[Thought Experiment] Is Dawntrail's 7.0 MSQ Planned to be "Terrible"?

[JarvieK]

Like many of you, I found the 7.0 MSQ to be a deeply unsatisfying experience.

Let's call it what it is: for many, the 7.0 MSQ was a narrative trainwreck.

But this project was born from a different, perhaps more obsessive, question: When faced with an imperfect and disappointing story, what is the most meaningful and beautiful thing we, as dedicated readers, can build from its ruins?

This 20,000-word analysis is not an attempt to guess the developers' "hidden plan" or to "defend" the story. Instead, think of it as a massive thought experiment in constructive deep reading. It's an attempt to see if we can use the game's own established lore, its decade-long history of narrative techniques, and its easily-missed textual details to build a more profound, more coherent, and ultimately more rewarding interpretation of Dawntrail than the one presented on the surface.

This is not a search for the one, true answer. It's an exploration of the story's fullest potential. In this essay, you won't find definitive predictions, but rather a methodology I'd call it "narrative forensics" for how we can engage with the worlds we love more deeply. The analysis deconstructs:

The Three Keys to FFXIV's Narrative DNA: How recurring patterns like "The Fissure in Memory," "A Portrait of Tragedy," and "The Price of Choice" provide a framework for understanding Dawntrail's flaws as potential clues.

The Skydeep Cenote's True Purpose: A deep-dive into in-game evidence suggesting the dungeon is an ancient armory, not a quarry, with shocking connections to the Ronkan Empire and Pandæmonium.

The "Asymmetrical Narrative" Hypothesis: A core theory proposing that the underwhelming feeling could be a deliberately crafted cognitive filter, designed to turn the player from a passive observer into an active participant in a meta-game.

This essay is my answer to the question of how we can remain engaged and find profound meaning, even in the face of disappointment. It's an invitation to look past the surface and to celebrate the power of analysis to co-create meaning with the text.

If that sounds like an interesting expedition, the full analysis is linked below. All perspectives, critiques, and discussions are welcome.

Full Analysis Here: https://lightning-halloumi-d2f.notio...2cf68dca2beb5b

Thank you for your time.

External Link: A Note on Cross-Community Discourse (A Researcher's Note)