Ultimate Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Assessment (PS5)

Ultimate Fantasy 14 is in a transitional interval. The 2021 enlargement Endwalker was successfully the finale to a narrative that started with 2013’s A Realm Reborn manner again on PlayStation 3. It was a form of Ultimate Fantasy meets Avengers Endgame; a narrative that capped off eight years, 4 expansions, and over 200 hours of story content material in a spectacular emotional rollercoaster of a climax with the destiny of the universe within the stability.

However the place do you go from there? What do you do as soon as you’ve got crossed many of the t’s and dotted many of the i’s, as soon as you’ve got battled a foe of unfathomable energy hell-bent on wiping out actually every part? How do you prime a narrative as large as Endwalker, itself simply the ultimate chapter of an already huge story? Dawntrail is the following chapter within the Ultimate Fantasy 14 story and it solutions that query with a shrug. You do not prime it. And what’s extra, you do not even attempt to — at the least, not immediately.

It is a daring transfer. Dawntrail dials every part again to zero. It is a story that begins out not with low stakes, however no stakes. You are employed by a Hrothgar (mainly, a lion girl) referred to as Wuk Lamat, who’s the adopted daughter of the ruler of Tural, a continent largely unknown to the folks of Eorzea. She’s one in all 4 rivals in a contest to search out the fabled metropolis of gold and decide who will take over from the getting older Dawnservant when he relinquishes the throne.

And so with little left to do in Eorzea following the occasions of Endwalker and in dire want of just a little little bit of enjoyable within the solar, you and some of your comrades comply with Wuk Lamat to Tural to behave as her entourage within the succession contest. What follows is a largely light-hearted journey within the astonishingly stunning Tural, serving to the endlessly optimistic and likeable Wuk Lamat as she visits the completely different areas of the continent and takes half in every part from cooking a neighborhood delicacy to catching and using an alpaca.

The opening hours of Dawntrail are charming, and humorous, however they are not precisely riveting. It is a huge change of tempo from the pressing and often dire Endwalker, however then that was in all probability crucial, and we might by no means go so far as to say the opening to Dawntrail is boring. Tural is an enchanting and wondrous place, and the world-building within the early hours of the enlargement is usually glorious. All of it simply feels a bit frivolous.

However then about half manner via the enlargement all of it kicks off, and when it does it actually kicks off. The story takes some fairly wild turns within the second half of the journey, and it is a kind of the place should you tried to guess what the top could be after the primary 10 hours, you’d not get it proper in 100 makes an attempt. The emotional beats within the latter half of the story actually land due to the work put into establishing characters and areas earlier, and there is even some revelations for a few of our previous buddies too. We actually love this story.

It is not simply Dawntrail’s narrative that landed for us, although. The dungeons on this enlargement are the most effective the sport has ever had, that includes quite a few difficult mechanics, jaw-dropping locales, superb music, and superior bosses. We discovered ourselves often bamboozled by a boss using ways we might by no means seen earlier than in FF14, and for a recreation you’ve got performed for 1000’s of hours to nonetheless be capable of shock you is a uncommon deal with.

Fight is additional enhanced by the brand new jobs you’ll be able to play as in Dawntrail. First there’s the Viper, a bodily DPS (injury per second) class which makes use of two blades in a similar way to Zidane from Ultimate Fantasy 9. Taking part in Viper means managing buffs to haste and injury, in addition to getting your self into the precise place to maximise your offence — sure assaults do extra injury from the facet or from behind an enemy. It is quick and flashy, however for our cash it is overshadowed considerably by the opposite new class.

Pictomancer is the second new job, and it is fairly spectacular. The Pictomancer is a magical DPS class that makes use of an enchanted paint brush to attract assaults and buffs in battle. You initially have three canvases to work with – one weapon, one creature, one panorama. You employ abilities such as you would with every other class, solely a few of these add one thing to one of many canvases. Utilizing the suitable abilities to complete the portray of a hammer on the weapon canvas, for instance, provides you a comical outsized mallet which you could bop enemies with.

Utilizing the moogle’s pom ability causes tons of of balls to drop from the sky onto your enemies whereas including a pom to the creature canvas, and utilizing the moogle’s wing ability damages baddies whereas including wings to the canvas and ending the portray of a moogle. You then have entry to the Mog of the Ages ability, and utilizing it causes your newly painted moogle to spring to life and blast all foes with an enormous spell.

We discovered Pictomancer robust to get the grasp of initially, however as soon as we did it grew to become one in all our favorite courses in the complete recreation. It is all about increase assaults in levels for the massive payoff in the long run and it is a tonne of enjoyable. In any other case, there have been tweaks to different, current courses, however nothing earth-shattering from what we performed, and nothing as drastic as the entire Summoner rework from Endwalker.

Elsewhere, there are modifications to how dyes work on garments, and now you can alter two completely different colors on most objects of clothes somewhat than only one, which is nice information for glamour followers. Spectacles now have their very own tools slot as a substitute of being thought-about headgear, so you’ll be able to put on a cool hat and glasses on the similar time. There’s additionally a brand new playable race within the feminine Hrothgar – a humanoid lion – should you fancy a personality change.

After which there’s the graphical replace. We surprise should you’d discover the graphical replace in any respect if you have not performed Ultimate Fantasy 14 shortly, however for frequent gamers it is fairly apparent. Hair, clothes textures, and faces all seem like a step-up from what got here earlier than. The brand new areas, too, make glorious use of the graphical enhancements, with areas trying a lot much less empty than beforehand seen within the recreation, and with rather more foliage current.

Talking of areas, there are some stunning sights in Dawntrail, from darkish forests to lush grasslands and majestic mountains. Tural is usually South American in inspiration, solely with a Ultimate Fantasy twist in a similar way to how earlier enlargement Stormblood riffed on Japan. Within the latter half of the sport the areas you may go to are aesthetically very completely different however no much less pleasing on the attention.

Dawntrail additionally continues Ultimate Fantasy 14’s pattern of unbelievable soundtracks. There is a large band monitor that performs each time you go to the primary metropolis within the enlargement and it is an actual toe-tapper. It’s very misplaced as a city theme for when you’re wandering round doing all your procuring, nevertheless it’s so good that we simply do not care. There are bombastic boss tracks, quiet reflective items, and one dungeon theme that we are able to solely describe as a trance banger mashed up with ’80s fashion guitar solos. It is splendidly bonkers.

Conclusion

Dawntrail is one other glorious enlargement for Ultimate Fantasy 14. The story takes some time to get going, however as soon as it is completed setting the scene it takes some fairly large swings within the second half that left us captivated. The dungeons are the most effective the sport has ever had, the brand new Pictomancer class is an absolute pleasure to play, it is bought unbelievable artwork design, and a soundtrack that is beautiful. Here is to a different 10 years of Ultimate Fantasy 14.