FFXIV: Arriving in Kugane
Warning: Mild Spoilers for FFXIV Stormblood.
I’m still behind on story at this point, so I don’t know how much of a spoiler this will be to those who are dedicated to getting the expansion done. We got a good chunk of story completed last night, though, and I finally got to see Kugane is person for the first time.
My instinct was correct in thinking that after a defeat in Rhalgr’s Reach we’d be heading off to far away lands to find help from our companions. It makes sense to rally forces on both sides of the Empire to make a push, especially when it’s obvious that taking the enemy alone is not a good or feasible plan.
This required a long boat ride (and a short Aetheryte warp once attuned), which was interrupted by the first dungeon of the expansion, Sirensong Sea.
Syn and I went in blind with a PUG, and despite having a rushing tank, didn’t have any problem dealing with it. There’s some mild boss mechanics, but nothing harrowing, and the location was pretty interesting overall.
Once that was cleared, we finally earned our way to the first big city, Kugane.
Here, we were greeted by rather dubious new company and an interesting twist of circumstance. We were given the grand tour, took some time to explore the city and attune, and checked out the housing plots.
Overall, Kugane may be the most impressive city I’ve experienced in FFXIV so far. Ishgard was pretty big, but it was also divided into zones, like the ARR cities. It was also rather confusing to navigate in some areas.
Kugane feels just as vast, maybe because of the vertical building, is much more colorful than the snowy Ishgard, and has a great sense of atmosphere. It also has a good layout with a nice central marketplace, and a great spot for crafters to work on leves. I am looking forward to doing some leves here soon!
While our quests haven’t taken us out to the Ruby Sea just yet, we’re moving that direction. Instead, we spent some time running a Leveling Roulette, which netted me a much-needed level 62 Red Mage. I’m a tad concerned about falling behind on levels for the MSQ… but I guess I can just PvP if that ever happens.
Oh, and Alphinaud is a better artist than I am…
