FFXIV Story Recap: What You Must Know for Endwalker [Pre-ARR to ShB]

Quazii recaps EVERYTHING you need to know about the lore and story before you start Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker. Contains key plotlines you need to know, everything from pre-A Realm Reborn to the end of Shadowbringers.
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0:00 Intro and Spoiler Warning
0:31 A Time Before 2.0
2:05 A Realm Reborn
5:43 Heavensward
8:34 Stormblood
10:45 Shadowbringers

[@ndril]

9:27 it's beyond the scope of the video, but just to clarify, Gaius was not the creator of Ultima Weapon, it was created by Allag in their war against Meracydia who had summoned primals (such as the warring triad). Ultima Weapon is powered by something called "The Heart of Sabik" which was set up like some epic artifact and then not mentioned again for like five years.

[@Gerikit]

Heart of Sabik was a piece of zodiark was it not? I thought Lahabrea mentioned that it was the power of his God or whatever....I'll have to pay attention to what he says in MSQ Roulette again 🤔

[@teamscootr0n459]

Fun Fact: There is a binary star-system named Sabik located in the constellation Ophiuchus. So it could very well be a reference to the heart of Sabik being the highly condensed core (or cores?) of the star(s), which would also account for its seemingly massive power... When released. Things that make you go: hmmm 🤔

[@bananajoe9951]

Dude, much needed. I took a huge break from shadowbringers right in the middle of it. This helped catch me up when I got through shadow bringers.

[@kingofheroes6847]

If I remember correctly, Emet isn't possessing Solus so much as he IS Solus, Solus is his Garlean incarnation that he used to create the Garlean Empire. This is why he is able to use clones of himself to revive himself with eroding his soul, as they are his body, rather than the body of another individual, as opposed to Lahabrea whom liked to possess others like Thancred.

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

He's unsundered so he's never neen incarnated as a mortal or anything of the sort, just taken vessels. There was a Solus Galvus before Emet-Selch possessed him. The thing is he'd already "broken in" the body, so that's why the clones were readily usable for him. Lahabrea just jumped bodies too frequently

[@etowngftddummy]

Emet-selch himself said that it's because he's jumping into the same body that it doesn't tire him. He isn't Solus, that body existed on its own before being taken over by Emet.

[@mrbastos]

I definitely needed this, I stalled the MSQ a lot for various reasons and some things I had totally forgotten until I saw he influx of new players going through the story. I actually forgot stuff like the ARR voices and Lahabrea bit, and some other things were like "oh yeah that happened" yeah good stuff. Thanks!

[@PetarBladeStrok]

SPOILERS for anyone who isn't caught up. Remember when we started ARR and Hydaelyn showed us the meteor shower that Elidibus does in 5.3? Talk about a callback and some ominous/mindblowing stuff. Awesome video Quazii... You made me remember that. lol My only nitpick is you not mentioning Ardbert and his crew in post-HW patches. It's kinda importat. And also Gaius did not create Ultima Weapon. It was Allag.

[@sebastiangodoyortiz2840]

I'm pretty sure quazii still don't do all role quest 🤔

[@YUXKE]

The meteor shower has been a running plot thread since 1.0 actually

[@PetarBladeStrok]

@@YUXKE I know. Blew my mind when I first saw it.

[@zamb0di]

Been looking for this kind of video for over a week now. Much appreciated!

[@Phatocatto]

I spend last night combing Eorzea, after finishing ALL ARR content, for some special dialogue. The guild masters from beginner job classes, crafting and gathering job classes and Mentor NPCs like adventurer's guild (including NPCs like Buscarron down in south shroud) all more or less had really touching messages for you, responding and reacting to what happened in Uldah. Totally worth doing, also, the NPC Erik (Monk guidance NPC from lvl 30+) had a ton of lore in regards of war history between Ala Mhigo and Eorzea. I tend to take my time and chat with MSQ/or generally quest related NPCs as well since they always have something good to say whether it be funny or touching. TL;DR take your time when playing if you're invested/interested in the story and you'll find soooo much more. The effort FFXIV devs have really put a good load of effort into the immersive experience. Side note, Moogle delivery quest was super cute, you get to know specific NPCs more, they definitely feel more 3 dimensional afterwards.

[@d0rmaus494]

I have watched and read so many summaries, and they were all terrible. This one was fantastic. The clips shown were perfectly synced to who you were talking about, you hit the main beats of the story without getting too bogged down in the details, I am so thankful that you made this video. Thank you!

[@Capwi]

I love this channel. this is perfect and what I needed (don't have time to new game + everything) thank you!

[@cloudybebop]

Awesome recap! Definitely needed this refresher! Thank you :D

[@joevegaxv]

"with Endwalker just 2 weeks away" god, I wish.

[@lindersen8535]

Amazing video, exactly the concise no bullshit information I was looking for. Thanks alot!

[@TheoVorster]

Great summary all around Quazii. Very useful cliff-notes summation of the plot.

[@jacobw.3110]

Great work. Sorely needed for people like myself who don’t particularly enjoy the loooong text read. Thanks 🙏

[@osto1964]

This was literly what I was looking for. This was short and sweet, thanks man.

[@fairfarren38]

This was a great refresher; thank you!

[@alexanderedward656]

This was very well done thanks for this!

[@YunaxEU]

YES Quazii, this is exactly what I needed. Thank you so much!

[@TheAdventureMilk]

Just what I needed! Thanks my dude!!

[@zp6959]

Awesome video man! Keep it up!

[@morrigangg]

FFXIV fits Quazii like a glove.

[@sagarro5291]

Very useful and good put together recap!

[@DeenialVT]

Thank you so much for this, and your recap! ♥

[@SuisekiYaris]

I was looking for this since time ago, as a player who has been in this game for so long, sometimes I forget things hahahah so this is great to remember :D

[@danpascooch]

If you send this to a friend and tell them to watch it at 2x speed you can catch them up on the entirety of FFXIV in under ten minutes.

[@Mir_Teiwaz]

6:53 - Aymeric doesn't tell the people of Ishgard about what really happened until *after* the fight with Thordan. He mentions that even if he wanted to keep the truth from people that the Warrior of Light landing in Ishgard on dragonback would make that incredibly difficult. It seems like an odd choice to just skip over the Warriors of Darkness bit in Heavensward, which explains how Ardbert winds up being a ghost in Shadowbringers and gives us the events leading up to Minfilia going to the first to save as much as she could from the flood of light. 14:55 - I thought Light was astral? It functions much the same as a black mages astral phase, which prevents the regeneration/flow of MP (aether). These are mostly nitpicks. The video is great Quazii :)

[@PetarBladeStrok]

In ShB we find out that's a misconception on Source. Light is Umbral.

[@Mir_Teiwaz]

@@PetarBladeStrok I thought the misconception was the other way around? I'd have to check the cutscene again.

[@TheoVorster]

@@Mir_Teiwaz Nope on the Source people assumed that Astral was associated with the primordial force of Light and that Umbral was associated with the primordial force of Darkness, but as Urianger explains in ShadowBringers it’s actually the other way around, Light causes stasis and passivity hence making things tilt towards the Umbral pole, while Darkness causes activity and growth tilting things towards the Astral pole. Hence the reality of the forces is Astral Darkness and Umbral Light.

[@SprocketAudio]

@@TheoVorster Yep this ^^

[@johnathanswope6419]

​@Mir_Teiwaz the misconception front the source came across more or less as the Source looking at the Effect of the Aether, while the first was looking at the source of it. If I remember correctly.

[@chrisanderson7820]

13:29 2nd most important revelation in the history of the game after nature of The Source/Hydaelyn/Zodiark. "My new old friend"

[@misterc1099]

This! This is what I was looking for. A story recap because my memory is trash.

[@comrade_raptor]

wow, really appreciate this!!

[@karahitto]

Thank you! Super useful’

[@atheistium]

Exactly what I was looking for!

[@Sheryl4]

This was so helpful omg, thank you

[@QuaziiFFXIV]

glad you enjoyed it (:

[@chadddada]

Great story recap!

[@WishBear]

Thank you!

[@Aitherea]

This was great. It has been so long since I played the entire MSQ and unfortunately didn't have time to replay the entire thing before EW. So here I am watching summaries instead xD

[@Rickus316]

What a brilliant video 🤩

[@mugendono23]

Thata a cool Totaro shirt and thanx for the recap. 👍

[@anandbala1]

great storytelling I felt like I was there myself

[@SMNtheNight]

You are a blessing of light and darkness to the FFXIV community, Quazii! Maybe that's not the best to say though, cuz it seems like we may be fated to shed both of those in Endwalker XD Jests aside, I am so glad you are making such great videos for the game I love, and have found a new home at the same time. Feels like you've belonged here all along!

[@jaytothelu]

thanks man

[@sonnyson01]

Just in time

[@QuaziiFFXIV]

thanks friend, i had so much fun revisiting my old memories from my first playthrough (:

[@aaronyee8092]

My man, this is a really good recap. Btw where is that accent from?

[@ZoraKurosagi]

Thank you so much.

[@QuaziiFFXIV]

you are most welcome, thanks for supporting my content (:

[@damienlok8627]

thanks. this was really good. are you planning to make an endwalker version in preparation for dawntrail?

[@StellaKagami]

good job!!!!!!!!!!

[@cabanaho]

Please do an end walker digest when you have a chance!

[@grim_a7680]

Thank you for explaining the story of the first. I saw ******** use the ***** and got confused on who caused the demise on the First.

[@kuromi_valentine]

Such a good recap, straight and to the point for remembering the basics of the story. You earned a sub !!

[@keenho]

nice !

[@SUpahh100]

After skipping everything. I'm gonna need this.

[@BladeOfNyx]

A few minor mistakes here and there but overall correct (zenos is the nephew not son, also the scions on the first was a mistake when the person was trying to summon only the wol) that's pretty much the only mistakes I personally caught

[@LunaPPK]

should point out that the whole transported thought time and space thing at the start only applies to 1.0 players new players are standard adventurers 1.0 players got a unique opening and some minor changes in dialogue

[@JustaTinyBeanie]

Hello Quazie long time no see! i enjoyed watching this review and its been so long since ive caught your Twitch lives. Idk if you remember me but im MickeysMom and i had the farm with the chickens and cat Gummybear. Alot has changed since then .....life has been hard. Hopefully i can catch you on a Stream and we can catch up. I hope life has been great you and the wifey

[@QuaziiFFXIV]

I actually do remember you (: life has changed a lot for me as well in the past 2 years - I haven’t had time to stream in a long while, but I’ll get back to it soon. That said please take care of yourself, hope everything is alright. All the best for 2024.

[@Zelcarby]

I love your videos, so glad you came to FF14

[@marblethunder4323]

Aren't some of the side stuff important too? I think Eureka, Coils and Omega Raids were mentioned.

[@sweihan9867]

I found the Eden story interesting as well

[@Ancrylus]

HW till SB is maybe a bit rushed in my opinion. I don't touch the ShB part, becaus i am somewhere in or after patch 5.3 But 7-8 minutes for ShB look fine, without knowing what you say about it. Afterall still great work to some up so much storycontent together in 18 minutes till endwalker👍🏻

[@foxdavion6865]

Two things I wish I finished before I started Endwalker. - Eureka - All Collection Entries. Because they *do* impact dialog interactions during the MSQ. Things *you* should do first before reaching Endwalker which are not requirements of the MSQ: - Eureka Story - Bojza Story - Omega Raids. - Job quests up to level 70 The first two have a minor impact on dialog and interactions, which hint at future events. The last one I feel is a requirement as it has a major impact on interactions. Omega also lends to the fates of two major characters who seemingly "disappear" from the story suddenly after Stormblood's MSQ; Well, Omega explains why they do. The events of Bojza also lend into interactions. Endwalker is the final chapter of *the entire story* up to the point of Shadowbringers, including interactions with all important side content. It isn't required, but it does change the experience.

[@allgoods1247]

Nooo I forgot about Papalymo :(

[@Brandon-ld5eg]

30 mins before EW launches thanks for the refresher

[@ExpensiveGun]

You totally skipped over the first encounter with the Warriors of Darkness.

[@MsDark93]

Spoilers for those who haven't completed the MSQ: I find it funny that Azem is "the chosen of Hydaelyn" even though he specifically told both parties (creators of Zodiark and of Hydaelyn) to eff off. And kinda sad that he/she had to kill two people who were his/her closest friends in the Old World.

[@Jimmymatthewb]

Damn, I was following it, then COMPLETELY lost you during shadowbringers. I can't tell if that's complex or convoluted

[@dacbiet]

TO THE MOON! ENDWALKER IS LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AWAY

[@Watermelon_tastes_good]

Good video. A little hard to understand though

[@wing024]

There is two major flaws in this entire video. When referring to Gaius one must use Daddy in front of it and one must also use Lahabrea's true name, Lahabread.

[@yoursom1onlineyoudontmattr819]

When english is obviously not your first language u do this very well despite that.

[@garouchieflol]

TLDR WoL just looking for zodiak to get back his voice.

[@apharys8921]

Wait so the only reason Black Rose failed is because we weakened it by fighting against the light on the First? How does that even work o.O

[@Zotalicious]

No. Because the scions were not present to push back the empire, they felt less threatened and decided to wait longer before using Black Rose, which gave Zenos the chance to destroy Black Rose before it could be used.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

How did the warrior of light get right of the extra amount of light that would've turned him into a lightwarden? Graha only stopped it temporary... Please anyone knows? No matter how much I try to find that I either forgot or its a plothole.

[@Oliander712]

When you slay Emet, you use all the absorbed light aether to cancel out Emet's dark aether

[@V3tron]

I have been playing this game since launch and I still have no clue what the hell is going on.

[@Jimmymatthewb]

Thank you. I thought it was just me Even after watching this I still have no clue what's going on

[@anightgirl]

I just hit Endwalker.... I have skipped all of the scenes to this point.... this video is fantastic. Well done!

[@SonySteals]

Pretty dope recap. I’ve watched IGN’s recap a moment ago and it sucked a major flop. Thanks!

[@peterbundy84]

Ok, my lore twist theory: the Warrior of Light .... is a primal! tadaa

[@lukedreywalker2567]

Aren’t you the one that skipped?

[@jeggzzzz]

Well done. Ive seen a lot of recaps and ive liked this quite a lot!! Very simple and straightforward. Also thank you for great name pronunciation. Lol i always told people: PreARR: good vs evil then god apocalypse ARR: beast tribe desparate = primal summoning = alien influence to end the world using empire to collect all pokeprimalmons to fuel ultimate weapon = fall of evil empire dude HW: more primal + dragons + internal aliens again = new friends STB: WEEB LOVE. Empire backstory. More new friends. Aliens within again, again. SHB: OMG JUST PLAY THIS!! = world united against final boss men. ENW: The. End. But this is great. This video kicks recap video playlists’ asscian.

[@markup6394]

18 minutes... 18 short minutes to recap all the story from eight years... ambicious to say the least :) Though I think, 18 minutes per expansion would've been better even if the consequent videos would take an hour or more.

[@PatrickPereiraVieira04]

13:40 when exactly did we find out in Shadowbringers that The Warrior of Light and Ardbert are both fragments of Azem's soul? I don't think this was ever confirmed :/

[@SkytheFatalis]

Amaurot and post-game.

[@kevinwalter1989]

Greet Video but 18min is not enough for such a big story.

[@khaosanomaly]

First? First 😎

[@khaosanomaly]

Seriously though, thank you so much for the refresher and your content! It’s been amazing watching your journey in Eorzea :) Have a great one!

[@QuaziiFFXIV]

And thanks so much in return for your support. I had so much fun rewatching footages from my first FFXIV playthrough. Can't believe it was a few months back, feels like an etenrnity!

[@JERRYjealously]

"Muhammad was imprisoned by dalamud a long timr ago" -translator

[@6038am]

SPOILER Warning !!! It's also imporant to mention the growing mistrust towards Hydaelyn, as we know she is a primal. This is starting to give us the feeling that we might be tempered by her. Also on the first we learn the we are not chosen by her, as she is always call out, we just one of the few that could hear her. In the first it's shown that if you are informed about this is posses the will the hear her, doing so becomes much more likely. That is a another point in the wtf is going on with Hydarlyn.

[@powerofk]

Also Spoiler: It’s mentioned in the Pre-Endwalker (5.4 through 5.55) story patches that we’ve heard NOTHING from Hydaelyn since near the end of the Dragonsong War. And our friends mention that that’s very strange. It’s like, we’re chosen by her, but hear from her less and less. And yet we get stronger and stronger…

[@Jimmymatthewb]

How is it a spoiler to fill in the information prior to endwalker, if the video is a recap on everything up to endwalker? C'mon now.

[@criestwo]

"papalymo paid for his life" - should be with his life? "emet-selch took the body of solus" - not accurate, solus is emet, unlike lahabrea who took thancred body. emet also said that he did not particularly like to possess people because it tends to diminish their identity, something that Lahabrea is suffering quite a bit due to his penchant for possessing mortals. "hydaelyn and zodiark are elder primals" - the terminology of [elder primal] is somewhat loose in ffxiv as primals that are summoned before sixth era. which i guess qualifies both as elders. However in this context of emet lorebombing the scions, the point he wanted to make was that hydaelyn and zodiark are the eldest primals.

[@Floridamangaming729]

Yea these videos is why i skipped ALOT of the cutscenes and stufd. Also when im in the mood i can always do new game+ or just watch the cutscenes in the inn. whenever i say something about not watching the story and tutorials everyone has a mental breakdown. Like holy shit calm down its just a video game. People like that make me wanna skop the story on purpose to piss them off lol.

[@Manudyne]

I watched this summary because I find the story quite boring and disappointing. ARR was a torture. HW was slow but had an interesting story and cool characters. Stormblood was incredibly boring and post Stormblood made me quit the game for a year and now I'm trying to play again to give it another chance (hopeful that next expansion and updates will improve the game but I have some doubts) and push through ShB. I'm halfway through and I started skipping cutscenes because my god they're so many! The fact that most of MSQ is indeed cutscenes and rinse and repeat fetch quests and dungeons doesn't help at all. And I hate when a character dies and then "somehow" returns only to prolong events. Like do it once, but not pretty much every damn time! If you kill a character they have to STAY DEAD. That's the point of their death, it has to be impactful and definitive otherwise there is no tension whatsoever when the protagonists are in danger. Even if they die, they will resuscitate again and again through some BS. Heroes must die. That's why they are heroes, because they choose to sacrifice for the greater good or save the world. Like why did Papalymo die offscreen and that's it? He was a likeable character, more than the rest of the cast who have cardboard personalities. They could've brought him back with some Louisoix's secret spell BS instead of reviving, for example, Yotsuyu only to kill her like 3 hours later. It's all so predictable. And it's a shame because the game has great potential to create a good story but I think it fails and the rest of it is pretty fun. But to play dozens of hours of slog story just to unlock the fun bits it's not really worth it.

[@KornOil]

"Endwalker is 2 weeks away" Yeah okay bro. xD

[@MBunn-uf1we]

"with endwalker two week away" yeah that kinda aged like milk didn't it? XD

[@Tessa_Ru]

I feel like vids like this are for the players who make me suffer in roulettes because they potion jumped and skipped story and they think they are playing WoW still (I'm looking at you! Tanks in augmented Scaeven gear who can't control mobs and think provoke should be used on CD! 🥴)

[@Jimmymatthewb]

Bro get off your high horse. A story recap is for everybody. There is SO much content. And there are years IN BETWEEN content. Many people don't play for all of that time, or a lot of it. People forget things. They want to be refreshed before the New expansion. Hell, sometimes I just plain old get lost in the story even when I watch every cutscene. There's just so much. I took 7 years off from this game. I'm trying to go through it all without skips. But, I'm getting lost in the story, and I forgot what happened in ARR. I can't believe you would act like watching a basic story recap, is some sort of bad thing. I've never heard anyone else say something like that before. Especially for a game this massive, complex, and with so much time in between story installments. Like gimme a break we aren't all perfect. We also don't all just play this game nonstop for ten years.

[@michaelpetersen467]

thanks for making sodapoppin quit ff14 :)