[Top V] Zones of Eorzea

Noan traverses to a ledge in the Dravanian Highlands and sets sight upon Idyllshire for the first time (which, oddly enough, is not featured in this top 5 countdown).

The Final Fantasy series has been known for being a visual and auditory story spectacular. Square Enix has continued this trend into their online series of games: Final Fantasy XI, and more importantly to this blog, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Here's a look at the most fascinating zones in Eorzea to date, in my own opinion of coarse.

V. Central Thanalan

View of Central Thanalan from the Ul'dah's Steps of Nald.

Ah, the fond bias of your very first starting zone. For starting in the desert of all places when first beginning FFXIV, this player was no less at awe with the amount of scenery and detail that could be placed into this kind of setting. Even, perhaps especially, coming from World of Warcraft's Azeroth, where the world is so broad and accessible without much loading screens, Eorzea's Central Thanalan still left a keen impression upon me. Everything in Eorzea was just a touch more realistic and vibrant versus World of Warcraft's bold and semi-cartoon stylistics.

Classing as a fresh young Gladiator, straying from comfortable and the seemingly safe streets in the capital of Ul'dah and down its steps into Central Thanalan where wild critters and insects were ready to have a chance at killing my new avatar was nervy. The fact that it happened to be nighttime at the first moment of stepping back out into the zone added to the sense of danger... and not having obtained a shield yet didn't help.

The Coffer and Coffin is a bar built under a mesa! Oh, what's that tower off in the distance? Better check it out, might be important!

A few quests and a daybreak later would reveal Central Thanalan to be the most lush place a desert could be. A beautiful bright blue sky over rocky mesas mixed with speckles of trees and cacti, patches of grass and gentle streams.

Black Brush Station's train tracks & aetherite with the City of Ul'dah in the distance.

As a new player the world in FFXIV felt so big back then. Just going to Black Brush Station seemed like such a march from the city. The station just cemented that feeling of being in a Final Fantasy game, seeing the train tracks there made me remember all of the tracks going out of Midgar to around the world of Final Fantasy VII. Finally, after all these years since playing or even viewing a Final Fantasy game, it felt good to return to the series.

IV. Mor Dhona

Revenant's Toll, an adventurer's town in Mor Dhona, often experiences the gloomy conditions of this purple haze.

This one may or may not be as obvious to FFXIV players as some of the upcoming choices, but once you know the story of all the *recent* trauma this land has suffered, you can just appreciate the beauty of this zone so much.

Mor Dhona as it was.

The Mor Dhona of today is a damaged land of crystal spikes, broken ship parts and at times a purple gloom of abnormal energy - making the imagination work hard to picture the natural forest it once was (depicted above). Dominating the view in it's eastern area remains Silvertear Lake, it's former beauty much overshadowed by the skeleton of the dragon Midgardsormr, who's wrapped around a crashed vessel of some sorts jutting up from it's waters. As if the sight of a giant dragon wasn't ominous enough, an even taller crystal tower dominates over that dragon just a bit to it's east. Mor Dhona is home to one fascinating skyline.

Mor Dhona of today.

So the east side of Mor Dhona hosts a daunting dragon corpse and scary tall crystal tower, no big deal, we'll just head west then. Oh nice, there's an Imperial Fortress loaded with troops and giant walking robots there. Thankfully, brave adventurers 'wisely' founded a town in between these possible threats for us heroes to begin to partake in some of A Realm Reborn's most difficult level 50 content. The completely built town of Revenant's Toll is one of those classic cases of Square Enix being able to combine visual, audio and story to create feeling; the town truly feels heroic to the player. For the adventurous, there's a enemy-filled hike that rewards a beautiful view if one chooses to veer south a bit on the western side of Mor Dhona.

The Crystal Tower standing leagues tall above Midgardsomr.

III: Upper La Noscea

A sweeping view of the Eastern portion of Upper La Noscea, and in the fade of distance, a coil of wreckage from the calamity rises prominently.

In addition to Mor Dhona, this zone may be another contentious pick as a top zone. In fact, if the player base of Final Fantasy XIV were to pick a favorite amongst the La Noscea zones, understandably Eastern La Noscea's vastness and beautiful beaches would win most player's opinion. The reason for picking Upper La Noscea though, like my reasons for the other picks here, is for the feeling the zone gives. Just coming into the zone in itself, gives you that feeling of trekking out into the wilds - the time worn stone paths, beaten stone walls, and nature being left alone to overgrowth the lands with its vines and roots creeping to and from ancient ponds. Floating fish wander above the waters to greet you into their territory as you arrive from Eastern La Noscea.

The relaxing spas of Camp Bronze Lake.

The dominating Bronze Lake splinters Upper La Noscea into two halves, it's west side hosts Camp Bronze Lake, the (almost) tamed Spa resort with guards to keep the local intelligent beasts from taking over. The east side of Bronze Lake seems barely settled by humanoid races, hosting a former logging encampment that was overrun by beasts and now defended from said beasts by a group of salty pirates. On the east is also the remaining bones of some leviathan-type creature traced into the mountainside, a foreboding sight for any adventurer brave enough to escalate into the Kobold territory in the highlands of Outer La Noscea.

A stormy evening in the skies above Bronze Lake. The lighted windows of Kobold territory in Outer La Noscea deviously dot the mesa skyline.

As you go climb higher in Upper La Noscea, be sure to look back and enjoy the better vista of the ruined "Wanderer's Palace", right smack dab at the core of Bronze Lake and the centerpiece of the whole zone. Maybe this land was civilization all along? If only we had the academic people left to tell us...

A civilization to be rediscovered?

II. East Shroud

Originally, this list wasn't going to have any of the Gridanian zones featured! This listing is a break from my own bias of deserts and island types of landmass - even if Top 5 lists are naturally subjective. If you're a fan of the deep woods setting found in the Black Shroud zones, East Shroud may be a higher pick of the bunch for you as it has all of the features a person fond of the woods would enjoy: huge lush trees with houses built in them, river bends that lead to breathtaking waterfalls, hidden nooks, various levels of terrain with ledges of moss-covered rocks, even a sacred temple found deep through the meadows.

Detailed and layered terrain will greet and appease you upon first entering into East Shroud.

East Shroud seems like Final Fantasy XIV's version of the Hyrulian Forest from The Legend of Zelda series. There's the beautiful and innocent entry section to the zone the lead into the darker and more troubled elements when you lurk a little further. Nine Ivies, the zones southern portion, has the safe outpost and to the east is the befriended Slyph tribe's town of Little Solace, which serve as your last reprieve before crossing a walking bridge the dangerous area of Larkscall, which is home to another Slyph tribe that is aggressive to your mere presence.

Nothing says "This is the friendly part of town" like a spiky hut glowing with dark purple energy in cloud overcast forests. Welcome to Larkscall!

On a lighter note, when you work your way through the twisted paths and meadows to the northernmost section of this zone, there hosts the gorgeous chapel and grounds named The Sanctum of the Twelve. Players actually get to reserve these sacred grounds as the place of in-game marriage ceremonies. The artists at Square Enix did a great job crafting a place anyone would be proud to be wed at.

The merry gateway to the rest of your married life at The Sanctum of the Twelve.

Like with many other lands throughout Eorzea, not even the deep forest is safe from the Garlean Empire flexing its military influence. The southeast corner serves as a towering base to the enemy, possibly blockading Eorzeans from what would have been nice access to the eastern oceanfront.

A blockade Garlean style = an indomitable high rise fortress. So much for a view of the eastern ocean.

I: Eastern Thanalan

The dug out haven of Camp Drybone is your sanctuary in the safari that is Eastern Thanalan.

Sometimes as gamers in the current day, we can take for granted just how good a game can be to look at. Then along comes something just so graphically fetching that it just can not be denied your awe. Eastern Thanalan initially is the picture of an African safari: small ponds where animals bathe, light brushes of trees, shrubs, rocks, and smatterings of beasts. In true Final Fantasy fashion, however, there's always more to be discovered. As you venture further east in the zone, you'll begin to set your sights upon a bridge, and approaching that bridge is where the magic of how big this world is really sets in.

On the road called "Royal Allagan Sunway" you approach Highbridge to the east and began to note the something is massively "aught amiss" in the world of Hydaelyn.

From Highbridge you gaze down and see a huge canyon. On the same bridge, facing south, you see the wreckage from Bahamut, the dried spires of his flames still glowing as they rise well beyond any structure any mortal people of this world could dare build, making you thankful and even amazed to be alive after the Battle of Carteneau. Many screens had to be taken in an effort just to display how large The Burning Wall is. It is the largest non-instanced example of just how devastating and powerful the primal was, hopefully one of them show just how small the character is in this world.

The scale of The Burning Wall is hopefully set upon you in one of these three pictures.

While gathering photos for this zone, there was an unexpected view found in the northwest near the Golden Bazaar that gives you the right feeling that Thanalan, and the rest of world in FFXIV, could be so much more expansive. If you're a veteran player to FFXIV, go and soak these in and give yourself time to appreciate the world again, as the familiarity of dungeons, raids, crafting and leveling having a way of grinding the world down to such a narrow view.

A soldier sets view upon Thanalan's mountainous outskirts.

In addition to visual appeal of Eastern Thanalan, there's also quite a bit of main story touched upon in this zone, making the landmarks of this place more meaningful. The last point to touch upon when it comes to this zone, because I want you to just go and enjoy it yourself, is a thank you - thank you to Square Enix for making such beautiful games. Now go and take it all in for yourself and let the destruction of old be the beauty of new!

The man in white (not *that* man in white) is more comfortable with cliffs than this author would be.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading my first Top V (five) and leave a comment below on what your favorite zones of FFXIV are and why! Also, sorry to any Heavensward zone fans out there (hence the Dravanian Highlands picture in the title), while personally I didn't find any of the expansions zones more appealing over the 2.0 zones, there was still plenty of beautiful areas -shout out to Dravanian Forelands- and am excited to see what Square Enix will do in the Stormblood expansion now that they've had some experience with completely accessible/flying zones and am looking forward to at least one of those breaking into this list in the future. Stay tuned!

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