Final Fantasy 14 is in a transitional period. The 2021 expansion Endwalker was effectively the finale to a story that began with 2013's A Realm Reborn way back on PlayStation 3. It was a sort of Final Fantasy meets Avengers Endgame; a story that capped off eight years, four expansions, and over 200 hours of story content in a spectacular emotional rollercoaster of a climax with the fate of the universe in the balance.
But where do you go from there? What do you do once you've crossed most of the t's and dotted most of the i's, once you've battled a foe of unfathomable power hell-bent on wiping out literally everything? How do you top a story as big as Endwalker, itself just the final chapter of an already massive tale? Dawntrail is the next chapter in the Final Fantasy 14 story and it answers that question with a shrug. You don't top it. And what's more, you don't even try to — at least, not right away.
It's a bold move. Dawntrail dials everything back to zero. This is a story that starts out not with low stakes, but no stakes. You're hired by a Hrothgar (basically, a lion lady) called Wuk Lamat, who is the adopted daughter of the ruler of Tural, a continent largely unknown to the people of Eorzea. She's one of four competitors in a contest to find the fabled city of gold and determine who will take over from the aging Dawnservant when he relinquishes the throne.
And so with little left to do in Eorzea following the events of Endwalker and in dire need of a little bit of fun in the sun, you and a few of your comrades follow Wuk Lamat to Tural to act as her entourage in the succession contest. What follows is a mostly light-hearted adventure in the astonishingly beautiful Tural, helping the endlessly optimistic and likeable Wuk Lamat as she visits the different regions of the continent and takes part in everything from cooking a local delicacy to catching and riding an alpaca.
The opening hours of Dawntrail are charming, and funny, but they're not exactly riveting. It's a massive change of pace from the urgent and frequently dire Endwalker, but then that was probably necessary, and we'd never go as far as to say the opening to Dawntrail is boring. Tural is a fascinating and wondrous place, and the world-building in the early hours of the expansion is mostly excellent. It all just feels a bit frivolous.
But then about half way through the expansion it all kicks off, and when it does it really kicks off. The story takes some pretty wild turns in the second half of the adventure, and it's one of those where if you tried to guess what the end would be after the first 10 hours, you'd not get it right in a hundred attempts. The emotional beats in the latter half of the story really land because of the work put into establishing characters and locations earlier, and there's even some revelations for some of our old friends too. We really love this story.
It's not just Dawntrail's narrative that landed for us, though. The dungeons in this expansion are the best the game has ever had, featuring numerous complicated mechanics, jaw-dropping locales, amazing music, and awesome bosses. We found ourselves frequently bamboozled by a boss employing tactics we'd never seen before in FF14, and for a game you've played for thousands of hours to still be able to surprise you is a rare treat.
Combat is further enhanced by the new jobs you can play as in Dawntrail. First there's the Viper, a physical DPS (damage per second) class which uses two blades in a similar fashion to Zidane from Final Fantasy 9. Playing Viper means managing buffs to haste and damage, as well as getting yourself into the right position to maximise your offence — certain attacks do more damage from the side or from behind an enemy. It's fast and flashy, but for our money it's overshadowed somewhat by the other new class.
Pictomancer is the second new job, and it's quite spectacular. The Pictomancer is a magical DPS class that uses an enchanted paint brush to draw attacks and buffs in battle. You initially have three canvases to work with - one weapon, one creature, one landscape. You use skills like you would with any other class, only some of these add something to one of the canvases. Using the appropriate skills to finish the painting of a hammer on the weapon canvas, for example, gives you a comical oversized mallet that you can bop enemies with.
Using the moogle's pom skill causes hundreds of balls to drop from the sky onto your enemies while adding a pom to the creature canvas, and using the moogle's wing skill damages baddies while adding wings to the canvas and finishing the painting of a moogle. You then have access to the Mog of the Ages skill, and using it causes your newly painted moogle to spring to life and blast all foes with a massive spell.
We found Pictomancer tough to get the hang of initially, but once we did it became one of our favourite classes in the entire game. It's all about building up attacks in stages for the big payoff in the end and it's a tonne of fun. Otherwise, there have been tweaks to other, existing classes, but nothing earth-shattering from what we played, and nothing as drastic as the complete Summoner rework from Endwalker.
Elsewhere, there are changes to how dyes work on clothes, and you can now alter two different colours on most items of clothing rather than just one, which is great news for glamour fans. Spectacles now have their own equipment slot instead of being considered headgear, so you can wear a cool hat and glasses at the same time. There's also a new playable race in the female Hrothgar - a humanoid lion - if you fancy a character change.
And then there's the graphical update. We wonder if you'd notice the graphical update at all if you haven't played Final Fantasy 14 in a while, but for frequent players it's quite obvious. Hair, clothing textures, and faces all look like a step-up from what came before. The new locations, too, make excellent use of the graphical enhancements, with areas looking much less empty than previously seen in the game, and with much more foliage present.
Speaking of locations, there are some beautiful sights in Dawntrail, from dark forests to lush grasslands and majestic mountains. Tural is mostly South American in inspiration, only with a Final Fantasy twist in a similar fashion to how previous expansion Stormblood riffed on Japan. In the latter half of the game the locations you'll visit are aesthetically very different but no less pleasing on the eye.
Dawntrail also continues Final Fantasy 14's trend of incredible soundtracks. There's a big band track that plays every time you visit the first city in the expansion and it's a real toe-tapper. It's totally out of place as a town theme for while you're wandering around doing your shopping, but it's so good that we just don't care. There are bombastic boss tracks, quiet reflective pieces, and one dungeon theme that we can only describe as a trance banger mashed up with '80s style guitar solos. It's wonderfully bonkers.
Conclusion
Dawntrail is another excellent expansion for Final Fantasy 14. The story takes a while to get going, but once it's finished setting the scene it takes some pretty big swings in the second half that left us captivated. The dungeons are the best the game has ever had, the new Pictomancer class is an absolute joy to play, it's got incredible art design, and a soundtrack that's gorgeous. Here's to another 10 years of Final Fantasy 14.
Comments 18
Dawntrail is a CBU3 message that after 10 years, they're not even remotely close to being done with this game.
I think whether or not the story is boring or not probably depends on if you're the kind of player that thinks Hildibrand is the best part of the series.
I am that kind of player....
I stopped playing 2 expansions ago because every expansion is the same *****, but with a different coat of paint. This is definitely not different.
I really Want to get into this as I love FF.
It’s just now so huge and daunting to begin and I’d imagine a massive time sink too
I know the first half of the MSQ is a bit slow for some, but I loved it, seeing my WoL so happy and enjoying helping her new friend grow into someone worthy of ruling was just the breath of fresh air I needed.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner if you focus on the main story you'll be looking at around 40+hrs per expansion, there is a lot of stuff to see and do and the best bet for someone completely new is to just enjoy the journey and not worry about being 'current'. You can also jump into the free trial and chip away at it as and when you like.
@GigaGaia So...you missed out on Endwalker, the cap to the whole original saga, and (maybe) Shadowbringers which is thought of by a large number of players as the best expansion.
I'm sorry you missed out.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner You can play at your own pace! There's no FOMO in this game, and the free trial covers the base game plus the first two expansions.
You'll have a TON of stuff to do for free till you hit the end of Stormblood. There's a LOT of game there without needing to spend a dime.
I think FF14 had a trial or something at one point? I feel like I tried booting up the game making a character AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE. My god was he small.
I don't remember ANYTHING story wise and correct me if I'm wrong: combat boils down to pressing X (admittedly a favorite in here).
@Mintie @dskatter yeah I have the free trial and play a little here and there. But I dunno I just feel like it’s something I should have played years ago.
I will keep plugging away tho thanks!
I’ve always been interested in trying FF14.
Is there much to do outside of the main story? If there is so much story and you don’t have a friend to play with, how does it work?
@PsBoxSwitchOwner as an FF fan my advice is to think of each expansion as a standalone FF game. I've never played any other MMO, but love FF14. I just play an expansion then take an extended break and play something else for a while.
@EfYI pressing X to select a target and pressing X again would technically begin combat but you wouldn't get very far with just auto attacks. The basics boil down to following combo chains, not getting hit by telegraphed attacks and using buffs and debuffs when appropriate.
@MB81 There is a metric ton of stuff to do outside the main story. Crafting, gathering, raids, side quests, etc.
I started playing a few months after Endwalker released and I STILL don’t have everything done in this game.
@MB81 There's loads to do outside of main story that's optional - harder enemies, raids, extra dungeons, treasure maps, hunts, crafting, fishing, the gold saucer, and more.
It works in that you play in a world with other players in but you play on your own. When you get to a dungeon you can either play on your own with AI party members helping or use matchmaking to find a party of humans.
I wrote a beginner's guide for the game on this very site.
I LOVE this game, but 9/10 for this expansion is too much. I become a cutscene skipper for how boring it was and how formulaic the presentation was. The end game content might end up being superb (loving crafting right now, readying up for extremes), but it was a slog getting to the fun trials and dungeons.
You couldn't pay me to sit down and play an MMO RPG, but I love Final Fantasy so I'm very glad to see this game being received so well. What a story this game has itself.
Story has been kind of meh to me, and I'm in the home stretch. It's very cutscene heavy it feels, much more than previous expansions. I don't know if that's just my perception or what. I'm still having fun, though. One thing I don't really like is that outside of a single zone so far, every zone is with one character leading you around. In previous expansions you had more of a supporting cast, and you spent time with different members of it at different times. This expansion is nearly wall-to-wall following Wuk Lamat, which makes the pace feel poor.
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