Personal view on Dawntrail.

[Aulainn]

So in order for this to be fair I will not be comparing it with HW to EW immediately.

First impressions were what I expected honestly. Coming out of a decade long story arc, it would be unreasonable to expect something of that caliber. I really enjoyed the first half, while the story was built up and characters explored. I somewhat lost interest in the second half of the msq after the rite of succession ended. While both halves were predictable, the second half didn't see much growth in characters as far as I noticed.

I do think DT is better than ARR, mainly because of main npc's having obvious flaws. It's been a long time since I played ARR, but none of the main good characters ever had flaws. They were the perfect representation of a "good guy". On the other hand, Wuk Lamat is very flawed, yet she grows over the course of the msq. Not to a perfect character, but one that's relatable and ready to lead a nation.

Now to the obvious, DT is NOT better than HW to EW. But it's not supposed to be. And even ARR had people who didn't like the story - a lot actually. The positive only overshadowed it because of such a successful launch to a game that was once one of the worst MMORPG's ever released.

I'm not saying anyone is wrong in their opinion if they hate the story. But it's also reasonable to expect the story to get better from this point on.

Thancred failing to protected Minfilia who straight up dies? Alphinaud who's an insufferable brat with some grand plans that burns to the ground and eventually almost lead up to take the country with it? Whole Ul'dah being a shitshow were the rich take control, sultana is poisoned, the folks tricked and Raubahn losing an arm in a fit of rage? Yshtola who gambles on lifestream and loses her eyesight? Lyse who had some unresolved issues and was pretending to be her dead sister?

While some of these aren't flaw per say, they are failings and things that haunt them and forced them to change as people.

Edit: Also I want to add, these characters do exist and have stories pre-ARR which is a big reason some of them are portrayed the way they are.