(1/2)
Finished Dawntrail, and I am of two minds about it. I play XIV primarily for the story first, as I've had atrocious luck with endgame content, and as such, most of my critique comes from a storytelling perspective.
Let's start with what I found enjoyable. I was happy to go into Dawntrail without the full Scion cast and ecstatic experiencing one zone without the core cast. It felt legitimately refreshing and allowed my WoL to just be truly another adventurer rather than yet again being dragged on some quest. I also enjoyed the keystone storyline for the same reason. I'm not the main character of this story, nor should I be, it's Wuk Lamat's role.
As infuriating as her indecisiveness and lack of self confidence was at the start, I did like her overall character arc. It's clear they tried learning from what they did with Lyse in Stormblood and I'd argue they've largely succeeded in the keystone arc. From Bakool Ja Ja's mewling housekitten to a young, compassionate and humbled ruler of Tural, she did well there.
The idea of journeying to each village and working with their elector for a keystone was interesting, as many of those quests didn't use combat. It's nice to see that force isn't always the answer, and being incentivized to learn about the cultures - trope filled or not - and why they became the way they are was nice to see as an anthropologist.
The music, for the most part, slaps. Many of the tracks used invoke their locations, and no one zone's music could be mistaken for another. However, I do have to question some of the choices used, e.g. the hub city. I like jazz and saxophones as much as the next person, but the capital city of Tural doesn't look like it has much of an industry for making brass instruments, nor does evoke 1800s America where such instruments were made. I would have preferred something that fit the architecture, so to speak.
Speaking of architecture and critique though, I feel that CBS3 has learned some of the wrong lessons from ShB and EW. First off, Tulliyoyal feels too big. This was a problem starting with the Crystarium and Sharlayan, but feels blatant here. The stairs next to the inn - you could fit the entire Limsa aetheryte plaza there, and while that blursed plaza feels alive, much of Tural's capital feels like those stairs. I for one would like the hub zones to be smaller - easier to get around and feel more like actual places rather than abandoned theme parks.
Another issue was the reliance on the Scions. The build up to a confrontation with Thancred and Urianger goes nowhere, and the manifestations of G'raha and Y'shtola make no sense when you think about the logistics of them getting to Tural on such short notice for more than a moment. When considering how relatively little they do in the story after being introduced, it genuinely makes me wish we could abandon the Scions entirely and try developing a new cast instead of feeling compelled to call upon fanservice for the sake of it.
Continue reading...
Finished Dawntrail, and I am of two minds about it. I play XIV primarily for the story first, as I've had atrocious luck with endgame content, and as such, most of my critique comes from a storytelling perspective.
Let's start with what I found enjoyable. I was happy to go into Dawntrail without the full Scion cast and ecstatic experiencing one zone without the core cast. It felt legitimately refreshing and allowed my WoL to just be truly another adventurer rather than yet again being dragged on some quest. I also enjoyed the keystone storyline for the same reason. I'm not the main character of this story, nor should I be, it's Wuk Lamat's role.
As infuriating as her indecisiveness and lack of self confidence was at the start, I did like her overall character arc. It's clear they tried learning from what they did with Lyse in Stormblood and I'd argue they've largely succeeded in the keystone arc. From Bakool Ja Ja's mewling housekitten to a young, compassionate and humbled ruler of Tural, she did well there.
The idea of journeying to each village and working with their elector for a keystone was interesting, as many of those quests didn't use combat. It's nice to see that force isn't always the answer, and being incentivized to learn about the cultures - trope filled or not - and why they became the way they are was nice to see as an anthropologist.
The music, for the most part, slaps. Many of the tracks used invoke their locations, and no one zone's music could be mistaken for another. However, I do have to question some of the choices used, e.g. the hub city. I like jazz and saxophones as much as the next person, but the capital city of Tural doesn't look like it has much of an industry for making brass instruments, nor does evoke 1800s America where such instruments were made. I would have preferred something that fit the architecture, so to speak.
Speaking of architecture and critique though, I feel that CBS3 has learned some of the wrong lessons from ShB and EW. First off, Tulliyoyal feels too big. This was a problem starting with the Crystarium and Sharlayan, but feels blatant here. The stairs next to the inn - you could fit the entire Limsa aetheryte plaza there, and while that blursed plaza feels alive, much of Tural's capital feels like those stairs. I for one would like the hub zones to be smaller - easier to get around and feel more like actual places rather than abandoned theme parks.
Another issue was the reliance on the Scions. The build up to a confrontation with Thancred and Urianger goes nowhere, and the manifestations of G'raha and Y'shtola make no sense when you think about the logistics of them getting to Tural on such short notice for more than a moment. When considering how relatively little they do in the story after being introduced, it genuinely makes me wish we could abandon the Scions entirely and try developing a new cast instead of feeling compelled to call upon fanservice for the sake of it.
Continue reading...