Dawntrail MSQ: Where Do We Go From Here?

[Lyth]

I'm not really a fan of how quickly they've been burning through regions recently. Consider the number of expansions we got out of Aldenard alone. We don't need to do an entire continent in one expansion.

They've left themselves a significant amount of unexplored landmass left in both Yok and Xak Tural, but I wonder if they'll go for a second part right now given the reception of this expansion. Aerslaent is another possibility for a detour, if they draw a link through Ketenramm, although it's hard to tell what other areas they would include. I think Meracydia probably deserves a separate arc altogether, involving the South Sea Isles and perhaps culminating in the Void.

Corvos is the other really big location waiting in the wings along with central Ilsabard, but a lot of the regional lore ties to Ivalice, so a limiting factor may be getting Matsuno to provide input the worldbuilding. That could also have a Void connection given the Garleans, and moreso if they ever draw a definite link to the Lucavi forms that we've seen. I think an expansion in the region would be really high impact, so I'd expect they're saving that up for when they need the hype.

There's a very limited amount that they can do with the shards, given that there were only four intact shards at the start of the expansion (4, 8, 9, 11), and Hiroi just squandered one of them to tell his epilogue. While it's probably more convenient to write mostly destroyed worlds, I think they should leave themselves more room to build out if they ever need more expansion landmass.

[Turtledeluxe]

oh you misinterpreted what i meant. we are azems legacy, and we know nothing of azem. this storyline is going to be about learning who azem truely was.

I think it would be cool if they did this but I no longer trust them to do something interesting with it. It will be something on the nose and emotionally driven. I would much rather them use Azem to totally subvert our expectations and introduce an entirely new story element.

[ShadowyZero]

have to hard agree our adventures need new travel companions its okay to see the scions once in awhile like in cameo's like how uriager did in a seasonal event or thancred being apart of the eden raids etc thats fine but there is no more need for them to follow us around everywhere we go from here on out and sure they can also incorporate them in other ways since they are our contacts it would be fine we need to call upon them to solve a difficult problem but they shouldn't be the main focus and honestly thats one of the good things i can say about Dawntrail is that for the most parts the scions took a backseat an let us do our own thing with characters that needed the spotlight most in this expansion story.

[Voidmage]

I'm not really a fan of how quickly they've been burning through regions recently. Consider the number of expansions we got out of Aldenard alone. We don't need to do an entire continent in one expansion.

Yeah I kinda agree. These are massive continents and they are finished far too quickly.
There is no real breathing room for them to actually grow.

That's also why the ARR zones are so full of things. They were explored slowlyy over many quests. Ishgard probably wouldn't have been that good if we didn't learned and saw it in ARR already.
It's sometimes like a checklist they want to get over with. Higher and faster every time.
On the other hand I never did get the hype around Corvos. For me it has no real significance.

On topic:
Tbh the story can go anywhere from here.
My guess is that the key will be used to allow shard shinengans. It may be used to connect the first and the thirteen and give us more of the void in it's more original state.
One thing the void questline was great was showing that a flooded but otherwise not rejoined shard can still have it's architecture.
The first also could get a new zone in that regard if only for some sidequests.

Other then that. Yoshida said in an interview that just because a shard was rejoined doesn't mean some off it's people can't flee to another shard.
Maybe there is a shard out there acting like some kind of refugee camp or library to not forget the different cultures.
Not forgetting civilizations has been a big theme for some time now and what I personally think will be a focus from now on onward.

We may find such a shard or some space inbetween and actually learn what cultures were lost in the rejoinings.
One thing I thought DT wanted to tell was how important different cultures are and I think that would be a good way to tackle that.

[Dogempire]

have to hard agree our adventures need new travel companions its okay to see the scions once in awhile like in cameo's like how uriager did in a seasonal event or thancred being apart of the eden raids etc thats fine but there is no more need for them to follow us around everywhere we go from here on out and sure they can also incorporate them in other ways since they are our contacts it would be fine we need to call upon them to solve a difficult problem but they shouldn't be the main focus and honestly thats one of the good things i can say about Dawntrail is that for the most parts the scions took a backseat an let us do our own thing with characters that needed the spotlight most in this expansion story.

I'm okay with the Scions getting back together if it's an "Oh crap, the entire planet is in danger" situation like with Endsinger, kind of just have them be the professionals who step in to help when the fate of the world is on the line.

Dawntrail definitely was not one of those situations, and they should really just make sure to introduce new characters who can fill out the trusts in the future, especially since having fresh new party members would add to the novelty of a new expansion.

[seraseth]

I'd like to see an expansion only have a focus on 1 or 2 scions based on the content and their connection to/experience with the topic, then the others are people you can call on briefly for assistance if something falls into their area of expertise(can also call on non-scion friends and connections as well if it's in their wheelhouse, like cid). And cycle them around, and add some new people to meet.

Just don't make the new character follow me around the whole damn expansion.

[Jeeqbit]

I often wonder if SE or CBIII have a common understanding or goal as to what audience they are attempting to appeal to.

A diverse variety. Therefore, it's hard to please everyone.

why does it seem that a significant amount of the dialogue is being written with a pre-teen audience in mind?

Companies are eager to appeal to "younger people" nowadays. It's quite clear because Yoshi-P has talked about this a lot.

But the truth is, it's not a problem - there are places where I see people mention their age and it's a wide variety ranging from 18 to even 50. But there are plenty of young people getting into this game and always have been. It doesn't seem to be the issue they are portraying it as. Yes, lots of older people play MMORPGs but younger people get into them too... or at least this one due to its relation to the other FF games, frequent recommendation among content creators and word of mouth (which is a big factor for this game honestly).

Unfortunately, it's just a surface level thing companies seem to worry about, seemingly without sufficient evidence of it being a problem.

This game is 10 years old and requires a monthly subscription so I'd say it's pretty safe to assume most players are at least old enough to have their own debit card.

Technically, the game can be played by people younger than that, but in practice I don't think the game appeals to people that young and the debit card thing and how expensive it is makes it difficult for them as well, when they don't have an income yet.

However, since the Free Trial was expanded from level 35 to level 60 and then 70, this has likely been changing somewhat. Because going to level 35 was useless and virtually prevented people playing below 18, whereas now you can actually play up to 70 endlessly without having a debit card, and that gives you access to actual content unlike 35.

But what of Dawntrail? A free trial player cannot even play Dawntrail so that isn't a very useful reason to target it to them unless they are thinking extremely long-term, to the day when the free trial includes Dawntrail.

I think many of us were under the impression that Main Story Quests would feature more active participation from the player.

I wasn't expecting this. This is just how the game is... lots of cutscenes. I did think we should have been able to do an instanced duty where we fire with the train cannons, but they did it as a cutscene instead.

I do appreciate the RPG elements they've added though, such as having NPCs follow you, riding with NPCs, being required to follow an NPC and keep up with them or follow them in secret, optional dialogue, being able to climb ladders. I like these little things and I believe they used these elements to replace what would have otherwise been instanced duties in the past.

We were shown CB3's potential for creating interesting gameplay scenarios within the confines of an MMO with Metal Gear Thancred, Freaky Friday Zenos, and numerous instanced battles to break up the monotonous "talk to _____" objectives.

Or In From The Cold. Remember the backlash? Maybe that scared them away from doing them.

There is, in my opinion, an unfulfilled promise in the disbandment of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. What are they doing here?

From what I saw Yoshi-P say prior to Dawntrail release, he is aware people are tired of them but there are also people attached to different scions, so it's hard to decide what to do. But he said something along the lines of he'd see what characters people wanted to spend more time with after the expansion is released.

Why cheapen these characters with continued purposeless presence?

Part of it is having enough people for certain duties to have Duty Support. There was a purpose though. It involves information that only Sharlayan experts had and they're all Sharlayan experts. It also involved people with knowledge of holding the portal open, which they are about the most trustworthy people we have for that.

If we went to the Thirteenth, we'd definitely find another portal back. We can't be quite so certain of this when going elsewhere. It would have probably been alright when it had been open this whole time for years, but it's hard to be absolutely certain you'll get back when it's not as common as portals to the void are.

[Mecia]

Emergency glass break Meracydia with Krile, Erenville and Estinien

[franklinwi]

Honestly, I think it would be fine to keep the scions around if they're written well. Specifically they need to be something more than The Scions. IMO Heavensward had the best party dynamics because Alphinaud, Estinien, and Ysayle had different ideologies, opinions, and desires. That meant that scenarios involving them were interesting because you didn't know who was going to get their way. The problem with Dawntrail isn't that the scions are present but that they might as well not be. When five scions are on screen, well, you've got five duplicates of the same point of view. Alphinaud should be pushing Wuk early on to embrace tech like Koana (e.g. if Koana's Hanu Hanu solution had been not just simpler but more effective), and he should be cautioning Wuk to not be naive based on past experience with statecraft, and probably Wuk should get frustrated and blow up at him at some point and drive him to switch sides to Koana temporarily. Stuff like that. As it is there's no point for Alphinaud to be in the story.

[Zaniel]

A diverse variety. Therefore, it's hard to please everyone.
Companies are eager to appeal to "younger people" nowadays. It's quite clear because Yoshi-P has talked about this a lot.

But the truth is, it's not a problem - there are places where I see people mention their age and it's a wide variety ranging from 18 to even 50. But there are plenty of young people getting into this game and always have been. It doesn't seem to be the issue they are portraying it as. Yes, lots of older people play MMORPGs but younger people get into them too... or at least this one due to its relation to the other FF games, frequent recommendation among content creators and word of mouth (which is a big factor for this game honestly).

Unfortunately, it's just a surface level thing companies seem to worry about, seemingly without sufficient evidence of it being a problem.
Technically, the game can be played by people younger than that, but in practice I don't think the game appeals to people that young and the debit card thing and how expensive it is makes it difficult for them as well, when they don't have an income yet.

This blows my mind tbh. I admit I'm on the older side these days but I remember when I was a teenager I was enthralled by complex darker story-lines in movies and books. Young people aren't imbeciles, they LIKE heavy stuff that they can think about. So dumbing the story down for "young people" is just as insulting for them as it is for us older types.