WhenFinal Fantasy XIV ’s newest expansion , Dawntrail , was bring out , it was set up as a summertime vacation to the Modern continent of Tural . I was quick to complain up my feet , sip a tropic drink on the beach with my Warrior of Light thespian character , and take some much needed fourth dimension off . The matter I forget about summer vacation , though , is that it eventually terminate . Everything you put on intermission for a few months is still there to be dealt with when you return — much like the unproblematic school nestling who throws their backpack off on the last day of schooling , only for it to collect dust until the accompany school year .
I went intoDawntrailexpecting a Shonen - comparable tournament spark as my protagonist and I help oneself impel our new friend Wuk Lamat to power . alternatively , I walk away with a Modern lesson on mortality , what it means to be recall , and so much more . It ’s a unassailable enlargement forSquare Enix ’s excellent MMORPG , but it call for some patience to see why that is .
Vacation’s over
Whatever you thinkDawntrailis in its first one-half is bring into inquiry , challenged , and flipped on its forefront in the second act , but it take time to show its helping hand . This for the most part work in its favour , although there are quite a few stagger along the way to bridge over these two idea together .
Dawntrail positions itself in the former 60 minutes as a story of sequence for the throne . The current drawing card , Gulool Ja Ja , know as the Dawnservant , has task his three children ( Wuk Lamat , Koana , and Zoraal Ja ) and tournament winner Bakool Ja Ja with execute the “ Rite of Succession ” a scavenger hunt club that will conduct them all over the Tural countryside in hopes of finding the fabled City of Gold . believe of it like a time of year ofSurvivormeets theHBO dramaSuccession .
WhileDawntrail ’s chronicle has heart , it feels like the first half often miss fang …
Wuk Lamat , our new ally , has require us to attach to her on this Rite as she learn about the culture of her hoi polloi outside of the metropolis walls in search of the City of Gold . Surprisingly , our Warrior of Light takes a back tail during this expansion , and is no longer the front - and - shopping mall superstar on the screen . alternatively , they give guidance and counseling to Wuk Lamat as she forges onward to learn about the people she one sidereal day hope to predominate .
Wuk Lamat hopes to be a ruler through peace , like her father before her . She approach every conversation and conflict through this lens . The to a fault optimistic Shonen protagonist figure of speech does n’t always work for me when handle with a story of putting multitude into political baron .
Years of a fail political system have sanded and grounded me into spread . We ’re in an election twelvemonth and having the political message be “ the major power of friendship is unbeatable ” feels like telling a bunch of the great unwashed “ to go out and vote ” when they already have and are exhausted from running the capitalist tread-wheel we ’ve been on since birth . It feels like it rings vacuous , even in a fancy macrocosm . character swiftly get on table with the melodic theme , and whileDawntrail ’s tale has affectionateness , it feel like the first one-half often lacks the fangs to challenge these intellect and dip into them .
I understand Wuk Lamat and the writers of this expansion ’s affirmative sentiments , but it feels like a very Earth’s surface - level approach to themes they have done well in former expansions likeHeavenswardandShadowbringers . However , where the other hour ofDawntrailshine are through the writing of Tural ’s cultures , people , and metropolis . It get the metre to let each race breathe , while learning the trial and tribulations each region snuff it through just to get through the mean solar day .
A standout moment is when our crew is challenged to create Xibruq Pibil , a aboriginal dish that carry pregnant ethnical value to the people of Yak Tel . Ask any chef or cosmos traveller and they will tell you the best way to empathize a culture is through its intellectual nourishment . This present moment drive the party on a journeying of discovery , one filled with pain in the neck and scratch , both excited and physical , as they learn how this sweetheart come form two cultures at war with one another . It of a sudden paint the landscape in a fresh lightness , and the burn up - down forest and bare wounds come into focus .
While the quest bodily structure is reminiscent of previous enlargement , Dawntrailrelies heavily in its first one-half on worldbuilding , setting up the dominoes in place to be challenge later . That ’s necessary to set up an entire new continent , hoi polloi , and civilization . It ’s a lot of reading , watching cutscenes , and learning about an entirely new world to both the player and their Warrior of Light . While it feels like the conclusion to each zone are just variations on the same root word , it tees up the 2nd one-half to try these ideologies quite nicely .
Lasting legacies
Of course , there are dungeons and battle content dispersed throughout these moment to keep players in the action . Dawntrail ’s fight are some of the MMO ’s strongest yet . They do n’t just iterate on previous mechanics , but bring new ideas to the mesa to keep even the most seasoned Warrior of Light on their toe . Up until the very end of each competitiveness , I was hit buttons in a panic and hoping my therapist could keep me animated as I took hit after dispatch to the face .
While this does aid break up some of the longer stretch of story , it still feel likeDawntrailhas a tempo problem . The first one-half of the expansion feels slow and sometimes too drawn out . The back half feels like it ’s trying to densely pack another tale into the commixture . Dawntrailis an expansion of two ideas that foil one another , with neither catch the room it needs to to the full flower .
Eventually , Dawntrailtakes a play and trades in its Mesoamerican inspirations for a neon - make full and sci - fi aesthetic . For story reason that I wo n’t get into , it fleetly switches gear to prove Wuk Lamat ’s ideas and leaders scheme in more slipway than one .
While the first half ofDawntrailbrings up the melodic theme of bequest and mortality , it ’s the back half of the expansion that really bring those ideas to the forefront . How do you manage a civilization that deal with these ideas so differently than your own understanding , and how do you obtain middle ground to move forward ?
At some period in all of our lives , we take stock of what ’s important to us , and eventually have to have the uncomfortable conversation about what materialise when a have a go at it one toss . It ’s like having to put our lives and memory into a box like trinkets being sell at a service department sale , only to have those we leave behind rummage through the box and experience innumerable feelings ranging across the spectrum . Is our legacy acquit by those we leave behind , or is it in the pocket-sized fleeting moments like a funny jape or a loving embrace ?
It made me reckon back to how I remember the loved ones I ’ve recede in my own life history as I fidget with a atomic number 47 ballpoint pen left to me from my belated grandfather that I used to take notes about this review . We ’ve all fall behind someone in this life , and will continue to do so , because all life ends finally . That ’s part of what makes it beautiful , this approximation that our meter is limited . And while we choose how we expend it , we do n’t get to choose how we ’re remember . We only desire that what we opt to do in this world will be carried on by those around us .
Dawntrailkicks into mellow gear at this level , and drives these construct home in some striking room by give everything you ’ve larn back at you . When I talk to director and producer Noaki Yoshida earlier this yr , he mentioned that this would be an expansion of conflict value and how fictitious character cope with opposing viewpoints . The second one-half pull out that out in full force , give way you an resistance that will not excite its way of life , or how it strives to get there .
It left me in shuffle …
MostFFXIVexpansions have made me well up with tears at my computer , andDawntrail ’s 2d one-half does this in spades . The last zone , in special , is the staring thought of blending together storytelling with participant agency . It go away me in shambles as I know I had to build up to see it to the closing , but what the secret plan ask me to do was oftentimes so emotionally assess that I had to tread back from my reckoner from prison term to time .
When design an MMO , a new zone is build for quotable mental object and is often made to not feel stale or exanimate . However , the team decided to use the last zone ofDawntrailfor something else , a hefty storey section that fly in the cheek of most normal design techniques . It ’s not only an impressive subversion of expectation — it ’s the excited core of whatDawntrailwas building . It ’s one of those moment you hearFFXIVplayers talking about from the outside .
ComposerMasayoshi Sokenand his team have provided a musical score that punctuates every consequence of the enlargement . From mellow - vigor bursts of idle words and strings to crunchy breakdowns and lo - fi beats . Yet again , FFXIV ’s medicine is n’t just there to be background disturbance , but to raise the emotional heights of each and every scene . While the lyrical racecourse this time around air on the side of a Disney melodic , everything else flourishes .
New visuals, new jobs
AFFXIVexpansion is n’t all just about tale . Alongside what we know as 7.0 , we also got a major in writing inspection and repair to the zone , character fashion model , and just about every other facet . It front dandy and provides a much - involve refresh to the nearly 14 - year - onetime MMO . New lighting process fall more naturally , characters are more defined , and some of those abominable textures finally await a shade comfortably .
It feels like the squad finally has a wide horizon ahead of them .
The expanding upon brings two young Jobs to the fold as well , and they ’re both welcome additions . The Pictomancer ’s colored cast pee it a vivacious and exciting improver to the ranged magic DPS suite . And the Viper ’s twinblades find like a innate addition to an already stacked roster of Melee DPS Jobs .
Pictomancer is the clear standout , being the most silly class the squad has brought into the game . It apply magic spell to weave together jazz band , let loose unlike scenic landscapes , creatures , and even elephantine power hammer onto the flying field . Its living not only showcase the graphic update nicely , but are such a far departure from the normal cerise and blue hue we ’ve seen from caster antecedently .
Dawntrailstill has a long fashion to go . The next few years of patch content will touch on unanswered threads and point us in the counseling of where we go from here . It ’s hard to tell how thing like the previously announced , but still mysterious “ Cosmic Exploration ” endgame activity will shake out . We ’ll also have to wait to see the limited Beastmaster line in action — it ’s supposed to issue forth recently in theDawntrailpatch .
Dawntrailsets the point for what ’s next , and it feels like the team eventually has a wide apparent horizon onwards of them . Its stumbles still avail ply the building blocks for the next 10 years of the MMO , and my Warrior of Light is ready for whatever risky venture awaits them next .
Final Fantasy XIV : Dawntrailwas tested on PC .
