Hidden gems of stories in sidequests

Which have you enjoyed most?

I've been cleaning side quests with the jobs I'm still leveling and some have really stood out to me, introducing new characters or giving us more insight to those we've already met and giving more atmosphere and nuance to the game world.

My favorite so far that I missed on my initial leveling play through is the Scholasticate series of quest in Ishgard from the Heavensward expansion. I'm also enjoying re-meeting some of the ARR characters and seeing them fleshed out more with the Postmoogle quests.

How about you?

For me it might be the Great Serpent of Ronka sidequest and the ones that unlocks the Anata BT quests, as of recent. Its been awhile since I did ARR/Heavensward so the standout ones are a bit of a haze

There are only two sidequests off the beaten path I still have committed to memory.

One was a postmoogle quest where you help the Ul'dahn information broker do something, and so check up on a young girl he'd saved from slavery in her youth. She'd grown up and started a family.

The other was a quest in Ishgard where you go looking for an orphan in the Brume after the attack on Ishgard's gates by the "heretics." You met her earlier and reprimanded her for stealing, only for her to freeze to death while you were off gallivanting about Dravania. She has a letter on her stating she wants to grow up to be a knight protecting her countrymen.

These quests award a flower (a carnation I believe) and a blue gemstone. Still have them in my inventory, just to remember.

Darkknight story, the love between sid and our girl - hes so dense its cute :3

The Ixal and their closure when completing Fractal hard.

Edda, the whole story about them when you see em for the first time, till the bitter end when you finally free her...

The Amalja beast tribe story... gotta love that kitty.

Goldsmith lv 60-70, the story with extra Nanamo.

And that one at Gyr abania, with the Garlean soldier who surrendered to save ppl and wanted to help them from the shadows before leaving his home again...


...actually there are many more.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

There are only two sidequests off the beaten path I still have committed to memory.

One was a postmoogle quest where you help the Ul'dahn information broker do something, and so check up on a young girl he'd saved from slavery in her youth. She'd grown up and started a family.

The other was a quest in Ishgard where you go looking for an orphan in the Brume after the attack on Ishgard's gates by the "heretics." You met her earlier and reprimanded her for stealing, only for her to freeze to death while you were off gallivanting about Dravania. She has a letter on her stating she wants to grow up to be a knight protecting her countrymen.

These quests award a flower (a carnation I believe) and a blue gemstone. Still have them in my inventory, just to remember.

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Just did the first one you mentioned today. The other one a month or two ago? I think the flowers for her are still there if you go back.

At Whitbrim Front, there is a short questchain involving a couple caught up in Ishgard's irrationality. A young guard, Laurence, was foraging for materials to make a medicine for his dying fiance when he was caught and accused of desertion. You go out into the snow and find the medicine he dropped, and bring it back to the hospital. The fiance is slowly recovering, but Laurence is going to be executed for desertion, so you quietly give him the key to his cell so he can escape by night. I was really hoping that there would he been a continuation or a conclusion to this story in Heavensward, maybe seeing the two finally reunite.

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Originally Posted by MoofiaBossVal

At Whitbrim Front, there is a short questchain involving a couple caught up in Ishgard's irrationality. A young guard, Laurence, was foraging for materials to make a medicine for his dying fiance when he was caught and accused of desertion. You go out into the snow and find the medicine he dropped, and bring it back to the hospital. The fiance is slowly recovering, but Laurence is going to be executed for desertion, so you quietly give him the key to his cell so he can escape by night. I was really hoping that there would he been a continuation or a conclusion to this story in Heavensward, maybe seeing the two finally reunite.

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Ah I remember this quest. His brother was the one to request our aid, since he found the whole situation grossly unfair to them. Yeah, I would have loved to see a continuation.

I recently did a questline about helping a Mystel miner find a rare ore so that he can create a lost alloy. Seemed rather interesting.

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Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

I recently did a questline about helping a Mystel miner find a rare ore so that he can create a lost alloy. Seemed rather interesting.

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Its in Ahm areng and its the story that connects the two tows, yes that one was pretty sweet too.

At the Moraby Drydocks there's a very early sidequest where a Roegadyn shipbuilder needs lightning sprite cores so he can keep his rivots hot or something. The dialogue he used to describe how cold they were getting while he was taking too long was, "...colder than a dead whore's loins!" This was one of the first sidequests I ever did, and it got me to pay more attention to text.

Moogle quests in Churning Mists give me conniptions to this day.

The first relic quest up to the kettles you can get for outside furnishing and a monk glam weapon.

Hildibrand! HILDIBRAND!

All of the sidequests in Azys Lla making fun of ToS and Apple and Microsoft. Fractal Continuum in both of its iterations. The first time revealed the genetic manipulation/creation of the Ixali. The second time had FF6 references as well as being absolutely strewn with Sky Pirate corpses, Sky Pirates in i255 gear. So literally an entire crew of competent Elezens, Roegadyns, and I think a few Hyur. Just all dead, in every section up til the second boss.

On that note the entire Warring Triad segment with our fight against Regula van Hydrus, Zurvan(Demon), Sephirot(Fiend), and Sophia(Goddess).

The entirety of the Binding Coil of Bahamut. Yes, Second and Final Coil as well. I was one of the several hundred or couple thousand? I don't have the numbers, but I beat T12 before they released the cutscene associated with it and the truth of Louisoix vs. Bahamut at Carteneaux before they released it as a youtube video. I used to watch that cutscene in my inn room over and over every time I played after I got that far in the raid, and it's what kept me motivated to raid really hard against Savage during the smackdown Gordias 3&4 delivered to every static at the start of Heavensward(I did beat A3s while it was current).

There's a whole lot more too.

Ill agree with the DRK quests from above. Probly the best class quests for any combat class. Best set i havent seen mentioned is the ALC class quests. All 3 sets(1-50, 51-60, 61-70) are good. The weakest set is 51-60, but even that grades out as among the best HW era crafting questlines. And the other two sets are a cut above.

The one intersection of sidestories and locale that I still remember starkly is the 1.x Falcon Watch or Owl's Nest (I forget which was the one to the East) hamlet's quest lines. The one with the doctor and, separately, with the shepherd, just set an oddly gritty tone that fit so well with the area on the cloudy days I was doing the quests.

After that, the DRK questline. You know which moments.

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

know which moments.

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Like the final lv 80 one where we meet "frey" again, like, VERY well picked up loose end.

Traffic control in Lower La Noscea. It's a small thing, but carriages were loaded in to show just how crowded the road to Limsa could be, and I found that very impactful because the world isn't empty and serene. It's like universal Washington D.C. Complete with run down ghettos just outside the pretty parts of the city. Looking at you Thanalan drug den.

I also really like the levequests. Viagra, [censored] piercings, torture tools. Even removing graffiti and getting tea leaves for a Nuhn to appease his bunch of hissy catgirls.

I like Hullbreaker Isle's story, where the pirate Mistbeard gave up pirating because he believes in Merlwyb's vision of a better life for Limsa Lominsa

So when all the Works are completed for the Firmament in Phase two, there's a small questline that appears around getting people to move in. It wasn't the quest itself but a blink-and-you'll miss it moment at the end where Francel is walking away in a new coat made by a resident. I don't know if it was the cut of the coat or my own imagination, but I couldn't help but think "He's walking a little taller now..."

Cue waterworks. I can't help feel so proud for this boy becoming a man through his own hard work, and getting to watch him grow from the naïve noble who was willing to throw himself to his death to prove his innocence, to the competent and caring overseer of a new district of Ishgard.

I found the SAM 50-60 quest line to be good with a very emotional ending. While the 60-70 quest line was nothing to write home about, the lvl 80 SAM quest was pretty good though.

Apart from the Hildy and Dark Knight quests? Off the top of my head here are just a few that resonated deeply with me...

• The Greatest Story Never Told
• Drest from the Lone Survivor series of quests
• Edda -- one of my personal favourites from AAR.**
• The Crystarium side quests with all six Warriors of Light-- I waited eight years to delve into their story and I was not disappointed.
• The Binding Coils line-- very close to my heart because it gave me closure for Sensei Louisoix and I saw the twins evolve exponentially
• Azim Steppe sidequests--- all of them resonated with me, including the Namazu ones-- My main charcater is an Au Ra from the Raen clan-- enough said.
• The first Nuhn quests from AAR and the second set from Stormblood-- great characters
• Blacksmith, Culinary, Alchemy, Carpenter and Armour quests-- just brilliant.
• The Convictor knight quests in Heavensward -- gives a great insight into lives of Ishgardian knights*
• The quests with escorting the Ala Mhigo citizens back home-- particularly the one you help a lady honour her brother
• Mistbeard quests from Limsa-- There is even more weight to the story if one followed it from 1.0 (Merlwyb and her second in command are truly epic).
• Scholasticate "Harry Potter-like" quests
• Postal moogle*
• The Shishu princess questline

So many more that I cannot remember right now...

PostMoogle - one in particular about a female Miqote that ran away with an abusive male miqote and there was no resolution that I was aware of, just "he took her away from her family". Other than that it was like a series of short stories.
Legend of Edda - From Satasha to Palace of the Dead. I'm glad we got to see closure for such a tragic NPC.
ALC quests - Callbacks to 1.0, F'lhaminn is a compelling character dealing with regrets from that cutscene from 1.0. Also there is a bonus quest post Shadowbringers with her you really should do if you haven't.
Gunbreaker quests - This ties in to the new relic questline that just started in 5.2, you learn all about the Bozja incident, the people involved, and it even started what can be argued a redemption arc for Cid.
Ruby Sea questline - There is a series of quests that involves the Confederacy, a fishing village, and I think the turtle people... they all work together to rebuild after being liberated from the empire.
Lakeland questline - This was about a disgraced knight wanting to atone for running away from sin eaters and letting his friends die.
The couple from Ishgard - NPCs you can't interact, but over the course of Heavensward, a noble woman runs away with a lowborn guy and has a child with him. Last I saw she's holding the child in Idlyeshire worried about living on a weed puller's salary. Sort of a downer ending, but the game sprinkles nuggets of reality.