The MMORPG made a big leap in length regarding cutscenes with Endwalker. Dawntrail is no exception and provides players of Final Fantasy XIV with an incredibly high number of cutscenes.
How long have the cutscenes become? A fan has taken the effort to track the length of all cutscenes. In the reddit forum, he proudly presents the results and reveals that the cutscenes are almost as long as in Endwalker:
- A Realm Reborn: 9:45 hours
- Heavensward: 8:15 hours
- Stormblood: 11:33 hours
- Shadowbringers: 15:28 hours
- Endwalker: 23:37 hours
- Dawntrail: 21:07 hours
According to HowLongToBeat, it will take about 47 hours to complete the main story. That means we spend about 45% of the DLC watching videos. The percentage decreases when repeating certain content and reaching the endgame.
To give you an impression of Dawntrail, you can watch the following trailer:
On average, players spend about 12:40 minutes in a cutscene per quest out of every 100 quests. So if you plan not to skip the cutscenes of Dawntrail, you might want to prepare your favorite snacks.
For comparison: The extended version of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy is 11:35 hours long (via Moviepilot). Thus, fans of fantasy universes could watch the trilogy twice to get an impression of how long the cutscenes in Dawntrail are.
The quality of cutscenes has increased
Is it worth watching the cutscenes? MeinMMO author Sophia Weiß has already noted, that the quality of the cutscenes has clearly increased. The staging feels more dynamic, the camera movements are more varied, and the action scenes have been enhanced with more effects than before.
Even small details like hand animations are now better. Your character is also seen much more often, making the hours spent in the character editor for Dawntrail worth it.
After completing the main quest, players will spend more time in content than in cutscenes. In the endgame of Final Fantasy XIV, you can earn a cute outfit. However, with the wrong color combination, it turns into a nightmare: A new outfit in Final Fantasy XIV should actually be cute – Causes nightmares in the right color
