I just finished the DT MSQ. Right out of the gate, I can’t deny I really enjoyed the experience, narrative direction, and journey as a whole. I liked the deep dive into Tural culture, environments, and even wildlife/fanua. It reminded me of the highlights when we visited Garlemald in EW. I also really enjoyed many of the new characters, their motivations, and their progression. I am having fun with the new dungeons, gear hunting, and unlocking everything the content has to offer. I also really enjoyed the turns the second half of the expansion took us to with Alexandria and that whole chapter.
The one thing I found to be frustrating and breaking my investment was the overuse of Wuk Lamat. To be very clear, I do not think she is a bad character. I think her personality and uniqueness is fun in the right context. However, she was overplayed too much. I feel like she would have been a lot less grating on my overall experience of the expansion, had she seen a diminished role after she wins the contest. Her involvement in the Alexandria portion of DT made little sense to me and even moreso as the plot progressed. A couple of things with this:
I need to reiterate, I like the DT expansion and am eager to keep going. I see some arguments claiming this is the worst entry in the series so far. I do not agree (I put it after ShB, EW, and HW; but not below SB). I do agree the massive time given to Wuk Lamat was a misstep and it took away what many consider to be a cornerstone of the FFXIV journey: adventuring with characters we have a close, established bond with. That being said, the narrative missteps do not make the entire content horrible. Noticeable and impactful, sure, but not an outright bomb.
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The one thing I found to be frustrating and breaking my investment was the overuse of Wuk Lamat. To be very clear, I do not think she is a bad character. I think her personality and uniqueness is fun in the right context. However, she was overplayed too much. I feel like she would have been a lot less grating on my overall experience of the expansion, had she seen a diminished role after she wins the contest. Her involvement in the Alexandria portion of DT made little sense to me and even moreso as the plot progressed. A couple of things with this:
Wuk Lamat and Sphene: I get the connection of these two from the place as rulers. But, there could have been more here to help explain their connection, namely being shards of each other. While we did not get a precise location of the Alexandrian star with reference to the rest of the XIV shattering, it could have easily been mentioned that Sphene and Wuk Lamat are shards of the same person, hence their ability to connect. However, unless I am missing something, this was never brought up, so it’s harder to understand why these two interacting so much matters. Which leads to my 2nd point.
Wuk Lamat’s journey with us in the Alexandria section is supposed to mirror Gulool Ja Ja’s journey in the Turalian Saga, but it falls flat. I will be honest, I felt the other Claimants were more interesting and had a stronger narrative setup for the Tural throne competition than Wuk Lamat. In particular, the early quest wherein we are introduced to the other Claimants, we not only get to see their policies/motivations, we see support for them amongst the people. Wuk Lamat did not get this, so it made it harder for me to support her claim personally (even the eventual “I want to protect my people’s happiness” bit didn’t do it for me). Why/how does this pertain to my initial statement here? It seems to me that the narrative really wants me to know and believe Wuk Lamat is Gulool Ja Ja’s heir and goes on a similar quest he did. But, her setup, actions, and her role in the world do not do much to convince me.
Wuk Lamat’s involvement in the final boss fight of DT. There is a bunch here to unpack. First, it’s clear to me CBU3 wanted to recreate the same high point we got in the Endsinger fight from EW. The connective tissues for the Endsinger fight made so much more sense and was more meaningful because we journeyed with the Scions for the entire FFXIV game up until that point, and especially EW. Second, Lamat’s involvement felt cheap, shoehorned in, and made little sense. I can be convinced her involvement is possible because of Dynamis, but we are never told this explicitly (to my knowledge). Even with that, I find it a narrative cop out that when we are given center stage to fight the final fight, it’s Wuk Lamat who actually gets the cool moment to shine. To clarify, I do not think we NEED to have this, but the setup to the final fight made it seem like it was about us ending things. The way the Alexander chapter was setup, it looked like it could be a brief return to the old gang: dealing with shattered stars, inter dimensional revelations, and doing it with our core group of friends. Obviously, this did not happen. Wuk Lamat’s involvement is just weird here, as she is not a Scion. She mentioned many times before the end fight that the inter dimensional Star stuff was way above her. And her connection to Sphene, while made loud and clear, seemed flimsy to use as justification for her final involvement.
Wuk Lamat’s role in the Alexandrian story meant less time with the likes of Krile and Erenville. Don’t get me wrong here, I did like Krile’s and Erenville’s stories, I teared up a couple of times. However, if Wuk Lamat was not there, we could have gotten way more time with these two. I can be fine with the story as is here as it pertains to Krile and Erenville, but I also cannot deny the missed opportunity.
I need to reiterate, I like the DT expansion and am eager to keep going. I see some arguments claiming this is the worst entry in the series so far. I do not agree (I put it after ShB, EW, and HW; but not below SB). I do agree the massive time given to Wuk Lamat was a misstep and it took away what many consider to be a cornerstone of the FFXIV journey: adventuring with characters we have a close, established bond with. That being said, the narrative missteps do not make the entire content horrible. Noticeable and impactful, sure, but not an outright bomb.
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