Patch 6.55 - Growing Light Part II - Story Discussion

That's...it? That's all until mid to late summer? We see the new cat girl in action and Krile uses a spell we've already seen?

A disappointing end to a disappointing expansion. At least it's over and the next time I log in I won't have to hear that insipid song any more.

Mandervillious Relic Final form....

I really like the design they went with. It has that tech theme with this Final Relic form.

Here is a video showing all Mandervillous Relic Final Form
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxcrQskm7F4

Glad that I saved MSQ for last, it was short but fun and causal and set-up for the next Expac. And that meant that the NPCs in Sharlayan were talking about what happened with the Allied Tribal Quest.

Wuk Lamat has a refreshing energy. Some of her vibes feel like Yuffie, and while she's an energetic ax-wielding lady jibbing on her more serious childhood friend, she doesn't feel like a direct Moenbryda copy. Or Lyse. Though she does help to fill the personality gap left by them.

Koana as the white-haired Mi'qote male on the poster, another adopted brother (I was guessing childhood friend, but I pegged the Sharlayan ties/studies and hyper-interest in technology). I have a feeling that he is the claimant that contacted Thancred and Urianger now.

Estinien randomly chooses adventure in Tural is very on-brand for him. About the only thing missing was that he heard rumors of Valigarmanda and did the same investigate like in SB's DRG questline. Will probably strand himself without cash and thus how he falls into working for the Mamool brother, if he does. Which is the currently assumed to be expansionist warmonger, but this could be misdirection.

Ketenramm is very suspiciously unconfirmed dead and was in Tural during that period 80 years ago when the Dawnservant/Autarch unified Tural (as possibly so was Galuf), so we'll get more details and uncover some secret involving all of them.

G'raha and Y'shtola at least not joining on the initial boat ride, but that could change with the opening quest of DT.

Final Island Sanctuary quest line was cute if a nothingburger on rewards, and made clear why the next Ishgard Restoration event is Cosmic Exploration instead of Garlean Resto (they want to get those Saint titles themselves instead of the WoL, though probably will buy IS mammets from Tataru).

Really not digging the whole reason for going to Tural. We barely know anything about Wuk Lamat, we don't know who the other 3 claimants are, we don't know their policies aside from that one is a warmonger, we don't know Wuk Lamat's policies at all, and we're asked to just fight for a stranger and play kingmaker and give her the throne...why? Is everyone just blinded by furry thirst that no one is questioning the fact that we're going to fighting to put Wuk Lamat, a complete stranger, on the throne of a foreign country we know nothing about? The whole thing feels strange and forced and G'raha telling me I can just slip away if I'm not interested in supporting her at the end doesn't fill me with confidence because FFXIV is not a game where that level of story choice is a thing. We're basically agreeing to help the first person who asked, not the best person for the job. And the fact that politics are involved makes the whole adventure feel a bit grimey to me.

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Originally Posted by BabaM

Really not digging the whole reason for going to Tural. We barely know anything about Wuk Lamat, we don't know who the other 3 claimants are, we don't know their policies aside from that one is a warmonger, we don't know Wuk Lamat's policies at all, and we're asked to just fight for a stranger and play kingmaker and give her the throne...why? Is everyone just blinded by furry thirst that no one is questioning the fact that we're going to fighting to put Wuk Lamat, a complete stranger, on the throne of a foreign country we know nothing about? The whole thing feels strange and forced and G'raha telling me I can just slip away if I'm not interested in supporting her at the end doesn't fill me with confidence because FFXIV is not a game where that level of story choice is a thing. We're basically agreeing to help the first person who asked, not the best person for the job. And the fact that politics are involved makes the whole adventure feel a bit grimey to me.

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The epilogue actually explains the real reason for WoL going to Tural and that is...

the final words from Emet still lingers in his/her mind so when the Golden City was mentioned, the WoL had already decided to go to Tural.

WoL wanting to be involved with the politics or not on a emotional level in Tural is more just personal dialogue choice since going to Tural was already a personal thing due to the Bucket list that Emet left WoL.

The two "other" locations that WoL has in his/her head when remembering Emet's final words are either going to be side content for next expansion or future expansions OR potentially the focus for each new expansion individually.

Speaking of that....

I feel like they may have setting up a Thancred Boss fight for the next expansion MSQ as a Story instance fight

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

they explained this already that their version of the language is not as fluent. As a result it comes out alot like broken English (or whatever language the voice dialogue is in) when people from Tural speaks using this new language their country only recently started making common tongue since they needed to start communicating with countries outside of Tural.

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This issue is not exclusive to Wuk Lamat. Although her dialogue is particularly bad (and does not at all sound like broken English, rather her lines sound like they just ran them through Google Translate without considering that that's... not how people talk when they're learning a new language), there are several lines from several other characters that are completely stilted.

I will have to say that the writing for Tataru's this time was excellent even if from previews it didn't look like much, and coupled with the finale for Island Sanctuary both felt like quiet, introspective continuations of EW's MSQ instead of optional side stories. And it referenced the Omega extra - If anything in EW has stood out, it's been how integrated all the various content threads have felt, be it the Allied Tribe quests, especially the Omicron and Loporitts, and how Hildibrand and Manderville relics has been one and the same. That's not always a great thing, but it definitely feels like the writing is working off the default of the player doing everything and thus references and builds themes and story beats off of everything.

As far as the stated goal of succinctly defining Wuk Lamat's character the quests were a great success, even if the overall narrative was woefully short and dreadfully boring.

I do like her quite a bit, but I can already predict that being an immediately and obviously flawed character she's going to be as divisive as Lyse or even worse (thousand page thread on why the other claimants are objectively better, anyone?). It seems like her growth is going to be the main overarching narrative between the two 'halves' of Dawntrail, so I'm interested to see where it takes her.

I was hoping for a grand and exciting combat instance like the 5.55 one, but such is life.

Interesting to make Relm into an Archon, perhaps one of the original twelve?

More than anything, what intrigued me the most was the second or third callback to Emet-Selch's travel agent speech. I'm very content to let the Ancients rest, but the one I always want to know more about is Azem. It's probably a red herring, but the title of Dawnservant seemingly predating Tuliyollal's primacy in the region and all the coming dawn/blazing sun rhetoric makes me hope there's some sort of connection there.

Cant wait for new adventure in Tural!

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Originally Posted by Vallavia

I do like her quite a bit, but I can already predict that being an immediately and obviously flawed character she's going to be as divisive as Lyse or even worse (thousand page thread on why the other claimants are objectively better, anyone?). It seems like her growth is going to be the main overarching narrative between the two 'halves' of Dawntrail, so I'm interested to see where it takes her.

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Unfortunately I think you're right on this point, and I just wish you weren't. (MSQ spoilers go)

I love everything about Wuk Lamat already, that clearly both her heart and skills are in it even if she's a completely inexperienced wimp in reality. It's entirely possible we could see a Lyse-style angle unfold, where she realizes that her style of leadership doesn't actually sync up with what she thought the country needed. Although something else I could see them doing is us learning that she actually is good at the important parts of ruling a nation, she's just woefully underequipped for the actual rite of succession, that demands a completely different skillset. Which is honestly an element of leader-selection in general that I wish more media explored: that 'ability to undertake the leadership role you're going for' usually has nothing to do with the process in which we select a leader.

...but you're also completely right, that the big Discourse Subject of Dawntrail will absolutely be 'Wuk Lamat is a bad leader'. And I'm sure it's also going to be a complete coincidence that those people are always gonna put forward one of the male characters, including the one that explicitly wants to take them to war.

And all of those people are wrong, Wuk Lamat is great. I took a bit to completely warm to her voice acting, I did have that struggle of 'this is a new accent to me and I need to get used to its cadence', but even then I adored her character, and her, Krile and Erenville will make for interesting parts of the 'A-Crew'. Unfortunately, every other choice for the Scions is exceedingly lame; there's nothing new to say about the twins or G'raha as allies (and yes, I know G'raha is staying home, he's still an ally), while getting Urianger in a core party without getting pushed aside by sheer cast size is overdue.

Finally: as someone whose chocobo has been named Tritoch this whole time, I'm happy to see that Valigarmanda will get such a starring role.

Tataru quest I unfortunately don't have much to say about; it's nice, I liked it, but it's ultimately a 'smooth landing' kind of ending; it's a satisfying, touching end that's also pretty much note-for-note what you expected. Did like the cameos, though.

Allied tribe quest, though? Delightful.

Yeah, turning up the volume on the Hippo Riders' Initial D to the point where it turns into Speed Racer (or possibly Wacky Races, the line is kinda blurred) is fantastic, and honestly, any further exploration of the Nibirun is welcome: I find it really interesting to see the exploration of exactly how their 'world without suffering' had nothing to live for: being so focused on avoiding the negatives of an experience that they also cut out the positives, with the concepts of adrenaline and competitiveness being completely foreign. It was quietly there in the Omicron quests, but it's nice to see it take center-stage, and it's empathetic in its way; I certainly know the experience of having staunchly avoided a badfeel so much that I forgot the joys that came before it.

Haven't done Hildibrand yet.

My only disappointment is that all the cosmetics are a little plain; none of them are bad, but if you're not interested in specifically that thing, then they don't really have the 'sparkle' to win you over. That's only a real shame with the allied tribe quest, though, that quest is full of awesome potential cosmetics that we didn't get. (I still want the Karellians' uniform)