How would your Anima Questline look like?

[SaitoHikari]

Strap yourselves in, guys. This is going to be LONG.

For step 1 and 2, I'd just make slight modifications.

Step 1: Add a fail-safe function of sorts, where the 'Boss FATEs' in every zone would guarantee a crystal. Those would be:

- Coerthas Western Highlands: We Fought a Dzu
- Dravanian Forelands: Special Tarasque Force. The Coeurlregina FATEs should count as well, a guaranteed crystal per step.
- Churning Mists: Darkscale Devoureth and Veldfornir Devoteth (while this zone has two, they're both at the end of a 3 or 4 step chain fate that CANNOT fail if you want to get to the steps with the crystals, which is fair enough)
- Sea of Clouds: On Dangerous Ground
- Dravanian Hinterlands: Metal Gear Revengance 2
- Azys Lla: (One should be added here, maybe on the central ship involving cutting off potential Imperial backup to the research facility. There's a lot of largely unused space in the center of the map.) Prey Online fate should count as well.

However, Step 1 is no longer skippable if you have a Zeta weapon. That's moved to something in Step 4.

Step 2: Should be kept the same.

Step 3: Overhauled entirely and split into several mini-steps. Story would involve simultaneously strengthening the weapon using items you find, as well as teaching the spirit within about the world, why you fight, and what you're fighting for. Huge opportunity for role players here. (Answering 'I thought I heard a woman/man's voice' at the end of Step 2 actually DOES make a difference in how NPCs address the spirit in Step 3.)

Step 3-1:

Gerolt and the scholar are both still concerned that the weapon isn't stable enough to hold the spirit. But since they're on Azys Lla, there should be plenty of rare and powerful material around that they can use to strengthen the weapon.

The scholar (I already forgot her name, bear with me) mentions that one of the nearby Alligan nodes described potential crafting materials with suitable properties, but couldn't get any details as to where they would be found. The scholar mentions that the Crystal Tower and whatever else lies within might be a likely place to begin your search.

After searching the Tower (and the two raids after), you actually don't find any of the materials needed. However, the spirit materializes, and is visibly stronger. It actually asks you several questions: What do you think of the Alligans, and what do you believe led to their downfall?

Step 3-2:

You report back to a very disappointed Gerolt and an absolutely excited scholar. However, if the spirit is becoming stronger, there's a very high possibility that it might actually overload the weapon in its current state, causing it to shatter and the spirit to dissipate. The two suggest that they're now on a race against time to find the crafting materials needed, but they still have no idea where to begin looking.

Your character mentions that Tiamat might know something, which shocks the scholar (who had heard of her but did not know she was imprisoned by the Alligans). She suggests asking Tiamat if she knows anything about the material, should she be willing to help.

You visit Tiamat again, who wonders what you're doing here. She then notices your Awoken weapon, and adopts a slightly hostile tone, asking if the spirit really wants to be with you, or if you're basically enslaving it much like how the Alligans tricked her into summoning Bahamut and subsequently enslaving much of dragonkind thousands of years ago. Much of the dialogue changes depending on whether or not you had already cleared T1-13 (Tiamat doesn't spoil the fact that the Alligans basically kept tons of dragons imprisoned in order to sustain Bahamut if you haven't cleared it yet).

The spirit appears and defends you. He/she then explains that you went through so much effort in order to empower him/her, and that while there's still much that he/she doesn't understand about the world, the spirit already senses that you're fighting for a good cause and to right the many wrongs in the world. And that you came here on behalf of the spirit, to ask for Tiamat's help to stop him/her from slipping away into non-existence. Tiamat remembers your first meeting with her, and fully agrees to help. She suggests that the Alligans would have used their strongest materials for the purpose of imprisoning and enslaving primals, especially Bahamut. She suggests you begin your search by trying to find exactly where they kept the primal Bahamut.

You need 5 crafting materials from each tier (T1-5, T6-9, and T10-13). You need to do them SYNCHED in order to obtain the materials. Only T5, 9, and 13 have a 100% drop rate of each material, while the rest have a 25% drop rate. However, the rest are bumped up to 100% as well if you take a new player along. You also require at least 1 clear of T13 with your Awoken weapon equipped. This can be done while gathering materials, and the clear obviously still has to be synched.

After gathering all of the crafting material, you hand them over to Gerolt and the scholar. Gerolt remarks that the material has even better properties than he imagined, and says that he might be able to craft a new weapon entirely from them and transfer the spirit over afterwards. (This pretty much tells you that you get to keep the old weapon for glamour purposes without having to redo Step 1 and 2.)

The spirit then appears before everyone, much to the surprise of Gerolt and the Scholar. But instead of answering the scholar's questions, the spirit simply declares that he/she wants to talk to Tiamat again. Gerolt says it might take some time for him to create the new weapon, and that going to see the great dragon again shouldn't hurt, so long as either of you don't suddenly die in the process.

You return to Tiamat. Assuming Tiamat didn't tell you about the Alligans enslaving her children to sustain Bahamut earlier, your character tells her that you finally put Bahamut's memory to rest and that the Alligan's experiment no longer threatens Eorzea. Tiamat is relieved, though she admits that she already knew you succeeded when she no longer sensed him draining all the aether below Eorzea.

The spirit then reaffirms that the relationship between him/her and the character is nothing like how the Alligans used the primal Bahamut, and then suddenly asks you if you would be willing to free Tiamat from her prison right at that moment. Regardless of the answer, Tiamat keeps the same stance as she had during their first meeting - she wouldn't leave Azys Lla regardless, and so she bids you to not waste your effort. She then asks about how your weapon is coming along, because it looks the same as before, even though the spirit has grown in power. Tiamat warns that the spirit might burst out of it and dissipate at any moment, which is your cue to hurry back to Gerolt to see if he had finished his new weapon.

To your relief, he did complete the new weapon just as you returned, and everyone hastily transfers the spirit over. The spirit is pleased, commenting on how he/she has much more room to grow in this weapon.

Summary of Step 3:
- Clear the Crystal Tower series of raids with the Awoken weapon equipped.
- Return to Gerolt and the scholar.
- Visit Tiamat with the Awoken weapon in your inventory. Dialogue here drastically differs depending on whether or not you had already cleared T1-13.
- Clear T1-5 for the crafting material. You require 5. T1-4 have a 25% chance to drop it from the end bosses (100% chance if there's a new player present), T5 has a 100% chance. This MUST be done synched, but it can be done as any class.
- Clear T6-9 for the second crafting material. You require 5. T6-8 have a 25% chance to drop it from the end bosses (100% chance if there's a new player present), T9 has a 100% chance. This MUST be done synched, but it can be done as any class.
- Clear T10-13 for the third crafting material. You require 5. T10-12 have a 25% chance to drop it from the end bosses (100% chance if there's a new player present), T13 has a 100% chance. This MUST be done synched, but it can be done as any class.
- You also have to clear T13 synched with the Awoken weapon equipped. This can be done while gathering the crafting materials from T10-13.
- Visit Gerolt and the Scholar to deliver the crafting materials.
- Visit Tiamat again with the Awoken weapon in your inventory. Dialogue here differs depending on whether or not you had just cleared T1-13 for the first time.
- Return to Gerolt and the Scholar.

Step 4:

Gerolt and the Scholar decide they need to put finishing touches on the weapon. Gerolt was understandably rushed while preparing the weapon, after all, and there's still a few improvements he'd like to perform. They require materials supplied by the merchant in Mor Dhona, who in turn requires the following for them:

1) 1x Unidentifiable Bone (requires 4,000 Allied Seals, or can be exchanged with 8 Clan Mark Logs for 4,000 Centurio Seals total)
2) 1x Unidentifiable Ore (requires 50,000 Grand Company Seals)
3) 1x Unidentifiable Seeds (requires 24 Vanu, 24 Sahagin, 24 Sylph, 24 Kobold currency, OR 99 Ixal Oaknots)
4) 1x Unidentifiable Shell (requires 2,000 Poetics, 2,000 Law, AND 1,250 Esoterics. Esoterics can be substituted with 3 Micachi Farthings.)
5) 1x Unidentifiable Crystal (requires 2 of each HQ specialist craft. Alternatively, hand over a Zeta weapon.)

Coming back to Gerolt and the Scholar with the materials obtained from the merchant, Gerolt dares to ask what you had to go through in order to get them. You and the spirit proceed to explain how the merchant essentially ripped you off, but at least the spirit got to see much more of the world. Even though the journey mostly consisted of killing something in every corner of Eorzea in the process.

The spirit decides Rowena's crew scares him/her more than the Alligans. At least the Alligans are gone, as far as anyone knows. Of course, Gerolt is inclined to agree. He takes the weapon, but is interrupted when your character suddenly decides to ask if the spirit might actually be hurt while hammering away to upgrade it. The spirit mentions that he/she didn't feel anything at all during the upgrade to step 2. Gerolt surprisingly seems unsure, but promises to be as efficient and gentle as possible.

(Through this step, the weapon becomes iLvl 215!)

The spirit seems visibly happy with the new upgrade, and the scholar mentions that her work isn't done yet. As she spends more time on Azys Lla, she might find further ways of strengthening the weapon and the spirit within. Gerolt admits that he's grown rather fond of the spirit, and wouldn't object to working on any further improvements. It'd certainly be more enjoyable than whatever task Rowena would have for him.

[Kurogaea]

Step 1: Enter Diadem and seek out special crystals in the caves (4)

Step 2: Fight Legendary Monsters that can be summoned by answering class specific riddles leading you into different areas of HW (7 total)

Step 3: Fight your Extreme Primal level weapon now that it gained consciousness (depending on your previous materia slotted relic attributes may differ/ standard stats if not used)