The extra time I’ve sat with my ideas on Closing Fantasy 14: Dawntrail’s story, the extra it is bothered me. Earlier than I roll up some sleeves and let you know why, although, some housekeeping: I am going to spoil the complete factor on this evaluation, naturally.
In case you have by no means performed Closing Fantasy 14, although, and are simply right here to look at the fireworks of its present blended reception from afar, you is likely to be questioning why a middling story is such an issue in an MMORPG.
In a way, you are proper to surprise. Regardless of my common dissatisfaction, I am nonetheless having a blast in Dawntrail. I have been levelling my crafters and having fun with its new dungeons. The graphics replace has allowed Sq. Enix’s Inventive Studio 3 to go ham on some breathtaking environments making Tural a beautiful place to spend time, and the brand new Arcadion raids have been an absolute riot.
My issues are angled purely in direction of the narrative, not the sport I will be spending most of my time in. In that regard, Yoshi-P and his workforce have executed a few of their greatest work in years, and I believe Dawntrail goes to be fondly remembered by many (myself included) in the event that they sustain the tempo.
FF14’s story, nonetheless, remains to be vitally vital. It is the sport’s greatest promoting level, its largest energy, and the primary motive most suggest it to their mates. At its core, FF14 is a grab-bag of well-written, excellently translated RPGs stacked atop one another with an MMO to get pleasure from when you’re executed together with your 300+ hour lengthy journey.
Natsuko Ishikawa, the lead author chargeable for Shadowbringers and Endwalker (two expansions highly-lauded for his or her tales) is now in a extra distant, supervisory function—and boy did I really feel her absence. Whereas Dawntrail has its moments, I could not assist however really feel it lacked a variety of the considerate, character-driven, and introspective writing from her I would grown accustomed to.
Nonetheless, I do not assume it is proper to name Dawntrail’s story dangerous. Really, I believe the alternative—I believe it is a fantastic story on paper: the precise thorn caught in my aspect is the way it’s informed.
An excellent thought solely will get you up to now
Anybody new to creating something—portray, writing, composing music, and so forth—in a short time involves the realisation that really making the dang factor is the toughest half.
Storytelling is at all times going to be extra vital than the story itself. It is my perception you can take essentially the most cookie-cutter, milquetoast idea and spin it into one thing nice. In the meantime a good suggestion might be bungled catastrophically. It is why I do not put a lot inventory in “originality” with regards to video games—I do not care how distinctive your thought is, I care about how properly you pull it off.
So once I say that Dawntrail has a fantastic plot, characters, and world, I do not imply to say that the participant will get to expertise all of this stuff—some, however far lower than they need to have. As an alternative, I need to give the sport’s new writers credit score the place it is due. Credit score that, for essentially the most half, lies within the scaffolding they put collectively (and sadly, typically stops there).
Dawntrail’s ideas are all actually, actually fascinating. Cease me if any of this really seems like a nasty thought:
A ceremony of succession for a distant throne sees an optimistic (and sheltered) princess, an excellent thoughts obsessive about overseas applied sciences, and a son crushed by the load of expectation in a race to discover a legendary Metropolis of Maintain. In the meantime, certainly one of our closest mates and confidants seeks the solutions to her previous. Alongside the way in which we conflict with our former allies, who’ve thrown their weight behind different candidates.
That is all set in Tural: A melting pot of disparate cultures solely lately united by its warrior-king, an previous adventurer like us who turned a monarch as an alternative of retiring, attempting to ascertain new traditions that may see his ill-prepared kids develop into match for the throne. However whereas adjusting to its new rulers, this fledgling nation is attacked by a civilisation from a world ruined by storms—hell bent on sustaining a digital metropolis of the lifeless.
It isn’t precisely the summer time trip we have been promised in Endwalker, however laying all of it out like that, I am unsure I am taking a look at a nasty story in any respect. There is a ton of meat on the bone, and the tragedy of Dawntrail is that this all ought to’ve labored. Alas, you are studying this as a result of, in a variety of areas, I really feel it fell quick.
Beat by beat
The primary offender can be the best to hash out: Dawntrail’s hardly ever makes use of the fabric it has been given, and sometimes fails to ship it in a compelling means.
Closing Fantasy 14 has at all times leaned closely on exposition, certain. Characters will typically repeat info we have already often known as a type of courtesy. It normally does this, although, to assist ease the psychological load of extra complicated themes.
In Dawntrail, nonetheless, these in-scene recaps goal info that is apparent if you happen to have been paying even the slightest little bit of consideration. When particulars are re-delivered, it is typically instantly after the dang factor occurred—and within the dryest, least character-building means potential.
For instance: We see Zoraal Ja disqualified from the race for the throne after attacking an elector in Mamook. He is torn a verbal new one by mentioned elector and informed to jog on. Koana solely simply manages to attend till Zarool Ja and his lackey are off-screen earlier than describing the very same second we watched, actually, seconds in the past.
It is sensible for Koana (being Zoraal Ja’s brother) to talk up. There are methods so as to add flavour to a fast abstract of the scene—possibly he baulks at how out of character this was for his level-headed sibling, how he did not know he had such anger in him. One thing, something aside from the wafer biscuit that’s: “When Zoraal Ja was defeated, he tried to take the keystone by pressure. However he was thwarted by his father’s shade.” That is not dialogue, that is a Star Wars opening crawl.
This difficulty is then compounded by Dawntrail’s second downside: it refuses to let its most fascinating months breathe, if it lets them breathe in any respect.
Take the scene I simply talked about, for instance: Really seeing Zarool Ja reject his retainer’s assist, struggle a magical recreation of his father, fail, then lash out on the elector would’ve been a fantastic second of characterisation. As an alternative, we arrive moments after it is occurred and are informed all in regards to the scene we missed. Twice. As such, an in any other case good option to characterise one of many story’s principal villains fails to depart an impression.
I had related whiplash when, after her newly-inherited metropolis comes underneath siege and he or she loses her father, our necessary greatest bud Wuk Lamat has an comprehensible breakdown. It is a scene that comes actually near being glorious—proper up till we are saying precisely one factor to her, she feels higher, and the plot strikes alongside with out actually dwelling on her heartache.
Oh proper, Wuk Lamat. I ought to speak about her.
The Lion Queen
I really actually like Wuk Lamat. I believe she had some actually enjoyable moments, and had the potential to be a brilliant gentle in a story in any other case mired in heartache and household tragedy. Sadly, the story construction does every part it will possibly to make you exhausted by her.
I will not dwell on my precise arguments for why I believe she’s wonderful or we’ll be right here all day—as an alternative, I believe she represents Dawntrail’s third, and largest downside: It has no thought how one can use its forged of characters.
Wuk Lamat has a variety of redeeming qualities. She exhibits appreciable development, a capability to recognise her flaws and take care of them, and a real curiosity within the individuals she intends to rule. She’s additionally each sensible and humble sufficient to share the throne with Koana, a transfer which pays off huge time. Sadly, this all will get drowned out by how typically she’s put in entrance of you and some clumsy scripting choices which play up her naivete an excessive amount of.
On the identical time, different characters felt downright malnourished: Koana is just simply saved by having a number of nice character moments. Erenville is analogous, barely squeaking in a compelling character arc that falls simply in need of being good and lands squarely in ‘fairly good’ territory. Zoraal Ja, the story’s central villain for eight out of its 10 ranges, is so completely underdeveloped that the dialogue (captured right here courtesy of the FFXIV wiki) for unlocking the acute issue model of his struggle solely pissed off me additional, as a result of we barely acquired to see any of it:
After which there’s Krile. She’s meant to be the driving pressure behind an enormous thriller in Dawntrail’s story. As an alternative, she finds her solutions off-screen, tells us about it after the actual fact, after which fairly actually says “sufficient about me.” Quite the opposite Krile—we actually have not had sufficient of you.
The Scions, your long-standing adventuring troupe, additionally may as properly not have come alongside for the trip. We’re informed that Alphinaud and Alisaie have grown near Wuk Lamat, however we barely ever see them have precise conversations along with her. Thancred and Urianger’s opposition to us—siding with one other claimant for the throne—involves a head when Thancred, uh, drops some rocks in entrance of us in a dungeon, which is sort of actually it. Y’shtola can be there. She throws a spell at a MacGuffin when a villain runs off with it. Good job, Y’shtola.
The one time I felt like a aspect character was given any kind of deliberate consideration was a (genuinely lovely) gondola trip with G’raha Tia within the story’s last zone. It is a heartfelt, impactful second that makes this evident difficulty with Dawntrail’s character utilization all of the extra apparent—a short window right into a story that remembered the historical past of its forged and crew.
It is an issue that exists regardless of the room the story needed to really use these characters, too. Dawntrail has, pound for pound, nearly as many uncooked cutscene hours as Endwalker does—which makes it far longer than the expansions that preceded Endwalker, too. Expansions that solely sometimes had bother juggling a number of character arcs.
In different phrases, if Dawntrail was a play, Wuk Lamat would spend all three acts stood in the course of the stage, Erenville would get to poke his head in sometimes, Krile can be shouting her muffled traces from behind the curtains earlier than getting a fast musical quantity within the last ten minutes, and the remainder of the characters can be cardboard cutouts in a storage unit down the road.
I do prefer it. Trustworthy.
Studying all that, you is likely to be stunned to search out out that sure—I did nonetheless get pleasure from Dawntrail’s story. My annoyance lies extra in what may have been, somewhat than what’s. It had moments that I completely appreciated, characters I used to be genuinely invested in, and occasional flashes of excellence that basically hit dwelling. Here is some positives to stability out my grumbling, in no explicit order:
I adored most of the scenes in Dwelling Reminiscence, the enlargement’s finale zone, and I felt deeply for Erenville shedding his mom. The bumbling knight Otis stole my coronary heart. Zarool Ja’s youngster mourning not his father, however the relationship he by no means had with him on his deathbed was exceptionally properly executed, even when Zarool’s personal characterisation wasn’t. And regardless of my quibbles with sure plot factors, Bakool Ja Ja is enjoyable sufficient to deserve his contingent of die-hard babygirls. Merely put: When you liked Dawntrail, I do not assume you are improper.
But the extra I take into consideration its story, the extra I realise that I loved it in spite of the way it was informed—and the extra pissed off I really feel understanding that, in an alternate timeline with a stronger edit and a writing workforce able to taking part in to its forged’s strengths, FF14’s subsequent 10 years of narrative would have taken off at a run somewhat than tripping over its personal laces.
I believe Sq. Enix’s choice to provide new writing expertise a swing on the MSQ is an inherent good. In any case, Natsuko Ishikawa was given the same alternative with Shadowbringers, and it labored out spectacularly. However the next two years of story patches shall be a check to see if Closing Fantasy 14 can as soon as extra develop from the tough suggestions of its participant base, simply because it did over a decade in the past with A Realm Reborn.
I’ve hope, although. Endwalker had great points with its fight content material—points that Dawntrail made nice strides in direction of fixing. Even when we do not see the outcomes immediately, that is an MMO outlined by one of many greatest course-corrections in gaming historical past—and I am certain it will possibly occur once more.