There is no region in Eorzea that has mesmerized me more than Coerthas.
Its steep, sharp mountains, deep ravines and lakes, packed into the largest map in
the game.
Accompanied by a haunting theme, emphasizing just how small and alone you are in this gigantic
zone.
It should come as no surprise then, that Coerthas too contained several hidden dungeons.
This was probably the easiest zone to hide dungeons in, due to its vast size and rugged
landscape.
In Coerthas Eastern Lowlands, just east of Weeping Vale, it stood.
The entrance to a dungeon with a very curious name.
The Fesse.
We know the name of the dungeon thanks to the Lalafell originally guarding the entrance,
Wowotazi.
Upon interacting with him, he would tell you "I've been given specific orders to prohibit
all access to the Fesse… using all necessary force.
If you value your life, unbeliever, I suggest you withdraw at once."
Strong words coming from a potato.
The name "Fesse" is curious because it can really mean two very different things.
A Fesse is an ordinary – a broad horizontal stripe – across a shield, displaying where
your loyalty belongs to.
Now the other meaning… is French… for buttocks.
We're all adults here, so naturally we'll go with the most sensible of the two.
Buttocks.
Other than the name and the rather aggressive words of the Lalafell, nothing else is known
about the dungeon.
From what we do know though, it seems like the dungeon might have been linked to some
sort of loyalty trial.
That, or we've stumbled across Haruchefant's playhouse.
Too soon?
Too soon.
Anyways, as we enter the But—Fesse entrance, I notice that the initial cave is incredibly
long.
It takes me a good 30 seconds until I finally reach the invisible wall.
This is also where it becomes clear that you're leaving the overworld and entering a dungeon,
as the color of the walls differ from the walls on the other side of the invisible wall.
With that, I took a deep breath and ventured inside.
Unlike the previous dungeons, the map immediately switches to the white empty one.
The purple-ish cave walls remind me of Dzemael Darkhold.
I have a feeling we'll be seeing loads of assets reused in that dungeon.
I begin my descent, and I quickly realize that this is going to take a while.
The initial "entrance" tunnel seems to go on forever.
All open-world dungeons in 1.0 were designed to take you far below ground, as the dungeons
were actually stored below the world map.
So in order to make large rooms with high ceilings, they had to place them far enough
down so that they wouldn't conflict with the open-world maps.
So going by this long descent, we're in for a fairly large dungeon.
And after a lengthy descent, I encounter the first door.
Open.
That's when I suddenly realize the ambience.
A dark rumbling sound engulfs me as I step through the door.
I'm inside the Fesse.
If you're still thinking about buttocks, this video is going to be a struggle to get
through, just like the Fesse.
Alright I'll stop.
Entering through the door, my initial suspicions got confirmed immediately.
I faintly remember this room from Dzemael Darkhold.
However I can't remember it ever having railings like these.
This room also confirms another fear I had before entering.
A second and third opening.
Again, if we're to make progress I have to stick to the linear path.
I continue through the opening straight ahead.
Rounding the corner, I can see a waterfall in the distance.
As I pass through the tunnel, I see why we're so deep down.
A giant open room presents itself to me.
Though this is more or less the same open room we found in 1.0's Dzemael Darkhold.
With one big change.
The bridge you see here would stop abruptly in Dzemael – requiring you to teleport to
the next part of the dungeon.
It's now very clear that Dzemael was modeled after this dungeon.
I follow the fenced path, through short tunnels, past a waterfall, until I reached the bridge.
The path leading up the the bridge was actually a crossroad, with two other paths, which both
looked enticing.
No time.
This dungeon is probably so massive, those paths will probably just lead to copies of
whatever we're headed towards with the linear path.
At this point I've noticed these braziers.
So far, whenever you start seeing assets like that repeating along a path, you're probably
supposed to follow them.
So that's my plan.
Also worth noting that they're not lit.
In Dzemael they were.
So that's a thing.
That could be a clue as to how finished this dungeon is…
I'm scared I'll run into another void wall like I did in Umbra Cove.
As I cross the first bridge, the vastness of the dungeon strikes me.
On both sides I could clearly see multiple levels of winding paths going into cave tunnels.
I know I keep saying this, and I hope this is the last time I do, but this… has to
be the biggest dungeon I've encountered in this series.
After crossing the final bridge, I come to a crossroad.
Left or right.
There are no braziers here to guide me, so I just take a chance and go left, as I can
faintly make out some wooden pillars in the distance.
I was correct, and I'm now facing a wooden door.
I eagerly pass through, only to be faced with an empty room…
Before I walk back I couldn't help but notice these puddles of water, which despite clearly
being still water, made the sound you'd expect to hear from running water, like a
river.
How odd.
Oh well, I walk back to where I came from and head in the other direction.
And once again I'm faced with a door…
On the other side, what is clearly meant to be a boss room greets me.
It's similar in design to the first room I encountered, but this one has no other doors,
the walls are lined with wooden pillars, there's a small pond… and this rock.
With this room having no exit, I'm actually rather confused.
The layout of the whole place so far seemed like it would be similar in design to what
we've seen in Peacegarden and Umbra Cove… but now I'm starting to believe we're
looking at something more akin to that of the Sandcaves and Tam-Tara.
An entirely open dungeon, with no set goals, unless provided by a quest.
Sadly, this means I have to backtrack to the big room, now completely lost on which direction
to take.
I decide to take the path directly in front of me.
As it had this brazier next to it.
Surely that means something…
Right?
I am faced with another door shortly after – and on the other side - Another boss-like
room!
This one is larger and more intricate.
With several elevated paths, water puddles, and these… things.
This was clearly meant to hold another type of boss, possibly an NM.
It was in this room I became aware of something deeply disturbing.
While I was recording footage of the room, standing completely still, footsteps could
still be heard in the distance.
Always when I was standing still, and often sounding like someone was stepping in water,
the footsteps would not stop following me around after entering this room.
Feeling extremely unnerved, I make haste towards the room's exit and carried on.
The room was a dead end, so I'm forced back out into the massive room.
I take the only remaining path on this level, and carry on.
The path leads to a dead end.
I'm forced to backtrack even further, to waterfall we encountered at the very start
of this giant room.
I enter a hallway to the left.
And again, an empty room.
It's clear to me now that this level is empty, having explored all the important rooms
here.
Before I ventured in search of a way to get down to the lower levels, I noticed this…
impossible waterfall…
I locate another path leading out of the giant room,.
And it's going down.
At the end of the descending tunnel, I'm faced with a choice of left or right.
I pick right, and follow the path.
A room similar to the one I encountered in the beginning of the dungeon rests at the
other end.
With 3 possible routes.
I was originally aiming for the closed door straight ahead, but I couldn't help but
notice that the door up to the left is open…
I walk up.
And I quickly realize that this is a very bad idea.
The room that greets me is almost identical to the one I was just in, but with slight
variations.
Is this the first room I encountered?
Am I back to where I started?
Not wanting to find out, I went back to the room I came from and pass through the door
I initially intended to walk through.
This path takes me even deeper down.
The second pair of footsteps have been quiet for a while now, but abruptly makes a return
as I round the corner and stop at another choice between left and right.
I choose left this time, and am delighted to see a slight change in assets as I move
further and further down.
Water puddles are now lit up, bubbles forming on the surface.
I am so deep down in this dungeon, just the thought of having to walk back out of here
makes me depressed.
In every crossroad I choose whatever path is leading down, and it just keeps going.
I take this small side-path just for the LULs, it goes on for a while, going deeper down,
until the path ends here.
In this room.
With these… piles?
Two piles of stone and junk.
Too small to be a boss room, this surely must have been part of the dungeon's storyline
of some sort.
Back to the main path, and boy does this dungeon drag on, and boy does it go deep.
The deepest Fesse I've ever seen.
Then.
A door.
On the other side, the same room we first heard the footsteps in, but this time with
more structures in them.
And crates!
Crates, sandbags and more of these rock and junk piles!
But that's when I notice another door.
Not like the others.
This door is an iron barred one.
I have seen many doors in this dungeon, but not a single one of them looked like this!
As I walk towards the door, the steps that I've heard since the first version of this
room changed.
They were no longer walking at a snail's pace.
They were practically running.
I can't…
I don't know how to explain this but I was more fascinated by this than scared.
There are no enemies in this dungeon, so I shrugged it off as a really creepy glitch.
Anyway, I pressed on through the ominous gate ready for the final boss room and – Ah.
I was staring at the void.
The final portion either never finished, or never intended to be here.
This might have just been set dressing, with a nice iron gate alluding to some sort of
storeroom or a gaol cell.
Through the missing wall I could see all the winding paths and the mess that was the Fesse.
Master of Rhyme.
Just as I turned around to return to the dungeon, I spotted what could very well be the source
of the footsteps that had been terrorizing me throughout most of the dungeon.
This floating head appeared just as I turned my camera towards the dungeon.
It quickly disappeared, but it was clearly there.
A fricking floating head!
I'm glad I only spotted it at the very end of my expedition, cause I would have noped
out of there immediately if I had seen it sooner.
I'm not sure what it was, but I'm just going to assume it was a freaky glitch, as
it did not appear when I revisited the dungeon for some b-roll footage.
So that was the Fesse.
It's clearly an early version of Dzemael Darkhold, without the crystals.
The dungeon is also insanely large.
Like…
I can't even begin to comprehend the size of this place.
And I'm almost entirely positive that this was just a clean-cut open world dungeon with
no self contained goals.
It's reasonable to assume that NPCs would give you quests to finish inside the dungeon.
I could even go so far as to say that the dungeon would probably have leves taking place
inside as well.
But, we'll never truly know.
Let me know what you think about all of this in the comments below.
It's always interesting to hear your takes on this!
I'll be back next month with another episode of Secrets of a Realm.
See you then Eorzeans!
And may you ever walk in the light of the Crystal.
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