Why FFXIV Dawntrail is Failing Square Enix | Mixed Reviews at Best

FFXIV Dawntrail has been met with extremely mixed reviews. With many players downright angry about it. This video covers the two main reasons why it is not resonating as well as Shadowbringers or Endwalker.

FF14 is a fantasy MMO made by Square Enix. Known for an immense and emotional story that lasted over a decade. Time will tell if Dawntrail can capture the hearts of players and maintain subscribers. And if politically bold decisions will pay off in the long run.

[DefeatMedia]

Hey team!
I knew the second half of this video would rile some people up.
That said, my comments about Dawntrail being "too political" have a specific intent.
It's about the character of Wuk Lamat being divisive amongst the player base. I think its ok to be honest and discuss it.
It's not about narrative politics like, "We shouldn't drain the planet of mako!".

It's also not about if the character SHOULD be divisive. That depends on your beliefs and values.
Cheers, and thank you for watching and commenting!

[Calios]

"Talk to Wuk Lamat" is the new *"Pray return to the Waking Sands"*

[Bunijoon]

The writers of this are not from shb or ew, they were former beast tribe quest writers and boy does it show

[meka]

Funniest thing is even the Japanese players aren't feeling Wuk lamant nor the story on the official forums.

That one JP player

"Estinien went on vacation
The end"

[sternentreue]

Not a single time I felt like "oh I need to progress through the story, it's so intense". Nothing. Really disappointed :(

[GreyC_]

A friend joked that Wuk Lamat turns into Steven Universe toward the end of the story and now I cant unsee it.

[michaelpetersen]

>Talk to Wuk Lamat
>Follow Wuk Lamat
>Help Wuk Lamat
>Walk with Wuk Lamat
>Ask about Wuk Lamat
>Carry items for Wuk Lamat
>Give your favorable opinion about Wuk Lamat
>Cheer on Wuk Lamat
>Do chores for Wuk Lamat
>Advise Wuk Lamat
>Get saved by Wuk Lamat
>Dance for Wuk Lamat
>Grovel before Wuk Lamat
>Die for Wuk Lamat

[coconutz]

My biggest problem with Dawntrail is the lack of gameplay inbetween all the world and character building. There have been several times in the story where it should have been a instanced solo duty instead of a cutscene and there also been cutscenes that should have been an ingame conversation, or just entirely cut out from the game.

The Wuk Lamat rescue operation for example should have been instanced, a chance to get to fight Bakool Ja Ja for the first time. You can set up his rivalry to you and a stepping stone for him later to do his 180. But no it is reduced to a cutscene where Koana's bullets do absolutely nothing just like the WoL and Thancred takes all the credit. AT LEAST let me play as Thancred if he's going to do cool stuff. It also takes forever to get to the part where you just get to kill stuff in the 90-92 zones. At least the Vanu Vanu in Heavensward gave you a cool dance. IT DOES GET BETTER after 95 or so when you finally get to step outside Wuk Lamat's shadow and get to do some Red Dead Redemption with Erenville, only then you truly get some sense of adventure and exploration. Which sucks because the previous zones looked freakin amazing. The dungeons are amazing, the trials are amazing.

Its just the story is just too much all at once and relies too much on Wuk Lamat. She takes all the oxygen out of every scene, like at this point I don't even know why the twins have to be there anymore. It used to be a story where each character would fit some kind of role, you know like a rpg. Wuk Lamat plays all the roles in this story and you better like her or you are going to have a hell of a time. Wuk Lamat will be the dawnservant, she will bring eternal happiness and smiles to her people and she will let you know that wherever you go. Even when things should just be quiet and chill, during a nice boat ride for example Wuk Lamat will disturb the peace with her presence, because she is also sea sick. Don't think about taking a balloon ride to see some sights because Wuk Lamat will let you know she is also afraid of heights. SOMETHING TAKES A PART OF MEEEE

FF14 has an amazing combat system. 7.0 Dragoon and Viper feel amazing. How about leaning more into telling a story while we also get to fight shit and use the game mechanics more. Instead of doing this pacifist shit where the player has no freedom to learn or discover things on their own and has to stand in the shadow of a character he or she may not give a shit about. Getting a cutscene should feel like a reward and not like taking away my freedom and my will to stay awake.

[shade]

I just think its funny that the Final Days(you know that funny little party event from meteion?) seemed to never have even happened in Tural, like its not even mentioned once( which is interesting cause I thought it was supposed to inflict all of Aetherys and not just Eorzea/ the East?)

[kmeanxneth]

just because VA is trans, doesn't mean the character is too, i played it and didn't see any mention of it,

btw the game it self say Wuk Lamats is female many times.

[mugen]

Don't know what you're talking about, bro. It was peak gameplay when they gave me 4 rocks to click on for a duty. And when I tried clicking on the middle option, they say "No, no, you must click on the rest of the rocks first." All rocks must be clicked on and read. I wanted to gouge my eyes out.

[specho]

Wuk Lamats VA being trans has nothing to do with how she is received. Wuk is written terribly and no VA will be able to salvage that. Majority of the player base doesn't even know that her VA is Trans.

[joshk]

That Wuk Lamat found out about her "special someone" at her birth place and they literally showed NO emotional interaction to each other, the character development was that shallow. Heck, Zero's story that went live for just 2 to 3 patches long had a better development than the house kitten's one whole expansion.

[FinnHuman]

My thought after finishing DT was "Finally" and "I miss Zero"

[theskreb]

I think one of the big issues with Dawntrail's MSQ is that it was advertised as a new adventure, but instead you're babysitting wuk for a good portion of it. The fetch quests wouldn't be too big of an issue if there was at least some meaningful interaction or payoff with you and the npcs, but there really isn't.

[Tsuba_Nick]

It has mixed reviews because the writing is atrocious. It’s nothing more deep than that

[pteronura]

i’ve play ARR-Endwalker with english cutscene Wuk lamat made me change to JP and wow the difference is night and day, you can actually feel emotion

[abolishice]

Honestly after you said the expansion "became too political" I stopped listening. It's a game.

[woodenmetal]

I would argue that the player character, in DT, is a detriment to Wuk Lamat's growth; she's never challenged because WoL is there. From saving the world and the universe, we've become little more than a nanny.

[brandonclark]

Hot take maybe, but ARR was the same, Shadowbringer and Endwalker could only be what they were because of groundwork laid down slowly over an agonizingly long time. This is supposed to be the start of a new overall Arc, to me this is like trying to read the Lord of the Rings books, only to complain about how little actually happens in the first few chapters of the First book.