like this happen during RP events and since I always RP the 'mender' type in every MMO, basically what Krile and my character (the WOL actually heals Y'shtola instead of Alphinaud/Allisae if you play a healer class) had to go through is exactly the same thing that happened to my characters in several RP events in many MMO's in the past had to go through: Healing wounds which you are highly unlikely to ever heal from. And we already know Y'shtola is getting weaker and weaker due to the strain of the Aether being put on her. And yet she survives...somehow. *sighs* I get she's the poster-girl and that killing off poster-girls are bad for business, but if she had really died it would have really felt like a loss...at this point I think they are never going to kill her off. She's too popular as a mascot. The one thing I did like is that at the end of the story she gets snarky and sarcastic as a jest. More of that please, much more. I haven't really seen much of -that- side of Y'shtola since the start of Heavensward.
- Lyse - Okay, I see where they wanted to go with her. At first she's young, stubborn and due to the defeat in Rhalgr's Reach, she goes on a journey to Othard in order to do soul-searching and help an old friend. And for a while, she actually -does- learn some stuff. However, what she is missing is a 'mentor' character. It would be sappy as hell but I think it would have been better if Hien and Lyse got closer and that Hien would learn Lyse about 'restraint'. When we return back in Gyr Albania, it's as if all the things Lyse learned while being in Othard are gone again and she acts once more like a spoiled child. I really felt we were watching another Cirilla from The Witcher series: Always thinks she's right, screams and rarely listens when others say: Don't do this please. In the end, I don't really like her and I hope they kind of push her aside in favor of other characters from now.Â
- Hien - Urgh I like his personality but they made him look way too much like generic Asian dude mixed with Conan the Barbarian (heck some of the Steppes music takes a few notes from the original Conan the Barbarian soundtrack which took place in Hyrkania = Asian steppes)....but he's way too much Hanzo.Â
- Gosetsu - I liked the gentle giant. What I didn't like is how they make him survive multiple rounds to the chest, blood spitting (Y'shtola style), an entire palace coming right down on top of him and we see him not having a single scratch in the ending cinematic. NO, we accepted his loss literally 20 or so hours before that cinematic! He should have just stayed dead! This is a case of resurrecting a character for no reason whatsoever.
- Yotsuyu - This has been a rollercoaster character for me. At first they gave little detail nor context to her behavior so I thought her to be a generic Star Wars kind of villain. Then they give you a tiny bit of context to her character by showing you a flashback to her childhood where it is detailed she was a second rate child to her mother. This I liked. However, they didn't really explore that angle much at all. It would have been great if we got a line of sidequests where we got more of these echo scenes. But we didn't. Instead, she got into complete crazy mode when literally her palace comes crumbling down around her...Persona 5 style. And she survives it, somehow. And I betcha she will become a major character in the future where she is also redeemed and gets a change of heart, Persona 5 style. I just hope they pull it off well because she did commit a ton of atrocities against her people. What would have been better in my opinion is that Gosetsu would have died and that it would actually have been Cirina who finds Yotsuyu and have showed her the wrongs of her ways. In the end, I think Yotsuyu will become somewhat of a Aranea Highwind character: Good looking, kick-ass at swordfighting (from Gosetsu) and morally grey.Â
- Krile - A case of bad cause and effect. She's kidnapped by the Garleans, then used on experiments to change personal traits of the Garlean people in some sort of horrible Nazi-like experiment and she has shows absolutely no mental nor physical scars. In fact, she is but rescued several hours ago and she already wants to fight again. It's almost a little insulting to people who had to actually endure such atrocities in real life.Â
- Nero - We see him barely at all during this expansion yet he does show up at the very end like some sort of Ignis from FFXV cosplayer. During the final parts of the Heavensward MSQ's we seem him cooking up some plan with a demonic laughter. Yet we don't see him at all during Stormblood. I had nearly forgot about the guy entirely.Â
- Fistpalm Punch - This needs to become an emote. They WOL does it SO often it almost has become comical at this point.
 So that was my rambling. Overall I loved the expansion and it had some really deep and nasty moments, but I do hope they learn to put in 'lasting impact' for the next couple of expansions because otherwise characters start to become literally unable to die which would kill all tension in the story for me.
