ARR > Dawntrail

[Naoki34]

The numbers don't lie.

But, you're lying about the context.

It's not the same situation at all.



ARR came after the failure that was 1.0, ARR is the remake version of 1.0 by Yoshi-P who saved FFXIV without which, we probably wouldn't still be playing it today.

But the fact remains that ARR is stuffed to the gills with crappy questing: fed-ex quests, pointless back-and-forth, and you had the ridiculous quest series where you had to earn your way to saving the island of Vylbrand (I thought you were in danger, so it can really wait until you go around the world and prove a blind man, a desert tribesman, etc.). To avoid Titan's awakening? Seriously?)

ARR is the worst content to date, if you take all the expansions into account.

___
As for Dawntrail, it's new content after a cycle, and it came after the excellent ShB and Endwalker. Aside from that, Dawntrail is really rotten from the point of view of MSQ epic, last zone, revelation and final battle.

In my opinion, it's a filler expansion for the patient, full of fan service and relatively useless characters. And the main antagonist and Wuk Lamat are both a problem in terms of giving us the epic feel that the previous 2 expansions had.

And even the raid story is laughable compared to Eden and Pandaemonium. I still look back with nostalgia and fond memories at the conclusion of Pandaemonium, and see again one of my favorite FFXIV characters since ShB and appearing long before.


--> Context is important, otherwise... Your info is biased.
And your post sounds like a troll with a healthy dose of denial and hypocrisy.



Ps: I didn't feel any of the emotions during Dawntrail's final fight and cinematic as I listen and replay over and over again via the diary of ShB's cinematic and key moments, Endwalker. --> I was entering the Ewww and Meh at the end of Dawntrail MSQ and the story of its 8-player raid.

Even SB and HW gave me better memories than my ranking of expansions without Dawntrail, and that's a matter of personal taste and preference:

Endwalker > ShB >> SB > HW >> (Dawntrail >) ARR

Many people put HW first and that's personal.

This is completely from an MSQ point of view.


Otherwise, Dawntrail is incredible in terms of PvE gameplay feel.

For Dawntrail OST in my opinion, Endwalker and Shadowbringer still stick in my head and I listen to them regularly. There's not much from Dawntrail that makes me want to listen, I turn off the music at Tuli-Jazz, it's out of context for a South American inspired city.

And the Smile theme... Is a problem for me, it's as cliché as it gets. And it doesn't sound South American to me, maybe more African. If I'm wrong, sorry.

[Nitelancer]

But, you're lying about the context.

It's not the same situation at all.



ARR came after the failure that was 1.0, ARR is the remake version of 1.0 by Yoshi-P who saved FFXIV without which, we probably wouldn't still be playing it today.

But the fact remains that ARR is stuffed to the gills with crappy questing: fed-ex quests, pointless back-and-forth, and you had the ridiculous quest series where you had to earn your way to saving the island of Vylbrand (I thought you were in danger, so it can really wait until you go around the world and prove a blind man, a desert tribesman, etc.). To avoid Titan's awakening? Seriously?)

ARR is the worst content to date, if you take all the expansions into account. ...

I don't agree at all that ARR is the worst content to date. A simple example is the environmental story telling in ARR zones. In ARR zones you can find hidden shrines to the gods like Nald below. But in Dawntrial, it does not appear the people in Tural ever had any gods or engage in any form of worship. Their culture feels small and lack a sense of history going based on the environments, whereas in ARR you can find hidden shrines to the twelve gods and other cool points of interest with meaningful lore, making the world feel more grand. Dawntrail is lacking in that and its zones feel relatively sparse.

I do think the giants (Yok Huy) in Dawntrail are interesting though. I feel they help give a sense of history to Tural, so I'll give it that.

As for context, every game is released in a different context. So should their be no comparisons on ratings? What is a rating for if not making comparisons? Ok, let's compare something close to Dawntrail. Actually, when you compare all the expansions, Dawntrail has the lowest user and critic ratings with the exception of 1.0.