[Spoiler warning] DT role quests

[jadeharley]

I'm finally finishing the DT role quests (in preparation for 7.16) and I have to say the melee one is definitely my favorite. The villain is played off jokingly, but feels like a serious threat that could absolutely start a war, the bit with her missing shots and the Namazu is *really funny*,and just as it hits the rule of threes on the joke, it drops some Serious Stuff on you that kept me on the edge of my seat and completely flipped my expectations. Also mentioning off-hand that the adversary imitated Hien as we get to Doma (as one would expect given how the quest had gone so far), only for it to pass by with a nod to Yugiri being extremely competent and he's impersonating me now?? There are so many layers, I love it.

What is your favorite role quest of the Dawntrail series?

[Cleretic]

In the previous expansions my favorite role quest was always the healer, and this one's honestly a really good showing for healer as well; I like the tone they struck with the villains basically going full Team Rocket, and as someone who likes a good 'doctor story' in fiction, I like that they basically build the entire plot around Esuna.

But the best this time goes to caster. It's genuinely just extremely well-written in terms of both being a good functional joke storyline, as well as one that's subtly extremely well-structured and conceived as a storyline; a glory-hound fake hero bumbling into success with the right branding and the ability to make the actually competent authorities look stupid is actually a really solid idea, that just happens to work best in the particular tone that the DT role quests play in. ...and can only be done in Thavnair, the only nation in the game where the authorities are, broadly speaking, doing a good job. You set that storyline anywhere else and that character runs the risk of actually having a point, which is the wrong turn for that story.

[innis31]

I've only completed the two dps and am working on the caster so far I like casters villain best he's funny but extremely punchable.

[jadeharley]

Interesting to see so many mentions of the caster questline! I found the antagonist there to be quite grating (which is a valid way to write a villain, I suppose), but it definitely had some interesting political statements.

The healer antagonist was definitely a funny team rocket villain. I can only hope she's a prelude to FFXIV one day getting the coolest job as an option (puppetmaster).

[Veritas-Ancora]

I'm hopeful that we get some awesome NPCs to take down these bosses. It does feel silly. Almost Manderville silly.

[Cleretic]

I'm hopeful that we get some awesome NPCs to take down these bosses. It does feel silly. Almost Manderville silly.

The ranged physical one in Ala Mhigo doesn't really have a lot of comedy in it. Neither does the tank one, but with the tank one it feels more like there were supposed to be jokes and they just never added them. There's mention of sleeping Temple Knights posed in compromising ways, which could theoretically be funny... if they ever depicted it.

And honestly, I don't think there's much Hildibrand in their DNA, unless 'FFXIV doing any form of comedy' is just 'Hildibrand' to you. I'd say Hildibrand is typified by Hildibrand and Nashu themselves being idiots who are bad at their jobs, and a lot of physical comedy. And neither of those are all that true for the DT role quests; everyone involved is largely quite capable albeit with large flaws, and perhaps for budget reasons, there's not a lot of physical comedy. The result to me is that the DT role quests basically feel like comedic episodes of a serious TV show, while Hildibrand is just outright slapstick. And I prefer that, because frankly I don't think FFXIV is nearly good enough at slapstick to pull off what Hildibrand is going for, but the game can be quite funny in the right lane.

[Rosenstrauch]

Neither does the tank one, but with the tank one it feels more like there were supposed to be jokes and they just never added them. There's mention of sleeping Temple Knights posed in compromising ways, which could theoretically be funny... if they ever depicted it.

From my perspective, it seemed that the Tank questline pivoted away from humorous antics into the horror and tragedy of the totem the villain had stolen. That's not to say there wasn't humor, though, just that it really took a backseat to the whole "people being forced to sleep their lives away" thing.

A certain bit near the end was still pretty funny though, imo.

The WoL taking the bullet for Tentoawa? Dramatic and cool. The WoL sleeping like a baby after that? Adorable.

[MediocreIndigo]

My personal ranking of the role questlines now that the final one is out:

1. Tank
2. Melee DPS
3. Healer
4. Magical Ranged DPS
5. Physical Ranged DPS
6. Master

Tank and Melee DPS were the only ones I particularly liked. Master was the only one I particularly disliked.

[jadeharley]

Going to use this thread, because the topic is pretty close, but did anyone else have a somewhat strong reaction to the final quest?

The bit at the end, where she mentions becoming homeless, having her belongings confiscated under vagrancy laws, and a bit of sympathy is shown from our group, but ultimately she's played off as a bum that deserved it.

was extremely shocking to me given real-world events in cities like Los Angeles.

Obviously, this is a comedy questline, so take this with a grain of salt, but I found the ending to be

a surprisingly conflicted and strangely political commentary on anarchism and libertarianism (especially as an American, where these ideologies are more of a normal thing).

Overall, I found the questline to be pretty good and entertaining, but I did not expect to be politically analyzing cheesy serial villains.

[Cleretic]

Going to use this thread, because the topic is pretty close, but did anyone else have a somewhat strong reaction to the final quest?

The bit at the end, where she mentions becoming homeless, having her belongings confiscated under vagrancy laws, and a bit of sympathy is shown from our group, but ultimately she's played off as a bum that deserved it.

I found the final questline interesting, because it's something FFXIV has commented on in the past, in a lot of similar ways, but rarely with a comedic angle. I think it's unsurprising to say that I liked it, given that in terms of the role quests its closest relative is probably caster.

The core message of the story is basically 'it's right and understandable to recognize society's flaws, but just deciding to break it without a plan is stupid'. Apyaahi essentially decided that she hates being part of a society at all, and therefore all society should be tore down; she cites legitimate greivances as justification, but her radicalization is 'I was forced to pay for a room' (and this is after leaving her perfectly functional if restrictive home tribe for not wanting to do a job).

It explains her choices of allies, too: she doesn't really have greater ideals or greivances, she's just gone 'Society Bad', called it there, and grabbed a bunch of people who did similar. Some outright dangerous people who've been rejected by society for good reason, some just outright chaos agents, at least one that's as deluded but shallow as she is.

Conceptually, this is a pair with the events around Ul'Dah in late ARR/early Heavensward, and Stormblood Samurai; both stories about similarly short-sighted revolutionary ideals, with one being naive, and the other being selfish. Apyaahi happens to be both.