Dawntrail sets out to disprove the notion that Final Fantasy XIV’s best days are behind it. It’s a solid foundation for the next era, but several areas need to evolve and improve if it hopes to maintain its success.
Written by Michael Damiani
Video Edited by Don Casanova
Reviewed on PC
Available on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S
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only thing i cant agree on is viper. job isnt too busy and im amazed people feel that way BUT least is still gonna be fun even if they unbusy it
Such integrity guys. I'm melting from the quality of EZA cream de la cream reviews. Expertly written and delivered. Gonna watch this one a few times simply due to the many levels this touches on. Nothing in this review is just gleaned. Well thought out and it shows that Damiani is a well read gentleman. I'm jubilant I got me some homework tonight! I am jubilant I got a size a little too big for Xmas that I can grow into. (FFXIV tutorial still…so I'm still digesting the review vis a vis the the actual game.) A must rewatch. Stellar and EZA KNOCKS IT OUTTA THE STRATOSPHERE, THE IONOSPHERE….THE…,…,… /Me does the Aluma SF Alpha 3 win pose in jubilation: "…".
The main story is weak in comparison to the last couple of amazing expansion plots. I like what they were trying to do but Wuk Lamat is terrible and how her story is told leaves a lot to be desired.
I dig it. I have some friends that miss the edginess in the last 2 expans. I said "Damn let the WoL relax for once". I for one am feeling the same relaxation. Enjoying the scenery, the music, and the story. As the story went on, I can hear Huber in my head.
"Bonds duuuude, bonds."
8's good enough.
Hard to top Shadowbringers and Endwalker with an exposition expansion, and the battle content's been the best I've seen in a long time.
MSQ Dawntrail makes me realize how boring and dull the game is when progressing through the content. It didn't bother me in ShB and EW because the story was engaging and interesting, but during DT, I kept saying to myself, "When is the next dungeon?" and "When is the trial?" because I was so bored with the story, the 2nd part was slightly good tho.
1st half of the expansion – 3/10 (some of the worst written ffxiv has ever had)
2nd half of the expansion – 7.5/10 (good pacing and while very predictable, a good story)
Ending – 4/10 (I really hope they can save this with post patch content because it’s woefully bad)
Overall for Dawntrail – 5/10 (this expansion comes in below even Stormblood imo)
I have just over 13.6k hrs since day 1 of the 2.0 beta and I’d put Dawntrail below even pre MSQ nerfed ARR tbh… They need to go back to dark fantasy and stop with the happy go lucky “power of friendship” bs that’s quite nauseating.
Solid review. I expected it to be arr style setting because of the whole world building, which dosen't bothers me. I honesty enjoyed the 1st half the msq.
As a mega fan of the story this is by far one of if not the worst narrative driven expansion stories they've ever made. They fumble the ball with pretty much anything that is not related to the lore of Tural. I truly think that this story lets you get invested with its people way more than any expansion and that's where the positives end.
Nothing beats EW for me, but this msq was easily second place. Really enjoyed the vibes and themes in this one compared to other xpacs
Whoever wrote that line about the Viper being too busy disgusts me.
I forgot this channel existed until I saw this review in my feed. What a sad ending.
Nothing can beat EW, but I really enjoyed DT. New zones, music, battle content and graphics update are sooo nice 🎉
so the dungeons are still largely hallways?
If there's one man who knows this game, it's Damiani.
Bro… it's not an 8… at this point in time you are basically reviewing only the MSQ, which is extremely underwhelming if you're used to Endwalker level of narration.
I agree with dami at 1:12. The whole existence of FF14 storytelling is always the players as the main focus. You walk forward, you get story revealed to you. If you don't, no story. Thus FF14 story will always suffer if the main protag, the players are not the main focus. If you're thinking of the line of it's fine of not being main focus for awhile, you've not been paying attention in couple of past MSQs. The WoL has always been juggled around being the main and the side. Some examples of being not the main focus are werlyt story, minfillia fuse with ryne, the fall of garlemald and etc.
As someone who absolutely sold his soul away to FFXIV for two years and played practically every day, it does suck that the general MSQ consensus is that it's the worst it's been since ARR and a lot of people even say the general lows are lower than Stormblood and highs aren't high enough either. Besides that there's also the issue of predictable content distribution, not enough job/dungeon changes. Sure we can agree that FFXIV is still operating in decent quality but 7.0 should've been THE expansion to shake things up hard rather than feeling mediocre like ARR. Seriously hope the writing room realize this and completely scrap whatever was cooked for 7.1-7.5 patches, the 6.x patches were already genuinely awful compared to everything that came before.
On the bright side, the Arcadion as well the ex trials seem to be doing good though, but that's still the predictable aspect of the game, the thing I'm personally most excited for is the Bozja/Eureka type region, that is THE saving grace of this MMO, and I think that Eureka/Bozja might be some of the most fun I've had with any mmo ever.
Oh also, the fact that we had two really well done solo duties in Endwalker but none of that here reaaaaaaaaaaaally fucking sucks. I thought they're going to have more of those in coming days since it's perfect amount of gameplay and storytelling in a completely different way but lol lmao of course that didn't happen.
Graphics, environment, music and gameplay are all fantastic. Absolutely in love with new EX and raids.
But the MSQ is god awful. I was NOT looking for Endwalker. I just wanted my WoL to adventure with no responsibilities, even if just for a moment…
Hey adventurer you know what's fun?? Helping run a presidential campaign for an under performing candidate! It's up to YOU to help her succeed in everything she can't do. Doesn't influencing the politics of a foreign country sound like no responsibilities? Don't worry this is a ✨vacation✨ so we gonna go slow. Thousands of lives are at stake so we gonna do some fetch quest, hide behind some rocks, read history lessons, take guided tours and giggle over local foods.
Comparing DT to ARR does ARR a disservice. There was endless potential in the world building of ARR, dozens of conflicts introduced, varied cultures and setups for many plot lines later explored. DT has none of that. The new world is exceptionally bland. These "diverse cultures" seem more like cartoon stereotypes or a theme park ride. There is no conflict anywhere, and if there is, we solve it in 5 minutes (the mamool ja). There is nothing in the new world to effectively build upon. Instead – Spoilers – all the build up is for the travel to other shards and interdimensional adventures. The writers apparently realized themselves that there is nothing interesting in this world.
Overall, the writing in DT is so much poorer than anything we've seen before. It's be far the worst expansion in a narrative sense they have ever done. However, the world and encounter design is the best yet. Which leaves us with a very middling game.
If is a 8 for them is a 10 for me.
Nice.
EZA review! ❤
Great review as always, guys! 🙂
Now, go talk to Wuk Lamat.
It's unfortunate that eza tiptoed around the truth. Whether it be because it's been talked to death already or because they don't want to ruffle any feathers, saying the story has been divisive amongst the community is not review content. You are supposed to be reviewing your experience, not reporting what you're witnessing in the community.
Dawntrail introduced a new setting, cast and plot threads to make a new saga for the next years, really enjoyed the themes the story brought up about family and culture, not to mention the dungeons, trials and raids are all stellar, crazy to think people believe its the worst state the game has ever been.
My biggest wish is that whenever we get the final expansion, i can explore areas without aggrowing enemies. Also fishing is my highest non combat class at like 50
I adored Dawntrail and it's honestly some of the most fun I've had in an expac while going through the story in a while. The characters are lovely, the refocus on lore feels like a more cleanly delivered ARR, and the environments are some of my faves in XIV.
And the battle content is just SO good I'm honestly so glad they're not pulling their punches in dungeons & trials.
While narratively Shadowbringers is still king, Dawntrail is the most even-spread enjoyable expac I've experienced in a while.
If this is our ARR2 then I am so hype for the future ❤