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After the failed first version of the game,Final Fantasy 14experienced its own renaissance with the release of A Realm Reborn, a second attempt at bringing the world of Hydaelyn and the continent of Eorzea to a patient fanbase. This was back in 2013, over ten years ago, and we’ve come a very long way since then.
As a result, anyone who played through the first few storylines added to the game a long time ago may be a little fuzzy on the details. As a result, we’re bringing you a story recap that covers everything important: from your very first steps in Eorzea to the events that lead into Heavensward.
This story recap will cover the important highlights of the story, not every minute detail and quest. Note that it’s also possible to experience the story again yourself usingthe New Game Plus feature.
From Adventurer To Envoy To Scion
Final Fantasy 14’s adventure will begin in a different place depending on whichclassthe Warrior of Light (that’s you!) picks during character creation. This will affect the first batch of quests they undertake and give you a sort of ‘home’ nation, even though you arecanonically a foreigner to Eorzea.
Gridania
Lancer, Archer, Conjurer
The first few quests you undertake are of the generic sort - after introducing yourself to the local adventurer’s guild and helping out with some local problems, you’ll meet a Scion of the Seventh Dawn.
As you may see, no matter where you start, the first batch of quests you undertake provide you with a battle alongside aScion of the Seventh Dawn, which will also feature aMasked Mageas an enemy. This Masked Mage is your first glimpse at anAscian, a mysterious race of people who feature as the game’s central villains.
The first instanced fights you experience during these quests will also involve you having avision and meeting Hydaelyn, a goddess who provides you with strength.
Each questline will lead to a meeting with the local leader and turn you intoan envoy, tasked with travelling to the other two nations to inform the other leaders of a plan to hold amemorial ceremonyfor those who passed during theSeventh Umbral Calamity(which canonically occurred at the end of the failed 1.0 version of FF14).
After meeting the three leaders and visiting all three nations, the questlines merge. The first quests you take on after completing your duties as an envoy will have youdelving into your first dungeons: dealing with pirates in Sastasha, putting down rebellious giants in the Copperbell Mines, and eradicating cultists infecting the Tam-Tara Deepcroft.
Upon completion of these three dungeons, you’reinvited to meet the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, which has its base in Western Thanalan: the Waking Sands. It is here that you’ll meet the other Scions who you have yet to meet, including their receptionistTataru, a scholar namedUrianger, and their leader:Minfilia.
Minfilia explains your powers of theEchoto you, and explains that she too has the power, and also tells you of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn’s purpose: namely, todeal with the primal threat.
Inevitably, you end upjoining the Scions, pledging your support in their battle againstthe primal threat.
The Primal Threat: Ifrit
After your induction to the Scions, you are sent on your first task quite quickly.Thanalan is experiencing a spate of kidnappings, something you already know if you began your journey there. Along with Thancred, you travel to Eastern Thanalan to investigate.
You uncover a plot whereby a man disguised as a priest of the Church of St. Adama Landama lures the unsuspecting unlucky to a commune near Camp Drybone. Those poor souls are abducted by theamal’jaa, burly lizardmen who worship the primalIfrit.
Your investigation bears fruit quickly and you form a plan to take on the kidnapped through subterfuge, though you arebetrayed by an Immortal Flames soldier who has been tempered by Ifrit.
The primal is summoned before your very eyes, and you witness the effects thattemperinghas on innocent souls. Ifrit attempts to temper you, but you are protected by the power of the Echo - this is what enables you totake down the fiery primal.
Emerging victorious from the flames, you are forced to concede that those unlucky tempered must be put to death, for there is nothing that will stop them from fighting and plotting for the empowerment of their god.
With that over, your next task is toattend the remembrance ceremonies at each of the three city-states. It’s during these that you’ll learn more about each nation’s role in the Calamity, as well as meetAlphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur. Glimpsed only briefly during the introductory cutscenes, these twins are also Scions and will play as big a role in the main story as any other characters.
After this short break, it’sback to Scion business.
The Primal Threat: Ramuh
After dealing with Ifrit,the Scions send you to Gridania with Papalymo and Yda to investigate the Sylphs of the Shroud. Their god isRamuh, whose destructive power is terrifying, though the sylphs are friendlier than most other beast races.
Meeting the sylphs is hard work thanks to their playfulness, but it’s plain to see after a few quests that while there are tempered sylphs living deeper in the forest, they don’t seem to be working towards a summoning -Ramuh doesn’t pose much of a threat.
While Ramuh isn’t an issue, you do end up solving a few actual problems for the sylphs. Your quests take you to the South Shroud, where you uncover a traitor by the name ofLaurentiusand save the sylph elder Frixio from Lahabrea, an Ascian, in the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak. Thanks to this, the friendship between the friendly sylphs of Little Solace and mankind is ensured.
The next quests detail your initial investigation intoLahabrea. They take you from Gridania to Ul’dah, where you meet someAla Mhigansand learn of their plight, and also come to know of the Ascians' main methods: they manipulate those cursed with anger and resentment, and try toencourage them to summon primals.
It is the Ascians who provide the beastmen with the means and methods to carry out these dangerous summonings.
The Primal Threat: Titan
After some dead ends during your investigation (which leads you to the haunted Haukke Manor), news of another primal threat reaches the Scions. This time, it isthe kobolds in La Noscea who are about to summon their primal: the primal of earth, Titan.
Titan has been slain before, in recent memory, by theCompany of Heroes. This mercenary company is renowned for its powerful members, and though they disbanded after the Calamity, their members still hold sway. Your investigations into Titan involve tracking downWheiskaet, a past member of the Company.
Wheiskaet sends you on many seemingly unrelated quests that have you unknowingly meeting many other past members, and you are judged to be ready to take on the earthly primal. You are directed to Upper La Noscea, where you meet a man called Riol, who helps you confront the Lord of Crags.
Doing so requires that you attune to anaetheryte within the kobold lair- this teleportation magic interests Y’shtola greatly.
Aftervanquishing Titanand reporting the success to the Maelstrom command centre, you make your way back to the Waking Sands to be congratulated by Minfilia. However, when you get there, all you find are corpses -the Scions have been attacked.
An Echo-induced flashback reveals thatLivia sas Juniuswas the culprit, easily taking down the Scions in her way,fatally injuring Noraxia the sylph, andkidnapping Minfiliaand some others.
Your next step is totravel to Eastern Thanalan to take refuge at the Church of St. Adama Landama. Father Iliud here is an ally of the Scions, after all.
The Primal Threat: Garuda
After burying your comrades' bodies and delivering Noraxia to Little Solace, you come to knowMarques, an amnesiac convalescing at the church.
It is here that youreunite with Alphinaud, who reveals thatGaruda has been summoned by the ixal. He also reveals thatMarques is actually Cid Garlond, a defector from the empire and a genius engineer who came to Eorzea by airship: the Enterprise.
After uncovering Cid’s memories and recruiting him to your cause, your course is set. What follows are quests that take you to chillyCoerthasto the north in search of this airship.
Shown to you in a previous cutscene is Alphinaud having a major disagreement with Alisaie about how they should go about their task. They will be split up for a long time.
It is in Coerthas that you learn much of Ishgard and the nation’s eternal war with dragonkind, which will be explored far more in Heavensward.
Your quests in Coerthas lead you to meetLord Haurchefant, a member of one of Ishgard’s high houses and a readily steadfast ally. After teaming up with him to uncover a heretic plot, youfind the Enterprisein the ruins of the Stone Vigil, guarded by dragons.
With the Enterprise retrieved, it’s only a few quests that deal with upgrading it to be able towithstand Garuda’s wind barrierthat stands between you and your next primal fight. This involves acquiring a corrupted crystal, which ends up taking quite a while and sends you across all Eorzea. Regardless, acquire it you do, andyou fell the Lady of the Vortex.
The Imperial Threat
In the wake of Garuda’s defeat, the crushed ixal immediately resummon her. This initially feels like an unwinnable battle, but it is swiftly interrupted by the arrival ofGaius van Baelsarof the empire. Confronted by Gaius and in her rage, Garuda kills some captive beastmen, which elicits the summoning of Ifrit and Titan.
Gaius is prepared, though. Using acolossal, beastly weapon, he takes the very souls of the three primals. This is your first glimpse of theUltima Weapon, which seems to swell with power with each primal consumed. Fleeing the battlefield, Alphinaud decides that it is time to regroup.
You return to the Waking Sands, and happily reunite withYda and Y’shtola. After a quick conversation,your next target is named: Castrum Centri, an imperial stronghold location in located in Mor Dhona.
The next quests deal with your preparations for the final battle. First, you are alerted to two escaped prisoners from an imperial airship - these areBiggs and Wedge, who work under Cid.
With their help, you travel toRevenant’s Toll, a settlement of adventurers in Mor Dhona, and set about casing the castrum and acquiring yourself your very ownmagitek reaper.
The next quest sees you infiltrating Castrum Centri andrescuing Minfilia, Papalymo, Urianger, and Tataru. This is also where it’s revealed thatThancred’s body has been possessed by Lahabrea, putting him out of commission.
The following sequence of quests marks the final stretch of A Realm Reborn. Here, the three nation states of Eorzea decide that their best course of action is tofight back against the empirewithin their borders and commit forces to your plan: Operation Archon.
Operation Archon
Supported by the Grand Companies of Eorzea, the operation goes off without a hitch:
After The Ultima Weapon
The defeat of Lahabrea and repelling the empire earns Eorzea a timely respite.Thancred is confirmed to be okayafter expelling Lahabrea from his body, and the Scions receive much support from the three nation-states.
In an effort to appear diplomatic and neutral,the Scions choose Revenant’s Toll as their new headquarters. From here on out, you report to Minfilia and the rest of the Scions here, not the Waking Sands (which is now a warehouse used for storage).
The quests that follow deal with the following issues:
The Crystal Braves And Lady Iceheart
After putting down six primals in all and also aiding the Domans find refuge, Alphinaud requests that you help him with his own project. His aim is tocreate a Grand Company of his own- one that isn’t tied to a nation, but is neutral and serves Eorzea as a whole: theCrystal Braves.
To that end, you quest all over Eorzea to recruit willing companions. Notable characters from previous quests agree to join, such as Laurentius (the traitor who sided with the empire in Gridania) and Riol (the man who helped you confront Titan). An important face to remember isIlberd, an Ala Mhigan who lost much to the Calamity.
With the Crystal Braves, you deal with a spy by the codenameIvy, who betrayed Immortal Flames secrets to the empire.
As this recruitment drive is going on, you also have to deal with a new threat:heretics from Coerthaswho are attacking strangers, seemingly at random. This coincides with stirrings up north in Ishgard, which you learn about in a meeting with the Ishgardian ambassador,Aymeric. This meeting reveals that Ishgardian astrologians have learned of a great dragon cry that they believe came from the body of the dragonMidgardsormr, which lies at the heart of Mor Dhona.
Before you can investigate the dragon to aid Ishgard, your attention is drawn back to theheretic threat. You learn that they worshipShiva, a historical figure who consorted with dragons before the eternal war between Ishgard and dragonkind.
The heretics are led by a woman calledIceheart, and with the aid of the Crystal Braves and a Sharlayan ally called Moenbryda, you are able to infiltrate their lair and confront her - as you do,she summons Shiva, who inhabits her body.
Slaying the primal doesn’t kill Iceheart, allowing her to make her escape -she will make her reappearance in Heavensward.
The Ascian Threat
After dealing with Iceheart, your downtime consists of helping the Crystal Braves with their problems. These quests hint at some underhanded dealings, potentially involving the Braves themselves, but your attention is deftly grabbed byAymeric, turned up at Revenant’s Toll and requesting that youinvestigate Midgardsormr, who is predicted to resurrect imminently.
Indeed, venturing to the dragon’s body, coiled around a downed imperial warship, reveals that the dragon is still alive, in a manner of speaking.Midgardsormr takes an interest in youand appears toknow Hydaelyn personally. In the following moments, hestrips you of your Echoand starts accompanying you as a tiny dragon - he means to witness your actions, considering it a test.
Reporting these events to Lucia, Aymeric’s companion, leads not to the rejoicing you’d expect. She ominously states that a renewed offensive with the dragons is inevitable.
Moenbryda, your newest ally who aided you in reaching Iceheart’s lair, reports some developments in her plan to form aweapon that can kill an Ascian. Unfortunately, an Ascian calledNabrialeschooses this moment to invade the Scions' base and confront the heroes, and immediately notices the lack of Hydaelyn’s protection and uses the opportunity to strike.
While Moenbryda’s weapon is proven successful in defence, destroying Nabriales,her life is claimed in the confrontation.
With little time to mourn, Lucia’s predictions are proven true anddragons attack Ishgard. The Scions rush to their aid, not bothered by Ishgard’s xenophobic political stance. The encounter on theSteps of Faithcomes close to defeat, but mankind is able to win the day.
The Binding Coil Of Bahamut
These quests happen at anindeterminate time between the defeat of the Ultima Weapon and the banquet at the end of A Realm Reborn.
While the Scions and the Crystal Braves are at work with their respective problems,Alisaie Leveilleurhas her own mission for which she could use the Warrior of Light’s aid. She is investigating aetheric waves emanating from theshards of Dalamud, the red moon which fell during the Seventh Umbral Calamity.
Alisaie places a great deal of importance on these investigations as it was her grandfather,Louisoix Leveilleur, who stopped the Calamity from destroying the world, sacrificing himself to imprison the primalBahamut.
Accompanying Alisaie underground and into the shards of Dalamud, you findAllagan ruins, filled with incredibly strong beasts. Crucially, you also find the imprisoned, immobilised, boundbody of Bahamut, the ruined primal. As time passes, Bahamut seems to grow in strength, becoming stronger and more fully formed - an obvious threat to life in Eorzea.
Among those you fight is a simulacrum ofNael van Darnus, whose essence was plucked from the ether during the Calamity, of which he was the architect.
Soon after putting Nael down, you are confronted byLouisoix himself, or rather, a tempered phantom of his essence. He expels the Warrior of Light and Alisaie, but they show their determination, fighting to encounter him again in another shard of Dalamud.
The final expedition into Dalamud seesAlphinaudjoining his sister, having been informed of what happened previously.
This is a good thing, as it’s through their combined power that they are able tobreak the tempering placed on their grandfatherand reveal that during his grand sacrifice in his fight with Bahamut, he became theprimal Phoenix, a symbol of immortality and rebirth.
While he is slain by you, the Warrior of Light, Louisoix has a few moments of clarity in which he can reassure his grandchildren that they’re on the right path.
In the final confrontation of this series of quests, youconfront and slay Bahamut himself, putting an end to this woeful narrative.
With the perils over, the twins find resolve to stay committed to their shared ideals, being the ‘sword in the night’ that Eorzea needs.
The Crystal Tower
Mor Dhona is not only home to Revenant’s Toll - it also plays host to a few members of theSons of Saint Coinach, scholars and researchers investigating Allagan ruins and technology. Their purpose in Mor Dhona is to examine the massiveCrystal Towerlocated to the southeast, and helping them in their duties is a mandatory quest for the Warrior of Light.
Rammbroes, the head of the Sons, is quick to recruit you, the famed defender of Eorzea, to his organisation’s cause. After helping the Sons locate rare elemental crystals and aethersand that will allowphysical access to the Crystal Tower.
Along the way, you meetG’raha Tia, a member of the Students of Baldesion aiding the Sons of Saint Coinach thanks to his thirst for Allagan knowledge.
With the aid of G’raha, Rammbroes, and Cid Garlond, who also tags along, you are able to break through the Crystal Tower’s outer defences and enter theLabyrinth of Ancients, the bottom rung. In the process, G’raha Tia names this collective the ‘Nominated Observers of Artifacts Historical’, orNOAH.
NOAH is a reference to the characterNoah from Final Fantasy 3- this entire series of quests borrows much from that FF3, as it happens.
After reaching the tower proper, NOAH finds out that the tower isn’t as inactive as previously thought, and further investigation is required - after all,its power rivals that of the Ultima Weapon, something that cannot fall into evil hands.
The team finds out that the principal spire of the tower - Syrcus Tower - is sealed away. Luckily, two mysterious individuals namedDoga and Uneipledge their assistance. They claim to beAllagan clonesof individuals who were supposedlydescendants of Emperor Xande, who ruled at the height of the Allagan Empire.
Sure enough, Doga and Unei are able to break the seal and allow you and your allies through todefeat Emperor Xande, who has been resurrected after all this time.
It is here that Nero makes an appearance - he has been observing NOAH for some time, having his own designs for the Crystal Tower. He elects to join you, regardless of what you think of such an arrangement, and cites his experience with high-tech Allagan devices as a reason you should let him.
Upon your victory against the revived Emperor Xande, the purpose of the Crystal Tower is revealed. The tower is aconduit to the void, a plane of darkness. Xande made a deal with a powerful voidsent called theCloud of Darknessin an attempt to destroy all life in the world.
He was unsuccessful, obviously, but the Crystal Tower remains a threat - at the top of Syrcus Tower, waves of clones are summoned to assault you, and Doga, Unei, and Nero arepulled into the voidgate at the top of the tower.
Not one to dip from a challenge, you enter theWorld of Darknessand defeat the Cloud of Darkness, saving the trio of kidnapped allies in the process.G’raha Tiaaids you by revealing that he himself is descended from individuals withroyal Allagan bloodand is thus able to interface with the Crystal Tower. It’s with his aid that the gate opens in the first place.
After the dust has settled and the threat has subsided,G’raha Tia decides to enter the Crystal Towerand place himself in stasis. His reasoning is that with the Crystal Tower being so powerful and he being the only known person who can control it, he wants to be ready for any eventuality in the future where the Crystal Tower can be used for good.
Betrayal At The Banquet
The final stretch of A Realm Reborn deals with a gloriousbanquetto be held in light of the successful Ishgardian defence and the apparent peace in the realm. However, things aren’t quite what they seem.
Teledji Adeledji, a member of the Ul’dahn Syndicate, plotted to use the banquet as an opportunity toassassinate Nanamo, the nation’s sultana, and blame the Scions for it. To do this, he manipulated the Crystal Braves, turning many of them turncoat and using them to plant evidence that would look bad for the Scions.
Shortly before the banquet starts, youjoin Nanamo in her quarters, where she reveals her intention to step down from her position of power and abolish the monarchy, intending to turn Ul’dah into a republic. As she speaks with you, she’s given adrink from a server- upon drinking, she falls to the floor, apparently lifeless.
Meanwhile, Teledji puts his plan into motion,publicly accusing the Scions of the Seventh Dawn of Nanamo’s assassination in full view of the leadersof Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ishgard. This has some catastrophic results:
In the end,only you, Alphinaud, and Tataru are known to be alive, withUriangerpresumably still at the Waking Sands and Alisaie on her own quest. Made fugitives by the claim that you are assassins, you turn to Ishgard, where Haurchefant helps you gain entry to the nation.
This ends A Realm Reborn, withHeavenswardpicking up as soon as you and your companions enter Ishgard.
