Feedback: Dawntrail MSQ thoughts

[Cleretic]

Isn't that a problem? That she does ALL of it?

No. That is only a problem for you, and it's largely because you aren't very good at reading this story. there's a good chunk of it that's Krile Story, and an even bigger chunk of it that's Erenville Story (I would argue perhaps too much, Erenville doesn't put forward enough of his own character to feel like his corners of the MSQ get much out of him), and we'd be remiss not to point out that there's a decent amount of Koana Story, too; you know, the character whose entire presence in that second half exists because part of what Wuk Lamat learned in the claimant challenges was that she shouldn't stand alone.

Only I never really saw the part where she truly learned something. All her ideas were validated, all her enterprises were succesfull, her entire philosophy was actually ok from the start. I keep seeing things about development and growth but never really saw said development and growth in the game.
But I see you can go to great lengths to try and justify one single character being shoved down out throats for a whole expansion.

And I'd recommend that you read the story a little closer, too, because there are reasons for that; Wuk Lamat starts with none of the accolades, skills or resources as the other claimants, but every other claimant had major problems, too. Because the idea wasn't for the rite of succession to choose a successor, it was to make one, to put the claimants through challenges that would give them the skills they needed--should they realize that was how they needed to succeed.

The things Wuk Lamat didn't have, she could pick up in the challenge. What she already had was what the other claimants (almost) all lacked, and failed to gain: the ability, and respect, to actually listen to their people, learn about their lives and make allies. Zoraal Ja kept brute-forcing it, and failed when he finally hit a challenge he couldn't solo like a true Soulsborne tryhard; Bakool Ja Ja kept refusing to respect the challenge himself and cheated as much as possible; and Koana learned better by the end, but spent several early challenges deciding on his solution right from the start and refusing to learn why it might not work. In contrast, Wuk Lamat's ideas were 'always successful' because her base idea was always "I don't know jack crap about this problem; I'm gonna ask someone who does." And it turns out that openness and humility was core to succeeding; if the rite of succession's whole point was to bring together claimants with incomplete toolboxes and give them the chance to get the whole set, then the person best equipped to do it is the one whose tool is 'ask other people with tools'. Hell, it's why we're here at all; Wuk Lamat knows she can't fight as well as the others, so she got someone who can. There's a reason none of the others would have anything to do with us, and there's also a reason why all those guys lost.

If you want to know what her actual journey was, though, you're almost right, not all of those tools of leadership were necessary; it doesn't matter that Wuk Lamat learned how to barter from the pelupelu, or that she learned how to make xibraaq pibil. Her actual journey is one of gaining self-confidence, conviction, and how to use the tools she already had. At first, she asks others to help because she has a low self-image, she's comparing herself to her brothers and falling short (and of course, we'd be remiss not to mention that the other claimants don't ask for help when they fall short; there's a lesson they didn't learn there). By the end, she's asking others for help because she knows that Cahcuia has a way better grasp of Alexandria than she does, and you don't solve a problem by having the solution before you learn what it is. Some of the claimant challenges give her some specific tools with which she approaches things in the future--she reapplies the Feat of Repast with Otis and Gulool Ja, and she handles all of Alexandria like a champ primarily because she learned from the giants--but a lot of it really was just that she had to learn to do what she was already doing with the confidence and presence that a leader needs.