Dawntrail's MSQ story is a disaster and waste of potential. [full spoilers]

[cutestfox]

or this game will bleed heavy player numbers.

Wait for this to be called a "correction" and a "return to the normal", or "post expansion lull" or whatever else

[Palladiamors]

Why is the tribal lizard man wearing space marine armor square enix explain.
This isn't our vacation, it's Wuk Lamat's and we are her errand boy. Glad people can enjoy that, you'll make a perfect mindless drooling idiot fanboy whale.
Why is there uptown funky jazz in the wooden building tribal era dock town. Sounds like a bustling modern city music. Maybe japanese don't understand the american culture around jazz or the hispanic culture.
The first half of the story is omg food you love food right? Pretend you've never seen a taco before holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The good thing never stops. Even in the last area they still have that weird obsession with food.

[DontReadThis]

The ending of the MSQ makes no sense if you think about it at all. You have an AI which downloads the memories of people, then it simulates mini AIs each with the memory of a dead person. I don't see how that's meant to preserve anyone, the real person is gone, and their soul energy was used to power the simulation. Then we go ahead and shut down the terminals to delete them, and everyone is getting emotional over these ChatGPTs. I feel like it would have been better if instead of AIs it actually was the souls of the dead there in that artificial afterlife. Then the whole preservation thing would have made sense and it wouldn't have made stopping Sphene's game of the Sims a complete non-debate. We're essentially just turning off a PC in the final area of the game, and I don't see any reason for that to have any kind of emotional weight.

[Shibi]

Forcing me to play her just rubbed salt in the wound.

Even as I stood on the sidelines watching that horrible RPG play-as fight, I was thinking, man, I will never get that housecat smell out of my hair now.

[BakoolJaJa]

The good thing never stops. Even in the last area they still have that weird obsession with food.

Was the writer for the Zero patches the same person as for Dawntrail? I ask because that's when that food obsession started. That and the weird, out of place, Hildibrand comedy inserts. Now this stuff is all over the story. I actually like Hildi quests, but when they are in their own separate bubble. That stuff doesn't belong in the MSQ, it doesn't fit, it's completely unfunny when the right characters aren't present (and Wuk Lamat is NOT the right character for this comedy stuff). Makes me cringe so hard when the stupid sound effects start playing.

[Xieldras]

Dawntrail has been infuriating. Even when I first saw that the Scions were going to join us, I had an eyeroll moment. For a fresh start after Endwalker, why can't our WoL go on their own adventure (You know, as an Adventurer)? Wouldn't shelving these guys for one expansion give the writers a well-deserved break and avoid character bloat?

I actually enjoyed the first part of the MSQ, the rites, because of how everything was new. But even I have to admit that this 'adventure' has us holding Wuk Lamat's hand and telling her how good and special she is, and that her way is the best way. No lesson sticks because of their nigh immediate resolution that cheapens it significantly. Her ideal for Tural is never really challenged either because we were told at the beginning of the expansion that she was in the right since Peace was the only morally correct outcome.

Zoraal Ja was the one I was rooting for, truth be told, because I thought they would go somewhere I seldom see in stories: the pioneer, the eldest, the gifted child, that gets crushed under the weight of expectations placed on them while their younger siblings "have it easier". I had actual empathy for the guy, especially seeing as his own family held no love towards him. Heck even his own flesh-and-blood father seemed to favor the adopted children to him; how that must sting! But in the end, he's evil and must be put down.

I thought that showing all three Promises as having a valid point for the throne would be more interesting than having a clear Bad Guy. Wuk for Peace, Koana for Innovation and Zoraal for War and Expansionnism. The downsides being "Stagnation/apathy from peaceful times", "loss of traditions from technologies" and "suffering from war". You know, nuances and complexities worthy of a political arc. Plus didn't we learn in one expansion that Freedom is paid for in blood? They could've played with that too by having Zoraal Ja call out the cost of Wuk's Peace.

As for Tural, it feels much too squeaky clean. Tuliyolall especially is peaceful, happy, and there's nothing wrong with it. By contrast, Limsa is a den of pirates where one's freedom is King. Ulda'h is a backstabbing heaven with clear class separations, despite its beautiful exterior. Gridania is...Gridania. Ishgard has a whole expansion dedicated to the grimy underbelly and corruption. A lot of the capitals we've seen have layers to them and feel more 'alive' than Tuliyolall, simply because they're more grounded in realism. In comparison, the new hub feels simply off to me because there is no dark side. It's an actual paradise.

All in all, this story has decent building blocks that flop hard with the execution. I've started skipping almost every cutscene around lv95 because I just didn't care. And that's the worst feeling you can give your players in an RPG.

Am I too harsh on it? Probably. I expect quality writing for 60$, not a DEI sermon disguised as a bad shonen story.

[Raven2014]

Was the writer for the Zero patches the same person as for Dawntrail? I ask because that's when that food obsession started.

No, it started out with G'hara's burger, and people love it. Wuk has a lot "quirk" from other character the people original love:

- Wuk sea/air-sickness = Alphinaud's hydrophobia
- charing ahead without thinking = Alyse's headstrong
- Wuk's tacos = G'hara's burger.
- Easy to swindle = Esternien's aloofness.
- Wuk's insecure about self-worth = Ryne's identity struggle about living up to Melfilia.
- Wuk's entrance on the last trial = copy and paste of Zenos.

Wuk's character feels like it was constructed by an AI's trained on previous writing, it lift the good bit and smash them together without the organic understanding, and the end result lack a real soul.

[loosie]

You're not being too harsh at all. Dawntrail is Final Fantasy XIV's Poochie moment and a stark reminder that the ability to write does not make you a good writer.

[Tsumdere]

The good thing never stops. Even in the last area they still have that weird obsession with food.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed it.

Shameless padding because someone on the writing team really likes food. They really need an editor.

[Malthir]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed it.

Shameless padding because someone on the writing team really likes food. They really need an editor.

Doesn't alot of east asia have abit of a thing for food streams etc, maybe it's just a cultural thing that the western playerbase doesn't mesh with?