Dawntrail plot is not chill low stake, but it's pacing is and that's why it's bad

[Boblawblah]

There's actually way more at stake here than SB but the pacing is inexplicably bad. The final zone in particular had me just shaking my head with the 'hey, let's take it easy for a while and get to know some people' vibe they tried to sell and it just doesn't work imo. It worked for the first half of the expansion due to the plot but it feels really out of place in the 2nd half.

[Basteala]

There's actually way more at stake here than SB but the pacing is inexplicably bad. The final zone in particular had me just shaking my head with the 'hey, let's take it easy for a while and get to know some people' vibe they tried to sell and it just doesn't work imo. It worked for the first half of the expansion due to the plot but it feels really out of place in the 2nd half.

Yeah I agree with that, but I think that a better explanation might have sufficed. Something "like we need to blend in to not be suspicious" and maybe at that point you have Wuk Lamat say that doesn't sit well with her, but she wants to get to understand the people here, and then it can kind of progress organically into the emotional situation you have.

Or if you don't want the duplicity, simply something where helping them come to terms is needed, just something where the heroes have to interact to some degree--even if just at the beginning, rather than it being simple fancy.

[PercibelTheren]

There's actually way more at stake here than SB but the pacing is inexplicably bad. The final zone in particular had me just shaking my head with the 'hey, let's take it easy for a while and get to know some people' vibe they tried to sell and it just doesn't work imo. It worked for the first half of the expansion due to the plot but it feels really out of place in the 2nd half.

Yeah, it gave me serious "the world is ending, let's play dress up with the Loporrits" vibes. Basically, could have been a side quest, should not have been part of the MSQ.

[Malthir]

Yeah, it gave me serious "the world is ending, let's play dress up with the Loporrits" vibes. Basically, could have been a side quest, should not have been part of the MSQ.

Add in the fact that there can be no emotional pay off to a bunch of people we've just met, aka the uneding people. I don't care about you or your society, I was informed about you 5s ago, you're end goal is dumb/none existent you're a poor copy of emmet who was written much much better better.
Literally comparing them both

Sphene

Created an artificial world with the memories of her dead people. Her end goal keep feeding the machine souls to keep the dead memories of her people in virtual space. Meaning this will go on forever there's not really an end plan here, just constantly burning up souls. So why would I feel even slightly bad and not just absoultely furious that this hack writer tried to copy emmets remember that we once lived line.

Emmet

Created an artificial world with the memories of his dead people. But through the delivery we realise he is keeping this artifical memory world going not just to remember his people but also as a form of Self-flagellation, punishing himself for his part in the sundering. His end goal is not the artifical memory world but to completely the rejoining bringing all his people back to life. He doesn't care if all the shards die because we are functionally just all fractured pieces of a person that he is trying to put back together.