If you want to get the Final Fantasy 14 Endwalker Relic weapons, you’ll need to catch up with the Hildibrand side quests, pronto.
Director and producer Naoki Yoshida has revealed during Final Fantasy 14’s latest Live Letter stream that Endwalker’s weapon enhancement quests will launch in patch 6.25, following the big Buried Memory update that’s due to land in late August. To access the missions, you’ll need to catch up with the “Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures” questline, which requires you to have beaten all the previous Manderville-related content from previous expansions.
If you’ve been out of the loop, the Hildibrand quests have been on the go since A Realm Reborn launched nine years ago, following inspector extraordinaire and consummate gentleman Hildibrand Manderville and his assistant, Nashu, as they travel Eorzea and get up to various hijinks. From thwarting priceless artefact thieves to adopting a robot and caring for it like a child, think of the content as Final Fantasy by way of Yakuza.
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But what does this have to do with weapons? During these quests, you meet Hildibrand’s father, Godbert. While he’s primarily known for his tendency to suplex his son and go about his day in as little garb as possible, he’s also an esteemed goldsmith. Yoshida didn’t give away much about Endwalker’s Relic weapons, though he did reveal that they’ll be the Manderville weapons while showing off a picture of Godbert himself, so look forward to some more quality time with father Manderville. Yoshida adds that weapon progression will be quest-centric this time, so we may not see an instanced field zone.
While some fans are down for a different, sillier take on Relic weapons, others aren’t thrilled at having to play through the entire Hildibrand questline to get their gear. Aside from Shadowbringers, we’ve got more Hildibrand adventures in every expansion since A Realm Reborn launched close to nine years ago. The content is optional, so you can choose to engage if you enjoy the humour, though some weapon collectors are now feeling forced into it.
Relic weapons being tied to Hildibrand might just be the worst implementation of side content in the game.Locked behind multiple expansions of side content, and also put into a divisive "love it or hate it" meme questline.July 1, 2022
YoshiP literally dropping this for the next relic pic.twitter.com/IwLt6LLgPpJuly 1, 2022
Alongside the Final Fantasy 14 patch 6.12 reveal, Yoshida has also explained what Island Sanctuary actually is. You’ll have to wait until the next Live Letter stream to see it, but it looks like the farming simulator-inspired mode will certainly scratch a particular itch for Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley fans.
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