Was Dawntrail, Yawntrail? (Spoilers)

[Vyrerus]

TL; DR - Yes, but it wasn't all bad. :/? ? :| 5/10 too much Wuk

SPOILERS - This is gonna be a long winded review of Dawntrail by me, an ardent critic of the narrative direction and character portrayals of FFXIV for the past few years.

All in all, to put it mildly, this expansion was weighed down heavily by its starring character, Wuk Lamat. Never before has a major NPC been so forcefully thrust into the spotlight, so much so that they were at risk of becoming a Blackhole Sue. Even when not on screen, Wuk Lamat was the subject of nearly all dialogue, while having roughly 10x more dialogue (and this is an understatement) than any other major character in the entire expansion. This is a serious problem, and they had better never do it again, especially not with such a untested and non-serious character. There was only one segment of the MSQ for which she was not present, and that was Erenville and the WoL's Wild West Shaaloani trip. All in all, the story wasn't bad, but it started slow and stayed slow and felt slower than it was due to this heavy heavy dumb ass of a character.

Wuk Lamat is not a relatable person. She succeeds by merely wanting too. And when that's not enough (in DT it is always enough), the WOL and friends dig her out of what little trouble she does get in. The antagonists stop their murderous rampage just to give her the chance to beat them later.

Wuk aside, the plot had it shares of, "Why?" and "How?" and "holes." Like, why did the populace that was largely indifferent or against Wuk suddenly change their opinion of her without witnessing her deeds during the Rite? It was a journey, after all, not broadcast to the populace at large. What reason do they have to change their opinion of her by the time the rite was finished?

Why did Koana turn down his intellect and immediately start simping for her by around the 92 quests?

How was Wuk able to become strong enough to beat not just Bakool Ja Ja but all of Bakool's henchmen without some sort of training or battle readiness? She goes from being kidnapped in one scene to just a few scenes later being able to take him on like he's nothing.

After the rite was over, and the story was firmly in the realm of, "The Scions should handle this." did they keep taking orders from Wuk?

Why was no one curious enough to even inspect the gate or try to open it the first time we went to The Golden City? We got there, incidentally opened the bridge, and then left. Like that place is a big deal. But the rite was over so...? No Scion was like, "I'ma go investigate that gate." They just sorta putzed off to do whatever.

Why did the Interdimensional Fusion happen in Erenville's hometown and not locally around the gate? You're telling me that it had to happen an entire continent away from where the gate is at? What?

How come Sphene couldn't tell us OG Sphene's favorite food? Does she not remember what food tastes like? The Endless as computer system sustained souls could still taste the simulated food, just not the living, real food. She should have been able to answer that easily off of memory alone.

So Krile is descended from Southern Seas Lalafells who didn't call themselves that, who fled the Umbral Calamity of Ice and wound up on Alexandria's shard. Given how long ago that was, does this mean Krile has a shard soul or a Source soul? Obviously the first generation Lalas to go to that Shard had Source souls, but what of their descendants?

Beyond that, it's hilarious to me that we turned right around from Endwalker into the opposite theme. "Everybody dies some day! And that's OK!" And as good guys we're told, "Living at the expense of someone else is wrong." Knowing full well that we live at the expense of the Ancient Ascians and the original, natural world.

Dawntrail's story was also quick to stop focusing on that The Endless weren't just after aether, but after souls. That was a weird way to start rephrasing what they were after. Like they were trying a last minute backpedal to make Sphene and the Alexandrians more sympathetic.

All in all on a scale of 1/10, I'd rate things in Dawntrail thus:

Music - 8/10 - Not Soken's best, but some honestly good tracks. Kept my attention in places I otherwise was second monitoring.

Story - 4/10 - Really terrible until the Rite of Succession ends. Even after that, though, there's too much Wuk Pandering. Did we really have to stop every other quest for her to spout some Dattebayo Love and Peace drivel? Heated up at Train scene. The last 3 levels story portions are why it's not a 1/10.

Gameplay - 7/10 - Of the jobs I've played to 100, it seems like some of them aren't too bad off. Namely Machinist. New jobs seem to be being enjoyed as well. More than that, dungeon bosses actually threw me for a loop a few times (I opted out of Trust usage most of the time to avoid having yet more Wuk forced upon me). I actually did have a lot of fun in the fights. Of course, I was rusty from lack of playing, too, so that may have had some hand in it. My Dawntrail prep consisted of me undertaking one of the most laborious, tedious grinds in FFXI for several months prior to this, so I went in as forgiving as I could possibly be. Trials were very interesting with new twists and mechanics that were not familiar to me, granted I have refused to do Ultimates or even watch them.

Zone Design - 7/10 - Really solid zones in Dawntrail, even if location names are words I will never be able to pronounce. I particularly liked Urqopacha cause of the big mountain. Mountains are nice. Also though, the blue forest, and then all of the dungeons. Solution 9 was actually kind of a let down, and doesn't really appeal to me.

Average those together, and it's a 6/10, but I have to rate it as a 5/10 because of how long it took to get to parts that I actually enjoyed. Until 95+ I was putting XIV down to play Elden Ring's DLC, and occasionally Pokemon Yellow. Enduring bad part of game to get to enjoyable part of game is pretty common in story heavy games, where that's part of the enjoyment, but if the bad part gets bad enough you may lose interest. I almost did.

[Rolder50]

If I see one more "Talk to Wuk Lamat" quest objective in my life I am going to lose my mind

[Vyrerus]

If I see one more "Talk to Wuk Lamat" quest objective in my life I am going to lose my mind

Remember to smile at her, and on the odd chance the dialogue options let you be mildly contentious towards her planned course of action, she just ignores you

[fioravictorine]

You know how Marvel went downhill after Endgame?

I didn't want to believe it and fully trust the writing team, but Endwalker was it. And its going to much worst Dawntrail onwards I fear

[Brian25]

There was far too much Wuk. There was also far too much Krill and her useless Malalla family, I'm glad we purged them.

[HighlanderClone]

Like, why did the populace that was largely indifferent or against Wuk suddenly change their opinion of her without witnessing her deeds during the Rite?

What reason do they have to change their opinion of her by the time the rite was finished?

Why did Koana turn down his intellect and immediately start simping for her by around the 92 quests?

How was Wuk able to become strong enough to beat not just Bakool Ja Ja but all of Bakool's henchmen without some sort of training or battle readiness?

After the rite was over, and the story was firmly in the realm of, "The Scions should handle this." did they keep taking orders from Wuk?

I agree with the rest of your post but this part....

I'm honestly... honestly beginning to think that Wuk Lamat is unironically someone's OC at Square Enix. Same with Zero. I no longer think it's just a meme bros...

[Sotaris]

"Yawntrail" is such an overexaggeration imo. It was a slow start but I think overall it was a fine story. We seen better, yes.
But some of you make it sound like it was a 1/10 story. Alter your expectations.

[ForteNightshade]

"Yawntrail" is such an overexaggeration imo. It was a slow start but I think overall it was a fine story. We seen better, yes.
But some of you make it sound like it was a 1/10 story. Alter your expectations.

Yawntrail is a perfectly apt description for me. I literally fell asleep, albeit it only for a few minutes, during the Pelupelu split because of how bored I was. I don't even necessarily blame that particular narrative itself since some of the Pelu I genuinely liked. Same with the Hanu. It's just so much of the same thing without even the slightest degree of conflict became incredibly uninteresting. Made even worse with how little of it was voiced. The Moblin is where I drew the line and actively began speed reading. Every expansion has low points, even the beloved Heavensward and Shadowbringers. I've never been legitimately put to sleep by them.

On the whole, I gave Dawntrail a 5/10. The second half does enough to salvage the story into average territory but can't carry the weight of an otherwise dreadful first half.

[Rhysati]

"Yawntrail" is such an overexaggeration imo. It was a slow start but I think overall it was a fine story. We seen better, yes.
But some of you make it sound like it was a 1/10 story. Alter your expectations.

I wouldn't rate it 1/10. But like....3/10? Sure. It's really REALLY below par. It hasn't just bored me, it has angered me that I wasted money on the expansion and I'm seriously considering cutting my losses and giving up on FFXIV.

[Mnemy]

"Yawntrail" is such an overexaggeration imo. It was a slow start but I think overall it was a fine story. We seen better, yes.
But some of you make it sound like it was a 1/10 story. Alter your expectations.

No. I paid for this. Why am I gonna go easy on them just because its supposed to be a brand new story? The entire time I played this game I have been nothing but hopeful and full of praises for them. And now it seems like I got punished for having faith in the dev team and for having hope that this is gonna be another fun adventure.