This Is My Favorite Endwalker Quest (FFXIV Lore) 

One particular detail that stands out about that duty is when you're crawling desperately to get to camp broken glass, the auto move button doesn't work. It's a small detail most likely won't notice but I thought a rather significant one as you have to consciously drag yourself onward.

The cruelest part of the whole affair is Fandaniel didn't even tell you how to take off your helmet or even give you a doggie bag for your meal. For all we know that plate is still in the Tower of Babil, cold and forgotten. Truly, Garlemald is a land of tragedies. Also, A+ to Fandaniel for the costume swaps. Other Ascians would resort solely to stealing bodies or using magic, while Fandaniel just borrows outfits. He probably spent hours cooking dinner too, grumbling about having to hunt for the meat himself.

This whole section got under my skin in a very unique way. It felt violating, and it gave me an appreciation for just how strong the warrior of light is. I also gained an understanding of how the average Garlean must feel. Abandoned, helpless, and suffering from unimaginable loss. I think Alisaie says something like “what if we’re just making things worse by being here” and that really stuck with me too. The writers are so in control of their world, it’s riveting to say the least.

Doing the quest pre-patch made me feel a touch of pride. It was BRUTAL.

This quest spoke to me more of the true character of the Wol, was s/he a hero because of their ability? Was being strong and able to protect what drove them to action?. In another body in a dire situation and with little time and basically powerless, they stoped and helped the untempered garleans in that last desperate struggle. Now a normal person as their once sworn enemy faction and they stop to try and save as many people in what little way they can. Even with their friends lives on the line the Wol cannot turn a blind eye to hopelesness and dispair, even bein weak and broken the Wol would still figth, would still struggle. And this for the first time in playing every expansion made me realise what's the Wol true character.

One thing I like to mention during the crawling section there is a debuff with 5 stacks that slowly goes down and when it does you start crawling faster

WoL: I feel violated! Thancred: First time?

Something about our character being possessed by Zenos gave chills, when he looked up using our body and smirked literally sent shivers down my spine lol

"In From The Cold" is the most fantastic rejection of WoL hubris ever and I love it very much for that. Also the music accompanying this humbling is fire of the highest order.

The entire time I was playing that quest I was thinking "holy shit this sucks! This SUCKS." and I LOVED it because it was supposed to suck. I really felt the hopelessness and desperation that the gameplay was trying to convey, realizing for the first time what it must be like for anyone who isn't the Warrior of Light. It was brilliant storytelling and game design.

I _adore_ the second dialogue option you get in that quest. It fully encompassed how I felt my WoL would react after _all_ the bullshit she went through over her journey. Just a tired "Oh, what is this clown up to _now_ ?" My main being reaper also helped a bit since the "reveal" had him doing something she presumably would be able to do too, which is an interesting idea regarding the idea that it may still not have garnered suspicion contextually.

I loved how difficult the mission was with our false body. People complained it was too difficult but honestly? It was perfect. It showed just how fucking hard everyone else has it and we're just "hey Im here lemme just nuke it all and leave :D " and now you get to have a taste of just what everyone else is. Normal. You've always been the outlier and always on top but being crushed down to a simple, nameless garlean soldier was a heavy, HEAVY story note to drive home to the player. LOVED IT

Garlemald just reminds me of my home in Eastern EU. 100% spoke to my heart. Places like this, even your neighbor cannot be trusted, how would you trust your greatest enemy. Like did you guys know that the freedom of media is a thing because it was controlled by leaders to make "false picture" about the enemy? The radio, and how people cherished it, just reminded me of how my grandma used to sit infront of her radio waiting for the news... when I was there in that place, seen the buildings, the fact that there was even a shitty car... could not just feel the sense of similarity. It was like going home, but in a bad way.

The garlemald section of the story seems to be one that people overlook, which is sad, because that section is easily one of the most immersive and depressing experiences i've had playing games.

My favorite quest too. Beat it twice on my first try. People were really upset that it was too hard but I think that’s what made it so damn good.

"Zenos, if you so much as trim Shtola's tail fur...I will never give you the rematch you crave."

THIS IS MY FAVE QUEST AS WELL The feeling of playing a literal mortal with little to no ability or strength, the pain you witness left and right by NPCs, the pain you feel when defeating the first enemy with sweat and blood This single quest made me more "alive" than anything else, it slapped me in the face with the fact what an unhuman superbeing WoL... no, EVERYONE outside of Garlean blood acually is Having no magic stretches much more than just in terms of ability, the ability to use aether at all affects strength, regen and the very abilities we took for granted Dragging that literal corpse of a body through snow, ash, fire and stone to the Camp with just the power of your will, gosh was that powerful and painful In my canon, my Warrior of Light still has nightmares of that icecold dead body he was once trapped in, fearing for the lives of everyone he knows and loves

I was definitely upset when Zenos took your character's body, but I definitely tried to regain my composure for the purpose of getting out of there, so I can worry about Zenos later. (Total fail on the first try, but the second time I made it out w/ 10 minutes left. Felt better when I can focus on the second attempt 😁)

It's completely awesome that the story used game mechanics to portray a different perspective. With the quest "In From the Cold", I was overwhelmed a little with the situation we e placed in, but in the back of my mind, I understood that this is an opportunity like no other to experience what Zenos felt when he came back from the dead. I felt like this was a challenge issued to the WoL, to see how resourceful the hero is, and I was thrilled to prove it. The scenario was pretty intense ((I got lost in the opposite direction) and honestly at one point I thought I was going to have to restart. We're a normal Imperial soldier, with these "basic" skills that must have been the breadwinner of the soldier you're inhabiting, scrambling to scavenge supplies for survival, struggling hard with the dangers of the capital wasteland, worrying about being surrounded, floundering around disoriented and trying to find a way out of a mess that you won't even have had to worry about as the Warrior of Light (e.g. one-shotting monsters in the cinematic). The scenario was so memorable. And then there was the last combat scene, when you thought you made a difference, only for things to go south so badly you're forced to crawl. And when you finally made it back, that grin on your Zenos-possessed character's face was just so worth it to see. It inspires such complex emotions in the player. That feeling of a loss of control - it was a shocking betrayal! And I was thinking, maybe being a dinky little soldier isn't that bad, since you don't have to worry about saving the world, but seeing the trust your friends have in you, you know that you still have a responsibility to finish this epic tale before hanging up the sword. Funnily enough just before I decided to start on the 6.0 story, I had finished meditating on how to not be too attached to my in-game character. I wanted to reach out with empathy to really understand the viewpoints of the different characters - a luxury that I can enjoy in FF14, where the character writing is very good. It's a nice coincidence and I'll remember this quest fondly.

This whole expansion really strips you of all your safety. It digs in to your raw emotions and makes you question it all. Also I see what you did with that line using all the tank stances. 😆

I loved this quest. I really enjoyed the instance and having to hide and sneak around instead of blazing through everything in an instant. I also really liked the lore from it and how it shows just how insanely strong the wol is compared to a normal person.

my favorite quest in ffxiv is the entirety of Elpis. Specifically, the "do not squander it! The Legacy I leave you" line is.... so good.

It was one of my favourites too, truly unique and creative. And so bloody hard. Put a timer on my screen and my stress levels go up exponentially. But that moment when my wol threw the sword to save graha (who I would die for, another story) made the struggle and the triumph thoroughly worth it. The sense of accomplishment had me on a game high for days lol

Makes me proud I did this before the quest got nerfed. If this is hard I can only fear what people will struggle with in future.

Just found this channel yesterday and it's been fantastic! I love videos like this, and they're such high quality. Keep it up!

My favorite Quest was the last battle and that afterwards. Alisaie

this is the best quest of all the MSQ. it just so amazing, see your body taken away by the enemy, and then just throw away in a body who is not yours is so amazing. now you are in the flesh of a Garleand, you can feel the despair in this body, you can feel the hopelessness of the situation and worst, you can 100% feel being powerless... as Stout Helm said, you don't self recover, you need to fin med-kits, you need to be absolutly carefull of the fight you take, the game goes 180° on the others side and that is so amazing, so well execute that when i did the quest i really feel i couldn't make it and that ending crawling to save your friends, its just reflects so well on WoL, this borrow body can go much longer but the will of pushing forward its there and its figthing with everything you have. i really think those Rol-Play quest in the body of another character give a lot of deepness to the world, putting in the shoes of others really reflect how powerfull they are and in the end, how powerfull its the WoL. this type of quest really push forward the feel this is not an MMORPG, its an RPGMMO, and i really love it.

This was also a fav of mine. Beat it on the first try, but I’ve never been so stressed 😂

I agree, it really depends on a point in time that you measure them.

Playing this quest now knowing what to do and where to look it's not so bad anymore... but back during drop this mission induced a lot of frustration in me as I failed it several times. My words fail to describe the feelings I was experiencing as my foot soldier of light very slowly crawled towards what I desperately hoped was an ending in reach as the clock got down as low as 20 seconds remaining. The relief I felt was as a physical weight being lifted when the next cutscene happened.

The one when I fist fight Zenos is pure gold

It was definitely something I appreciated more in hindsight 😅

I had to take a day to recover from this quest lol. I felt so many emotions and was blown away that the writers would do something so bold. To be made to feel so helpless was really amazing and it added to the overall emotional impact of the game.

This along with the 1v1 against Zenos are my favorite solo duties in this game for both the gameplay and the stakes in the story. I don't play much high end content, but I'd really like to see EX or even Savage versions of these solo duties. Mostly due to Zenos himself encouraging us, the player to push the both of us to our limits. With how well he was written (imo, he was even fantastic since Stormblood) it actually resonated with made and me realize that I've actually become a bit bored not being tested enough in normal content. So following in Zenos' example, I've started coming out of my content shell and completed Zodiark EX and Hydaelyn EX while there still considered current content (a patch late, but still within this current expansion). I attempted Endsinger EX once two weeks ago in a learning party and didn't get the clear, but I still had a lot of fun and look forward to going back to clear once I finish most other new things in 6.2. Years I wouldn't even dream of attempting EX because I assumed it was too hardcore and I wouldn't be good enough; but now I even want to go back and try old EXs with no echo (maybe min ilvl, too I'll see). I've probably always had it in me, I just needed a push to get out there.

This was the most impact full parts of the story for my and one of my favorites. It takes a special kind of media to make me real life panic over my NPC friend's lives XD it was so good.

I remember the first time doing this quest I didn't know it would end at the edge of the city, so that whole time Im rushing thinking of the long treck to camp... Thinking about it that's next to impossible with that time line. But in that moment thinking of the friends we make it raised the stakes and all I could think about was rushing back to them against the odds, no matter what it took

Endwalker did a fantastic job of demonstrating of just how powerful our WoL has become. This quest was a great showing of that, as well as the duty that takes place as you escort refugees to the tower of babil nd you play as some of the other Scions. Playing as your Allies you’ll notice that while they’re stronger than a nameless grunt, they’re still only dealing a fraction of the damage you do. The encounters feel like they take longer and when your WoL shows up and regain control you have your numerous ability’s and dealing monstrous damage to the boss. It really lets you appreciate your character that much more.

The final battle sequence was my favorite. Fighting Zenos after everything felt quite good since everything was saved except that there was one last threat. For me it was not a battle between hunters but rather a battle between a person that could be considered a full person. Zenos on the otherhand could only feel joy from battle. He was no longer anything more than his lust for blood. He was no better than a wild beast and so needed to be put down like one. It's why I chose the dialogue that fitted the situation best even though Zenos thinks otherwise. While battle may be thrilling, trying to force a battle by hurting others only makes the fight to protect others rather than to have any kind of contest.

So glad the armour of the Garlean soldier is coming soon. With the gunblade. 😊

I love your videos, dude. Keep it up

I loved this quest. I did it before it was nerfed and honestly wish they wouldn't have. It did a good job showing the difference between a normal person and the WOL.

underrated channel

Honestly this quest was my favorite too. Hands down a masterpiece.

Garlamald was my favorite arc out of the whole expansion

Oh yeah, the time Zenos violated me. Yeah this was a good one.

I had never experienced such nightmarish feelings during a game. Like the quest really perfectly put you in the shoes of a simple NPC and it is by far the best explanation for how Dynamis makes us so special.

Waaaay late to this party; this was one of my favorites as well. I was thinking to myself that if the had the balls to actually kill off one of their characters, this is where they would do it. I was simultaneously disappointed and relieved that they didn't do it though I wondered if they had planned it but changed their mind like they did with Tesslene.

Weird, I was waiting for a video from you but this gets suggested to me 3 days later. Great work again though!

This. Damn. Quest. I almost ran out of time cause I had no dang clue what to do. And i was nearly killed by the roaming robots. I was so tense. Still, I can't wait to reach this quest with my second character cause now I know what to do.

I was extremely traumatized. All I could do was imagine my friends being murdered with skills I've spent years honing and they wouldn't even know to defend themselves because they'd be looking at my sweet, kind cat girl face as I bashed their skulls in with my moogle axe. It really made me understand how all those nameless faceless NPCs must have felt as I bashed their skull in with my moogle axe...

Hooo boy I remember this quest from release, the panic I felt was so real XD Didn't know they nerfed it by now. My biggest problem was honestly my bad sense of direction here XD

My friend (we're both rpers and are both very connected to our characters) had a mental break down over this quest so I can't say it's my favorite....

This was also my favorite quest. And it took me three times when I did it. Sonce I did it before the nerf. I remember that I had 1 hit left after that first skirmish... and was like wtf... this is crazy how strong we are compared to who we fight.

Definitely an interesting perspective, and when you try to take it from purely a narrative perspective, it isn't too bad, but the gameplay overall ruined the entire experience. I played this duty for the first time a few months ago, and was promoted by it to find a way back to camp broken glass. Fandaniel even tells me to hide between buildings like a rat. And especially coming off of the previous Thancred mission, it felt like I would be doing a stealth mission. So i tried doing that, headed straight south and was greeted by the red barrier. I know there are larger monsters just out of range, but i still had in between paths to take. I just said "okay, I'll find where your want me to go." But because of the path i took, i completely missed the Magitek walker, and ran around the city two times, before i went the opposite direction which led me to the walker. Which then we had to find the previous driver, then go get the ceruleum (which i passed twice already) and walk all the way back with it. All of this with the timer ticking, and at this point, my immersion was completely lost to the dread of having to do all this again. I think a lot of this could have benefit by dumping you straight into the broken reaper, or at least directing you to it better. Because by the end of it, i was just left with the feeling of "what was even the point?" I definitely respect your opinion, but i could never give this duty the title of best. Interesting idea, but completely miserable execution.

I remember when I did this that my immersion was so tight that honestly I think my house could have fallen around me and I wouldn't have noticed. Zenos should have died from my cursing when I realized what he was going to do, and that damned clock in the corner had my heart going a mile a minute as I tried to desperately figure out what to do and how to get back, with the knowledge that Zenos was on his way to my friends. Honestly, the keyboard and screen vanished. There was no difference between me and my character for that mission - it was absolutely incredible. I don't usually hate fictional characters, but the feelings of violation and fear actually made me hate Zenos. I found him just an obnoxious, cruel stalker before but this pushed it over the edge, and made it all the more satisfying when I finally killed him in the final fight.

the beste quest its not easy, all of the elpis quest are nice, and the Venat cutescene is great, and the dungeon before mommy Crystal is great if you do it with the trust system, and the last quest is also great where you walk slowy till the end

not gonna lie, this quest horrified me. like. the last time i felt horror was during shadowbringers when it showed the sin eater transformation in full detail. This was horrifying. Though I admit, I was hoping for a 1v1 duel against Zenos in the WoL's body with the scions having to join the fray to stop Zenos.

Zenos became a thing for me after this, but it went downhill all the way until the ending where it was basically mid-school level anime stuff...

Hella late here, I know, but isn't the body you inhabit the same one Zenos used to get his body back from Elidibus?

A Sentimental Gift is my fave EW quest

It's good and all but it would've been made better if Minfillia asked us to return to the Waking Sands and then go all the way back to Garlemald multiple times

Imagine doing this while extremely drunk. I hated it. I had to have someone tell me exactly where to go and how to get there. Tho the story aspect of it was good.

I really did like this quest but I think they should have clarified Zeno's intentions as why he's doing it. I know a lot of people who have no idea why it happened. 🤔 For me, my favorite would just have to be the entirety of Elpis. I

What's the name of this quest I want to re do it again lol

While it's definitely impactful, and that violation of trust *is* a gut-punch, what takes me out of it is there's just very little the Warrior of Light does to counteract it. Heck, what would even make me appreciate and be okay with the quest to begin with would be if the Warrior of Light exercised agency in taking Zenos' body for our own. It's easy to forget Stormblood, the expansion that was nowhere near as critically acclaimed as the others, but in taking back Ala Mhigo, we fight Aulus mal Asina, and he tries something very similar. Rather than us just not being able to do anything, though, it's a simple mechanic and he reacts as though our soul "Rebelling" isn't just not normal, it's unexpected. Not even taking into account Ardbert's existence as a part of us that makes us fuller, I just can't really buy into the fiction that we're forced to accept being in that body fighting back or, failing that, leaving the body behind to travel incorporeally, which is something that we have done before. Regardless of message, the game has built itself up thusly into something of a power fantasy. The Warrior of Light is a fucking busted ass person, not simply because of body but because of soul, and will. My issue with this quest is they exclusively focus on the "Will" portion, and in so doing disrespect the character and the fiction of their other qualities.

Nah this mission pissed me off. Dragged and I just couldn't wait for it to be over - felt no sentimental kind of attachment to it.

I hate the quest and because I know what's coming - I immediately fail on purpose and pick very easy. They wanted me to hate it on purpose and have achieved their goal and so I don't do it properly as I have had the choice taken from me.

Story standpoint: great Gameplay: not great. It's too long and honestly, its boring. Tho some of the things it did, it did so well

I found this quest arc deeply violating. I've always had this, just leave me the f**k alone Zenos mentality, and to have him steal my characters body with the express purpose of harming those they care about, as something that honestly went to far. I really enjoyed endwalker so far, and the Garlmald storyline, but this quest is something I'd rather forget about.

this made me feel violated, i had to turn off game. this was not a good feeling

I love the substance of this quest, but my god this was yet another info dump that slowed down the pacing in a section of the game that didn't need to be slowed down. The problem is that these info dumps were all some dude talking at you. Fandaniel even made a joke about it. I've gotta knock it for that. As good as it is, you can't pretend that isn't part of it.

I hated this quest. I beat it on the first try but it was ass all the way around. I don't care about the lore implications, it just wasnt fun to play.

I hated this quest. I don't like it when you grow in your chosen class and roll, when you give your best to understand the mechanics and the game just smashes all of it and forces you back into a forein class on a very low powerlevel. I highly disliked this and was blown out of all immersion.

i honestly didnt like the quest because it didn't fit Zenos's character at all.