Literally everyone's reaction to the first Endwalker Trial 

me going to garlemald: wait isnt this too fast??? me in tower: WAIT THIS IS TOO FAST??? me in moon: WHAT IS GOING ON I CAN'T EVEN SEE THE FUTURE

"what an expansion" "WoL, that was lvl 83"

"You know how we showed you an expansion trailer and suggested that it was all going to end on the moon? That's the first third of the expansion. Enjoy!"

"Jesus christ, that was an amazing expansion" "Bro, we are only level 83..."

Me after second dungeon: Wait, I thought Anima was going to be the first trial? What is going on? Who's the first trial then!?

First Trial had me bamboozled. Second Trial had me in tears. Third Trial had my heart beating fast. This expansion was insane.

Endwalker is the definition of "BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!"

“Who’s the final boss then? Hydaelyn??” Square: “Weellll, not *quite* …

I was thoroughly expecting the entire expansion to just be "a constant back and forth to restore the seals on the moon and fighting zodiark at the very end" and I gotta say, when Zenos just fucking dusts the last seal right in front of you I genuinely thought "No, that's... That's not how this story goes is it?"

The moment I saw the Zodiark trial I first lost all my shit and then some, and then immediately realized that I was firmly strapped into Ishikawa's Wild Ride(tm) and about to go on the most emotionally taxing rollercoaster of fiction I can recall being on.

The exact same reaction and thoughts I have gone through xD "Yooo it's only level 83 and YOU show up like this???"

I was so bamboozled and yet after you speak with the lopporits and you remember why zodiark was created in the first place you’re like “oh wait…. IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE😭”

"Who's the final boss then, Hydaelyn?" *laughs in plot twist*

Me before Endwalker: yeah we'll get to the moon when we hit lv90 and then do epic battle with the final boss Zodiark, I’m totally calling it, so predictable. Me after beating Zodiark on the moon at lv83: well then.

After this I was dead set on that Haydaelyn was playing me since ARR. Especially after the trail when you see that „prophecy“ ( I totally misunderstood that) and homegirl was nowhere to be found. Only to be wrong again. A true rollercoaster of emotions. Absolutely beautiful theme of the expansion.

I was late doing this, and yes, that's what I said in the party chat. "Why are we fighting Zodiark at 83?" And people who had finished the story were like "Oh, yeah, I forgot, that's a thing that happenned"

SPOILERS And then you realize, Fandaniel jumped into Zodiark knowing he would get owned by you because he wasn't finished resting yet. THE big bad we've been hearing about for so long was used as a sacrificial pawn lmao.

Best part is that you might have thought that he trial was Anima and the story even set itself up for it. and you think that surely its gonna be a trial fight after the 83 dungeon right? And then its just the last bossfight and you are just left wondering wtf is gonna happen next for the trial

I got goosebumps soon as that music dropped, I was like oh shit!!!!!!

Watching friends go through it is a thing of beauty, this is *exactly* the response, possibly punctuated by a few emphatic " *no* how is this the first trial?????"s

I felt so betrayed. For a while I thought Hydaelyn was a big bad with some literal 5D plan my sundered soul couldn't comprehend. Glad that was *short*- lived.

I mean, the initial trailers teased it like you were going to the moon & Garlemald for the final confrontation, but when the moon was the 4th area I was like "Well, I haven't seen the final days stuff yet, and there are 2 areas to go..."

I always thought the final boss would be Zenos, but throughout the story he grown so much through his absence of the story, and eventually becomes not even a replayable (outside of NG+) duty is somehow very well-thought and a reason I look forward to replay the expansion in NG+. We shall meet again, my mirror.

y’know…. i kinda feel bad for Zodiark. dude gets “born” and does his job, then promptly gets split into 14 pieces and sealed for fck knows how long for reasons he cant possibly know. then his mind/soul gets trapped in a tower leaving only a maddened beast thats barely holding itself together, to THEN be taken over by a suicidal psycho path who then killed himself in Zodiark’s body. all in all Zodiark got fcked over eh?

I legit watched this, waiting for a twist to reseal him, and when I realized there was no twist, I said "but in level fucking 83, what the fuck have I gotten myself into if THIS is happening already!?"

And then it goes "Wait, Zodiark didn't undo the end of the world, he was HOLDING IT AT BAY! Oh my f*king Hydaelyn!"

Who else wants Zodiark (Unreal) where he's at full power with all of his limbs?

After playing all the DLCs, I have no idea how anyone can think Zodiark would be any final boss. He's a good guy. Saved the world.

Two things I want after finishing EW : - A fully formed Zodiark trial - And a true Zenos trial (that drops loot so you can cosplay him)

SPOILERS: No, she's the second trial.

Then you do EX and realize all you need is one person that knows it and ride their a** the entire time lol

Me, getting to first trial day one of early access: Oh man, 30 minute tank queue? What is this? Well, I guess it makes since, I'm probably a lot further than most people right now. My wife, who doesn't play or know anything about the game: Yeah, there probably aren't a lot of people at the final boss yet. Me: This isn't the final boss. Wife: What? It isn't? Me: I'm not even a third of the way through yet. Wife: *visible confusion*

i love how the WOL is always ready to kick primal/ascian ass. it really fits my characters first dialogue option.

Legit my reaction word for word 😂

yep felt the same way i was like "wait wtf zodiark?! already?!?!" yep..... i know the feels my dood

cackling at the grape mommy crystal

i have been saying we would be fighting hydaelyn for years, after midgardsormr gave us some insight i figured something would happen, but towards the end of stormblood, mainly in fanfest when they announced her to be a primal, i knew we would fight her, ifigured it would be a balance, we would kill zodiark and then have to kill her to avoid a flood of light, reason was wrong but right outcome all the same

The ending quests of Shadowbringers along with the the Endwalker trailer and the teaser all made it look like the moon and Zodiark were the final destination but it was actually just the first quarter or so.

I just love how Zodiark is just chilling there the whole time waiting for you and it's pitch black until Azem summons the others, so badass

“Hey, wait a minute, game. Isn’t this, like, the final boss? The big bad we’ve been hyping up since ARR? As the FIRST trial? What… where do we go after THIS?”

And it was at that moment when one realizes Fandanial hadn't miscalculated the amount of aether he shot at the moon at all, but judged it perfectly. For his plan would not succeed unless he could get the WoL to the moon to slay it.

On one hand I am slightly disappointed that zodiark, having been hyped up since ARR to be the big bad guy getting killed so early on. On the other hand I really do love the rest of the expansion. I genuinely thought the voice that comes after you defeat zodiark was hydaelyn turning evil.

I like how the warrior of light is really abusing the power of Azem nowadays

The final boss is going to be grapes, the grapes have tired of us ruling these land, no longer will they be oppressed by low polycount, the final grapes is upon us.

Initial thought: "We're probably not gonna actually kill him, right?" After - Person in Trial: "You guys are in for a ride!" How right they were....2-3 weeks later and I still remember it clearly.

I expected Zodiark around 85-87 myself, since he was summoned to prevent the End of Days, I figured he had to die to actually start them. I was still legit surprised he was the first trial though

Same reaction... Means good storytelling and misdirection. While I would shift the ending a little, It's interesting turning Zodiark into a "oh shit, we really shouldn't have done that" moment.

"Who's the final boss then, Hydaelyn?" made me say yikes out loud

Accurate as fuck. That mean the rest of this expansion is going to be bonkers if they have him as the first trial.

I hope one day they give us an Ultimate trial against a fully revived Zodiark.

spoler: to be fair zodiark is currently sundered too so this wasnt him at full power

I kind of expected it because of something Yoshi-P said in one of the dev interviews (or was it a live letter?) leading up to the launch. He said something along the lines of, "When players get to a certain point in the story, at around level 82-83, they'll be there thinking Wait what? This isn't the end?" and ever since then I was thinking that Zodiark would be dealt with early on because of that. It was still great though and done incredibly well so my expectation didn't ruin anything for me.

GOD WHAT A MOOD, I remember getting to this part and just being like “…whAT DO YOU *MEAN* THIS IS THE FIRST TRIAL OF THE XPAC????”

”Not the outcome you imagined, but a fitting one nonetheless”

even before this it was like, WE'RE ALREADY ON THE MOON where could we possibly go from here?? and then we went even further beyond

HAHAHA Thank you so much for this video. I am currently playing EW, just started the lvl 85 quests and this was my exact reaction. SPOILERS JUST IN CASE FOR ANY READER. I did get a strange feeling when we do that amazing Duty and go to Garlemald all together... so early on. But I was like "well this is mindblowingly good, best cutscenes I've seen in my life, worthy of an Emmy" etc and pressed on. I also thought Zodiark was only gonna show up nearing the end of EW. The entire trip to the moon section... absolutely blew my mind. I was SO CONFUSED. Like "wait, what?!" I was thinking I'd be dealing with Fandaniel all expansion and dude just yeets himself off, in that priceless "being confused with Zenos" scene. Then giants, and a flying golden retriever, and bunnies and... I was speechless. Like I legit had to take some time to recover 😂 I don't think any expansion will be able to beat Shadowbringers because the bar is simply too high, but DAMN IS ENDWALKER GIVING IT A RUN FOR ITS MONEY. I'm honestly scared at this point of the emotional scars I know I'm about to face and the only thing keeping me afloat is the knowledge Dawntrail is coming. I can't imagine how players who didn't have the Dawntrail lifeline must have felt. I'll come back in a while when I finish to let you know how emotionally wrecked I end up. It doesn't help that I am in love with half the characters and waaayy too attached... pray for me.

Def my initial reaction but once I got thru it I remembered that doing a first act final boss fake out is like Final Fantasy 101 and also the perfect way for them to not spoil anything about the last 6 levels of the game because all info/promo material that got released was only up to this fight.

LMAO at the low poly grapes as Hydelin. Absolute perfection my dude.

I did feel they do Zodiark dirty at first but then I came to the conclusion that it was pretty much a vehicule without its driver : Elidibus. When I got to the moon and saw the massive red figure, I knew he’d be free in like a few steps

"So who is the final boss?" "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" - IN BACKGROUND

It was surprising to have to fight him that early but I never thought it would be the end boss as the Final days started before he was summoned, the original crisis was still looming in the background all the time,

Me, after getting my bearings in Elpis: I've only had Meteion for a day and half, but if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone on Eitherys and then myself..

Ahahah. I was thinking (while waiting for the duty finder) that even if he is defeated, he'd come back.. as 'complete' version or something.but then the following conversation went that way, so that was where my "wait wait wait what???" Moment come in. XD

Yeah, my reaction to my friend when I got here was basically "Ayy wtf I'm fighting the dark god as the first trial"

I LOVED this twist frankly, and it only gets better.

it’s funny that this was literally my exact train of thought when I found out Zodiark was just the first trial. I thought “this probably means we’re also gonna kill Hydaelyn, doesn’t it” immediately

My reaction was more along the lines of Aymeric's "I beg your pardon?" from 5.5.

Going through Thavnair and hearing about the Tower of Zot and the Magus sisters and knowing them from FF4, I'm thinking "that'd be a fun first trial". Turns out, they're just regular dungeon bosses. It was also then when I discovered how few have played that game (or remembered the fight) when people didn't know the fatter one would revive the other two if she wasn't taken down first.

We shall never forget the grapes 🍇

"Who's the final boss - Hydaelyn?" Oh you sweet, summer child.

I saw it coming and knew because we were seeing and end to the zodiark hydalyn story that the last boss would be whatever caused the final days and we find out in shadow bringers that zodiark was summoned to prevent what ever caused th final days we just didn’t know what started it until end walker

I’m currently stuck on this trial, we keep wiping it’s such a hassle

I'm surprised people were taken back by this. As if they never played a final fantasy game before. It's never the mega death demon that is the end boss. You got to beat the Devil and God so you can fight the super god at the end. It's JRPG 101

*THE DARK INSIDE IS NOW ACCESSIBLE*

Complete truth. Well, except for thinking Hydaelyn woukd be the final boss: I kinda guessed she would be the middle trial, because I had already figured she wasn't the big bad. But I still had no idea who the feck was and this trial just blew my mind. I was like "dude, what is even left after this?"

ngl, I saw the name and my eyes shot wide like "oh we're doin this now?"

As soon as Zodiark was the first Trial I was sure Hydaelyn would be second and third one would be someone we don't know yet. Super super super sick story

It was at this moment that we knew... this would be going way further than we initially thought.

I had to resist the urge to go “I am assuming direct control” in chat during the Zodiark trial.

"Who's the final boss then? Hydaelyn?" Nope, that's Trial #2. XD

Best/Worst part? is the questline after this. You get this whole dramatic MSQ + This boss, then you get.....them (I dont hate em though, the lopporrits)

Can we admit that , the music was so good? When I fought Zodiark , I went so energetic. Actually all of them were good. But I love this the most , but still the cutscene each time. "I am Zodiark" , "All Existence , bent to my will."

Perfectly good "this video contains spoilers" slide Thumbnail:

Actually one of my favourite non EX trials First time i basically got carried and i was left feeling unsatisfied, so i re queued up to 3 times to make sure i ended the fight without getting hit by any avoidable mechanic

usually this type of title is clickbait..... BUT for Endwalker, this title has been appropriate EVERYTIME. This really is everyone's reaction (or at least something like: THIS is the First Trial?) everytime

I actually never thought Zodiark would be the final boss and knew it when I saw the launch trailer. They never show the final boss in a trailer. But I still didn’t think he would be the FIRST trial. I thought he’d be the second like Innocence

I had this moment stolen from me. I was in the zone for legit 5 minutes before someone in shout chat said "I can't believe we killed SPOILER already!" I was so pissed. Even more so now seeing so many reactions online. I feel like a big moment was taken from me.

Beat me completely on what I thought was the final boss lol hahah

After Zodiark: So I have half the Moon, half Labyrinthos, half Tavnair and two whole unknown Areas to explore. WHAT WILL HEAPEN?!

Yup, after finishing the trial (and since this is getting into another slight spoiler, I'll write the rest below just in case)... ...I was like "so if we just killed MF Zodiark, where will things go after this?" And boy did the twist really suck me in making me want to see what would happen in the last half of EW. Incredible expansion, it could even potentially be the best one now.

Hyedalin at the end of endwalker: Warrior of Light, hear and feel these hands! *Squares up* Note: this is not a spoiler, i'm just memeing, i haven't played it yet

Spoilers for REAL Final Boss Everyone at level 83: Who is the final boss then? Mama H: Don’t look at me I’m only the second trial Cute Anime girl who has seen some shit: Sup

I admit I was very confused expecting this to be the final boss or at least later down the rode.

The story from Stormblood to this Expansion has been insanely good!! It wasn't bad before, but some things didn't make much sense or were hard to follow, the old content is more fun now that we know all we know

Honestly, I figured it would be a level 85 boss with Hydaelyn needing to be dealt without because her existence throws off the aetheric balance. Didn't see the stuff that came after coming at all.

Zodiark joins the likes of Ravana, Ifrit, Susano, and titania as the 1st trial-peasant primals lol

Seems like they outsmarted our outsmarting!

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS THE FIRST TRIAL, I’M ONLY LEVEL 83 AND THERE ARE STILL TWO MORE ZONES, WHERE THE FUCK DO WE GO FROM HERE?”

"Who's the final boss then, hydaelyn?" Not even close, baby

Experience seeing this destroyed by "wait wait wait" thanks .