FFXIV: The Greatest Story Never Told Walkthrough

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.

Click to enlarge

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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: 

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:

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:

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:

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.

Click to enlarge

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:

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:

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.

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.