#inb4 probably still better than what we'll get for natlan

[lord-pigeon]

A month late to finishing Dawntrail cause I was waiting for Certain Things to update, and honestly, it was alright? Obvious spoilers under the cut.

Nonsense rambling btw, don't expect a thesis there I'm just word vomiting

The strongest part was everything with Sphene, by and far. Zoraal Ja was a completely different character between Part 1 and Part 2 and people keep overlooking that to whine about Wuk Lamat. Ironically, I feel Wuk Lamat was the second strongest part of the expansion.

I came into the expansion as "WoL's funky summer vacation in not-Mexico" and that def helped my opinion about it, cause WoL is meant to be chilling while Wuk Lamat is having the character arc. Sooo I'll guess I'll start with the positives?

Wuk Lamat I felt had a significantly better arc than Lyse did. Probably helped by the fact I play in JP so I don't have the "she sounds so monotone all the time" issue people in ENG had. So you could actually hear her gradually grow in maturity when she goes from yelling 90% of the time to taking a lower tone and calming down.

I dunno, she has a very strong personality and I found her engaging. She was most of the fun I had in the first half, so I guess I got lucky there.

Second, obviously, was Sphene. Kinda Walmart Emet, kinda her own thing. I saw her final boss status coming from a mile away, but like, her background was my speed for an antagonist. Sad old robot you gotta put down cause she's too far gone, path to hell paved with good intentions. That kinda thing, very melancholic.

As for bad, well, uh, I guess mostly that the expansion felt like it was split in half? With two different writers for each half? Like Zoraal Ja of part 2 wasn't even close to Zoraal Ja of part 1, even their motivations were wildly different (inflict war to people who forgot it in peacetime to remind them of what peace is vs daddy inheritance issues)

Also where the shit did baby Garool Ja come from. Who is the mother. Did he just reproduce asexually cause they're lizards? Artificial creation? Kid literally showed up so suddenly out of Nowhere I deadass thought it was like a Miquella/Saint Trina situation where baby Garool was actually a manifestation of Zoraal's innocence/peace-loving nature.

But nope he's just deadass his kid? I guess? I might've missed something but god everything with him was so jarring it drove me fuckin' nuts

Also I do agree with the repetitive nature of the first half. Like, I had fun with it, but Yoshi, Yoshi I know padding when I see it. Aetheryte starvation? Huge areas? Get five bear's asses? Always talk to 3 people randomly sparsed around the said-large map? Running back and forth?

I see the padding you can't hide it from me.

Since everyone's comparing it to Stormblood, I'll do it too. Like I had recently redone Stormblood before Dawntrail came out on an alt (that's now my main l m a o) so I can kinda compare them easily.

Call me bias (<- incredibly bias) but Yotsuyu was a much more compelling first arc villain, while Sphene was more compelling on the latter half. And this is from a Zenos simp so take that as you will.

Day 500000 of me not being over his death still, my copium up until the end of the Zero patches was intense.

Soken didn't miss a single time tho, king of all time

Solid 7/10. If it was all about Sphene and the beginning was more cut down, and Zoraal was consistent, I'd probably have put it at an 8.5.