Sophia from MeinMMO has been unable to get away from Final Fantasy XIV since 2016. But on the occasion of her 10th anniversary, she is still struggling to get excited about the current expansion. More than two years after the release, she has now reached the end of the 7.0 story.
Final Fantasy XIV has kept me engaged much longer than any game ever has. In October 2026, it will be a full 10 years for me as a Warrior of Light. I have a house, I’ve leveled almost all craftsmen and gatherers, and besides playing Dragoon, I also play a Tank and Healer.
I love tackling raids with my friends, farming mounts, or just running the evening roulettes. But the best thing about Final Fantasy XIV has always been the story for me. Like almost everyone else, I struggled through the long-winded base game. Since the first expansion, Heavensward, I was hooked – every patch was played upon release (as soon as I was up-to-date) and I tried out every content once.
But Dawntrail has really made it hard for me to still love my favorite game. After over two years, it finally happened. I was so frustrated that I skipped the credits for the first time in my FFXIV career.
Kids, the vacation is canceled! We are making Naruto the Hokage!
I wasn’t particularly happy with the story of the 6.X patch series, but I pushed through: In the end, 7.0 promised adventures in Tural and especially the promise of a beach episode
or simply a vacation for my Warrior of Light.
What I got was a new role for my character.
The Warrior of Light became the Jiraiya to Naruto of the new main character Wuk Lamat. She faced several challenges alongside her brothers – one a very clever Sai-like colleague and the other a Sasuke-like stubborn one. The victor would inherit the rule over Tural, who was also the (adoptive) father of the three challengers. (Here the Naruto comparison falters a bit, I admit.)
Naruto is a great anime. But when I’ve been the heroine of my own story for years and suddenly get demoted to being the mentor of such a difficult character, it has to be written brilliantly for it to work.
Unfortunately, Wuk Lamat feels like she is in the spotlight of the story the whole time, even in the cutscenes. She is now the protagonist. I’m just a supporting character, understood.
Here are a few selected screenshots – we often just stand next to her in cutscenes. Not always, but often:
On paper, Wuk Lamat is not a bad character. She is curious, enthusiastic, and has a good heart. That she wants to take up her father’s role is perfectly fine. What child should be denied that?
But, difficulty arises from the fact that she has no knowledge of the land she wants to govern. This could have informational reasons, as somehow the lore pieces need to be conveyed to us players.
Lyse from the second expansion Stormblood, for example, also knew little about Ala Mhigo, her homeland – because she was driven from there as a child. Wuk Lamat simply has never left the palace and seen the world.
This is how the new main character is degraded to being an expositor. Everything simply doesn’t fit together.
From sobbing to indifference and a skip
The last third of Dawntrail is actually really good again. First, there was a road trip with pleasantly relaxed company, but without the remaining new cast. The storyline around Solution 9 and the Endless finally brings out what makes many Final Fantasy stories so good: profound philosophical dilemmas.
In this case, the question of how much one is willing to give if through enough effort, beloved people need never be lost forever through death. If everyone could live forever through technology, what would one be willing to risk for it?
Honestly, I thought: Finally, the competence of my Warrior of Light is needed again. But instead, we picked up Wuk Lamat from her new job as the ruler of Tural. She literally talked the antagonist into submission.
Wuk Lamat even intervened in my final battle, and in the end, the villain said something like: Wuk Lamat, I heard you. You have reached me.
That was talk no jutsu
at its finest – Naruto’s powerful ability to talk villains over to his side.
This means that not even my victory over the big bad of the expansion was my victory, but my newest protégé’s. That feels silly.
In hindsight, I have never been so indifferent to the credits as I am now with Dawntrail. I cried my eyes out when I defeated the final boss in Shadowbringers. The same was true for the end of 6.0 Endwalker. Both times, my neighbors asked if my partner had broken up with me – it was that bad.
I simply skipped the Dawntrail credits and the So it continued
aftershow.
Bad 7.0, good 7.X?
The really nasty thing is that the current raid series according to my colleague Alexander Mehrwald is supposed to be really good. However, since I couldn’t finish 7.0, I couldn’t unlock them. So I’ve just started that. Alex also kept telling me that the patch story of Dawntrail, that is, 7.1 to 7.55 is significantly better again.
Of course, it wasn’t just the story that spoiled my enjoyment of Dawntrail. The stealth missions were incredibly tedious and exhausting for me. Without a really good story, the MMORPG typical fetch quests were almost unbearable. Ultimately leading to two full years of playtime.
However, I really enjoyed the dungeons and the varied mechanics from the new boss fights. When an area effect is not displayed with an orange marker on the ground but seems to deform the ground, it’s cool and requires more attention. A weak consolation, as there were only three boss fights and six dungeons in ten levels.
Well then, I will go farm some gear and play the patch stories. If they really are as good as Alexander says, I might binge them in just a few days.
As soon as I’ve accomplished that and have taken care of the rest of the endgame content (raids, Kreszentia, and the moon missions), I will write an update to this article. Then I’ll also be curious about Evercold – the aforementioned colleague Alex says about it: For 11 years, FF14 has been my second home, and I say: Evercold is the best thing that can happen to the MMORPG right now
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