Dawntrail's a Sci-Fi Now - Dawntrail reactions, day five (Shaaloani)

[@bendonatier]

I find myself as a firm defender of Shaaloani's story on its own merits. The rubber bullets are dumb and we should have gotten more mention of the Whalaqee, especially since we have engaged in a Xak Tural honor duel before when we kicked Azulmagia's ass. That said Shaaloani is basically there to do a lot of set up for the second half of DT, the macguffin that is the bracelet that identifies Namika, the constant reminders for Erinvile that he has been away from home for too long and that his home is gone before it literally gets destroyed in a minute, and a reminder of the reflections with the train crew. I think its also really important to remember that Khona is explicitly the one who set up the dust watch, and was basically in charge of making these changes. Were here to see what Tural could have been if he won, and help walk that back a little, which is my guess for how the patches will use this zone. I think the pre train portion of it would have been better as one of our two starting zones, but that would involve a lot of rewriting.

[@kitsunehanyou09]

I'm in this same camp but I never realized these points before so thank you for sharing them! For me, I'm quite childishly fond of this tropey wild West area the devs seemed to have fun making. From a corrupt cop who leads a gang, to showdowns in the middle of town for everyone to see (I agree, they didn't need to mention rubber bullets but at least we know those exist in 14's world now) and seeing the ceruleum pumps and wells, I was particularly giddy. For the story, I was happy just along for the ride since it still felt like I'm just exploring and seeing what's around. Part of me was expecting the needle to drop because I watched the trailer and knew shit was going to go down, but I could set that aside and enjoy the slightly slower pace after the highs of the 95 sections

[@thegneech]

"This is a peace-loving girl who knows how to **** **** up." I mean, she IS a warrior. (And I love her so much.

[@tazersmurf4689]

I see G'raha as our tech guy. Yes he has a specialty in Allag, but he's probably the only Scion who could keep up with the tech babble anyone from the Ironworks could throw at us. That and he was the one who Kokkol chose to help him at the forge while we did things to keep busy until the adamatite arrived. He also as far as we know the only one who is a speed reader with a photographic memory. So when he does pop out an aoe Float spell we can easily go oh he must have read it in a book at some point. We did have access to Break as a role action back during Stormblood and Ryne also has access to Banish as a trust. For me he's like Garrus a guy we know can lead a team, is tech savvy and if need be can hold the line. Now some might say Thancred also fills that role, but I'd label him more of a Thane with a little bit of Jacob in there. Just not the "Oh I met someone while you were in the brig and didn't choose to stay in contact after opening up to you romantically and we both survived a suicide mission." part.

[@Kpiozero]

I personally enjoyed the downtime with Erenville. Though a lot of that may be attributed to me being an American with a love of our desert landscapes. (Tender Valley is an absolute love letter to the Sonoran desert region.) As an X-COM fan the attack on the capital struck me as quintessential terror bombing. Which fits right in with the story.

[@EinDose]

I'll grant that it's a really nice looking zone (and yes, I do like Tender Valley), but the downtime is a little too down for my liking. And I think part of that is linked to Erenville's general character temeprament, but that might be the subject of a later video.

[@Tgirlthot]

In retrospect the story did an immense disservice by telling you Zoraal Ja was up to something prior to this zone. I think if they left it at him being conspicuously absent from the ceremony, it would have given enough foreshadowing while letting you relax into just exploring and getting into the old west shenanigans. It's one of my favorite zones this expansion solely on vibes. As an American from the desert, it's so very Arizona

[@HoneyDoll894]

@@EinDose I think my issue with the downtime is more about what it seems to have replaced rather than any real issue with it in itself. Like it feels like that time reaally should've been spent getting some sort of explanation from gulaal ja ja about what is going on with the golden city and like mayyybe a bit of inspection into why kettenram wasn't there. and then of course that scene ends with gulool ja ja dying, and it starts the worst part of the entire expansion and the trainride of "why is no one asking the obvious questions". (BTW i think the reason we didn't get yshtola in heritage found is because she would've looked extremely stupid for never asking any questions)

[@jude4195]

The reason we didn't step is that this an honorable 1v1 and you know how that man loves his duels (not joking yeah)

[@EinDose]

@@jude4195 I have no problem with us not stepping up, I have a problem with Koana not stepping in once things have clearly left the rails! I belive idle chatter gives a reason, though.

[@Iowa2006]

My favorite part of Wuk saying 'let's smash the train into the fortress' is that it is so very her. It has the ignorant, impulsive, overly simplistic, smash Wuk approach we saw in the beginning, but with actual thought put into it. She knows better by now and still knows it's the best course of action. Level 90 Wuk we'd be "that's a dumb idea", now we're like "you're probably on to something".

[@EinDose]

I actually also feel like it's NOT a level 90 Wuk plan. It's too... big, too self-centric. For a lot of early Dawntrail she's actually more reserved and uncertain, wanting to center and focus others in part because she doesn't think herself good enough. She clearly wants to be someone that can take point, we saw that in Sharlayan, but she tended not to when the chips were down. Her actually going in on an 'I'M HERE, BITCH' plan shows a confidence she hasn't actually had for most of the story thus far.

[@rfactor1502]

So first off, Minister for Shenanigans just sounds like Azem with extra syllables and is probably the most perfect line in this video. And yeah, I had made a guess that the 'resting' head was dead before the WoL even fought our big friend, but in the "Haha, this is absolutely this trope isn't it?" way. Then the fight happened, and the technique failed, and I was all "ah. Shit" Then this scene happened and it was a "I hate being right" moment. And yeah, thus starts Zoral Ja's bad decisions arc, and the setup for everything that happens next, and WHOOBOY was my WoL just in her element here? Guns? Check. Ceruleum? Check. Magitek devices that might incidentally get weaponized? Big ol' check. And a foe that is bringing superior technology to bear only to have some of it seized and then adapted and added to said WoL's arsenal of magitek? Check (and by that I mean dungeon 4 was scoured for glams). But man, I wish machinists (or people who had leveled them) would have had an optional dialog option with regards to the weapons brought to bear, given that such a WoL would know both how various firearms work, and how lightning aether can power machines (AKA how the machinist kit actually works in flavor text). Also it was great seeing the Trolley Trio again, and them having their last member actually alive on the Source compared to the First. And I will even say that I liked the "nothing" questline of the early part of Shaaloni, as it was a nice break from the tension before. It was a pleasant little spaghetti western where we just get told "Hey, don't go all out, it would be overkill, and might cause legal issues." But yeah, the "Koana you have a gun!" issue was X2 for me because it was also "I HAVE A GUN TOO!", and also a bit of "Guys, can you let me keep one of the shiny guns the soldiers dropped? There's enough study and have me get one or two? No? Ah well, guess I'm farming the dungeon." And yeah, that brings up the dungeon again. That dungeon gave me the same vibes as Castrum Abainia. Breaking into a place in a "stealth" mission that is about as stealthy it can get when you used an entire train full of explosive fuel to pick the lock of the front door. And while the dungeon is a bit basic in design, there are a lot of good details to spot on the replay. Which I have done an unhealthy amount already to grab the glams from that place.

[@Kpiozero]

I think it's a pretty clever stealth joke that they put in, but the Titanium Gold armor set, aka the max max armor, feel like jokes because when you're wearing them you're going to go 'beyond the thunderdome.'

[@CH-dr1ds]

@@Kpiozero I also love the Mad Max in time for Thunderdome connection. And as another red string for 8.0 Meracydia pinboard

[@1701Rafael]

The surprise fleet attacking did have big impact for me. Because beside the children topic in your last video, not a lot of dark stuff really happened so far. It was a rather chill vacation. So see people getting killed by unknown army was very "Oh shit! Oh no!" This is also around the point I did get very invested in the expansion.

[@EinDose]

I like the scene more in retrospect, but in the moment the surprise factor actually worked against it for me.

[@NoOne-gg5mc]

The people of Shaaloani speaking in these heavy American accents was definitely quite the whiplash. Especially considering the context. Going by the naming conventions of the people and the towns they live in, it's clear they're Shaaloani natives and not colonizers from another country. The sudden spike of technology and the designs the settlements being attributed to Koana bringing new toys from Sharlayan. But the fact that they act like stereotypical American settlers comes across as weird, especially when you consider that they've had all these changes for only a few years in-universe. It's as if the new tech not only changes their way of life, but also their way of speaking in just three years (If Namika and Koana are any indication, Xak Tural natives who led traditional lives speak with different accents). The doylist explanation for this is probably that the devs wanted to move away from colonialist themes when designing Tural, but they also really wanted a Cowboy themed zone, hence this conundrum.

[@EinDose]

This is all probalby true, but I like the image that Shaaloani had a bunch of people with full cowboy energy, that just didn't have an outlet until they discovered guns and their entire identity found its home.

[@jessicaguarneri8460]

There is definitely something off about G'raha's inclusion, and I think I figured out what I don't like about it. His big unique thing is that he spent hundreds of years being the Crystal Exarch, mastering cross-rift time travel, and now the story won't LET HIM DO THAT. He's also our only specifically-Allagan expert, which isn't really relevant anymore.

[@EinDose]

Exactly how I'd describe it. His 'Thing' in terms of expertise is too far away to call on, and without access to it he's just one of another pile of smart characters in the Scions. And because he basically got a whole expansion to stunt, all the other Scions feel like they'd be better suited for any spotlight he gets.

[@LupusArcavius]

Watching these videos has been such a treat. It’s so funny hearing you have almost the exact same hot takes as me lmao (Koana being super boring early on and G’raha being the most boring cat person in the room. Among many other good takes). I’m so glad to finally be catching up on all these while at work

[@NemesisTWarlock]

Honestly, Gulool Ja Ja's death scene hit me almost as hard as Haurchefant. I felt so bad for Koana and Wuk Lamat.. and personally, I kinda felt the loss of so much.. Potential? Like, He was an amazing guy I would have loved to get to know and like.. trade tales of adventure with for nigths on end. It sounds selfish, I know. Though I can guess if I said that to Wuk Lamat, She'd be like "GODS, He would have wanted that too!"

[@rajabuta]

Shaloni is worth it just for me to roleplay a cowboy 😂

[@EinDose]

One of the strengths of Dawntrail is that it's amazing for the roleplaying scene. We haven't had an expansion this open to regular-ass people just visiting its locales since Stormblood!

[@twilftw]

i like shaloni it feels like its plot would be the plot for a cowboy or machinist realm reborn style class quest but also i get pepole wanting to get to the fireworks factory during it.

[@Iowa2006]

If we still had job quest this area would been a gold mine for good storylines for Machinist.

[@EinDose]

There's a universe where FFXIV's general game design shook out differently and Shaaloani is just how the Thanalan is, and honestly I kinda feel like it'd make a lot of sense.

[@CH-dr1ds]

A pet bugbear of mine is that Fantasy shows using (RP) British accents because the trope is so entrenched - historical fiction even more so, especially when in many ways several American accents have more accurately archaic features like rhoticity, so any time a fantasy series widens the English accents beyond the British Isles I'm overjoyed. WoT is one I bring up often. Shaaloani was a weird adjustment to me because under absolutely no circumstance would I have accepted any VAs that weren't American (S or N). But because I speak it myself and know a couple regional TX accents, I could hear that they weren't exactly my accent and some of the word choices threw me off. There's a couple distinct 'Rez' accents and a general SW/Western that I could tell they were aiming for, but another thing about said accents and those of Appalachia and TX is the heavy use of archaic English and phrase choices that sound old-fashioned and wacky to other forms of English. Just not the same that XIV uses like all the 'needs must' and 'succor'. I wish they had. It would have fit. So my question is, when we get to Meracydia, will you also feel weird if we don't get Aussie accents, and are there some regional dialects that would mix better with the EN localization style?

[@EinDose]

Oh, Meracydia and Australian accents is a no-win situation for me. It'd be wrong if they didn't use it, and an inauthentic Australian accent lands like a lead weight... but for most of my life, Australian accents have sorta been cordoned off into either real life or Australian media; it's very rare that I hear a real Australian in, say, a video game. So even if they do get proper Australians I'll have a response of 'why are you here saying 'Eorzea', you should be on the ABC talking about Sydney'.

[@Zoeila]

you say nothing of import happens but i cant tell you how happy i was to see references to native american's and respecting their wishes instead of just taking it(wood) theres also a side quest that references a dusk/dawn tradition for marriages. imo the attack was an allusion to Cortez seige of Tenochtitlan.

[@EinDose]

Oh yeah, the zone's great. The MSQ stretch set in it is terrible.

[@sennaka]

I am firmly of the opinion that G'raha was added to the throng just because a proper healer option was needed for future trusts in the MSQ. Cause, gotta admit, he's a good addition if you're running DPS

[@EinDose]

But we already had Alphinaud! And Alisaie, apparently! And when Y'shtola turns up she can rock healer, too.

[@brendant.4493]

@@EinDose I'm fully convinced that they're saving Y'shtola for a future expansion storyline with a main role. I don't think that omits them using her now, because... well... she's Y'shtola!

[@HikingFeral]

Looking forward to seeing how you like Trial: 2.

[@EinDose]

I will say that opens day seven, because Heritage Found was long. But it shouldn't be too surprising that I like it.

[@CH-dr1ds]

The "trouble pronouncing names" option made me laugh because I knew it was there for all the European/Eastern Hemisphere players as a fun lampshade (but did they do the same for Doma? *side-eye*). But also reminded me of how, okay x = sh isn't common common knowledge but I didn't know just how little tolerance I'd have for fellow Americans complaining about the Turali names when the state you live in is guaranteed to have a large percentage of native-based names until I saw the racism.

[@EinDose]

I'm almost lucky to be Australian here; I didn't grow up with this at all, so I feel like I've got an excuse when I can't immediately pronounce this stuff. I find a lot of native American words (especially the kinds of stuff Dawntrail picked) are theoretically easy to sight-read, but are reasonably complicated words; 'Hhusatahwi' is said how it looks, but that's a fair few syllables and isn't shaped like words I normally say. Fortunately, only 'Ihuykatumu' actually forced me to say it.

[@CH-dr1ds]

@@EinDose yeah English itself has trained us to panic at pronouncing words and I know I struggled with vowels here. I would say the length is what scares people - but some of those FR names are stupidly long. It’s the double standard undercurrent to how names in DT have been treated compared to previous expansions that irked me.

[@Caterfree10]

Oof, I feel that about the names thing. It baffled me when I first started hearing the claims that SE just “made up” the names here like. I don’t even have a decent linguistic understanding to detect what languages they’re pulling from for this expac, but I’m familiar enough with the assorted US cities and place names that pull from indigenous languages to know that’s probably where DT’s place names are from too. It’s really frustrating to see. Like I get struggling with it bc I did too (and still have some names that are tripping me up here and there), but damn, at least I’m trying, which is more than can be said for some in the community.

[@25xxfrostxx]

I definitely agree on the content of this zone being an unfortunate patch in the story. I noticed that this expansion has a largely unspoken moratorium on killing that has me a bit confused. Any fate against a sentient species involves them kneeling to the ground and then running away when their hp are reduced to zero. Then we get cowboys and rubber bullets. It was just dumb. I really think they should have scrapped 90% of the story from this zone and introduced Erenville's mother here. Let us go on a bit of a jaunt with the two of them where they establish their relationship and how they interact. Show a dynamic that explains more of a foundation for Erenville's behavior in Living Memory. Get us involved in her and present a chance to like her as a character and invest in the relationship between son and mother/mentor. Then put her on that first train to Yyasulani right before the dome pops up. That would have paid massive dividends later on. With regard to the voice acting... as an American, I apologize for what we were all subjected to. They sounded like voices from Fallout 3. I have a feeling they used a new studio for the NA cast and their directors were more accustomed to making an anime dub than an RPG. Only two come to mind as not being over all bad. The Magnus reflection and the sheriff, though he was borderline. As far as the Zoraal Ja and Gulool Ja Ja fight, I was already on a downward spiral with the story, this just increased velocity. The Warrior of Light has fought everything everywhere. They've killed gods, they've killed twitter, they've traveled back in time and killed a vampire and a giant carbuncle (head canon is it's Tataru's that somehow got transported back in time and pulled an FF1 Chaos where it got stronger for it). The instant that reraise beeped we should have been across the room ripping him apart. The scene wouldn't have bothered me as much if there had been a background scene of the scions and WoL fighting robot troops in the other end of the room so we were occupied but alas. Alisaie's dialogue afterward of "We did everything we could" made me want to scream.

[@LightbladeRiulo]

Yeah about those taste in men. Koana doesn’t seem to line up. Estinien, Zenos, The Crystal Exarch, Emet-Selch, and I’ve even seen some thirst over Hermes. What do all do these line up for here? The dark mysterious brooding type with sad backstories. Koana doesn’t line up with them. Wanna know who does? Slightly tipping my hand here but Bakool Ja Ja and Zoraal Ja! I’ve seen so much thirst tossed towards these two. Hell a recent Japanese poll came out and Bakool Ja Ja is the number 3 (#1 in terms of newly introduced characters) most popular character! I’d be surprised but no it entirely lines up with what’s happened in the past! People love themselves a dark bad boy who has a sad story.

[@EinDose]

@@LightbladeRiulo Koana's in the Erenville style of appeal, and I've nefinitely seen him get an audience. Although I admit I grossly underestimated Bakool!

[@absollum]

I honestly think the English VAs sound off across the board. Thancred in particular sounds the most off, to me at least. The only ones that sound consistent to me are Koana and Bakool Ja Ja. I even went back to some of the cutscenes in Endwalker, and it seems a bit noticable. It seems like a problem with voice direction vs the voice actors themselves. I could be completely off, but that's my two cents Addendum: I wish the siege was a solo duty. It would end around when Bakool Ja Ja came to help. We should have arrived shortly before/after the duel. I think less people would be mad if we just barely couldn't make it.

[@EinDose]

I've seen the case for that being a solo duty, but I think out of all the 'this could've been a solo duty' stretches in FFXIV, this one I think can work best without being one. The cutscene sells the sentries REALLY well in a way that gameplay wouldn't; their emotionless implacability, and almost leisurely pace, gives them much more presence and impact than if they were just 'enemies we kill in a solo duty'.