Dawntrail MSQ criticisms after completion [SPOILERS]

[MikeTsa]

I was really looking forward to the Dawntrail MSQ, but I struggled with it. The pacing and writing being my main reason. A lot of major Spoilers under the general criticisms.
The English VA was subpar at times but it wasn't a dealbreaker, it made me consider switching to JP VA though. I actually liked Wuk Lamat's English voice but she was just over used as a character and almost every line delivered that needed a raised voice sounded off to me.
Voice acted scenes in general seemed less. I love reading everything, so it didn't personally bother me. I'm the type to talk to every NPC between each step of the MSQ just to see if they have something to add. I just felt I had to read more this time.
I didn't mind the WoL not being the focus, just a mentor/guardian figure this expansion, I just wish that every time the WoL and the Scions could or should intervene but didn't were written better.
World building was great. The loose threads and potential stories make it exciting to wait and speculate for future MSQ.



MAJOR SPOILERS long explanation/rant of what I disliked the most.


1) The rite of succession took way too long for how repetitive it was. Early on, I enjoyed Wuk Lamat having character growth, realizing she grew sheltered in her fathers palace and didn't actually know her people, their problems and how her father united them in a nation. Figuring that out, how through understanding, peace and unity they can overcome their challenges together is definitely a common trope, but I still liked it. Doing it over and over however in a different town and setting got old real fast.
Once Bakool Ja Ja was established as no more than a nuisance and Zoraal Ja was breezing through the contest, I hoped he won much sooner than our team, taking over the throne and become a potential threat to Eorzea. I would much rather have only some of the first two zones reserved for the rite of succession. The Pelupelu, Hanuhanu and Moblins would be enough to not make the rite boring and repetitive. You could have the rest of the more combative tribes/areas be Zoraal Ja's first stop to recruit for his conquest, the two Yok Huy tribes, the Xbr'aal and Mamool Ja could have a conflict between those who want to follow Zoraal Ja and those who won't. Our team could side with those who want peace and eventually beat and corner Zoraal Ja to force him to retreat and seek the Golden City and work with Sphene. You could still do world building and know the tribes without repeating the same process for the rite over and over.

[MikeTsa]

2) I dislike when characters are dumbed down or weakened from how they usually are or should be, just to raise another character or move the plot forward as a trope in any media. I felt like the Scions and our WoL suffered from this.
Having to collect bird shit to highlight how knowledgeable Erenville is with animals is fine, our WoLs have done myriads of similar tasks for side quests. The reasoning being we can't just beat a bunch of thugs because the incompetent local sheriff might take offence, even though he has a literal settlement of thieves and cutthroats next to his town, with his second in command as their leader, is just dumb.
A stranger Hhetsarro coming from a Moblin village asking Wuk Lamat to come alone should at least make someone from the Scions or our WoL insist on going along. The established writing up till now shows that our WoL and the Scions learn from their mistakes. You could still have someone go with her and be ambushed by Bakool Ja Ja and lose a tablet key without making the whole group incompetent.
Gulool Ja Ja dying in front of the WoL and Scions. The "honorable" part of the duel had finished with Gulool Ja Ja the victor, after Zoraal Ja got back up and started glowing etc I would expect them to intervene. A threat from Zoraal Ja ordering another attack on the city if they helped would be fine but I wouldn't like it either. What I would like is the Scions and WoL not being there, helping out in the city being invaded with the Meanwhile in the palace cutscene showing that fight and them arriving too late to save Gulool Ja Ja.
Leaving the reflection fusing key on the floor until Sphene casually takes it and leaves. This unfortunately happens all the time not just in Dawntrail, MacGuffins end up in villains hands and enemies just leaving to fight another day.
Those were the most annoying ones that come to mind at the moment, I'm sure I'll notice more when I rewatch it eventually.

[MikeTsa]

3) The part after the city attack until we reach Heritage Found. At that point Wuk Lamat's journey was done for me, she won the rite of succession and knew how she wanted to rule. It seemed like the perfect time for the Scions taking point, the two new rulers staying to protect the city with Krile and Erenville taking more of the focus in the new zones. Even if one of the two rulers joined, I'd expect the warrior and vow of resolve to defend the city and the tech savvy vow of reason to fit more with both the train modifying part and in the new technologically advanced zones. Vrtra could still come without Koana in the city, we already know that Radz-at-han is looking to form connections with other nations and expand its trade, any of the Scions could send for help. From that point on, Wuk Lamat had overstayed her welcome for me, Koana had less screen time, also lost his father and could avenge Gulool Ja Ja just as well.
Then comes the whole train sequence, not a fan of "member berries" as a writing trope, it's not the same as having old open plot threads and tying them up later, or character growth showing its results, but it's ok some times I guess. Having the Source counterparts of the trolley group and having allies from over the whole nation in a work together montage like the elevator/golem scenes from Shadowbringers was a somewhat fun nod. What I didn't like was the song choice for the montage and the way characters behaved with the context of Gulool Ja Ja having just died, Erenville's village potentially being destroyed, his mother killed, the city being under threat and the goal being to kill Zoraal Ja. It was a happy song, and people looked happy, even Wuk Lamat was excited and smiling. It felt so out of place, like they wrote and made the scene out of context of the events leading to it. It just felt wrong.

[MikeTsa]

4) I think they hinted Sphene too early as the enemy for the players. Also explaining the Endless and last area as an AI generation, if I understood it correctly, before we got to know them, broke my immersion and I could not sympathize with anything happening most of the time. I was almost baffled with how different I felt during the last two zone quests compared to how the characters reacted and the scenes seemed to want us feel and react. I knew from the moment Zoraal Ja Ja opened the gate he made a deal with Sphene, something to benefit both of them and she was present during the invasion, so she was aware of the whole situation and I could not trust her. Of course our team of characters don't know it and I was just waiting for them to figure it out. Finding out their society before Zoraal Ja ever stepped foot there, is built upon a system of storing peoples memories, taking souls, breaking them down, stripping them of all their memories, turning them into batteries and then remove their existence from the rest of the society raised big red flags. I didn't mind that much until that point, I actually liked the MSQ in Heritage Found. Then comes the reveal of what the "Endless" and Sphene are, I understood it as a system that takes the memories of the departed they extracted from their souls and generates a being with the appearance, memories and behavior from a point in their lives the system considered the best, powered by the batteries made from broken down souls. Sphene was the ideal version generated from her memories with the added command to protect Alexandria and its people. All I saw Sphene as was an enemy AI with the behavior of a kind person and the Endless as AI generations made from memories. I could not empathize with them, they were not alive, not even ghosts in the conventional meaning, they were soulless, projections of dead people. They were managed like a sim game even placing them in convenient situations to make them behave happy, eating glamoured air, paired and "living" with loved ones according to their memories. I found it so creepy, all I wanted as a player was to shut it down but our WoL and team wanted to get to know them, "help" and make "happy" before shutting them down. Talking to them felt like roleplaying having a conversation with Chat GTP while it's pretending to be somebody dead. I did like the world building, obviously they had memories of real people, Milalla lore was great, the animal reservation and the areas in general. I started doubting myself as I saw Erenville conflicted about shutting them down and Wuk Lamat wanting to know them and the whole scene with Namikka. Otis was my confirmation that yes, these are not real/alive, his memory was in an old state while the real version with his soul existed until recently.

[MikeTsa]

The scenes with Wuk Lamat, Krile and Erenville made me sad for them but I still couldn't feel anything positive for the AI. The AI aspect just killed the impact of all emotional scenes, I just wanted to shut it all down.

That's all, wasn't aware of the 3000 word limit per post. Don't expect anyone to read all this, mostly wanted to vent and gather my thoughts. I'm still excited for upcoming MSQ quests, especially with the reflection merging cup and stable gate between reflections they could possibly use now and other than MSQ everything was great, the zones and their people, the music, the dungeons, the trials and gameplay in general was amazing, having fun playing.