Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[arstoka]

Just finished the MSQ. Oh boy, where do I start. For reference, I ended up skipping most of the cutscenes around the last 98 level quest because I had had enough of it all.

No spoilers of course.

There were elements that I actually enjoyed, some very touching scenes and interesting concepts brought forth but, for the majority of the expansion is was akin to an ultimate, ultimate test of patience.

Wuk Lamat is a symptom of a much bigger problem and it all starts with the hook of the expansion. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt but I, and by extension my WOL, wanted no part with it. Wuk Lamat is not a compelling character and she's played for more laughs then a studio sound track. The constant proclamations of becoming the Lion King tied to her chronic sea/air sickness being played for laughs, her falling into pit holes among a myriad of other childish antics leave me feeling like I'm escorting a toddler.

The only times I laughed were unintended by the developers, I guarantee you. The 93 quests after the dungeon involving Erenville for example.

Even characters designed to force a laugh make me uncomfortable.

The Twins have no place here and the paper thin excuse for why they have come along is laughable at best.

The nonsensical choices they make with the structure of the world and the characters and LACK OF ACTUAL STAKES AND CONSEQUENCES only further my disdain for having to it through it. I savoured a BRIEF sigh of relief when the contest was finished. I have two minutes where I got to travel with a companion I was infinitely more comfortable with. I was excited to get back to just...being the WOL and helping people solve their problems, no matter how small they would be. But the writers could not get off their high horse and had to shove mention of Wuk Lamat into even that. The character we do meet and help out is a one-note carbon copy of her with no endearing qualities.

Solution 9 was where things started getting my attention again and I found myself really enjoying the narrative until....they introduced one character who I will not name but was shoehorned in for a forced emotional scene down the line. There was another character they introduced who was a genuine joy, extremely well voice acted and charismatic. I wish they had been a travelling companion but...I digress, I don't want to spoil what happens to them.

The sheer background Deus Ex Machina that happens towards the end, in cutscene no less, was my breaking point. Much like the entire story feeling forced, the fact that a resolution to a major conflict was resolved so....effortlessly and without reverence for the work and good will that had been built from the previous expansion is just....saddening, heart breaking.

The "final villain" of the story is shallow and uninteresting and a poor opposition to the theme that Wuk Lamat has been shouting at us for nigh on 40 hours.

As someone who liked a lot of what Endwalker did (not all mind you) and who ADORED Shadowbringers, I have never felt so...emotionally dejected and upset for the story that I went through. As far as I'm concerned, Dawntrail never happened.