Dawntrail, Final Fantasy XIV’s newest expansion, has a colossal task ahead of it – to set the stage for the Warrior of Light’s latest saga after its predecessor, Endwalker, concluded the 10-year A Realm Reborn storyline. I’ve been playing it whenever I get the chance since its early access and have seen most of what it offers. So, did it accomplish its goal? Well, yes and no.

Tural, the New Frontier

Dawntrail expands the world of Eorzea by ONE WHOLE CONTINENT with the addition of Tural, which lies west of the currently known world. The starting areas in Yok (south) Tural are beautiful, and full of life, flavor, and more than justify the premise of an island adventure/vacation that Dawntrail seemingly sets. However, the last few maps of the expansion are definitely surprising – sometimes too surprising to the point that sometimes we wonder if Square Enix took the dramatic shift of scenery and theme a little too far. Still, it didn’t prevent the last few areas from being interesting, and they’re just as gorgeous in their own unique way.

Viper and Pictomancer

This one’s a bit of a letdown overall, and both Jobs will undergo some minor changes in upcoming minor patch updates throughout July. Viper is seemingly too busy and demanding to play optimally, requiring more positional changes than any other melee DPS Job. Pictomancer, on the other hand, rendered the other caster DPS Jobs obsolete by being a little too overtuned (read: REALLY OVERPOWERED) on release, easily matching Black Mage’s damage numbers while still providing a damage buff to the party. Hopefully, both get fixed by the end of the month. At the casual level, though, both jobs are great additions and simply a lot of fun to play.

The Other Jobs

Like the new Jobs, some of the current classes are negatively affected by the changes going to level 100 and require a little fixing. It’s unfortunate for players who main them, especially those who are into high-level content. While some Jobs received overhauls like Astrologian, others got an additional fancy button or two to press. The visuals of the new attacks are always a welcome treat, though.

Story

Without spoiling too much, the first half of Dawntrail involving the Rite of Succession is a nice (though formulaic) hero’s journey and introduces Yok Tural and its culture well. The latter half of the story involves Xak Tural, and though it is quite a dramatic shift, we’re not sure if we entirely like it. There are still some emotional highs and interesting twists along the way; at the end of the day, it’s still a nice story. Still, we can’t help but wonder if the stakes and scale of the plot were raised too quickly, and if it’s according to Squaenix’s grand plan, where to take it from there in the future expansions. Something tells me that Dawntrail would be a self-contained expansion, and the next one will be another brand-new adventure.

The New Characters

As for the new cast of characters, most of them range from underwhelming to okay, but Gulool Ja Ja, Tural’s current ruler, is a step above the rest in terms of character and performance. A close second would be the other two-headed Mamool Ja – Bakool Ja Ja, who is actually starting to gain popularity on X thanks to being another great character (and probably for a couple of other reasons). The voice acting is alright for the most part, though some characters could do with a little more emotion at times.

Solo Instances, Dungeons, And Bosses

Unfortunately, FFXIV seemed settled on their formulaic approach to dungeons even in Dawntrail, which is unfortunately boring for the most part, except for the first couple of times you enter them. Thankfully, the boss battles in Dungeons and Trials are always fun, even in normal difficulty. I didn’t expect to enjoy the solo instances in the story where you have to fight a character 1v1 – those end up surprisingly challenging and fun and can kill you if you’re not careful.

Music

The soundtrack remains as good as ever – something that the game never fails to impress even after more than a decade. I think the boss battle themes are a step back from Endwalker and Shadowbrings, but maybe that’s just the nostalgia speaking. Dawntrail music is at its best when it comes to immersing the player in the world when touring around the map and visiting the main cities. Both the day and night themes of Tuliyollal, for example, highlight the duality of Tural’s capital – a bustling, multicultural, portside trading hub in the morning and a relaxing, serene beachfront vacation spot at night. It even changes too during one of the story’s pivotal moments! I think that the game’s main theme, “Dawntrail” is currently in close contention with Endwalker’s “Footfalls” as the best main theme. Also, did you notice the classic Final Fantasy theme on the violin mixed in with the Dawntrail theme on the menu screen? It fits so well!

It Does What It Has To Do

So, should you get it? Well, it’s a little complicated – you see, when someone has invested in the game for a long time, as I have, and still wants to continue playing, there’s no choice since this is the latest content. The main question, then, becomes when to buy it. Unless you’re aiming to raid as soon as possible or planning to play with friends as soon as possible, it’s pretty much alright to wait until Dawntrail goes on sale. The story isn’t something to be scrambling to check out, unlike, say, Shadowbringers, and you get the benefit of it being fully patched up by the time you do so.

For newer FFXIV players, I’d say enjoy the free trial until Level 70 before worrying about Dawntrail, as there’s a long way to go and epic stories to enjoy in both Shadowbringers and Endwalker. And for those of us currently in Tural – it isn’t so bad in hindsight as some negative opinions out there make it out to be. Dawntrail might not have given us the highs similar to that of the previous two expansions, but at the moment, it doesn’t have to – what matters is that despite its flaws, it was able to set up the world of FFXIV to a good start and ready for another grand saga in the future.

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