Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Reviews
Crossroads fittingly bridges some of Dawntrail's weaknesses with strong new gameplay and long-awaited improvements.
Final Fantasy XIV is a top-class MMORPG that sets new standards in the MMO genre with its outstanding story. Final Fantasy XIV casts a spell over newcomers and impresses with a fantastic amount of content. There is a hell of a lot to do in Final Fantasy XIV and, especially as a newcomer, there is an incredible amount of content so that you will never get bored. The fact that Final Fantasy XIV focusses on the story is a big plus point, as it consistently impresses with an exciting plot.
Review in German | Read full review
The launch of new saga isn't easy start for Yoshi-P or players. But continueing the previous events is calling for change of pace, new characters or environments ' and Danwtrail delivers them all. With two different halves, great dungeons and atmospheric soundtrack, this one is still fantasy joy to play.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The plot is one of the most important components of each add-on for FF XIV and the content that the vast majority of users go through. The expansion made combat more fun, and dungeons and raids more dynamic, but the disgusting pace of the narrative and the way it spends a lot of time on unnecessary things greatly blur the impression. Especially considering the fact that this is the start of a new storyline.
Review in Russian | Read full review
With Dawntrail, we take the first steps of the next decade in the story, but we have to honestly admit that it is a bit of a weak start. We will see what kind of story web they will weave over this.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
While it hasn't completely lost its luster, Dawntrail proves that it's about time for Final Fantasy XIV to change.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail had a lot to live up to following the excellent legacy left behind by Shadowbringers and Endwalker. It doesn’t always hit the mark with incredibly slow opening hours and odd choices that permeate the entire expansion but there’s a lot to like about it as well. The battle content, soundtrack, and some impactful moments all come together to help push up an otherwise struggling expansion and this makes it a mostly excellent addition.
Dawntrail is maddeningly both a fresh start with excellent gameplay and bit of a story letdown after two excellent expansions.
Final Fantasy XIV's fifth expansion represents both a sequel and a new beginning for the franchise, but it fails to shine in the narrative component that had distinguished it so far in the MMORPG scene. However, there are many new features and the gameplay has benefited from the new additions, pending the additional content that will be released in the coming months.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dawntrail does the job it needed to do by giving players the new adventure they need to get going once again. It takes a little while to get there, but when the payoff comes it shows how the narrative team behind Final Fantasy XIV is at hitting the emotional highs.
I genuinely believe that Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail is a phenomenal start to a new story, and that I am very excited to see where the dev team takes us next in the post-expansion patch content. From adding in more EX trials for mounts, new dungeons, raids and more, Final Fantasy XIV fans are feasting with yet more great content from Yoshida-san and the rest of his team.
Although it admittedly doesn't quite hit the heights of Shadowbringers, Dawntrail's shift in narrative focus injects a vibrancy into Final Fantasy XIV with this more lighthearted romp, while still keeping track of a greater story. With an increase in challenge of the instances, a couple of excellent new Jobs, an introduction of new characters, and the development of existing ones, Dawntrail clearly shows there's life after averting the end of the world and I – for one – wouldn't change a damn thing.
It’s not a perfect new beginning, but new beginnings rarely are. Instead, it has the growing pains of every long form story that has taken a shift into uncharted territory. We’re only just diving into a big new mythology, and there’s a certain excitement to that uncertainty.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail excels in its promise to bring exciting new jobs and combat scenarios to the New World. Unfortunately, it falls short of expectations when it comes to the narrative, which ends up being a mess of issues.
As a whole, Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is a stronger start to the next ten years of the game than we expected. But that doesn't make it immune to key criticisms. The game has come a long way, and there's only so much you can expect to change again without a full-blown sequel. Even still, the highs and lows felt too much like a literal rollercoaster over the 2+ weeks of evenings it took to power through its story content.
Dawntrail has the benefit of years of gameplay and graphical improvements, and puts them to great use in designing some of the best dungeons and trials we've seen to date. However, its confused story prevents it from reaching its full potential, and will likely bump Dawntrail down to the bottom-to-middle of most player's tier lists. These issues aren't enough to ruin the experience though, so it's still a good time for Final Fantasy XIV players.
Dawntrail ups the ante with exhilarating combat experiences and builds a stunning new world, but meandering storytelling highlights the MMO's flaws.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail delivers in all the ways players should expect a FFXIV expansion to do so, and upped the quality bar with a graphical update that really makes it a beautiful expansion to explore. Long time players might find it to be a bunch of old stuff done up in a new way, it's in many ways an improvement from what's come before, and that's all I can ask for.
Dawntrail goes exactly where Final Fantasy XIV needed to go, experimenting with the player character's role in this world as its borders expand.