FFXIV: The Greatest Story Never Told Walkthrough
The Greatest Story Never Told in FFXIV is a long quest chain that takes players through various riddles. Here are the answers to said riddles.
FFXIV’s sidequests are generally pieces of lore that fill out the world, and The Greatest Story Never Told is one of those quests that offer players a quizzical challenge while giving them a deep dive into a storyline about Winebaud. Here's a complete walkthrough of the FFXIV quest, The Greatest Story Never Told.
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FFXIV: The Greatest Story Never Told Walkthrough
Before starting The Greatest Story Never Told, you’ll need to make sure you’ve finished the main story to at least The Ultimate Weapon. As you won’t be able to access it before. The Ultimate Weapon requires the player to complete both The Praetorium dungeon and The Porta Decumana trial. After this, you’re ready to start your journey!
The Greatest Story Never Told will require players to go through multiple steps, fulfilling and solving riddles in order to proceed. All of the riddles within the questline will have variations, meaning that players will not have the same answers as their friends. There are a total of 5 steps, each requiring players to either use their noggin or alternatively look up a guide. Fortunately, we have all the answers right here, just for you.
The Greatest Story Never Told starts off Western Thanalan, at the NPC Valiant Hart. He will be your go-to NPC for this questline and you’ll be returning to him multiple times.
Alongside that, Winebaud’s message will be written on a statue nearby, which is what you’ll read for your various riddles. Once you check Winebaud’s message you’ll receive a scrambled riddle, this is important - make sure to remember it.
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FFXIV: Greatest Story Never Told Step 1 Answers
The first message will have a series of scrambled letters, followed by this quote:
FIRE / LIGHTNING / WATER / EARTH / ICE / WIND
The wheel must turn anew.
These elements will be important for deciphering the scrambled letters.
Next, you’ll need to head to Ul’dah and speak to Yayaroku in the Thaumaturge Guild. They’ll tell you that the sequence instead should look like:
LIGHTNING / FIRE / EARTH / ICE / WATER / WIND
From there you can rearrange the elements in order to decipher the code. If you’re lazy, here are the 3 possible answers:
Scrambled Letters |
Landmarks |
Location |
REN / FLO / SPI / TEL / ‘S / RE |
Florentel’s Spire |
North Shroud |
HO / OSC / BRA / N’S / EM / CE |
Oschon’s Embrace |
Lower La Noscea |
AL / TH / SPI / ‘S / RE / TE |
Thal’s Respite |
Eastern Thanalan |
You’ll need to speak to the Novice Explorer at one of these locations. They’ll give you a key item called Winebaud’s Travel Log, which you’ll need to return to Valiant Hart.
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FFXIV: Greatest Story Never Told Step 2 Answers
This next step will require you to either solve letter sequences or numbers, depending on which NPC the message gives you. You’ll receive one of three possible messages:
- “Memenugu knows the steps”
- “Jahelle knows her sums”
- “Isouda knows the truth”
For Memenugu you’ll need to head to Central Thanalan and speak to them at Fesca’s Watch. They’ll explain to you that for each letter in the scrambled text, they’ll need to be changed into either the letter before or after it. For example, B can be changed into either A or C. Here are the possible combinations players might receive and their answers:
Letters |
Deciphered Letters |
Location |
GNMKNXDC IDZWDMTOHMKZS AQJCFF |
HOLLOWED HEAVENSPILLAR BRIDGE |
North Shroud |
AQPMYF KZLD GPS RQQHOFR |
BRONZE LAKE HOT SPRINGS |
Upper La Noscea |
GNND NG SGF BNFTQMBKBV |
HOME OF THE COEURLCLAW |
South Shroud |
For Jahelle, you’ll need to head to North Shroud and find her in the Fallgourd Floats. Jahelle’s code is based on numbers that correlate to the alphabet. Therefore A is 01, B is 02 and so on. Here’s each deciphered code:
Numbers |
Deciphered Code |
Location |
260516082518 0418090620 |
ZEPHYR DRIFT |
Middle La Noscea |
08051212190218151504 0815120519 |
HELLSBROOD HOLES |
Central Thanalan |
180504 130114200919 0601121219 |
RED MANTIS FALLS |
Eastern La Noscea |
Finally, for Isouda, head to Lower La Noscea in Candlekeep Quay. Isouda’s riddle revolves around reversing the letters given to you. Here are the answers:
Letters |
Deciphered Code |
Location |
ETAG FLOW ETHW |
White Wolf Gate |
New Gridania |
SEMALF FO LLAH EHT |
The Hall of Flames |
Ul’dah |
SCITEHTSEA S'EMIATHSE |
Eshtaime’s Aesthetics |
Ul’dah |
Once you’ve headed over to the said location, you can then return to Valiant Hart and hand him the message.
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FFXIV: Greatest Story Never Told Step 3 Answers
Winebaud’s next message will point you towards the Marauder's Guild in Limsa Lominsa. From there you’ll find a ??? on the bookshelves. This is where you’ll get your next clue.
The next clue will require you to head to a certain location and use an emote (don’t worry all of these emotes you should already have).
Follow the table below to find out where you’ll need to go:
Text |
Deciphered Emote |
Location |
HylLfyr's cUtthroAts and briGands |
LAUGH |
Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks |
All foR fen-YLL |
RALLY |
Old Gridania |
rope ANd wooD aCross thE gully |
DANCE |
Wineport |
Under tRanqUilIty's FoOtpathS |
FURIOUS |
South Shroud |
cOncealed belah'dian maJestY |
JOY |
Eastern Thanalan |
PulPy, NuTritiOus, And decIDedly DElicious cItruS |
DISAPPOINTED |
Middle La Noscea |
sappHires and peaRls, fortUnes Great and Small |
SHRUG |
Ul’dah |
CherIsh the sPinniNg wAter lullaby |
PANIC |
North Shroud |
red ligHt amidst the blUe Haze |
HUH |
Northern Thanalan |
Once you’ve emoted at said location, you can head back to Valiant Hart.
FFXIV: Greatest Story Never Told Step 4 Answers
For the next step you’ll need to head to your hometown to talk to one of the Master of the Markets, they’ll provide you with Winebaud’s list.
Here are the NPCs for each major town:
NPC |
Nation |
Parsemontret |
Old Gridania |
Seseroga |
Ul’dah |
Swozblaet |
Limsa Lominsa |
The next puzzle you’ll need to go through is a rather difficult math one. You’ll be given this quote:
“SWORD + SWORD = DAGGER”
Each of these letters represent a different number, and need to equate to each other. The math is rather complicated so the answer is this:
SWORD + SWORD = DAGGER
78321 + 78321 = 156642
If you aren’t interested in doing all the cross-checking with the list you get from the Master of the Market you can check here for which item you’ll need to equip. This is based on the original clue you get.
Riddle |
Equipment Needed |
G of R |
Fluorite Earrings |
G of O |
Malachite Earrings |
G of A |
Sunstone Earrings |
S of R |
Fluorite Ring |
S of O |
Malachite Ring |
S of A |
Sunstone Ring |
W of R |
Fluorite Bracelet |
W of O |
Malachite Bracelet |
W of A |
Sunstone Bracelet |
With the correct item equipped check Winebaud’s message and then speak again to Valiant Hart.
FFXIV: Greatest Story Never Told Step 5 Answers
Fortunately, the final riddle is quite easy. You’ll be given a poem as shown below:
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 starting letter of each line makes COPPER, while the final letter makes GORGET.
Grab yourself a Copper Gorget and speak to the ??? behind the statue.
Once that’s done you’re finished all finished with The Greatest Story Never Told questline in FFXIV. For more Final Fantasy guides, keep reading GGRecon.
About The Author
Liam Ho
Liam is a freelance writer from Sydney, Australia. He currently writes for GGRecon, Blitz UNSW and works as a team leader at Summoner’s Society OCE. He is addicted to MMOs, mainly Final Fantasy XIV.