7.2 MSQ opinions (spoiler obviously)

[Allooutrick]

Every time I saw Wuk Lamat, I skipped. So I barely experienced the story. Though I did laugh when the first objective of the final 7.2 quest was, "Speak with Wuk Lamat"

[St0rmy]

7.2 MSQ was actually...good? It was surprising. Especially coming from the disaster that was 7.1.

I genuinely am interested in real Sphene as a character and find the "Royal who has been stuck in cyrostasis for 400 hundred years and struggles to connect to her people and the new world while grieving her friends from the past" is a pretty neat concept. The motives of Calyx are somewhat interesting, I'm skeptical of him as a villain but we'll see as we learn more about him. Evil Sphene is good as an antagonist, I like how smug she can be. Calyx definitely seems interested in the WoL's ability to summon heroes as needed so we'll see what he wants from that power.

You can definitely tell there were some changes in the writing with how Wuk Lamat seemed to be needed elsewhere nearly every waking moment, and thank goodness for it. Keep doing that. The fact that the MSQ significantly improves with less Wuk Lamat is not just a coincidence.

7.0 and 7.1 were pretty bad, 7.2 was pretty good. I hope they continue to go in this direction with the MSQ. I genuinely am interested to see where it goes from here.

[smashBG]

I've been pretty indifferent to the story since roughly 6.3, but this patch grabbed my attention. Every character across the board shaped up and started treating their problems like... actual, serious problems that would exist in their world and can't be solved quickly or easily. That also extends to the wider setting- we see Alexandrians stop being treated as a monolith and get some variety of opinions on regulators, for example. That the writers are now apparently giving serious thought to how characters *should* act in a given situation instead of contriving a specific outcome for cheap shocks (looking at you, 7.1) is a very good sign. XIV lives and dies by the strength of its character writing, and if they keep up this level of quality then everything else will work itself out.

Also I am ride or die for true Sphene. Her introduction and characterization was as close to perfect as the circumstances allowed, and I think it will be a terrible waste if they leave her in Alexandria at the end of 7.3. The main cast desperately needs some new blood and she's incredibly well-positioned to join the interdimensional adventure squad the narrative is obviously creeping towards.

[Rosez]

I don't understand why they can't give us a patch or two without Wuk Lamat. All I want is a breather from this fictional character, but they seem determined to keep shoving her down my throat, even though it makes me hate her more and more each time.

[Voidmage]

I am a simple person. If there is something praiseworthy I praise the devs and with 7.2 I really want to give my thumbs up.

WoL feels like a character again who actually interacts with the story.
I really enjoyed our time with Sphene at the cafe. It was old school FF14 writing in character interaction.
We are the target of the antagonist without stealing the show from others, our strength is shown without making everything a pushover and the attack on us while not lethal actually makes us fall to our knees for a long time showing that yes, there ARE ways to endanger us.

Real Sphene is a great character.
She has her struggles that are believable while trying to make the best of the situation (please let her join our team later. We really need more woman power in our companions).

Fake Sphene is batshit insane in contrast and Wuk Lamat takes a much needed backseat which really makes her more likable. She is a good side character just a bad main character and you can see that they actually took feedback seriously.

I like 7.2, imo it’s one of the best 7.2 stories till now for me and it makes me hopeful for the future.

Please more like it SE, you are on a good track.

[Aniya_Estlihn]

Every time I saw Wuk Lamat, I skipped. So I barely experienced the story. Though I did laugh when the first objective of the final 7.2 quest was, "Speak with Wuk Lamat"

Well she wasn't nearly as prevalent. She kept getting distracted and talking to other people off screen, every time, leaving the WoL and Sphene to their own devices.
Next time, you probably should watch the scenes to know where they are going before you skip the moment you see a character you don't like.

[DreadCrow]

I liked it. It wasn't anything unexpected, since I felt that Preservation was pretty obviously set up to be the antagonists of 7.X, but the execution was enjoyable. Real Sphene is likable as hell, Evil Sphene was delightfully campy, and it's neat to have a villain that actually takes us a serious threat.

But some of these comments genuinely confuse me.

"I'm shocked it was good after 7.0?" Like, how? If there's one thing this game does is find ways to make seemingly boring and/or random stuff pay off. How can you get this far and not realize that? You played through Heavensward's postgame, dealt with the Warriors of Darkness that felt like it was just a random Ascion plot, only to have it actually turn into a large part of the emotional core of Shadowbringers.

"We got less Wuk Lamat."

I mean, obviously. Her story arc is largely finished. We came to Tural, specifically to help her win the throne and that's exactly what we did. Her character arc is finished so it's to be expected she'll fall into a more supporting role.

[DreadCrow]

I don't understand why they can't give us a patch or two without Wuk Lamat. All I want is a breather from this fictional character, but they seem determined to keep shoving her down my throat, even though it makes me hate her more and more each time.

Because just dropping her from the story while we're still in Tural wouldn't make a lot of sense narratively? Like, honestly, if you can't even stand the fact she exists in a background (since she exists in this patch to basically be a body to use in the trust dungeon), you absolutely overhate a fictional character. I didn't like Hien as a character and actually came to despise him post-Stormblood, but I knew he had to be part of the story still.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Because just dropping her from the story while we're still in Tural wouldn't make a lot of sense narratively? Like, honestly, if you can't even stand the fact she exists in a background (since she exists in this patch to basically be a body to use in the trust dungeon), you absolutely overhate a fictional character. I didn't like Hien as a character and actually came to despise him post-Stormblood, but I knew he had to be part of the story still.

She hasn't contributed anything to the MSQ. So it really wouldn't matter at all if she was just suddenly dropped without explanation.

[Mawlzy]

Why isn't the freaking interdimensional key doodad locked up in the deepest vault in Sharlayan?

Seriously what kind of effwit has the one item the enemy wants, with which they can do terrible things, and marches into their lair with it? At least Scooby Doo was funny.

Like remember when we recovered Louisoix's stick? Was it entrusted to the WoL? Hell no!

They gave it to the lil fella! Which admittedly didn't work our great for him, but at least the plan had some common sense behind it.

We're always getting into ridiculous scrapes. When I'm not dodging assassination attempts, I spend most of my time playing cards at the casino. Does that sound responsible!?

My days.

You'd be better off giving it to Lyse, then nobody would find it.