Is Preach RIGHT about 7.1? | Zepla discusses his latest MSQ video [Final Fantasy XIV]

[@MrJoyShow]

35:35 Yeah, that's kind of why I can't get into the Alexandria story one bit, because their beliefs and ways are just way too alien to relate to. It feels like between treating a cow as a 'citizen of Tural' or 'family', and having AI Sphene being painted as a tragic villain who you're.. I suppose meant to feel sympathy for, the narrative as a whole feels way flimsier than ever. I'm looking forward to them moving as far away from this story as possible, but knowing we're stuck with it for at least another year is worrying. They need to do something about these writers.. I don't want anyone to lose their job, but it's just not good enough the way it's been going since 6.1.

[@shigeminotoge4514]

The thing is, their beliefs around death are INTENDED to come off as foreign and uncomfortable. You are in no way meant to relate to those emotions, in fact, on the contrary, that part of the story is intended to illicit a knee-jerk reaction in opposition which throws you into questioning the morals of accepting people's differences even when they are in strict opposition to your own. Almost as a foil to Lamaty'i's seemingly universal "accept everyone unconditionally because everyone is unique and special." I dare say this was the one, if possibly the only part of the story that was written well, as people's reactions seem to unanimously fall in-line with exactly what they intended, they just seem to completely misunderstand the intent. That being said, the rest of your points are completely valid

[@closurehascomex]

@@shigeminotoge4514 I can see that they might've intended it to come off that way but that intent falls completely flat with the way the tone was written

[@shigeminotoge4514]

@@closurehascomex And that's a fair assessment

[@Azeur]

It's really funny how in the Funeral scene, you can see that the devs were just copypasting the same people over and over in the background lol

[@quesopasso]

42:30 The Alexanderia dungeon hints that they preserved "something". There's a line "They've done it! They preserved the Queen's -" and then the audio cuts out. The original implication was just they preserved her memories. My guess is they'll reference that as "Turns out they preserved everything of her".

[@vincentbeton]

Pickled Sphene?

[@spoopymcspoops7189]

@@vincentbeton 🤣🤣🤣

[@vagabondht5791]

I always thought there was two sphenes, fighting for control the presivation computer version ( the one we mostly converse with and wants to kill everyone to keep the endless alive, the same one from the end of the the last trial). and Sphene the one that tried to talk to us a few times but clamed up when one of the Alexanderia robots showed up.

[@MichaSennin]

We got Azems Key. Its either Her Memory or Ours.

[@cloudstrife2131]

xiv in its Game of Thones season 8 era

[@KingMickeyMouseOoO]

And WoW.......on the other hand.........is now in its Game of Thrones Season 1 era! Talk about "switching places" if you know what I mean!

[@cloudstrife2131]

@@KingMickeyMouseOoO wow is in its Simpsons season 36 era

[@KingMickeyMouseOoO]

@@cloudstrife2131 Huh.......so it's GOOD!!! I like the sound of that! Merry Christmas! 🎄

[@ffffdsd]

More like season 5. Endwalker was S4. It had to follow up from the peak of the show so far and it was the tipping point in terms of quality. Dawntrail doesn't undo everything that came before like S8 if GOT did

[@ghostplanetstudios]

@@KingMickeyMouseOoO It’s circled around to being good again after a long stretch of being unwatchable

[@neasalcryovol6052]

The more I think about Solution 9 and its culture around death; the more questions I make and the more I get confused. Do they not have pets? A lot of people consider their pets as part of their family and grieve for them when they pass. Clearly the concept of cats exists given Black Cat's name. Did cats, dogs, birds, and other house pets just completely go extinct after the calamity? Did the Turalis trapped in the dome not have pets or livestock they had a strong bond with? Also, shouldn't murder, manslaughter and suicide be more prevalent in Solution 9 given the supposed lower standards of self-preservation? How is murder handled? Wouldn't people be emboldened to murder because everyone will literally forget the victim existed??? And punishing the murderer would be really weird because the murderer will have no idea they even committed murder and the family doesn't care 🤨Also, suicide. Everyone forgetting you exist if you kill yourself? That's a dream come true for a lot of suicidal people. That is a WILD concept. The main issue is they seem to not want to fully criticize or point out issues in a culture, or they don't know how. They did this perfectly with Eorzea, none of the city-states are perfect in any way and have massive issues. The nomad tribe was the only group in DT that had an actual issue that derived from their lifestyle: traveling long distances with a young child can be dangerous or too difficult. Babies and young children are abandoned if they were born at the wrong place wrong time for the sake of necessity. This is true for a lot of societies outside nomads. But they completely waved this interesting, nuanced idea away by changing it and taking away any interesting conflict.

[@zeening]

whoa whoa whoa... using your BRAIN TO WRITE A COHESIVE STORY!!?!?!?? excuse me... we're in dawn trail now, that's not a thing we get anymore. on a serious note that was literally my first thought.... do these emotionless doorknobs never ever have pets? or get hurt? or have crime or violence? like what is this preschool disney kids sunday morning garbage....

[@DefinitelyNotAMymmik]

Not being able to relate to the people wanting to rid themselves of the pain that a memory of someone brings is just nuance of being human. But it also completely encompasses the dystopian society that S9 is. That’s just the whole point of the area and story for it. It’s meant to feel unnerving and detached bc it is. Have you ever read The Giver? It’s one of my favorite dystopian novels and kind of hits the nail on the head with how you’re feeling about S9. It’s lacking humanity while the reader still has theirs. And the main character of the book has empathy and humanity in a society that lacks it. So it just gives that sense of “this is horrible and I don’t understand it” It’s just the whole point of it

[@ilitsa]

The Giver is one of my favorite books, and is exactly how I interpreted S9. solute to you for appreciating a great book!

[@ricardomesquita4827]

MSQ gave me such a bad impression that I'm only going to go back to XIV on 8.0 no matter what, just so I can get out of this damn continent as soon as possible.

[@marydanielle7183]

I’m with Zepla. I disliked the entire expansion MSQ. By the second half I gave the intro to the new char a try but I was already skipping scenes again almost immediately

[@Gloriankithsanus]

I don't really understand this "I skipped shit, and now I don't understand anything, and that makes me angwy" mindset.

[@RiseInAfterlife]

@@Gloriankithsanus Except you could skip large portions of DT MSQ and not miss anything cause it goes around in empty circles a lot of time. Anytime Wuk Lamat opens her mouth you could skip everything she says cause despite having 3rd msot voicelines in all of FFXIV since 2.0 she barely says anything relevant that drives the plot forward.

[@CeresAzalia]

13:43 - I hate baby Galool Ja. He's so... pointless? The entire main story of 7.0 could have been told without him and nothing would truly be different. And it felt like they shoehorned in finding an explanation for who his mother is so that we'd all stop asking, but frankly, I don't care. I kind of wish he didn't even exist. So the plot thread of figuring out who she is felt like wasted time to me. Ultimately, I feel like Galool was just a shitty plot device to make Zoraal seem even more messed up in the head, so we'd hate him more or something, but it felt trite and very immaturely written like a bad highschooler fanfiction. None of it made sense, and it felt just... like... oh, now we've got a little lizard boy to take care of... as if we haven't already done enough babysitting in this expansion... (looks at Wuk) now we're LITERALLY babysitting a child. I was kind of hoping that after main MSQ they'd just send him back to Toraal to be cared for by some off-screen, never-seen nursemaid and the people of Alexandria would focus on figuring out how they want to organize their interim government and whether or not Galool even has a legitimate claim to their throne, which, IMO, he does NOT. His father kind of forced his way in through illegitimate means... and Galool literally said he doesn't even WANT to lead. So let the kid be a kid in the Royal courts off somewhere in Toraal surrounded by his own people, and let Alexandria move on WITHOUT him. Again, he's POINTLESS.

[@willrobert4197]

I LOVE YOU ZEPLA! I'm sorry that you're going through a tough loss, I'll be prayin for you and your family. Hope you have a MEEERRRYY CHHRRIIISSTTMMAASSSS and a HAAPPPYYYY NEEEWWWW YYYEEAAARRRR!!!!!

[@Dastan117]

I don't think Zoraal Ja knew he COULD have a child like that. It's a miracle at first with him being born from a Blessed Sibling, and even further still how the child of a Blessed Sibling can also have a child like him. Perhaps he just thought himself infertile. A child of a Blessed also having a child himself. This is uncharted territory in Mamool Ja society.

[@RoxieBunnyHeart]

Thaaaaank you this is how I took it too. It seemed such an obvious thing that didn't need to be explained to me but Zepla isn't the first person I've seen to have this mistaken.

[@Carsu12]

​@@RoxieBunnyHeart because its not so obvious after all

[@TheBolondron]

It's extremely obvious.

[@1337penguinman]

Something you have to remember is that no one in this game is over 40. Or those that are are considered super old. It's like imagine a kid that gets brought over to the US from a third world country with their parents at a single digit age. Their parents can tell them all about life in that kind of environment but they aren't going to remember it in any significant way. Also, we know the regulators actually aren't working anymore because of the Hildibrand quest. No more souls outside of the black market. Which means you've only got what you've got. And I still think with neo-Sphene they're just rehashing the Elidibus/Ardbert arc from the 5.x patches. It's Preservation doing it, and there's an Ascian pulling the strings. Like Emet and Garlemald. The "discovery" of Electrope is almost a perfect mirror for the "discovery" of Ceruleum by the Garleans. Her crown is pretty obviously the top part of an Ascian sigil. Also, how much you want to bet the original Sphene isn't wearing it. Or looks different from the Sphene we know. Possibly with black long hair and minus the tattoos.

[@frbny88]

As soon as I saw her crown I started looking at ascian sigils to see if I could match it up lmao

[@oriain81]

I'd wager a bet the majority who do play now are over 40.

[@Carsu12]

​@oriain81 the characters in the game, not players 😂

[@大-g4b5]

Koana didn't need to be dumber to show his bravery and recklessness, it's just poor writing.

[@katarh]

Koana read exactly like a frat bro to me in that instance. How could someone who has a college degree do something so stupid? Well, caught up in the heat of the moment, many very intelligent young men do some very stupid shit on a regular basis.

[@1986Hikaru]

@@katarh Anyone close to Wuk Lamat start to loose brain power and becomes braindead. Ask to her fathers brother.

[@AkaroXIV]

45:05 That's what naturally happens in the aetheryal sea, memories are cleansed before the soul reincarnates. They outright say that Alexandria has replicated the process in the Origenics dungeon Also the unsundered are dead, all that are left are those like Fandaniel who have their own lives and personalities outside of their Convocation selves.

[@xalmor6044]

They say that memories return when you reach the atherial sea, not that they're cleansed. This is outright stated in the lecture in Sharlayan and back up at the end of XIV. Past lives are remembered once you die. If anything they are locked upon rebirth and unlocked upon death. Cleansed implies destruction yes?

[@pastaboy1338]

I kept saying DT msq was written by a fresh graduate and no one believed me TT

[@Frankthetank302]

I had 0 emotions during the whole 7.1 it was like fries with not salt and ketchup also the same copy 5 pasta npcs bothered me in the funeral cut scene 7.1 was definitely changed mid course from somthing else and you can tell.

[@SILVERONIN216]

I was laughing during that silly funeral and thinking "these idiots don't know I LB3'd their silly robo queen teeheehee" 0 sadness lol

[@ultrAslan50]

same. but the dawnfall of FF14s story already started right after the end of endwalkers MSQ.a cataclysmic event in which the world is saved is already the peak of storytelling.they could have finished the game after that to let people's brains remember FFXIV as a masterpiece. well, the after story of endwalker started interesting but the main protagonist Zero was pretty dull sadly. back then,right before dawntrails release, i was happy about the fact that they scrapped Zero, but Wuk Lamat became way more annoying than Zero was. now, looking back, i would have been prefered an adventure with Zero to another shard as an xpac instead of this paper chase beast tribe slog with horrible pacing and bizarre storytelling. i mean, it was pretictable since endwalkers final patch that Wuk is gonna ascend the throne anyways, so you could skip the entire part until Shaaolani without missing anything and nothing happens anyways. the last third is overrated, it was way more interesting but full of plot holes and bizarre story telling again. if the normal raids and jeuno would not have been so fun i would have quitted the game.dawntrails story is in terms of narrative quality way below ARR and just as good as ARRs after story

[@chrismeyers5963]

@@ultrAslan50 I think the word you're looking for is " downfall " not dawnfall lol

[@asyme9717]

I've been playing the game for about 5 years. Loved it but... had to peace out with this patch. I just didn' t care about the characters or the locations. I... hope I'm wrong... but I have a feeling this expansion is going to be disastrous for the health of the game. I can't see many people getting excited about this stuff or sucked into the story.

[@SuperRamos619]

DT might be a dud, but as we've seen with WoW, a good expansion will bring people back. People WANT to play FFXIV, if they've a reason too. It's just that currently, many people think there isn't a good enough reading to. In fact people are probably more excited for a 2.0 Mobile version of FFXIV than the rest of DT.

[@SILVERONIN216]

same, stayed subbed since 2018 but DT made me quit fully. I will see what 8.0 has to offer but until then, to hell with 14.

[@captainmurphy4948]

@@MarcusMaybenot I don't need a needle to be shoved into my skin before I know I'm not going to enjoy it. Same with seeing Wuk. Also most of the content either hasn't arrived or is aimed at the savage crowd, even the chaotic is just meant to be getting people excited to do higher-tier content even if that just isn't appealing to some of us. Telling casuals to basically sit and spin for what will probably be a year isn't that appealing.

[@mininabs]

I don't necessarily think it will be DT that is disastrous as much as an inability (or not being allowed to?) update and modernize the game. There are free mmos out there that have better QoL changes, and have for years, than 14. It's feeling like a dated mmo and a luke warm reception to the xpac didn't help.

[@hallo-mt5tx]

it just creates insane whiplash, going from shadowbringers/endwalker to dora the explorer my trust in the devs is pretty much reset to 0 after DT

[@moudoka]

Dawntrail was absolutely horrible. I hated it. I hated Wuk Lamat, I hated the story. I quit the game. MIGHT return for 8.0, but I doubt it. FF14 is dead, and I've played since 2.1.

[@JustinStrife]

I've been in FFXIV since Heavensward dropped. I use to play every single day for YEARS. Dawntrail, shattered my love of the game. I haven't finished the 7.1 msq patch, i haven't capped my tomes in months, I might log in once or twice a week but... That's about it. I'm on the verge of letting my medium house and medium FC go when my sub ends.

[@LordRobaZe]

good riddance

[@zeening]

​@@JustinStrife exact same scenario, just trying to get my last stubborn dumb friend to download discord to keep in touch but the dude refuses, soooo frustrating >.< i spent years trying to get that house, multiple 18+ HOUR days sitting MANUALLY CLICKING THE PLACARDS to have some... if i write what i want comment will just get deleted... come up and click the placard once and immediately get the house between my extremely fast clicks after sitting there for EIGHTEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN HOURSSSSSSSSS! :( and i'm seriously debating letting it lapse because i'm so beyond done with square/yoshi.p's seeming lack of care at all, and the big fake show he puts on and waterworks about how "HE CARES SOOOOOOOO MUCH ABOUT THE PLAYERS REEEEEEE HE CRIED WHEN THEY HAD TO DELAY ONE EXPAC WAHHHH" aaand then they deliver us dawntrail, and then EIGHT MONTHS of 450 cap on tomestones so it takes 2 weeks per piece of gear, with ABSOLUTELY NO CONTENT WHATSOEVER besides an ultimate and god awful chaotic raid... FOR EIGTH MONTHS NOW!!!! EIGHT MONTHS!!!! like.... WTF HAPPENED??!?!?!

[@zeening]

"WE'RE GONNA SHOTGUN IT OUT!!!! over.... an entire year..... with no content besides an ultimate and crappy chaotic AND WE'LL JUST SEE HOW PLAYERS FEEEL!!!!!" yeah we hate it, with a passion. do better.

[@Lucentile]

Not knowing about death also implies under the dome people don't have pets. The most sad implication. I also hated the talk with the kid where Lamat talks about how we can remember people... Well except that we destroyed their archives of living memories and no one mentions the sheer hypocrisy there.

[@8BitCerberus]

Before we shut down Living Memory, when people died their souls and memories were shipped up to LM, and simultaneously the memories of them were wiped from everyone else's regulators. This was laid out pretty clearly when Namikka dies and suddenly no one remembers her, even the people that were just there tending to her. That was what the kid and his mom were talking about. When people died before, they just... forgot about them. No pain, no loss, no grief, no sorrow. But now that LM has been shut down, the regulators are no longer wiping the memories of their dead, so now they are for the first time having to confront loss, grief, etc.

[@katarh]

I bet they have tamagatchi or Digimon. Little virtual augmented reality monsters they can can adopt and raise that will never die.

[@zeening]

literally what i said to myself when Zepla said that, they don't have pets?? they never get hurt or sick outside of lethal scenarios? etc & yeah that scene w wuk lamat was sooooo obnoxious

[@closurehascomex]

I can't agree with Preach's take. The end of 7.1 was not what I wanted at all. I don't understand why the writers are so averse to 1. letting characters stay dead (I was annoyed af with the sphene reveal) 2. addressing the horror of S9 in any way. It's so disneyfied and sanitized.

[@Snowflakecats]

All I’m going to say is its Ascians that’s all I’m going to say see u next story update

[@MurakamiTenshi]

I'm praying that it's Ascians, at least we get some good story again

[@Snowflakecats]

@ honestly with what we have now I agree but i think they will be back eventually

[@NeoBluereaper]

Preach means mysandrist not misogynistic. The more he talks the more it sounds like hes been huffing paint.

[@ItsCassius]

Sphene giving the smile at the end of 7.1 to a crowd of enthralled citizens is just another copy of 5.1 where Ardbert-Elidibus shows up. Dawntrail just takes concepts and themes and story beats from earlier expansions without any of the understanding as to why they worked the first time.

[@Kanamon22]

Yeah, this exactly. I remember watching a video when they mention the pattern on story segments with ShB, EW and now DT, and with that in mind this is just like Ardbert and Elidibus, and with a culmination on the next patch X.3... that would be... hilarious in a bad way.

[@rektl2036]

i do wonder how many souls are left for the regulators, other than the animal ones used in Arcadia.. i thought majority were already used by Speheen and Ja rule during their fights?

[@ricardomesquita4827]

Don't the people in Solution 9 have movies or history books? Because there would be records of dead people there. Frankly this all seems terribly ill thought out.

[@LunaticThinker]

You know what I liked about 7.1? Being a tank. I love being a tank that do super hard content, get into a cutscene, watch the machinist intercept a big boss monster while I stand on the sideline with my thumbs up my ass just watching it happen.

[@clumsyturtle8544]

The stinger at the end of 7.1 is spheeeen (the real one) isn't dead, so basically the end of 7.0 amounts to nothing because no one dies anymore. It's so frustrating, how did we go from shadowbringers to this?

[@BlaxxShadow]

I don't think we're supposed to relate to the people of Alexandria. Rather we're meant to pity them. There are people out there that are just that lost and either have to find their own way or remain lost.

[@jenevere]

The bit about the bunny boss has been debunked. The boss was around before the dome went down, so it can’t be her. I think it might have just been a stylistic choice

[@katarh]

But did the boss look like that before whatever horrible experiments they performed on it? It's clearly Swolebuncle adjacent. They experimented with sticking human souls into monsters. (Most of them were volunteers, but I suspect more than one might have been a political prisoner.) The presumption was that one or both of the moms got stuffed into the existing vidral - and that's what morphed the appearance.

[@SageTigerStar]

The notes inside the dungeon itself talk about a dude named Atticus being experimented upon, and becoming something akin to a Tural Vidraal, which they refer to the bun at the end as being like one as well. It would make sense if they were connected, so why include the writings about "Atticus" and being a "Tural Vidraal" if the creature you encounter at the end is supposed to be Erenville's Mom (who has no mention/association at all in the dungeon itself)?

[@jenevere]

@ What's cool is that Atticus is actually the S rank in Heritage Found! It was more lore about his backstory and how he turned into a giant snake monster.

[@kita6502]

7:40 the people in solution 9 is known to all have regulators and depend on regulators. Only the pople on the outside have no regulators

[@vincentbeton]

Ah so that's where the Erenville's Mum Theory came from. The braided Hair with the same dye does stand out indeed. Tural Vidraal's are a thing though, so unless we get some type of Werewolf Viera out of this, I highly doubt any further connection. Heck, maybe it used to be less violent and they got along with each other Disney Style, letting her braid its hair. You never know with the current Writers = /

[@spoopymcspoops7189]

I really need sphene to meet Omega and see what happens in terms of AI, that conversation could be sooooo interesting

[@1986Hikaru]

Omega: "You are boooooring" Sphene: 😭

[@paganflute3989]

after dawntrail, reviving Xenos or Xenos story as a whole looks alot better now, doesnt it? :P xD

[@zeening]

i would 1000000% rather have Zenos back

[@Muppemania]

Ya, how they handled death and grief really rubbed me the wrong way, not well done at all. Perhaps it is because I have known more then enough loss in life and know how if feels both as the first time as a child and later as an adult. As for the story overall, it just feels like they could leave WoL out of it and nothing would change, we are Wuk-Lamats unpaid bodyguard and nothing more. That story duty was just the last straw for me, it was all about Wok-Lamat and Koana, it could have been a cutsceen and our role would have been as meaningful. When it comes to other content to do. If you are casual and you have done all those things earlier, there is nothing, NOTHING, outside the 24-man, 2 new dungeons, the odd trial, and 1 8-man normal raid after finishing 7.0 until 7.3, that is insane, if you add that the story is imo the weakest it has been you may see a lot of casuals and others that play for story leave, most will not kick up a fuzz they will simply unsub and never look back.

[@seriilyn]

I'm one of those casuals, I play for story and I enjoy creating characters, finding out more lore, and decorating my house. I had a similar/worse reaction than Zepla to DT, it absolutely killed my enthusiasm for the game, took me ages to even get through it because it bored me so much that I kept finding myself falling asleep or having to do other things to give my mind a break. When I finally finished it I thought the best way for me to express my displeasure was to unsub. So I did just that, got rid of my house and figured instead of wasting my time and money subbing to see the patch I'd just watch Zepla play it (since her DT reaction was closest to mine). I haven't watched her playthrough of 7.1 yet because I can't quite bring myself to. I just have so little desire to see or know what happens next that I won't even do it for free... From what I've seen in comments and from this video though there hasn't been any improvement. So I'm happy to stick with my decision to just wait and see. I'm hoping that they'll at least manage to improve things by 8.0. But interviews where they don't seem to understand the problems are concerning.

[@Muppemania]

@@seriilyn I know they are releasing a ttrpg next year, since I am into that I will get a copy and get my ffxiv fix that way. As for the game I forgot to cansel my sub so will get to see if 7.2 is better before it runs out.

[@AkaroXIV]

I think that feeling was intended. Especially since Gulool Ja prefers to know about his mom even though she was horrid.

[@Muppemania]

@@MarcusMaybenot Mentioning BG3 while talking about FFXIV Dawntrail is perhaps the best way to showcase how bad the writing is this expansion. Take the Githyanki. You can dislike them for the way they view themselves as superior to other races while at the same time see that they are well written. Your character in BG3 is the main character. Your character in Dawntrail is some random npc standing in the background while Wuk Lamat is given center stage. A stark contrast from both Shadowbringer and Endwalker. Now take this sceen. It is the lead writer attempting to tackle a difficult subject and make it feel alien, which you can do, it is however difficult to do well. In my opinion it is something the current lead writer is not good enough to handle. What really rubs me the wrong way, and in a big way, is how our character is turned into an npc this expansion. This is not our story, this is not our adventure, we are pushed into the background while an npc is written as the main character. I hope 7.2 is better, but I fear it will at best be more of the same. At that point I might just let my sub run out for the first time since 2.0. And if 8.0 has the same lead writer I am not returning, I have a feeling I am not the only one.

[@zeening]

exact same scenario, just trying to get my last stubborn dumb friend to download discord to keep in touch but the dude refuses, soooo frustrating >.< i spent years trying to get that house, multiple 18+ HOUR days sitting MANUALLY CLICKING THE PLACARDS to have some... if i write what i want comment will just get deleted... come up and click the placard once and immediately get the house between my extremely fast clicks after sitting there for EIGHTEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN HOURSSSSSSSSS! :( and i'm seriously debating letting it lapse because i'm so beyond done with square/yoshi.p's seeming lack of care at all, and the big fake show he puts on and waterworks about how "HE CARES SOOOOOOOO MUCH ABOUT THE PLAYERS REEEEEEE HE CRIED WHEN THEY HAD TO DELAY ONE EXPAC WAHHHH" aaand then they deliver us dawntrail, and then EIGHT MONTHS of 450 cap on tomestones so it takes 2 weeks per piece of gear, with ABSOLUTELY NO CONTENT WHATSOEVER besides an ultimate and god awful chaotic raid... FOR EIGTH MONTHS NOW!!!! EIGHT MONTHS!!!! like.... WTF HAPPENED??!?!?! also from comment above "Lucky Bancho Census is out now and shows active player population declining after DT to pre-Shadowbringers levels. So DT basically undid all the player growth the game had achieved in the past ~4 years or so. Oh well." and i'm here for it, 10000% deserved after the amount of money and especially TIME i've put into the game since i started in 5.1, my steam shows over 32,000 hours played and my /playtime ingame is just under 500 days >.

[@Chaoskoch]

Preach will forever gaslight himself into thinking that Dawntrail has brought anything worthwhile on the table in terms of writing. I remember how much he cringed at all the hilariously stupid moments and then afterwards he literally lied about how much he "enjoyed" them, just so he didn't have to face the fact that this expansion is a travesty (again, in terms of writing, there's plenty of other good aspects to it).

[@zeening]

well he wants to keep being J/O buddies with liemaster.p... of COURSE he's not gonna say anything bad about it... you know how ALLLLLL ABOUT DA FEEEFEEEES yoshi.p is, guy cares more about feelings and words and hurting feelings than actually providing a good product or being and reacting like a normal human being to frustrating situations.

[@bolladragon]

Koana's story could easily be fixed by his parents dying tragically to that gem dinosaur instead of going to fight it. As soon as Koana learns he wasn't abandoned at all (because he still technically was in the MSQ!) and it turns into a plot of him using the skills he gained after the path his life took to avenge his family and tribe from the monster that devastated them and make a better future for the ones left. More cliche, sure, but it removes the glaring issues with one single change.

[@8BitCerberus]

A lot of people seem to be missing what happened with Koana's parents, assuming they both just decided to go off and hunt this monster down or something. They didn't just run off to hunt/fight the dinosaur leaving Koana behind, it attacked their tribe suddenly one night, and they (and presumably others) tried to hold it off or distract it so the rest of the tribe could escape. There's even a line about them telling everyone to flee to safety and take their son with them. They assumed Koana would be protected with the rest of the tribe... but it seems the tribe instead just noped out and abandoned him (and probably anyone else that couldn't keep up). Could one of them have stayed behind to take Koana to safety? Maybe. Maybe not. But it wasn't like a conscious thought out decision that they made beforehand, it was a sudden attack and they reacted to it in kind.

[@FrazzleCat]

My running theory since 7.0 is that the script was written at least in part with the assistance of AI. This is why we get such out-of-touch handling of issues like death, loss, and we also see a significant amount of story elements that make no blasted sense, while other story elements, as you say like the hunters and their crazy stunts, are somehow ignored. No human brain, no writer, frankly, would ever NOT see those elements. That's, just, like, my opinion though. 🤷‍♀ But never forget, this IS square we're talking about.

[@FrazzleCat]

One Sphene is the memory that was re-awoken by Wuk Lamat (because of course she's the center of it) during the Eternal Queen trial. The other is most likely Deudalaphon. Here's why I suspect this: During Shadowbringers when you're gathering the candy and you hear the voices of the original Convocation members, Deud says: "May all know happiness, now and forevermore". That sums up Living Memory quite succinctly, and the entire purpose of Preservation's - the name of which also fits - goal was to program Sphene to suck aether from the Source. Sphene's AI was incapable of resisting that programming even if she wanted to.

[@ThatJaMzGuy]

EW was my first post expansion experiance and i thought that was bad but its nothing compare to DT as a whole just a awful filler dlc that actully made me stop playing the game i dont see a bright future with post DT im waiting for the next expansion or maybe im just out for good

[@SILVERONIN216]

its 8.0 or bust for 14. DT is a write off.

[@carlobertolini7833]

👋

[@AkaroXIV]

People said the same shit about the Warriors of Darkness during the Heavensward patch content. Honestly without the full arc as context a lot of stuff looks like filler. Like even in ARR, imagine the time dedicated to the Doman refugees without knowing that years down the line you'll go to Doma.

[@ArchieGamez]

so weak

[@zeening]

@@AkaroXIV no, don't ever compare the warriors of darkness post HW stuff to the absolute drivel that is DT again, this is NOT the same and you need to get your head checked if you think it is, and yes that needed to be as blunt as it was when you say something like that. also major difference, that was all planned out, this is as madeoflies.p said "we're gonna shotgun content out, we'll throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks and what players like!" as if that is even REMOTELY a good idea when you've just recently climbed to the top of the MMO genre....

[@RobotNinja01]

The issue isn't that they don't deal with death, it existed even for them, the problem is the memory was completely wiped from their brain. They never had to deal with loss. Even if the ones that know it and have experienced it tried to explain it to these people, they wouldn't understand what they were trying to explain because they have never had to live with that experience at any point in their lives.

[@familiagamers4422]

I enjoyed the 2nd part like most they did, and hopefully they continue on that path .. Unforget Memories, please :)

[@SenpaiXcore]

A tiny bit late to the party BUT: The people of Tural who got sucked into the dome didn't just age 30 years like that. For them 30 actual years passed in which they had time to learn and develop into normal adults. It is stated that the aether flow in a shard is so drastically changed that it can even alter the flow of time compared to the source. So for them its been 30 years but for us it was like... a day or two. Seems like Preach didn't pick that up correctly.

[@0Cypher1]

As to the long-term road map. to be charitable, what I am imagining Yoshi P and the team are doing is they do have a long-term plan but it has certain flexible points were the story can be adjusted depending on what is and isn't working. the show runner for Babylon 5 had something like this for his story.

[@vexxiv]

whens your review of 7.0 coming out?

[@cherryindil8869]

she said maybe in the week

[@rssiya2601]

Texas was my favorite part, everything else was shit

[@kiwipops]

Zepla, I understand that for you the memories of your loved one bring you comfort while grieving. But let me offer a different perspective, since we're not all in the same boat when it comes to grief. Grief isn't a monolith. Specifically, in my case, complex grief has been really hard to cope with over the last few years. I lost my mother three years ago. While I loved her, she was a very difficult person to love. She was someone who had gone through a lot of hardship, did her best, but also acted selfishly and neglected me as a child in ways that are hard to reconcile with any good memories I would cling to. I was pretty much her only person before she died, since my siblings had all but cut ties, and in that time I went through some horrifically traumatic events related to caring for her preceding her death. On nights when my CPTSD was at its worst, I'd have given ANYTHING to be able to forget what I'd gone through, to exist outside of the pain I went through, because the relentless flashbacks were tormenting me. I even considered ending my life because of it. At my lowest, if I was given the option to trade my few good memories with her for the peace of being able to feel normal again, I would've done it without a second thought. I'm not saying it would've been good for me in any way, but I would've absolutely taken any way out I could've just for a moment's peace. Now that I'm in a somewhat better place, I'm able to remember without feeling quite as sad. But it's taken a lot of introspection and processing, and those good memories are still at odds with the bad at times.

[@violetbliss4399]

My problem is definitely a preference one, I actually didn't hate the start even if it was very slow and just methodical walkthrough of Tural, but as soon as it hit the hi tech my brain decided it was kinda done. For me it's too much in a mixed setting, I'd rather either have full hi tech lean or low-/magi- tech. I will say that it still tickled my sense of mystery a bit, but I'm definitely not hoping that this will be the next 10 years, and more of a visit.

[@8BitCerberus]

Not sure why the high tech stuff would be an issue... how long have we been dealing with Allag and it's technology? We've had video screens since ... 2.x patches? Definitely since 3.x. Then there's Azys Lla is just a massive floating high-tech machine. Dalamud, and the Coils of Bahamut. Crystal Tower. Alexander. The Twinning. To name a few non-low, non-magi-tech things that have been in the game since the beginning.

[@DenRo82]

Since both my parents passed away within the last four years, and my son was only 4 to 6 years old when his grandparents died, I have firsthand experience in explaining death to a young child. So I also observed how people who had never dealt with loss before reacted to it. Based on my real-life observations, the depiction in the game is inaccurate, at least from my perspective.

[@Gloriankithsanus]

People don't know about death, everyone who died got deleted from their memory? At least from the people who embrace technology. And the others are still outside of Solution 9, so I wouldn't know why they'd get inside and go to that funeral. Feel like they're staying out on purpose. 35:55 I think the premise of why we are antagonizing the S9 mindset and preserving life is tied to the reason why you can't relate to them. The memories are the most precious thing that is left. But those people do not have memories of dead people. They just suffer. And neither death, nor suffering in THIS sense was a reality for them for a VERY long time. And if this thing stops being present in your life, then you devalue it. That's also why some people have a general lack of empathy. Maybe I am just one of these 5 people who can genuinly enjoy this story, but I don't really think stuff doesn't make sense or comes completely out of the blue. Is it a bit cheesy? Yes. A bit on the nose? Yes. Sometimes overly dramatic?`Absolutely. Leaning a bit too much into comedic fantasy? Sure. But I think Dawntrail doesn't do anything different from the other expansions. Except the part that we're not really Mary Sue this time around. And i feel like the story still hypes us up as an absolute menace every now and then. The eternal queen sending everyone away except us, because we're actually dangerous, the bun in texas asking who we are since we are asked not to murder everybody, bakool job job being told that he might piss himself if we actually intervene (that's at least the german version) and more of that stuff. I thought it was presented rather tasteful. There are absolutely things that you absolutely have to "buy into" to enjoy. I do think it makes next to no sense that zoraal ja is promised an army that shits on everything, it does once, and on the 2nd time gets absolutely demolished. Stuff like that. But overall I think this MSQ was very enjoyable, and the game itself has never been more fun for me. Every occasional downtime also allows me to prog ultimates, which is great too. So I really take no issue with how the game is, and is progressing, right now.

[@SILVERONIN216]

DT MSQ can't be saved, the foundation is absolutely fucked. DT MSQ is a write off, just gotta weather this shitshow till 8.0

[@SILVERONIN216]

@@MarcusMaybenot ok

[@Chaoskoch]

I absolutely agree. The faster they discard everything from this expansion, the better.

[@JustinStrife]

If 8.0 doesn't fix this ship, we're going to start seeing the end of FFXIV.

[@zeening]

@@JustinStrife it's not even going to last that long if they don't make some changes, from comment above... "Lucky Bancho Census is out now and shows active player population declining after DT to pre-Shadowbringers levels. So DT basically undid all the player growth the game had achieved in the past ~4 years or so. Oh well." that's INSANE, they were THE MOST SUBBED MMO IN THE GENRE as of EW..... we're done.

[@astralbuddha]

I played Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time recently. In hindsight, I see how it might have inspired the 2nd part of the story with the whole questioning the nature of true sentience. The Golden City = Mihoshi

[@majikalmcmuffin6258]

I liked the first half a lot more than the second half. it felt really chill and feel good. I was pretty disappointed by the second half where they repeated the thematic thrust of endwalker except worse. like, you can't top endwalker for me in terms of what it's trying to say, so why would you try in the same game and in the very next expansion. it made me feel like FFXIV had nothing else to say thematically. I still enjoyed a lot of that second half but i wish it didn't have to be that way conceptually, i think it was a poor decision.

[@JustinStrife]

I HATED the first half. Outright hated it. I never thought an FF story would unseat FF8's story as the worst in the franchise for me, until the first half of Dawntrail.

[@DranCh]

Im among the few who truly enjoyed all of Dawntrail’s msq, though I understand where its detractors are coming from and there really are genuine concerns in regards to the quality of the writing, but despite that I was able to connect to the characters and have some profound emotional moments, particularly in the last zone. That being said, my main concern as a late ShB baby is the lack of content post 7.0 release. There simply isnt enough to justify a monthly sub. For 7.1 outside of grinding the new Ultimate and Chaos raid for months, there is not a lot to do in the game except do aome quests youll finish in a day or two. The devs keep saying its okay to leave and come back when you feel like it… perhaps Ill listen to them, cause right now… Im just paying rent to keep my in-game house while I play other games, and that aint right.

[@susucosuco2787]

I'm the same. I did the MSQ on my own without talking about it to friends, and then when I was finished I was like "not my favourite, but I enjoyed that. And then I looked at the reddit and streamers and several of my friends either hating the first half, the second half, or both 🤣 It's nice to be easily pleased I suppose. I'm in the same boat as you with content though. Once I finished raiding I've been playing other things. I'm definitely going to try Cloud of Darkness though.

[@DranCh]

@susucosuco2787 its like that meme of the drunk guy eating a sloppy slice of pizza in his car: Dawntrail taste so good when you don’t have some dumbass in your ear telling you how shit it is 🤣

[@susucosuco2787]

​@@MarcusMaybenot Yeah the forum hilarious. Like healers before Dawntrail complaining that the game was too easy, and then after Dawntrail complaining that the dungeons were too hard.

[@zeening]

uhhhhhhhh how the hell did you enjoy that trash? that's genuinely baffling.... saying this as someone who's been going around for years telling people that shadowbringers was the single best piece of content i have ever consumed in my life of any medium, movies games shows books etc.... have almost 500 days of /playtime and like 32,000 hours according to steam even though i only started in 5.1...... it was OBJECTIVELY crap compared to everything we have gotten from them previously O.O

[@youngimperialistmkii]

Preach's vid was very fun. But I gotta say, Zepla seem to be very done with ffxiv.

[@SILVERONIN216]

Like a sane person, she sees the game is in a shit state.

[@youngimperialistmkii]

@SILVERONIN216 Is Preach insane lol? When I was really burned out on the game, back during covid. I took a long break that lasted well over a year. I now take breaks after the .55 patch, when an expansion is over. And I now enjoy the game now more than ever before. As a content creator, I understand that may be a daunting task for Zepla. But, I have noticed that she seems to be enjoying the game less and less since 6.x. Her interest seems to be all but dead in DT. If I knew her personally. I would recommend stepping away from the game.

[@SILVERONIN216]

@@MarcusMaybenot ok

[@MellowFungus]

​@@youngimperialistmkii The game has serious problems that have been compounding over the years. Preach just got here, of course he's not reached his limit for BS.

[@Grim-Starr44]

She should probably just quit tbh I agree with criticisms but nit picking is just a sign of fatigue. Its like every relationship when the knit picking begins it’s over 😂

[@jamesmckee329]

This makes me miss Zero

[@jgrathwohl1]

They should be heavily busy burning everything Dawntrail MSQ right now and pushing hard on the Meracydia Expansion and making that a new Player starting point, have another era come to an end the WoL couldn't stop, probably from being too busy with Wuk Lamat, and Azem manifests in the next era with their memories scattered that gives people a recap of ARR-EW End of Days and a flashes of how they wrap up Dawnfail. then you gracefully wrap up the stories of the scions etc as well

[@Zephy_Sky]

36:30 Agreed, it depends on the person and who they lost. For me, I've lost friends and family and I would always want to be able to remember them. But on the other hand, I have a relative who drank himself into an early grave after a divorce. I imagine he wished he could have rid himself of the memories and heartbreak and turned to alcohol to do so.

[@ctrlsoul]

you know msq is bad when zepla cannot make sense of it :(

[@mixzawa]

I stopped at the cowboy town bit as it was too eye rolling for me. Didn't help that I had a lot going IRL and trying to get pass that filler part felt like a waste of time. :(

[@Syke-vv4tj]

Wasn't the resistance the only ones that took off their thing. But the majority kept them on and when they lost some they literally forgot about them. So I understand the premise

[@pedromoreira6218]

to me the funniest but also the stupidest part of 7.1 was when khona decided to try to block a charging dino that came straight out of a monster hunter crossover by standing in its way its gun when wuk lamat was RIGHT THERE then she charges in and is like "I SAVED THE DAY" then Khona brings out the sniper from the stormbloods Orbonne Monastery out of his ass same animation and all, they couldnt even bother to do a unique model for his sniper or a maybe a unique animation. Not to mention Zoraal Ja the moment he sees the child he has a live mental breakdown almost like he was like OH MY GOD MY 1 WEAKNESS PARENTHOOD I NEED TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT NOW when he said "we'l see how players react" and then got this reaction on their direction and their somehow willing to die on this shit hill lets be honest and the fact they dont really have anything planned long term really shows me their either getting ready to move on or their just gonna cash in on all the good will

[@zeening]

i sadly think we're in the latter right now.

[@Yokai_Yuri]

35:34 People are just weak minded with the whole take on natural death. The interesting thing about Alexandria is that they have different customs and the queen or whoever is in charge wants everyone to be "immortal". The narrative isn't terrible, but the terrible thing is HOW it is presented to us. If I have to sum up D.T MSQ would be Wuk Lamat and Sphene making a drama about which way of life is better, with the game forcing the narrative to take Wuk's side so she could be seen as the ultimate good guy. People forget that other civilizations like the Allagan Empire, didn't respect life as a whole. They imprisioned, tortured, and conducted horrible experiments on all the beings in the FF14 world, even voidsents. The difference is, we didn't have a drama between 2 people to see who is in the right and who is in the wrong.

[@honest_psycho7237]

I don't have any hope the writing get's better up until 7.3 where the writing was set in stone. I will wait until 7.4 to see, if it is done by new writers who aren't absolute talentless amateurs. Otherwise, I will simply treat Dawntrail as NOT CANON and assume that we found that goblet in a ditch somewhere.

[@lievaordiea389]

I always assumed the baby was a test tube and they didn’t do the deed Why’d everyone think different? XD

[@1986Hikaru]

Probably its both, because everything about the baby is kinda batshit insanity.

[@mattstansbeary3068]

Yes there the one we Fight in Living Memory which the Developers are saying is Coming Back so there two Different Views on the same Queen.

[@carn5786]

In all fairness, everything about Solution 9 is meant to be pretty jarring and horrific. It's a dystopian city from an apocalyptic world, filled with people that have lost of their humanity.

[@yuina88]

after 6.0, everything is skippable tbh. its no longer a story game people would thank me if they do that lol. especially 7.0. you are not missing anything skipping all that bullcrap

[@SILVERONIN216]

Yep I would even recommend buying a story skip for DT till 8.0

[@devonshaw8935]

Yeah I don't really agree with Preach's take, which is rare. MSQ is still bad in 7.1

[@SonnenscheinFlauschefeder]

Dear Zepla , Merry Christmas 🎄😇 !

[@spaceyzane9275]

Dawn trails story and the min max nature of the game is what drove me to look at the best of the Gacha games and just have fun. Probably spend less money too

[@Lore_XiV69]

did she adressed to the msq? i want the video

[@Havoc10K]

Dawntrail MSQ is worse than the entirety of 1.0

[@idowhatiwant3557]

I don't attach myself enough to this game for the bad story to make me depressed or anything unhinged like a lot of you. But over all the game has been kinda of ass since Shadowbringers and I just don't see a point in wasting my time anymore. Good luck to the rest of you, if your enjoying the game, good for you, but for me until they potentially replace the director or he decides to actually do something with the game, I don't see any reason to waste my time playing it anymore.

[@SgtSandflea]

@9:25 Zepla apparently forgot how the regulators work...

[@m0o0ntecrist08]

some one is wrong and some one is right i dont know who, from these two but one of them is right

[@josephgregorowicz5135]

7:45-ish - The regulator is a lesson in how society works. Yes, it was not a mandate to wear them. BUT, most people DID wear them, including those from Tural that became trapped int he dome. This is a society that operated with their own morals, their own customs, and their own values. So even those that ended up there integrated themselves int that. For 30 years, you are exposed to everything around you. It is only natural to do what your neighbor is doing. I'd bet those that refused to wear regulators, while not chastised, did receive strange looks, or maybe even peer pressure from friends and loved ones that DID wear them. The majority will fall in line with societal norms over time. This is the way.

[@shikishiki]

I cant believe that though. Even in our society there are people who are nonconformist just for the sake of being nonconformist. The game lacks that aspekt entirely. And I think that is by choice because if the sol9 belief system would be challenged, it would fall apart immediately. So the writers cant have the characters challenge it. It's also why the twins barely say anything in regard to sol9. Even though it would be very in character for them to be outraged at the very idea. To make sol9 interesting as a writer you'd actually would have to have a philosophical conversation with yourself and then wrap that into a story. Concepts like theseus ship or tabula rasa could play into it. But the writers cant do that because they lack the skill that would be neccessary to pull it off.

[@MurakamiTenshi]

PLEASE GOD LET THERE BE ASCIANS at least this trashfire story might start to make sense. Zodiark-free Ascians like Gaia need to be explored!

[@Eventhorizon1122]

Ffxiv ended with endwalker

[@araragisenpai4088]

Feels like it's a transitional xpac as they're working on the next big thing/arc still in the oven.

[@aaallen23]

well yes of course the big city built around "not dying" and "not feeling pain" would make people feel disgusted. same thing with turning living memory off. its supposed to invoke disgust in the player

[@shikishiki]

It doest work for me though. In my eyes the solution 9 people act like immature children. It makes no sense to me. Especially since a lot of those that got transported into the dome are Viera who live hundreds of years. Yet 30 years in the dome just flip their entire ethical and moral compass? I'm just not buying that. There should be a counter movement that is challenging the ideas of solution 9. But the writers cant do that because if that belief system is challenged, it just falls apart. To make that interesting you'd actually need to have writing skills, which the current team just doesnt. Living memory also missed the mark, it just felt like a slog of talking to NPCs I dont even know and arent worth getting to know because as the story establishes you will never see again. All while a dimensional nuke is ticking in the background. Yet we take our sweet sweet time turning everything off. I didnt feel any disgust, I actually didnt feel much at all except boredom.

[@SILVERONIN216]

I turned off LM without any emotion, in fact I just shrugged and said can't wait to be done with this stupid MSQ

[@shigeminotoge4514]

35:35 Okay, Zepla, you're not MEANT to understand it and be able to relate to it, it is intentionally meant to feel foreign and uncomfortable. It is intended to illicit the reaction of "there's absolutely no way anyone could ever feel this way!" That is by design!

[@shigeminotoge4514]

​@@MarcusMaybenot This is actually one of the parts of the story that's written _pretty well_ insomuch that everyone has seemingly universally reacted to it with the exact kind of knee-jerk opposition that the writers intended. This acts as a very good foil to all the buildup of Lamaty'i's nearly universal message of "accept everyone's differences unconditionally because everyone is unique and special" That we saw in the first half of 7.0. It throws a wrench in the entire thing, because we've finally come up against something that people simply cannot just _smile_ and accept at face value. No singing rainbows here. The issue then being that the writers have since completely dropped the ball on actually exploring that with any amount of depth. They've just kind of let it simmer at a surface level without actually pressing it, ant it makes it lose nearly all of it's impact.

[@Grim-Starr44]

Thank you. Exactly what I was thinking best comment here tbh

[@TheBolondron]

Saying they made the characters alien and unrelatable on purpose is the same as saying they made the story boring and unengaging on purpose. Even sci-fi stories about completely alien societies have to find and put in ways for the human reader to relate to what's happening, to not make the story be a boring waste of time to the reader. This is a well known and accepted concept of good writing. So even if that's true it's not the win you think it is.

[@shigeminotoge4514]

​@@TheBolondron Unless the goal is to invite discussion about morality. It harkens back to the story about the Baby-Eating Aliens, and the Super Happy People in _"Three Worlds Collide."_ A form of storytelling that frames something so shocking and uncomfortable as completely reasonable and commonplace from a 3-rd party perspective that you, the reader, along with the protagonists are left feeling disoriented and confused, even second guessing yourself, if only for a moment. While the writing is not quite on-par with the Super Happy People section of _Three Worlds Collide_ I believe the idea is coming from a similar place, and intended for a similar feeling. *Edit because I am certain KZbin censored this. **Edit again to double check. **Well what do you know!

[@rmrm999]

To me personally, the whole concept of the 7.0 MSQ is just fine and very interesting simply because it's quite different from my personal gaming experiences, but I hate to say that the problem is the poor execution... That said, I liked 7.1 ending, and very much looking forward to 7.2.

[@Tulion]

Can we go hang out with Zero some more?

[@trebr3731]

The second half got really interesting for a second then failed hard to deliver. 😢

[@Brainplastics]

Am I crazy for liking the first half and not liking the second half?

[@Eeore219]

If you are crazy for it, at least you aren't alone.

[@JustinStrife]

The first half could die in a fire. Easily the worst MSQ I've ever seen in an FF game going back 38 years.

[@zeening]

slightly crazy for liking any of it lol

[@jakeliujakeliu]

DT suck so bad I almost quit

[@Horstveratu]

msq is shit now...

[@VizerPS]

story feedback zepla is fun to listen to, stay thinking

[@UltimegaSeven]

When DT was announced to go back to the routes, I wasnt a fan. I know world saving isnt in alot of peoples taste after like 10 years but that just cant happen. After everything youve been through youre just supposed to be a normal adventurer again? In all honesty, Zenos is right: why did you start playing the game? Why...do you even play games? You wanted a good story, good gameplay, challegnes right? There are ways to do that, but you cant be what you started as. There...needs to be a threat. There needs to be a reason to do all this. Doing all of this for the sake of doing it doesnt work. There needs to be motivation, and thats why people rush to fight the dragon. Learning about the world is cool, but its not largely pertaining to the story so most people didnt really care. I wish alot of the lore went to side quests instead and that would have helped with the pacing. Once we got to Solution 9, the story really picked up, because there was a threat and a new reason to keep going. I hope this is a wake up call to people that having a for-fun period is nice, but that cant be the entire expansion...it cant be. Like Zoraal Ja saved this expansion.

[@susucosuco2787]

Gulool Ja, my lizard son

[@Autumnfaery2003]

Yoshi P is too busy Cos Playing and other games and has let FFXIV die.

[@Tunes_]

i think you have to be deeply obsessed with ff14's world and lore to enjoy dawntrail to the fullest. luckily i am that type of person and i loved it the whole way through. final zone is my favorite zone in the game

[@happypanda1176]

Same, Solution 9 takes some understanding of how ff14's world works to actually understand the regulators and why the people of solution 9 are so willing to go along with it all. The soul concept isn't. even somethinng new since we've seen it already in Shadowbringers and in Endwalker. Dawntrail might not be the best MSQ but its not like everything in its lore contradicts what those who paid attention and had invested in FF14's lore has already establish. It's one of those stories that test the lore nerds to see if they had a good grasp onn ff14's systems but for the average gamer, I can see were it can be lost on some.

[@makisbizarreadventure4669]

It was just Amaurot again though.. and the story was Amaurot was so much better. I really don’t like how all these memories don’t care they’re gonna get erased. There’s no conflict no nothing; they all just accept it. It’s too heavy of a topic for them to handle this way when they already did in the past

[@shikishiki]

Really? You like it more than Ultima Thule? The zone where you slowly build one of the most beautiful background tracks while your whole friendgroup sacrifices themselves, each adding an instrument? Thats crazy to me.

[@SILVERONIN216]

You sound like a 14 simp who thinks Yoshi's turd is a gold bar.

[@Tunes_]

@shikishiki sorry I meant I like it visually the most. Im not saying i dont like ultima thule, i think they are both like 10/10 for zone design and i cried like a bitch in ultima thule. For everything besides the zone's visual design i prefer ultima thule, but theres something about entering living memory for the first time and seeing the meso terminal looming with that beautiful music playing, and by the end you permanently change the zone and you cant get any of that back. Unless you go into NG+ lol

[@christiansolid1098]

I am looking at Dawntrail the same way I looked at ARR…boring and maybe..just maybe ..7.3 will turn better…Then, 7.5 will be as good as Havensward …just maybe

[@sushioishii8950]

I am a light casual until Woke L dies in the story.

[@TheZman289]

At this point im starting to believe if Wuk Lamat was instead Erenvilles hot bunny boy brother with the same personality the reception of said character would have been rather different.

[@captainmurphy4948]

Maybe from a certain thirsty part of the community. Personally I'd hate them both.

[@MellowFungus]

It would still be terrible...

[@zeening]

yeah no

[@natebroadus8474]

As someone who likes Dawntrail, I had this conversation with a buddy of mine that hates it. He can't understand why I liked it, and I am equally baffled why he doesn't. After hours of discussion, the one thing we can agree on is that this really is the beginning of a new story, and because of that some people are going to be all in right from jump, and others won't get in until we're further down the road. I don't think Alexandria is too simplistic, at all. I find the idea of a group of people completely detached from the concept of mortality fascinating. Yes, there are people that came to Alexandria from Tural, however, like we saw with Namikka, the regulator erased all memories of those people when they were taken to Living Memory. Any lessons they had to teach faded along with them. Even the bun Zepla mentions only tended the grave because he was FROM Tural. He had a Turali understanding of tending to graves, but once his time is up, nobody else will carry it on -- because, again, nothing of his lessons will remain. Alexandria is sad af. The people are so afraid of sadness and grief that they'll willingly trade away their freedom to escape it. Preach is right, they're like drug addicts trying to snort the pain away, only in place of cocaine you have the regulators. Heritage Found, for me, was a thought provoking allegory for hospice and end of life care. Alexandria is shaping up to be an interesting look at what happens when people have a temporary escape from their pain vs actually dealing with it. Now someone else has access to the cocaine (regulators) and is using it for their own ends. I get that some people hate Dawntrail, but I am actually digging the story.

[@frbny88]

I’m with you! I truly enjoyed the latter half of the msq. The first part is just a drag for me. But everything you mentioned is spot on. I always feel like my opinions are right on the fence and I can’t agree or disagree with what people have to say lol

[@DranCh]

100% with you. I do understand some of the narrative complaints, like some people complaining we didn’t have enough time with the characters to grieve their loss, and perhaps that is a very personal perspective because I absolutely was able to draw connections to personal experiences of loss I have had, and Living Memory utterly destroyed me. I guess Zepla is unable to disconnect from perceived plot holes and focuses a lot on small detials that impede her from suspending her disbelief and enjoying the story they are writing… fortunately not my case and Im waiting for 7.2’s msq with baited breath.

[@pastaboy1338]

ideas were good. the execution / writing was bad. People complained about the latter. It was written by a child.

[@frbny88]

@@pastaboy1338 it very much felt like I was reading something a middle schooler wrote for an essay and had to meet a specific word count.

[@natebroadus8474]

@@MarcusMaybenot Funny thing is, Zepla came up in our discussion.XD I think she probably is about where my friend is. Like I said, the one thing we agreed on is that this is the start of a new story. That means Dawntrail is ARR. To some people, ARR is rough, but charming; to other people, ARR is the pile of crap you have to climb to get to the good part of the game. I feel like Dawntrail is going to be remembered the same way down the line. Some people will hate it for legitimate reasons, and other people will like it for legitimate reasons. Some people loved Crystal Tower, and other people still see it as a boring slog. It's destined to be the wild card you either enjoy, or tolerate as you get into FFXIV's next 10 year story arc.

[@Lyn685]

If the remaining Ascians are involved, their goals and beliefs would be completely different from what they were before Zodiark's / Elidibus' death. I think Zepla is jumping the gun the gun a bit when she says that Ascians returning would be the worst possible outcome for the story.

[@Lyn685]

@@MarcusMaybenot That's not true, she still likes hot bunny boys

[@KaiKouran]

35:53 The same way you can't relate to girls in Africa being married age 11. The same way you can't relate to Muslims soldiers giving up their lives to kill others. The same way you can't relate to Hindi venerating cows. The same way you can't relate to Latinamerican laws stating that voting is a legal obligation and not a civic right. Need I go on? Whatever culture, belief or faith, whether real or fictional doesn't need to adjust to your ways. It's a story, and it can be enjoyed regardless of your specific logic. Every Alexandrian is born and grows with the idea that death isn't the end, that memories serve a purpose to avoid grief and pain. They have been conditioned by their culture, their faith and their rules. Things like that happen in real life. Peoples, countries and entire civilizations being conditioned by their rulers, geographic location, religion, and genetics. I thought you were an open-minded person.

[@1986Hikaru]

"Sorry, but the human sacrifices are going to stop"

[@Mocca_Master]

At this point, what path forward would you actually enjoy?

[@PetarBladeStrok]

I think you're completely misunderstanding Zoraal Ja's scene, when he completely loses it after seeing his kid.

[@shikishiki]

Then maybe the writers shouldnt just leave everything up for interpretation? It's what bothered me in 7.0 as well. The writers throw an idea at you and you are supposed to fill the holes yourself to make it work. How about writing a story that is clear and cohesive in what it tries to convey?