It’s hard to believe that it has been over a decade sinceA Realm Rebornrebooted the failed MMORPG. While it had its share of problems, this revival set the stage to produce some of the best storytelling in Final Fantasy history, having both likable and relatable villains, and lore that goes beyond anything we could have imagined. The last four expansions tell a very specific story that was started all the way back in 1.0, and now that it’s done, it’s time for a brand-new chapter in the Final Fantasy XIV saga, and that’s whereDawntrailfits in.
With the fifth expansion, Square Enix is taking things to the New World, exploring areas of the planet that have barely been talked about. While we’ve seen hints and characters from this location, it’s only now we get to see what the other side of the planet holds. And the results are something we didn’t expect.
Writing Inconsistencies
Final Fantasy XIV has garnered a reputation for having some of the best storytelling in Final Fantasy history, with only a couple exceptions that really dragged out. We’re, of course, talking aboutA Realm RebornandStormblood, but even then, they still contain a good amount of lore and world building even though their execution wasn’t the best. Unfortunately, this is whereDawntrailfalls in. The story is by far the most lacking part of the new expansion, and it’s not because it’s a new saga, but how it’s written.
The first half of the campaign takes us on a journey to introduce us to the New World and its inhabitants, which for the most part does a good job establishing the varied locations. Unfortunately, it’s immensely slow and doesn’t offer much excitement, especially considering the rivalry between the handful of antagonists is barely there or rarely make much sense.
For example, there’s a point where our new companion gets kidnapped, and after rescuing her, something that shouldn’t have been a plot point in the first place, they don’t ever mention it again. A lot of these conflicts feel artificially thrown in instead of naturally nurtured.
Speaking of which, our new companion, Wuk Lamat, is part of the interesting new plot device where Square Enix has moved away from focusing on the Warrior of Light and instead focusing on this recently introduced individual. For the most part, her character has some charming features, and is a cheerful beacon of hope. While naïve, she has the best intentions for her people.
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Unfortunately, how Wuk is written can be downright infuriating at times as, while she claims to love her people and land, she knows surprisingly little of it, as she goes around being stunned by her own city. She unfortunately ends up being a one-dimensional character with little actual growth. By the end of the story, she continues to express her glowing positive ideals despite the situation around her calling for a little more seriousness and change. This feels like a huge missed opportunity as she could have been something a lot more.
Story Woes
Outside Wuk, the second half of the story is where things begin to heat up as a new real threat is introduced. Unfortunately, while there are fascinating ideas, even this is marred with issues. This goes into modern tropes that we aren’t too fond of, but the biggest issue is there are just too many convenient plot devices that are never explained.
There are portions of the story that you have to turn off your brain and not think about, because if you do, you begin to realize how ridiculous they are. Whether it’s standing around while the antagonist slowly walks up to the world-ending device, or a child that, for all purposes, should not exist – and it is never explained how they could come to be, but instead is there simply to garner sympathy and compassion.
And that’s not to mention the borderline hypocrisy of everything we’ve done over the past ten years in the final area. This is something we were hoping would be addressed in the final act as we were doing it, but instead, we simply followed through with Wuk’s misguided ideals. Remember, Wuk is supposed to be the protagonist this time around, but not really having involvement other than helping her with her plans doesn’t feel meaningful.
In fact, it’s almost like the Scions have more involvement than we do. What’s worse is that the emotional stake of everything is tacked on at the end. There’s a little build up for some of it, but most of it feels artificially placed just so we have something there to get emotional about. We got to the point where we almost endorse story skipping in this expansion due to these numerous issues.
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We asked Naoki Yoshida some questions regarding Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail.
So we’ve listed a number of complaints about the story and writing, but there are still a couple of positives that, while don’t excuse the issues, do make the story more enjoyable. For starters, there are a handful of characters that we loved whenever they were on-screen. This includes Gulool Ja Ja, the current Dawnservant, Ketenramm, Cahciua and even Bakool Ja Ja, who is an insufferable villain that plays the part perfectly, but also has a rather redeeming and sympathetic arc. These are just a few, as having the Scions outside Krile mostly taking the backseat was a very good decision, introducing us to more compelling and new faces.
While we weren’t too hot on the story, thankfully, the gameplay is what will keep the players coming back for more.Dawntrailsaw the introduction of Pictomancer and Viper, and both are phenomenal additions to the overall formula of combat. Pictomancer does feel a bit clunky with its motif painting, but it’s flashy and surprisingly mobile for being one of the most powerful DPS in the game at the moment. Viper also lends itself very well, being a class that’s easy to pick up and play, but has a decent amount of skill required to fully min-max its capabilities. These two jobs also feature the compression of button combos we hope to see in other jobs, making hotbars be far less bloated.
As for the new fights, they are some of the best we’ve seen at the beginning of an expansion, especially when you consider the extreme variants. Valigarmanda is arguably the more entertaining one as it goes through different elements and will change the arena drastically. The second fight has some fascinating reflection mechanics that really make you stop to process the surroundings during crucial moments.
And the final, level 100 fight, while it doesn’t have an extreme version just yet, has the potential to be the best extremes we’ve seen, having visually impressive attacks and an arena that morphs into various shapes. This is on top of some solid dungeon designs - especially the three endgame ones, although they are more or less what we’d come to expect.
Raid Content
While at the time of writing this review, the savage versions of The Arcadion raid series have yet to be released, but the normal versions were some of the best we’ve experienced sinceShadowbringers. This is a tournament-based series that has the Warrior of Light progressing through various weight classes, fighting against some animalistic opponents. It not only adds to the new mechanics we can expect to see, but the music unique to each floor, and only adds to the experience as some of the best we’ve heard from Soken and his team.
The only downside to the gameplay portion is that the main scenario is about par for the course. It’s more or less what we’ve come to expect from progressing through the story, as you’ll be talking to a lot of NPCs, engaging in a couple small skirmishes and then reading more dialogue.
Speaking of which, there’s a lot of voiced dialogue that has no right to be voiced, whereas on the flip side, there are a lot of important story-related scenes that are portrayed through unvoiced dialogue. The balance is completely out of whack inDawntrailand almost leans more towards pleasing fan favorite characters than actually conveying a cohesive story.
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Upgraded Presentation
It’s hard to talk aboutFinal Fantasy XIV: Dawntrailand not mention the graphical update that came with it. Square Enix has been working hard on updating the visual fidelity of the MMORPG, and they have done a pretty good job. I’ve been fairly critical in the past, stating that I don’t think it’s as big of a jump as I had hoped. While I still think it’s true for areas and assets prior to the expansion, the graphics inDawntrailas a whole are very impressive. There are obviously areas that standout as looking low-res still, but the amount of little details to gear and adjustments to character models is very noticeable.
Closing Comments:
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrailis a mixed bag of amazement and sorrow. On one hand, the expansion has some of the best gameplay we’ve seen from the MMORPG, with the two new jobs being perfectly slotted into the hefty roster. It also has some exciting trials and raids to kick things off, making the prospect of its post-release patches beyond exciting. That’s not to mention the soundtrack is as memorable as we’ve come to expect from Soken, and the graphical update does help propel the visual fidelity in the new areas.
Unfortunately, what Final Fantasy XIV is known for, takes a severe hit: The story is lackluster at best. The number of plot holes, convenient plot devices, lack of buildup and infuriating character motives create an uneven experience. It’s not the issue of this being the start of a new saga, so we expected it to be slow; the writing just isn’t up to par with what we’d come to expect from the team. There are just too many inconceivable occurrences with no real explanations that you have to turn your brain off to enjoy. That’s in addition to some strange choices where Square Enix decided to include voiced dialogue and where they did not.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrailexcels in its promise to bring exciting new jobs and combat scenarios to the New World. Unfortunately, it falls short of expectations when it comes to the narrative, which ends up being a mess of issues.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
Version Reviewed: PC
The fifth expansion to the award winning MMORPG, Dawntrail takes the franchise into a whole new direction, hopefully kicking off another ten-year long adventure.
