Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail has had a while to simmer within the minds of its fanbase—and whereas I’ve had a blast with all the things outdoors of it, the principle state of affairs quest line has left me rather less enthusiastic than typical.
The points it has, although, are complicated ones. Dawntrail’s story is a type of pesky combined luggage that will get caught in my craw. It’s filled with nice concepts with some actually enjoyable moments, however its plot beats and dialogue are each executed in methods so messy they practically spoil the entire train. Ultimately, Dawntrail suffers from a bumpy script and an incapacity to correctly prioritise its forged, which is a disgrace.
I lately went to Gamescom and obtained to talk with the sport’s director, Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P), in particular person. I requested how he felt concerning the fanbase’s response (in barely extra diplomatic phrases) and he appeared fairly reflective of the story’s successes and failings. As is often the case with these interviews, Yoshi-P’s responses had been translated on the spot by an interpreter.
“This being a sport, it is a type of leisure, and you will all the time see some type of combined response to leisure,” Yoshi-P begins, “A second issue is that with Endwalker, we reached an enormous climax to a long-standing, spanning story. To a sure extent I had already predicted that we’d have some kind of combined response this time.
“So If the query is whether or not I used to be shocked in an enormous manner, the reply isn’t any, probably not.”
It’s fascinating to listen to that Yoshi-P was anticipating some type of conflicted response—and fully honest, contemplating the sheer weight of expectation that all-timers like Shadowbringers and Endwalker had positioned upon its shoulders. The manner Yoshi-P tells it, nonetheless, the principle bugbear by means of Dawntrail’s improvement seems to have been pacing.
“The idea was journeying to a brand new land—we’d be going to a brand new continent the place we might be seeing new cultures, new races, and characters … due to that, each within the improvement crew and likewise from my facet, we had this idea in thoughts by way of cleanly and really attentively introducing these new facets to the participant.”
However, Yoshi-P notes that whereas there have been loads of individuals who loved the brand new horizon, others discovered the pacing to be lower than optimum: “There had been some individuals who thought that a number of the tempo in the principle state of affairs was gradual. And they needed to get by means of to extra thrilling elements of the plot at a quicker tempo.”
He then goes on to confess that there have been some story beats that the crew “may have diverted to the facet quests—so if anybody was excited by studying extra about [them], then they might simply play the facet quests at their very own time and revel in it at their very own tempo.
“We did see suggestions from individuals who needed to deal with the battle content material quicker. So as a result of we noticed that sort of suggestions we’ll take that on board as a studying course of and expertise.”
Yoshi-P additionally commented on the combined suggestions concerning Wuk Lamat. While she’s turn into a scapegoat for all the things mistaken with Dawntrail’s story within the eyes of followers, my common opinion is that she’s effective, however a strolling bag of signs for its different shortcomings—she’s a illustration of the problem Dawntrail has prioritising its characters, in that she takes the centre stage whereas different characters like Krile, Erenville, and the scions undergo.
For Yoshi-P, one of many points he is noticed from the neighborhood was the character’s preliminary difficulties in fulfilling the function of potential Dawnservant—which usually manifested in bouts of seasickness and a spotty information of her individuals’s tradition outdoors her dwelling metropolis of Tural:
“We depicted Wuk Lamat as somebody who had a little bit of a posh in the direction of her mother and father and likewise in the direction of her siblings, and due to that insecurity, I believe that additionally contributed to the gradual tempo and the sensation of frustration.
“If we had perhaps portrayed her as extra of a assured character, perhaps we’d not have encountered that type of state of affairs. So in that regard, I really feel that we did one thing fairly unhealthy for Wuk Lamat as a personality. And taking up this expertise, it made me realise that it is essential to contemplate these issues with regards to showcasing the character to the gamers.”
Ultimately, I believe I’m in settlement with PC Gamer contributor Daniella Lucas when she says that Dawntrail’s endgame outshines its story—I’m very a lot having fun with the wrestling kayfabe of the Arcadion, and I’m downright salivating on the likelihood to get again into an exploration zone, one thing I felt was actually lacking from Endwalker’s patch cadence. While the story is deeply essential to FF14, it is nowhere close to all the things—and the precise sport I’m going to be enjoying for the following couple of years is downright strong.
