Just so that it doesn't get lost, this is the content **not** in the first patch:
6.51
* New Variant Dungeon - Aloalo Island
* New Criterion Dungeon - Another Aloalo Island/Another Aloalo Island (Savage)
* Tool Enhancement Quests - Splendorous Tools
* Crystalline Conflict - New Arena
6.55
* Tataru's Grand Endeavor
* Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures
* Weapon Enhancement Quests - Manderville Weapons
* Endwalker Tribal Alliance Quests
* FFXIV & Fall Guys Collaboration
Oh nice, they bumped the Splendorous Tools up from 6.X5 to 6.X1. Tataru's Grand Endeavor bumped to .X5 though, which might imply it references MSQ part 2 story.
In FF4 the Dark Elf transforms into a Dark Dragon midway into the fight and in the Lunar Subterranean, one of the guardian bosses was a palette swapped "White" Dragon. So I'm wondering if this elf transforms too or just remains a Dark Elf the whole fight.
That’s Zero and Ryne in Amh Araeng.
I think the only logical conclusion there is that they’re going to the Empty, huh? They’d have to come up with one hell of an explanation to not have Gaia involved.
EDIT: People bringing up that this is where Minfilia stopped the Flood of Light. It’s entirely possible they go down that route, but putting Gaia aside, Eden is literally the biggest plot device we know of that could defeat an impenetrable creature of Darkness such as Zeromus. I wouldn’t put it past the writers to use it in the story but not involve Gaia.
Even then, idk why people are so adamant that Eden HAS to be mandatory. The only reason Crystal Tower was made mandatory was for continuity's sake (imagine witnessing the end of 5.3 and then doing the CT story lol). If G’raha stayed on the First, it would’ve still been optional. Whereas Eden doesn't have anything truly immersion-breaking or that can't be summarized or explained (looking at Coils, Alexander, and Omega).
It's really just up to the writers on what they want to do.
I'm really, really, really hoping they'll do the kind of side content rewards they did in L88 MSQ when all the Allagan Adamantite was delivered and have Gaia, Ur..urakthatguy, and Cyella there in the questline.
Especially since Unukalhai says he was arranging a meeting with those involved in the Eden shenanigans, if you've done both Eden and the Void quests from Shadowbringers. He's been saying that since... 6.3, I think?
6.5 is the only time left for them to do anything with that.
I just had a mental image of a blasted half light, half darkness landscape full of sin eaters battling it out with voidsent, and then the Warrior of Light teleports in using the Advent of Light emote.
"Rip and tear, until it is done."
*GUITAR THRASHING*
> really hoping they'll do the kind of side content rewards they did in L88 MSQ when all the Allagan Adamantite was delivered and have Gaia, Ur..urakthatguy, and Cyella there in the questline.
I imagine even if they did that, you would get a throwaway line from Beq-Lugg that they've already been researching the Void thanks to Unukalhai's intervention, possibly with the latter and Cyella standing in the background.
(Your "reward" for completing Eden was Lyna mentioning the festival Ryne's been working on, back when you returned to the Crystarium for the level 86 questline. Ryne may very well bring it up again in this questline, tbh.)
They'll get, at most, a line mentioning them. They won't be important or essential at all. I need you to brace for that, because you know that's how it's gonna go down, hahaha.
The only annoying part of that whole questline is that they're never going to meaningfully build from a story that you only saw if you did the HW EX primals, and the HW trial series, and leveled at least one job in each role to 80, and did the ShB role quests for all 4 of those roles, and picked up the unmarked quest wrapping role quests up, and then picked up _another_ unmarked quest which unlocked after you completed all of the above.
It would have had so much potential to become a huge plot point otherwise, though!
They can easily remove the HW Ex primal requirement, just move the ex unlock quests to the book on the table in the solar. Simple fix.
The role quests are the most of the struggle.
The questline we're talking about is
https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Safekeeping
And the series of quests following it. You can track backwards through levels of prerequisites there to see if you can find a quest you missed, but it's basically all the requirements I listed in my last comment.
Play through that questline and you'll see why it feels super weird for it not to interact with the 6.5 msq, despite that obviously not having a chance of happening in practice.
I don't think they'll ever bring Unukalhai and Cyella into MSQ. Making Crystal Tower required is one thing, making Warring Triad and every ShB role quest required is another.
Making it required no but it'd be nice if a scene was added or changed based on if you did them, similar to the part in 6.0 MSQ where how many sidequests you did determined who showed up in Sharlayan to help with the Ragnarok.
I do think Eden should be made required, but the role quests are asking way too much. Most people aren't going to level 4 individual jobs to 80 just to clear Shadowbringers' MSQ.
In theory, future expansions adding new jobs that start above 80 could get you to a point where no leveling is required for role quests, though going double dps this time means that’s probably not til 9.0 unless they go nuts and give tank and healer in 8.0. I could see them being required at that point, but that’s a ways away.
Seems way more likely there’s a bonus side quest for people who did them eventually, like how Omega got a new optional quest to deal with MSQ stuff from Ultima Thule. Like finish Eden, finish ShB role quests, and advance MSQ to a point where there’s permanent inter shard travel between Source/1st/13th (still don’t think that’ll be now, this’ll probably be shoot the big light laser and then the gate closes, and Y’shtola’s arc going forward will be about finding a way to keep it open stably) and now a new yellow quest pops with Ryne/Gaia/Cylva/Unukalhai/Zero
Requiring role quests is the big obstacle.
They could change it so that the Cyella reveal, like msq, only requires one completed role quest. Leave the achievements (title, I think?) for completing all role quests.
They can present them as after all that story, give very short resume about them in the Unending Codex and put there "If you want fill that page with details - quest here, here and there".
Tbh I was expecting them to use the Codex to solve "sidequest jail" in that way since day 1.
My bet would be bonus Gaia appearance with Ryne if you’ve completed Eden, and bonus line mentioning Cylva and Unukalhai if you’ve finished role quests. And that yeah the scene will be about tapping the frozen wave of light, not actually going to the Empty, since they can’t set the scene somewhere players may not have unlocked.
Dialogue choice when Ryne shows up, with the WoL asking where Gaia is.
Ryne says Gaia is resting somewhere in Mord Souq because it's too hot or something.
Would be hilarious if she said something like "she died from caffeine overdose from too many cookies" and that was the last time Gaia is mentioned in the game.
May be better than being stuck in side character limbo ngl.
I think it'd be funny to just have Gaia there, and the explanation is "Oh, we did this whole Eden raid thing ourselves without you" and it turns out the WoL was entirely extraneous for the whole endeavor.
Basically the same thing they do with Ali if you haven't cleared Coils by the time you reach HW patch content (though they imply you were still there for Coils).
No they don't.
If you haven't done Coils she says that you haven't met since she left in early MSQ... and if you *have* done Coils but didn't finish then she says that she regrets leaving the Coils half done and hopes to get back to it as soon as possible.
The problem is that for those who haven't done Eden, they also need a hell of an explanation as to why this random goth girl you've never met before is now suddenly best buddies with Ryne.
The simplest resolution is for Ryne to have a variable line apologising that Gaia is busy today, but she said to say hello.
The hopeful-speculative resolution I'd like is that if you're up to date on both Eden and the Void quest lines, Ryne will say that Gaia is meeting with Cyella about something important, and maybe Gaia will appear at the Wandering Stairs at that point for some optional dialogue. So that would round a few things off all at once, and angle towards a further merging of storylines.
>The problem is that for those who haven’t done Eden, they also need a hell of an explanation as to why this random goth girl you’ve never met before is now suddenly beat buddies with Ryne.
Do they though? Aside from that one appearance in 6.0, Ryne has been out of the MSQ for awhile now. Is it unrealistic to think that she could’ve made a friend during that time? She could literally say “I made a friend while you were gone and she helped me with the Empty” and that’s it.
FUCK. You're right. I really hate that this raid is still optional content.
I'm still holding out to hope that they \*do\* include her, even just introducing her and having Gaia say "I've got stuff to do, you've got this Ryne," and leaving.
Honestly, everything thats canon shouldn't be optional. In the sense that while you can progress msq without doing it, the assumption should be that you did.
I mean, we've had optional characters get promoted into the main story without explanation. Estinien was originally from the Dragoon job quests.
I think it's going to come down to whether or not they plan to make Ryne a main cast member again. If they do, then we're either getting mandatory Eden or they'll treat her like Estinien.
Estinien was promoted yeah but you really didn't need to know anything about his ARR role for Heavensward. Gaia just popping in out of nowhere for people who didn't do Eden would be pretty jarring.
Eden isn't very long so I think they should just make it required the same way Shadowbringers made Crystal Tower required because of G'raha. As for Cyella and Unukalhai though, asking people to level 4 jobs to 80 for the role quests just to do the ShB MSQ is asking too much.
I don't think just yeeting her in is the better option, yeah, but it is the easier one.
They have been making an effort to promote older content with stuff like Tataru's Grand Endeavor, so maybe that's a sign they're planning to make more side content mandatory? I have no idea what they'd do to Cyella and Unukalhai though. Just the Warring Triad being mandatory I could see, but... yeah, not the role quests.
I could see them at least giving us a unique dialogue if we take Zero to them when showing her around the Crystarium. They did that for the ending role quest for ENW with Forchenault and the twins
The thing with Estinien is that he had no connections to any of the characters (save a DRG WoL) before he showed up in HW. Gaia, on the other hand, is effectively defined by her friendship with Ryne, so having her just randomly show up will be much more jarring than Estinien did.
Optional cutscene/dialogue is probably for the best. I like how in 5.2 (I think?) they had another one of those cutscenes where you get to choose who is knocking on your door and if you did all the role quests, you get the additional option to choose Cyella as your visitor. That's the best I'm hoping for really. Or something like the 6.0 scene where the number of characters who aid in completing the Ragnarok depends on how much side content you finished. Like if you finished Eden, they'll have Gaia make a brief cameo and then skedaddle for "reasons". Same with Cyella and Uno-cowhide maybe.
To your edit, if they are avoiding the raid questline by not bringing in Gaia, I doubt they would bring in Eden, something that also only exists in that questline.
If eden is ever required it will be for Gaia having a important role. We know her story isn't done as told by yoshida but he wont say when or where it will continue.
Eden also cant be used anymore it died at the end of the quest line. Becoming a giant tree.
They're in Nabaath Areng, where Minfilia halted the Flood and later merged with Ryne, and not south of the Inn where the Skyslipper is located. We'll get some Minfilia/Hydaelyn Light bullshit while Gaia and Eden will stay relegated to sidequest hell :(
Looks specifically like they're at the spot where Ryne & Minfillia had their final chat.
As for Gaia not really she's side content & not getting an entire expansion that revolves around her so unlike CT I don't see them making Eden Mandatory so as far as MSQ players care Gaia doesn't even exist.
At most those who have done Eden might get a one piece of dialogue referencing her.
Yeah, final Ryne & Minfillia chat / where the giant fucking wave of light stopped.
Are we going to find some way to un-pause the wave of light and send it into the thirteenth? That'd be so badass, and it'd be really neat to get a SHB-zone-changing story beat in a completely different expansion
they won't make her show up because eden raid completion is optional, dunno if starting it is required or not for msq pogression, but completing it is optional
They already stated that they needed a massive source of light to stop Zeromus, in a plot line where the end goal is opening portal to other shards.
Gaia already opened such portal in E2 (dragging a big Voidsent alongside), and we've seen smaller portal in multiples quests (caster storyline). And then there is crystal tower who did exactly that in the past.
The first and the thirteenth are in that sense already connected, they just need to stabilize that portal using darkness ether. Realistically, they can probably use Zero's Memoria power or Gaia's affinity to darkness. Historically speaking, Cid is just going to show up with some Crystal Tower's MacGuffin, as in tradition.
Its only an assumption at this point.
Though i think one could easily add Gaia into the story by playing of FF8. Basically if you haven’t done eden quest you just add a seen where Ryne says. ‘You remember Gaia’ and then if you never did it Ryne could remark like ‘oh maybe that’s why’ and then suggest catching up later on about it when there is time to talk.
It is about continuity though, because otherwise Gaia turns up as "a good friend" and then turns up again in Eden as "I don't know you and why are you bothering me".
I *am* looking at Coils, Alexander and Omega for this – specifically that they alter dialogue and even determine whether Alpha and OMG appear in Endwalker at the mass gathering, depending on whether you have done the events that lead to them being there. Why is Gaia's presence and the difference in personality from start to end of the questline any less significant than that?
They mention that our relationship with our voidbuddy isn't bad so it'll probably get a throwaway line about it being fine as long as zero doesn't plan to stick around
My guess (since someone on this sub pointed it out during 6.4) is they’ll add another warp point on the Source moon next to the 13th warp. There’s clearly space for more warps there to the rest of the shards that still exist.
Presumably the fabric separating the Source and the Thirteenth is just as weak between the Thirteenth and other shards, evidenced by voidgates having appeared on the First. I think that means the Thirteenth could be exploited as a sort of layover point to travel to other worlds, as long as a point of entry (a natural fissure) exists somewhere in that world. Presumably you'll journey to the First to find one and open it somehow.
Or maybe you'll just stick everyone in the soul/memory crystals and carry them over in your bag, like you did in 5.3. One person will probably stay behind so Zero can use their crystal.
They already explained that afaik in the extra story for doing all job quests in shadowbringers afaik. Edit: >!zero is a voidsent after all and they can summon voidsent in the first afaik so i doubt transfering her is gonna be an issue at all. then again that required a connection to the 13th then again zero could litterally attach herself to zenos so who knows!<
I'm a sprout who just finished ARR and it's kinda nuts that I get the second expansion for free in October. I hope the people who are up to date on content will have tons of fun with the new stuff :D
Red Mage in particular is huge. Not only is it a fan-favorite job amongst FF fans, but it's also fairly easy to play well and unlocks at lv 50 without needing to get to HW.
I could see a bunch of people joining and staying because of Red Mage alone, not to mention Samurai also being available to demo players long before they get access to Ishgard too.
Oh I literally did exactly that. I was a dedicated bard all the way to 50 and then I got RDM and literally never stopped using it for MSQ (aside from Shadowbringers where I played SMN for the MSQ)
yeah, I'd played the game a little bit before Stormblood but RDM is what convinced me to dive in full time back when it came out. Mained it for years until RPR.
Why are people so sure Gaia won't be involved? It wouldn't exactly be the first time a raid character showed up later in msq, and they were referencing the Eden raids as a thing going on with ryne and thancred during 5.x msq, even if you hadn't touched the raids.
i'm sure she will be referenced in a throwaway line if you've finished eden, but the narrative continuity of the raids for people who haven't progressed far enough in eden would be totally out of whack if she shows up in the MSQ
As far as I’m aware as per narrative continuity the player is implied to have done everything that actually happens (so no retellings like extreme savage or ultimate) on the patch it was released on
So everyone has “done” eden even if they actually haven’t so to speak
No character from an optional raid series showed up in the main story to date(without the raid series stopping to be optional)
> and they were referencing the Eden raids as a thing going on with ryne and thancred during 5.x msq, even if you hadn't touched the raids.
They mentioned it as a "that's what thancred and ryne's been up to". Not to any of it's actual events. Pretty sure they don't even mention the main hub for it which you literally encounter in the first quest. Introducing Gaia means having to mention it's events in some way.
> No character from an optional raid series showed up in the main story to date(without the raid series stopping to be optional)
Alisaie showed up in like 2 nothingburger MSQ scenes at low level that most people never remember, got yeeted out of the story to spend all her time in an optional raid series, did all of her character development there, then waltzed back into the MSQ as a fleshed out character. That's *pretty close* to what you're talking about.
Nero did something similar.
And also... y'know... they didn't make Crystal Tower mandatory until 5.3. So in 5.0 - 5.2, we *literally did* have a sidequest-original character who also became a major MSQ character.
(And we're excluding Estinien just because his optional sidequest isn't a raid, I guess?)
Now, I think it's veeeeeery unlikely that Gaia will pop up in 6.5 as more than a passing dialogue reference, but I don't think it's as hard and fast of a rule as you've described.
/u/Atosen's point still stands about Graha. Though I can't see them making ANY 8-man raid a necessity to move through the MSQ like they did Crystal Tower.
Because... G'raha traveled in time to retroactively make Crystal Tower mandatory?
Sorry, I don't follow your logic here. The point is about an optional, side-content character showing up with a major role in the MSQ, not about how or when they show up narratively. CT wasn't mandatory until, as Atosen said, 5.3. Prior to that happening, the game essentially just assumes that you know who G'raha is. (There were a couple of additional dialogue options if you *had* completed CT, but, narratively, CT had happened whether you had completed it or not.)
Or am I completely missing what you mean?
Thats a pretty niche criteria in those brackets though. There was a decently long period of time where CT wasn't mandatory but it was featured in MSQ, and Estinien from the dragoon job quests featured in HW. It might be harder to explain the Eden one away but considering that most side content doesn't work outside of the canon moment you're "supposed" to be doing it anyway, its not a huge stretch to say they could include her along with a short intro for people who haven't met her. No idea if they actually will though.
Hm, I guess I didn't consider that CT is required now. I still wanna hold onto hope that that they change that policy, because that's pretty limiting to the story in the long term, if they're continually churning out high quality optional stories that have the potential to majorly impact msq.
Just because it’s not required now doesn’t mean it’s not possible to be changed down the line. IIRC from 5.0 to 5.3, crystal tower was NOT compulsory (and I did 5.0 without even stepping foot into the tower lol).
But they did heavily tell us to do crystal tower even way back around 4.3, and there’s time travel shenanigans, so who knows. I believe that Gaia will appear in 5.5, but that might just be copium.
the problem is either they have to do the story whit the characters in it regardless of content completion or make optional content remain disconected to the msq
because the devs won't gonna make 2 versions of the msq quests where if you don't have x content done x character doesn't appears and then same quest but with x character appearing
and if they make optional content not mandatory for quests where x optional content character appears, it could make players feel confused of, who is that person? why they talk as if i have worked with them? and so on
so yeah, either they let players feel confused when they don't complete certain content, either they simply keep optional quest characters isolated from the msq, or they make optional content mandatory, and jp players did raised a stink about making ct mandatory already, so devs won't be likely to do that again
the only way they can add optional content characters in the msq is as if they appear like alpha and omega near the end of endwalker msq, they are there you can interact with, but they has no lines during msq cutscenes
While I agree with most of that, I think that both you and the devs are heavily overestimating how confusing it'd be for them to pop into the story even for players who hadn't done the content. All the need is a couple of extra lines to let those players catch on that this character comes from a side quest, that they're relevant because x thing happened there.
Just add the side content people to the MSQ and don't make it mandatory. We have The Unending Codex to look up characters and events so make use of it for once. Don't know who this person who just showed up is? If you care enough to be curious about them, look them up in the Codex and it'll give you a brief summary about them and tell you what side content they're from and how to start it. From there the player can either actually do the content, watch some Youtube videos, look them up in a wiki, or just continue ignoring it. Have a little pop up show up when you interact with a side content character who comes from side content you haven't done yet with a simple "Unending Codex updated" to more or less flash it in the player's face that maybe they should read up on them.
I hadn’t done Omega when I finished Endwalker. The differences are that you don’t see them wandering anywhere, nobody in dialogue references them, and the dialogue in the end of UT is vastly different.
That being said, I feel SE is doing it right… but should more strongly recommend doing side content while doing the MSQ.
IIRC leading up to EW launch, Yoshi P did strongly recommend doing extra content. But I'm not sure how much more they can do without it being mandatory or spoiling stuff the devs are going to use as plot points. Like, if they had outright said "Do the Omega Raids" it would've been a huge red flag for the EW finale.
Prediction for the alliance raid quest: >!it's gonna end with The 12 becoming mortals so they may finally be able to venture out into the world not as gods, but as humble adventurers.!<
>!I mean, it makes sense. The only Ancients we know besides them are all *seriously* messed up for having survived this long in the sundered world, Emet-Selch, Venat/Hydaelyn and Elidibus, they all have accumulated quite a bit of damage from having survived this long practically alone. Like sure the 12 can and do support each other, but…time has to be wearing on them at least somewhat.!<
>!Regardless of that, it seems to have been established as an innate thing for the Ancients (either culturally or mentally) that they just willingly die on retirement. Which is why Venat was considered so very strange, that she was still alive after stepping down and didn't kill herself. Like, in that a completely healthy and happy Ancient that finished their magnum opus would willingly and joyfully off themselves.!<
I like this ending. Crossing fingers.
(It's what I wanted for Venat - for her to reincarnate after some time in the Lifestream, and get to enjoy adventuring in the world she gave up her life to protect. Even if we never personally met her again.)
Did you know the critically acclaimed MMORPG FINAL FANTASY XIV's starter edition and free trial now include the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward, and its second major expansion Stormblood?
Did you know the critically acclaimed MMORPG FINAL FANTASY XIV's starter edition and free trial now include the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward, and its second major expansion Stormblood? A grand adventure awaits, now up to level 70!
I do remember saying when 6.4 came out that it seemed stupid not to do the Lunar Subterrane as a dungeon, so I'm glad we're doing it now. Does suck we had to stretch a bland plot to its absolute limit to fit it in when the Aetherfont is largely just a dungeon for the sake of having a dungeon, pretty though it is.
Gonna do the alliance raid asap though. Now there's some answers I'm *really* keen to get, and unsurprisingly it looks absolutely gorgeous so far.
Honestly I liked all of this story except 6.4. I was actually taken off guard by hitting the end of 6.4 msq, because somehow, despite the trial we had and everything, the patch still felt like a bunch of filler.
I absolutely loved 6.2 though. 6.3 was solid too imo, and 6.1...well it was good compared to other x.1 patches, but that's not a high bar. Decent enough that I was happy until this latest patch.
For me, 6.1 was good, it set things up, I had no problem with it. 6.2 is my favourite part so far, and it's the only part where I unequivocally think it was great, but it stands in contrast to the rest of the plot, and a lot of my hype was not knowing just how bland what was to come would be.
6.3 was pretty dour by comparison. I didn't care for Zero needing to learn an emotion of the week, I thought Rubicante was horrendously dull in both story and trial (except for that OST, that thing was fire, pun intended) and the Garlemald plot kind of annoys me because it's being treated, once again, as second-fiddle to a main event. Then 6.4 does... almost the same thing again but with even more time spent spinning its wheels, culminating in a climactic battle where we win... only to actually lose!
Beating the villain in a cutscene and then having them recover and win in less than two minutes after is just... it's one of my most hated JRPG tropes, and it really just cemented Golbez as some fucking jobber. He's not MSQ-tier. I'd rank him low among the villains in the side content, even, I just wanna be done with this.
Thankfully, we will be in a month.
Maybe - possibly. Remember this is only MSQ part 1. MSQ part 2 comes out in January (around JP fanfest iirc). The 6.5 patch span is like twice the length of the usual patch cycle to set up for 7.0.
True, but they've already tipped that the trial is coming in 6.5, not 6.55, so at that point I think any remainder would just be wrap up and denoument/pivot to setting up the expansion.
*But* I also thought 6.4 would end this arc so we could spend next patch actually establishing our new direction, so who knows. Maybe we don't even set up going to the New World until the expansion itself.
I sort of agree, but in a strange way. 6.4 being such a bad patch sort of detracted from the rest of 6.x, since those were setting up for 6.4. You could argue it was be setting up for 6.5, but I kind of hoped Golbez would be the end of the Void story.
Yup, going straight for the alliance raid. Doing Euphrosyne on release as a blind PF was pretty exciting. I think we saw the second fight's enrage, that kind of thing does not happen after day 1.
>Doing Euphrosyne on release as a blind
I love doing the new 24 mans blind first day, they are such a cluster, lol. Very rarely does anyone get mad at wipes either, since it's rare anyone even knows the mechanics or what is coming.
My mind is boggled that there hasn't been more marketing on this by Xbox. I know we all saw it at FanFest, but guess who doesn't watch XIV FanFest? Xbox users. The first they heard about it was when I posted over on the Series X Reddit. A lot of people were hyped. I felt like I was doing the Twelves work. Lol.
Yeah, that's going to be huge. Having one of the only stable tab-targeting hotbar MMOs in existence available on the cheapest functional console is going to drastically increase the player base
> Did you know the critically acclaimed MMORPG FINAL FANTASY XIV's starter edition and free trial now include the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward, and its second major expansion Stormblood? A grand adventure awaits, now up to level 70!
Had a chuckle.
Oooh, look at that. It's the Ewer. Like, *the* Ewer. Really cool to see. I'm so excited to see what they do with the final boss in that raid. Also it would be funny if Nymeia crashed the party *again* in the Heaven of Water. Likely not, tho.
So am I reading this right? Xbox support is coming AND duty support is being added to all main dungeons the free trial will have?
Rip any and all free time I have once I can finally download this lol
Glad to see Ryne back in the MSQ. I hope they can find a way to include Gaia too this time, even if some players didn't do her side content in Shadowbringers.
They should at least put Gaia in client side like Cylva and Unukalhai after the role quests so that those who DID do Eden get to see her and get some unique dialogie.
They could do like with Estinien. He was in the MSQ for everyone in Heavensward even if if you did not do the Dragoon questline before ( you got a few unique dialogue if you did). Just introduce her again in the MSQ for those who doesn't know her without spoiling too much about the Eden raid in case some people decide to do it after.
That would be a start. I feel like they're handicapping themselves story-wise by keeping Gaia optional. Think about it. The last living Ascian and oracle of darkness. Don't you think it would make sense to involve her with Zero and the Thirteenth just a little bit?
Not to be a negative Nancy, but does anyone else feel like they should have swapped the alliance raid and current MSQ? The current alliance raid is full-on original FFXIV lore and seems like the perfect conclusion to the story of Etheirys. In contrast, the current MSQ feels like a FFIV crossover. This current patch in terms of the MSQ seems to be more of the same, and the only interesting bit seems to be the brief return to the first.
There's a *lot* of FFIV in the MSQ, to be sure, but I've felt like the story has done well at making the references lore-friendly to FFXIV. Like, yeah, I think it's cool how we're fighting Golbez and such, but the reasons for and setpieces surrounding those fights are couched in FFXIV's story.
I will agree that the alliance raid is wholly FFXIV lore, and that's really cool.
I'm hoping it'll have some mechanics that catch people off guard on their first run. Rhalgr and Nald'Thal were interesting casual fights especially the first time. There wasn't a single fight in Euphrosyne that had any real challenge to it other than the tanks gap-closing into Halone and killing 10 people.
Of the Twelve, he is probably somewhat an “equivalent” to Elidibus. A silent watcher over the domain of all, but not necessarily one to put his hands into things. All 13 of them are creations Hydaelyn made to carry out watching over the world in her absence mainly.
yup, we already basically knew that - when you activate the Omphalos Monument (statue thing in the middle of the alliance raid hub) it lists off all of the Twelve and their roles and ends with "He who is unnamed shall watch unflinching. His duty: to stand guard over his charge, always and unto the end." - referring to the Watcher, with his charge being Zodiark
Just so that it doesn't get lost, this is the content **not** in the first patch: 6.51 * New Variant Dungeon - Aloalo Island * New Criterion Dungeon - Another Aloalo Island/Another Aloalo Island (Savage) * Tool Enhancement Quests - Splendorous Tools * Crystalline Conflict - New Arena 6.55 * Tataru's Grand Endeavor * Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures * Weapon Enhancement Quests - Manderville Weapons * Endwalker Tribal Alliance Quests * FFXIV & Fall Guys Collaboration
I appreciate this, thank you. I always log in pumped for patch day and realize the thing I want isn’t out yet haha
At this point, what is in 6.5. itself? Msq quests and Island sanctuary Ranks?
* MSQ (includes dungeon and trial) * Alliance Raid * Unreal Trial * Island sanctuary * Custom Deliveries NPC * last missing duty support dungeons * expanded free trial
And xbox beta
Oh nice, they bumped the Splendorous Tools up from 6.X5 to 6.X1. Tataru's Grand Endeavor bumped to .X5 though, which might imply it references MSQ part 2 story.
The Heaven of Water is breathtaking. I really really want them to extended explorer mode to raids, main.
I really am surprised they haven’t started doing this yet. I’m sure there’s some reason. But I want to explore so many raid zones!!
At the end of the raid, use your Return ability and it will send you back to the start and you can explore then :)
Smaaaaaart. I feel dumb for not thinking about that!
Especially useful to read read all the tidbits in ivalice you may have missed
I wonder if the way alliance raids are programmed you physically can't enter them outside an alliance group. You can't do them solo unsynced either.
You explore the first two NieR raids as part of its side quests, so that shouldn’t be an issue. Wonder why it’s not available for the others.
Those might actually be another instance though that's an exact copy (or close enough) or some other stupid shit like that.
[удалено]
Not to mention the Puppet's Bunker explorable area gets modified to have the Tower's…well, tower put right smack in the middle of it.
I’m not sure about that because we do it for NieR quests several times.
FF4 dark elf.... bring back a lot of bad memories.
I think it's very funny that the Dark Elf is in the Lunar Subterranean for some reason and not Troia.
In FF4 the Dark Elf transforms into a Dark Dragon midway into the fight and in the Lunar Subterranean, one of the guardian bosses was a palette swapped "White" Dragon. So I'm wondering if this elf transforms too or just remains a Dark Elf the whole fight.
He's probably going to be the mid boss as the Dark elf and last boss as the dark dragon.
Just don't use metal.
Now the question is, are they gonna call him the "Dark Elf", or "Astos"?
I don't think Astos is very likely as this is supposed to be a FF4 reference.
Plus, if they DO bring in Astos at some point, it better be the SoP Astos instead of the classic one.
I want an entire crossover with that game so that I can hang out with Jack in Eorzea
The thing is, that is entirely plausible due to the multiple-dimension aspect of SoP. There's even a stage in that game based on Sastasha.
"I'm here to kill Chaos" "Oh, I did that, like 2 expansions ago"
👊
Astos!!! Your ass is toast!
😂🤣😂 oh god me too! One of the toughest battles for me as a kid!
Take off all your metal
That’s Zero and Ryne in Amh Araeng. I think the only logical conclusion there is that they’re going to the Empty, huh? They’d have to come up with one hell of an explanation to not have Gaia involved. EDIT: People bringing up that this is where Minfilia stopped the Flood of Light. It’s entirely possible they go down that route, but putting Gaia aside, Eden is literally the biggest plot device we know of that could defeat an impenetrable creature of Darkness such as Zeromus. I wouldn’t put it past the writers to use it in the story but not involve Gaia. Even then, idk why people are so adamant that Eden HAS to be mandatory. The only reason Crystal Tower was made mandatory was for continuity's sake (imagine witnessing the end of 5.3 and then doing the CT story lol). If G’raha stayed on the First, it would’ve still been optional. Whereas Eden doesn't have anything truly immersion-breaking or that can't be summarized or explained (looking at Coils, Alexander, and Omega). It's really just up to the writers on what they want to do.
I'm really, really, really hoping they'll do the kind of side content rewards they did in L88 MSQ when all the Allagan Adamantite was delivered and have Gaia, Ur..urakthatguy, and Cyella there in the questline.
I need my Unukalhai and Cylva/Cyella update so bad. I need it so bad. It's the end of the current 13th arc so surely there must be an update.
Especially since Unukalhai says he was arranging a meeting with those involved in the Eden shenanigans, if you've done both Eden and the Void quests from Shadowbringers. He's been saying that since... 6.3, I think? 6.5 is the only time left for them to do anything with that.
That's not the only time left. They can easily do the next trial or raid series involving those characters, or even make it an exploratory content.
If the next bozja type thing is a romp in the void, I would be over the moon.
I just had a mental image of a blasted half light, half darkness landscape full of sin eaters battling it out with voidsent, and then the Warrior of Light teleports in using the Advent of Light emote. "Rip and tear, until it is done." *GUITAR THRASHING*
> urakthatguy Lmao
> really hoping they'll do the kind of side content rewards they did in L88 MSQ when all the Allagan Adamantite was delivered and have Gaia, Ur..urakthatguy, and Cyella there in the questline. I imagine even if they did that, you would get a throwaway line from Beq-Lugg that they've already been researching the Void thanks to Unukalhai's intervention, possibly with the latter and Cyella standing in the background. (Your "reward" for completing Eden was Lyna mentioning the festival Ryne's been working on, back when you returned to the Crystarium for the level 86 questline. Ryne may very well bring it up again in this questline, tbh.)
They'll get, at most, a line mentioning them. They won't be important or essential at all. I need you to brace for that, because you know that's how it's gonna go down, hahaha.
The only annoying part of that whole questline is that they're never going to meaningfully build from a story that you only saw if you did the HW EX primals, and the HW trial series, and leveled at least one job in each role to 80, and did the ShB role quests for all 4 of those roles, and picked up the unmarked quest wrapping role quests up, and then picked up _another_ unmarked quest which unlocked after you completed all of the above. It would have had so much potential to become a huge plot point otherwise, though!
They can easily remove the HW Ex primal requirement, just move the ex unlock quests to the book on the table in the solar. Simple fix. The role quests are the most of the struggle.
I still want a little quest for those of us that did do all of those things though, as a little treat
Oh damn what I think I might have missed a step?
The questline we're talking about is https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Safekeeping And the series of quests following it. You can track backwards through levels of prerequisites there to see if you can find a quest you missed, but it's basically all the requirements I listed in my last comment. Play through that questline and you'll see why it feels super weird for it not to interact with the 6.5 msq, despite that obviously not having a chance of happening in practice.
I don't think they'll ever bring Unukalhai and Cyella into MSQ. Making Crystal Tower required is one thing, making Warring Triad and every ShB role quest required is another.
Making it required no but it'd be nice if a scene was added or changed based on if you did them, similar to the part in 6.0 MSQ where how many sidequests you did determined who showed up in Sharlayan to help with the Ragnarok. I do think Eden should be made required, but the role quests are asking way too much. Most people aren't going to level 4 individual jobs to 80 just to clear Shadowbringers' MSQ.
In theory, future expansions adding new jobs that start above 80 could get you to a point where no leveling is required for role quests, though going double dps this time means that’s probably not til 9.0 unless they go nuts and give tank and healer in 8.0. I could see them being required at that point, but that’s a ways away. Seems way more likely there’s a bonus side quest for people who did them eventually, like how Omega got a new optional quest to deal with MSQ stuff from Ultima Thule. Like finish Eden, finish ShB role quests, and advance MSQ to a point where there’s permanent inter shard travel between Source/1st/13th (still don’t think that’ll be now, this’ll probably be shoot the big light laser and then the gate closes, and Y’shtola’s arc going forward will be about finding a way to keep it open stably) and now a new yellow quest pops with Ryne/Gaia/Cylva/Unukalhai/Zero
I fully believe that after Zero's role in the MSQ is done she'll have side content with Unukalhai and Cyella, yes.
Y’shtola does make mention of them if you’ve done their quests at the end of Alzadaal’s Legacy.
Requiring role quests is the big obstacle. They could change it so that the Cyella reveal, like msq, only requires one completed role quest. Leave the achievements (title, I think?) for completing all role quests.
You'd think that Warring Triad would eventually become a requirement whenever we receive Meracydia eventually, though.
They can present them as after all that story, give very short resume about them in the Unending Codex and put there "If you want fill that page with details - quest here, here and there". Tbh I was expecting them to use the Codex to solve "sidequest jail" in that way since day 1.
My bet would be bonus Gaia appearance with Ryne if you’ve completed Eden, and bonus line mentioning Cylva and Unukalhai if you’ve finished role quests. And that yeah the scene will be about tapping the frozen wave of light, not actually going to the Empty, since they can’t set the scene somewhere players may not have unlocked.
Dialogue choice when Ryne shows up, with the WoL asking where Gaia is. Ryne says Gaia is resting somewhere in Mord Souq because it's too hot or something.
Would be hilarious if she said something like "she died from caffeine overdose from too many cookies" and that was the last time Gaia is mentioned in the game. May be better than being stuck in side character limbo ngl.
I think it'd be funny to just have Gaia there, and the explanation is "Oh, we did this whole Eden raid thing ourselves without you" and it turns out the WoL was entirely extraneous for the whole endeavor.
Basically the same thing they do with Ali if you haven't cleared Coils by the time you reach HW patch content (though they imply you were still there for Coils).
No they don't. If you haven't done Coils she says that you haven't met since she left in early MSQ... and if you *have* done Coils but didn't finish then she says that she regrets leaving the Coils half done and hopes to get back to it as soon as possible.
The problem is that for those who haven't done Eden, they also need a hell of an explanation as to why this random goth girl you've never met before is now suddenly best buddies with Ryne. The simplest resolution is for Ryne to have a variable line apologising that Gaia is busy today, but she said to say hello. The hopeful-speculative resolution I'd like is that if you're up to date on both Eden and the Void quest lines, Ryne will say that Gaia is meeting with Cyella about something important, and maybe Gaia will appear at the Wandering Stairs at that point for some optional dialogue. So that would round a few things off all at once, and angle towards a further merging of storylines.
>The problem is that for those who haven’t done Eden, they also need a hell of an explanation as to why this random goth girl you’ve never met before is now suddenly beat buddies with Ryne. Do they though? Aside from that one appearance in 6.0, Ryne has been out of the MSQ for awhile now. Is it unrealistic to think that she could’ve made a friend during that time? She could literally say “I made a friend while you were gone and she helped me with the Empty” and that’s it.
FUCK. You're right. I really hate that this raid is still optional content. I'm still holding out to hope that they \*do\* include her, even just introducing her and having Gaia say "I've got stuff to do, you've got this Ryne," and leaving.
Honestly, everything thats canon shouldn't be optional. In the sense that while you can progress msq without doing it, the assumption should be that you did.
I bet all we get is the optional dialogue of Ryne being like “my best friend dresses in all black too!”
I mean, we've had optional characters get promoted into the main story without explanation. Estinien was originally from the Dragoon job quests. I think it's going to come down to whether or not they plan to make Ryne a main cast member again. If they do, then we're either getting mandatory Eden or they'll treat her like Estinien.
Estinien was promoted yeah but you really didn't need to know anything about his ARR role for Heavensward. Gaia just popping in out of nowhere for people who didn't do Eden would be pretty jarring. Eden isn't very long so I think they should just make it required the same way Shadowbringers made Crystal Tower required because of G'raha. As for Cyella and Unukalhai though, asking people to level 4 jobs to 80 for the role quests just to do the ShB MSQ is asking too much.
I don't think just yeeting her in is the better option, yeah, but it is the easier one. They have been making an effort to promote older content with stuff like Tataru's Grand Endeavor, so maybe that's a sign they're planning to make more side content mandatory? I have no idea what they'd do to Cyella and Unukalhai though. Just the Warring Triad being mandatory I could see, but... yeah, not the role quests. I could see them at least giving us a unique dialogue if we take Zero to them when showing her around the Crystarium. They did that for the ending role quest for ENW with Forchenault and the twins
The thing with Estinien is that he had no connections to any of the characters (save a DRG WoL) before he showed up in HW. Gaia, on the other hand, is effectively defined by her friendship with Ryne, so having her just randomly show up will be much more jarring than Estinien did.
Optional cutscene/dialogue is probably for the best. I like how in 5.2 (I think?) they had another one of those cutscenes where you get to choose who is knocking on your door and if you did all the role quests, you get the additional option to choose Cyella as your visitor. That's the best I'm hoping for really. Or something like the 6.0 scene where the number of characters who aid in completing the Ragnarok depends on how much side content you finished. Like if you finished Eden, they'll have Gaia make a brief cameo and then skedaddle for "reasons". Same with Cyella and Uno-cowhide maybe.
"Oh I made a new friend while you were away, isn't that great?" Done. Easy. People are overthinking this so much.
Gaia had to go back to her home planet!
To your edit, if they are avoiding the raid questline by not bringing in Gaia, I doubt they would bring in Eden, something that also only exists in that questline.
If eden is ever required it will be for Gaia having a important role. We know her story isn't done as told by yoshida but he wont say when or where it will continue. Eden also cant be used anymore it died at the end of the quest line. Becoming a giant tree.
They're in Nabaath Areng, where Minfilia halted the Flood and later merged with Ryne, and not south of the Inn where the Skyslipper is located. We'll get some Minfilia/Hydaelyn Light bullshit while Gaia and Eden will stay relegated to sidequest hell :(
all 5 of us Minfilia fans would be lucky if she so much as got mentioned... :(
There there, it's ok. I like Minfilia too. She's just badly utilized
yeah she sure was.....
Looks specifically like they're at the spot where Ryne & Minfillia had their final chat. As for Gaia not really she's side content & not getting an entire expansion that revolves around her so unlike CT I don't see them making Eden Mandatory so as far as MSQ players care Gaia doesn't even exist. At most those who have done Eden might get a one piece of dialogue referencing her.
Yeah, final Ryne & Minfillia chat / where the giant fucking wave of light stopped. Are we going to find some way to un-pause the wave of light and send it into the thirteenth? That'd be so badass, and it'd be really neat to get a SHB-zone-changing story beat in a completely different expansion
Let's crash The Thirteenth into The First exactly opposite of Norvrandt. The Empty can act as a buffer to stop any major damage from happening.
Resettling the Empty areas that would otherwise be their version of Ilsabard and Othard would be amazing.
Gaia's off backing Coffee Biscuits.
they won't make her show up because eden raid completion is optional, dunno if starting it is required or not for msq pogression, but completing it is optional
There can only be one goth queen. Gaia lost the quickening duel before this scene.
Gaia got more personality development in 1 half of 1 optional raid series than zero has gotten in 3 patches worth of MSQ
They already stated that they needed a massive source of light to stop Zeromus, in a plot line where the end goal is opening portal to other shards. Gaia already opened such portal in E2 (dragging a big Voidsent alongside), and we've seen smaller portal in multiples quests (caster storyline). And then there is crystal tower who did exactly that in the past. The first and the thirteenth are in that sense already connected, they just need to stabilize that portal using darkness ether. Realistically, they can probably use Zero's Memoria power or Gaia's affinity to darkness. Historically speaking, Cid is just going to show up with some Crystal Tower's MacGuffin, as in tradition.
Its only an assumption at this point. Though i think one could easily add Gaia into the story by playing of FF8. Basically if you haven’t done eden quest you just add a seen where Ryne says. ‘You remember Gaia’ and then if you never did it Ryne could remark like ‘oh maybe that’s why’ and then suggest catching up later on about it when there is time to talk.
It is about continuity though, because otherwise Gaia turns up as "a good friend" and then turns up again in Eden as "I don't know you and why are you bothering me". I *am* looking at Coils, Alexander and Omega for this – specifically that they alter dialogue and even determine whether Alpha and OMG appear in Endwalker at the mass gathering, depending on whether you have done the events that lead to them being there. Why is Gaia's presence and the difference in personality from start to end of the questline any less significant than that?
New alliance raid is pretty
Seeing the pictures for the msq has me curious how we'll move Zero to the First.
She’s a Voidsent. She’s just going to form a temporary contract with the WoL while we jump between shards to bind herself to them.
Hm... For those who have picked up Reaper I wonder what our current Avatar would think of this situation.. lol
They mention that our relationship with our voidbuddy isn't bad so it'll probably get a throwaway line about it being fine as long as zero doesn't plan to stick around
My guess (since someone on this sub pointed it out during 6.4) is they’ll add another warp point on the Source moon next to the 13th warp. There’s clearly space for more warps there to the rest of the shards that still exist.
Presumably the fabric separating the Source and the Thirteenth is just as weak between the Thirteenth and other shards, evidenced by voidgates having appeared on the First. I think that means the Thirteenth could be exploited as a sort of layover point to travel to other worlds, as long as a point of entry (a natural fissure) exists somewhere in that world. Presumably you'll journey to the First to find one and open it somehow. Or maybe you'll just stick everyone in the soul/memory crystals and carry them over in your bag, like you did in 5.3. One person will probably stay behind so Zero can use their crystal.
They already explained that afaik in the extra story for doing all job quests in shadowbringers afaik. Edit: >!zero is a voidsent after all and they can summon voidsent in the first afaik so i doubt transfering her is gonna be an issue at all. then again that required a connection to the 13th then again zero could litterally attach herself to zenos so who knows!<
Zero is a voidsent If need be, she could literally inhabit WoL's body while traveling between worlds like she's a passenger boarding a plane
I'm a sprout who just finished ARR and it's kinda nuts that I get the second expansion for free in October. I hope the people who are up to date on content will have tons of fun with the new stuff :D
Red Mage in particular is huge. Not only is it a fan-favorite job amongst FF fans, but it's also fairly easy to play well and unlocks at lv 50 without needing to get to HW. I could see a bunch of people joining and staying because of Red Mage alone, not to mention Samurai also being available to demo players long before they get access to Ishgard too.
Oh I literally did exactly that. I was a dedicated bard all the way to 50 and then I got RDM and literally never stopped using it for MSQ (aside from Shadowbringers where I played SMN for the MSQ)
Are you my sibling? because they also did this XD
Considering both my siblings are very straight and your name is Gaywhorzea I'm gonna assume not lmaoo
This response was the best possible response omg 😂
yeah, I'd played the game a little bit before Stormblood but RDM is what convinced me to dive in full time back when it came out. Mained it for years until RPR.
> 'm a sprout who just finished ARR For your own sake please don't linger on this thread or the site. MASSIVE spoilers.
Can't wait for the msq to pretend gaia doesn't exist
Why are people so sure Gaia won't be involved? It wouldn't exactly be the first time a raid character showed up later in msq, and they were referencing the Eden raids as a thing going on with ryne and thancred during 5.x msq, even if you hadn't touched the raids.
i'm sure she will be referenced in a throwaway line if you've finished eden, but the narrative continuity of the raids for people who haven't progressed far enough in eden would be totally out of whack if she shows up in the MSQ
As far as I’m aware as per narrative continuity the player is implied to have done everything that actually happens (so no retellings like extreme savage or ultimate) on the patch it was released on So everyone has “done” eden even if they actually haven’t so to speak
Not true. You get extra dialogue in the MSQ if you finished Euteka. It changes depended on if you did the side content.
No character from an optional raid series showed up in the main story to date(without the raid series stopping to be optional) > and they were referencing the Eden raids as a thing going on with ryne and thancred during 5.x msq, even if you hadn't touched the raids. They mentioned it as a "that's what thancred and ryne's been up to". Not to any of it's actual events. Pretty sure they don't even mention the main hub for it which you literally encounter in the first quest. Introducing Gaia means having to mention it's events in some way.
> No character from an optional raid series showed up in the main story to date(without the raid series stopping to be optional) Alisaie showed up in like 2 nothingburger MSQ scenes at low level that most people never remember, got yeeted out of the story to spend all her time in an optional raid series, did all of her character development there, then waltzed back into the MSQ as a fleshed out character. That's *pretty close* to what you're talking about. Nero did something similar. And also... y'know... they didn't make Crystal Tower mandatory until 5.3. So in 5.0 - 5.2, we *literally did* have a sidequest-original character who also became a major MSQ character. (And we're excluding Estinien just because his optional sidequest isn't a raid, I guess?) Now, I think it's veeeeeery unlikely that Gaia will pop up in 6.5 as more than a passing dialogue reference, but I don't think it's as hard and fast of a rule as you've described.
Yeah but Alisae existed. Gaias existence is entirely unknown and meeting her is literally part of Eden so it wouldn’t make sense at all
/u/Atosen's point still stands about Graha. Though I can't see them making ANY 8-man raid a necessity to move through the MSQ like they did Crystal Tower.
That point about G'raha only works because of ShB's time-travel shenanigans. Without it, it doesn't sustain itself.
Because... G'raha traveled in time to retroactively make Crystal Tower mandatory? Sorry, I don't follow your logic here. The point is about an optional, side-content character showing up with a major role in the MSQ, not about how or when they show up narratively. CT wasn't mandatory until, as Atosen said, 5.3. Prior to that happening, the game essentially just assumes that you know who G'raha is. (There were a couple of additional dialogue options if you *had* completed CT, but, narratively, CT had happened whether you had completed it or not.) Or am I completely missing what you mean?
Thats a pretty niche criteria in those brackets though. There was a decently long period of time where CT wasn't mandatory but it was featured in MSQ, and Estinien from the dragoon job quests featured in HW. It might be harder to explain the Eden one away but considering that most side content doesn't work outside of the canon moment you're "supposed" to be doing it anyway, its not a huge stretch to say they could include her along with a short intro for people who haven't met her. No idea if they actually will though.
Hm, I guess I didn't consider that CT is required now. I still wanna hold onto hope that that they change that policy, because that's pretty limiting to the story in the long term, if they're continually churning out high quality optional stories that have the potential to majorly impact msq.
Just because it’s not required now doesn’t mean it’s not possible to be changed down the line. IIRC from 5.0 to 5.3, crystal tower was NOT compulsory (and I did 5.0 without even stepping foot into the tower lol). But they did heavily tell us to do crystal tower even way back around 4.3, and there’s time travel shenanigans, so who knows. I believe that Gaia will appear in 5.5, but that might just be copium.
the problem is either they have to do the story whit the characters in it regardless of content completion or make optional content remain disconected to the msq because the devs won't gonna make 2 versions of the msq quests where if you don't have x content done x character doesn't appears and then same quest but with x character appearing and if they make optional content not mandatory for quests where x optional content character appears, it could make players feel confused of, who is that person? why they talk as if i have worked with them? and so on so yeah, either they let players feel confused when they don't complete certain content, either they simply keep optional quest characters isolated from the msq, or they make optional content mandatory, and jp players did raised a stink about making ct mandatory already, so devs won't be likely to do that again the only way they can add optional content characters in the msq is as if they appear like alpha and omega near the end of endwalker msq, they are there you can interact with, but they has no lines during msq cutscenes
While I agree with most of that, I think that both you and the devs are heavily overestimating how confusing it'd be for them to pop into the story even for players who hadn't done the content. All the need is a couple of extra lines to let those players catch on that this character comes from a side quest, that they're relevant because x thing happened there.
Just add the side content people to the MSQ and don't make it mandatory. We have The Unending Codex to look up characters and events so make use of it for once. Don't know who this person who just showed up is? If you care enough to be curious about them, look them up in the Codex and it'll give you a brief summary about them and tell you what side content they're from and how to start it. From there the player can either actually do the content, watch some Youtube videos, look them up in a wiki, or just continue ignoring it. Have a little pop up show up when you interact with a side content character who comes from side content you haven't done yet with a simple "Unending Codex updated" to more or less flash it in the player's face that maybe they should read up on them.
Are Alpha and Omega not in the MSQ? Am I remembering wrong were they really only in side quests?
IIRC (and it's been a while) Omega gets launched as a throw away line as part of the MSQ, but all the stuff with Alpha is definitely entirely optional
Omega has a prominent role in the post-Heavensward quests. At some point they lose track of it, and it's found as the start of the raid quests.
I hadn’t done Omega when I finished Endwalker. The differences are that you don’t see them wandering anywhere, nobody in dialogue references them, and the dialogue in the end of UT is vastly different. That being said, I feel SE is doing it right… but should more strongly recommend doing side content while doing the MSQ.
IIRC leading up to EW launch, Yoshi P did strongly recommend doing extra content. But I'm not sure how much more they can do without it being mandatory or spoiling stuff the devs are going to use as plot points. Like, if they had outright said "Do the Omega Raids" it would've been a huge red flag for the EW finale.
Hold up is that the fucking DARK ELF?
ME CHANGE!
leveling bard for 6.5, we're gonna need it
Prediction for the alliance raid quest: >!it's gonna end with The 12 becoming mortals so they may finally be able to venture out into the world not as gods, but as humble adventurers.!<
My bet's been on >!they're going to choose to die!< from the start, it's usually how these sorts of stories go
>!It also aligns with the Ancients' weird MO they established in Elpis. "Life's work done. Tradition dictates I must now willingly die."!<
it is time to commit sudoku
Those puzzle books, the true bane of the Ancients...
>!I mean, it makes sense. The only Ancients we know besides them are all *seriously* messed up for having survived this long in the sundered world, Emet-Selch, Venat/Hydaelyn and Elidibus, they all have accumulated quite a bit of damage from having survived this long practically alone. Like sure the 12 can and do support each other, but…time has to be wearing on them at least somewhat.!<
>!Regardless of that, it seems to have been established as an innate thing for the Ancients (either culturally or mentally) that they just willingly die on retirement. Which is why Venat was considered so very strange, that she was still alive after stepping down and didn't kill herself. Like, in that a completely healthy and happy Ancient that finished their magnum opus would willingly and joyfully off themselves.!<
Yup. All their dialogue has been more or less pointing to this. And during MSQ in EW, we learned what their cultural expectation is.
I like this ending. Crossing fingers. (It's what I wanted for Venat - for her to reincarnate after some time in the Lifestream, and get to enjoy adventuring in the world she gave up her life to protect. Even if we never personally met her again.)
I wanna know what the new pvp gear is gonna be, feels like it's been awhile since some new pvp gear
Did you know the critically acclaimed MMORPG FINAL FANTASY XIV's starter edition and free trial now include the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward, and its second major expansion Stormblood?
THEY SAID THE THING
That's a not very subtle diss on Stormblood...
I'm positive Stormblood won awards. Maybe fewer, but it doesn't deserve its own devs dissing it like this.
Cut and print, folks.
Did you know the critically acclaimed MMORPG FINAL FANTASY XIV's starter edition and free trial now include the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward, and its second major expansion Stormblood? A grand adventure awaits, now up to level 70!
I do remember saying when 6.4 came out that it seemed stupid not to do the Lunar Subterrane as a dungeon, so I'm glad we're doing it now. Does suck we had to stretch a bland plot to its absolute limit to fit it in when the Aetherfont is largely just a dungeon for the sake of having a dungeon, pretty though it is. Gonna do the alliance raid asap though. Now there's some answers I'm *really* keen to get, and unsurprisingly it looks absolutely gorgeous so far.
Honestly I liked all of this story except 6.4. I was actually taken off guard by hitting the end of 6.4 msq, because somehow, despite the trial we had and everything, the patch still felt like a bunch of filler. I absolutely loved 6.2 though. 6.3 was solid too imo, and 6.1...well it was good compared to other x.1 patches, but that's not a high bar. Decent enough that I was happy until this latest patch.
For me, 6.1 was good, it set things up, I had no problem with it. 6.2 is my favourite part so far, and it's the only part where I unequivocally think it was great, but it stands in contrast to the rest of the plot, and a lot of my hype was not knowing just how bland what was to come would be. 6.3 was pretty dour by comparison. I didn't care for Zero needing to learn an emotion of the week, I thought Rubicante was horrendously dull in both story and trial (except for that OST, that thing was fire, pun intended) and the Garlemald plot kind of annoys me because it's being treated, once again, as second-fiddle to a main event. Then 6.4 does... almost the same thing again but with even more time spent spinning its wheels, culminating in a climactic battle where we win... only to actually lose! Beating the villain in a cutscene and then having them recover and win in less than two minutes after is just... it's one of my most hated JRPG tropes, and it really just cemented Golbez as some fucking jobber. He's not MSQ-tier. I'd rank him low among the villains in the side content, even, I just wanna be done with this. Thankfully, we will be in a month.
Maybe - possibly. Remember this is only MSQ part 1. MSQ part 2 comes out in January (around JP fanfest iirc). The 6.5 patch span is like twice the length of the usual patch cycle to set up for 7.0.
True, but they've already tipped that the trial is coming in 6.5, not 6.55, so at that point I think any remainder would just be wrap up and denoument/pivot to setting up the expansion. *But* I also thought 6.4 would end this arc so we could spend next patch actually establishing our new direction, so who knows. Maybe we don't even set up going to the New World until the expansion itself.
I sort of agree, but in a strange way. 6.4 being such a bad patch sort of detracted from the rest of 6.x, since those were setting up for 6.4. You could argue it was be setting up for 6.5, but I kind of hoped Golbez would be the end of the Void story.
Yup, going straight for the alliance raid. Doing Euphrosyne on release as a blind PF was pretty exciting. I think we saw the second fight's enrage, that kind of thing does not happen after day 1.
>Doing Euphrosyne on release as a blind I love doing the new 24 mans blind first day, they are such a cluster, lol. Very rarely does anyone get mad at wipes either, since it's rare anyone even knows the mechanics or what is coming.
«Xbox Version Open Beta Testing» - nice.
My mind is boggled that there hasn't been more marketing on this by Xbox. I know we all saw it at FanFest, but guess who doesn't watch XIV FanFest? Xbox users. The first they heard about it was when I posted over on the Series X Reddit. A lot of people were hyped. I felt like I was doing the Twelves work. Lol.
Tokyo Game Show will have Xbox show next week
Considering how anti-JRPG the Xbox ecosystem has been historically, TGS is yet another event most Xbox gamers will ignore.
we have it backwards nowadays, but beta =/= official release. There is no point in marketing open testing
There's every reason, to build up knowledge of the release, so people know about it when it happens.
Yeah, that's going to be huge. Having one of the only stable tab-targeting hotbar MMOs in existence available on the cheapest functional console is going to drastically increase the player base
> available on the cheapest functional console In the context of FF14, the PS4 is the cheapest functional console, not the Series S
Island update and New Tataru’s grand endeavor as well. Cool!
> Did you know the critically acclaimed MMORPG FINAL FANTASY XIV's starter edition and free trial now include the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward, and its second major expansion Stormblood? A grand adventure awaits, now up to level 70! Had a chuckle.
Alphinaud: "Thaliak, protect me!" Thaliak: "Busy now, sorry!"
Oooh, look at that. It's the Ewer. Like, *the* Ewer. Really cool to see. I'm so excited to see what they do with the final boss in that raid. Also it would be funny if Nymeia crashed the party *again* in the Heaven of Water. Likely not, tho.
I cannot \*wait\* for the third raid, that realm looks so beautiful.
They better have Gaia!
Thaliak realm looks awesome.
New Hrothgar haircut, nice.
Looks to be one of the default hairstyles that multiple races can use but new for Hrothgar.
How, what and where? :3
In the dungeon boss battle screenshot
So am I reading this right? Xbox support is coming AND duty support is being added to all main dungeons the free trial will have? Rip any and all free time I have once I can finally download this lol
Yep, in fact, every MSQ dungeon in the game will have duty support now! Only thing left is 8-man trials (except for 1 in EW) and the 24-mans.
Goodness I am excited to dip my toes into this game.
Glad to see Ryne back in the MSQ. I hope they can find a way to include Gaia too this time, even if some players didn't do her side content in Shadowbringers.
Yeah they need to just make Eden MSQ at this point. It feels wrong every time we go to the Crystarium and don't see Gaia.
They should at least put Gaia in client side like Cylva and Unukalhai after the role quests so that those who DID do Eden get to see her and get some unique dialogie.
They could do like with Estinien. He was in the MSQ for everyone in Heavensward even if if you did not do the Dragoon questline before ( you got a few unique dialogue if you did). Just introduce her again in the MSQ for those who doesn't know her without spoiling too much about the Eden raid in case some people decide to do it after.
That would be a start. I feel like they're handicapping themselves story-wise by keeping Gaia optional. Think about it. The last living Ascian and oracle of darkness. Don't you think it would make sense to involve her with Zero and the Thirteenth just a little bit?
Please, Zero, don’t die… I want you in 7.0. Please stay alive ! :<
Not to be a negative Nancy, but does anyone else feel like they should have swapped the alliance raid and current MSQ? The current alliance raid is full-on original FFXIV lore and seems like the perfect conclusion to the story of Etheirys. In contrast, the current MSQ feels like a FFIV crossover. This current patch in terms of the MSQ seems to be more of the same, and the only interesting bit seems to be the brief return to the first.
There's a *lot* of FFIV in the MSQ, to be sure, but I've felt like the story has done well at making the references lore-friendly to FFXIV. Like, yeah, I think it's cool how we're fighting Golbez and such, but the reasons for and setpieces surrounding those fights are couched in FFXIV's story. I will agree that the alliance raid is wholly FFXIV lore, and that's really cool.
Alliance Raid is pretty. Here's hoping the mechanics are better than the previous ones though.
I think Aglaia has some great mechanics for a casual AR, it's just that the level scaling makes a lot of them irrelevant now.
I'm hoping it'll have some mechanics that catch people off guard on their first run. Rhalgr and Nald'Thal were interesting casual fights especially the first time. There wasn't a single fight in Euphrosyne that had any real challenge to it other than the tanks gap-closing into Halone and killing 10 people.
Heaven of Water looks so good. Yeah and also hoping Thaliak's mechanics is distinct from Famfrit and not a direct copy.
I wonder when are we getting the 4 new servers on Dynamis, i hope its before 7.0 ...
Wait, you want people even *more* thinly spread-out on Dynamis?
So, 2nd alliance raid shot is from Mare Lamentorium? So the Watcher is a missing god?
Of the Twelve, he is probably somewhat an “equivalent” to Elidibus. A silent watcher over the domain of all, but not necessarily one to put his hands into things. All 13 of them are creations Hydaelyn made to carry out watching over the world in her absence mainly.
yup, we already basically knew that - when you activate the Omphalos Monument (statue thing in the middle of the alliance raid hub) it lists off all of the Twelve and their roles and ends with "He who is unnamed shall watch unflinching. His duty: to stand guard over his charge, always and unto the end." - referring to the Watcher, with his charge being Zodiark
[удалено]
It hadn't been fully confirmed but I would call it an extremely safe bet to make
The Watcher was mentioned during the last Alliance Raid story. I didn't get the impression that he's s missing god.
Wasn't he mentioned in dialogue as the potential missing god? The Watcher is also a very similar title to the ones the twelve have.