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

[Striker44]

That should be enough to tell you that your metrics is not reliable to support the narrative you're trying to push. I highly recommend you register for a statistic class at a local community college, that class will teach you the difference between causation and correlation.

I find it amusing when people make comments like this. For the record, I studied statistics, and one of the basic things you learn - or should have learned - is that voluntary samples (such as people choosing to make an account and post on a forum or leave a rating for a game) are the most unreliable type of sampling technique one can use. And the concept of correlation vs. causation doesn't even make sense there...

So let's talk metrics. The OP in this thread trashed everything about DT and as of today has picked up 208 "upvotes." Head over to YT and the top two posts on just Living Memory alone making poignant comments about it and comparing it positively with the ending zones of the last two expansions currently have 987 and 876 upvotes. But you would look at this echo chamber that's much smaller in comparison and say it matters while completely ignoring that positive comments elsewhere are getting 5x as much support.

So yes, my point stands. But I appreciate you choosing to both change the topic and spread condescension and belittling comments throughout your post - things like that say a lot about people.

[Rabblerabble]

I don't know about cope, but if the trend of your posting is of any indication, I think what you need is a dose of critical thinking.

- There is a lot of people complaining about the msq on this forum.

- You need to have an active account to post on the forum.

That should be enough to tell you that your metrics is not reliable to support the narrative you're trying to push. I highly recommend you register for a statistic class at a local community college, that class will teach you the difference between causation and correlation.

If you ask me do I think this is the worst msq ever? My answer is yes.

If you ask me am I currently enjoying the game? My answer is yes.

And if that sounds weird to you, then I have a revelation to make: most normal people think and act on a spectrum. I know that may come as a complete shocker to someone who grew up in the brainrot social media era. You may think it's normal for people to only think and on the extremes ... but trust me, that's not the case. Most people who left a negative reviews isn't making a statement "this game is suxxor and a waste of time, and I'll NEVER PLAY IT AGAIN" but more like "hey, this area of the game isn't good, do better next time".

If I go to a restaurant and unhappy with a certain dishes, maybe I'll talk to the manager, maybe I'll leave a 3* review instead of a 5. That doesn't mean I don't want to come back to that restaurant, rather I want to improve my chance of having a better experience the next time I visit.

If I buy a car and something not working as advertised, I talk to the dealer, I file a warranty claim to get it fixed. Unless it's a safety issue I mostly still gonna drive it, I ain't gonna dump the car in the junk yard just because it doesn't meet my expectation 100%.


So yeah, try to learn how to think on a spectrum, it's a skill that's worth cultivating.

Thank you for existing

Signed for the forum to state how I felt about things but saw this and had to appreciate it.

[Mortex]

I started an alt to play BLM so I'm redoing the story and I have to say Heavensward has a more interesting premise and stronger set up and it takes far less time than Dawntrail does. You meander around for so long in DT with Wuk telling you stuff constantly but in HW you experience stuff then talk about it which is far more engaging.

That pillar stuff at the start of Dawntrail is such a good example, it goes through the history of Tulioyal with Wuk explaining it but in HW you get told three things about Ishgard; They're at war with Dragons, they don't like outsiders and their leader is Bishop Thordan VII.
Then you go around the city and piece together other details yourself, you see there's crumbling infrastructure so you know they aren't winning against the dragons, you can tell by the names of the guards and the fact the bishop is the leader that this is a religious state and you see people hoddled around fires freezing on the lower section and people relaxing in fine clothing on the higher section so you know there's class disparity.
If this was Dawntrail Wuk would explain all this to you before you see it.

Also don’t forget there is a lot of “horrific” stuff happening in the story in comparison to friendship expansion Dawntrail( the character deaths are insane). Or actually good story twist when you get the info the ishgard people started the war and that nidhogg has the death of his mate fresh in his mind like it’s yesterday or that all of ishgards people could turn into dragon like monster with just a drop of dragons blood.

God now I have to replay HW because I miss good story telling man.

[Cenobia]

I didn't think I'd make a second post here, but I'm trying to get through Living Memory and I'm just... speechless. Did a human being write this? An actual human being who has experienced emotions? Because that's incredibly hard to believe. I'm not going to repeat what everyone else here already said, just that I am literally unable to comprehend that someone wrote this story and expected people to agree with it in any way, shape or form. Erenville being in shock the entire time seems the only actual relatable response.

I have been playing this game since 2.0. Never unsubbed, not a single month. I'm heavily considering it if this absurdity is what we have to look forward to in the future. Your decisions made me a customer, Yoshi P.

And your decisions are on the brink of losing you one.

[lolnotacat]

I didn't think I'd make a second post here, but I'm trying to get through Living Memory and I'm just... speechless. Did a human being write this? An actual human being who has experienced emotions? Because that's incredibly hard to believe. I'm not going to repeat what everyone else here already said, just that I am literally unable to comprehend that someone wrote this story and expected people to agree with it in any way, shape or form. Erenville being in shock the entire time seems the only actual relatable response.

I have been playing this game since 2.0. Never unsubbed, not a single month. I'm heavily considering it if this absurdity is what we have to look forward to in the future. Your decisions made me a customer, Yoshi P.

And your decisions are on the brink of losing you one.

I tortured myself with the story up to Living Memory. It was painful. I had to take a ton of breaks and probably downed a half bottle of ibuprofen over the period of a week. Then I got to the point in Living Memory where bun mom went full Emet-Selch told us it was fine to kill the endless because they're not real. When our reaction was to essentially shrug our shoulders and go along with it, I completely checked out. I skipped the rest of the MSQ -- the first time I've done so since I started playing in 2.5.

[jameseoakes]

I tortured myself with the story up to Living Memory. It was painful. I had to take a ton of breaks and probably downed a half bottle of ibuprofen over the period of a week. Then I got to the point in Living Memory where bun mom went full Emet-Selch told us it was fine to kill the endless because they're not real. When our reaction was to essentially shrug our shoulders and go along with it, I completely checked out. I skipped the rest of the MSQ -- the first time I've done so since I started playing in 2.5.

I just got to where it wants me to turn the first one off and just stopped and I just haven't been able to find the interest to push past the feeling of horror at what the writing has

[Shibi]

I just got to where it wants me to turn the first one off and just stopped and I just haven't been able to find the interest to push past the feeling of horror at what the writing has

After you turn it off there are a few kids left over. You need to do their quests to kill them off manually.

Personally, I don't expect much from Steam reviews. The type of people most likely to give them aren't the intended audience

Can't review unless you buy it. So, intended audience....

[ZXN]

I didn't think I'd make a second post here, but I'm trying to get through Living Memory and I'm just... speechless. Did a human being write this? An actual human being who has experienced emotions? Because that's incredibly hard to believe. I'm not going to repeat what everyone else here already said, just that I am literally unable to comprehend that someone wrote this story and expected people to agree with it in any way, shape or form. Erenville being in shock the entire time seems the only actual relatable response.

I have been playing this game since 2.0. Never unsubbed, not a single month. I'm heavily considering it if this absurdity is what we have to look forward to in the future. Your decisions made me a customer, Yoshi P.

And your decisions are on the brink of losing you one.

I tortured myself with the story up to Living Memory. It was painful. I had to take a ton of breaks and probably downed a half bottle of ibuprofen over the period of a week. Then I got to the point in Living Memory where bun mom went full Emet-Selch told us it was fine to kill the endless because they're not real. When our reaction was to essentially shrug our shoulders and go along with it, I completely checked out. I skipped the rest of the MSQ -- the first time I've done so since I started playing in 2.5.

I enjoyed Living Memory myself. I understood the moral implications, the whole "are they technically alive" thing and I genuinely felt bad about turning them off. I won't lie, the scene with bun mom got some tears flowing since it reminded me of my own. However...

This entire zone does a piss poor job at it's purpose and is frustrating to think about looking back.

CONSTANTLY you're told during the entire zone that you shouldn't feel bad or guilty for shutting it all down. On top of this, nobody in the area that you're made to interact with MSQ and side-quest wise actually seems to really give a fuck whether or not they are kept alive or deleted, it's just "whatever" to them. Hell, as much as I enjoyed the Cahciua scene with Erenville, it really painted her like she didn't give a shit about Erenville's feelings the entire time. Hell, it looked like NOBODY gave a shit about Erenville's feelings the entire time. It's just "Poor Erenville" and "We'll be there for him" without ever once asking how he feels having his dead mother guide them all Zone and ultimately end with Erenville having to pull the trigger on his own mother. Some might even see the scene before shutting down the Aero terminal as Erenville being guilt tripped in a way into accepting his mother's request to see the world she cannot anymore.

I still enjoyed Living Memory as a whole, but that was essentially because I turned my brain off to what the writer's expected reality was and substituted my own, because this entire place really is abysmal with how it presented itself due to the writing.

[Lydia77]

I always promoted FF14 as the greatest RPG story ever. But now i am too afraid to look at the faces off those who joined this beautyfull world. I have met one of my to be best friend in tam tara dungeon and he though its the best content ever. I handheld him for over a year up till EW main story end and he was above heavens. My faorite line with him was: "you think THIS IS GREAT? You know NOTHING!" and it worked.
Then DT came. Me and my BF went throught it but i.... kinda gave up after 1.5 zones. Everything in DT was amazing. Dungeons, Visuals, new zones, graphics, music! All but the main element: MSQ. I still held my hopes knowing that we will get the epics of epics in the end when everything that looked like something will get another meaning and it will all fall into place... Nope. We didnt get anything. I had to make a pause for 5 days making an excuse to not go on. My friend warned me about the ending. *try not to be mad and put away sharp objects* he said. But then SPIIIIIIIIN happened. I dot want to continue VA issue but that is the wors performance that could have been made. Comparing it to JP VA its even worse. Wuk herself was a big (haha GIANT) issue for me but VA didnt make it even slightly better.
Then came the scions. Estinien appearing only to say he is just doing Estinien stuff... OK. Then whole intershard *we all gonna die* crysis happens. We get all the scions ready. YES!!!! FInally!
And we leave them all outside the portal because Poochie needs her ANOTHER moment. WE get Krile because she supposedly have some plot moments (spoilers: she barely did) and Raha because reasons.
That alone droped me from 6/10 to 4/10. And the SPIIIIIIIN moment droped it even lower to 3.
And then we had credits with AWFULL song and hey! Remember when trailer moments were integrated into story but in a slightly diffirent way so you can scream TRAILER MOMENT? Now we put it all in credits because they have to go somewhere.
This MSQ destriyed the game for me. Only things that are keeping me here are my friend, music and a HOPE for Yoshida to fix this mess as he did with ARR

[Coratanni]

I always promoted FF14 as the greatest RPG story ever. But now i am too afraid to look at the faces off those who joined this beautyfull world. I have met one of my to be best friend in tam tara dungeon and he though its the best content ever. I handheld him for over a year up till EW main story end and he was above heavens. My faorite line with him was: "you think THIS IS GREAT? You know NOTHING!" and it worked.
Then DT came. Me and my BF went throught it but i.... kinda gave up after 1.5 zones. Everything in DT was amazing. Dungeons, Visuals, new zones, graphics, music! All but the main element: MSQ. I still held my hopes knowing that we will get the epics of epics in the end when everything that looked like something will get another meaning and it will all fall into place... Nope. We didnt get anything. I had to make a pause for 5 days making an excuse to not go on. My friend warned me about the ending. *try not to be mad and put away sharp objects* he said. But then SPIIIIIIIIN happened. I dot want to continue VA issue but that is the wors performance that could have been made. Comparing it to JP VA its even worse. Wuk herself was a big (haha GIANT) issue for me but VA didnt make it even slightly better.
Then came the scions. Estinien appearing only to say he is just doing Estinien stuff... OK. Then whole intershard *we all gonna die* crysis happens. We get all the scions ready. YES!!!! FInally!
And we leave them all outside the portal because Poochie needs her ANOTHER moment. WE get Krile because she supposedly have some plot moments (spoilers: she barely did) and Raha because reasons.
That alone droped me from 6/10 to 4/10. And the SPIIIIIIIN moment droped it even lower to 3.
And then we had credits with AWFULL song and hey! Remember when trailer moments were integrated into story but in a slightly diffirent way so you can scream TRAILER MOMENT? Now we put it all in credits because they have to go somewhere.
This MSQ destriyed the game for me. Only things that are keeping me here are my friend, music and a HOPE for Yoshida to fix this mess as he did with ARR

FFXIV has been my favorite game of all time, and we're talking 40 years of gaming, going back to NES and Commodore 64 in the mid 80's. Even FF1 at my friend's house across the street after school. Then Dawntrail happened. The dungeons were still fun, the raids are a blast. But that story. I have never suffered through a story so much as this. I didn't think anything would do worse than FFVIII for me in terms of story. How wrong I was. I use to talk about FFXIV to coworkers all the time. Now when I bring it up, I just talk about how it's been turned into DisneyTrail and if they don't course correct on the MSQ by next expansion, I'll be letting my sub run out after 9 years of playing almost every day.