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

[aquarys]

Ok coming back to read the forums after finally finishing the MSQ - I will say that I liked Wuk Lamat before she became Dawnservant. She was endearing, naive, and had a lot to learn, and her willingness to learn and grow was what made her a good character to follow around while learning about Tural. But I think the second half was where the story failed to deliver. She should have made a real blunder trusting Sphene even more than she did, and really pay for it.

I'm disappointed that all of that journeying in the first half resulted in almost no pay-off character development-wise for Wuk Lamat. I wanted to see her newfound experience applied in new ways. I didn't want to just have another 5 levels of the same "I want to learn about you and come to an understanding" without learning what it means to be betrayed by Sphene.

TLDR: I liked her before she became Dawnservant. The second half of the story was a wasted opportunity to utilize her character better.

[Cynric]

How about the character who is an otherworldly being whose power level and scoop far outpaces anything Wuk Lamat has ever confronted or dealt with in her entire life? Whose existence is exactly the type of thing the Scions are supposed to deal with. Nope! She can just break through said being's barrier teleporting her out of space--something G'raha Tia didn't even think to do despite being the literal sage whose plot revolved around doing precisely that two expansions ago then parrying it's attack without any real difficulty and completely stealing the show.

This last bit was honestly the icing on the cake for me. I was getting one cool moment in an entire story of nothing, and they ruined it for me. Which really capped off the entire expansion with a very obvious theme, which was the character ruined what could've been a fun experience.

If they hadn't have done that final part I might've at least had something I did in the expansion that made me go "Well at least that was cool".

But nope, she had to steal the show, our other friends couldn't even come and help. She did it all by herself. Why did I even bother coming on this adventure at all? Any random mercenary could've done what I did.

[FlowerMilk]

I can't believe the story this expansion made me want to see less cats and more Lalafells by the end of it. I don't even know how that's possible but they finally made Lalafells kinda likeable for me lol.

[BakoolJaJa]

If I recall, the attempted breeding between the blue and the tan mamool jas to create a two-head was what spelled the babies' fates due to being incredibly incompatible with each other; the aether meteor chunks and bananas were something else. The importance of producing a/the two-head mamool ja took extreme priority over all else in their culture.

There's the set dressing of the general "aw geeze we don't like eating this one thing but it's the only thing that grows" and then the actual plot of their society: the dead offspring of mostly incompatible species.

(Haven't read further than this so I apologize if I'm either incorrect or if others have pointed this out.)

Hmm, the way I understood it, those things are directly connected. Aka the breeding was because they wanted to get the hell out of the forest they consider cursed. They explain it themselves in the quest where Wuk Lamat is looking for a solution. They thought the blessed siblings would give them the power necessary to conquer territories outside the forest.

So while technically the siblings, conquest and bananas are three different topics, the chain looks like this - they didn't want to only eat bananas, hence they wanted to get other territories where better things grow, hence they needed super powerful warriors, hence they kept on breeding siblings.

Wuk Lamat's solution is therefore to address the first part. And I assume the implication is that from now on they will not be breeding them any longer.

[FlowerMilk]

Ok coming back to read the forums after finally finishing the MSQ - I will say that I liked Wuk Lamat before she became Dawnservant. She was endearing, naive, and had a lot to learn, and her willingness to learn and grow was what made her a good character to follow around while learning about Tural. But I think the second half was where the story failed to deliver. She should have made a real blunder trusting Sphene even more than she did, and really pay for it.

I'm disappointed that all of that journeying in the first half resulted in almost no pay-off character development-wise for Wuk Lamat. I wanted to see her newfound experience applied in new ways. I didn't want to just have another 5 levels of the same "I want to learn about you and come to an understanding" without learning what it means to be betrayed by Sphene.

TLDR: I liked her before she became Dawnservant. The second half of the story was a wasted opportunity to utilize her character better.

The worst part about the second half of the story is that it completely undid all of the progress she made in the first half. We were helping her become the Dawnservant because she's a good leader for her people, and in the second half she comes with us to fight Zoraal Ja/Sphene and her people didn't even need her, her brother Koana handled everything just fine on his own, even making strategic alliances to protect the people and stuff. Why did we even help her become the leader of her country if she is not even needed then???

This is why stories like Shadowbringers worked so much better, we had multiple plot points and storytelling spread out across multiple different characters, instead of just one single character doing all of the things, succeeding at everything, and never failing. The story in Dawntrail is incoherent because they tried to do TOO MUCH with Wuk Lamat.

[aquarys]

The worst part about the second half of the story is that it completely undid all of the progress she made in the first half. We were helping her become the Dawnservant because she's a good leader for her people, and in the second half she comes with us to fight Zoraal Ja/Sphene and her people didn't even need her, her brother Koana handled everything just fine on his own, even making strategic alliances to protect the people and stuff. Why did we even help her become the leader of her country if she is not even needed then???

This is why stories like Shadowbringers worked so much better, we had multiple plot points and storytelling spread out across multiple different characters, instead of just one single character doing all of the things, succeeding at everything, and never failing. The story in Dawntrail is incoherent because they tried to do TOO MUCH with Wuk Lamat.

I honestly think they wrote Wuk Lamat and Koana to be "one and done" characters for Dawntrail only, similar to Lyse. I would be surprised if we saw them again as main characters in the future. The reason I say that is because they already seem to become "perfect" rulers immediately during the course of the Dawntrail main story, and there's really nothing else for them to improve or change as characters.

Edit: That being said, Vrtra was also kind of in that position, but he was written SO much better.

[Amh_Wilzuun]

I think these initial reactions to the story will be seen as overblown in a few years, which is exactly what happened to Stormblood. Seeing comments that are saying stuff like “WuK is tHe WorSt cHaRaCTer sinCe LYsE” really cements this for me. Hating Lyse that much in 2024 is just hilarious.

[Raven2014]

Hmm, the way I understood it, those things are directly connected. Aka the breeding was because they wanted to get the hell out of the forest they consider cursed. They explain it themselves in the quest where Wuk Lamat is looking for a solution. They thought the blessed siblings would give them the power necessary to conquer territories outside the forest.

So while technically the siblings, conquest and bananas are three different topics, the chain looks like this - they didn't want to only eat bananas, hence they wanted to get other territories where better things grow, hence they needed super powerful warriors, hence they kept on breeding siblings.

This is another thing that I feel the story felt incredibly short. The current situation of the Maamoja beg the question what the hell Gulool Ja Ja has been dong in the past 80 years? So he showed up, kick their arse and tell them to play nice with the power of friendship and a meal ... and that's it? He did nothing at all whatsoever to address the very reason they went to war to begin with? Doesn't make any sense.

[CerusSerenade]

I think these initial reactions to the story will be seen as overblown in a few years, which is exactly what happened to Stormblood. Seeing comments that are saying stuff like “WuK is tHe WorSt cHaRaCTer sinCe LYsE” really cements this for me. Hating Lyse that much in 2024 is just hilarious.

Pretty much this, in a year or two people will stop obsessing and only the truly unhinged will continue to go on about this.

[ForteNightshade]

This last bit was honestly the icing on the cake for me. I was getting one cool moment in an entire story of nothing, and they ruined it for me. Which really capped off the entire expansion with a very obvious theme, which was the character ruined what could've been a fun experience.

If they hadn't have done that final part I might've at least had something I did in the expansion that made me go "Well at least that was cool".

But nope, she had to steal the show, our other friends couldn't even come and help. She did it all by herself. Why did I even bother coming on this adventure at all? Any random mercenary could've done what I did.

I'll concede everything, be it praise or criticism, is mostly subjective. We all have our opinions. I wish I could like Dawntrail and even Wuk Lamat but I simply don't for a myriad of reasons. The hill I'll die on though, is our character being completely and utterly useless. Even if you liked Dawntrail, I don't know how you can argue we were anything more than window dressing. We did nothing, and somehow accomplished even less. I suppose if you like the idea of just being a random NPC along for the ride but even back in ARR we weren't that. We've never been out of focus to the point of irrelevancy.

And that's the biggest issue I suspect most people have. I'd posit most were okay taking a backseat role this expansion. Heck, if the entire expansion had been like Shaaloani, I'd have been pretty satisfied. They could have gone the nine yards and made zones referencing various time periods or motifs. Do a 50-60s knock off or something else silly and fun while we get into misadventures like Estinien seems to. Instead, we're a nameless NPC taking an obnoxious sue on a pokemon gym journey. Except we didn't even get to capture any pokemon.