Final Fantasy 14: The Greatest Story Never Told Quest Walkthrough

With over 20 million registered accounts and a decade of server uptime, Final Fantasy 14 is a long-running genre powerhouse that relies on its many adorable side quests to keep players engaged between updates. Such sidestories are the bread and butter of RPGs, and The Greatest Story Never Told is unique among them.

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The series of five puzzles that must be solved in this sidequest are rather obscure, and many fans have struggled with the lack of guidance provided. This guide will help with that, demonstrating how the quest is unlocked and how to tackle the quintet of riddles that make it up. There’s a lot of traveling involved, too (though no difficult fights like Final Fantasy 16’s Atlas, The Breaker of Worlds), but now there’ll be no guesswork in it for you.

How To Unlock The Quest

The Greatest Story Never Told is unlocked after completing the main scenario quest The Ultimate Weapon. To pick up the quest, speak with Valiant Hart (x18.3, y17.5) in Western Thanalan. After doing so, you’ll embark on the first of five riddles. Here are the details of each one in turn.

Riddle #1

This is the first puzzle of the quest. Valiant Hart will tell you he’s found a message written on the statue next to him by Winebaud, a legendary explorer. This message supposedly leads to the treasure of Lalafuto III. After speaking to Valiant Hart, a POI will appear on the statue labeled Winebaud’s Message. Here are the steps to take to solve this riddle:

1. Examine the message.
2. Remember the six groupings of scrambled letters, and the order of the elements in the message.
3. Talk to Valiant Hart again, and he will send you to Yayaruko (Thaumaturge’s Guild).
4. Yayaruko will tell you the quote is from a book called Essences and Permutations, but the elements are ordered incorrectly.
5. Once he gives you the correct order of elements, use this order to unscramble the text in the riddle.
6. Go to the location indicated by the unscrambled text. It will be one of three:
   • Thal’s Respite (Eastern Thanalan)
   • Florentel’s Spire (Coerthas Central Highlands)
   • Oschon’s Embrace (Lower La Noscea)
7. There is a Novice Explorer to talk to at each of these locations. If you are at the correct one, they will say “At long last… does the wheel turn anew?”
8. After the Novice Explorer has given you Winebaud’s Travel Log, talk to Valiant Hart.

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Riddle #2

The statue will now have one of three new riddles on it.

1. First, talk to the mentioned NPC and follow their directions to unscramble the riddle (see below for the three possible options).
2. Go to the location specified in the unscrambled message.
3. Look for the ??? POI.
4. Examine it.
5. Return to Valiant Hart.

This riddle is accompanied by more scrambled letters. To learn the correct order, speak to Memenugu (x21, y25) in Central Thanalan.

He will tell you about his experience with Winebaud, which should include the phrase, “two steps forward, one step back. Over and over again, until the end.”

The unscrambled text will lead the player to one of three locations:

• Hollowed Heavenspilar Bridge (North Shroud)
• Bronze Lake Hot Springs (Upper La Noscea)
• Home Of The Coeurlclaw (South Shroud)

Jahelle Knows Her Sums

This riddle is a string of numbers. To learn the method of unscrambling, speak with Jahelle (x21, y26) in The North Shroud.

She will tell you about her experience with Winebaud, which should include the phrase “I learned the letters of mathematics, but alas, not the grammar.” This hints that the player will need to substitute the numbers for a corresponding letter (1 = A, 2 = B, etc.).

One of these three locations is the correct destination:

• Zephyr Drift (Middle La Noscea)
• Hellsbrood Holes (Central Thanalan)
• Red Mantis Falls (Eastern La Noscea)

Isouda Knows The Truth

This option will include a sentence of scrambled words. To solve it, talk to Isouda (x20, y38) in Lower La Noscea.

She will recall often arguing with Winebaud, claiming that he told her “The opposite of nonsense is sense.” The hint here is that you’ll need to reverse the order of the sentence before attempting to unscramble each word.

Again, the solution will take you to one of these places:

• White Wolf Gate (New Gridania)
• The Hall of Flames (Ul’dah – Steps of Nald)
• Eshtaime’s Aesthetics (Ul’dah – Steps of Thal)

Riddle #3

The third riddle will once again appear on the statue (it’s all very reminiscent of Final Fantasy 16’s Carved In Stone sidequest), which will have mixed-up text bearing this message: “the members of the Marauders’ Guild understand the importance of etiquette.”

1. Some letters of this message will be capitalized. Remember which.
2. Travel to the Marauder’s Guild in Limsa Lominsa.
3. Locate the ??? POI there, this will give you another clue: “A deliberate display of emotion, as befits the situation, can be effective in deepening your relationships with others.”
4. The capitalized letters in the original riddle reveal the title of an emote. Possible emotes are:
   • Laugh
   • Rally
   • Dance
   • Furious
   • Joy
   • Disappointed
   • Shrug
   • Panic
   • Huh
5. Perform the correct emote on a ??? POI near a location determined by the riddle (use the table below if you aren’t sure where to go).
6. After successfully emoting and getting the dialogue to pop up, talk to Valiant Hart again.

Riddle #4

The next clue reads, “if SWORD+SWORD=DAGGER, then return to me with X of X. The master of the markets has my list.” The Xs here represent two letters that are chosen randomly: make note of these.

1. Go to your home nation and speak to one of the following NPCs:
   • Parsemontret (Old Gridania)
   • Seseroga (Ul’dah – Steps of Thal)
   • Swozblaet (Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks)
2. The correct NPC will give you Winebaud’s shopping list when spoken to:
   1. Pearl
   2. Fluorite
   3. Malachite
   4. Choker
   5. Sunstone
   6. Earrings
   7. Ring
   8. Bracelet
3. Substitute each letter of the original riddle for a different number (aiming to make the largest number possible). This results in 98,765 + 98,765 = 197,530.
4. From here, you can use the letters you noted down and the equation to convert those letters into numbers. For instance, G of R would result in needing Fluorite Earrings.
5. Wear the indicated item, then read Winebaud’s message from the statue again.
6. Talk to Valiant Hart afterward.

Riddle #5

To begin the final riddle, Valiant Hart will read you all the lines of poetry from the previous riddles together. The completed poem is as follows:

Clandestine rendezvous leave me breathless and wanting.

Obsession consumes me, a thirst for the taboo.

Perchance we meet in public, be not a beguiler.

Ply me not with honeyed words, and spare me glances alluring.

Ere long this torment must end; together we must be.

Renounce it all I would, but we must be more discreet.

The first letter of each sentence spells Copper while the last letter of each sentence spells Gorget. What you’ll have to do, then, is equip the Copper Gorget, then examine the ??? POI next to Valiant Hart. Finally, the quest is complete.

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Quest Rewards

Unlike many other popular MMOs, you aren’t showered in money or rare loot for difficult side quests in Final Fantasy 14. The reward for this quest is ostensibly a book of poetry that Lalafuto III wrote for a lover. However, the player doesn’t get to keep this. Instead, you will receive 10 gil, the achievement The Rest of the Story, and the joy of a job well done.

There are some tricky quests in the series (some are even missable), so it’s a relief to complete them nonetheless.

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