With the hype of Evercold, I was excited to jump back into Final Fantasy XIV to catch up on the 7.4 & 7.5 Main Scenario Quest (MSQ) as well as the Arcadian raid!

7.4 MSQ

Patch 7.4 is my favorite of the 7.X patches so far. I love Dawntrail…yes, I am one of those weirdos, I wrote all about it here. Unfortunately, with patches 7.1 – 7.3, I found them rather boring. I wasn’t a fan of Calyx & most certainly didn’t appreciate Sphene actually being alive.

So I was a bit hesitant to jump into 7.4 and to my surprise this was freakin’ fantastic! Exploring the Ninth was not on my bingo card and having played Final Fantasy IX for the first time back in November of last year, which I also wrote about here.

This is the first time I played Final Fantasy XIV where I remembered my experience playing the Final Fantasy game it was referencing because I played it so recently. So I started to get chills just hearing the battle music. As went continue to explore deeper into the Mistwake, I suddenly realize that Treno is apart of the dungeon.

Seeing the entirety of Treno & their broken barrier from the top of a mountain was such a perfect viewpoint. Exploring all the places I use to visit when playing Final Fantasy IX. There was the fun reference with the Tetra Master competition across the pond. I love that Treno even opens up more after the dungeon!

I desperately want to see more of this in Final Fantasy XIV. I want to have more battles & dungeons take place in areas that we will come back to later for questing & other activities. They’ve done this with solo duties, but I want to see full dungeons open up like this.

The one thing I was disappointed was the lack of Final Fantasy IX boss music in the Mistwake dungeon, but I should have never doubted this game because OF COURSE THEY SAVE THE BOSS MUSIC FOR THE TRIAL!!

The Doomtrain fight is so much fun! I love trains. I love being on trains. So the fact that this fight is us on a train fighting a train is so cool!! I love how as the fight progresses the Doomtrain destroys more & more train cars.

The Treno story was also wonderful. Learning the importance of Treno to the Milalla & why many of them chose to stay during the calamity was meaningful. I love the indirect reference to “Doctor Tot” from Final Fantasy IX as they referred to a Milalla who served as a royal “tutor” returned from Alexandria to help create Treno’s barrier.

I love the animations for Lumull. I often tell myself that we wouldn’t have these expressive animations if it wasn’t for the hardwork from the Hildebrand animation team. They have been experimenting with unique expression animations all the back since a Realm Reborn. So I love seeing more of these expressive animation become more mainstay in the MSQ.

I also appreciate that we got a chance to hear Krile’s struggle on what she considers home. Krile has been gone for entire expansions so I wasn’t sure if Krile might end up choosing to stay in the Ninth, but in a crazy turn of events, she is the next heir to become Speaker and through meeting her Aunt Miayli. Krile learns that home is where you choose to be.

They really nailed the relationship between Miayli & Krile. The expressions that Miayli had as she saw her sister in Krile was wonderful. The moment where she hugs Krile goodbye & is immediately reminded of seeing her sister off was so heartbreaking.

I hope being a Speaker is more meaningful in the future. Maybe Krile is the one to get us to the Fourth, but it feels like our Warrior of Light will be the one activating the key so I’m curious what other importance does being a Speaker mean outside of the Key’s activation.

Also Calyx & Halmarut show up, but I’ll talk more about them in 7.5 Part 1 portion of this video.

Arcadian

I briefly want to mention the Arcadian as I went through it all for the first time. I originally ignored it because I have a lot of anxiety jumping into parties as a tank knowing that if I fail. The party does as well.

Luckily, the Evercold trailer gave me the boost of confidence I needed to give Arcadian a shot and… I thought the story was alright. Honestly, I really just wanted to see how cool the raid fights were & they were a ton of fun!

The incorporation of fighters using feral souls to augment themselves in a wrestling-like entertainment event is a super fun idea! I wish the characters were a bit more over the top like in wrestling.

I think about what if the characters were fighting against each other. Their mechanics don’t really make sense, but I am overthinking this because we end this Arcadian story by jumping into a spirit bomb & drop kicking the final boss.

Patch 7.5 Part 1 MSQ

Okay onto patch 7.5 Part 1 and let me tell you. I appreciated the shorter quest. I understand it is a part 1, but it is nice to not be bogged down by a lengthy quest.

And they utilized that time very well, we are jumping all over the place whether it was joining up with Tataru after a long time, seeing Jullus in Garlemald, and assisting Zero on the Thirteenth!

It was great seeing Zero again even if I was not a fan the majority of the post-Endwalker story. It was awesome seeing her slay some fiends & job switch, which was crazy. Sure, we have seen some of the Scions change their jobs, but Zero swapped just like us.

It makes me wonder if they are hinting at something more with Zero. Does she have a bit of Azem’s soul? Hopefully, we’ll learn more post-Evercold!

Which, holy, does this patch give us some juicy teases about Evercold. First, the Winterers, I may be overhyping this group, but the idea of an group of people from the reflections coming together to rejoin the shards to the Source is such a cool premise.

I particularly really love when Calyx mentions that some members share the same goal, but not all of them agree or even like each other, which is such perfect drama for us to team up with a Winterer.

I’m curious if the older male Au Ra in the Evercold trailer is a Winterer! Also I would love the idea of a Winterer possessing Azem’s soul! Like what if the Wanderer mentioned at the end of the Evercold trailer was an Azem Winterer! I don’t care if I am wrong, I just love the possibilities of what craziness can happen because if I have learned anything. The MSQs are always better than what I expected!

Also I have really enjoyed Halmarut & Calyx inclusions in 7.4 & 7.5. Not only do they represent our rivals for the next saga. But I also have enjoyed their transparency (sort of). Sure they are probably keeping secrets from us, but I like that we know their main goal. So now it feels like a race to see which one of us will accomplish our goal first before the Solstice.

Also the Solstice as our fail condition for this saga is so crazy. The fact that the reflections are naturally rejoining, which will cause the world to revert millions of years into the past is so insane.

Patch 7.4 & 7.5 Part 1 have been such an incredible experience hyping me up for Evercold. Looking forward to 7.5 Part 2 & thank you all for taking your time to read this little post of hyping myself up for more Final Fantasy XIV. from me!