Dawnfail MSQ, But Daichi Hiroi Has Great Potential

There's much that I'd like to say, but I'll keep it to the point: I did not like Dawntrail's MSQ. Every time Wuk Lamat was on-screen, it progressively became more irritating and boring for me. Everything else about it was enjoyable in varying degrees. Dawntrail was Daichi's moment to fill in the immense vacancy of story-telling that Natsuko (Ishikawa) left in her wake, and it was a major shock because I was anticipating something enriched, balanced and deep like what we had gotten with Shadowbringers. Daichi has shown he's capable of making fun and delightful content, such as with his partnership on Save the Queen, Pandaemonium, Beast Tribe quests, and the storylines for some Jobs. Condensed, succinct, decently paced and well-executed with pockets of intrigue here and there.

What we were advertised and told, and what we got, felt disharmonious and conflicting; there was no beachside vacation, there was no relaxation, there was a hell of a lot of walking and one-sided talking and unabated cheerleading the player is forced to give Wuk Lamat. The flow of the story tries to throw any and every possible endearing trait onto one character, and there is no insider growth on any opposition except Koana. It's the lack of depth for the characters and their rivals that surprised me the most, and how convenient all of it was laid before Wuk Lamat. The way things were written, it was borderline-obsession of someone's self-insert character (an OC) and the goal was to prevent any genuine criticism from harming the character. I don't know if it was Daichi's design or someone else on the team, but it was tiresome, forced, and not endearing at all.

That aside, we have proof that Daichi Hiroi can create some fun and interesting quests. If he was in charge of the Level 100 Job Quests, I think there was better storytelling and balance in those than in the entirety of the MSQ. Even the pocket of Koana's time with the WoL was more interesting than being dragged along and prevented from doing anything that would outshine Wuk Lamat. Palace of the Dead's storyline was intriguing and compelled players to delve further if they wanted the resolution of a departed admirer. Save the Queen kept players engaged with a literary goal as they run about grinding up mettle to continue the plot that progressed after Ivalice. Ivalice was quite fun, as well, as the tactics games are greatly endeared by many and the pockets of story resonated strongly with the players who knew the entirety. This is all proof of the amazing things the lead writer can accomplish and has in the past, so in conclusion, I'm not sure why Dawntrail was such an immense hiccup (and an unpleasant one for many). I'm hoping that the feedback and reception for this particular expansion will be taken as constructive criticism and spur towards stronger stories akin to what we grew accustomed to when Natsuko was in the driver's seat.

I admit, I was wondering at first if the new writers were really up to the task. Dawntrial wasn't bad, I liked it for the most part but it could have been more. And maybe the writers were not ready for this level of detail. So colour me very surprised when I found out what they have worked on before. Ivalice was a little confusing but I very much loved the Bozja storline and still think by cutting it short it got done dirty. There was a lot of potential in there. The allied society quests? (Maybe not the Allied quests from HW and Shb, that joke with the evil catboy got old, but the respective story archs are nice.) Of course you are never working on a story on your own, there is a team behind them, but I'm really puzzled how someone working on Panda could end up writing a storyline with so much unused potential in character writing and making the story connect with the WoL more without putting them into the spotlight. This could have been more, and that writer is very much capable of this kind of "more". I really don't get it. I can only assume some behind the scenes shenanigans of who gets a veto on what part of the story or something, but I don't want to get into deep speculation, let alone accuse anyone specifically for hindering the writing team. I am sure whatever decisions have been made and lead to this were in the belief it would be best for the game.