Over ten years and 4 expansions Sq. Enix explored the story of two warring gods, Hydaelyn and Zodiark, and the fractured worlds created via that, coming to a climactic end in Endwalker. How do you comply with up a decade of storytelling that’s garnered tens of hundreds of thousands of followers within the course of?
Final Fantasy 14’s reply is to do one thing drastically totally different with its latest growth, Dawntrail, adopting a a lot lighter, extra adventurous tone, super visible modifications, and introduces a new forged of characters. It’s nonetheless a Final Fantasy recreation via and thru, however fascinatingly it seems like Dawntrail has drawn inspiration from one other seminal, perpetually unending collection: One Piece.
When Dawntrail was first introduced director Naoki Yoshida described it as a “Summer season Trip” for the Warrior of Gentle, that’s to say, your participant character. And it spawned a operating joke throughout the neighborhood that this was going to be the “seaside arc” — a light-hearted “break” that takes the characters away from the principle drama for a couple of episodes such as you see in lots of anime. Nevertheless it seems these comparisons could not have been utterly off-base because the additional you dig into Dawntrail’s layers the extra it begins to really feel like a shonen anime like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and most significantly for our comparability, One Piece.
No different anime has captured the sensation of journey fairly like One Piece, and Eichiro Oda’s pirate epic has already been inspiring others for nicely over a decade. With that in thoughts, it seems like a pure line to attract for Dawntrail, an growth that wishes to maneuver previous the massive world-hopping story of the final decade, and create one thing extra grounded.
Dawntrail, at its core, is a story about its ensemble forged somewhat than you the participant. Actually, your Warrior of Gentle isn’t even the protagonist within the newest growth. That honor goes to a newcomer named Wuk Lamat who serves because the Luffy of this story. And the 2 share greater than a few commonalities.
Wuk Lamat is a younger starry-eyed hero who desires to make the world a higher place and obtain her dream of changing into the ruler of the nation of Tural, Dawntrail’s new setting. She’s inherently inexperienced and naive, however has a coronary heart of gold, and most of Dawntrail’s story is about her studying to turn out to be a chief, whereas gathering a occasion of various allies in that course of.
Each Wuk Lamat and Luffy have that happy-go-lucky angle that makes them initially appear aloof, however the deeper layer beneath reveals they’re prepared to do completely something for his or her pals. It’s fascinating to see Wuk Lamat’s development mimic Luffy’s, reworking from an unpredictable wild card to a genuinely charismatic and compelling captain.
There are many different parallels you’ll be able to draw between the Scions and the Straw Hat crew, proper all the way down to the participant filling the identical position as Roronoa Zoro; the world-renowned legendary warrior who acts as a greatest buddy and sidekick. However past simply drawing these parallels, Dawntrail ensures that its peppy shonen story nonetheless feels intentionally Final Fantasy-esque.
Whereas Dawntrail’s total narrative construction is sort of precisely the identical as these first few arcs in One Piece — journey to new lands, study the native tradition, and inevitably resolve their issues, all whereas on the hunt for a legendary treasure — however the connective tissue is the themes on the coronary heart of Dawnrail, which converse to what the sport has achieved for years however on a bigger scale.
This story of Dawntrail is all about Wuk Lamat discovering her voice and remodeling into a chief, utilizing the assistance of a crew made up of wildly totally different folks, who all expertise their very own development. However at its the core it’s about relationships, and diving into the complexities of how folks work together with one another, and extra largely how cultures combine collectively.
That One Piece model of setup and storytelling is used to nice impact in Dawntrail to ship narrative punches. A lot of this growth is spent meticulously increase huge personalities and delivering essential character growth, in service of a bigger message in regards to the nature of grief, acceptance, what it means to be joyful, and the way all of these concepts and feelings can exist directly. Like in One Piece, these themes are all filtered via a central character, with Wuk Lamat appearing as a form of compass via the narrative threads. As a result of the participant Warrior of Gentle is taking up the position of a sidekick this time, we get to see these new parts of the sport’s world via a distinctive perspective.
One Piece has usually achieved this similar factor, utilizing the veil of slapstick comedy or over-the-top characters to ship actually exceptional, heartfelt storytelling. Dawntrail does that via familiarity, constructing on a world, characters, and lore that gamers have come to know and love throughout a decade. In that sense, Dawntrail is each a recent begin for the MMO and a continuation, utilizing acquainted parts to inform a story with a a lot totally different tone and magnificence.
It’s a daring change that probably isn’t going to resonate with each participant, particularly those that have been enthralled by the Hydaelyn and Zodiark narrative of earlier expansions. But when Final Fantasy 14 desires to proceed to interrupt new floor, it additionally feels obligatory. Dawntrail couldn’t simply do the identical factor once more, it needed to be drastically totally different, it needed to pull its inspirations from someplace new, and One Piece was a prime selection for each the setting and narrative themes.
There’s a cause One Piece has cultivated such a large fan following and continued operating for over twenty years. The best way the franchise set itself up is impeccable, centering a complicated forged of characters which have room to develop and alter throughout a dozen totally different arcs.
As Final Fantasy 14 strikes previous its final decade, that feels just like the intent right here. It desires to arrange a core forged of characters and ideas that may be saved operating, and fortuitously it already has most of these left over from the earlier narrative arc. Dawntrail is proof that a lot of thought has been put into laying a basis for the sport to proceed alongside as a serialized story, and having a lot in widespread with One Piece ought to already be thought of a good signal.
Hayes Madsen is a freelance author for IGN.