Dawntrail’s Narrative Missteps: Why Natsuko Ishikawa’s Touch Is Sorely Missed

[Manamaru]

From how the Garlean Empire was dealt with off screen despite being such a threat for years. To the writing of our antagonist which literally was lacking depth. Then the final point being the whole cause of everything essentially pulled out of nowhere and never eluded to in basically a decade? Then we just solve it instantly without any consequence of any action or sacrifice merely just a monetary item that just gets remedy at the flick of a wrist.

Endwalker was the downturn. I do feel for the writing team as having to produce a new enemy to fill the role of Ascians and Zodiark is going to be hard as they have to fill the gap left by immortals that could literally think in creation at the peak of the civilization.

The compressed writing on how the Garlean situation was dealt with after being made a front and center issue since A Realm Reborn. I wonder if Yoshi P and the dev team regret but will never say it when they advertised Endwalker as the conclusion of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark "saga".

EW provided us with the potential of space travel opening up as new or various forms of MSQ possibilities while still having the world to explore. Then Dawntrail gives us a little McGuffin that allows us to freely travel between reflections. Did Square Enix and Creative Studio III have so little confidence in keeping player interest and retention that they had to prematurely show their hand by basically going "Look! Multi-verse! We still have plenty of ideas and stories to tell."

For the record, using a multi-verse as a hook in story telling will just fall flat if the characters are written with the same depth and expression as a vtuber cardboard cut-out you auction off at a con.

Not sure if this sudden shift is because a number of the original dev team has been shifted to work on another numbered title, or if they've taken on other projects as well. But if signifies failure in two main aspects:

1. That the writing and depth of characters has taken such a downward turn in the absence of some certain people indicates that this new batch of devs and writers were not prepared to undertake the task that was given them and be able to meet expectations. This also includes oversight in quality for the final product at launch.

2. That such a change was so undeniably noticeable indicates that the older team members that were shifted to work on other projects failed in guiding, coaching, and essentially training them up for the big moment. If there was a lack in confidence or performance anxiety to meet expectations, that should've been something discussed and tackled. Instead there is a distinct lack of confidence. Even at their own live letter did Yoshi P mention something about looking forward to 8.0 for things and changes.

[Hallarem]

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Coming off a stint of WoW vanilla to before Shadowlands, I can see the same ditches that the writing is jumping into. "Always bigger, always more" EVERYTHING needs to be explained.
Hey, heres the afterlife you can visit, hey here's whats BEYOND the afterlife, oh this villain we just made up was secretly behind EEEVERYTHING
Shadowlands in a nutshell, one of the most awaited villains in Azshara and N'zoth basically fast forwarded for quick patch content and countless more missteps along the years that ruined the lore and worldbuilding

In FFXIV :

Twelve, gone, explained, simplified, mysticism, mystery, gone.
Elementals and Gridania, never heard, Nophica told us that the murderous territorial elementals love us, so its okay, done.
Ilsabard, Dalmasca, Hingashi (the main island) The frozen north, Meracydia, other possible places on Hydaelyn? NAH BRO, its spaceships, space travel that was literally just invented out of nowhere by Sharlayan and the END OF THE UNIVERSE, talk about jumping the shark SE.
Garlemald gone offscreen
Endwalker was full of cool moments, but simultaneously was a hot mess of pacing. We didnt need "the end of the universe" it was just stamped on because the concept sounds cool. The primals fueling our jet thrusters was so ridiculous, and while Zenos' whole scene to the Endsinger was cool, Krile legit just gave our mortal enemy a free pass to come and try to kill us. The whole expansion felt like and WAS two expansions in one.



I'm not that bothered by multiverse, after Shadowbringers shard travel was always going to be a thing. (Aside from the fact that they are too damn stubborn to already admit that Vanadiel is a shard and not some dimensional horsepoop. Though probably not the same vanadiel as they were too lazy to even make a Mithra model for the only Mithra in the raid zone)