I thought Dawntrail was going to be a grand adventure surrounded by friends

[cutestfox]

Y-you don't get it!
The story was meant to bore you to tears, it was like this on purpose!
There's no way to make it interesting. Trust in the plan

2 more years guys, that's when it's really gonna pay off!

[Daralii]

Well if you want me to be specific about it...

The last 30+ hours of the "movie" have sucked.

Book 1, the one called Dawntrail, sucked.

Final Fantasy 14's 7.0 patch, the one that holds the 30+ hours of MSQ content, sucked.

That thing. You know. The game that we are all currently playing right now? That one. For me, it sucked.

It's also the one you paid for, and will need to continue to pay for to see anything past 7.0.

[Loggos]

Whenever people say DT's pacing and storytelling are ok because it's supposed to be like ARR I want to lie down in despair because its terrible pacing is still one of ARR's major points of criticism. DT's story being a new beginning doesn't justify recreating ARR's worst aspects. They should have taken this opportunity to explicitly avoid those mistakes and yet they embraced them full force.
It's just sad, man. It's just sad.

[Zaniel]

Next time I'll be waiting, because the gameplay sure as hell doesn't carry this game, and neither does the writing anymore apparently.

The gameplay "MIGHT" have carried it ... if we were allowed to do any. Oh wait, cutscene again, I gotta get back to nodding off-screen.

[caffe_macchiato]

None of the shills seem to have any concept of time or money, as they admit to paying $40 to wait three years for the chance to pay another $40 for the real story.

[Cinnamon_Strudel]

I couldn't wait! I woke up at 5am and got right into the MSQ! I set out for Tuliyollal and...!

Krile... Sat there... She swung a paint brush in a couple scenes. She occasionally brought up her grandfather. Mostly she just giggled and complimented Wuk Lamat. They gave her one major scene where the screen faded to black before she could say anything of substance.

Erenville... Stood around scolding Wuk Lamat most of the time. He gave her advice. She usually ignored it. He gave us instructions on where to go and how to get there. Nothing ever centered on him. We had one 30 second fireside chat where he talked about how he started being a gleaner. That was it. They gave him one scene toward the end. I didn't feel any emotions.

Wuk Lamat. She hogged every second of the spotlight. Turns out, she was exactly who she was when she was introduced. No underlying complexity, no hidden motives. She's a loud impulsive girl who wants to win the throne. She becomes a loud slightly less impulsive girl who wins the throne. She gets sea sick. She falls down holes. She doesn't like alpacas. She doesn't like heights. She doesn't like lava. She is not interesting enough of a character to be taking up all this screentime. She actively makes every conversation about her. Every scene is about her. All the other characters are set pieces to react to her.

You nailed it. I was so excited to learn more about Krile and her past - granted we did get a little bit, thankfully - but it still fell flat. Erenville was the saving grace for me. While the development wasn't there, as you pointed out, at least when he was on the screen I had about a 20% chance of being grouped with him instead of Wuk Lamat.

Which brings me to Wuk Lamat - I don't care that I wasn't the main character of this story, but I do care that the MC I was forced to be around was insufferable. I don't like that the Scions were reduced to side bits that were only around to nod, giggle or pretend to think while rubbing their chins whenever she said or did something. I think she's a weak character overall and I actually started skipping scenes with all of her back and forth just to escape her. She was omnipresent - even when we thought she was gone and done with, oop here she is again! I haven't been this disappointed in the MSQ ever in the 9 years I've been playing.

[CaptainLagbeard]

We WERE supposed to go on an adventure... But we got stuck babysitting a cat who clearly got some brain damage from nearly drowning. And then when a major threat to the world comes along, we're still forced to keep doing the babysitting while dealing with that.

[Basteala]

Y-you don't get it!
The story was meant to bore you to tears, it was like this on purpose!
There's no way to make it interesting. Trust in the plan

2 more years guys, that's when it's really gonna pay off!

Eh I don't think the story was boring, at least not after the first couple of zones (but I had that problem with EW, too).

But I agree with the OP that the biggest problem by a country malm is that there was way too much focus on Wuk Lamat, and I don't think she was charismatic enough for that level of spotlight. A lead character or antagonist can easily make or break a story.

[MatthiusAbysswalker]

It was shit.

[Bunyon]

Taking this from the other thread, but I think someone from the Japanese forums put it best.

"It was Estinien's summer vacation.
The end."

Honestly, I would have prefered if the WoL was just actually taking a vacation during the first part of the expansion and exploring things on his own and enjoying his time, giving more screentime to Krile and Erenville, while occasionally watching Wuk Lamat run around in the background desperately fumbling to do the trials, and then you could occasionally help and watch her grow. I don't think Wuk is necessarily a bad character, but she is pushed so hard if you don't like her then there's nothing else to hang onto for most of the story.