There’s no denying Square Enix’s reborn realm of Eorzea is a beautiful one; one filled with enough shaders, shadow, and sun shafts to make just about any frantic push of the Print Screen button enough to produce a shot worth framing on the wall of your cave.
Square’s decision to restructure the team behind the controversial launch of the original product seemingly couldn’t have gone better as the server issues — only suffered through an influx of unexpected popularity — threatened to knock the game down the drain once more; but even as the server pipes widen do they become more crowded with eager players looking to join the efforts of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and the Grand Companies of Eorzea’s 3 major states in the fight against the Beastman Tribes and the Aether-fuelled Primals that bathed the land in hellfire just 5 short years ago.
There’s a lot of story between the 1-50 grind and lots of memories to forge along the way; here’s a log of those adventures.
Lunaak — a Lalafell born of the Dunesfolk or Eorzea — left his hometown in the search of bigger fish to fry. Looking to make a name for himself as an adventurer just like the Heroes of Light who fought against the Garlean Empire all those years ago, Lunaak hitched a ride through the Twelveswood and alighted outside the great nation of Gridania.
His quest for fame and fortune began with a few simple errands for the Adventurer’s Guild. Plotting to earn the trust of the skittish Yellowjackets in the wake of the recent Beastmen attacks, Lunaak’s efforts to win over the hearts of the Grand Company’s soldiers took him down the route of the Conjurer; the art of borrowing elemental energy from the world around the user.
Lunaak’s long travels through the Black Shroud had him fall into all sorts of strange scenarios; from finding a scimitar lodged deep within an ancient grove’s tree-mend to finding thwarting the efforts of the lost ‘Lambs of Dalamud’ who looked to summon whatever dark entities they could to have their revenge against those who quelled the meteor’s reckless destruction.
After countless trials and tribulations through the instruction of the Adventurer’s Guild, Lunaak’s discovery of and aid against the Ixal attack on the forest earned him the right to represent Gridania alongside the city-state’s leader — Kan-E-Senna — in the yearly festival meant to thank the forest for its cooperation.
With the thanks he was looking for Lunaak earned permission to leave Gridania and explore the rest of Eorzea for further adventure; little did he know that his valiant efforts would bring him to clash with the primal Ifrit during a stakeout designed to stop the operation.
Fighting the good fight only brought Lunaak closer to his wish. While he certainly wasn’t expecting to go head-to-head against a beast in the same line of that which destroyed Eorzea five years prior, he wasn’t prepared to walk away in the world’s time of need. The Scions of the Seventh Dawn recruited him to their anti-Primal campaign and was soon picked up by the Grand Companies of the land — his mission to gain the trust of Gridania had extended across the land without his knowledge.
With Ifrit sent packing into the aether-stream of the world once-more, Lunaak and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn turned their attention to the avoidance of their former allies — the floating pixie-like creatures of Little Solace — who were known to worship the Primal Ramuh. The successful operation to retrieve their lost leader from the poison-coated walls of Toto-Rak was enough for the group to promise their inclination to leave their Primal Lord where he lay.
Titan was next on the list. Even if Ramuh wasn’t the immediate focus any more, Gridania still had the Primal of the ever-troublesome Kobold on their mind. With word of those who quelled the mighty beast in the past still being alive and well, it was up to Lunaak to track them down and unlock their combat prowess for use against the primal’s second coming.
With one-such soldier now focusing his attention in the beach resort of Costa del Sol, Lunaak travelled through Brayflox’s Longstop in an effort to bring the former leader the culinary dishes he needs to throw a party on behalf of his employer at the sunny coast.
With the fight against the Primal Titan seeming no closer than before, Lunaak’s brisk walks across the continent to supply fine wine and cheeses in return for tools of the trade seems like a growing waste of time — time that Eorzea doesn’t have.
Despite the re-appearance of Titan still hanging in the balance, it hasn’t stopped Lunaak from snapping a few shots of his journey along the way.
There’s still a lot more adventuring to do, and a lot more primals to prune.
Josh Judges | Gaming / Tech / Pop Culture / Garbage 