Nujj K

The pros: Great new dungeons, bosses, and environments. I'm going to be spending a lot of time in gpose! The cons: 1) The story writing is very weak. The main character that you are supposed to be mentoring and is supposed to be going through a growth arc just... doesn't change. She is the same at the beginning and at the end. She doesn't have any real consequences for her naiveté. I initially liked her a LOT and couldn't wait to watch her grow over the expansion and she just... didn't. 2) The scions are treated like dolls. We spent so many years learning so much nuance about their personalities and it was all just wiped away into cheerleaders for the main character (who is not you btw) 3) The worldbuilding is tedious. I love learning about new worlds and cultures in 14. We got to go to a completely different reflection in ShB and learn how an entirely different world would work. We got to travel to Thavnir and learn about their customs and traditions. We are capable of learning so much. This was dry and boring and fetch quest after fetch quest while we watched Wuk Lamat collect her Jolly Ranchers while we stood on the side lines doing nothing. 4) The role of us - the adventurer is nonexistent. We were supposed to be mentors? When did we actually get to do that? We nodded and smiled in the cut scenes we were lucky enough to be in. I've heard the argument that we don't always need to be the main character. True! We have had many others have incredible story arcs - Graha, Gaia, Thancred, Emet Selch, and so many others. They got to have their own stories without erasing us completely. In the last scene of DT, Wuk Lamat literally steps in front of us and blocks us from view to finish out the cut scene. Why was I there at all? I can imagine this going a completely different way while keeping the same idea. Wuk Lamat starts the way she does, then her naiveté has some big consequence that she feels responsible for. Now devoid of confidence, she begins to lean on the adventurer and defer to them and learn from them. By the end, we help build her confidence back up and she grows into a more nuanced character who still believes peace can be achieved but understands the world better and that sunshine and roses can't put a bandaid on everything. With THAT story, having her swoop in at the end and save the day would actually feel satisfying. Like - look how much she has grown, all the things I have learned on my many adventures have been passed down and will live on through my protégé. This could have been one of the story arcs that persist through the expansion without being the only one. My role in the expansion seemed pointless. The lore of the area could have been shown to us instead of spoon fed to us in the most boring way possible. We could have watched Wuk Lamat have an awesome growth arc which intertwined with our exploration and adventuring without actually erasing or overtaking it. I play 14 mainly for the story and characters, and I have been enjoying this game for years. This was the first time ever (yes *ever*, I did not feel this way even during stormblood) that I wanted to give up in the middle of the story out of boredom. I didn't give up and I finished it. It wasn't fun for me.