Expansion that's thankfully carried by practically everything but the story. If you rate Dawntrail on the basis of Zones, Music, Dungeons/Trials/ETC - It's an phenomenal expansion.

With a story? . . . Oh well. I'd still recommend it but seemingly mismatched intentions, lackluster writing and pushing certain characters in every crevice will disappoint a lot of MSQ oriented players.



I'd like to keep it brief as with everything you should experience the Expansion by yourself. This review isn't supposed to steer you towards buying it (or not) but mostly as an recollection and subjective opinion. If you're an active XIV player it's simply impossible to partake in the game without latest expansion so hey - At least you'll know what you're getting into.

First six hours is a slog, which mostly consist of you walking, talking to people and exploring the extremely well crafted areas. In fact - You basically encounter minimal fighting before the first dungeon, which is a precedent for the entire MSQ. I daresay that it was as bad as pre-nerfed ARR wine arc which should tell you exactly everything. Instead of sense of adventure and exploring new continent like trailer would like you to imagine It's more akin watching an youtube vlogger visiting those places themselves. Extremely annoying vlogger.

And her name is Wuk Lamat

I really, really tried to like Wuk Lamat, throughout my entire experience and I have to say that towards the end she wasn't horrible. Just bad. (Or maybe it's the Stockholm syndrome from spending so much time with her?). Her entire presence is so overwhelming that besides being tedium to you, she actively makes all other characters worse. Really. It feels like writers made her important to the point of others not receiving proper development. Especially after halfway point a lot of those you meet have seemingly really interesting baselines that are sadly not explored or developed. Why? Because Wuk Lamat. A lot of story beats could be way better without her, especially right at the end.

I'm not saying that she's the worst character in the expansion (Because certain red head is) but considering that more than 90% of quests include her. . . she'll get tiresome extremely quickly.

Nevertheless I liked some bits of the story and ending was nice. It would be nicer without her though! Eh . . . Yeah.

Erenville and S. deserved way better.


Now. Everything else. Zones? Great. Music? Phenomenal. Dungeons and Trial? Phenomenal.
Two hub cities are distinct and different from each other and offer something fresh compared to everything we've seen so far. One nitpick I have is that second one is tad too spread out. But sights are great.

Both dungeons and Trials aren't too easy and aren't too hard either giving a fair difficulty. If you die it's mostly skill issue, and not the design of the encounter. Not much I can say without spoiler territory but I can assure you those are the best encounters in entire XIV.

Pictomancer and Viper from my limited experience are fun classes. Viper especially so, with given challenge of learning and "busyness" (which is getting adjusted, for some reason) and should be easy to pick up.

Overall - Everything that's not MSQ Story is great. I'm sure people who don't care about it and skip everything will have swell time - They'll have to skip a lot though lmao.

If I'd have to rate entire expansion without Story - Easy 9/10. Great. Amazing. Problem is - You cannot. And I just cannot think of proper score for it overall. What's fair? How you should weight different elements? I leave that, my dear viewer - To you.

Thanks for reading!

[h1](SPOILER FREE)[/h1] [h3]Summary:[/h3] Expansion that's thankfully carried by practically everything but the story. If you rate Dawntrail on the basis of Zones, Music, Dungeons/Trials/ETC - It's an phenomenal expansion. With a story? . . . Oh well. I'd still recommend it but seemingly mismatched intentions, lackluster writing and pushing [i]certain characters[/i] in every crevice will disappoint a lot of MSQ oriented players. [h3]"Find your wings and spread them wide."[/h3] I'd like to keep it brief as with everything you should experience the Expansion by yourself. This review isn't supposed to steer you towards buying it (or not) but mostly as an recollection and subjective opinion. If you're an active XIV player it's simply impossible to partake in the game without latest expansion so hey - At least you'll know what you're getting into. First six hours is a slog, which mostly consist of you walking, talking to people and exploring the extremely well crafted areas. In fact - You basically encounter minimal fighting before the first dungeon, which is a precedent for the entire MSQ. I daresay that it was as bad as pre-nerfed ARR wine arc which should tell you exactly everything. Instead of sense of adventure and exploring new continent like trailer would like you to imagine It's more akin watching an youtube vlogger visiting those places themselves. Extremely annoying vlogger. [b]And her name is Wuk Lamat[/b] I really, really tried to like Wuk Lamat, throughout my entire experience and I have to say that towards the end she wasn't horrible. Just bad. (Or maybe it's the Stockholm syndrome from spending so much time with her?). Her entire presence is so overwhelming that besides being tedium to you, she actively makes all other characters worse. Really. It feels like writers made her important to the point of others not receiving proper development. Especially after halfway point a lot of those you meet have seemingly really interesting baselines that are sadly not explored or developed. Why? Because Wuk Lamat. A lot of story beats could be way better without her, especially right at the end. I'm not saying that she's the worst character in the expansion (Because certain red head is) but considering that more than 90% of quests include her. . . she'll get tiresome extremely quickly. Nevertheless I liked some bits of the story and ending was nice. It would be nicer without her though! Eh . . . Yeah. Erenville and S. deserved way better. [h3]"No Limits will bind me!"[/h3] Now. Everything else. Zones? Great. Music? Phenomenal. Dungeons and Trial? Phenomenal. Two hub cities are distinct and different from each other and offer something fresh compared to everything we've seen so far. One nitpick I have is that second one is tad too spread out. But sights are great. Both dungeons and Trials aren't too easy and aren't too hard either giving a fair difficulty. If you die it's mostly skill issue, and not the design of the encounter. Not much I can say without spoiler territory but I can assure you those are the best encounters in entire XIV. Pictomancer and Viper from my limited experience are fun classes. Viper especially so, with given challenge of learning and "busyness" (which is getting adjusted, for some reason) and should be easy to pick up. Overall - Everything that's not MSQ Story is great. I'm sure people who don't care about it and skip everything will have swell time - They'll have to skip a lot though lmao. If I'd have to rate entire expansion without Story - Easy 9/10. Great. Amazing. Problem is - You cannot. And I just cannot think of proper score for it overall. What's fair? How you should weight different elements? I leave that, my dear viewer - To you. Thanks for reading!