Give Dawntrail the ARR post patch treatment

[ZephyrMenodora]

Sorry but the story is very bad. Story is so boring it put me to sleep. This is the only expansion that story has ever put me to sleep.

This was the only expansion I was going to a Wiki every few hours to literally count how many more quests I had to slog through lol.

[Hallarem]

They already got the message about the repeated lines.

They were intentional to explain the story and make sure people understand what's going on. Especially since there are a lot of players that return after many years and don't really remember anything.

I agree that they were obnoxious to me in some cases, especially in Heritage Found where it's very easy to figure out what is going on when you have the context of Shadowbringers, which everybody does. We went to Yyasulani which was supposed to be fully built up. It looks decades old. 2+2. Time has progressed by decades in this bubble. They slowly figure it out when all the scions there would know mostly what is going on. Then the round table meeting later on repeats everything that had just been said.

Acting like it's harder to get through than any other expansion is silly though. I not only did Dawntrail, but all of its sidequests - and I got through it. It was just like any other expansion. It was better than ARR because we had a mount from the start and were able to fly after completing the zone's story events.

There are also a lot of intriguing parts - for example, meeting the legendary Ketenramm who was assumed to be long dead and merely a historical figure. Mamool Ja being more than just NPCs you 1-shot at Upper La Noscea. A home for the Hrothgar. Urqopacha and meeting the giants... who we previously knew as things we kill quick in Copperbell Mines, so understanding their lore was nice. Visiting Shaaloani and the ceruleum problem we'd heard about in the Blue Mage quests.

- Intentionally repeating a message over and over to someone is bad writing, because you don't trust your audience, and treat them like they have goldfish memory.
- Meeting the legendary Ketenramm aaaaaaand.. what exactly? We barely interacted with him, he just got thrust onto us and was there.
- Getting to know the origins of the Mamool Ja, okay
- Hrotgar already have a home in Bozja??
- Giants and their culture, okay
- Yeah, we heard about it there and it was a Whalaqee problem, NOT A COWBOY problem. They just erased the Whalaqee and the ceruleum plotline

Your reasoning is as shallow as the MSQ, you're going to have to work harder for that Square-Enix Medal of Honor you're aiming for with all this defense you're tossing for the devs and writers.

[Jeeqbit]

Intentionally repeating a message over and over to someone is bad writing, because you don't trust your audience, and treat them like they have goldfish memory.

Right, but that was not actually a writing issue. It was a decision made beyond the writers, since Yoshi-P himself "wanted to portray them properly". So context is important in understanding why it actually happened.

Meeting the legendary Ketenramm aaaaaaand.. what exactly?

We never knew what happened to him. It was all myth and rumor. Gulool Ja Ja basically did an adventure kinda like Ardbert, and to find out he was part of that and was still around was cool. It's unfortunate if you cannot appreciate it, but people here don't appreciate anything so...

Getting to know the origins of the Mamool Ja, okay

Sorry to see you weren't excited for that. I was.

Hrotgar already have a home in Bozja??

Wouldn't call that much of a home. It's a warzone at the time we visit it and they're sleeping at a camp. We didn't visit a peaceful place where they live like we did in Tural. We didn't properly go to southern ilsabard yet, the area still covered in clouds.

Giants and their culture, okay

You really didn't appreciate that? I thought it was cool. The most magical part of the expansion for me.

Yeah, we heard about it there and it was a Whalaqee problem, NOT A COWBOY problem. They just erased the Whalaqee and the ceruleum plotline

They can co-exist... and clearly do. I remember it was even mentioned in the blue mage quests how they were sort of a separate area of that place so we most likely only solved the problems for his specific people and their specific mine.

you're going to have to work harder for that Square-Enix Medal of Honor you're aiming for with all this defense

Why shouldn't critics have to work hard?

[Kahnha]

Just Trim half of Wuk Lamat's lines from the MSQ and most of living memory and it will be good xD

I really would have liked Wuk if they kept her like she was in 6.5

she was ok in 7.0 but too much of the same stuffs just boring...

7.0 she was entertaining but she was for sure not MC material maybe if they continued with how she was in 6.x she would have been better liked.

Square also has a really bad habit of doing pointless filler. and it's not even good filler since not all of the lines are voice acted...
Why isn't the weapon story line voiced? if more stuffs as voiced it would add replayablity to the game.

[Hallarem]

Right, but that was not actually a writing issue. It was a decision made beyond the writers, since Yoshi-P himself "wanted to portray them properly". So context is important in understanding why it actually happened.
We never knew what happened to him. It was all myth and rumor. Gulool Ja Ja basically did an adventure kinda like Ardbert, and to find out he was part of that and was still around was cool. It's unfortunate if you cannot appreciate it, but people here don't appreciate anything so...
Sorry to see you weren't excited for that. I was.
Wouldn't call that much of a home. It's a warzone at the time we visit it and they're sleeping at a camp. We didn't visit a peaceful place where they live like we did in Tural. We didn't properly go to southern ilsabard yet, the area still covered in clouds.
You really didn't appreciate that? I thought it was cool. The most magical part of the expansion for me.
They can co-exist... and clearly do. I remember it was even mentioned in the blue mage quests how they were sort of a separate area of that place so we most likely only solved the problems for his specific people and their specific mine.
Why shouldn't critics have to work hard?

Honestly, at this point. I WISH I had your ability to be excited for tablescraps worth of a story instead of a full meal that it should be.

[Jeeqbit]

Honestly, at this point. I WISH I had your ability to be excited for tablescraps worth of a story instead of a full meal that it should be.

Maybe it's because I did sidequests. A lot of people don't, and they really space it out so there are gaps of not talking to Wuk Lamat, and teach you more about the lore of the area.

[fioravictorine]

They won't, I mean Yoshi-P's response to story feedback is literally, 'Ah you guys dont know how great Wuk Lamat is, we'll show you more please look forward to it!'

Meanwhile other live service games like HSR, WuWa immediately address fan feedback asap and release a statement (and actually made changes)

What a garbage company and game

[MicahZerrshia]

Just Trim half of Wuk Lamat's lines from the MSQ and most of living memory and it will be good xD.

And about half of the mentions of her since those were mostly not needed and just contributed to her oversaturation. Like there is no reason for Bakool Ha Ha to bring her up in the alliance raid. Everytime he says "Wait, why only you!" immediately after he says"Wuk Lamat chose her champion well!" I think to myself, well if you didn't bring up that cat I would have brought you along, but noooooo you had to bring her up.....again.

[Auro_Seldaris]

As well as for the love of Zeus, can you guys voice all cutscenes? I recently played Poppy Playtime chapter 4 and was shocked how this indie studio with this more niche game could have all their characters voiced, but a massive game like FFXIV couldn't.

To add to this thought, I recently saw a playthrough of a game I hadn't thought about in many many years. Star Trek 25th Anniversary is an adventure game for PC by Interplay, released in 1992. Keep that year in mind. I watched about an hour of this playthrough and realized there is no excuse for FFXIV to not be 100% voice acted. Every single line of dialogue in that 33-year old game, from the opening narration, to searches on the Enterprise's computer systems, to idle comments between characters on away missions, is fully voice acted.

By the original cast members. From William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley, all the way to more minor characters like random Romulan and Klingon captains, and diplomats. In the year 1992.

If Interplay -a mid-tier game studio at the time - can record full voice acting dialogue by famous actors, and cram it onto a CD-ROM in 1992, there is no reason that SE can't do full dialogue from minor VAs for all cutscenes in a game we download from the internet in 2025.

I'm finally done making excuses for SE and CSIII. That really opened my eyes. The only reason they don't do full voice acting is either sheer unadulterated laziness, or simply not caring about the quality of their game anymore. This is the future, dude, it's inexcusable. Remember, Yoshida is the one who stalled the release of Endwalker for two weeks because he was so worried about the dialogue in a single cutscene that he redid it, and got Rene Zagger and others to do additional dialogue lines in a rush. And still cried because he knew how disappointed we would be about the change of release date. Where is THAT Yoshida, now?

As to the main point of the thread, I really wouldn't want them to waste time and effort on "redoing" DT. They had their shot and they blew it. ARR was needed, Dawntrail is best forgotten about. My recommendation to people in the future will be to play up through Endwalker and just buy a skip to 8.0 (under the condition that 8.0 is actually good). I mean, by their current standard of storytelling, they will be sure to painstakingly recap EVERYTHING that happened in DT for you at the beginning of 8.0 anyway, so nothing will be lost by simply skipping it.

[Zakuyia]

No thank you, the story is fine as is. Please disregard.

Ah yes the toxic positivity strikes yes let it consume you and destroy this game. Hahaha