Recent reviews by Zixha

the worst FFXIV expansion by far (even stormblood) - and almost entirely attributed to the piss-poor attempt of an MSQ story-line.

the idea behind Dawntrail was there - a brand new journey with HOPEFULLY all new characters, but its execution was awful. from bad voice direction for many characters, especially Wuk Lamat, (and NO VA in a TON of cinematic cut-scenes!) to a total lack of planning and/or competency as far as characterization goes (we're talking not just 1-dimensional - 0 dimensional!) and the force-feeding of Wuk Lamat to the player in nearly every instance - it makes me seriously reconsider how much I'm going to recommend this game in the future for those who enjoy a good story as it lacks the consistency and polish that we have come to expect.

either commit to having things start fresh (so stop bringing the scions back, or if they're going to be back at least let them have a personality instead of serving to further focus on Wuk Lamat) or continue where we left off in Eorzea instead of having us help a stranger fight for a throne that frankly, they don't deserve, even after their character "develops" further. I still am unable to answer the question as to why the Warrior of Light is involved with all this with a reason other than "they are bored." it's as if the WoL is no longer the WoL. they seem to have forgotten they can ABSOLUTELY DESTROY any of the opponents we face in Tural and it's infuriating to watch them do nothing.

the rest of the expansion is well done - the environmental art, QoL improvements, graphical update, and music are what I would expect of FFXIV after Endwalker, but the MSQ, which I consider to be the backbone of what keeps many interested in the game, falls VERY short of expectations and feels like it was written by a novice.

the writer for the MSQ is the same person who did 4.2 and 4.4, along with the Endwalker patch quests - take that as you will.

This game, a game that is cleverly disguised as "The RPG game where you don't have to destroy anyone," has quite a bit more to it than meets the eye, and has played with my emotions to a level where no RPG or game has went before. A game about choice... to be the savior of a world, or the downfall of it. An absolute necessity. Buy it.