Dawntrail's MSQ story is a disaster and waste of potential. [full spoilers]

[RaitoRalana]

After reading the first post: Zoraal Ja, a good villain? For me, maybe the worst in entire FF14.
It felt like Zenos from Wish.

And yes, I dont like Wuk Lamat. German VA has a bit more emotions.. but the character is one dimensional. From lvl 90 to lvl 100. DT - Wuk Lamat + Koana as main character = Better

BUT:
I wont say, DT is "horrible" compared to other FF14 expansions. For me, DT is better then HW *Shruge*
First 4 zones were like world building. Was kinda nice.
5 and 6 area hopefully "announced" what 7.1 and 8.0+ will be.

And when I think back.. I can member people say "HW was so good because of the 2.1-2.3 story" .. and similar for Stormblood.. and for Shadowbringers 5.0 and 5.3, so Emet Selch and Elidibus. So everyone who already knows that DT is the worst expansion: How do you know, what we get the next 2~ years? We are at the early beginning of a new story.
We learned a bit about Tural, about Alexandria and that we can travel to other shards.
Oh and people who say DT was cringe.. have those people skipped through the other expansions? The alchemist elephant peeps etc sniffing Estinien.. or Fandaniel as a butler serving a nice candle light dinner for the WOL and Zenos, while Anima daddy is only one room away.. yeah, thats totally not cringe.
And for me: I skipped most of the Loporrit mainstory quests in EW. Their entire story was a -2/10 for me. And EW overall was still great

And to be fair:
Before DT release "Its so nice, that the WOL can have a beach episode, after rescue the planet/universe and most likely the void!"
After DT release "Its so bad, that the WOL had a boring beach episode and everything is just bad *Smadge*"

So, If they get rid of Wuk Lamat in 7.1-7.5, giving us more Shale, so she and Shtola can work on a way, to open a permanent gate to the first, DT will be the 2. best expansion for my. Like EZ.

And in my eyes:
There are parts in FF14 some people love and others hate. In ARR, in HW, in SB, in ShB, in EW and in DT. Not liking parts of DT, doesnt make it a bad experience for everyone and like I said earlier: Multiple story patches before DT is done.
Oh and the "Only X fights in the mainstory!" And? Eather current quests, dungeons, trials etc are enough fights for me. People make it sound like there isnt any combat in the game

[Lady_Silvermoon]

For a story that seemed to be trying to make family a big part of the theme they seemed to have forgotten some really imporant family members

That's why I say the theme was about legacy, not family, given how many people are killed and/or deleted by a family member, if the theme is family, what is it trying to say about family? "Be careful, they can and will kill you."

[TheJamJam]

One aspect of the story that really irked me was the ultimately disappointing experience of meeting Krile's parents, Robor and Alayla. Once they showed up, they were presented without any real sense of mystery or intrigue, and their introduction felt like a letdown.

Despite their ties to the hyper-advanced organization Preservation, they came across as just a pair of ordinary Lalafell. As one of the original possessors of the relic, I expected them to have some significant insights, yet they could barely tell us anything about it. Even the earring they left with Krile required a plot device, Gulool Ja, to be opened which felt downplayed their gift even further.

When they said their farewells, I found myself not caring much about their departure, just because how badly written the whole thing was.

In contrast, consider a brief interaction with Temulun, the elderly leader of the Mol tribe in Stormblood:

[The group heads out of the yurt. Temulun calls to the Warrior of Light.]

Temulun: You, wait. I would have words.

Temulun: A singular radiance. Shimmering. Like a jewel of the Dusk Mother, blinding in its brilliance.

Temulun: Stars flicker and flock to you. Before such gathered light, even the secrets of the gods may be laid bare.

Temulun: Some are fated to rise in grace and glory. Others to falter and fade, though not from memory. Both will be your strength and salvation come the end.

Temulun: Cherish the stars and the light they bring you in the dark. For you are a traveler, are you not?

Ishikawa managed to imbue Temulun with a sense of wisdom and depth even though her role is nowhere near as big as Krile's parents. She still managed to leave a lasting impression that makes you want to know more about her. In contrast, Robor and Alayla were written by Hiroi without any such impact, failing to live up to the expectations of their supposed intellect and importance.

[MartinFreeman]

One aspect of the story that really irked me was the ultimately disappointing experience of meeting Krile's parents, Robor and Alayla. Once they showed up, they were presented without any real sense of mystery or intrigue, and their introduction felt like a letdown.

Despite their ties to the hyper-advanced organization Preservation, they came across as just a pair of ordinary Lalafell. As one of the original possessors of the relic, I expected them to have some significant insights, yet they could barely tell us anything about it. Even the earring they left with Krile required a plot device, Gulool Ja, to be opened which felt downplayed their gift even further.

When they said their farewells, I found myself not caring much about their departure, just because how badly written the whole thing was.

In contrast, consider a brief interaction with Temulun, the elderly leader of the Mol tribe in Stormblood:

[The group heads out of the yurt. Temulun calls to the Warrior of Light.]

Temulun: You, wait. I would have words.

Temulun: A singular radiance. Shimmering. Like a jewel of the Dusk Mother, blinding in its brilliance.

Temulun: Stars flicker and flock to you. Before such gathered light, even the secrets of the gods may be laid bare.

Temulun: Some are fated to rise in grace and glory. Others to falter and fade, though not from memory. Both will be your strength and salvation come the end.

Temulun: Cherish the stars and the light they bring you in the dark. For you are a traveler, are you not?

Ishikawa managed to imbue Temulun with a sense of wisdom and depth even though her role is nowhere near as big as Krile's parents. She still managed to leave a lasting impression that makes you want to know more about her. In contrast, Robor and Alayla were written by Hiroi without any such impact, failing to live up to the expectations of their supposed intellect and importance.

Enough about Krile's parents. I want to hear more about Wuk!

[All_Nonsense]

And when I think back.. I can member people say "HW was so good because of the 2.1-2.3 story" .. and similar for Stormblood.. and for Shadowbringers 5.0 and 5.3, so Emet Selch and Elidibus. So everyone who already knows that DT is the worst expansion: How do you know, what we get the next 2~ years? We are at the early beginning of a new story.

Lol almost NO ONE was shitting on ShB's or HW's story in 5.0 and 3.0 respectively. Not even close. Not even mildly remotely close. The reception for those stories was insanely better than the reception for 7.0 was. 7.0 has been so poorly received by both critics and players alike compared to all other expansions that we literally have empirical data to support it at this point. There's metrics. Why would the quality of 7.0's story be such a hot topic right now and contested so strongly by so many people if it's just as good as SHADOWBRINGERS was????? Are you serious?

The start of a new story is supposed to be good. It can be a bit boring, sure, but it needs substance and the establishment of core plot points. There's tons of very intelligently written, well-explained posts about exactly *why* people don't like the story. A lot of it is in this thread. You should read some

And to be fair:
Before DT release "Its so nice, that the WOL can have a beach episode, after rescue the planet/universe and most likely the void!"
After DT release "Its so bad, that the WOL had a boring beach episode and everything is just bad *Smadge*"

Literally no one is saying that wtf. I'll correct:

Before DT release: "It's so nice that we can take a break from high stakes and just have a chill expansion where we don't have to save the world"
During DT release: "Sphene and Zoraal Ja are literally about to end all life on the entire Source and then every other reflection - something not even Metion was going to do. Also there's 10,000 lines of dialogue for Wuk Lamat that don't amount to anything and everyone else doesn't get any spotlight"
After DT release: "What the hell was that?????"

Remember how much you paid for DT and how much you continue to pay every single month. Do you feel like you received your money's worth in terms of story quality? Nearly half of us don't. If I wanna read barrel scraping BNHA dialogue, I'll borrow my friend's manga.

[sylphlands]

I'm on lvl 96 and just...how was this marketed as a vacation for the wol? I feel so confused when people defend DT as a low stakes expac? I would have actually enjoyed that if done well. But once again there are apocalyptic conflicts and Tuliyollal just lost 50 civilians to a robot terrorist attack. This story oscillates between hilariously low stakes that are resolved instantly to world-ending problems and I just feel...very checked out. Alphinaud literally called Zoraal a threat to the entire star...but! Vacation expac!

The most baffling beat so far was how we all just stood and watched while Zoraal came back from the dead and committed patricide/regicide, and then Alisaie made Wuk let him walk away? His troops were in the streets shooting grandmas in the face. I can't get over it. The writers can say all they want that us not intervening was to preserve GJJ's honor, but that absolutely feels like a weak excuse just to push the plot forward. When a writer forces capable characters to be incapable, and without even incapacitating us physically which would have been more believable, that's bad writing.

[Lady_Silvermoon]

I'm on lvl 96 and just...how was this marketed as a vacation for the wol? I feel so confused when people defend DT as a low stakes expac? I would have actually enjoyed that if done well. But once again there are apocalyptic conflicts and Tuliyollal just lost 50 civilians to a robot terrorist attack. This story oscillates between hilariously low stakes that are resolved instantly to world-ending problems and I just feel...very checked out. Alphinaud literally called Zoraal a threat to the entire star...but! Vacation expac!

The most baffling beat so far was how we all just stood and watched while Zoraal came back from the dead and committed patricide/regicide, and then Alisaie made Wuk let him walk away? His troops were in the streets shooting grandmas in the face. I can't get over it. The writers can say all they want that us not intervening was to preserve GJJ's honor, but that absolutely feels like a weak excuse just to push the plot forward. When a writer forces capable characters to be incapable, and without even incapacitating us physically which would have been more believable, that's bad writing.

Yeah, a lot of writing decisions seem to be made not on what the characters would do or any sane person would do, but to reach the moments the writers want to reach and to fit the game's formula. Like there is no reason under the sun that Zoraal Ja should be walking from that room. They will claim they are allowing it cause they have to figure out how he survived, but there is a thing on his head glowing like Christmas. Are they dumb? No, the only reason we stood there is because the writers wanted a death scene. The only reason we let him go is because it's not time for his trial yet. And there is tons of writing like that in DT to the point you look at characters you know from past expansions and wonder, "Who are these people?"

[Remiferia]

Dawntrail is a story about how Colonialism is A-Okay as long as you're colonising for the right reasons.

Nothing quite says 'Peace, Love & Happiness' like assimilating all of the tribes by rooting out all the stuff about them that we don't like, strapping a nuclear warhead to a train to the tune of Disney music, ramming it into the borders of a foreign nation, trashing their culture, killing their leaders, installing a puppet leader who answers directly to Wuk Lamat like it's a Soviet-era satellite nation, mulling over what elements of their culture can be used to make life on Tural better, and going home to eat tacos. Yes I know some of these things were necessary and unavoidable but holy fuck have some level of introspection. The way everything we do is always the 'absolute correct answer' is alarming.

If Gulool Ja Ja wasn't the perfect leader who does everything right all the time, and Wuk Lamat actually had to wrestle with some tricky policies that he put in place, then the whole story would collapse in on itself. The alternative we get is that she's never wrong because her dad was never wrong, and her nation is already an Idyllic society with no problems that can't be fixed by some food, a brief chat, or some seeds.

This story was 'overseen by Ishikawa' in the same way that FFXV was 'given the blessing of' Hironobu Sakaguchi: they were asked to have their names attached to the production to inspire confidence. The marketing of the game has more political nous than Wuk Lamat and the entire narrative combined.

We waited three years to experience a story about the benefits of acceptance and multiculturalism penned by people who seem to believe traditionalism is king and everything foreign needs to be met with skepticism (Koana's solutions during the Rite, Alexandrian culture, Shaaloani views on industrialisation etc.)

Story skippers took a W.

[AngelicDeath]

no its not you clown its great get good

[Striker44]

Lol almost NO ONE was shitting on ShB's or HW's story in 5.0 and 3.0 respectively. Not even close. Not even mildly remotely close. The reception for those stories was insanely better than the reception for 7.0 was. 7.0 has been so poorly received by both critics and players alike compared to all other expansions that we literally have empirical data to support it at this point. There's metrics.

This forum has always been a negative echo chamber bashing every expansion as it comes out. Yes, including HW and ShB. It's only when the next expansion comes out and gets its turn to be trashed that the previous one suddenly gets praised. It's like people have an obsessive need to be disappointed or something.

Also, I'm not sure you understand what "metrics" or "empirical data" mean, because both of those actually point in the positive direction for DT. Seriously, just open your worldview beyond select places of the internet that agree with you, and it can be eye-opening. I recommend taking a spin through some YT videos and check out the comments. There will be people talking about how they're enjoying DT's story and finding it meaningful that get hundreds and hundreds of upvotes compared to the dozens you might see around here.

Critic reviews are likewise seeming fine. Look specifically for critics that reviewed both DT now and ARR back in the day, and you'll see they're rated very similarly. And when you consider that ARR gets a bump from following the actual disaster that was 1.0 compared to DT having to start fresh after the highly-received story arc that concluded with ShB and EW, it puts it even more into perspective that DT is doing fine.

I'm on lvl 96 and just...how was this marketed as a vacation for the wol? I feel so confused when people defend DT as a low stakes expac?

Yes, in a story that unfolds over the course of about 50-60 hours (if you do MSQ and side content), there will naturally be a variety of things happening. We spent the full first half of the game basically touring the island while being a mentor to Wuk Lumat, and then for people who insist on wanting us (the WoL) to be the main character, we had the entire second half of the story where we're always the one to go "forward" because of who we are (we head into the dome instead of helping Tuliyollal's defense, go into Living Memory instead of help keep the gate open, etc.).

We waited three years to experience a story about the benefits of acceptance and multiculturalism penned by people who seem to believe traditionalism is king and everything foreign needs to be met with skepticism (Koana's solutions during the Rite, Alexandrian culture, Shaaloani views on industrialisation etc.)

Koana has an entire following due to the outside (Sharlayan) innovations he's brought to Tural, and one of the main "moral" points the story sums up is the benefits of combining tradition with innovation...