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

[Voidmage]

You can add other instances where the side characters and audience both interact with Zoraal Ja and see him progress towards a path of "might is right.

I likens your ideas but this here is one I also thought about.

The whole story would have been so much better if WE the WoL interacted more with the other contestants.

Zoraal Ja could have been interesting with us talking, him seeing our strength and have that been the first time he questions his might.
It could have been what spurned him to help against Valigarmanda.
You could easily made him someone who we had good chemistry with at first and then he descents slowly intro darkness. Maybe then I would have felt actual pity in the end.

Bakool JaJa would have been an interesting time spent with.
We could have humbled him easily with that being the trigger for him using underhanded methods in the trials.
Over time each time we spend sometime with him he could have been a bit more accepting, trying to spill his entire story.
Even the finale with Wuk Lamat could have been the same with him already doubting himself in the fight.

The more I think about it. It would have been better if Gulool JaJa recruited us as a neutral party that observes for him and helps the claimants out from time to time.
The whole thing of him telling us stuff in secret would have made more sense.

You could even take this all further with Otis, Sphene, Koana.
Each one could have had their day in the spotlight with us.

With this Wuk Lamat wouldn‘t have had so much screentime and the WoL would have had some actual agency.

The whole thing we got is just a storyboard.

[Raven2014]

I was reading through an interview when I came across this part:

I'm more interested in what Hiroi said, and it looks like Hiroi just failed at adapting to a new medium. Theatrics performance often focus more on the moment to moment emotion, often at the cost of reasoning, and I think it's very clear DT has this issue especially with the Mamook Ja story and the Endless. This is why Shaekespear plays on one hand are considered classical masterwork to those who can appreciate theatrical acting, on the other hand the storyboard often sounds ... stupid to contemporary viewers. Theatrical acting required a certain amount of suspension of belief so that you can immerse in the acting without questioning the what and why too much. But for contemporary story telling like a video game though ... those sticks out like a sore thump. And we can definitely see the ego all right.

[Shaedhen]

Well, it's terrible to realize that what he said was very much correct. But he completely forgot to apply the last part in the end. It's creator's individual ego shoved down our throat all the way, without any care for the "umbrella of FF14"

[HighlanderClone]

It's kinda sad how horrible Dawntrail is. I'd have thought the story was just a one-off but even Savage is trash tier this time round.

What is SE offering if both the story and the gameplay are trash lol

[Windwalker]

What i don't get is why Endwalker and Dawntrail both have Villian women. What happened to badass men? Zooral ja was cool, Sphene is lame and feels like a copy of Meteion.

[Serilyn]

What i don't get is why Endwalker and Dawntrail both have Villian women. What happened to badass men? Zooral ja was cool, Sphene is lame and feels like a copy of Meteion.

She does feel like a copy, but her being bad has nothing to do with being a woman.

I'd argue they use female villains far too little, most of the expansions have male villains. Most Final Fantasy games in general have male villains. Its nice to see female ones, but would be better if they added some variety and didn't copy previous ones.

[Raven2014]

What i don't get is why Endwalker and Dawntrail both have Villian women. What happened to badass men? Zooral ja was cool, Sphene is lame and feels like a copy of Meteion.

Uh ... what do you call Zeno then? Remember him, that dude we fought in the last fight of EW?

The problem with FF14 in general is we rarely get a real villain, Zeno was like the only tried and true, unapologetic villain. The only other I can think of is Asashi, but he's a side character. Since the story tend to focus on the power of understanding, love and friendship that the majority of time all the bad guys are talktojitsu into redemption or at least just a sympathetic misunderstanding.

[Teraluna]

They did get taken down by rubber bullets (and one Estinien), toss in their Queen, for unknown reasons, gave Zoraal Ja so much power that even she couldn’t override his authority in an emergency, and LM for whatever reason had like 0 safeguards as we casually strolled around to each terminal with not even as little as a warning sound.

So I don’t think them being an advanced civilisation was doing them any favours tbh.

I think it's the writing quality that need advancing, at least back to somewhere near previous levels.

[Oichi]

Hey on the bright side, when it come to story writing and telling, it can only get better ! ... surely they won't do worse hahaha .... haha ..... ha ... please tell me they won't manage to do worse :'(

I have been saying that to myself, again and again, since 6.1... let me share your very desperate laugh

[Windwalker]

Wish they experimented more with the story, Dawntrail was way too predictable and boring. No plot twists or turns, just a straight predictable line.

Would be hilarious if you help Wuk Lamat become Dawnservant and then she becomes evil and betrays you, using you to gain that position and the evil guys who you fought against are actually the good guys, having to defeat her and making Koana or Bakool ja ja Dawnservant instead.

Evil Wuk Lamat would be the perfect plot twist, with how much they hype her being a good person, besides would feel so good getting rid of that nuisance.

Something that bothered me while going trough the story is... Who is Zoraal ja's sons mother? Nobody even questioned that. Just a random kid comming out of nowhere and being abandoned.