Positive Dawntrail Narrative Feedback Thread

[Alice9]

Really enjoyed the worldbuilding and detail brought into the world! I felt you could feel the narrative pulls strongly in the symbolic incorporations brought forward in the zones too, they were really great! Personally I loved the difficulty jumps of the last few dungeons and I found the trials super fun.

[Aurumis]

I liked the G'raha gondola scene and when we were together alone with Erenville. Also the tiny bits with Cahciua and Krile's parents.

But that's about it. The story is very badly written and the story itself made me hate Wuk Lamat, but instead made me care more for the mamool ja and Bakool Ja Ja who was like the Team Rocket from Pokemon, he is an asshole but he has a heart inside that was neglected by his own father and people, unlike the stupid Zoral Ja, who had all the love in the world, and even so he went bad in the world. So for that, I'm grateful too. But that's it?

They don't even touched the theme of ff9 how it should be, they didn't use well the graphics and ambient of that game, not even the music fitted Sphene. We are suppose to see Dagger (Garnet) reference in her, but they failed completely. They don't even use the Vivi existencial crisis, they just did an awful experience with the endless farse. It's a shame because ff9 is such a good game... I hope they can bring something about it in the post game. But I hope for something more adventurous than babysitting the stupid Wuk Lamat. I want her away, very very far away. Let this be the end of her character please.

Vtra is so endearing, Zero is cliché and I don't like her character, but I still liked her better. Why can't they writte female characters well like how they did with Ysaile, Y'shtola and Alisaie? I don't know who is the guy this time but please, fire him or put him behind in side quests. Don't let the main writter of DT touch the MSQ never again.

[Catwho]

I think Vivi didn't make it in because he was already used as part of a Manderville storyline.

What I liked about Dawntrail:

• Zone Design was outstanding throughout
• Trials and dungeons are fun
• The NPCs tell the WoL to go take a break and that's your cue to TAKE A BREAK
• The heavy themes of life death and the afterlife and the beliefs of other people were all treated fairly respectfully
• Wuk Lamat got to grow up
• Koana being a siscon was funny
• Bakool Ja Redemption Arc (I wanted more and so did everyone else)
• Baby Gulool Ja
• Not wholly recycling FF9 story but definitely taking large chunks of it
• Obvious clues that this was a shard early on before even Y'shtola confirmed it

[Hallarem]

I've enjoyed the role-quests, crafting quests and pictomancer quests a lot. Wish they were voiced.

[Bunyon]

Spoilers for the end:

Felt bad to introduce a new shard but then immediately resolve the story the way they did, because I honestly liked some of the introduced concepts. I hope they explore both the aftermath of the endless and what may be left of that shard (if anything else survived the storm surge).

[Luca_]

Currently around lvl 97-98 MSQ:

While it's severely lacking in execution, the overall plot is really interesting. I also thought the WoL taking on more of a mentor role was pretty cute.

Erenville is even more endearing than before, I'm so glad we got to hang out with him for a while. Definitely headcanoning him and my WoL as besties post-DT. On that same note, I really loved the whole goofy spaghetti western adventure. Thought it was super funny and makes the best use of the NPC accompanying mechanic so far.

95+ spoilers:

The train railgun cutscene made me lose my mind laughing, I loved it. I'm always excited to get more lore on the other shards and their relation to the Source so I'm looking forward to learning about Alexandria.

Koana has some of the best voice work in the entirety of FFXIV and that alone has made him one of my new favorite characters. Whatever his VA is getting paid, it's not enough.

Bakool Ja Ja is a very interesting character and I'm glad he was treated seriously by the story instead of permanently being reduced to a blundering comic relief antagonist. His and Mamook's problems were solved a little too easily, but that's not a huge deal.

Gulool Ja Ja is him. Such a cool character.

Looking at all the parts I did enjoy, I feel like it was a dire mistake to give Wuk Lamat more dialogue than pretty much everyone else combined, as DT's writing only really gets to shine when the focus is on fleshing out individual characters and their stories rather than the main narrative and the Wuk Lamat Show. I don't even dislike her, but after a while it gets very, very noticeable that they're forcing her into every possible cutscene, dialogue, and story beat regardless of the negative impacts.

[DarkMasamune]

Didn't like most of the MSQ, but I did enjoy Mamook, Bakool Ja Ja's redemption (althought a cliché, I enjoyed it, the story was touching), the dungeons were really nice and the mechanics were original and fun.

The scenery is quite nice and I enjoyed the little callbacks to FFIX (the Yan in neons in Solution 9, I thought they were absolutely adorables, and I'm sure there are more that I missed).

Also props to lil Gulool Ja. He's cute.

Edit : Oh and Koana got to be a bro by the end and I loved that. He didn't stand out that much in the beginning but I really liked him by the end.

[LilimoLimomo]

Overall I found the writing of the MSQ to be poor, but it wasn't universally bad.

I found myself pleasantly surprised when Gulool Ja Ja talked with us about none of the contenders for the throne being ready for it. I needed that, because it felt so wrong trying to put any of these chuckleheads into a position of power. So at that point, instead of feeling like I was being forced to win the throne for Wuk Lamat, I was able to view it as trying to be a mentor for her. And I enjoyed watching her grow, all the way up until she was made queen, when that growth was replaced with regression and her ideas were never challenged again.

I liked getting to know Koana, especially in terms of his love for his sister and how that was clearly more important to him than anything. That was well done.

With the exception of every interaction with the Scions, I generally liked being able to learn about the various villages and their people during the competition arc. The cooking challenge village was particularly well-written in that regard, as it seemed clear just how much fun the villagers were having with it and how they were struggling not to let their strict facade slip. I have to note that I disliked the Hanuhanu one, though, because it was unfortunate to paint the Hanuhanu as if they had forgotten their own history and needed outsiders to remember it for them.

I liked the way they sold Alisaie being frustrated that she couldn't go to Living Memory in that scene; for a brief moment, she got to be an individual, and it was done well.

G'raha's gondola ride was kind of nice, but it felt at odds with nearly every other action he and the Scions took in Living Memory.

So far I have loved the Role Quests. The partners you get paired with have been well-written, a nice balance of being capable but also having areas where they could use help. And the villains are absolute camp, and I love them for it.

I liked all of the story chains in the Pelupelu/Giant area.

The Cornservant rules.

There's plenty to love in Dawntrail, you just generally have to go outside of the MSQ to find it.

[ksuyen]

1. Wuk Lamat is okay. At some point I had to switch her VA to Japanese because her English ‘accent’ gets too much. She redeems herself second half, less talking and more action.
2. Story is a bit linear but I guess it is expected to set the ground work for future more expansions. I believe the story arc will involve a lot more endless and merging reflections. Overall I like the story actually. It is supposedly to be lighthearted, characters development are plenty, we see scion members again, old friends and new friends, what’s not not to like?
3. $50 well spent especially just for graphics update alone. Compare to the games coming out lately, FFXIV is miles ahead still.

[Cerbolt]

I enjoyed the pictomancer quests more than I thought I would. I also really liked Koana, if only he was the promise we followed. Oh and the role quests have been good so far.

Honorary mention to our lord and saviour the cornservent.