7.2 MSQ opinions (spoiler obviously)

[CNitsah]

Real Sphene is a better character than any of the other DT characters. Take that the people that say you need a long time to build a story. I felt more involved with her story than... I mean, the fact I felt involved in DT for the first time is telling enough. She is relatable, and I honestly felt like I wanted to help her. She is everything Wuk Lamat should have been.

Everything feels... relevant. It's surprise. Even the kid scene was useful to Sphene character development (I was afraid when they went "let's go see the kid", but it ended ok). No "I'll save all the Rronnek" plotline that feels it should have been a side story of its own (or the whole garlemald reconstruction plots in 6.3 and 6.4).

They've hit a weird spot with Wuk Lamat. She is there, but now they try to find any small excuse to get her out for a few minutes. It's kinda ridiculous.

It's dealt better than in the late EW patches, but the whole 1 dungeons and 1 trial by patch still feels a little forced. Narratively the trial boss would have make sense as the dungeon last boss, but we have a buffer boss before the real boss. Trial is cool though, but this whole 1 dungeon/1 trial in the msq is still something that can drag the pacing and narration.

Patch msq ends somehow abruptly and the teaser is unintersting. And why isn't the moment when Sphene asks you to lend her your powers not voiced. The whole patch leads to that request, and you achieved to not voice it. It's a very weird choice.

And last but not least, learn to write a mystery. This whole key thing feels stupid, we already all know it's related with Azem, trying to tease when you just avoiding to talk about it while saying "yeah we know it's there, look forward to it". Avoiding talking about the elephant in the room is not the same thing as building a mystery.

Overall, there is good and bad things, but in term of pacing and story it's probably the best thing we got since 6.2. I liked it, it was enjoyable.

So what are your takes and the MSQ? Try to stay civil please.

[yesnt]

Dunno, doesn't sound like enough to make me resub.

[DeathNoodles]

7.2 msq was what I expected, still a build up to 7.5 I'm guessing. Don't think it's worth resubbing just for that but I enjoyed it, peraonally if I'm on break I'd wait until at least fall or summer to get back in, the cliffhangers are killing me

[CNitsah]

7.2 msq was what I expected, still a build up to 7.5 I'm guessing. Don't think it's worth resubbing just for that but I enjoyed it, peraonally if I'm on break I'd wait until at least fall or summer to get back in, the cliffhangers are killing me

I remember them saying they're gonna go back to extension story ending with X.3 patches, and X.4 and X.5 introducing the next extension, but I'm to lazy to go check it myself.

[Kisshu]

It's a step up from 7.0 and 7.1 for me, but that didn't take much. Camera work seems to be improved for cutscenes. But at the same time it has way too much padding, especially in the start in the city. And at the end not much happens, mostly an introduction to the main villain and a new character.

I can't seem to shake the feeling, that part of the villain's motivation has already been covered in the backstories of the Omnicrons and Nibirun, but this time with an AI twist.

[Basteala]

Real Sphene is a better character than any of the other DT characters. Take that the people that say you need a long time to build a story. I felt more involved with her story than... I mean, the fact I felt involved in DT for the first time is telling enough.

It is, although in all fairness, needing time depends on what you're trying to do. If Real Sphene betrayed us (I don't think she would) then it wouldn't mean much without a few patches time to bond with her first. And even in terms of time, we *did* have context from MSQ Main establishing Sphene as a concept, establishing the real Sphene being different, so some of her arc hit a little more home than it would have out of literally nowhere.

That said, I do agree that Sphene nailed it.

For my own thoughts, 7.2, from a story perspective, was a desperately needed step in the right direction. It also felt like the writers at least remembered to a degree how to Scion, which was also a plus. It needs to be built upon and there's always room for improvement.

But the important thing happened in MSQ--the writing team stopped the bleeding.

It's a step up from 7.0 and 7.1 for me, but that didn't take much. Camera work seems to be improved for cutscenes. But at the same time it has way too much padding, especially in the start in the city. And at the end not much happens, mostly an introduction to the main villain and a new character.

I can't seem to shake the feeling, that part of the villain's motivation has already been covered in the backstories of the Omnicrons and Nibirun, but this time with an AI twist.

I respectfully disagree here. This kind of "padding" to establish character dynamics and motivations is a big part of FF14's narrative. HW, STB, SHB...they all have that, too.

[Hallarem]

snip

The bad:

- Wuk Lamat, I don't see a reason why she is there aside for the reason of her being the main character of this expansion. We shared a moment with Sphene, yet Sphene's whole "ask for help" scene is directed to Wuk Lamat to answer, not us.

- Poor Krile. Nameless side characters getting more voiced lines and scenes than Krile lol. The supposed "Shes gonna play more of a part in the expansion." Her calling Wukkie Lamatiyyy made me want to throw up.

- I like and dislike the villain, I hate that we might be going with the "trying to understand the emotions of an AI" route again, and I am fearing it's going to go to another Dawntrail special of trying to insert "Spene lissen to mee" instead of just realizing that this wizz-kid tech-emo needs to be kicked to the curb and shut down.

- I hope 7.3 shuts this whole plot down, while this patch seemed more mature, it still had some inkling of that "Lets write for teenagers" all over it.

- I still hate that we are glazing up the fake-Sphene AI computer program and treating them like a real person.



The good:

- I honestly like the actual Sphene, her story arc, they wrote an actual character with actual emotions and dialogue. Good job, I hope we get more of this character. I hope they don't dumb her down into a Wuk-Lamat fangirl or into an "I need to understand the emotions of everything even if they are clearly just out to destroy everything I cherish, because cultures and understanding and Dawntrail stuff, yo." - route. Or if that crown devolves into the obvious trap that it probably is.

My wish is that we would get to train her, as she wanted to grow stronger, have our actual mentor arc and Wuk Lamat stays as FAAAR AWAY from that phase of the story as possible.

- I think the combat animation cutscenes are great, and are showing promise of maybe us someday doing something in them other than a random offscreen slash and something falling down.

- While I still don't like the whole bumbling idiot citizen plotline full of "theme npc's" this added a bit of flavor to it. Pacing for this patch story was better.

- The first dungeon was kind of a nothingburger, the trial was fun. I wish Zelenia and Otis would've been longer lasting characters alongside of this Sphene.


I'd resub at 7.4 maybe 7.3 if it hinted at this arc ending.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Most of it was rather uninteresting, though having the real Sphene try to understand and come to terms with suddenly finding herself 400 years in the future was the first time the DT MSQ made me feel anything other than boredom outside of the reveals related to Bakool.

[CNitsah]

The bad:

- Wuk Lamat, I don't see a reason why she is there aside for the reason of her being the main character of this expansion. We shared a moment with Sphene, yet Sphene's whole "ask for help" scene is directed to Wuk Lamat to answer, not us.

- I like and dislike the villain, I hate that we might be going with the "trying to understand the emotions of an AI" route again, and I am fearing it's going to go to another Dawntrail special of trying to insert "Spene lissen to mee" instead of just realizing that this wizz-kid tech-emo needs to be kicked to the curb and shut down.

I do agree with those point. The first one is linked to what I was saying about being in a weird place with WL. It feels like one scene they decide to shove her on the sideline, and the next scene, they want to put her in the spotlight. It really feels like they have those 2 options and can't chose, so they go with both and it feels weird.

I'm not a fan of the new bad guy either. He kinda lacks building. He feels more like a function in the story than a real character. Maybe next patch will make him meatier.

[KillaKilala]

The story is very good, but the writing is very bad. It's very inconsistent for instance when we got teleported Wukie didn't notice that, but then an hour later when we inspect a pile of dust, she says that if someone took the body people would've noticed that... How did she not think that it could've been teleported the same way? Why can Calyx teleport us but not the key out of our pockets, AND WHY DO WE EVEN CARRY IT? Why not hide and guard it? I still enjoyed the story, almost cried a few times during the first hour, but it's such a shame, it could've been so much better. I feel like if Sphene had as many lines as Wukie and the story focused more on Alexandria, it would've been better than EW and ShB. I feel bad that the next patch is the last piece of this story after which we'll be getting a buildup to the next expansion. I want more Alexandria.