Main Story – Gridania
-The next stop on my journey is the beautiful wooded city of Gridania.
-I meet Kan-E-Senna, the other woman from the flashback. She’s pleasant, polite, formal.
-She’s the Elder Seedseer, and leader of the Order of the Twin Adder, the Gridanian “Grand Company.” I think the grand companies are city forces while the Eorzean Alliance is the joint operation.
-Garlemald used to be a minor nation on the northern continent of Ilsabard. Magitek research raised its power; it conquered the continent and attacked Eorzea.
-Emperor Solus zos Galvus’ leadership was crucial. But now he’s over 80 years old, frail. Perhaps this is the source of the internal strife we saw – someone younger making a play.
-Garlemald maintains a presence in Eorzea with Legatus Gaius van Baelsar’s XIVth Imperial Legion.
-And of course, the beast tribes summon their primals to threaten us.
-The Elder Seedseer reaches the same conclusion as Admiral Merlwyb. We need unity against these threats, and the memorial service is a fine opportunity to solidify.
-Hee! My reward for this quest is a wind-up airship, a model of the Invincible. Some FFXIV version of the Invincible – it certainly doesn’t look like the FFIX version.
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Main Story – Sastasha Seagrot
-Back in Limsa Lominsa, Commodore Reynor of the Yellowjackets asks me to investigate rumors of an unfamiliar vessel off the coast, parking in the Sastasha Seagrot. My first dungeon!
-I reach the entrance. I’m supposed to check out rumors of “fishback-fancying Serpent Reavers.”
-My Free Company friends join me. It’s a beautiful glowy pirate cove. The early enemies are sea creatures, gradually seeing more and more pirates.
-I was especially excited to reach “The Cattery,” housing a boss coeurl.
-Deeper in, the dungeon became a pirate cove. We even stumbled onto a hilarious barroom brawl.
A lot to keep track of in the dungeon environment.
-The mystery unraveled near the end. We finished off the pirate captain and a Sahagin leader burst in. The beastman pulling the strings. I didn’t catch exactly what he said, but it was something about the “Lord of the Whorl.” I assume that’s Leviathan.
-The next quest seems like it’ll also be a dungeon quest, hunting down a doomsday cult called the Lambs of Dalamud in Tam-Tara Deepcroft.
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Random Stuff
-Some quests have a plus sign next to them, meaning that they unlock features. I’ll prioritize these.
-One amazing quest lets me unlock the “aesthetician,” a hairdresser/plastic surgeon type. He gets dramatic music, an epic “haircut” transformation sequence, the works. XD
-!!!!YESSSS!!!! I can access the Challenge Log now. It’s a series of experience-granting challenges – things like “Complete x dungeons,” “Craft y items,” etc. This makes my MMO-loving heart go pitter pat.
-I’ve been leveling up my thaumaturge. A bit disappointed in the game’s quest flow. I keep finding myself out of quests and having to just leave the zone for another area to find new quests for my level.
-Duskwight Elezen seem to be second-class citizens. A glorious but ruined past.
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The Manderville Gold Saucer
-I FOUND THE GOLD SAUCER!
The finest in cactuar architecture.
-Oh god, TRIPLE TRIADDDD! THAT ADDICTIVE FFVIII MUSIC IS BACK!!
-AND YOU DON’T LOSE CARDS HAHAHAHAHA YESSSS!! Wackier rules are fine, great even, as long as I don’t lose cards.
-Lots of small-cost games. My favorites are a surprisingly addictive Moogle’s Paw claw game, the Gilgamesh-lookalike-featuring “Cuff-a-Cur,” and some mining/logging mini games.
Cuff-a-Cur.
-I enter to win the Cactpot, a totally random drawing. Doubt I’ll play this much – 100 tokens is a lot, and it’s a four digit number that I have, what, a 1/9999 chance of winning with one ticket?
A random Wind-up Yuna.
The Saucer’s spiffy mascot.
-LOL IS THAT DIO??
No. The proprietor of this place is named Roland, but his mustache hearkens back to Dio.
-There’s a surprisingly complex minion (non-combat pet) game called Lords of Verminion. I use battle groups of pets on a field to attack my opponent’s shields and crystals. I can split my forces, I can use special attacks that vary by minion, on and on.
It’s a bit like a real-time strategy game. Like a low-intensity Starcraft a bit.
-I love all these single-token mini-games. My favorite may be “Cuff-a-Cur.” I’m not sure if Gilgamesh is in FFXIV – I’d be kinda shocked if he weren’t – but this involves me hitting a Gilgamesh-lookalike doll as hard as I can.
-In order to participate in a chocobo race, I have to go back to Gridania and find a chocobo chick.
Dreaming of victory.
-I do, picking a female chocobo. I get to name her from a pre-selected list of names: Hiryu.
-Did the training race and then a real race. It’s pretty fun! Going to leave it for now.
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Botanist
-I want to join the last gathering job, the botanist. The guild hall is in Gridania, the woodland city.
-Gridania is within the Twelveswood. The botanists’ original purpose was to better communicate with the elementals in the forest nearby. Very… Adoulin.
-The gathering process is very similar to mining.
-This job is my first real chance to explore Gridania. It’s the most insular of the three cities, with the most mistrust towards outsiders.
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Thaumaturge
-Just hit level 25. New class quest!
-We’re following up with Possessed!Cocobusi. His brother, Cocobuki, doesn’t want to obliterate Cocobusi, despite that being the textbook solution.
-Mormo is the Voidsent that possessed Cocobusi. I’m sent to East Thanalan to investigate Mormo.
-I collect the data from researchers (lol – the Book of Mormo) – and return to Cocobuki. Things look grim, but there’s one last hope: if Cocobuki can offer a more tempting magical vessel – himself – that might draw out Mormo to the point we can kill her.
-To prove I’m ready, there’s a hidden chapter of “The Yawning Abyss” that I’m to read. One with some sort of trial.
-It’s a major challenge. The test starts by pitting me against smaller enemies to crowd control and kill. Then swarms of silencing bugs come out. This part kills me the first time, but I adjust my strategy on the second attempt by standing farther back and targeting them as soon as possible.
The third challenge is a big gross fly enemy that keeps me on my toes. Victory!
-See, guys? We have hope to save Cocobusi after all!
I imagine that the level 30 quest will be our move on Mormo!Cocobusi.
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Next time: Pushing to level 30 on thaumaturge.
