It’s no Vacation
Following one of the greatest MMORPG expansions is no easy feat and while Dawntrail lacks giant end of the world gods, despair and sadness that it did in Endwalker, it cleverly ushers in a new dawn that pushes FFXIV into new and inviting lands and gives new life to one of the biggest MMORPG’s on the market. Dawntrail is marketed or known as the vacation expansion where our heroes will take a break but that could not be further from the truth.
The latest FFXIV expansion “Dawntrail” follows the Hero of light venture into a new land known as Tural alongside Krile, Erenville, Allisae and Alphinaud in order to help Wuk Lamat become the new ruler of Tural known as the Dawnservant. This is something we knew would happen before the expansion and as soon as you arrive in the new lands you will meet other characters in the running also hoping to become the Dawnservant and the lengths as to how they will get there. The Warrior of Light alongside Krile, Allisae, Alphinaud and Erenville are tasked with helping Wuk Lamat become the new Dawnservant. Alongside this Wuk Lamats brother is also in the running alongside Thancred and Urianger who are now on the opposing team. Bakool Ja Ja is the new antagonist of the game who is a two headed Mamool Ja and a perfectly executed character in that he has a hot temper only exacerbated by the Chameleon twin part of his body. As a two headed Mamool Ja, Bakool Ja Ja believes it is his right to the throne and while the other participants for the throne strategically and fairly Bakool Ja Ja relies on pure power, cunningness and cheating to win the throne.
As we already have explored the edge of the universe, we now find ourself on a new continent which very little is known by the residents of Eorzea especially from the Aldenard region. On the surface Tural is an island full of culture and deep history which is learned as you progress through the Main Scenario. While it can take some time for the real crux of the story to take hold once it does it really is a great experience. The first Dungeon is cleverly weaved into the story as to allow characters to venture into the next zone.
Aside from the Graphical update which is one of the biggest overhauls of FFXIV Dawntrail there are plenty of new and updated features included in Dawntrail. Levelling is something which will naturally happen playing through the new expansion with the new cap hitting the 100 range across all the main jobs. The new race which is the female Hrothgar which Wuk Lamat shows off perfectly has been added and also two new Jobs; the Pictomancer and Viper have now been added and many features make a welcome return. Fates, Leves, Hunts all return which are great ways to level those alts and crafters. Boosts to the Gemstones earned have been increased during bonus fates, you can also play the game solo for the most part as new avatars become available to the main scenario dungeons. Also new in the fray is Krile Baldesion who now plays as the new Pictomancer Job.
Although Tural is a large island soaked in mountains, forests and snow-capped peaks there are other places such as Solution Nine which is a high tech mini city which is incorporated in a way that works thanks to it being Final Fantasy. Tural is different to Eorzea in many ways, the preferred way of travel is not on a Chocobos back but now by riding Alpacas which have also been incorporated into the story and in the most comical way as Wuk Lamat is not a fan of them as much as not being a fan of being on boats which also seems to happen a lot in the Story. Not only do we have a vast amount of new and some of the largest we have seen so far areas to explore, Soken has again outdone the soundtrack to Dawntrail as he has taken influence from Spanish/Latin esque music and cleverly merged it into these new areas, as soon as you arrive in Tuliyollal you are greeted by Big Band drums and if this does not give you a good impression of the music that is to come then nothing else will.
After having tried out both new jobs available in Dawntrail I can say that Pictomancer does come out on top in terms of fun and pure damage. It has become my favourite job. It is also the most visually pleasing to look at as you cast paint aether variants of elemental damage against your opponents. On top of this you can create images on a canvas such as mog poms and wings and by creating a full picture of a moogle you can incorporate that power into a full on moogle beam. You can also create a large hammer and rain down several critical smashes against your foes, and although this looks like a melee attack it is purely magical and can be cast as a magical attack from afar. While some of the attacks appear physical Pictomancer is a pure magic damage output Job that feels great to play.
Viper is also a new job which is fun to play if you are more into close range DPS but it felt kind of underwhelming in comparison especially as it feels all to similar to the Ninja job just with flashier effects. It is cool to have a job that feels and plays like Zidane from Final Fantasy IX, I mean who doesn’t love a twin bladed sword? the team did mention they would be looking to rework the job so it will be interesting to see how this will pan out.
Nearly all existing jobs have been altered somewhat with new abilities and some old ones have been removed. It is sad to see the legendary Dragoon Jump disappear completely, my main job White Mage seemed to not have changed that much if not at all.
Overall FFXIV Dawntrail brings new life to the Final Fantasy XIV world. With an increased level cap, plenty of new content and a strong Story Dawntrail is chock full of Final Fantasy references throughout, mostly from Final Fantasy IX. Dawntrail features two Expert dungeons end-game and a plethora of other high end level content such as the extreme trials. Dawntrail will continue to bring new promised content in the future such as the Arcadion raid series, and the Beastmaster limited Job as well as Cosmic Exploration. It goes without saying to play Dawntrail you will be required to finish all previous expansions up until the end of Endwalker, and although there are now new Story Skips added to the Store, it is highly recommended to play through the entirety of the game at least once. Dawntrail has had an overall smooth launch especially on PC although Xbox players did see some issues which the developers have looked at and compensated game time for those on that console and have since compensated all with some form of game time compensation due to hotfixes that have taken place.
A PC Review code was provided for the purpose of the Review
