Watch Zepla play FFXIV LIVE on her Twitch channel here: https://www.twitch.tv/zeplahq
📺 Follow me on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/zeplahq
👕Check out the new Merch Store: https://streamlabs.com/zeplahq/merch
🤗 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zeplahq
🗣 Official Discord server: https://discord.gg/zeplahq
🐦 Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/xepla
Editor : TakLunae [Discord : taksangre]
source
You're overthinking it. Just post it
I feel like in a few months time, I'd want to go back and replay DawnTrail to see if I feel the same way as I did with my initial playthrough.
I personally feel mostly the same about DT as the rest of people, mine may come off as a little more critical then others for some scenes. But overall, I hope the devs realize that we will not accept such a sloppy story this late into the game. If they make another expans like this, it could kill FFXIV.
Dawntrail feels rushed.
MSQ feels like they wrote an outline to be fleshed out later, then were told a date it had to ship by.
Voice acting is first take only with Yshtola being on a webcam.
The choice in cutscenes feels like they were trying to put in as many as possible before a cut-off date.
The zones are absolutely massive, but with all the action taking place within the small towns next to the aetherytes.
The trading quest in the Pelupelu village adds in a new UI element for that quest only, which makes me believe they intended for the quest to have more interaction before getting scaled back, and I suspect they were going to add activities to each of the other trials as well before turning them into just walking to marked NPCs.
I wish content creators didn't have to be scared of being canceled for sharing their real feedback.
They just droped the ball HARD with the MSQ. It was promissed a refresh and simple new adventure. Not a cheerleader simulator. About Wuk… Every single time SE try too hard in make a chacter likeable its horrible backfires.
It is disheartening to realise that Creative Studio III has their own Steve Danuser.
How the hell does Wuk Lamat know NOTHING about any of the cultures in Tural at the start of DT? She was raised by someone who is widely known and regarded as one of the greatest heroes of all time on the entire continent. For that matter, how do NONE of the candidates know anything? Haven't they lived there for decades?
Its much needed constructive feedback! Thank you.
its funny cause they already did the "uncrowned ruler" arc before in Hien in SB and he was much better writen where he didnt overstay his welcome and was knowlegable i personally am also not a fan of their constant need to basicly say every once in a while "oh my god Wuk Lamat you are so smart and you are so amazing", honostly the raid story is way better than the msq imo feels more like a crazy thing we'd on a vacation rather than whatever dawntrail even was
she was overused because stormblood was accused of being a white savior narrative and they overcorrected
What doesn’t make sense to me is… how they didn’t think of why the Ascians wouldn’t come here first for such a powerful relic. They raided and systematically took over kingdoms, but they didn’t think to travel across the waters to take over and claim the power of a primitive nation? Tural fighters wouldn’t pose much of a threat to them.
Can yoshi p fire Kate and out koji fox back to translating
I've never seen a company kill a MMO so fast. Even with WoW it took at least 2 expansions. It's so over.
Theres nothing controversial about it. The dawntrail story was hot trash on every level. The dungeons, trials and raid series have been the best so far but that doesnt change the fact that FFXIV prides itself on its story and the story was amateurish, nonsensical childish and boring while taking too many queues from previous entries. Its a 4/10 story
I said this in another video and I'll say it here. In a game with unforgettable writing, Dawntrail gave us writing that's ENTIRELY forgettable. That's the problem.
If ARR was written like DT, the Crystal Braves would have never betrayed Alphinaud and all that would've been needed for him to unite Eorzea would be a few well timed speeches. He would also have never progressed from the arrogant, know it all that we saw in the game's initial cutscene.
If you have to turn your brain off to enjoy a story, then it wasnt a good story. It is not possible for me to do so anyway, unless im doing a monotonous task, or trying to go to sleep.
The fact that Alphinaud is not himself is that if he was, with all he went through, he would have commented against some actions and opinions of Wuk Lamat and as you noticed there is no way, in this whole expansion, that someone does not love or disagrees with Wuk Lamat.
No one likes Wuk Lamat. Zep's just trying not to upset anyone..
Can we go to meracydia already?
Im ready to meet Australian dragons.
Hear Content Creator Talk About Wuk Lamat
Hear Content Creator Talk Again About Wuk Lamat
Yet Again, Hear Content Creator Again Talk About Wuk Lamat
By far my least favorite expansion. At least in terms of the msq. You and no one should feel bad about not enjoying this expansion. As well as giving your honest opinions. This expansion just wasn’t it.
If people are tired of others sharing their thoughts on the Dawntrail MSQ, then why are they tuning in to an FFXIV streamer's steam? Like, it should be expected that this will be the main topic on people's mind right now. Sounds to me like those people just need to log off and consume things not FFXIV related for awhile. If they don't like talking about the thing, then don't put yourself in situations where you know others are going to be talking about the thing.
You could really feel the change with the writers this expansion. Most of the old characters felt almost unrecognizable to me. I wish they just dropped the scions out of the main story and focus on new characters, if these writers are going to continue writing for the game (tho preferably I want new writers since this msq is a slog to get through. The dialogue itself is often pretty bad and uninspired).
As someone who liked the story but agree with what everyone is point out why the story is bad. Basically is a writing and pacing issue. If you tell someone what happens in Dawntrail, they will find it interesting.
I agree with the chat too, don't worry about being "gentle" with your criticism. Don't feel bad for how you feel or for how others will react.
I know how you feel. This generation hasn't been great for valid feedback and facts 😅
This is so much like Stormblood, it's spooky. The people who disliked it, dislike it, and you'll never convince them otherwise. The people that liked it, liked it, and you'll never convince them otherwise.
A lot of this is because so much of the discussion centers on a specific character: Lyse in Stormblood, and Wuk Lamat in Dawntrail.
If you liked Lyse, Stormblood was a fun ride. If you didn't, you were pretty fucked, because she's the center of the whole story. Hell, we even saw the Scions take a back seat just like in Dawntrail (until the post-patches). Y'shtola wasn't there, Krile was in the background, Alphi was just kind of there, so too was Alisaie, and Estinien showed up for his 5 minute cameo and broke out.
If you liked Wuk Lamat, Dawntrail was a fun ride. If you didn't, you were pretty fucked, for almost the exact same reasons as above.
Just like with Stormblood, I think the criticism is valid. I also think the love is valid, because, again, it all depends on what you think about the centerpiece character they chose to roll with.
Hooboy I'd say it's a sticky situation but… I just say it's bad lol. The writing quality plumetted this expansion. If most of the expansion is going to be talking to NPCs and watching cutscenes, you really need to do better than what felt like the bare minimum
Most of what Zepla said is very relatable to me. I'm super attached to this game, and I love stories and storytelling. I spent a lot of my free time thinking about the characters, the lore, the stories. I've always enjoyed the MSQ, and it never crossed my mind I'd hate Dawntrail as much as I did. I couldn't enjoy it at all. I felt heartbroken going through many parts of it (not for the reasons the writers intended me to be), and I felt really bad about it. I felt depressed the next week after playing it, while some people told me I was being "overly dramatic" and "it's just a game". People told me I was "thinking way too much, I should just enjoy it for what it is", but I've been spending the past YEARS overthinking details and character interactions in this game, and it was never a problem.
Even scenes that I was "supposed" to enjoy, I couldn't. I have SO MUCH to say, and it feels like I've still not said enough about the MSQ. In the past, it used to be "I have so much to say about these things I've enjoyed" to "I have so much to say about how this is done poorly, how this character doesn't behave like themselves, how this situation makes no sense, how this breaks the lore"…
The more time passes, the more I think about it, the less I like it. At the same time I want to keep putting my opinions out there in hopes the devs would hear it and fix it, I feel like I should avoid talking about it and trying to pretend it didn't happen because it's exhausting. Yet here I am venting about it again.
Even today, I still think about Shadowbringers and Endwalker and remember it fondly. It's not been even a month since Dawntrail released, and I wish I could just forget it.
I'm really looking forward to Zepla's video on it. It's reassuring to see her spending so much time and care making sure it's said in the most constructive way possible, and I hope it makes a difference in the future of this game's story.
…or we might have to learn to deal with the "the sundering". Back in the days of paradise, we had good storytelling and compelling characters, now the characters are 1/14 of what they used to be and the world feels small and shallow for those that were here before.
Zepla, Thank you for talking about the failures of Dawntrail. I have felt that my opinion on not liking the story gets drowned out.
Im sorry Zepla but jf you pull punches and sugar coat your coverage of the DLC.
Its helps no one dilutes your credibility and perspective.
And your then lieing to yourself when we can see your live reaction at anytime.
Peoples feeling over this game arnt your problem. If you want to be a authority on 14 someone people and look up to even a little in terms of someone who know alot about 14.
If you get squirrelly over people being butt hurt over your personal opinion then its not worth making the video.
Its a personal opinion your review your thoughts.
Thats all it needs to be its not lost on any of us you didnt like a majority of this expansion store elements.
I was enjoying Dawntrail, though I also remembered how much more enganging the gameplay was in Stormblood, outside the issue of the Dawntrail narrative. If I had to summarize, the main issue for the narrative is they treated it to much like a "vacation" story where people just finished a very risk story with Endwalker, a complete 180 in pacing. If anything it just made me feel that "The world is cursed to tragedy no matter where I go." Of course I also speculate the reason is the 7.5 boss will be Azem by how the pacing goes, but looking to see before I conclude my final thoughts on Dawntrail.
I've said it before: i think a lot of the complaints come from comparing dawntrail to endwalker. However, endwalker was the end of a story, and dawntrail is the beginning of a story. That, plus people always get upset over change.
To be honest this community has insisted for far too long on this really bizarre delusion that XIV has always been story centric and every EP had a great story.
This is just flat out untrue and you can only believe this if ShB's was your first time EP… Most people would rate ARR's story passable and StB below average compared to story oriented games. HW is rated well but not something like Mass Effect 2 or like any of the bioware story game. ShB's is really the ONLY EP that people loved for the story, and a large part of that was the COVID crowd that had way too much freetime and was bored beyond belief.
DT should not surprise anyone who actually understands the game. This is NOT a story MMO – and it might be a good thing that we have finally dispelled that ridiculous claim. This is an MMO – and the developers should be focusing on the MMO aspects and not cater to the COVID crowd that no longer has the freetime to sub just for the story. StB really turned things around with the MMO aspects – they need to continue pushing in this direction. More MMO style content and fix the horrible social systems (friends list, free companies, DC travel, etc.). That is where 99% of their focus should be…
Ill just say this. Reguardless of your feelings on the expansion, it has, by far, the worst rating of any ff14 expac of all time. Its even way lower than ARR. So its something that will have to be addressed no matter what. And im sure, as much as Yoshi P cares what the fanbase thinks, will do some thinking about it.
Im not saying my own personal opinion here, just stating that with how low the scores are, it will have to be addressed, no matter who likes it or not.
Incoming Essay:
My hottest take is that the dawnservant arc should have taken the entire expansion. It felt weird when it stopped halfway through and it was then some disjointed continuation into figuring out what else was gonna happen for the second half. It would allow the story to take its time more, to flesh out Wuk at a comfortable pace and not have to be on screen all the time. We'd have time to vacation in different places with the scions like we were SUPPOSED to. Then the Finale would be getting to the City of Gold and promptly being kicked out for whatever reason (its fiction, you could have made it anything to explain it away.) and then Wuk ascends to leadership. Along the way all the scions would use their past experiences to mentor her on how to go about certain situations, tips from their past and so on:
Alisaie with controlling impulses, Alphinaud on the risks of being too naive, Thancred and how to be a figure for someone to look up to, Urianger in having conviction in what you must do, G'raha on how to handle being thrust into being a leader of a nation, Estinien on managing a desire for revenge, and WoL on how to keep moving forward even in the face of pure despair. Despite Wuk having the actual power of friendship and anime on her side, there isn't really much room made in Dawntrail for actual friendship and mentoring power growth happening. It would have been great for a team of retired scions, having seen much of the world and been to the edge of the universe, to take all of our experiences and help build a modest adventurer into proper leader for this nation. But Wuk ends up solving all of it by herself and never gets punished for her naivety.
The problem with all of this is, the raids and bosses, and amount of maps were designed with Solution 9 and Living Memory (then again, they really could have just figured something else out because again, fiction). The idea of executing the other two areas through the .X MSQ could lead into a type of peak that 5.3 had with Seat of Sacrifice and something new for how an expansion release goes. But every FFXIV expansion is forced to be the same framework which forces them to execute the story in a specific way with no wiggle room. And if they make any change to the structure, people too used to the same thing will also get pissed off if we got the new maps in .1 and .2 instead. But having Sphene as someone to get to know and end up defeating in patch quests a la Elidibus feels like it would have flowed the best. Since people generally agree they tried to do too much in one expansion.
And this is also partly because of their desire to match Endwalker by wrapping up the entire story without the extra patches. But if it's going to suffer in quality the way it did, then it isn't worth it.
Most Importantly, where the fuck are my damn tacos. We NEVER got a follow up on that.