Yoshi-P once said that "a complaint is worth twice a compliment".

I have 3.5k hours into this game and never, in my entire playthrough, I considered it a waste of my time, until I did the MSQ (Main Scenario Quest) for Dawntrail.

For the sake of keeping my opinion spoiler-free, I'll refrain from using examples.

The story is sloppy, the characters are badly used, plotholes in every aspect, and horrible pacing. It feels like they went in without any supervision or care. A scuffed version of the previous expansions, and massively oversight into what made their stories so great. I also played Dawntrail with the JP dub, so my experience was still better because of that. But...

I wished I had skipped it entirely.

I'm enjoying the side-quests more because at least they acknowledge my character's existence.

Also, it is the missing potential that this "vacation" expansion would have to develop the side characters (the Scions) that we learned to like and be interested in, only for them to be pushed to the background and completely forgotten. Instead, it appears that the entire main development team went on a vacation themselves and overlooked this issue.

The Scions are only here because they needed NPCs to fill for Duty Support.

In conclusion. I knew this expansion would be a "filler" story between the major arcs. But still got disappointed. It's only because I hold this game in such high regard that I want it to improve in every aspect. I hope that Yoshi-P and his team view the negative feedback and reflect upon the direction they want the game to take.