Character disconnect and disappointing Player Agency in Dawntrail's MSQ [Spoilers]

[Basteala]

This post will contain spoilers for the Dawntrail MSQ.

I am about to finish my Dawntrail MSQ experience, and am reflecting upon the story told. There will be paraphrasing, so do correct me if I am absolutely incorrect in what I remember from the story.

An MMORPG needs to railroad the player character for plot reasons or mechanical ones, but in previous story experiences it all seemed relatively natural. There were always good reasons to do the things we needed to do, even if we didn't agree with them. We were also able to voice that disagreement, albeit in limited means.
FFXIV has never been a game about meaningful choices (we are mere actors in a grand play), yet somehow this is the first time playing where I feel an absolute disconnect with my character and the choices presented for her to take.

The time this disconnect hit me hardest was when Wuk Lamat asked me to refer to her as "lamaty'i", a term of endearment reserved for family. I had not particularly enjoyed much of my time glued to the third promise, so I opted to respond with the usually delightful "..." option expecting at least a somewhat snide comment. Instead, one of the Scions, a character I care for and trust, informs Wuk my character is "at a loss for words" for being asked this...[chopped due to character limit]

While I don't agree with every point here, I definitely agree with the feeling of disconnect. Although for me it comes at one of the weirdest points: Urqopacha, when we're confronting those Yok Hoy who are not aligned with Gulool Ja Ja. And again, in Living Memory. This has always *kind of* been a problem with the "why is the WoL just standing there?" moments, but it never really crept into the story in meaningful ways outside of that until now. This is kind of my biggest problem with Wuk Lamat too--not the character herself, but the fact that the story bends itself backwards to fit her ideals and prove her right even when common sense would dictate otherwise.

And the fact it makes us bend over backwards to do it too makes it kind of personal.

I once watched a film critic's take on this in "Anatomy of a Failure" for certain movies that fell flat, and in one of them, he mentions how a big failing of one movie was that the hero wasn't pushing the plot forward, the plot was pushing him forward, and it kind of feels the same way here.