How would you improve Dawntrail's writing?

[MediocreIndigo]

Maybe an unpopular opinion but FFXIV is at it's easiest weakest when it's discussing themes of imperialism and oppression. I'm glad we did not get a whole expansion dedicated to Garlemald.

I think there have been times the subject of imperialism has been explored in an interesting way. For instance, one of Stormblood's better aspects was that it showed how the Empire turns the people from occupied nations against each other. Fordola and Yotsuyu were both mistreated by their fellow countrymen and bore resentment toward them as a result, and the Empire weaponized that resentment against their home countries by giving them the means to take it out on others. I like that Ala Mhigo and Doma were depicted as flawed but still deserving of freedom. The Bozja questline did something similar.

On the other hand, I understand where you're coming from because there have also been times when the game has dropped the ball regarding the subjects of imperialism and oppression. Fordola's arc felt like it had a satisfying resolution partially because the main story made a point of showing Lyse resolving to build a better Ala Mhigo for all Ala Mhigans, even those who sided with the Empire to better their chances of survival, but Yotsuyu’s arc ended up feeling a lot more pointless because we never got to see Hien make an effort to eliminate child marriage and sex trafficking in Doma so that no other girls need to go through the conditions that made Yotsuyu who she was. I think another time the game kind of dropped the ball had to do with Garlemald in Endwalker. While it did a great job of showing how deeply indoctrinated the average Garlean citizen is, right now I don't get the sense that the Garlean populace is coming to realize that their nation was in the wrong and they eventually need to take accountability. They've been pacified, but it feels like the Eorzean Alliance has been putting more of an effort into meeting them halfway while they haven't been putting in as much effort in return. It doesn't help that the indentured servant NPCs who are still living in that cave despite their captors losing power are basically irrelevant.

[RaideDuku]

First Half: Actually mentor Wuk Lamat. It ticked me off in her last fight with Bakool Ja Ja, we step away and look on like a proud mentor. WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. We pretty much let her do whatever. It would have given an opportunity to connect with the character. Have backstory. That sort of thing. Things usually good to have in order to make a compelling character. Hells, Baja Tia got more mentoring from The Dads then we ever gave Wuk Lamat. Speaking of The Dads, needed more skirmishes with Team Lime Kool-aid Cat. We were advertised butting heads with some of the Scions. What we got is Thancred mildly inconveniencing us. Once.

Second Half: No Wuk Lamat. Or if she has to come, she should've taken a back seat. Maybe let her take the lead in the fight with her brother, but otherwise, the moment there was an interdimensional invasion, the whole thing became a Scion matter. Would've given the Scions more to do. Especially Krile. Remember how Krile was supposed to be important in Dawntrail? I assumed that meant more then just wearing a McGuffin on her ear.

[All_Nonsense]

I would start by having the person who's career it is to write and is one of the best writers in the game industry continue writing, and not given the job to a guy who wrote a sidequest once because "it's my turn." I get that hierarchy and culture in Japanese corpo work a certain way, but the results leave something to be desired, I think everyone can agree.

Obviously the statement above is what they have told us, but I think we also know that's not true. They did a bunch of promotion/position adjustments in CBU3 so that she could spend the time she would have spent writing Dawntrail writing FF16 instead. Now we get to watch as a single character says like 90% of the dialogue that's ever been in the game since its release over a decade ago. Good content.

[Exmo]

I think there have been times the subject of imperialism has been explored in an interesting way. For instance, one of Stormblood's better aspects was that it showed how the Empire turns the people from occupied nations against each other. Fordola and Yotsuyu were both mistreated by their fellow countrymen and bore resentment toward them as a result, and the Empire weaponized that resentment against their home countries by giving them the means to take it out on others. I like that Ala Mhigo and Doma were depicted as flawed but still deserving of freedom. The Bozja questline did something similar.

On the other hand, I understand where you're coming from because there have also been times when the game has dropped the ball regarding the subjects of imperialism and oppression. Fordola's arc felt like it had a satisfying resolution partially because the main story made a point of showing Lyse resolving to build a better Ala Mhigo for all Ala Mhigans, even those who sided with the Empire to better their chances of survival, but Yotsuyu’s arc ended up feeling a lot more pointless because we never got to see Hien make an effort to eliminate child marriage and sex trafficking in Doma so that no other girls need to go through the conditions that made Yotsuyu who she was. I think another time the game kind of dropped the ball had to do with Garlemald in Endwalker. While it did a great job of showing how deeply indoctrinated the average Garlean citizen is, right now I don't get the sense that the Garlean populace is coming to realize that their nation was in the wrong and they eventually need to take accountability. They've been pacified, but it feels like the Eorzean Alliance has been putting more of an effort into meeting them halfway while they haven't been putting in as much effort in return. It doesn't help that the indentured servant NPCs who are still living in that cave despite their captors losing power are basically irrelevant.

All good points. I should clarify I don't think the game is always terrible when portraying imperialism. Rather, it sometimes shines (you give good examples) but more often than not it fails to live up to my expectations.

(Really I didn't want your post to go by without acknowledging the good points you made.)

[Chasingstars]

More of a vacation and letting the WoL explore Tural how they want instead of being guided by the nose. Also more of Xak Tural, the northern half with Shaaloani aka Texas. Tural itself should've been used as this big hotbed of plot threads with many that go unanswered in 6.0 or even the 6.X patches so as to keep potential story opportunities for future expansions.

While its nice there is the Tender Valley dungeon for Xak Tural, Shaaloani otherwise feels a tad claustrophobic by comparison to what they gave to the southern half. As after Shaaloani, that its straight into Heritage Found/Solution 9/Living Memory/Alexandria/Strayborough Deadwalk.

[Hallarem]

Snip

Bozja was really nuanced too, it showed that a lot of imperial conscripts / people from the conquered zones studied in Garlean academies. They took care of and schooled orphans who lived in sewers in one of the biggest port town in Bozja, Mrtvje I think it was called. It was written that a lot of the Dalmascans hated the nobles because they mistreated the public badly. Some of the reforms to Bozja were so good that one of the resistance leaders thought about including part of them to the new constitution of Bozja, because he could see the benefit of them.

Gabranth actually had a good cause, to disconnect from the empire with his legion and create a nation without discrimination based on your status or race or religion. The story had a lot of nuanced characters, but of course because we had to beat them they inserted some cartoonishly evil villains on the side of the legion as well. Sad it was left on a cliffhanger and we probably never will see the ending. I hope at least Lyon and Papaga and Clarricie become the beastmaster trainers. (Not Erenville, ugh).

The story is good when its nuanced, when it tries to pretend like we are the hero that can do no wrong and its good vs bad, hope vs despair, it really starts to take a nosedive.
I hope after the whole "WoL cant be a thief job, hes a hero" fast forward years ahead and we get Dark Knight and Reaper. They can finally stop with the excuse of the WoL being a superman goodytwoshoes and have us in the middle of some tough politics again.

Nidhog vs Ishgard. Both of the sides are rotten, but in the end we know we have to put down Nidhog because he's gone mad with rage and will wipe the earth clean. But we KNOW he is in the right for going at Ishgard for them pretty much devouring his sister alive.

[Ardeth]

I would just rewrite Shadowbringers and change all the names and hope nobody notices.

[Ishe-P]

I had a stray thought about this a little while ago. I think it would be awesome where the Warrior of Light goes to a whole new place and spends the first half of the expansion wrecking the place, perhaps by accident. It would have been funny to see Wuk Lamat invite us over to her new country and we destroy everything and leave the locals in tears. Then the second half could be spent building things back up to where they started. It would take the WoL's power curve down a notch and lend some fantastic new tensions to the story. *shrug* Maybe it would go over like a leaded fart balloon, but getting a different take from a whole new (to us) culture is a huge opportunity.

[sindriiisgaming]

By having more developers and writers... so the writing on the story and more is not long planned, but on the fly so it does not have to be what has already been planned.

You can't really forecast stuff like this, since it is not a single player gamer, but need to be on the fly following more what the community would like as well of course and first of all the people behind this game most of all, it would cost more to increase the staff like this, but I think it would also be a reward on its own being able to deliver even better and more spot on.

With everything, drop any of the characters voices entirely and let it be text based only, with possible an AI solution to read up if you are dyslexic, lesser investment in people needing to put voice onto the NPC's, so you can put stuff out more quick for people to enjoy, in the end an MMO is supposed to be like players in a way living in the game with other players and not so much rounded up around the faboulous 4 in a figure of speech.

if they did this i would unsub

[Basteala]

One of the things like liked about Dawntrail was how only some of the Scions were with us for the first half. While I don't mind having the Scions around all the time, it is nice to just spend time with only a handful of them, plus a few newish characters, like Erenville whom we get to know a little better.

Plus it was nice having Krile with us, too! I hope for the next expansion the devs continue with this type of formula for handling the Scions and only bringing them all together when the plot deems it necessary to have more high caliber Sharlyan experts on particular subjects we can't handle on our own.

I do agree here. Even if the Scions present--especially Krile for how important she was advertised to be, were CRIMINALLY underused. I like the concept of a handful of Scions joining us, while working with new characters as well. It makes for a nice rotating roster, and if the Scions and new characters are written competently, it could lead to some really good scenes, really good interactions, and keep the mood relatively fresh.

...They just need someone better with characters to write them.