Revelations from Dawntrail (7.0)

[Iscah]

Speaking of name options, do you have any plans to write on the naming conventions of the new Turali cultures? I was thinking of looking into it myself.

I'm intending to do all of them eventually. I was working on the Seeker Miqo'te guide but it got dropped by the wayside when the benchmark came out and I've been trying to point out character appearance issues instead. (The update hasn't been kind to any of my character appearances.)

From what I've seen so far, there are a lot of repeating elements to the Xbr'aal names and it's feeling like a repeat of Thavnair, where the names are all the same pattern of a two-part mix-and-match from what seems to be a rather small pool of name fragments. It feels sloppy that the three most prominent Xbr'aal characters so far – Wuk Lamat, Wuk Evu and Br'uk Evu – are sharing so many name elements immediately.

Most of the other races we've seen so far are also stuck in narrow naming conventions.

I can see them trying to wiggle at the rigid Mamool Ja name structure a bit – things like Tiisol and Radoll – though I'm surprised that they didn't try to recast "Ja" as either a male or warrior suffix.

Hanuhanu have the same narrow pattern as their Vanu cousins, and I will be treating them as a single group when I get to them.

Moblin names might be differentiated by spelling with K for male and Q for female, but that would be pronounced the same. I've been taking screenshots every time they use pronouns, anyway, and will need to assemble a list later to look for the pattern.

Yok Huy names clearly have a pattern to be unravelled. And I'm told they're in FFXI (as trolls) with the same name structure, so that's more names to go on if they haven't all been recycled.

The other player-races might have more variety, but I haven't seen much of them yet, and the writers really needed to wedge in an opportunity to speak the clan names out loud early on. I have no idea how the double-H in Hhetsaro is supposed to be pronounced.

[Vallavia]

From what I've seen so far, there are a lot of repeating elements to the Xbr'aal names and it's feeling like a repeat of Thavnair, where the names are all the same pattern of a two-part mix-and-match from what seems to be a rather small pool of name fragments.

My initial impressions lead me to believe that all the ones that are analogous to playable races follow this pattern, though the Tonawawta, Shetona, and Hhetsarro are less pronounced than the Xbr'aal with the exception of a lot of Tonawawta having names that end in kwa/wa. I suspect, also in like manner to Thavnairian names, that they are loosely analogous to real world languages, but I don't have the breadth of knowledge to determine what they are offhand (I imagine they'll reveal more in a live letter down the road). There's a character later on whose name is consistently pronounced in a way that would never occur to me as an English speaker which supports that theory as well.

Hhetsarro is said in voiced dialogue somewhere around the halfway mark, and the second 'h' is just silent.

[Iscah]

I forgot to say earlier, but I liked the detail of us overhearing a conversation early on about how the Silverscales warband had come back from Eorzea minus half their number and their leader. (WoL no doubt looks ever-so-casually in the opposite direction...)

[Cleretic]

I forgot to say earlier, but I liked the detail of us overhearing a conversation early on about how the Silverscales warband had come back from Eorzea minus half their number and their leader. (WoL no doubt looks ever-so-casually in the opposite direction...)

The Silverscales come up twice, actually; once in Tulliyolal and once in Yak T'el. Not my favorite side content reference in the expansion, but fairly high up there.

My favorite is instead very deep. Like, 'level 99 MSQ' deep.

There's a lot of previous side-content I wouldn't have expected to be MSQ-relevant out of nowhere. Especially not MSQ-important. I love all the smaller stories in this game, but a lot of them are just too distant to feel like they can be part of anything else, y'know?

Suddenly getting slammed with the bonus boss of Aloalo Island being integral to maybe the biggest twist in the entire expansion? That one had my jaw drop.

[Iscah]

Level 94, just had a scene at what is clearly going to be the level 95 dungeon entrance.

If you'd told me yesterday that the character who would have me reaching for the tissues was Bakool freaking Ja Ja I don't think I would have believed you.

My character was being disappointingly non-compassionate in the moment though. I think Wuk Lamat is stealing my (hypothetical) lines.


On a separate note I peeked ahead at the dungeon gear now that I know the location, and of course it's recoloured Ronkan gear, just like the concept art for the dungeon was immediately drawing on Ronka.

With some more examples to go on, the Mamool Ja names seem to have a clear divide between genders with the male names having a double vowel in the second half of the name and the female names having the double in the first half. I'll need to look into the Japanese spellings though, because there seems to bee an inconsistency of vowels - Sareel Ja sound more like "Sarell Ja" and the high priest guy gets the same "ee" spelling and short "e" pronunciation, but Bakool has the English-pronunciation "ooh" sound as if it was Japanese "u".

Also I had the random thought that it feels like a missed opportunity that the blessed siblings' individual heads don't get just a single Ja when being referred to individually. It would make sense if it was Bakool Ja the Mighty and Bakool Ja the Mystic, and only Bakool Ja Ja when being treated as a single entity.

[Cleretic]

Level 94, just had a scene at what is clearly going to be the level 95 dungeon entrance.

My character was being disappointingly non-compassionate in the moment though. I think Wuk Lamat is stealing my (hypothetical) lines.

This particular element of this particular scene was the first thing to really nail down that this expansion was being written differently than everything before it.

We're not really 'non-compassionate' to Bakool Ja Ja; we're actually very sympathetic and considerate... just not to the point of absolution. The story is very clear that just because he feels bad and wants things to be better, doesn't mean that he is better; he has to walk the walk, be the better person that he hasn't been so far.

I actually think that's a very reasonable outlook to have; someone has to earn their redemption. It's just that most of the game thus far hasn't really taken that angle, we've always been extremely forgiving to people who didn't really do anything to deserve it beyond 'look sad about things'--even though many of their crimes were actually worse than Bakool's. I think it's a reflection of the new lead writer, because the other character that I can think of that got that same 'they've got a point but that doesn't make them a good person' reaction was Misija in Bozja.

[Iscah]

This particular element of this particular scene was the first thing to really nail down that this expansion was being written differently than everything before it.

We're not really 'non-compassionate' to Bakool Ja Ja; we're actually very sympathetic and considerate... just not to the point of absolution. The story is very clear that just because he feels bad and wants things to be better, doesn't mean that he is better; he has to walk the walk, be the better person that he hasn't been so far.

I actually think that's a very reasonable outlook to have; someone has to earn their redemption. It's just that most of the game thus far hasn't really taken that angle, we've always been extremely forgiving to people who didn't really do anything to deserve it beyond 'look sad about things'--even though many of their crimes were actually worse than Bakool's. I think it's a reflection of the new lead writer, because the other character that I can think of that got that same 'they've got a point but that doesn't make them a good person' reaction was Misija in Bozja.

I get all that.

Still, just a little more "deep compassion now and we'll lecture him (them, both of him) about the bad stuff later" is the option I was looking for in that moment. When I'm there crying myself, both scripted options for our first response felt a little too harsh.

In other circumstances they'd give us more scope to choose different emotions and have another character speak up with the other view if we don't choose the point that the writer wants to make, but maybe that's about it being a voiced cutscene and preferring all the options to lead to the same response.

On a separate note I'm still confused about how he/they function as one person. Sometimes they're "we", but then during the emotional bit it's the Mighty doing all the talking and using "I" pronouns. Do we take that to be him talking on behalf of both heads? Or do we need to suspect that the Mystic is potentially harbouring other thoughts on the subject? (Don't answer that.) Have they got a twins telepathy thing going on or do they have to talk to each other? I guess we can assume they can choose who's controlling the body, since Gulool Ja Ja can fight a duel while his other head sleeps.

Also, a prediction: I'm guessing that the Feat of Brotherhood isn't actually achieved by defeating phantom Gulool Ja Ja but by refusing to fight him.

[Iscah]

This particular element of this particular scene was the first thing to really nail down that this expansion was being written differently than everything before it.

I think it's a reflection of the new lead writer, because the other character that I can think of that got that same 'they've got a point but that doesn't make them a good person' reaction was Misija in Bozja.

A further thought on that character comparison...

Unless it's going to change by the end of the story, my read on Bakool's situation in that moment doesn't feel much like Misija's at all. They both have the base "did terrible things for what they saw as the good of their people" element but it's wrapped up in different reasons and aspects.

Misija was a mature adult who, as far as we know, chose that path of vengeance herself and truly believes in it. But here we're shown that Bakool seems to have been both bullied and guilted into the role he has played thus far, and in this moment of vulnerability he's almost a different person.

Among past antagonists, I think a more apt comparison would be Vauthry: born deliberately "special" to be the ruler and saviour of his people, apparently raised with little kindness and much emphasis on his position as the chosen one, and emotionally little more than a child. (Though I wouldn't be surprised if we learned that Bakool is physically young as well and just seems like an adult because of his size. Certainly he's still young enough that his father refers to him as a "boy" at one point.)

Anyway, more general thoughts. I was up to the level 96 quests when the emergency maintenance kicked me out - of course I was right at the end of the objective that required escorting someone halfway across the map and then launched straight into a super long cutscene without resolving the escort objective. Now he's going to be back at the starting point.

I keep seeing people say that Ketenramm was good-looking, so that kind of spoiled the reveal, but anyway I don't agree. His face is too Hyur-ish for a Roegadyn and it doesn't look right. Plus unless there's magic going on (there could well be) he doesn't look anywhere near old enough for someone who was adventuring eighty years ago.

Prediction on the feat was wrong, whatever. It very much gives the vibe that they intended this to be a trial but couldn't get it into one of the ordained X3 or X9 story positions. I wonder if we'd get an extreme version like Memoria Misera?

Level 95 dungeon - very WTH in the depths, loved Alisaie's "don't tell me it's Allagans again" line, or however she exactly phrased it. Perfect delivery.

On the other hand, nobody made any remark about the strong resemblance to Ronkan devices and architecture even though Alphinaud and Alisaie have been to Rak'tika/Qitana and at least one of them has to be in your dungeon party.

Gulool Ja Ja's voice is so all over the place with the way he speaks, I thought I heard both heads speak separately when he first arrived off-screen at the "golden city's gate". So that was an unintended extra layer of jarring when they reveal that the other head actually died some time ago, though logistically it's pretty weird in any case. (Body still alive but the mind has gone, presumably.) And the dramatic pulling off the mask was totally unnecessary - one of those points where the animators/storytellers don't seem to appreciate that it's better to leave some things to the imagination over what the character models can portray well.

I'm disappointed that nobody got fancy outfits for the coronation.

Scene with Zoraal Ja at the city gate - so he's gone full villain mode after all, and here I was thinking it was Sareel Ja being a bad influence on him and he might come out of it. Or hey, maybe that's what started it and now Sareel Ja effectively got killed by his creation. Assuming he is in fact dead, anyway, which I'm not going to assume yet.

Whatshisname good guy in the wild west zone has distractingly orange hair.

[Denishia]

Finally finished MSQ, have lot of thoughts but can be basically boiled down to enjoying the first half 90-95 probably more than any other part of the game because it recaptured the feeling of not only starting Shadowbringers but also stepping into Eorzea and exploring a new world - did every side-quest in a zone before I moved on. So, positives first:

Wuk Lamat having the actual qualities needed for a government leader instead of a martial one and just needing the confidence to overcome her bravado, feelings of inadequacy, and reach out for others' expertise. She has people skills and cares about her citizens. And you learn to love Yok Tural too.

All of the first 3 zones and Tuliyollal had fantastic world-building and NPCs. Loved the Silverscales callbacks twice- and the bathing Mamoojal dance!

As someone who plays BLU solely for lore, I was living for every drip-fed Whalaqee mention. FSH Main so that combo was everything I ever wanted.

Best lore tie in? Auspices. They were a weird outlier in SB and having tural vidraal fixes that. Will we get a tural vidraal who hasn't succumbed?

Yak Tural I wanted to love more but the last two (3) zones aren't my aesthetics. And Shaloaani was ... giving me Karl May. The VAs were American but the writers of the dialogue weren't. As a Texan, the colloquial dialogue choices can be antiquated, but it's not quite the style in which XIV's dialogue is normally. So close, just enough off to be distracting. Loved the lake area, makes me wish we got a full Montana-esque zone to remind me of family summers.

The most impactful bit:

I knew the Blessed Siblings set-up was primed for family trauma, either on the mothers vying to produce a two-head child and dynastic arranged marriages- or the "non-successful" siblings. And with Bakool's first mention of his family, I thought the sibling drama would be that he had a bunch of single-head siblings neglected (or infanticide) as useless that he was afraid to get the same rejection. His desperation to win to prove he wasn't like them and/or to earn them a new life. Then the single pile of jars and I was preemptively sobbing the second we entered Mamook because I knew it was one of two dark options - stillbirths instead.
Beyond thrilled that Bakool's redemption was "You have to earn this by actively helping us now" and that he wanted to change and chose to defend others and learned that he liked it. More Fordola and Golbez and less Emet or Gaius.

[Denishia]

But the second half is were it was weaker for me, in part personal aesthetic dislike of the zones and partly because I was able to predict and map out the rest of the MSQ including almost every single twist from the second settlement in the fifth zone, and of the three things that I liked the most, that two were not predictions has to do with it. Spoilers for 97-100:

Sphene is the sour point for me in DT. Which considering that Zenos and the handling of Emet Selch are the sour points for Stormblood and then Shadowbringers into Endwalker, I'm not surprised. Zoraal Ja I actually loved his fight and wanted a little bit more of his thirty years. The burning question of who is Gulool Ja's mother is driving me crazy, though I wonder if its magical miracle tomfoolery from the relic or a clone. Gulool Ja was a surprise and Otis a delight- though he's a clear ref to IX's Puck and Vivi, as Otis is Steiner. Though I am bitterly disappointed that the flesh-and-blood Otis was a Hyur. The mechanical model is clearly mamool ja, and there would have been a spicy parallel if Sphene's original knight champion was mamool ja, so she allies with Zoraal Ja out of that lingering desire to recreate that dynamic, but Zoraal Ja is a dark foil to Otis. Family drama and interpersonal connections run a story. I liked how he ended.

But Sphene. Design too busy. Too much emphasis of 'she's really kind and loves her people' when her motives are the Ascians all over again. Literal colonizer invading and annexing an area of Tural to siphon resources including lives to feed her home. The last dungeon being yet another journey through the flashback means that I need the Hildibrand quest-line to parody this. Wuk Lamat jumping in in the second half of the final trial wasn't the problem; having a worse Eden did. Never stopped distrusting and disliking Sphene and had no sympathy for the Endless. The game's theme over and over again is 'Don't do necromancy; you don't get the original people back'.

Krile's parents hit harder than Cahcia (Sphene's side-eye to the robot soldier spoiled that death before the emoji-faced outrigger robot even appeared). Not anywhere as sad as Seto or the Skydeep Cenote revelation. Shades of Moenbryda's parents. Erenville's VA and lines sold his anguish. But the second surprise was that Aloalo Island was the most plot-important dungeon. Gives a hand-wave to Krile's aetheric density, sets up dimensional travel and the new big bad plot hooks. What I do NOT like is the Azem symbol hinting that the future plotlines were be about Azem. I do not like Azem as a concept to explore.

Also I have a feeling that electrope is not native to Sphene's shard but was brought over by Ascians from the Shard destroyed by lightning as part of a destabilizing event, much as auracite in the Ivalice raids was implied to be brought over from the Thirteenth.