The Final Dawntrail MSQ might have just been the perfect quest to get me so hyped for Evercold. I don’t think I have felt this way about a post-expansion questline than this. Oftentimes, whether it be Endwalker, Shadowbringers, Dawntrail, Stormblood. My excitement comes from the marketing surround it, whether it be trailers, fan letters, fanfest, interviews, and the trust that they will tell an incredible story. However, this quest was the first time where the post-expansion MSQ alone got me excited about the newest expansion.

First off, it is awesome to see that we can teleport to anyone just by thinking about them while holding the Azem crystal & Key. The whole idea of summoning your allies is now us going to our allies.

Does this mean I can contact Zenos. Zenos, are you there?

The possibilities of what we can do is endless. Another crazy moment is when we attempt to travel to the Fourth. We are reminded of Ysayle, which ends up dragging Alphinaud & Estinien into the Fourth as well. I’m sorry, what? I get that the place has been frozen in ice, but are we implying that she was originally from the Fourth? Or are we implying that maybe Shiva came from the Fourth originally? What are we implying here?

There’s so many questions and mysteries that pop up during this MSQ that it’s the reason why I’m just so hyped for Evercold. Because one of the first things we start to learn is as we meet Visna, who is an extremely awesome and goofy character. I love her personality. I love the balance of being this money-hungry character to one willing to help us out to then as we start approaching her, she’s like, hold up, stop and gets really serious. And then once she realizes that we’re not bound to any realmship, then she’s just like, oh, my God, you guys are awesome. It’s just this whole dynamic of her character is going to be so fun to see in the actual release of Evercold that I cannot wait to get more of her.

What is so fascinating is one of the mysteries about being bound to a realmship. Because the world beneath is cold, everyone has been moving in realmships. They basically create their own massive realmships lifted up into the air. You basically live and die on that realmship. Realmships cannot come in contact with each other. Visna mentions if they go to a realmship of fire, for example, their heart is going to beat so much faster. And she’s kind of implying that they’re just going to die.

This revelation had me so excited because what if there are realmships for each of the elements that make up a world. Air, earth, fire, water. I’m really curious who put this restriction on them. Because if all the realmships came together, they have all the elements to create a new world. So curious what is it that is pulling them apart? Who is it that casted these bounds on everyone that is being born on a realmship?

The Winterers, they’re off on their own thing. They’re trying to stop the Solstice, but they’re doing it in their own way. And it doesn’t seem like they would be the ones to put the bounds on the people on the Realmships. So I’m super curious to learn more about that. It was the moment where I truly didn’t want this quest to stop.

Visna also introduces us to what will probably be the newest Job, Runesmith. The ability to craft weapons and imbue it with arcane magic while also utilizing a familiar. I’m so curious to see. how much they’ll play into having the Runesmith also need the benefit of being a blacksmith because at least from the way it described, it seemed like. Visna might also be crafting some of her tools. So will we have a job class that incorporates crafting as well would be so fascinating. I don’t know if they’ll go that far, but it is very interesting to have a job class that is so integral to crafting as a Runesmith.

I guess the whole part of runesmithing isn’t that you’re crafting the weapon, it’s that you’re imbuing the weapon or the tool with magic. I’m wondering if also the Runesmith is going to be able to also imbue everyone else’s weapons. You know, if you look at something like a World of Warcraft, you have enchanters who can enchant people’s weapons. And I’m curious if Runesmiths also might play into that as well.

Going back to the Realmships, I really enjoyed that we’re actually learning about the Jotnars, which are the gigantic monsters that we saw in the trailers for Evercold. In the 2nd Evercold trailer, we see a Jotnar encroaching on the Realmship of Fire. In this MSQ, we learn that these Jotnar are chasing after these Realmships. This had me thinking! Are they trying to chase them to push the Realmships away from each other? Is the existence of the Realmships in its entirety a threat to reversing the Calamity?

I am so curious to learn more about all of these & the past about how the Calamity even occured! These are some of my favorite moments of storytelling in Final Fantasy XIV. They do such a fantastic job with it.

There was a conversation with Alphinaud and Visna. And Visna mentioning that she was training in the arcane, but she doesn’t know about the other worlds. However, her master studies in forbidden magics, and he may know about the other worlds. And that piqued my interest so much.

Also the character we see in Evercold trailer? Although, not Matoya, gives me big Matoya Vibe. And so I’m like, what are we going to learn here? Like, I’m so interested. What if it’s Ysayle? What if it’s an older Ysayle? There’s so many possibilities. I’m so freaking curious.

The amount of wanting answers from this quest, to the point where I was playing the quest. And I was just like, please don’t end. Please don’t end. Please don’t end. And even though they’re like, yes, the master’s at the Realmship of Water. I’m just like, please don’t end. They had me asking so my questions that I really wanted answers too. That never happened to me in a post-expansion MSQ. So for the first time, I’m going into Evercold excited because of the story from the post-expansion MSQ.

Of course, to end it all off, they bring us to Halmarut and Calyx. And we learn some crazy reveal. First off, Halmarut is from the Fourth and yet she is still willing enough to go through with the Winterer’s plan. However, it does seem that she is a bit more accepting of us arriving on the Fourth because even though she was annoyed at Calyx for leading our character to the Fourth. Calyx mentions how she seems more okay with it & maybe that is because she is from the Fourth.

It feels like we are building to a point where we might be able to work with Halmarut? I mentioned this in my 7.4 & 7.5 MSQ video where I talked about who were the Winterers and that I think we’ll be teaming up with one of the Winterer. Originally, I thought it would be us meeting a Winterer who also had a piece of Azem. I’m curious if we’ll team up with Halmarut.

Also is is crazy to say, I think Calyx is a good guy, which is strange. I did not like Calyx up until 7.4 & 7.5. And hearing him speak in this MSQ, Halmarut brings up why Calyx would even think about leading us to the Fourth. Calyx kind of gives like a vague answer, but I think because he is a scientist & knows of our true intentions in the Living Memory & Treno. He wants to see every viable option to a solution to the Solstice. While he continues his own work, he can see if we have the correct solution & he doesn’t want to deny that possibility. So by having us visit the Fourth, he can see whose solution will win.

I think it is such a fascinating twist to a character and really helps illustrate to me that these will not be our villains going forward. So who will be? Calyx already mentioned in 7.5 that the Winterers are not always aligned. In fact, a lot of the Winterers disagree with each other. So we’re clearly going to be meeting another Winterer who is going to be the bad of the bads. And it is also clear. that shit is still happening 500 years ago that we don’t know what is occurring. Did the Winterer put the bound on everyone for the Realmships? Or is this something entirely different? Either way, I am so excited to learn more about Evercold!