So, Patch 6.55 stories are beyond me – that includes MSQ, Endwalker’s Hildibrand story finale, Tataru story finale and the uniting Allied quest for Endwalker tribes. That concludes and wraps up all the expansion storylines and draws a bridge to the next expansion – Dawntrail.
Warning! Heavy spoilers ahead, so approach with care if you haven’t played through 6.55 or any of its parts yet and plan to do so.
So, let’s start with the main course –
Main Story Questline
The main story properly introduces Wuk Lamat – a representative of a female hrothgar, the new playable race (or rather, filling the gender gap for already playable male hrothgar) and also our introduction to the new expansion.
As with previous expansions, 6.55 has already left Endwalker behind, and we’re being briefed about what comes next. Wuk Lamat gives us our mission briefing – she came to seek aid in a succession contest. Her king dad, which united all the continents nations into one about 80 years ago, is now old and instead of passing the crown to his children (Wuk Lamat herself is his foster child), he cobbled up a contest instead.
So far we know that there are four participants, Wuk Lamat included, and one of them should not win under no circumstances. This mysterious someone has heard about Garlemald downfall, and aims to fill their shoes of the whole world’s conquerous nemesis. Granted that the old king’s life purpose was uniting all of their continent’s nations and bringing in peace, it’s a big no-no.
It is most interesting, that although we agreed to help her, there might be an option to change our mind and support other contestants instead. So far, we know that twins (most likely) will root for Wuk Lamat, but Thancred & Urianger are clearly our rivals, as they got an invitation of their own. And we haven’t seen Y’shtola yet… I’m extremely intrigued about whether we’ll be allowed to pick sides and work with other Scions – and there’s canon, of course. Three of four contestants are claimed to be worthy of support in any case!
The questline itself is very brief, and didn’t utilise any new terrains or assets – we revisited the familiar pastures in Isle of Haam for a hunt. As I rightfully guessed, at this point the dev team won’t waste resources on developing new assets and take one of the previous locations instead.
No dungeon, no – just a solo duty, and it was quite fun. The overall mood and Wuk Lamat’s personality are quite excited and cheerful, so I guess it sets the tone for our mission in Dawntrail – advertised as a vacation expansion.
As for Tuliyollal/Tural, we’ve got a bit of information, but all in all, we’ll have to learn it firsthand. Basically, it’s Aztec/Mayan/Incan inspired civilization, so all the bits and bobs of information did not step out of what we know about them IRL yet. And the mysterious City of Gold, of course – presumably, the place of contest – meant to tickle our Indiana Jones/DuckTales adventurous memories.
And yes, we’ve got a breifest glimpse for the new job: Pictomancer, Krile picking up a conjuring battle brush to be able to help her friends in combat:
All in all, MSQ was quite peaceful and fun, and it gave us a new purpose for our Summer adventure. I’m not like too hype-hyped, as it’s mostly all talks so far, but I’m quite eager to go and see where my path leads me. I liked Wuk Lamat by all means, she’s a cheerful one, although too leaning to a wild barbarian warrior archetype for my taste – and a beastly one. Did not quite strike me as a princess of a quite developed civilization, to be honest – more like a jungle tribal chief’s offspring.
Anyways, our task and destination is quite clear, so I’m ready for the new adventure!
Hildibrand and Relic Weapons
We finished another story for Hildibrand and crew. Surprisingly, it was not all silly slapstick (although obligatory components were all here, of course), but there was a very convincing villain. All in all, I enjoyed the whole expansion’s story – maybe Garlemald and the Moon parts were the best. The alien ancestry revelation last time was hilarious, and even more hilarious to be proven false today :)
We got another trial here – the only new group content in this patch. The Gilded Araya was quite in the vein of Thavnair, and a decent encounter. Once people figured out the 6-part sequence (that’s 3 and the same 3 again), it went smooth: no wipe kill on Sanya and one wipe on Lolo.
Looking back, all Endwalker trials were very fun. My favorites were probably Zodiark (the music, and the mechanics!), Meteion (for the inspirational moment in the middle) and Barbariccia as the most frantic and most fun to play through.
As for Hildibrand relic weapons – I googled the appearances video on YouTube, and no, it’s not my style at all to use for glam – those hi-tech Omicron-like options. So if I ever will farm them, it’s gonna be for ilvl sakes, nothing else.
In general, I like a number of tier one appearances very much and using them, so it’s at least to acquire 615 across all jobs, then we’ll see. No pressure on weapon appearances and item level of other tiers (630, 645 and the final one), so I might skip the farm. In any case, I’ll replace them in new content as I level soon enough, moreover, I plan to MSQ on Viper and Pictomancer which don’t have Hildibrand weapons, so.
Tataru’s Grand Endeavor
This questline was not really exciting to follow, but it’s a nice vignette and addresses our lovable master of coin. I watched her final monologue and interaction with Tataru with interest, but all in all, this journey of trade routes and stranded Thavnair youths was definitely not my favorite among questlines.
Allied Questline
Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more satisfying closure when you reached Bloodsworn, a journey to Allied tier of reputation went a bit beyond that.
The idea of a cross-faction and cross-universe fun race in the name of expanding hope was not too inventive or jaw-dropping per se, but definitely tied all the Endwalker tribes in a convincing and fun way. The race itself, the lengthy cutscene, was very cool to watch, and I liked it a lot.
What is left to say is that the final patch was a closure upon closure upon closure as a whole. We’ve got no loose ends hanging, we revisited a number of people, places and themes of Endwalker and in general, we’re going into Dawntrail with literally nothing left to say or explore in the content we’re leaving behind. Now that’s how you finish an expansion!
For all our efforts, we also got a shower of different goods – something for housing, something for chocobo, a new dance, a new mount, a gleaner’s cosmetic backpack – help me, I’m sure I missed something! That’s been the best farewell the expansion could give us.
Conclusion: even if it was not too heavy on emotions and excitement, the Endwalker finale made sure we finish it lighthearted, nothing left behind, and our gaze turned to the new horizons. It’s been a nice journey all in all, and I’m ready to go on.
Gnomecore 