The Negative Impact of Poor Character Writing on the Quality of Dawntrail's MSQ

[Hallarem]

I miss it, man. I keep trying to give Dawntrail slack, but it's just so...nothing. Not even an ARR-Tier story, because it lacks the genuinely engaging prose and conflict and world-building that ARR granted us. Sorry for rambling.

I got to finally doing the Postmoogle questline that starts in Limsa. One of the quests was to mediate between a little sister, whose Coeurlclaw sister had been supporting her family with gil in secret for a long time. She had been a victim of abuse, stuck in a perpetual circle of crime, prejudiced because of the Coeurlclaws labeling all Keepers of the Moon subconciously into criminals in Gridanians' mind. Stockholm syndromed by the Coeurlking, probably feeling that was the only safe place left to her in society. Failing to escape with her little sister because of that, even if one male ruling over a harem of females is COMPLETELY AGAINST Keeper of Moon culture.

The quest told me:

- local lore, politics
- culture of the Keepers of the Moon
- offered genuine conflict and disagreements
- didn't have a happy ending (I know the coeurlking got killed later and the coeurlclaws mostly disbanded, but dont know if the sister made it out okay in the end)


What Dawntrail quests have given me?

......

......

A potential regional conflict between technology and the indigenous nomadic Hhetsarro solved by a magical trainwhistle overnight where both sides win? I've done ALL the sidequests in Dawntrail, barely anything gave me something to cling onto. The cultures and regions are so SURFACE LEVEL it hurts. Hell, even the goofy rolequests gave me more on culture of other tribes and some nuance. Though its all TEXT mind you, nothing was shown.

If your story, quests, MSQ don't have ARGUMENTS, DISAGREEMENTS, CONFLICT. Its bad writing.
One of the BEST moments in Shadowbringers to me, was when Y'shtola and Thancred ARGUED and disagreed on Ryne. Where is that writing? Everyone on Dawntrails MSQ is magically tempered by Wuk Lamats ideals. She COULDVE been a great character, but its just too much of a nonsensical thing to swallow. The Alexandrians are LITERAL CHILDREN mentally, I have no idea how they function on a daily basis.

[JohnLakeside]

I got to finally doing the Postmoogle questline that starts in Limsa. One of the quests was to mediate between a little sister, whose Coeurlclaw sister had been supporting her family with gil in secret for a long time. She had been a victim of abuse, stuck in a perpetual circle of crime, prejudiced because of the Coeurlclaws labeling all Keepers of the Moon subconciously into criminals in Gridanians' mind. Stockholm syndromed by the Coeurlking, probably feeling that was the only safe place left to her in society. Failing to escape with her little sister because of that, even if one male ruling over a harem of females is COMPLETELY AGAINST Keeper of Moon culture.

The quest told me:

- local lore, politics
- culture of the Keepers of the Moon
- offered genuine conflict and disagreements
- didn't have a happy ending (I know the coeurlking got killed later and the coeurlclaws mostly disbanded, but dont know if the sister made it out okay in the end)


What Dawntrail quests have given me?

......

......

A potential regional conflict between technology and the indigenous nomadic Hhetsarro solved by a magical trainwhistle overnight where both sides win? I've done ALL the sidequests in Dawntrail, barely anything gave me something to cling onto. The cultures and regions are so SURFACE LEVEL it hurts. Hell, even the goofy rolequests gave me more on culture of other tribes and some nuance. Though its all TEXT mind you, nothing was shown.

If your story, quests, MSQ don't have ARGUMENTS, DISAGREEMENTS, CONFLICT. Its bad writing.
One of the BEST moments in Shadowbringers to me, was when Y'shtola and Thancred ARGUED and disagreed on Ryne. Where is that writing? Everyone on Dawntrails MSQ is magically tempered by Wuk Lamats ideals. She COULDVE been a great character, but its just too much of a nonsensical thing to swallow. The Alexandrians are LITERAL CHILDREN mentally, I have no idea how they function on a daily basis.

I'm doing the Postmoogle quests right now, and I really appreciate how much worldbuilding flair they add. I've only completed Baderone's and Momodi's quests so far, but one thing I've noticed is that the characters we meet are always actively engaged in something or found in a place that feels intentional. They’re not just idly waiting in a random field for us to talk to them. Instead, it feels like their lives and stories existed long before our arrival.

For instance, when we met Momodi's past suitor, he was fishing in a village—a clear sign that he had established a life there. Similarly, Baderone's old friend was found after having just left the cabin at Summerford, a cabin that we later got to explore and retrieve his belongings from. This attention to detail makes the world feel so much more grounded and lived-in.