The very first edition of Icy Takes+, our journey threw New Game+ in FFXIV to see if there’s anything we missed the first time around! Let’s start A Realm Reborn!
Many of us like to re-watch television shows or movies to see if we can pick up on details that we may have missed the first time around. Consuming media multiple times is easy when you enjoy the story! Seeing as how loved the FFXIV story is (and how much I love it, personally) I decided to go through the story yet again and share my journey, as well as notes for things we may not have noticed, or forgotten as we traveled! (Special thanks to a certain WAR on Brynhildr for providing the picture for our Icy Takes+ banner, by the by!)
As a warning, This series will go through the Main Scenario Quests in some detail and WILL spoil events for those who have not played the game yet. Read at your own discretion.
When deciding what job to play during New Game+, I chose Gunbreaker for a fresh experience through A Realm Reborn. And of course, since Glamour is the real endgame, I had to make an ARR appropriate glam!
It’s no secret that the story of FFXIV starts slow and ramps up from there. As a Gunbreaker (and starting as a Gladiator/Paladin), NG+ started me in the Ul’dah storyline. Starting off by speaking to Momodi, she sent me to the Ul’dah Dispatch Yard.
Better ingredients. Better pretzels. Papashan.
Momodi sends me to meet Papashan, who does not in fact own a chain of American pizza places. He does, however, start sending me to some Sultansworn sentries to deliver pretzels! Knowing what we know now, the Sultansworn are stressed and looking for a Certain Someone™ who has decided to run off on her own, and Papashan leads the guards under cover. The pretzels are a means to de-stress his men. And I mean…I guess I’d be a little less stressed if someone gave me a pretzel, yeah.
Returning to Papashan has him eagerly asking what the Sultansworn knights had to report, and becoming stressed himself when there were no reports at all. Looks like we should’ve saved a pretzel for Papashan.
He then tells us that the Certain Someone™ is from a very prestigious family…and we can later see that it’s the Sultana of Ul’dah herself, disguised and eager to leave the royal palace. Papashan then recruits us to search for her!
Heading south to the Sultantree, we find her, and enter our first Duty. We meet a familiar face, here, and he says something disturbing is afoot…
The disturbance makes itself known quickly, and the mysterious arrival bids the Sultana to hide and stay out of harm’s way. The Sultana, our adventurer, and the Handsome Stranger (no seriously that’s what the game calls him) fight a pack of Voidsent demons attacking out of the blue!
Once the Voidsent are defeated, our adventurer finds a blue, fist-sized crystal. Upon picking it up, he hears a voice and sees a few familiar images that we know throughout our journeys:
The crystal has a woman’s voice, and introduces herself as Hydaelyn; “All made One.” She declares that the world once had much more Light in it, but that light has faded…and Darkness threatens to take over. She tasks us with finding the other Crystals of Light to banish the Darkness, and says that the crystals will make themselves known by our deeds. He wakes up, then, with a new divine appointment to save the world.
The Handsome Stranger and the Sultana converse about what just occurred, that Voidsent attacked and someone must have summoned them. Before departing, the Handsome Stranger tells us that we’ll meet him again, and goes his own way as the Sultana makes her way back to her guard. Papashan thanks us for protecting the Sultana, and tells us that the stranger who aided us was none other than Thancred; a Scion of the Seventh Dawn.
And that’s where we’ll leave off for this week! But what are some takeaways that may interest those who are farther in the story? Let’s talk. SPOILERS UP TO ENDWALKER AHEAD!
Takeaways
1. Near the end of Endwalker, we see the image of that massive crystal down inside the aetherial sea; and even use it as a power source to reach Ultima Thule. It’s interesting that Hydaelyn chose to reveal herself as a Crystal and nothing else this entire time, when the crystal was never her – she merely resided near it.
2. Thancred is canonically handsome. Now you know.
3. In the dream sequence, there are other adventurers near the massive Crystal, who fly away with our adventurer nearby. This is implying that while we play THE Warrior of Light in this story, there are other Warriors of Light in the world fighting with Hydaelyn’s Blessing and Gift.
4. Colors are very important for crystals in this game; they denote what kind of aether or magic is inside them. The blue of our first Crystal is the blue usually associated with Light, or unaspected aether, meaning it holds no element. And yet, there are only six slots despite there being more elements! Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Ice, and Darkness. Eight elements total, with only six crystals to collect. Interesting!
5. Hydaelyn calls us to bring Light back into the world, where there is too much Darkness. In Shadowbringers, its just the opposite. One has to wonder, is it possible for our Warrior of Light to bring too much Light into the world? Maybe they’ll address that in future episodes!
That’s all for this week! We’d LOVE it if you played through this small section as well, and shared your own thoughts! Let us know below!
