Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail arrived last week and, while I’m not completely finished with it, I had to get my first impressions out or else I might have exploded. I am a normal person with normal amounts of free time; as much as I wish I could have published a complete review this week, that’ll have to wait until next week. I am in the final zone as I write this description, so we’re closing in, and I can’t wait to put all of my thoughts together into one, humongous essay piece. Stay tuned.
#finalfantasy #finalfantasyxiv #mmorpg
0:00 Introduction
1:36 Chapter 1: The Same Ol’ Thing We Did Last Week
5:32 Chapter 2: I’m Going to be Hokage of the Pirates!
9:21 Chapter 3: Yawntrail
SOCIAL MEDIA:
https://www.twitch.tv/ember_arcade
https://twitter.com/Ember_Arcade
MUSIC:
I make all of the music you hear on the channel.
source
Go easy on me.
Wuk Lamat hate is so forced.
Also, why change the formula if it works? Every MMO that has ever changed a working formula has had a downfall.
Wuk Lamat is the reason i couldnt deal w/the cutscenes. The acting is just cringe. Might put the game in a different language on my alt playthrough so we'll see if it helps. But they could've chosen a much better voice actor imo.
1 think can summarize FF14 DT. Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail Featuring the scions of the 7 dawn and the WoL
I didn't have a problem with Wuk Lamat's English VA. It wasn't great, but it seemed to fit the character for me. I really just got tired of seeing her face. I would have been happier if she was any race than Hrothgar. Whenever she was on screen, all I could think about was how weird her eyes looked, or how dumb her philtrum and nose look. It was really distracting.
The voice I really couldn't stand was C (truncated due to spoilers), who was introduced in Area 5. Their voice did not fit the character and ruined every scene they were in.
Looking back at the story, there were so many missed opportunities. So many instances of characters standing around and doing nothing because they were needed as trusts for an upcoming dungeon or trial, or because the game wanted to (for the 100th time) make it seem like the boring fetch quest it put you on wasn't so bad because all of the NPCs had to gather components for the quest McGuffin.
Spoilers BelowI felt pretty meh about Dawntrail, but there was a scene towards the end that pushed me over the edge into really hating Wuk Lamat, and by extension the entirety of the DT MSQ.
I've played since ARR's launch and after 10 years of being the main character of the story, I felt like an NPC, regulated to stand in the back until I was needed. And when the I finally got to have my moment, doing what I do best as the WoL, I get robbed, and pushed back into the corner so that Wuk Lamat can take the spotlight again.
I'm pretty worried about where they're going to go next with the MSQ. I have a bad feeling that the 'Key' is just going to be used as a plot device to go to the 11th shard for the FFXI themed Alliance Raid and then never come up again. I hope I'm wrong and they do something interesting with it.
You are right on the yawntrail part. I even skipped some cutscenes and I never did it, even in ARR.
They added too many fillers between good narrative moments. ShB and EW (the original part) should be some example as a good story telling.
Thank you for your candor.
Can tell this expansion is divisive. The "Opinion Police" are back out en force, angrily shaking their fists and attempting to silence any criticism of it.
I'm in the "not good" camp for sure, and have had several people in Twitch chats, and elsewhere, lecturing me on how I "just didn't get it", along with other fan favorites, pretending that FFXIV is some masterwork of literature that somehow just "goes over my head", and so I'm not entitled to criticize it.
I'm taking a break from the game 'til said sycophants crawl back under their rocks.
6:05 would have wished they hired someone like Suzie Yeung for Wuk, who has the range to cover the girlfailure + brave warrior aspects of Wuk, or maybe Allegra Clark
Saying that DT is bad because you didn't liked a character is like saying ShB was trash because you felt that the fairies were annoying, or that EW was shit cuz you didn't liked the relic. Thats how dumb to me these takes feel. It's almost as if people are reading reviews before posting their opinions just to be sure it's the "right" opinion, similar to how every person reacting to the EW MSQ uploads their video with a thumbnail where they're crying on it cuz thats what you're supposed to do so people click on your video.
"They hated him because he told the truth"
DT's story was pure garbage. Everything else was a damn 10/10. Especially the damn dungeons
I was okay with being a mentor/side character and having Wuk Lamat take center stage. But this was supposed to be a vacation and competition against my friends. The time we spend competing is almost non-existent, and we spend more time working with our competition. Not having much of anything for gameplay in the MSQ and actively avoiding fights with so many stealth missions had me falling asleep. Certain cutscenes could have been cool solo duties. (Rescuing sailors and saving the ship in the intro scene comes to mind.)
As I was playing through the MSQ I remember thinking to myself "what is up with the writing it feels so flat?" then after I looked up who the writer was and found out that the lead writer stepped down after endwalker. Its no wonder it felt so different
I think these were all fair and good points!
I personally think people forget how much boring shit there is in most of the expacs MSQ. We remember the best parts. Remember the trolley shit in SHB? they even kinda meme'd on it in DT. How about helping the ninja turtles in SB? ARR all around is a major bore except for the very end. The thing is though. These stories were building up things and eventually did reach those heights we remember and love so much. Did DT have those intense moments like SHB and EW? No it did not but it provided a lot of buildup for the future. I do agree that they did not need to harp on the themes of SHB and EW though.
Ngl you where right about the 4th zone having southern accents which weren’t southern accents and just felt louder then the other VAs with no actual emotion to them
Ive been complaing about the stale cadence since shadowbringers… Which is my favoeite expansion.
This video is criminally inderrated.
did I hear pajama party at the end of the video 🤣
I preordered and I couldn’t get through the msq because of how bad it is.
Between the transphobia aimed at Wuk's VA and people having unrealistic expectations following Endwalker it's so hard to find legitimate criticism.
Dawntrail is setting up the next expansions in the same way ARR was setting up what would follow. People who thought, THE WRITERS INCLUDED, they could replicate the payoff of the last two expansions, deluded themselves completely.
I don't think the expansion is bad, I just think people set their expectations too high. They wanted another 10 with the payoff of 4 expansions, got an 8 trying to build future payoff, and now the world is ending over it.
The whole Peace and Happiness shit it handled so childishly in my opinion.
There’s a respect for the difficulty and complexity of handling these topics throughout the entirety of the H/Z Saga,
The City-States & Beastmen in ARR,
The Dragons & Ishgard in HW, even within Ishgard itself in regards to adjusting to the Truth of their history,
The effects of long term Occupation by a Conquering Empire as seen in Doma & Particularly Ala Mhigo though Fordola,
By the end of ShB we finally have alliances with the Beastmen but it’s been a hard road and trust still isn’t complete but it’s a start towards a better future.
But in DT everything is solved so easily and simply with trying to understand each others cultures without confronting that some are just fundamentally incompatible.
It would have been interesting if Gulool Ja Ja had some skeletons in his closet about how he united Tural, but no, it’s all so easy and simple.
Again, Childish and Immature compared to how the subjects were handled throughout the entirety of the Last Saga.
Haters gonna hate I guess
TBH I have finished the MSQ and whilst I enjoyed the story in a way it felt like two stories aimed at different age groups. The first part was dragged out a bit, and kept going on about friendship and understanding it felt more like a My Little Pony storyline. The second half however was much faster paced and in a way was more fun, and the storyline, whilst darker felt the better of the two and not so childlike. I was a little disappointed that the WOL didn't have much of an impact but I understood going in that they were not the main focus of this story. The building and character development were very good but it wasn't one of the best expansion stories we have been given.
This expansion would've been…bearable if they cut Wuk Lamat's lines by half. She is without a doubt, one of the worst written characters in the game and the final nail in the coffin for me was the final trial and how in the final bit of it they find a bullshit way to thrust her back into the story for a literal Naruto meme. Also while others will tip toe around it, I will not. The voice actor was a terrible choice, there are clear moment when Wuk Lamat is yelling or there's a tense scene where you can hear his real voice start to come out over his Wuk Lamat voice which again, if Wuk Lamat didn't have as many lines this wouldn't be much of an issue, but here we are.
Just here to see if anyone calls you anti lgbt for disliking wuk lamat’s voice actress*
To give a raiders perspective, who cares about the story. The mechanics of the dungeons and trials are unique and fun and I’m quite excited to see what they’ve come up with for Savage. IMO the gameplay has been 10/10 except for maybe that dungeon that gives everyone a big head.
I mean I enjoyed it for the most part. There were entirely too many cut scenes imho, but I do think they are leading up to a much more intense story, the later half of Dawntrail was great, and even the character development in the first half was good, but it really did feel like I was reading a book rather than playing a game. I’m just looking forward to the future tbh. No spoilers but I do think the post msq cut scene is leading to an exciting raid series on the 16th. The combat mechanics were top tier though imho. Ex trials are no joke this expansion.
Yeah, I was bored with this one, though I did enjoy the FFIX stuff, especially Solution 9, but yeah boring. Endwalker is still my favorite. Wuk Lamat was cooler when I left the voice in Japanese. The American team was more concerned with hiring a transgender over talent.
idk man yes DT story was slow but i honestly i didnt mind cause i know we are going to get set up for something even better
In Dawntrail, the MSQ turns into WSQ, Wuk's Story Quest.
Good video but I disagree with one point in your video.
You said we shouldn't have been surprised with taking a backseat of the WoL and the scions. At least for our character I think it's fine to be disappointed.
Be it the Game trailer, the benchmark, the launch trailer or the cover. The WoL was always presented, not in the background, not at the side but in the middle.
Nothing of that ever suggested the level of plot-overshadowing Wuk Lamat would have had.
I thought we would just go back to the level of Heavensward or Stormblood where we were not the centerfocus but still an important part of the plot. ishgard became our home and we fought the dragons and knights, not just Estinien. We fought Susanoo and Zenos was OUR enemy, not Lyse or Hien. They were the Main characters but we still had our own importance.
But we were not even that.
there was no mentoring, no importance to us. in one cutscene Wuk Lamat's axe even blocks the view of our character.
All the live letters, inteviews and media tours of Yoshida also never implied this at all.
I think it should be not surprising with players being taken back by that.
If the future of ff14 is making my character just the cameraman then I don't know if I want to be part of that anymore and I'm subscribed since end of ARR early HW.
SFEEEEEEENE LISTEN TO ME.
Love how anyone who voices their displeasure at this schlop is easily branded as "transphobic" and just being haters. Most of this community is just proving they will happily eat anything this company shits out
I didnt even like Endwalker's story no way im playing this one.