You then start the game hearing a soft singing voice, and notice your carriage hasjust arrived at the Citystate of Ul'dah, which seems to be holding a grand procession. Suddenly, the skies turn black and a star shower rains on the skies, disappearing in a flash.

The festivities begin and every thing seems to go well, but a Goobbue breaks off his control and wreaks havoc on the town, until he is defeated by the combined efforts of Thancred, Niellefresne and the you.

You head over into the Quicksand, the Adventurer's Guild, and speaks to its proprietor Momodi. She begins to speak about some ways to earn gil around the town, when Thancred comes in and interrupt the conversation. He mentions about talks of war against the Empire, and Momodi then confirms that it looks like war will soon come, as well as some rumours that the Gobbue was released because of imperial interference.

After exploring the town, the player enters the Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern in Ul'dah, home to the Miner's Guild, and witness a commotion involving a thaumaturge named Corguevais, accused of entering the mining shafts illegally. The player tries to calm everyone down with little success, until Lalafell twin brothers Popokkuli and Seserukka enter the guild and kick the troublemakers off it.

Linette from the mining guild mentions that their primary concern is with illegal miners provoking many accidents lately; She asks the player to go to Camp Black Brush and inform them of the guild's intent to strengthen their punitive measures.

You reach Camp Black Brush accompanied by F'lhaminn where they find Corguevais trying to help a wounded child named Ascilia, whose father has been attacked by a giant beast. Thancred appears and says he was the one who led the girl to the camp, as she was seeking out an enemy of her father. The girl then points to Corguevais, who discovers that he is the one the girl is looking for, as it was his fault that the Goobbue escaped.

Back into town, the player visits the Alchemist's guild where Ascillia's father, Warburton, was being treated before passing away. Corguevais is talking with the girl once again, and she says that her father came to Ul'dah to warn about a terrible danger.

Back in the Adventurer's Guild, you and Momodi start talking until Thancred comes in and overhears the conversation, and Momodi remembers that Thancred is being called to discuss about their belief that Garlean spies have infiltrated the city.

The funeral rites for Ascillia's father, Warburton, begins soon after, and F'lhaminn tries once again to convince Mumuepo of the thaumaturge's guild to do something, since Warburton had important information on the dangers threatening Ul'dah.

Momodi informs you that a group of the city guard has hastily left the city by chocobo. At the Chocobo Stables, the player meets F'lhaminn in a looking for a chocobo in a hurry, as it seems that Corguevais has been exiled from town and left with Ascilia, probably planning to take her back to Ala Mhigo.

Via linkpearl, Momodi informs you that the city guard is searching for an exile wandering near Camp Black Brush. There, you find Thancred and Greinfarr discussing, as the bard claims to not know nothing about the so called danger threatening Ul'dah, and Greinfarr then speaks about their last resort - Niellefresne, who will try to convince the thaumaturges to resurrect Ascillia's dead father.

In the Arrzaneth Ossuary, you and Thancred see a strange light coming from the crypts, and rush there to find a mortally wounded Niellefresne laying on the ground, and Ascilia crouched by his side, shaking in terror. Suddenly, the Echo begins to reverberate and you are left all alone.

Making his way down the crypts once again, the player finds Mumuepo and Niellefresne talking about the thaumaturgy of resurrecting the dead, but upon opening Warburton's corpse, Niellefresne is stabbed through from behind. Back to the present, Thancred realizes what just happened and rushes outside, right in time to see as the skies turn black and meteors rain above Ul'dah. In this moment, he realizes that the danger spoken of by all threatens not only Ul'dah, but all of Eorzea, while you pass out.

The player awakens back at the Adventurer's guild, and Momodi tells he/she was found unconscious and brought there by a girl named Minfilia, who asks also asked to be visited at the Waking Sands, in the Merchants Ward of Uldah.

Following Blackburn's lead, you arrive at the Waking Sands, the meeting place of the Path of the Twelve. There, he meets their leader, Minfilia, who claims to understand what happened earlier. To prove it, she asks the player to use the power of the "Echo" to see her past.

Upon doing that, you see a past conversation held on that same hall. Minfilia then explains that many people have been "gifted" with that power after witnessing a starshower, and that the Path of the Twelve is an organization that offers a meeting place for those people and strives to bring peace to Eorzea, offering you the chance to join. After joining, you learn a bit more about the Echo and you are directed to Lady Tataru, to register as member of the Path and choose a Path Companion.

Not long after, a party of sylphs enter into the Waking Sands asking for help, claiming that their home, Moonspore Grove, is being invaded by imperial soldiers from Garlemald. Lady Minfilia then gives her first task to the you: Investigate the Black Shroud with your Path Companion.

Arriving at Camp Nine Ivies, you are greeted by several sylphs telling you that Moonspore Grove has been invaded, and while they were able to escape, their children - "podlings" - will soon be found and killed by the invaders. Since the whole area is full of imperial troops and war machines,you must sneak in to the Groove, avoiding contact with the Garleans and ultimately saving a few podlings. You acheive your goal and save some of the Sylphs podlings to their delight and you head back to Ul'dah....

Later on, Minfilia has a new assignment: you must visit the Ashcrown Consortium in Gridania, as they need help.
Upon arrival, you learn about the history of Eorzea's crystal trade and how until recently most of the realm's crystals have been obtained by negotiating with beast tribes. However, ever since the beings known as Primals appeared, the tribes refuse to sell more shards, as they are crucial part of the summoning process, and therefore crafters are facing an increasingly higher increase of demand with not enough supply of crystals.
You are then directed to an Amalj'aa excavation site to negotiate the reopening of Crystal trade, where you find an Ashcrown party already engaged in negotiations with the Amalj'aa and the Ixali. Their leader explains that both tribes are on the verge of summoning their "Primals", which, if they are successful, would mean the death of all those in the mesa caves. After either parley or fighting, the tribes are convinced to stop their rituals, however before negotiation can begin about the crystals issues, a strange creature that the sylphs call "Ascian" appears and frightens the remaining beastmen.

Back into Ashcrown Consortium, Sylphs claim they may be able to persuade the Ixali into resuming crystal trade with them, but will need "unaspected crystals" - pure crystals devoid of any elemental aspect, perfect for the Primal summoning rituals. To get them, you must simply travel to the far away land of Mor Dhona and bury a crystal there for a time; it will quickly be drained of their elemental energy by the mysterious force said to slumber there.

Upon returning to the Consortium, the sylphs mention mysterious figures known only as "Paragons," whom they claim were the ones who originally taught the beast tribes how to summon the Primals from the aetherial void.

Back at the Waking Sands, however, you learn about an imperial message sent to the Eorzean city-states; according to it, the beast tribes are the enemies of Eorzea and mean to summon their "eikons" for their own means, and calls all city states to accept Imperial Rule and fight against the beast tribes, in exchange of protection against the Primals. Minfilia adds that because of their ability to communicate with the tribes, all walkers will be branded by the Empire as heathens.

After a conversation with your Path Companion, you decide to assist Lady Minfilia in her quest to bring the beast tribes to their side, and travel to the Amal'jaa stronghold to try negotiating with the tribe elders.

However, before reaching the center of the stronghold, they are spotted and captured by the Amal'jaa, being put in a cell with several other prisoners. Soon, every captive is led to a large clearing, where the Primal Ifrit is summoned for a "cleansing" ritual. All the other prisoners are affected by the spell, and are ordered to attack you. Since they are not enemies, they must not be killed - some can be brought to their senses via parley, others have to be attacked.

Ifrit remains silent during the whole confrontation, but as soon as it ends, he starts making several cryptic questions, concluding with the revelation that you and your companion, too, can summon your own Primal, as well as everyone else with the gift of the Echo, and he then lets you escape upon promising to never summon one and with you feigning loyalty to Ifrit.

A strange distress call is caught on the Path Linkpearl, and no one knows who was responsible for that, only the location. You are then asked to go to the signals origin and search for the person responsible.

Reaching camp Nine Ivies, your Path Companion is spotted speaking with a group of Soldiers, who claim to be part of the Ala Mhigan Resistance. It seems that one of the members of the resistance was the deceased brother of your Path Companion. The soldier also mentions that one of their scouts is missing and is being chased by the Empire, and that you must rescue him.

Back in the Merchant Wards, a group of members from the Ala Mhigan Resistance is speaking with the Antecedent, preparing a special operation against the Empire. The group is planning to steal one of the empire's airships to drive them away from Ala Mhigo. Since the city state is under heavy guard and such mission would be nigh impossible, the target is the least guarded area of Silvertear Falls in Mor Dhona.

You agree to help the resistance and make your way to camp Revenant's Toll in Mor Dhona, only to find a trio of imperial soldiers attacking the place and being called back to their airship. You follow the group for a while, until they get reinforcements from one of their heavy magitek machinery, a Imperial Juggernaut.
Yda, Papalymo, Y'shtola and Thancred are there grouping up to battle Gaius van Baelsar. After defeating the Imperial group, you walk until you are finally reunited with your Path Companion, only to find that all resistance members have been slain by a single man - the Imperial Legatus Gaius van Baelsar. He easily knocks out your Path Companion with a shot, but before he is able to kill you Yda, Papalymo, Y'shtola and Thancred arrive to stop him. Gaius proves too much for the four as he calls for a blast from the cannons of the Imperial Dreadnaught and disappears in the smoke.

You then wake up in a cave, and quickly realise you are actually seeing the past. Some children are grouped there, and Garlean Soldiers come in and start uttering strange verses, brainwashing the children into believing the beast tribes of Eorzea and their Primal must be killed.

You once again collapse and wake up back in the present, where you speaks with the mysterious traveler from your home city state, who warns that the Empire cannot be defeated in their current state, and that you must find something much greater if you are to have any hope of defeating the Garleans and freeing Eorzea from their tyranny.