TIL the introductory Hildibrand quests were removed in 2.0

[Eriane_Elis]

I was watching 1.0 cutscenes when I came across Hildibrand. In 2.x if you remember you come across him in the dessert but in 1.0 you encounter him in your very early adventures. In fact, there's a few quests which lead to when you meet with him in 2.0.

It's a shame that they removed the introductory quests but I find it even more interesting is that knowing his earlier quests is like the hidden lore of Hildi. Like, why did he end up face first in sand? Why was he dressed the way he was? Now I know.

If you haven't seen them yet, there are different uploaders for different cutscenes but it's worth taking a gander if you love those quests. It'll at least feel like SE released a new Hildi patch. Anyway, thought I'd share. Enjoy!

[Rufalus]

Every pre 2.0 quest was removed, not just the Hildibrand series. The game was rebuilt and relaunched basically.

[Cilia]

The gist of it is that Hildibrand tries to uncover the secret of Dalamud... by launching himself up at it, but (probably) falls short.

That's why we find him out in the desert, amnesiac and believing himself to be dead, at the start of his 2.X line.

[Enkidoh]

Another thing players who started in ARR would not realize though, is that Hildibrand's introduction was actually connected to something else completely. He first appeared in 1.0 during the cutscenes for the quests to unlock the Inn Room - like many things we take for granted here in ARR, in 1.0 Inn Rooms were not available at the start and were only added in a patch, thus requiring a set of quests to be completed first before players could access them.

Hildibrand and Nashu accordingly appeared as a bit of light comic relief during those scenes (as Inn Rooms were added when the 'Seventh Umbral Era' events were in full swing and the game's story was getting increasingly dark and depressing), as a pair of bumbling self-titled 'investigators' that only showed up after the cases in question had already been solved (and the npcs and player's character left scratching their heads as if to say "Who the hell are these two clowns?"). This then led into their own quest line in 1.0 which involved chasing a weapon thief around the citystates that was stealing weapons from adventurers in the Inn, and ultimately ended up with Hildibrand recovering Nael van Darnus's discarded weapon, that malfunctions when he picks it up and launches him into the sky, where he's never seen again. Hence as Cilia above said, he's found five years later apparently dead, and is thus buried in the cemetery at the church in Drybone. Of course, he's not actually dead but just unconscious and amnesiac. That's the gist of it anyway.

Either way, his original 1.0 introduction is completely irrelevant now as it was connected to something that was changed in the replacement of 1.0 with ARR. So it's pointless to bring it back, as his backstory is rather obsolete by now (and especially so with the complete irreverence and satirical, comedic theme of the Hildibrand quests in general).

[Morningstar1337]

Another thing players who started in ARR would not realize though, is that Hildibrand's introduction was actually connected to something else completely. He first appeared in 1.0 during the cutscenes for the quests to unlock the Inn Room - like many things we take for granted here in ARR, in 1.0 Inn Rooms were not available at the start and were only added in a patch, thus requiring a set of quests to be completed first before players could access them.

Hildibrand and Nashu accordingly appeared as a bit of light comic relief during those scenes (as Inn Rooms were added when the 'Seventh Umbral Era' events were in full swing and the game's story was getting increasingly dark and depressing), as a pair of bumbling self-titled 'investigators' that only showed up after the cases in question had already been solved (and the npcs and player's character left scratching their heads as if to say "Who the hell are these two clowns?"). This then led into their own quest line in 1.0 which involved chasing a weapon thief around the citystates that was stealing weapons from adventurers in the Inn, and ultimately ended up with Hildibrand recovering Nael van Darnus's discarded weapon, that malfunctions when he picks it up and launches him into the sky, where he's never seen again. Hence as Cilia above said, he's found five years later apparently dead, and is thus buried in the cemetery at the church in Drybone. Of course, he's not actually dead but just unconscious and amnesiac. That's the gist of it anyway.

Either way, his original 1.0 introduction is completely irrelevant now as it was connected to something that was changed in the replacement of 1.0 with ARR. So it's pointless to bring it back, as his backstory is rather obsolete by now (and especially so with the complete irreverence and satirical, comedic theme of the Hildibrand quests in general).

It does explain why Nael's weapon was somehow involved in the ARR questline (before it being reveled as a forgery and the true circumstances were brought to light)

[Rannie]

God i now can't get that scene out of my head of my character dreaming about Nashu(I suck at spelling her name) with hearts all around her only to wake up with a face full of a smoochie Hildebrand.....

I swear that scene damn near gave me nightmares

[Anonymoose]

The best thing about 1.0 Hildy was that he asked all of the questions that we, the players were asking and then proceeded to come to all of the wrong conclusions. His dopiness was such a contrast to the doom and gloom at the time. But is a Final Fantasy without silly sidequests really Final Fantasy!? I submit that it is not!

I lost it as a Lominsan. Nashu comes running in declaring that "the lake" outside tastes funny, spurring Hildibrand to inquire into "the mystery of the poisoned lake."

That and the dozen ways he mispronounced Urianger's name...

[Eriane_Elis]

Maybe by 6.0 we will see a dashing return of our two favorites but I'm pretty happy to have found videos of people playing their story in 1.0. It felt like a new chapter was released. I know, there's no point in returning those old quests but I am just so bummed that we haven't seen a return in quite a while and know that we won't for 5.x. You could almost say it's a bit of venting because I enjoyed the questline from beginning to end and yearn for more! *sigh* One day I hope! One day....