Final Fantasy XIV has been missing a bit of its soul for years
Since the end of the addon Stormblood almost 3 years ago, many fans of Final Fantasy XIV have been waiting for the popular quest series about a crazy master detective to be continued. But there is no trace of her in Endwalker either. MeinMMO author Irina Moritz thinks it’s a shame.
Like almost all Japanese RPGs, Final Fantasy XIV has its silly moments. They serve to loosen up the often overly serious atmosphere and give the players time to breathe deeply. It doesn’t matter whether you have to help drunk and swearing dwarves build tanks or smell stinking chocobos.
But none of them can match the delightful daftiness and delicious dopeyness of the Hildibrand quests. The quest series revolves around the notorious master detective Hildibrand Helidor Maximilian Manderville, who (sometimes more, sometimes less voluntarily) travels the country and (sometimes more, sometimes less independently) solves difficult cases.
He is accompanied by his faithful assistant Nashu Mhakaracca and lots of bombs. Again and again he runs into our player characters and draws us into his adventures, which extend over the base game “A Realm Reborn” and the two addons Heavensward and Stormblood.
In the course of the episodic stories you also get to know the entire Manderville family, who all have a collective gossip:
As you can easily see in the video, the quests are characterized by their offbeat humor, lots of slapstick and exaggerated facial animations. They are sort of the comedy corner of FFXIV, where developers could let off steam and write a lot of nonsense from the soul.
The Hildibrand quests have been expanded with each addon and expanded with new crazy adventures and rewards. Sometimes the detective traveled to Ishgard, sometimes he ended up in Kugane.
But since the Shadowbringers addon, which was released in July 2019, there has been no trace of new Hildibrand quests. Fans only got a small cameo in the Battle of Norvrand dungeon.
It’s only when you lose something that you realize it was important
You’d think that any side quest line would have little relevance to the game and nobody would miss it, but that’s not the case. Hildibrand is deeply rooted in FFXIV’s DNA and was already a highlight for many players in the failed 1.0 version.
Especially back then, during the rather dark times when it wasn’t quite clear whether FFXIV would continue at all, the quests were a breath of fresh air and a source of amusement. The devs could let off steam in the quests and try out ideas that didn’t fit into the rest of the game.
Most importantly, despite the silliness and goofy facial expressions, the Hildibrand quests have a lot of heart. I still remember playing the ARR quests and having a brief “Oh” moment that won me over.
One of the first stories features a little girl who lost (and broke) her strict mother’s precious vase. She is scolded by her mother and sent to look for her, although it could be dangerous for her.
Hildibrand agrees to help the girl. It was a small thing, but it immediately revealed a lot about his character and the core of the quest line. The venture then went more badly than well and was associated with a lot of nonsense, but hey, it was really nice of him and in the end everything was fine.
It was the moment that the quest line won me over. It wasn’t always just about pulling the dumbest face and ridiculing the characters, but there were nice, albeit simple messages packed with a lot of humor. And I appreciate that not only in games, but in all media (discworld books say hello).
These little messages run through the entire questline and made it more than just a passing time for me. But above all, they fit perfectly into the overall concept of FFXIV, whose main story repeatedly raises difficult moral questions and conveys messages to the players.
Originally, Hildibrand wasn’t really that important to me. While I enjoyed playing the quests and using them as filler content during the longer update hiatus, it wasn’t something I really expected with every patch. That changed abruptly in Shadowbringers.
While other quests, such as the savage tribe of dwarves, cheered up Shadowbringers’ serious and dark storyline, I kept finding myself searching the content previews for the Hildibrand quests.
I was really upset at times that they were discontinued. They were always part of FFXIV and are now gone.
No return in sight
There are currently no signs that the quests about the crazy detective could return in the near future. Normally, the FFXIV team announces the new content relatively far in advance. This way, players always know what to expect in the coming months.
The Hildibrand quests used to be noted on the special pages for the respective patches, so that you knew straight away: “Aha, a few weeks after the patch release there’s something new about Hildi.”
This is not the case with the special page for Endwalker. In fact, the devs haven’t said a word about the master detective since the Shadowbringers release. While he hasn’t been entirely forgotten, as can be seen from the cameo in Shadowbringers, things are looking bleak for a real return at this time.
And I find that very unfortunate. With the Hildibrand quests, FFXIV lost a bit of its soul, which many fans enjoyed even before the 1.0 reboot.
But who knows, maybe there will be good news for Hildibrand fans in February. Director Yoshida announced that next month we have a big producer stream showcasing the future of FFXIV.
The talk is about the update 6.1 and other patches up to the next addon 7.0:
Final Fantasy XIV: The next addon is already in the works – that’s what you can expect in the near future
Reference-mein-mmo.de