MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz has completed the leveling phase of Dawntrail and had some fun with Final Fantasy XIV. However, he only reluctantly recalls about a dozen quests from the new continent of Tural.
By a stroke of luck, the launch of Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail coincided with the beginning of my two-week summer vacation. And indeed, besides visiting the lakes in Leipzig, enjoying long naps with the little one, and series evenings with my wife (especially The Orville), there was enough time to explore Eorzea and level up the monk to level 100.
The mixed judgment of the community after the launch I can certainly understand in hindsight. The story gets off to a slow start despite the extensive cutscenes, and the rather supporting role next to Wuk Lamat is unfamiliar. However, what bothered me the most were certain quest types that have never been fun for me in any online RPG.
The launch trailer for FFXIV: Dawntrail gets you ready for the expansion:
Escort, accompany, follow – ugh!
I likely completed my first escort quests sometime in 2005. In the Caves of Wailing from World of Warcraft, a Tauren druid has to be brought alive through half the instance. However, he didn’t run; instead, he sluggishly trudged through the dungeon, only to stop every few meters for a break. God, what a waste of time on two legs. How annoyed I was!
Similar feelings were stirred in me by at least a dozen quests from Dawntrail (why did there have to be so many?!), in which I had to escort NPCs through dangerous areas, accompany them through peaceful zones, or stealthily follow them.
Of course, these tasks are handled much more modernly in 2024 than almost 20 years ago. The residents of Eorzea can do more than just stroll and are no longer constantly out of breath. In the peaceful accompany quests, you can even use the city’s Aetherites to reach your destination as quickly as possible.
All this does not change the fact that these assignments still annoy me. They take the pace out of the gaming experience, offer no excitement or fun, and limit my freedom and flexibility for a certain period. If you break out of the specified framework of the quest, it often fails immediately, and you have to start over. Annoying!
The occasional rays of hope
Fortunately, there were also some highlights during the leveling phase of Dawntrail, especially whenever a dungeon, a challenging duel, or a raid challenge was on the agenda. I particularly enjoy the combat events where I can step into different roles for a while and use fresh skills. More of that in the future, Yoshi-P!
How much fun do escort, accompany, and follow quests in MMORPGs bring you? Can you think of positive examples of such assignments? How much fun did you have with the missions in Dawntrail? Share it in the comments! By the way: Final Fantasy XIV changes half of the classes with Patch 7.01, making them much stronger – Patch notes in German
