The Negative Impact of Poor Character Writing on the Quality of Dawntrail's MSQ

[Vydos]

The OP has beautifully worded the shortcomings in this MSQ. And I find it funny that I as well, talked to every npc before continuing the next quest in previous expansions.
Because they all had their own character specific thing to say.

And I started following this trend in Dawntrail as well, but in the 3rd zone I began to stop doing that because none of them really said anything interesting/captivating most of the time.

I felt really detached from the characters in this MSQ and I tried really hard to like them. The only moment where the story and its characters got their hooks on me, was during the entire Mamook section.

[WeakestZenosEnjoyer]

Krile's section genuinely made me tear up, not because of her meeting her parents but knowing that this fleeting moment is literally Krile's entire character.

She got so robbed, the characters tell her directly in real dialog "forget about your personal arc and go help Wuk Lamat"

[Xellith]

I cant thank you enough for your words. I lack the ability to articulate myself adequately in most instances.

[BigBoom550]

Krile's section genuinely made me tear up, not because of her meeting her parents but knowing that this fleeting moment is literally Krile's entire character.

She got so robbed, the characters tell her directly in real dialog "forget about your personal arc and go help Wuk Lamat"

In retrospect, the first time she got brushed off was when I started checking out of the story. If it had been 'I don't have all the details, but...' and then a hint or fragment of something, it'd have worked out. She's following up on something that happened twenty years ago. People grow, die, move, suffer injury. Items are misplaced, memories fade, details forgotten for the broad strokes. The land shifts, buildings erode.

But they just... 'No, we'll tell you later'. And she accepts it. That's what makes it really sore for me. We were advertised to that this expac focuses on her a bit more, but every time she tries to start getting her own plot rolling the narrative instantly shuts her down in favor of Wookie Lament, and she just goes 'Yes, we must pay attention to Wuk Lamat.'

By the time her parents came around, I just... didn't care. We'd hardly had any buildup with Krile because she kept getting brushed off, to the point that when it came I just couldn't care. It was like meeting Bakool's mother.

'Oh, neat, NPCs related to one we already know.'

Krile's been robbed for like three expansions now. She was a nursemaid in the background for Shadowbringers, she was a glorified phone for part of Endwalker, and now her own, personal, and specific plotline got sidelined in favor of... apparently, tacos.

[Colt47]

The character writing isn't the problem because people can live through a bad character write up (Stormblood Zenos being a good example...). This one was bad because it ignored world lore established for the past decade:

1. We have Aetheryte travel, so we can instantly go from one side of the planet to another, or a completely different world, so long as we are attuned.
2. We got acquainted with a lot of skilled tradesmen, scientists, scholars, and others through our journey that our character should have just immediately shot over to contact after certain story points. This got brushed under the rug with the constant inane excuse that there wasn't time (instant travel... there is time...)
3. For an expansion that is supposed to be a start of a new journey, it certainly decided it had to rush into throwing another world ending cataclysm into it. We absolutely did not need another possible world ending cataclysm. What we needed was a period of downtime and a more down to earth adventure with the elements building and setting up the big thing.

[SigmarrIrenesch]

Dawntrail had great potential - Tural's politics and future depending on a competition between would-be successors all with different ambitions? A really interesting premise, so much can be done with it. But as the story progresses, there is no political intrique to be seen anywhere. For half the game we're simply on a school trip around Tural, occassionally dealing with bullies and carrying out unnecessary tasks just so we can have a talk about how important it is to respect different people and their cultures. It's a wonderful message, don't get me wrong, but if your storytelling constantly relies on telling us, the readers, what the message is just so we won't get confused, then maybe writing isn't your calling?

While XIV has never been the peak of political writing, what it's done so far has always felt beliveable to some degree (on it's own established standards). At the very least it has always given any political conflict grounds to stand on. Here we're competing for an entire nation's leadership and that role is never expanded beyond "oh it's for the peace and prosperity, it's this real cool thing". We never really get to truly witness how the said peace is upheld, and anyone who could potentially threaten or test it is immediately swept aside upon introduction, like the renegade faction of Yok Huy or the Mamool Ja with their Blessed Siblings. With just a few empty pleasantries about wanting to get to know you, all is forgiven and forgotten. In Mamool Ja's case, their old (althought harmful) tradition is just neatly dropped, just like that, no questions asked. All of Tural's politics are a mystery and every time there's a chance to explore them, it's not used. Oh, in Shaaloani there's people who rose to enforce laws in midst of rampant unlawfulness? Interesting, is this not the norm in Tural? Are there laws on the other side of the bridge then? How are they being upheld? Is the lack of them why there's a problem with bandits in Kozama'uka? How does the Dawnservant rule over Tural, exactly? Oh, there it goes, never to be touched on again. The Very Important Bracelet™ is much more interesting and relevant, apparently.

It's been touched upon plenty in the thread already, but damn, the characters. They were not handled well. Zoraal Ja's motivations for war were to... show everyone how bad war is so there'll be no more wars? Sure. Okay. Whatever. Zoraal Ja telling Alphinaud and Alisaie about his plans to invade Sharlayan? You expect me to believe the twins, especially easily agitated Alisaie, would stay so robotically calm while their home and family are threatened like that? Who are these two and what did you do to the real twins? Then there's Y'shtola's indifference towards everything she should've been ecstatic to study, Estinien only existing for a single Cool Scene™ with Bakool Ja Ja and to turn the tide of the invasion in Shaaloani, Alphinaud not having any interest in the politics of Tural or diplomatic approaches when something goes south... Like someone fittingly put it, all already established characters were stripped of their character just so they could serve Wuk Lamat's story.

Alexandria was definitely the lowest point of the expansion. While I can appreciate the attempt to make Sphene this tragic "what-if"-scenario version of Garnet from FFIX, she is unbearable, unlikeable and suspicious to boot from the start and I will never understand why me and my player character were forced to go along with her and Wuk Lamat's shenanigans (to progress the story, yes, but boo tomato tomato tomato). Everything about Alexandria is even more hollow and without substance, everything we know about their society is just... magical aether mineral from another world and soul abuse. That's it. That's even less than we know about Tural, and at least there an attempt was made to establish the nation as part of Etheirys. The writer(s) clearly tried to draw inspiration from Shadowbringers and Endwalker, especially with Living Memory being just a more shoddily done version of Amaurot/Elpis, but they fail to understand what made them so emotionally impactful. The twists and attempts at gripping your heart are just to laughably bad. You don't have enough build-up for any of this, you can't just pull things out of your ass at rapid fire and expect it to work out. I don't care for Alexandria or Sphene, they attacked Tuliyollal. I am not going to symphatize with her - she is an invader, no matter what kind of tragic preservation AI backstory you bring up or how ~oh so tragic~ you make her choice to assault Tuliyollal seem. All this while Wuk Lamat is still "Please let us carry your burden, Sphene!" Like sweetie, no, stop.

On that note, taking into account the current state of the world, the fact that XIV writers are trying so hard to redeem both the Empire in EW and now Sphene in DT just feels so tone-deaf. It's fantasy, yes yes, but as someone sharing a border with A Certain Country™ that pulls similar shit on their neighbours, that's a horrible way to take a story not once, but twice.

Personally, I feel Dawntrail would've been a much better experience had they designed a proper Rite of Succession without it being a fetch quest fest and have it play out from level 90 to 100. Build up this colourful nation more and make the competition more of a clutch where Wuk Lamat actually has to grow, instead of everything happening conveniently for her cause while she's having the most basic realizations a catwoman can. They barely did anything with the whole tural vidraal thing. What was that about? Such a cool idea and you take the endgame to some eyesore futuristic hellscape instead giving us more creatures inspired by the pleasing aesthetics of ancient mesoamericans, which is DT's and Tural's strongest positive going for them? What an absolute waste of potential. Fuck Alexandria, boooooo. #fuckalexandria

I still want to believe the patches somehow improve what we were given instead, but I'm honestly not too hopeful. They should've held onto the idea of another reflection and just focus on Tural for now. Oh well. We'll see how it goes.

[Luca_]

I still want to believe the patches somehow improve what we were given instead, but I'm honestly not too hopeful. They should've held onto the idea of another reflection and just focus on Tural for now. Oh well. We'll see how it goes.

7.1 and 7.2 were most likely set in stone long before Dawntrail's release and lukewarm reception, so there's zero chance they'll be adjusted based on player feedback.

We have at least another year of the Wuk Lamat show ahead of us. Please look forward to it.

[SigmarrIrenesch]

7.1 and 7.2 were most likely set in stone long before Dawntrail's release and lukewarm reception, so there's zero chance they'll be adjusted based on player feedback.

We have at least another year of the Wuk Lamat show ahead of us. Please look forward to it.

I know this and I don't expect any japanese gaming company to adjust anything based on player feedback, but there is a chance the 7.1 and 7.2 stories contain elements cut from 7.0 that could potentially salvage something. Hence the "somehow improve what we were given instead".

[ThorneDynasty]

I know this and I don't expect any japanese gaming company to adjust anything based on player feedback, but there is a chance the 7.1 and 7.2 stories contain elements cut from 7.0 that could potentially salvage something. Hence the "somehow improve what we were given instead".

I.e. please god let 7.1 be the beach episode that was cruelly cut from 7.0.

[BigBoom550]

I.e. please god let 7.1 be the beach episode that was cruelly cut from 7.0.

Man, if DT had a section with the Scions lounging on the beach and just... doing random stuff that'd be great. We even got beach outfits for the Trusts which leads me to think that it was planned at some point in development and then just... dropped. Probably something the Art team was doing before being told that 'yeah no there's not a beachside grillout portion'.

...Man now that I'm thinking about it, the first half of the expac being the Scions who've come to Tural chilling on the beach with such incredible quests as 'compete with Estinien for who can find and kill the biggest thing to grill for dinner' and 'Help Urianger find Thancred before the dummy gets himself embroiled in a love triangle' would have been hilarious and awesome.