FF14 Dawntrail - The Most DIVISIVE MSQ in HISTORY

Well it's been a little while since Dawntrail dropped, and so its time for us to sit down and talk about the most Divisive expansion FF14 has ever seen.
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Twitter: @Preachgaming
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Credits: Frolic - Luciano Michelini

[Preachgaming]

So obviously this expansion is very divisive and the conversation surrounding it can get pretty heated. Like Mike mentioned in the video even in our own office we don't agree on it - I cannot tell you how long me and Mike have spent debating aspects of this MSQ 😂

As ever though even when we are critical, we are trying to do so through well reasoned discussion and to offer balanced takes on the subject. I hope y'all in the comments can do the same.

[Dostwyn]

What annoyed me throughout the MSQ is that nobody ever seems to say the things you'd want them to say, or ask the questions you'd want them to ask. Bakool Ja Ja kidnaps a contest judge and releases a monster that threatens half the continent, but nobody ever mentions that maybe he should get disqualified.
The WoL sees Sphene during the attack on Tuliyollal. Never mentions it. Krile sees the robots sucking glowing orbs out of dead bodies. Never mentions it.
We come to a place where everybody has a weird thing on their heads, a thing we saw Zoral Ja use to revive himself and power himself up. This is clearly something very important. Do we ask what those are? Eventually, yes, but first we spent an hour on learning about farming techniques.
We learn that Krile's earring is a storage device, with data on it from people from another world. Do we ask what's on this? Nope, because we have to get not-Grenolt an energy drink.

[Mr.Genesis]

For a character introduced in Heavensward. This was Krile's moment, and unfortunately she was given the shortest straw after 9 years of waiting.

[redcatte]

Remember how excited Thancred and Urianger were about being against us and his fellow friends in the competition and all they actually did against us was blocking a path with some rocks in the first dungeon? They should had been a dungeon boss at the very least, what a missed opportunity.

[Icycrits]

It felt like Krile had more screentime in the trailer than she did the MSQ.

[OfficialDjTalksick]

It’s crazy because ardbert and Emet have the most dialogue in shb but they paced it out in a way that made you intrigued in them looking forward to your next conversation


Wuk just won’t shut tf up

[hypnotic]

Krile got less lines than cahciua.... The npc introduced in the story at like, 97/98.... Wtf

[lorddraven]

One thing I don't see many people touch on was the wasted potential of Varligarmanda. This thing was centuries old and feared across the nation. Even the mighty Galool Ja Ja and his companions could only seal it away.
Yet it gets freed from a single spell, injures like 6 giants in the temple and goes for a nap in the mountains. We then chase it with Erenville's magic finger and defeat it with the power of friendship 5 mins after it's released. Wuk even seems to take credit for the kill afterwards.
I feel like it should have been an actual threat, we see it wipe out a settlement or 2. Kill some innocents. Live up to its fearsome reputation.
It was also a moment for the WoL to shine. Like stand back, let the established godslayer deal with it. I get it's only the first trial boss but give it some build up. You can spend half a quest zone trading for a saddle or learning a recipe for tacos but spare only a handful of quests on the release of such a major threat.

[professorbean]

The thing that kills me about the Galool JaJa death scene is that FFXIV already has the PERFECT story device to have made it work: The Echo.

The only character who NEEDED to be there for the Narrative to work was Wuk Lamat. If it was just her standing there it would have made WAY more sense that she didn't get involved, because at the time she wouldn't have been strong enough to do more then get in the way. The WoL and company should have only made it to the throne room AFTER the duel was over with Wuk Lamat grieving over her father and then the WoL could have had an Echo flash back of the whole event. It would have made sense for everyone else to arrive too late too, because everyone was busy defending Tuliyollal minuets before.

[coryaustin]

My WoL watching the Scions start walking away: "No wait please don't leave me alone with Wuk Lamat"

[hidehide]

Estinien took the vacation ... we were promised... and he even got rewarded for fighting gulol jaja

[warhammerguy]

I feel those that feel lied to from the trailer and marketing campaign are justified in feeling so.

When you look at the Dawntrail trailer and it's promotional material what do you see?

The scions being prominently featured, giant monster hunting, old architecture hinting to a link between the Ronkan empire and the first, the hunt for the mysterious city of gold and the vibrant colours and environments inspired by south America.

I went into Dawntrail expecting a lower stake adventure that was a mix of Monster Hunter and Indiana Jones with some political stakes.

Instead what do we get? The scions are barely featured, we get a diet version of what the marketing promised us for the first couple of levels before we once again go into a drab environment and with the fate of the entire world at stake once again.

Sphene and her motivations are pretty much just the diet version of the Ascians once again and it feels like reheated leftovers from Shb.

The trailers for the other expansion also don't tell you what the plot of the expansions are but the sell you on the exact tone, theme and encapsulation of what the expansion is about.

[Maradum]

The worst part for me is that this should have been an adventure already. We had all the Azem lore, we know what their position was. This could have been a huge adventure on a new continent. Remove the Scions completely - which would also make it a much much higher impact when they come later! Let us travel with Wuk, Krile and Erenville only (cause they have REASONS to be here). Let the others have a break! Let us make a new group of Tulal people!
I think Dawntrail screams "wasted potential" and "missed opportunity" on every single little corner here. The "wait and see" approach sounds absolutely aweful.

[Mikey]

I dont understand why this was hard tbh. In heavensward we literally cutback all the scions minus 1 to focus on new characters for 80% of the game. It was great and it felt like when they came back they were used properly and more interesting and we got a great story with new characters that got the focus in the meantime. Why ignore a template like that.

[anyroad]

I’m going to defend Zero here.

Zero was a blank canvas because she was basically alien to everything about our way of life. She didn’t eat the way we ate, she didn’t interact with others the same way we do, she didn’t even have friends… because she’s from the void where none of that is the same as on the source.

Wuk Lamat on the other hand does live on the source but she is SO DUMB and SO SHELTERED that it’s hard to imagine her being real in the world of FFXIV.

Lyse had excuses because she had never been to the far East and she hadn’t been home in long time.

[bartoffer]

Y'shtola apparently recorded from a home studio owing to having recently had a child. And even if the quality isn't the best, the performance is still fine, so it's really not an issue.

By contrast, the entire US voice acting studio has serious audio issues the entire time through. The amount of compression on their lines compared to the UK cast is absolutely ridiculous, and pretty much all of the performances beyond GJJ are laughably amateur. Plenty of people praise Koana, and yet his VA voices about 7 side-characters with the exact same voice and intonations, suggesting he's less of a "voice actor" and more of "voice haver." And I mean Wuk Lamat dropping the world's fakest Hispanic accent every third line just goes without saying.

[Jaggedblades]

The "Cutscene WoL" energy is *way* too high in the second half of the story.

For the first half it didn't bother me; the WoL is a self-actualized character, and this journey isn't about me throwing my weight around. It is about Wuk Lamat learning to find the strength within herself to lead a nation.

But in the second half? It absolutely makes no sense for the WoL to just stand around and let as many things happen as they do.

[stumpernek]

I really think they did Krile dirty on this one

[Mesarthim]

You say this is a divisive MSQ?

I think you should talk to Wuk Lamat to found out why.

[LordSykos]

Even if Hrothgals weren't introduced yet they still could have introduced her earlier. Au Ra weren't properly introduced until 3.0 in HW yet Yugiri first appears in 2.2 of ARR. And it's not like it's a surprise, we've known for a while that Hrothgals were in the works.