FFXIV Dawntrail Was Not What I Expected

Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail surprised me...
I never expected FF14 Dawntrail to be an emotional rollercoaster but here we are! I recently finished my Dawntrail MSQ playthrough on Twitch so I wanted to share my thoughts of the story, characters and combat!
Sit back and sip on your fantasia as I take you along with my summer vacation in Tural!
What do you think about Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail yourself? What are your thoughts on the main story, new maps, NPCs and combat? Share them down in the comments!
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[@marzblood]

The only one that got the vacation was Estinien.

[@JustinStrife]

Yes I am still mad about that. We were told we'd get a vacation, and we got nothing like one.

[@StartouchArts]

@@JustinStrife "This is going to be a low-stakes story" Proceeds to install a new ruler for an entire goddamn continent, then deal with a genocidal AI that wants to consume every last soul on Etheirys and all 13 Shards.

[@DoppelgangerTH]

​@@StartouchArts correction: 6 shards*

[@JustinStrife]

@@StartouchArts Yeah I really have to wonder what game some of these people were playing, because Dawntrail certainly wasn't it.

[@heronoverdose]

I did all the side-quests as I went along and want you all to know I canonically had a great time 😂

[@jamierose9095]

Act 1: I WANNA BE DAWNSERVANT! Act 2: Cowboys vs Aliens Act 3: Pulling the plug on mom.

[@mattstanford9673]

That is probably the most succinct and accurate broad-stroking I've seen. XD

[@Cap_Pig]

I've been referring to THAT cutscene as the Mars Attacks sequence, but Cowboys vs Aliens is also very appropriate.

[@rajabuta]

Oi 😂

[@omensoffate]

Mom? Huh

[@kataku8609]

I hate you for this 😂😂😂

[@redzuana6979]

"Sphene, listen to me." Wuk Lamat said calmly.

[@bauloprete3905]

Dude, go to. Mental assylum

[@Cap_Pig]

100% agree with your take on the characterization. I also had no problem with Wuk Lamat as a character, but she was a little TOO front and center and the rest of the cast suffered for it. I did have an issue with how Krile got shoved in the backseat for most of the narrative and it really felt like she was robbed of a great arc. Her big moment in LM should have had a lot more impact than it did.

[@JohnnyRaven69]

I totally agree 100%. Dawntrail would have worked much better if Wuk Lamat's story had been completed during the first 30% of the game, and the remaining 70% would have been used for Krile's story, her parents, solution 9, the golden city, etc. Of course, the dialogue, pacing, quest design, etc. should have been better too. Regardless, I also enjoyed Dawntrail very much.

[@TheMadTemplar]

I mostly liked her as a character, but took issue with her "growth". The story tried to tell us she'd grown and changed over the days (weeks? It did a horrible job at expressing time) the first part happened. It tried to tell us she was no longer the girl who wanted to hold someone's hand because she was scared of a new experience. Only for her to ask us in the second to last area to go with her because she was frightened of a new experience.

[@Electric0eye]

Hard agree. Wuk Lamat was and is a great character, but her arc could have been handled better and the rest of the cast should've gotten more time.

[@NeoDMC]

I love how her biggest moment...where her heritage and the one and only inheritance she had came front and center...was taken from her by the baby scrimblo cuz her parents didn't code the sequence to her specifically, but to whoever was in charge of the organization they were rebelling against.

[@Beredaman08]

@@TheMadTemplar Didn't at all get the sense from that interaction that she was frightened of a new experience - that wasn't even the lesson she learned in the first half. The lesson there was that she shouldn't try and bluff and bravado her way if she isn't comfortable with something. She doesn't have to deal with that stuff alone, basically. So now it's a sequence where she's in a new place, probably nervous and overwhelmed, so she doesn't act like she's got it and runs off (like did the first half) but instead asks if we will explore along with her. And that whole lesson - relying on others - is meant to contrast with both Sphene and Zoraal Ja.

[@mareb324]

I still stand by my statement that Krile's story isn't over and that whether it's just the Post content or it stretches into another expansion, her story was not given an ending because it's not over yet.

[@deepstonecostco]

This! She's a main character and has long history with us, people saying she got shoved aside or even that they forgot about her somehow are being extremely short-sighted.

[@Cap_Pig]

@@deepstonecostco Oh I have no doubts that she's going to continue to be a major player in the narrative moving forward. But I also feel like we weren't delivered what we were told to expect from her, and what we did get could have been a lot better with some additional development. But I also don't want to focus too much on the negative as I did enjoy the entire experience, but as always the criticism makes for better discussion.

[@DilzwieldKing]

In an ideal world, yes. But in actuality, we're probably getting more Wuk Lamat shoved down our throats.

[@makisbizarreadventure4669]

After the reception I’m sure they will continue with her but the fact they had so many opportunities to explore her during the main story and didn’t just is sad. How did Shadowbringers give us full stories for Emmet, Rinne, Ardbert, and Crystal Exarch; but this expansion could only do Wuk. It was the pacing as the problem.

[@deepstonecostco]

@@Cap_Pig Her story's not going to end with Dawntrail. My bet is that Wuk Lamat and Koana will now take a larger backseat in the story because of their Dawnservant responsibilities, allowing us to fully explore these newer things with Krile and Scions who weren't as prevalent in the MSQ but expressed interest, like Y'shtola.

[@lokifrostpaw2976]

I hope I'm not the only one expected more of Erenville's story. Nevermind Krille, she's definitely going to stick around later patch/expac. But Erenville?? Should've had more screen time.

[@coreywong6229]

You mean his real name got me going in laughing a bit.

[@jordanlopez4131]

I dont even remember it...​@@coreywong6229

[@drewmalekith4614]

I think another reason people hate Wuk is every time a character we like already showed up they were IMMEDIATELY sent away so we could spend more time with WukLamat. Y’shtola just got here? Send her away so u can talk with WukLamat. Koana asks to speak with you in private so he can give you a gift? WukLamat “ok I’ll come along with you” and then “wow that’s so nice of my brother”. Like yes it was and ur killing the vibe by interjecting. It’s like the writers were afraid to have her ever be off screen but the characters we enjoy were always off screen. Even when she is offscreen cuz she was kidnapped, the focus is still on getting her back.

[@lusnoct4298]

I think you sum it up really well. She was a character with a lot of potential, and once they got over the initial hump of her being kind of forced on us for plot convenience, they started handling her really well. Then they threw that out the window and it felt like she was forced on us again, to the exclusion of characters that we've already built a rapport with and are attached to. She's a new character, if they expect us to care about her then that's going to take time to establish. It's also going to take time for her to establish herself as a fighter-- her barely managing to come out on top against a hyped up lizard that trembled any time he saw us doesn't really set her up as someone that should be speaking conversationally while she's being crushed by roboSphene. They really ought to have changed where DT ended. Stop DT proper at Wuk Lamat's and Koana's coronation, have post-DT delve into the stuff that started with Vanguard, but only slightly. Sort of like how we got to pick around at things in Coerthas before HW. Spend more time on the content up until that point to let us both enjoy familiar characters and get properly attached to new ones. Make the Tural Vidraal a bigger plot point, after how they've been hyped up before we just plowed through Valigarmanda.

[@drewmalekith4614]

@@lusnoct4298 yah preach summed it up well in that she’s so forced into EVERY scene that you never get a chance to miss her and she actively removes other characters you care about making you resent her

[@lauracapper3807]

You were immediately shoved into the role of Glorified Babysitter and that actively sabotaged any positive attachment you could possibly have with Wuk. Instead of letting the player decide for themselves if they liked her the game said “no, you HAVE to like her”. Which for me did the opposite. She has aspects of her that I like but overall it made me wish more and more I got to choose which claimant I got to go through the rite with.

[@Tinandel]

Yes, you hit the nail on the head IMO. 14 is a game that has always massively benefited from its ensemble cast, but Dawntrail decided no character mattered except Wuk Lamat.

[@bibimboup]

​@@lusnoct4298 Everything you said is on point, especially the Tural Vidraal that we were teased to be important in Tural, and we get to see only one in the story?? Thats a bit weird.

[@WilliamTheWatchful]

The Scions were used as nodding machines... never disagreeing with an ally. They were boring...

[@faurier]

They weren't the Scions, just Trust goblins.

[@bauloprete3905]

​@@faurierdude, overly complaining

[@bauloprete3905]

No, they weremt

[@SoulOfVr]

Ya it did feel like that 😂

[@Orphim]

I mean, the purpose of the Scions wasn't to meddle in this case besides through their power. They were more of mentors and guides. In the roles they were in, the Scions shouldn't be overtaking the story or they look corrupt and as if they're trying to install a ruler. In this case, they're lending their assistance to someone they believe has the potential and letting them grow, giving advice only when asked and only to further the one they're assisting's goals. The Scions will step back up and take prominence again in the future story patches I'm sure.

[@thearchitecturalgamer6652]

I will die on the hill that the train scene should have been a solo instance😂

[@Hugo-MTX96]

nah that dungeon theme hits hard 🤘

[@lukevickers9581]

I really enjoyed your take on Dawntrail as a whole. It was by no means a perfect expansion, but the things they did right were amazing. I definitely think they could have wrote Wuk Lamat better and shown off other characters throughout the story more instead of more Wuk Lamat, but I don't think they did horrible with what they gave us. Every trial to me had its own charm, especially the final trial. The genuine excitement and panic from the new mechanics and inevitable deaths during that fight made that trial incredibly memorable. Looking forward to more of your FFXIV videos.

[@Naoto-kun1085]

I agree, it's flawed, but still quite fun!

[@Hedspaces]

I love how Milfbot called Erenville her “fussy lil bun bun” LIKE OMG I SWEAR MY FEMROE’s HEART SKIPPED A BEAT

[@Felodontis]

I was honestly surprised to see that Ketenram was in the MSQ for Dawntrail. Considering no one has heard from him in decades, I was expecting that we would have to search for him or his remains as part of the Shade's Triangle story in the patches. Still, it's good to see his retirement is going well.

[@yanipheonu]

Ketenramm helped Galool Ja Ja unite the country.... 80 years ago. He's actually a bit of a plot hole...

[@Orphim]

@@yanipheonu He's a Roegadyn. I don't think 80 years is that ridiculous for them. Pretty sure they are the 3rd longest lived species the WoL can be, first being Viera and the second being the Elezen. Remember, Erenville's mother also was a part of that party, and she was considered fairly youthful still 80 years later.

[@makisbizarreadventure4669]

This expansion should have been based on 10 and not 9. Guardians with Wuk Lamat going to each village for rites. Atleast then they could have done a story that flowed better with what they were trying to do. Them doing 9 felt so shoved in towards the end that it didn’t flow well with the entirely of the plot lol. Honestly this should have just been us retracing Galuf’s steps with Krile with a new cast but.. we’ll never get away from the scions for long. Only Hws was bold enough to do that

[@kellevichy]

Ooooh man. Look I'm a far bigger fan of IX than X, but you are completely right - this story would've been perfectly themed with X.

[@TH3_DR3W]

X had a lot of influence. The lower part of Yak T'el is Machalania Woods. The pilgrimage you mentioned. Lower Urqopacha could be seen as the Calm Lands. Heritage Found has a Thunder Plains vibe. The pelu pelu.

[@makisbizarreadventure4669]

@@TH3_DR3W Yeah which makes me wonder why they didn’t go all in.

[@MagikRayne]

Wasn’t DT more 11 than 9

[@TH3_DR3W]

@MagikRayne I wouldn't toss out that there were XI influences, especially since the alliance raids are going to be dealing with XI, but there are some heavily IX inspired themes. The kingdom of Alexandria being the most easy to spot. The architecture of the ruins is nearly identical to the buildings in IX. Then there is the theme of another world merging with the main one to harvest souls to maintain itself. Naming conventions based on gemstones, such as the Garnet/Sphene parallel. There are sure to be more that I'm not remembering or thinking of, or never noticed. In my mind, that reflection IS the world of IX, just further into its future.

[@bluesrike]

Maybe I'm in the wrong here but I don't think it's fair to compare Dawntrail's story to Endwalker. The latter has 10 years and 4 expansions worth of buildup giving it leverage while Dawntrail is a reset button on all that.

[@MachoChannel213]

No I don’t think you are! I’m in complete agreement with you and that was my expectation as well. I knew the vibe was going to be and feel different. And to be honest, I think Dawntrail handled it really well. Usually I feel jaded starting a new story/chapter from the same series after such a great and fulfilling conclusion, but I didn’t get that with Dawntrail and I’m so relieved. Quite the opposite- I’m really excited for the next 10 years!

[@Cap_Pig]

This was my postgame take as well, there was way more invested narratively and emotionally in EW, so of course it's going to resonate more. But I also think there are some storytelling skills to learn that were and were not applied here. Like, for me at least, the portion of LM that hit the hardest was the first with Namikka. And that's because the game introduces you to her almost immediately upon arrival to Tural, and throughout the entire journey you're breadcrumbed story bits of her and Wuk Lamat's relationship. An understanding and emotional connection is formed organically rather than explained to you. So when that moment hit when she transformed back to her old self, her happiest self, that resonated. That one got me choked up. But Krile's potato parents and Cahciua just felt flat in comparison after that. I think if the emotional impact in LM had ramped up by starting with Krile, then moving to Erenville, and ending with Wuk and Namikka, each would have felt a bit more impactful.

[@OneBiasedOpinion]

A lot of the convos I’ve heard about it (haven’t gotten there yet, just starting EW) involve players saying that EW itself hit SO hard that they welcome the relative relaxation of what amounts to a beach episode in the game. After riding the high of the last 4 expansions, a narrative breather sounds pretty nice ngl.

[@bluesrike]

@@OneBiasedOpinion That's another thing. When people were talking about 6.1 (Newfound Adventure) and how it was having fun at Y'shtola's (my beloved) expense, I told them: "Guys, after the pathos of the main story, we NEEDED this. You might not think that now, but in time you will."

[@generalpenny]

Nobody is comparing DT to EW in terms of story. Nobody cares one bit about the story being a reset or whatever, people are having issues with the writing mate

[@pedromoreira6218]

in the first half Wuk Lamat is a good character in second half it completly falls apart and she gets extremely over exposed i went from "ok i like her" to "oh please shut the fuck up and let me do something else with someone else for a moment" and on top of that she steals my kill at the end and my moment by default so yeah i belive someone in the writing team fell in love with the character and decided to make her the main focus of EVERYTHING i kinda wished the second half of the story was basicly something in the lines of "so we found this thing in our land that is supposed to be this city of gold with treasure we cant find it but i give you permition to do whatever you want to find it if you want" However despite all that there were a couple things in there that made me excited for the future ahead wich is Ultima The High Serapth eventually coming into play if this is the ultimate end game then im all in

[@8BitCerberus]

"she steals my kill at the end" Ehh, no. [SPOILERS FOR SHADOWBRINGERS AND ENDWALKER...] It was a "power of friendship" moment, like the Endsinger fight with the Scions, or Hades fight with Ardbert. She even says something like "let's finish this together", and the fight continues on. She doesn't just break through the crack, land a hit and *ding ding* fight's done! Could it have been handled better? Yeah, probably. But it definitely wasn't stealing our WoL's kill/glory/whatever.

[@JustinStrife]

@@8BitCerberus Uhhh no it wasn't. Endsinger was about to finish us off as we'd burned through our tank LB3 and didn't have another handy. The Scions pumped up a shield to protect us. That was not what was happening in Dawntrail.

[@8BitCerberus]

@@JustinStrife And Sphene was spamming Absolute Authority and picking off people left and right before Wuk shows up. I've seen several times where healer LB3 is needed to survive, and I've seen several wipes because the healers went down during that phase. Wuk "reaches" Sphene and helps her recover some of her humanity which stops the Absolute Authority spam allowing us to continue the fight.

[@WyldChoerry]

Bro, I promise you it's okay for you to not be god's special snowflake for once and I promise you Sphene isn't all that powerful for you to cry about not getting to kill her when we dealt with bigger threats to the star

[@JustinStrife]

@@8BitCerberus Okay so even when you try and describe the fight like that, you're still ignoring the difference between that trial and the Endsinger trial. Big surprise. You can beat it without Wuk Lamat. You could not beat Endsinger without dynamis from your allies. Find another hill to die on, because this one is an ant hill.

[@amandajas6287]

Unlost World broke me. And then I had to go back to unlock flying, searching through the world while listening to the distant, hollow echo of the music t hat once was. Even just watching this video made me cry again! Goddamnit, Squeenix! You promised me a vacation, not emotional damage! 😭

[@1Vergil]

I thought this expansion had great dungeon design and world design. But as you put it correctly, for the most part of this expansion we are following the Shounen Manga Protagonist known as Wuk Lamat. She even steals your thunder multiple times. Story/narritive wise it is like they took everything that was good about Endwalker and put you on the outside to watch someone else experience it. Someone who goes from not being able to dent a two headed lizard to saving the world in a span on less than an ingame week. For me Dawntrail started after the MSQ. The current raids are great and I hope we have seen the last of Wuk Lamat and the post-MSQ will be about us again.

[@Lizard14]

I didn't enjoy Dawntrail's MSQ, and for me it all comes down to bad writing, specially character writing. The story concepts are fine. It's not really about what is happening and where we are going, it's how it was written. A lot of telling and not showing, a lot of out of place exposition, constantly repeating and explaining information and not leaving any place for our own interpretation. I wish I had enjoyed Living Memory as much as you did, but the interesting questions I had about it were dismissed by the characters that decided how I should feel about it when it was convenient for the story. But for me, the worst crime of Dawntrail is the character writing. You mentioned characterization problems in Wuk Lamat, but every single character has the same problems as her...and what completely ruined my experience, was how the Scions were written. They completely lost their unique personalities, and they all say the same things, react the same, and talk the same way. As someone very focused on how my favorite character acts, I was heartbroken almost everytime he said anything, because it wasn't him. I see many people trying to defend the expansion trying to compare it with what comes after, but it doesn't matter what you compare it to, for me there is no excuse for such poor writing, so different from what we had in the past since the beginning, from a game that was always praised for its writing quality.

[@meriwidget3474]

Yep, same. Concepts were fine, the writing/execution/pacing/characters were terrible. And I went in with a very open mind, but I was bored/annoyed/confused most of the expansion.

[@evercreepy]

Absolutely agree with you, I don't think Wuk Lamat is a problem, it's just a lot of her in this expac, so she's the most prominent example of how bad the character writing in DT is. Dialog is bland and unimaginative, and yes, Scions just all react and talk the same, to the point where if you cover the name, you couldn't tell who's speaking. As someone who got extremely fond of all the companions over HW-ShB-EW, I found myself wishing they would rather just... not been there at all. By the end I was so annoyed/disappointed with the characters, that I couldn't even enjoy what good was there in a story, just wanted it to be over, so I could go NG+ ARR or something.

[@borone1998]

agree, people like to say its because this expac came after 2 bangers. not really.. strawman arguement

[@Xorua]

I went into Dawntrail expecting a low-stakes, not particularly groundbreaking story that focused on being fun and interesting and exploring the New World. For the first 2/3 of Dawntrail, that’s exactly what I got. It wasn’t spectacular, but I was happy. But the second you set foot in Alexandria… It turns into this really high-stakes story about a world-shattering conflict, where not just Tural is at stake but every single shard of Etheirys. It tries to be deep, and edgy, almost feeling like a carbon copy of Shadowbringers at times, and what we ended up with was this bizarre, contrived, half-baked disaster. Issues with the script-writing and voice-direction that had been present since the very beginning of Dawntrail suddenly became far more obvious when set against the background of this gritty, serious story and the whole thing just fell apart. People have singled out Sena Bryer’s performance as “bad” because of Wuk Lamat’s heavy presence throughout the story, but pretty much every character comes across as overdone or slightly lilted at some point. This includes the Scions, but it’s far more obvious with newly introduced major characters like Gulool Ja Ja and the claimants to the throne. If you quantified it, then sure, I enjoyed Dawntrail overall, it was an okay expansion. But in reality, by the time the credits rolled on the expansion, the Alexandria storyline had dragged on for so long and pissed me off so much that the Rite of Succession and our adventures in Shaaloani had completely left my mind. It’s not “fair” to compare Dawntrail to Shadowbringers and Endwalker insofar as their stories are (or ar least, should have been) significantly different from each other. But I *do* think it’s fair to expect the same care and attention and general production quality from Dawntrail that we got from the other 4 expansions. Also, why the hell is Dawntrail full of text errors? Did CBU3 fire their proofreaders for the English localisation?

[@MandalorianKat]

I think I might be broken because I felt no sadness in Living Memory.

[@maxmagnus377]

Nah you're good, "Amaurot at home" just wasn't very good xD

[@ReveredDead]

Becuase it was a knock off of Amaurot. Sphene being a dollar store Emet Selch.

[@Dracounguis]

I would have been happy with a bit less Wuk Lamat after she became leader.

[@Dracounguis]

After Shadowbringers and Endwalker it would have been very very very very very hard for Dawn Trail to be at the same level. And I did not expect it to be.

[@joshanonline]

Me neither but expected it would bring the potential for another good expansion. Like interesting enemies. Feels like that fell flat.

[@Dracounguis]

@@joshanonline yeah unless I missed something, all the bad guys of 7.0 have been dealt with. Maybe the WoL will get another 'vacation' for a patch? 😆 I really hope the Arcadion pro-wrestling arc doesn't turn into the MSQ next.

[@JustinStrife]

I don't think most people expected it to be another ShB or EW. But they didn't expect it to be what we got. Having gone through the first expansions multiple times on alts, I'd rather do ARR a hundred times than do Dawntrail a 2nd time.

[@Dracounguis]

@@JustinStrife multiple times?! 🫡

[@JustinStrife]

@@Dracounguis Yes I've gone through ARR/HW/SB at least a dozen times over the last 9 years across 6 or so servers, 4 data centers(including a japanese one back in 2017). Taught myself how to tank leveling a Paladin in 2016 through the story, back when tank stance wasn't earned until level 40. Long before server travel, cross server party finders, or any of that stuff.

[@TheThunderinghammer]

Honestly, I dont think they made it clear enough that Wuk Lamat loves peace and her people's culture

[@Dreded100]

I still won't go back to LM without turning on New Game+ and bringing the place back to life.

[@black_flare]

I enjoyed playing as "Retainer of Light" for wok lamat LOL

[@Kulunu1992WOW]

It took me a while to sort my feelings out after Dawntrail and why by the end I LOATHED Wuk Lamat. I loved her the first halve. A future Ruler who wanders the land to learn of the problems of her future people to make the Nations better (still find it retarded her father didn't do anything about the foot situation of his home village but hey maybe creating a problem that grew after he left was just to much work who knows) and then she realized she couldn't do it alone and asked her brother who actually put in work to make the life of the citizen better for years already? Sign me up, she realized her own strength, still questioning how she got some of them when she was so sheltered XD but anyways, and her weaknesses and how to compensate for them. Overall a really great character. But then we enter the second halve. And she overstayed her welcome for me, it was as if any form of character development was gone from her. Back to square one, back to the beginning of the expansion. For me her presence from there on out was torture.

[@Jon_the_Wizard]

My problem is that the story focuses on Wuk Lamat even when it should focus on anything else. Shaaloani onward should have been the Krile and Erenville Show, but Wuk Lamat just wouldn’t go away.

[@Deode-d4h]

Hard agree, Wuk Lamat should've taken more backseat place unless Zoraal Ja is present or discussion on Zoraal Ja is happening. We don't need Wuk Lamat telling us again that she doesn't understand the whole reflections/shards bit, we knew that from the big event in the level 96 MSQ.

[@evercreepy]

Hard agree, I started DT enjoying Wuk Lamat's character and company a lot, but by the end of Rite of Succession I was quite ready to be done with her, and get to know other characters, like Koana or Erenville. That brief respite with Erenville in Shaaloani was such a breath of fresh air, but it went by in a blink of an eye, and we got the full focus on Wuk Lamat yet again. The overexposure made me really dislike a cool and fun character I really liked in the beginning. It's my main gripe with DT MSQ, it's like they were doing it on purpose.

[@Jon_the_Wizard]

@@evercreepyWhen I was doing the final MSQ trial and Wuk Lamat showed up to assist, my reaction was literally “OH FUCK OFF.” That was proof positive they had botched it for me. Now that I’ve cleared the MSQ and I’ve had some separation time from her, I’m back on the side of liking her, but I really hope she doesn’t get forced on us during the post-MSQ patches.

[@matthewdodds3168]

I feel is because of all of the expansions this one treats the PC the most like a side character for most of the story. Even when you think you get away to finally do your adventure thing they throw you back into the “side character zone” after a few main quests

[@Floraclaw]

We needed an expansion that cooled things down, if they kept raising the stakes every time we would end up in WoW's territory. You can only throw so many levels of cosmic horrors for so long one after another before we hit a brick wall. It was a massive change of pace for us as the WoL but Im sure it will be only a matter of time the second shoe drops right when we are not paying attention.

[@geekwars3998]

My main criticism for Dawntrail is that it felt childish in its delivery and a bit all over the place. It's like they writers can't make up their own minds. Wuk Lamat felt like a naive Shonen protagonist and at some point the moralizing speeches felt incredibly shallow and cringe worthy. The Disney "Smile" theme didn't help. If only Aymeric took the time to learn about Dragon culture, right? That would've erased a millennia of bad blood too, and everyone could've lived together in peace and happiness, right? If only Garleans and Domans tried to make some fancy dish together. I'm sure all bad blood would've been forgotten in an instant... Like I said, the story was very childish, especially coming from a game where we came to expect a certain level maturity and realism when it comes to navigating politics, conflicts, and morality. As for the writers being unable to make up their minds, on one hand, they clearly realize the scions overstayed their welcome. So, they're lessening their role in favor of new characters. But at the same time, they refuse to exclude them from the story altogether. The result is that the scions are just... There. That's it. They didn't feel like characters but more like tools of expositions and trust NPCs, nothing more. WoL is pretty much in the same spot as the scions, losing all agency and becoming a witness to someone else's story. You could completely remove them and it would have no impact on the story whatsoever. They tell us to not expect world ending threats in an expansion that is a new beginning and then suddenly ramp up the stakes to multi-verse world end threat so quickly that it gave me a proverbial whiplash. And that was after a first part that was so unbearably slow that the change of pacing felt all the more jarring. Lastly, we've got to talk about repeated themes... It felt like we'll never escape the shadow of Shadowbringers. Sphene is a repeat of Emet-Selch (the villain who can't let go of those they lost). And Alexandria was a repeat of Amaurot, struck by calamity and doomed to fade away unless Sphene decides to sacrifice every other living being for the sake of her own people. The difference is, Shadowbringers was done so well that Dawntrail's mimicry of it felt incredibly underwhelming. I couldn't help but wonder if Emet-Selch was in the right, that mankind might have been better off remaining unsundered. He had thousands of years as proof after all. Meanwhile, there was no universe in which I could agree or empathize with some AI named Sphene wanting to preserve unsustainable digital copies of the dead at the cost of all those who yet live, only for her to eventually run out of fuel and for all life to cease, including her Endless. Her plan was ridiculously stupid from the let go.

[@maxmagnus377]

Not only was the "change" of pace (more like change of stakes ig) from the first arc to the second incredibly jarring, but even then the writers didn't know if they should take it seriously or not. Practically the first thing you do after a bunch of citizens got killed and you built a bomb train to a gospel song is.... touring the farms.... followed immediately by the death of Wuk's childhood caretaker... followed closely by a tour of district 9 where we lie about liking the popcorn.... You enter a virtual world where there's pretty much a literal countdown to interdimensional doom going on in the background and you... eat ice cream, ride gondolas, find a ring, fix a fountain, perform in a play, and go on a few more tours. The death of 3 whole parents sprinkled in between those. At no point in the story did the writers make up their mind. Similar issues ran throughout the dawnservant arc. Right after Wuk gets abducted and threatened with death you.... Make tacos, what else?... With the abductor there even! Right after she gets death threats from the red giant folk you save them from a bird's fart and give them a little speech, after which all is well and we never talk about it again. THE GUY PERFORMING INFANTICIDE EUGENICS IS AT THE "SMILE" CELEBRATION NOT A WEEK LATER WHEN WUK ASSUMES THE THRONE!!! It's BAFFLING xD At so many times during all of this MSQ I felt like screaming at my monitor "WTF are the stakes? Pick a tone already! Can we get this thing rolling finally? STOP NODDING!!!"

[@NekoRenoChan]

Seriously, the scene where G'raha asks you "If there was someone you could bring back and talk to again..." it hit me in different ways. Both in game characters and people I have actually lost. I started playing shortly after I lost my grandmother which was Endwalker launch and that particular line really punched me hard. Plus I got way too attached to Haurchefant, so both of those people (my grandmother and my favorite NPC) immediately sprung to my mind. I went in expecting light hearted and fun and just over half way through we get gut punching grief.

[@hoodedy]

the ice cream eating sound will forever haunt me

[@Parabellum_Media]

had the pleasure of you healing for me today :D was the highlight of my day

[@DarkKnightofAnime]

So i’m still working through my feelings on Dawntrail but for right now I find myself in the 50/50 camp, I genuinely liked the first half of the story but the second half is complicated as I liked the themes, concepts and ideas they were playing with but something just felt off and after getting into a discussion about it with someone on the Grinding Gear boys’ clips channel this commenter summed it up perfectly which is Dawntrail’s mainline MSQ does feel like the equivalent of trying to condense two anime arcs into one: it’s enjoyable but ya find yourself with a little bit of whiplash from the pacing

[@Reaper1722]

This is gonna be a wall of text, so bear with me. Dawntrail, was for the most part, enjoyable for me. I simply took it for what it is, a vacation. And the zones really made it feel that way. The story, while not as great, didn't feel as bad to me personally as to most people, despite a couple of plot holes. Like for example, you really expect me to believe that no one saw Wuk Lamat get kidnapped when Earthenshire was in full view from where we were standing? I didn't mind Wuk Lamat's presence as much as most as well. Well, until Living Memory. First half, of course her presence made sense. That was her journey to become Dawnservant, and we did agree to help. Second half? Still made sense for her to be there. Tuliyollal was attacked by Zoraal Ja himself, and Gulool Ja Ja was killed. So that was personal and she needed to be there. However, i felt like they downplayed Erenville's situation a bit. Guy's home was swallowed up by a barrier. And once he managed to get inside, finds his home in ruins. And while he did eventually find his mother, i felt like they didn't interact much. At least on camera. I mean, we just found out that 30 years passed inside that barrier. As important as the current situation was, you're telling me she couldn't find the time to have a bunch of heart to heart time with her son? She hasn't seen him for 30 years, not to mention how filled with worry he was. And the slow realization that she was actually dead should've been addressed more, and earlier. It should've been a plot point before we enter Living Memory, therefore giving Erenville a greater drive to follow her through that portal and into Living Memory. But alas, it felt it was downplayed. And most of the time was just him sulking and absent from the scene. Then there's Krile's situation. I understand Krile and Erenville taking a back seat in the first half, since they all shared a common goal. But man, she was done dirty in most of the second half. There they are, telling us that Krile's earring, and Krile herself, holds a lot of significance in the plot. And that her earring itself serving as a significant plot device. Only to get her thunder stolen at the last second by requiring Gulool Ja to open the gate to Living Memory. That felt like a slap to the face. Even considering Preservation might've taken measures to keep anything related to her parents from using the portal, you'd think her parents would've put something in the earring that allows her to bypass it considering how purpose built and discreet it was. Then there's Wuk Lamat's presence in Living Memory that i mentioned. While it's unfair to blame it on one character, since there's a problem with the overall structure of events and/or story in that area despite how nice each of the story's zone was. Her one moment in that zone did make her presence feel grating. It was just announced that there was a countdown to doom and gloom, honey. And you want us to "get to know the Endless"?! We're on crunch time here! It's not like interacting with them was needed to get to the Terminals. Nothing was barring our way. We could just walk right to it and turn it off. Letting us just walk to the Meso Terminal the moment we got there was a mistake. Figuring out how to get to Sphene should've been the main objective when we got there, therefore giving a reason to comb the area and maybe talk to the Endless for clues as to how. Overall, despite everything, it was entertaining enough for me, despite the number of lows in comparisons to the highs. The zones in Yak Tural really cemented that "vacation" feeling, as mentioned. And being an FF9 fan, i was driven to figuring out just what the hell happened to Alexandria. Seeing the ruins there, and seeing it in a new perspective was neat. "Mixed" is definitely the right word when it comes to the MSQ of Dawntrail. Now if we're talking about gameplay and/or features on the other hand, that's an easy 10/10 for me. The gameplay and mechanics felt really engaging, with imo, the right amount of difficulty.

[@warllockmasterasd9142]

the Main issue with Wuk Lamat is basically we never get a break from her. I mean imagine Stormblood. But Lyse or heck even Hian is there constantly. it does not make sense, it does not fit with the narrative set. But here is Hien or here is Lyse, taking parts clearly meant for a different character. Shoe-horning Wuk everywhere is just Exhausting. And that would be with every character. now Take Isghard imagine with Estinien or the other black haired guy was there constantly? heck they even threw Wuk Lamat into the last boss fight to save -you- Even the best of characters will be exhausting if you've to see them constantly.

[@TheMadTemplar]

That's been the case for every expansion. Endwalker it was most of the scions for all but one zone, Lyse or Hien for every zone. Because the PC doesn't speak there has to be a character to serve as the npc stand-in for conversations, or cutscenes would get a bit boring. But in all the previous expansions, it was never just one character in that role, but a handful who played off each other. There was never really a point in SB where Hien or Lyse were just shoehorned into something like Wuk Lamat was.

[@warllockmasterasd9142]

@@TheMadTemplar But it still gave you Variation. the only time we actually get a break from Wuk is in the Western zone which is abruptly short lived, before we've to just return to Wuk Lamat and then we have to be with her the entire time. which creates fatigue. How the writers somehow didn't understand this is a tad baffling. the other thing that might tick some people off, is also how she just becomes powerful out of the blue. I mean she literally becomes more powerful than the WoL at the end of the Last Fight. Stopping the Final boss's end you all attack and then all alone prevents it from happening again with some odd ability of hers. And the reason why she's suddenly that powerful? Cos' Feelings. Now I do not mind the cheapshot of Wuk's that's fair enough when somebody channels a very powerful move they are lift open to that manner of attack. But her suddenly standing in the Air of the space, Creating some manner of wall that's prevent the deletion program from activating is just wha?

[@TheMadTemplar]

@@warllockmasterasd9142 I did say that we had more npcs in prior expansions to break it up.

[@kaceish]

2:20 caught me off guard

[@thelonesage3146]

Lol wtf

[@thelonesage3146]

Same

[@samuraitrevon717]

A bit sussy......

[@remitsu9715]

Started wathcing alot of your content as i'm fairly new to the game recently got my first lvl 100 job which was WHM and you're the reason i first wanted to because of the top 10 reasons to play and i appreciate it SO much because it's now my favorite job in the game, excited to continue the story and more excited to see more videos of yours being uploaded

[@Tamamo-no-Bae]

I overall enjoyed the msq and the expansion so far. My main criticisms are: Wuk Lamat was a bit overexposed, and it felt like we should have been able to speak more...Forexample offer the porxie treatment for the levin sickness. I play with JP voices so the Wuk Lamat voice acting debacle did not affect me at all.

[@omnilisk279]

She was way more overexposed in my experience than a little. I played the expansion myself and then went back and watched a streamer's playthrough. She is in almost *every* cutscene in the expansion. No exaggeration. You only get one area (Shaaloani) away from her to breathe, and then she's right back in every cutscene until the end. I genuinely don't understand why they thought it was a good idea. No character should be that overexposed.

[@evercreepy]

I was literally "yelling at my TV" about the levin sickness, I really hope they'll get to working on the treatment in patches, since that plot thread went nowhere. Also agree about us speaking more. I heard people saying WoL was supposed to be a mentor figure for WL, but I didn't get that impression, since WoL had almost 0 things to say and no guidance to offer, so I felt like we did not influence WL's character growth at all. Same with the second part of the story. The whole expac felt like watching a very long movie with almost no involvement.

[@cparle87]

What could the porxies do? They're not suffering from having their souls rendered stagnant. The sin eater change was a one two punch. Both the body and soul going too far to the light. The body would slowly SLOWLY fix itself if the world the person was living in was in balance, it was the soul we needed to help. Alexandria we can't do anything. The porxies can't help their bodies and the body can't return to equillibrium with the world infused with lightning as it is.

[@jineiyinsha]

The levin sickness treatment is 100% for the later patches.

[@Tamamo-no-Bae]

@@jineiyinsha I agree, but it should have been mentioned during the MSQ. A line about it possibly being related to tempering and that we will investigate if the porxies work later. The way it is handled now, it just make my WOL feel stupid.

[@timmyjimmy3647]

YES! I was the first idiot to start talking about milfbot when you first met the little bubble bot and it made it into the video 🤣 thank you avy for the fun cozy streams 💜

[@kuyap9455]

"you better fix my entire life" LOL high expectations real. btw, your balanced perspective is so helpful! i must follow stream

[@grygaming5519]

The major issues with DT was the failure of adhere to Yoshida's overarching view of a "living breathing world that has many stories to tell". So when you introduce a "end of the world as we know it" you have to work the story around that major point in the world's story. You cannot abandon it nor can you hide it so either the event happens and touches the world or it doesn't. Even the game's lore has stated many of times that travel between shards weakens the aether between two points. So this should have effectively made Tuliyolla experience the same things as the rest of the city states just because of the tunneling that one of the shards did in connecting themselves to the source. Then you have Wuk Lamat who is the embodiment of the trope Black Hole sue where the whole story bends very hard to her, and it directly services her because she's the Author's favorite. The writer Hihiro (sp) apparently is known for hyper focusing on one character at the expense of other characters. If anything the whole story should have never been greenlit or at least heavy editing to even it out. To me the biggest failure for DT was Wuk Lamat and her overstaying the story because she's Hihiro's favorite. It didn't make sense to excuse Thancred and Uranager from the ending other than it was done on purpose to keep Wuk Lamat in party group as long as possible. A good hard fix would have been, after she and Kota ascend to the throne. She is forced by Kouta to act like a ruler, in turn the story goes to Shaaloani with Eranvael to go through that bit of the story. You'd have Krile, Thancred, The twins and Uranager saying they will regroup with you at Hhusatahwi once they get more information about the golden city. Then you just start the second half focus on those characters. The story beats would have been far better.

[@Kujo999]

Just a PSA for those wishing to visit the pre-shutdown Living Memory; flagging any NG+ content restores it to the initial appearance.

[@DNrSquar3d]

It might have been a relatively minor thing, but I won't forget Dawntrail because of Namikka, that had me sobbing hard (mainly because recent events)

[@monte02437]

As a KR server player(basically being forced to wait for almost half a year for new expansion or move to global server), I chose to watch this video. First, I don't care about spoilers at all. And second, alike many others I expected DT to be perfect but recent reviews about this expansion is relatively low, so I felt I need to look out what happened and intentionally set my bar low to not be disappointed. Still this looks fine for me, but I'm not gonna be too desperate for this expansion.

[@CplVeers]

3:48 that right there, that is a perfect visual description of the entirety of Dawntrail. Cutscene upon cutscene upon cutscene of everyone standing around with a dopey smile on their face nodding. The sheer amount of that happening in the msq makes me want to make a video with snippets of Monty Python after every head nod going "Get on with it!" over and over. The nodding scenes happened so much, they just needed to put everyone in the same shot and have them all nod in unison. I would at least have gotten a laugh out of the absurdity instead of the frustration I got from having headshots of characters to watch them each nod in turn.

[@Watch_over_us]

Or the tuba scene from family guy star wars where everyone's just nodding at each other in anticipation 😂

[@enixfire]

My problem with the expansion is that it felt too rushed. Plus I didn't feel like second half with Alexandria was well done. I enjoyed the first half more and it was cool how Alexandria started attacking, I was invested. I wanted to save the people I was having my slice of life adventure with. But the shift to trying to force me to feel sympathy to Sphene for using souls and essentially draining life everywhere she goes didn't work. The way the system just snuffs out life, not even letting it return to the cycle had me going "you either need to stop or die". No amount of "but they're my people" was going to have me feel for AI holograms. I saw Alexandia as a dystopia and cancer, and nothing in the story made me change my mind. I hope moving forward we can change the way Alexandria is run foundationally, their system is flawed from square one. You can also see this in the raid series, with wicked thunder wanting our soul cause she's been using the soul system so much that she's losing who she is. I felt like the two stories weren't given enough time to really shine too. A lot of people mentioned how they were looking forward fo fighting againts thancred and urianger and I was in that boat. To many missed opportunities where they could have made it a gameplay moment. Having us either playing as the WoL or as Wuk Lamat going through her journey not only from the sideline, but also through her shoes would have been more impactful. Not enough time with the scions, not enough time to justify Alexandria. It would have been better if 7.0 was the first half, and we had the second half in 7.1.

[@SocalCoyote]

As someone who likes their character to settle to just be a simple adventurer again, it was calming to me. Enjoyable to watch Wuk climb to her potential, as well as learning more about a new region and customs with her. Our characters have been through everything, so it was growth to mentor someone. The zones are incredibly beautiful as well! My favorite areas in the whole game so far! I can certainly feel like my character will stick around Tural for a while. HOWEVER, I feel the scions really should have been left out for the first half. That was the strangeness for me for scions to just be *there*.

[@leffed2109]

I love the scions and I was happy they where there... at first. But there was no real reason for them to be there is my problem. Ali and Alphie could have been replaced with any random NPC. Thancred did use his stealth knowledge but Urianger was also just there. Instead of having a nice scene with Ali and Wuk about the paralells of Wuk and Koana basically mirroring the energy of Ali and Alphie. That they work great together because they are different. Lean into Uriangers knack for advice to Koana and have his story be more fleshed out... they had the scions there but it was like they forgot how to actually write them. Graha was probably the best written scion in DT. Showed up when needed, had valuable insights about stuff only he knows amd then he also got to act. There where things they could have done with them that made sense and didn't even take that long but they just didn't.

[@Adonteon21]

Only problem about being a simple adventurer idea is that you did have to stop the end of world again.

[@EbonEden]

@@leffed2109…Omg, I had forgotten Urianger was there I-

[@JustinStrife]

Except we weren't just a simple adventurer. We were a cheerleader being dragged around by Wuk Lamat for most of the story... We NEVER mentored her...

[@Rsjabber_]

scions were needed for mechanical reasons and that's duty support system, so they had to cram them into the story somehow

[@lorekeepermeerah]

I'm indigenous and I LOVED Dawntrail so much. I've never actually personally seen native cultures represented respectfully before (even in 14..cough cough new world headdress cough). So I was pleasantly surprised! I also lost my mother a few years ago, so I cried pretty consistency throughout the entire third arc hahaha

[@HyouVizer]

My fav scene was Lamat saying goodbye to her mom in Living Memory. You see her mom in their 40s, that's when she first got Lamat as kitten. Endless appearance is based off the happinest moment when they were alive. Then later her mom remembers and appearance changes to when she was in her 90s, last moment she was alive, at Heritage in the barrier. This was when she saw Lamat there, tho couldn't say anything, she waited 30 years to see her daughter again and finally did in her last moments alive, that became her happinest moment before she pasted. This scene made me cry so much, it had nuance. Nobody didn't stupidly ask or wonder or remind the player after of why her mom's appearance changed. Instead Lamat related to Sphene even more understanding why she couldn't let her people truly go, but to still press forward as everything must end in life.

[@watthewat6524]

If I remember right stormblood had more dilemma. Dawntrail didn't have that. I still think Wuk Lamat is sheltered naive character and first half and second half of story feels disconnected (maybe that's me I couldn't focus on first half of story) It should be more about sphene and her world than wuk lamat

[@DrMurasaki]

I agree with much of what was said here. I liked most of the story (keeping in mind that it’s building on something new), the gameplay, and the characters. I personally love the scions and would’ve liked to see more of them after the succession arc, but I kind of expected them to be sidelined for most of the expansion. I hope we get to see more of them going forward. However, my biggest complaint is the sidelining of the WoL. It felt like I was playing an NPC for much of the story. I don’t know if this was due to the way the story was written, or what…but I’ve never gotten that feeling before and have been playing since ARR. They really did shoehorn Wuk Lamat (who felt more like the MC in this expac) in many places she didn’t belong, and I say this as someone who likes her as a character.

[@evercreepy]

I am currently replaying ARR with a new character, to get my "msq fix", and I don't get the comparison between DT and ARR at all. ARR is slow but pretty involved, while in DT WoL really feels like an NPC. Not because we're not "the main character" (tm), but just because we as a player have nothing to do, and WoL has nothing to say, really. Every expac revolved about other characters, like Estinien, Hien, Lyse or Exarch/Ryne, but I have never felt like WoL was just essentially nothing more than a "camera viewpoint" in a movie.

[@ErraticFaith]

Yoshida is a known liar in our country. However in the sense of what you're familiar with - he specifically said (with evidence out there) that the WoL would NEVER be sidelined. It was one of the things he specifically stated to NOT do. Along with a list of other things that he changed over time. Most in the community won't remember Maidy and the others as I do. But when I logged in during EW and listened to them sorrowfully saying how the game they knew is all but gone, I really felt sad and choked up a little. The game is a pale shadow of what it once was and yet all you do as a collective whole is clap and laugh for their r-tard grade design. Hell they can't even be bothered to give you seasonal events like they once did. Whilst in the 4 other major MMO's some of them last over an hour or more (with activity) whilst Yoshida and co can barely be bothered to throw you 5 minutes work, with a sub fee.

[@Tamamo-no-Bae]

@@ErraticFaith wdym with seasonal events? Those still come such as the Moonfaire (Although I must admit, the quest was very short this year)

[@MissKashira]

My issue wasn't with Wuk Lamat, it was with the writing. We've had plenty of other comic relief characters, but if we had an expansion where we were trying to seriously make Hildebrand the leader of Ishgard I'd be side eyeing the writing. And if we succeeded and everything worked out for the best, I'd DEFINITELY be side eyeing the writing. That's where my issue lies, a bunch of stuff just doesn't make sense from how Wuk Lamat could suddenly beat Bakool Ja Ja AND all his minions when she couldn't land a single hit on him at first to why the Alexandrians wipe memories of loved ones when they are expending tons of energy to keep those loved ones functioning right upstairs! There is no need to remove their memories, if you miss grandma, take a trip to the amusement park, she's up there.

[@Yun_denn]

13:47 This caught me off guard. 🤣

[@Sohbek]

My biggest criticisms: Wuk Lamat isn't just naive, she's actually literally a moron. As an example, we spend ~30 minutes talking about the totems the giants use to remember peoples' lives, their friends, their family, etc all have totems. Zoraal Ja asks to see his father's totem and Wuk Lamat is like...My father has a totem!? YES, WE JUST SPENT 30 MINUTES EXPLAINING PEOPLE HAVE TOTEMS BUILT WHILE STILL LIVING Next, while I very much enjoy the story as it pertains to Alexandria, nobody really takes seriously what exactly we're doing when we delete Living Memory. All of those people are basically "alive" - they are conscious, they're active, they're moving around and doing things. It's no sustainable, but nobody actually grapples with the fact that we're killing thousands of people at minimum (millions or billions at most) and we're not asking for consent. We're just killing them. I get that we kind of have to because it's not sustainable, but nobody other than Erenville seems to take it seriously (including the WoL) and we spend no time at all contemplating an alternate solution. Just because we help a few people out does not mean we have the consent of all the other people we're killing. The dude that lost his ring - what if he wasn't the one we ended up helping? What if we had helped in someone else, and his final act before he came to an end amounted to getting a second chance with his long lost love, only to have it go wrong, and before he could make it right, it was all over? That would be an absolutely miserable way to die, and you would have forced that on him, and who knows how many other thousands you never spoke to. And we never really grapple with the gravity of our choice to wipe everyone out. I have more but those are the big ones.

[@the7blargs]

Feel like a lot of the story just had a lot of missed opportunities or felt very incomplete. By the time I got to the cowboy town I started to skip because it was just boring to me. Then I got to the invasion and got interested again. However it lost me again in the last zone. I did not feel sadness because I didn't get attached to a bunch of npcs that were already dead anyways. It was objectively a moral and right thing to end the program. Otherwise real lives would be lost. I didn't hate the story but it really should have had more time to cook. Wuk was alright but she was just in the story way too much at times. It was incredibly random for her to just "appear" in the last trial somehow. I was never expecting ShB or EW levels of writing but I wasn't expecting what we got either. I am perfectly OK not being the focus either but maybe the WoL could have been a mentor type to Wuk instead of just a bodyguard. The scions could have also just as easily not been in the story. There was no real competition with any of them and Graha on the canoe was weird because it should have been Erenville to maybe talk to us about his relationship with his mom instead. Fun to play through but the more I think about the story the more I'm left with questions regarding a lot of the choices the writers made.

[@Zingdo]

Just your average summer vacation

[@nayska8]

I totally agree with you, that's pretty much how I experienced Dawntrail MSQ. I cannot wait to see where this is going next !

[@Zingdo]

The back half of dawntrail was definitely much more exciting than the front half of dawntrail. Doesnt mean the front half was bad, just that the back half is probably more what people expected

[@Nodnarb59]

Nah front half was bad

[@iosephus2588]

It was the opposite for me. I went to a Dawntrail with a vision of some light adventure story and really enjoyed the first half and was both quite surprised and disappointed that it switched to more serious note. I probably really would like the second half of the story on its own, but the way it went against my expectations made it somewhat disappointing. I would prefer them to just stick to completely light-hearted adventure or to a serious one. Not to mix them.

[@Zingdo]

@@Nodnarb59 such is your opinion, although i can think of numerous people offhand who would thoroughly disagree that the beginning of dawntrail MSQ was bad

[@normalmighty]

​@iosephus2588 it was clear there was going to be a problem to anyone paying attention to the tone of community hype. Half the community was hype because "finally, a nice low stakes adventure to get back to our adventurer roots!" The other half was hyped because "sure haha, can't wait for my 'low stakes adventure' that totally isn't going to be over by lvl 92 as we dive into the most insane cross-shard/matrix adventure with higher stakes than ever ;)" I think the devs realized there was this clear split in player expectations, and tried to address it by dedicating one half to each group. The problem is that that meant more people had one half they liked a lot more than the other, and people tend to talk a lot more about what they didn't like than what they did like.

[@ScionOfTheSeventhDawn]

I mean, that's how it's supposed to be, last expansion ended a 10 year long arc, the new expansion starts with our heroes just enjoying themselves before introducing us to a new arc. That's just story writing 101.

[@mindfighter1]

I had to take screenshots in every area of Living Memory before turning them off. It was too beautiful yet tragic

[@daibz]

i enjoyed DT it wasnt perfect and come after SHB and EW is a tough act to follow but it did its own thing. act 1 was a lot of fun and good to chill as a helper role after the whole scions and being the WOL. act 2 was with the helping the train and learning more of erenville and his story now being important. act 3 was great back to being the WOL after a break and into a heavy story of life and death and the balance of it all. the little details in act 3 really made it so good. i think a lot of what we saw in DT is going to be expanded on in the next dlc especially kriel. wuk was a time a lot of fun and had that adventurous nature to dive in head first while also using her head to understand the people around her very much a shonen mc which i enjoyed. i do wish the scions got to do more and spend more time with them but at the same time i was happy to be with new characters after being with the scions for everything the last few years. wuk and erenville for being best friends didnt really interact much which i thought was a let down.

[@UnidentifiedRob]

I liked it well enough. I just missed my WoL feeling like an important character. My favorite moments in the expansion all revolve around her actually getting to show what she's made of, as opposed to the backseat we so often had to take.

[@DaniLynnXIV]

My main issue with DT is that it's inconsistent. I don't expect it to be a heavy expansion, especially that we all thought it would be that "beach episode" - slow paced and out of the norm. And we got that until level 95 and it changed to a different story. It felt very out of place.

[@MrLightlike78]

4:20 RIGHT?! i kept saying the same thing...like bruh you voiced this 10 sec cutscene but not that scene back their that seemed rather important? Beyond that...too MUCH agriculture...like A LOT. I cannot be the only one who noticed about 50% of the plot focused on crops and what people ate. I get it...food is a touch stone that helps people relate to others. lil heavy handed on that...I know this the weirdest complaint ever.......It just stuck out to me because I was bored...a lot. "Like oh sweet crops again! *Single Gunshot*"

[@doolenny9458]

This is the best review I have seen of dawntrail As someone who loved the story of it I did appreciate seeing the other perspective and some of the criticisms I think are valid even if I mightn’t agree with all Great vid avy

[@TheMinidow]

I'm surprised the first wing of the raid had big cat girl, jpop idol, junkrat, and horse, and somehow nobody was melting down over any of them outside of bee my honey infiltrating the algorithm.

[@KeavyGoesLive]

As a Blue Mage fan, I'm excited for the future expansion updates that will, hopefully, give us access to the home of Blue Magic and expand on the role. I understand it'll always be 10 levels behind but I feel like they have a great opportunity to really expand on what Blue Mage can do, as in content to play with that job.

[@Tamamo-no-Bae]

Unfortunately those quests are expansion specific, so we wont go to the Whalaqee until we are lv 110.

[@lauracapper3807]

My partner made a good observation and they are only just getting into the DT MSQ. They said: “The story feels like it would’ve played out exactly as it is whether I was present or not.” And yeah….it does feel like that, everyone, including you, feel like non important background characters to Wuk’s story who you don’t even get to play as.

[@Brofisticus]

Yep! Pretty much nailed it. I detest 90% of anime, so making this a shonen expansion was a death sentence.

[@JustinStrife]

I don't like shonen anime. And I've been watching anime for almost 40 years. This expansion was HORRIBLE for me.

[@mishaelalucoji9620]

Honestly Wuk Lamat made me feel like I was exploring with Dora the Explorer. I liked her but she just felt too ignorant of her own culture for being the one who grew up in the area.

[@Castersvarog]

Oh god I forgot about Ketenram. Like dudes been built up for so long but damn he did not matter

[@fayemi7983]

I tried talking to my FC about this and I was completely alone in feeling like we weren't given a real reason why Zoraal ja was the way he was. They said because he was the "resiliant son" and he had a lot of pressure but like my problem is that's not enough justification for him to want to do want he did. I'm also disappointed we didnt get to see more of sphene, if we were able to see what happened that led to sphene choosing what she did i think this expansion would've been a lot better. Overall my opinion of this expansion was that it was good but disappointing as well, but i think DT is going to be an inbetween story for the next expansion. Y'shtola is still researching how to travel to other reflections and i think DT is meant to be sort of a stepping stone for that.

[@meriwidget3474]

Yes, thank you! Zoraal Ja was the WORST character, he has ZERO reason to be like he is and what he is... "I like war"..? That was his ENTIRE personality. It was one of my biggest gripes with the expansion. They spent so much time on Wuk Lamat and gave her like 5 minutes of development (as Avy pointed out here) that every other character just.. was a 1 dimensional cardboard cut out of a character in the background. They say 2 headed Mamool Ja can't reproduce, but here he is. No further explanation (seriously who was the mom in that?) Goraal Ja apparently raised 2 adopted kids just fine and somehow he utterly failed to raise his own kid in any way? Again, I can see that happening, but it's in no way mentioned or expanded on. It's like they were trying to do a Zenos 2.0, but boring with no charisma. And Zenos was divisive enough in the first place.

[@Deode-d4h]

@@meriwidget3474 Zoraal Ja feels like some entitled brat who thinks going to war is the best way to have peace be more appreciated. It kinda does, but you don't have to go to war just for that. Also, whenever Zoraal Ja encounters someone old during the rite of succession, he can't refute any of what they say cause they lived through those days before Gulool Ja Ja and they all agree it sucked.

[@omnilisk279]

Agreed. They had a reason, but there wasn't enough build up. When we got finished with him my reaction was mild annoyance and just "That's it? Really? That's why you've done all this?" We really needed to spend more time with him and Koana as well and less time with Wuk.

[@meriwidget3474]

​@@Deode-d4hthat's interpreted though. They spend almost no time with him, so most people have to fill in the blanks to define him. And he hardly interacts with anyone. He had one speech where he basically said peaceful times make people weak, but that was it?

[@EbonEden]

Agreed. Zoraal Ja just felt like someone who was literally insane. Like with a true mental problem. Maybe like a side effect of his unusual birth? Idk, idk, the reasoning was so half baked I found myself making my own speculations as a coping mechanism. There was just not enough justification for his actions, imo.

[@yurisatoru1143]

Remember in the thunderplain, where those NPCs thought you are out of your mind because you are there without regulator, and not even this kind of regulator Sphene has? Yes, her crown is a regular. Seeing her regulator/crown could mean, she will return

[@lam7039]

Sphene was an (administrator) endless so a regulator would've been meaningless for her, I think the crown is a processed Crystal of Light that Hydaelyn bestowed upon the world in her early days just like one that Matoya has, this point has been nearly forgotten by all the recent turmoil so I think this would be a good point to highlight that again

[@S3rp3rior]

DT is legitimately my favorite expansion now. (DT > EW = ShB > HW > ARR > StB, StB being *the least good but still good so chill out*) From the areas, the music, the characters, THE FF10 AND FF9 REFERENCES, everything. A lot of the criticism I see of it i do think is valid (scions taking a back seat and a lot of Lamaty'i, for example) I feel as though for the *baseline* expansion (like no patches yet) and the start of a new story its a real "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario. We have had plenty of adventures with the Scions being at the forefront so them taking a more concrete support role I think was okay. Then us having a LOT of exposure for Lamaty'i I feel like was deeply needed considering every time we've gotten a new character ppl have complained about us abandoning them (COUGH COUGH ZERO COUGH) and I just don't want her to become Lyse 2.0. They're very similar but Lamaty'i has way more roots in the area we're exploring so having a lot of her I think was needed. We have 10+ years of this story to look forward to, we will have plenty of time to explore all of the things we may feel we missed out on in the base expansion. LET'EM COOK!!! Last thought, you can turn Living Memory "back on" so to speak via being in the area and new game + it! I did that and the amount of PAIN i felt in my chest was completely unrivaled from any expansion. Its a beautiful cross between ff9's alexandria and ff10's dream zanarkand. When I turned it back off I felt nothing but relief. As beautiful as that place is the cost of it being on was far too great. I think it's more beautiful in it's "turned off" state. Great expansion, can't wait to see what comes next

[@akthesunsetter]

TLDR: I think the best way I can summarize dawntrail as a whole was that it was a good medium rare, but it wasn't well done. The main problem I felt with the story overall was that it needed a bit more time in the oven. A lot of characters felt rushed and still somehow underdeveloped; like they had to go through 5 DLCs worth of fleshing out in only the first half of this one. A lot of the problems we faced felt a bit contrived or muted as well, which lended more to the feeling that the story felt underdeveloped (like with how quickly we solved the corruption in the law enforcement in xak tural, how quickly Koana is willling to give his bid for the rite to Wuk Lamat, gulool ja existing... somehow, the fact that Bakool Ja Ja never gets the death penalty or even disqualified from the rite for all of the problems he caused, and so on). One of the biggest criticisms I have is they spent too much time on the little details that it came at the cost of a better main story. It made it feel like they were too afraid to let the story finally start gaining momentum, and when it finally did get some speed going they slammed on the brakes out of nowhere. On the other hand, for the parts they needed to do well for the story to succeed I felt they nailed those for the most part. Wuk Lamat felt strongest as a character throughout the Alexandria arc, the whole ordeal of handling the endless, seeing some of the differences of how the people of Alexandria handled things like how we got to see how the people of Norvrandt handled things, and the fact that not all of tural wanted peace and still had their own goals were some of the higher points for me. It also helped that dugeons and trials were actually pretty satisfyingly tough this time around too.

[@TheLMBLucas]

Gold City was not too sad for me, I only cried twice

[@Brainfly-]

Zoraal Ja was my biggest problem with the story! He jumped from grumpy and misguided to unhinged and evil in a flick of the wrist and I feel like we did not get enough of a reason for him to be like that. They tried the whole "he had so much pressure on him" thing but to me that was not a satisfying explanation whatsoever. Dude was completely twisted: tell me why! 😭 The Alexandria part of the story also did not even remotely get enough time to breathe; it started and ended in like 3 levels' worth of quests. I feel like it could've been the patch story or at least bled over into the patch story.

[@FuyuYuki92]

I quite liked the idea of my WoL becoming a mentor for Wuk Lamat, but unfortunately it fell so extremely flat in the execution. There were so many cool ideas for the MSQ, but the writers had no idea how to implement them in a meaningful, fun way. Unfortunately, Wuk Lamat is also a result of that. Not only is she a Mary Sue who sucks the personality out of everyone around her, we never get a break from her. While I initially liked her, the final trial was honestly the straw that broke the camel's back in retrospect. I have so much to say about the writing but that would become an essay...

[@unknowngamer4628]

Omg you are the first content creator that pointed out Galool ja needing explanation. He is one of the biggest loopholes of DT, how does he even exist???? And you also summarized what was wrong with the characters perfectly, too much with too little time. Most of them need more explanation. Great Video!

[@Sonnabend00]

Avy: we arent involved in a world shattering event, there was no "big bad" to fight...this was us being what we were at the start..just an adventurer. In one sense we are also keeping our word to Emet-Selch when he entrusted us with Azems legacy. Yes it was different and a lot more lightly paced, but thats the POINT. We saved the world, stopped the Dragon War, freed Ala Migho..we've been at the jagged edge, its over we won. Now we can start exploring and getting back to basics.

[@iTaoRekt]

I know and acknowledge that this is a reset and a new start for another 10 yr saga. So my expectations were low and just ready to enjoy whatever they had for us. You cant compare this to Endwalker. Instead as a new start and saga, id compare it to ARR. So with a new knowledge of shards and the mystery of shard traveling, i cant wait to see what shards we visit next. Also, YoshiP please lower the teleport fee. The cost is going to get ridiculous when we have to shard teleport back and forth. Solution Nine already hurts.

[@jojorumbles8749]

To me, Dawntrail is the start of a whole new adventure. It's more accurate to compare it to ARR MSQ than to any of the other expansions. DT is just the setup for future expansions. And now that we have a device to travel to other expansions, no doubt it'll be used in future stories.

[@xicision2533]

Now that more time has passed, I wonder if Covid effected the story of this expansion the most. Endwalker was already planned and written out when Covid started so it would make sense if the story of dawntrail suffered the most from it. We got minor hints of it in Growing light (6.X and jumping a fair bit between patches) but it was a lot more prominent in Dawntrail. I feel like either 7.X or even 8.0 will fix up the whole story problem now that they're starting to write the next major chapter. And The writers are always about 2ish years ahead of the actual game.

[@floortank349]

The whole part with solution 9 and after was similar to Meteion seeing countless worlds going to ruin after reatching "perfection". We basically succed where she couldn't and save what could be.

[@StartouchArts]

I'm in the fire zone of Living Memory and I am so completely mentally checked out of this expansion. I just don't care anymore. These people literally ARE NOT REAL and yet they really want to make us think they are. I didn't care about erasing Namikka because she was irrelevant. Shaaloani barely counts as relevance because we get a bracelet for her. My biggest problem that ruins the ENTIRE story of Dawntrail is the lack of personality in the writing of its characters. Heavensward through Endwalker every line of dialogue oozed with the personality of who was speaking; the writer was able to show how everybody thinks and behaves through their speech. This is absent in Dawntrail. I could grab a random line in the MSQ and you wouldn't be able to tell WHO spoke it because everyone acts the same. Even Urianger barely had his excessively Shakespearean mannerisms beyond the occasional thy, thine, or doth. Every single pre-Dawntrail character could have been replaced with a randomly-generated NPC and literally nothing would change. The second biggest problem is the abysmal pacing. EVERY SINGLE TIME to story starts to pick up speed it grinds to a screeching halt for the most idiotic reasons, such as Living Memory. We're on a ticking clock but sure let's chat with a bunch of fake ghosts and turn on a fountain. Not only that, but so much time is wasted on simply repeating information we already know; many times IMMEDIATELY after we were presented with said information. You could easily shave off 3-4 hours of cutscene by removing the lines repeating info. And finally, Wuk. She's a black hole Mary Sue. The entire story bends to her and her alone. She is utterly perfect, has no tangible flaws, and everything always works out in her favor. All characters kiss the ground she walks on and never defies her. She'll randomly get power ups from nowhere to beat odds that she herself admitted were impossible. She solves every single problem with relative ease. She steals the spotlight every single time it starts to shine on someone else. SHE CAN'T SHUT UP. There are exactly 100 Main Scenario Quests in Dawntrail. Guess how many do NOT directly involve or mentions her? ONE, when you first go into Shaaloani. There are 369 MSQ objectives, and 139 are 'Speak to Wuk Lamat'. over 33% of the MSQ is talking to a single person who has all the depth of a sheet of cardboard. Thanks to Wuk hoovering up 70% of the screentime, Krile and Erenville (who were advertised as being the MAIN CHARACTERS THIS EXPANSION) got jipped. Though I guess Krile being treated like crap in the MSQ is par for the course huh?

[@victisomega4248]

The first half was decent. Then we veered off into IX and its themes in what I found to be one of the most offensive ways possible. That evens it out to a nice 3/10 for me so far, maybe 3.5 now that the tournament arc is out.

[@SuikodenGR]

I honestly e joyed the story... Even after early release, took as of an hour ago to complete the MSQ 😳 I think what helped is playing in JP Dub english sub, cause after Wul's NA VA, oh no... No way I can handle that. JP VA BASE

[@cattysplat]

People forget that expansion MSQ are often not the star of the show, tending to stick to traditional save the world stories. It's the post MSQ patches that doesn't have to stick to these rules, feature more intrigue and darker storylines, often the best story in FFXIV. So I'm looking forward to what is planned in the future. Those who don't like Wuk Lamat voice can be helped with the Japanese voice acting.

[@thrash2429]

I liked Wuk Lamat and liked the story. My main critique is that the pacing could have been a little better in the first act, but it didn’t really bother me as I was going through it.

[@lauracapper3807]

I’m also not partial to traditional Shonen manga writing, so that does explain some of my issues with it too. For me tho, all 3 acts felt like their own separate stories which they kinda were but my issue with that is up until now we were able to string all the acts together in some way to make it all work and make sense. This…imho didn’t have that. Or hasn’t yet. The one and only through line being Zoraal Ja but since you spend no time on his character at all in the first act it doesn’t really connect the other 2 acts. He’s just your average bad guy. There’s nothing connecting him to any of the other characters other than “he’s our brother”. But with none of that actually being explored, he’s really only that bc the other characters, namely Wuk, won’t shut up about him being their brother. I think my main issue with this xpac, as others have said, is that it didn’t feel like I was actually allowed to experience the xpac. I was TOLD to experience the xpac. From us being Wuk’s Glorified Babysitter and the game basically telling me I should like her character, to knowing next to nothing about the world, except through what we were expressly told, to having no real connection to either of the main villains but Zoraal Ja most of all. I’m told to like Wuk, I’m told what this continent was about, I’m told these are our big bads. It didn’t feel organic. And likewise made me and others feel very disconnected from the story. LM has been my favorite part even tho it has made me cry every single terminal we shut off. As someone who lost a parent early on in their life it would be so very wonderful to have that last conversation with them. The one where you get to get everything out so there’s nothing left unsaid when you say goodbye. But that’s really the only part so far I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated and I feel like that says a lot about the xpac as a whole.

[@Rezumaru]

i hardly cried a few times there. especially when that weird lady searched for a young x'braal.

[@loneblade201]

That was probably one of the few good spots for the story of DT. That and the Raha gondola ride were probably the best scenes.

[@Rezumaru]

@@loneblade201 there are a lot of good scenes. Making a dish more interesting than the whole wow lore is impressive in my eyes xD

[@lokifrostpaw2976]

​@@loneblade201 that guy had like 5 minutes of screen time and they give him the best

[@Dread322]

Let's go new Avy video 😊

[@Skitz470]

I mean Ketanram being talked about and then showing up and doing “nothing” was explained by the story. His time is past (just like Gulool Ja Ja states about himself). He is simply around to watch over things in his final years. He’s not really physically up to the shenanigans of his youth.

[@BigSarge72]

I thought it was good for what it is: set-up for a new story. The beginning to most great stories starts out a little slow, then picks up as we get towards the end of the first part. Were there some things I thought could have been a little better? Sure. Was it terrible? No, it was not.

[@Ijneboderal]

I agree with a lot of your takes. The second half of DT definitely gave me a different type of immersion/feelings . I enjoyed it personally. That being said we need a vid of you just showing off glams.

[@Brother_James]

They could have made the ascension arc much more engaging imo. The Cowboy "Wild West" segment could have also been skipped entirely. On the other hand however - The Endless/Living Memory is honestly THE single most impactful sequence of MSQ events that actually stuck with me and I find myself thinking about how much I loved it every other day. Dawntrail could have absolutely been better, sure but for me the ideas they've presented in the second half knocked it all so far out of the park for me person that I could never say DT is a bad expansion.

[@PanteraSD]

love your content, Avy! hope to catch your stream again soon

[@Trajikbpm]

I feel guilty because I can't seem to log in....I made it to 98.

[@willynilly8659]

My big issue is that they tried to do a stormblood 2.0 and have a narrative that is split during the MSQ. lf we had the entire 7.0 to get to develop Wuk Lamat, I think it would have gone down better. Instead we try to moosh in Zoral Ja and Sphene in the second half of the MSQ and it feels so wack.

[@maronmilk]

this is my first time to experience an expansion at launch so i'm super biased,but i was neutral on the story overall :') its a new story,so i threw everything from the prior 10yr story out of my mind and enjoyed it with a fresh palette! some parts felt rushed while others felt unnecessarily dragged on but meh it's the first part of a new story so i slightly ignored that but my biggest gripe is that i feel like the last 10 quests should've have been streched to at least 20? i feel like we had a slow start and then they strapped us in for this crazy ride that refused to stop until the end which i didn't enjoy but i'm excited for post story and what the next expansion will bring!