Riddle me this: What's green, blue, and spoils you?
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail's story is a bit of a mixed bag—I'm overall positive on it myself, ranking it just a half-step above Stormblood, and for all my critiques about the overall quality of its dialogue and its cutscene direction, I'm having a good time. Particularly with the sidequests, which have broken up a sometimes-plodding Main Scenario Quest (MSQ) nicely.
That makes it all the funnier, then, that I narrowly dodged a flat-out spoiler from the hands of Square Enix itself, entirely because I was too tired to solve some riddles.
First, the spoiler-free explanation for those of you still trucking. At around level 95, you'll get access to the "Once a Riddler, Now a Ruler" sidequest in Tuliyollal, the game's capital city. You should not do it right away.
This is one of those sidequests that forewarns you it won't put icons on your map. Instead, it'll make you seek out specific locations via riddles. In a vacuum, it's a cute little jaunt that rewards the player's investment in the story, a nice break from the "visit this town and talk to three people" routine that Dawntrail's MSQ is flush with.
What I wasn't aware of, however, is that this quest fully spoils a plot twist literally right before it happens. Despite being someone who knocks out all the sidequests in any given zone before progressing, I held off here because—as luck might have it—it was about 12:30 am and I felt more like watching cutscenes than I did solving riddles. After reading a player warning on the game's subreddit, I finally got around to it and, hoo boy, they're not kidding.
I will now be getting into spoiler territory for the level 95 Main Scenario Quest of Dawntrail. Turn back, weary wanderer, if ye wish to remain unsullied.
So—in case you're unfamiliar with the game's story and just here out of curiosity, here's the low-down. This quest comes moments before Wuk Lamat is about to be named Dawnservant. Until this point in the story, we've been following her through the Rite of Succession for the throne. She's been competing with a few others, including her older brother, a studious chap named Koana who has been studying abroad and got really excited about a bunch of nerdy stuff.
To keep a long story short, Koana realises he's not invested enough in the cultures of their people to be fit for the throne and, in order to help Wuk Lamat in one of the trials, forfeits his bid by throwing one of his MacGuffin tablets into the air and shooting it. It's a charming little twist.
As she's speaking to the people in her inauguration ceremony, Wuk Lamat reveals that she wants Koana to rule by her side as the Vow of Reason, while she'll take the Vow of Resolve—mirroring the current two-headed king. It's a genuinely lovely little twist that makes a lot of sense, since Koana has definitely improved Tural with his inventions. He also covers Wuk Lamat's weaknesses nicely, and vice-versa.
So, naturally, the NPC for the sidequest Once a Riddler goes ahead and spoils the whole thing if you complete it before the ceremony, seeming to have knowledge of the future, and speaking as if Wuk Lamat and Koana are already sharing the throne.
This is a big oopsie and a straight-up spoiler besides, to the point where I'm pretty sure it's just a bug that'll be addressed in future patches. Still, considering how bad server problems have been in the past, Dawntrail's had a pretty stable launch so far—a couple of funny, minor glitches is a best-case scenario. Just be careful where you side-quest, there be spoilers in these woods.
