From the very first second of conception, Daybreak Path was in a troublesome place. With Finish runner, Remaining Fantasy XIV reached the narrative conclusion of the story it had been telling for 11 years. This left Daybreak Path tasked with restarting the story that can set the stage for the following decade-spanning epic. To do that, the creators targeted on going again to fundamentals. What have been our participant characters earlier than they grew to become the Warrior of Darkness, the Warrior of Mild, and even the Champion of Eorzea? A easy adventurer, and that’s what we’ll be once more. We’ll journey to a brand new continent of exploration and thriller for the enjoyable of it.
In idea, this can be a good thought. In follow, nonetheless, it’s a lot tougher to execute. In any case, our character has traveled to alternate realities and the literal finish of the universe. A brand new continent, particularly one modeled after one thing as acquainted because the Americas, is hardly essentially the most unique of places by comparability. It additionally leaves us with out a clear aim, or not less than none that we’ve a private stake in.
The general result’s an enlargement that seems like two separate video games relatively than a cohesive complete. The previous is one that usually seems like uninteresting nonsense except you’re in search of huge quantities of world-building and exploration for the sake of the world itself in a sport like this. The locations you go and the occasions you get caught up in don’t have anything to do together with your character, and solely a tenuous connection to protecting the world it’s at the moment experiencing within the state of relative peace it’s experiencing.
In the meantime, the second half of the sport is far more what we might count on Remaining Fantasy XIV. All of the sudden we’ve an journey with a lot better ties to the lore of earlier expansions – and one with otherworldly places, a nuanced villain, and a heart-wrenching moral dilemma at its core. The one actual downside is the fifty hours of Daybreak Path You need to undergo it to even get began.
With all that mentioned, it’s lastly time to handle the elephant within the room: Wuk Lamat. Make no mistake, this sport lives or dies on how a lot you get pleasure from spending time along with her. Her journey is one from a naive harmless who thinks she understands her nation and other people to an individual who would make a very good ruler. And your job? To babysit her the entire rattling means.
To be clear, I don’t hate Wuk Lamat. I discover her fairly endearing in small doses. I hate that she’s the only focus of just about all character growth amongst our heroes all through the complete sport. Not one of the characters we’ve been round for a decade develop in any means on this enlargement. Even Krile, who has a private motive to journey to the New World, comes out of the enlargement unchanged.
The even larger downside with Wuk Lamat, nonetheless, is her placement within the plot. She is, unequivocally, the primary character of Daybreak Path—making you nothing greater than a facet character in her story. To be clear, this is not essentially a foul factor. In any case, you’ve got traveled to the top of the universe and fought the personification of despair whereas using by way of house on the again of a dragon (who additionally occurs to be your greatest buddy (you’ll be able to’t count on to high that at first of a brand new storyline.)
Throughout the story content material, any check or trial that Wuk Lamat faces might simply be solved by you. At this level, you’re a strolling WMD. The opposite Scions have their very own distinctive roles: exploration, investigation, diplomacy, and management. Your job is to punch gods within the face till they explode in a mist of gorgeous particles.
After all the trick is in Daybreak Path is that these trials and tribulations are for Wuk Lamat to resolve, not you. You might be anticipated to step again and comply with her lead. It’s a great way to restrict your influence on the story, and provide you with a plausible motive why you’re not simply pounding your technique to victory at each alternative. Wuk Lamat has to develop and be taught and make her personal errors to turn out to be who she is supposed to be.
The issue is, her central function within the story continues even after your stint as a nanny is over. She’s in on almost each battle and each significant dialog. Her relationships with the varied villains stop you from actually connecting with them your self. And to high all of it off, there’s just one second in the complete enlargement the place it feels prefer it’s lastly your flip to take the stage – and Wuk Lamat nonetheless manages to burst in and make all of it about her. Her presence is so suffocating that it turns into irritating to the purpose of exhaustion.
The sport’s important sidequests, the Position Quests, however, are enjoyable from begin to end. They revolve round an evil secret society that has been stealing highly effective artifacts from the New World. The twist is that they’re all losers, too targeted on their petty ambitions to do any actual hurt to the world at massive. So what you get from these quests is a sequence of tales filled with comedy and drama, and a solid of recent characters who’re all extra enjoyable to spend time with than Wuk Lamat (particularly Kuiyki).
After all, the story is barely half the story. Remaining Fantasy XIV expertise. So how does it fare gameplay-wise? Dungeons are a strong mixture of enhancements combined with a liberal utility of the previous rule of “if it ain’t broke, do not repair it.” The fundamental dungeon design is essentially the identical: two teams of monsters, a barrier, then two extra, and a boss. Repeat this two extra occasions and you have a dungeon. There is a particular step up within the visible design of the dungeons as a complete, with extra dynamic environmental motion than ever earlier than.
However the place the dungeons shine is within the boss battles. The bosses have been kicked up a notch in each problem and design. There’s a a lot better give attention to particular consciousness and reminiscence than in earlier expansions. There are additionally a ton of recent assault sorts, however the visible design makes them straightforward to grasp both instantly or after seeing them as soon as. This made every little thing really feel difficult and shocking, however it by no means took greater than a attempt or two to beat them for the primary time.
This primary design philosophy carries over into the trials and raids (on their regular problem). You’re anticipated to have a very good grasp of the core mechanics by this level, permitting you to tackle a number of directly, and infrequently ones which have by no means been seen earlier than. The raid setting can also be a whole lot of enjoyable, framing every battle as if it have been knowledgeable wrestling match, including a whole lot of fashion to every battle and the way they unfold.
Daybreak Path additionally comes with two new jobs, the Viper and Pictomancer. As primarily a Tank/Healer participant, I solely spent a number of hours with every of those, however discovered them each comparatively pleasurable. Viper nearly seems like a mixture between Dancer and Samurai, whereas Pictomancer does a very good job of letting you juggle a number of mechanics directly in a means that feels largely new.
Except for the brand new job, each different job obtained not less than a number of additions, whereas some obtained huge modifications. Of the roles I leveled as much as 100 (Paladin, Astrologian, Sage, Dancer, Samurai, Black Mage), I discovered all of them simply as pleasurable as they have been in earlier expansions, save for one. The rework of Astrologian’s card system simplifies the gameplay to the purpose of tedium. A lot of the playing cards really feel like redundant therapeutic choices, and drawing them so occasionally makes them really feel like they’ve far much less influence on the battle than earlier than. I merely leveled up Sage as a result of I obtained uninterested in Astrologian so rapidly.
All in all, to name Remaining Fantasy XIV: Daybreak Path combined bag is an understatement. For the primary time since I began the sport, I had no want to proceed the primary story in the course of the first half of the enlargement. It felt extra like a chore than something. Whereas this diminished within the second half, the sensation that you just have been on another person’s journey by no means went away – and the sport is worse for it. However because of the nuanced villains, advanced boss fights, and nice music, I nonetheless had a whole lot of enjoyable with this enlargement. I hope that future patches be taught from Dawntrail’s weaknesses and proceed to enhance on its strengths.
Now I am going to excuse you, however I have to get again to amassing Vanguard gear so I can climate the upcoming patches in fashion.
