How to complete The Greatest Story Never Told quest in Final Fantasy XIV

Within the award-winning MMO Final Fantasy XIV are a slew of quests: some straight-forward, and others a bit more obscure with an occasional bout of head scratching. The Greatest Story Never Told is firmly in the latter half, with riddles and mysteries that need to be untangled and deciphered for the completion.

The Main Quest needs to be complete The Ultimate Weapon, at which point this quest can be found in Western Thanalan on the southern tip of The Footfalls. Players will need to seek an NPC named Valiant Hart, located at (18.3, 17.5) by a fallen statue. Beginning the quest offers players the warning of limited guidance and also notes that clues and objectives may differ between adventurers.

This is a long quest with multiple branches. Work patiently through the segments, keep a notepad handy to monitor your progression, and remember: there’s a fabled 100 million gil at the end. Possibly.

Part 1 – The Silent King message

After talking to Valiant Hart, he asks adventurers to check the encoded message written on the Silent King statue. This is scrambled text, but it’s necessary to write down what it says on your notepad to progress properly. There are three different possible ciphers here, but the closing decipher that Valiant Hart attempted is the same (FIRE/LIGHTNING/WATER/EARTH/ICE/WIND:

• REN/FLO/SPI/TEL/’S/RE
• HO/OSC/BRA/N’S/EM/CE
• AL/TH/SPI/’S/RE/TE

Part 2 – Cipher

Players are then directed to an NPC, Yayaroku, at Ul’dah in the Thaumaturge Guild (6.9, 12.6). Talking to Yaya, players will discover that the order is incorrect, offering a solution: the actual sequence should be LIGHTNING/FIRE/EARTH/ICE/WATER/WIND.

Take this and unscramble the message, or just follow this table to figure out where to go next (after meeting Yayaroku):

Once you get to your necessary waypoint, you’ll find another Lalafell named ‘Novice Explorer.’ Talk to the Lalafell, gain the key item Winebaud’s Travel Log, and head back to Valiant Hart in Western Thanalan.

Part 3 – The second branch

Once you talk to Hart, the message is changed, and Valiant Hart offers another transcription, along with one of three NPCs to seek to help decode the riddle. Write down the capitalized letters as they’re written, and note the name of the NPC mentioned.

Isouda knows the truth

Isouda is found at Lower La Noscea (20, 38). Talk to her and get another riddle. Ultimately, you’ve received scrambled letters, which you must deduce to be one of three points.

Memenugu knows the steps

Memenugu is found at Central Thanalan (21, 25) and you get an algorithm to decode the offered cipher.

Jahelle knows her sums

Jahelle is at North Shourd (21, 26) and offers a decoding schematic, where every two numbers correlate to the alphabet with a 01:A, 02:B, and so on.

Go to the designated point, and find the object ‘???’ to progress. After the dialogue prompt, return to Valiant Hart in Western Thanalan.

Part 4 – The emotes

Talk to Hart, and receive the next cipher (a mix of upper and lower case letters) and a message about a Marauders’ Guild. Write down only the upper case letters, and unscramble them to find an emote while you’re heading to the Marauders’ Guild in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks.

Find the ‘???’ within the Marauders’ Guild, inspect it, and then head to your emote location.

• JOY – Eastern Thanalan (15, 17)
• FURIOUS – Camp Tranquil, beneath the southern bridge
• RALLY – Old Gridania, below Leatherworker Guild
• DANCE – Wineport, second bridge south
• LAUGH – Limsa Liminsa Lower Decks, Astalicia
• HUH – Northern Thanalan, (21.1, 29.4)
• SHRUG – Ul’dah between Pearl Lance and Sapphire Avenue
• DISAPPOINTED – Middle La Noscea (21.9, 15.8)
• PANIC – North Shroud, Hyrstmill Watermill

Once again, find the ‘???’ object, target it, and complete your emote. Head back to Hart at Western Thanalan, and check the message again.

Step 5 – The agony of markets

The message reads, ‘If SWORD+SWORD=DAGGER, then return to me with ‘?’ of ‘?’. The master of markets has my list.

The ‘?’ are variables for different letters: mark those variables down and head to your home faction nation market. In the center of the markets, you’ll find Parsemontret (Old Gridania), Seseroga (Ul’dah), or Swozblaet (Limsa Lominsa). Talk to them and get a list which states the following:

• 1 – Pearl
• 2 – Fluorite
• 3 – Malachite
• 4 – Choker
• 5 – Sunstone
• 6 – Earrings
• 7 – Ring
• 8- Bracelet

We need to figure out what Winebaud is talking about with his puzzling equation. The most agreed-upon theory is that if we’re to add SWORD (a five-character word) with itself, it will equal dagger (a six-character word). When multiplying a five-digit number with two (as SWORD+SWORD = Sword * 2), the only possible number for the ‘D’ in DAGGER is ‘1’.

This changes the ‘D’ in SWORD, which must equal 1, meaning ‘R’ has to be 2 since D + D = 2. If you want to figure out the rest on your own, this is a solid start.

Otherwise, we’re looking at the number 156642. The number to letter cipher is as follows:

• S – 7
• W – 8
• O – 3
• R – 2
• D – 1
• A – 5
• G – 6
• E – 4
• R – 2

Now, take the letters found in the translated text (which you wrote down), and substitute the letters for numbers. Then take those numbers, grab the item, and equip it.

For example, if you have ‘If SWORD+SWORD=DAGGER, then return to me with ‘W’ of ‘O’, that means you’ll need to purchase a Malachite Bracelet from the jewelry shop in Ul’dah (just south of the Gladiator’s Guild), and equip the item. While you’re here, purchase a copper gorget at the Sapphire Avenue markets. Head back to Hart at Western Thanalan, but interact with Winebaud’s Message.

Step 6 – Conclusion

Your jewelry will grow warm, and you’ll get the visions again. Once this passes, talk to Valiant Hart, then the inscription, then Valiant Hart. Have Hart read back the verses in order, then equip the gorget and check the ‘???’ behind the statue to complete the quest.