FFXIV Guide: The Rising Password for Cheap Dungeon

Final Fantasy XIV‘s yearly The Rising event commemorates both the events in the game world’s deep lore and the players who make the game possible. This year, it is accompanied by a particular event quest that gives you access to the Cheap Dungeon, a retro-inspired throwback to dungeon crawlers of old. We’re here to tell you how do you get to it, what to do once you’re there, and what the point is!

How to Get There

The first thing you’ll need to do is head to Ul’dah and the Stairs of Nald. Pick up the “A Reoccurring Bug” quest—a level 15 quest—and make your way to Western Thanalan to search for the Wandering Minstrel at Nophica’s Wells. You’ll go through some dialogue once you find him, where the minstrel explains the trouble caused by some magic bugs, before gaining access to the dungeon itself.

Once inside, you’ll soon realize the pun-ny significance of the quest’s name. The Cheap Dungeon is a throwback to old-school dungeon crawlers, where you navigate a labyrinthine series of corridors in first person. As you do so, you’ll be treated to an 8-bit soundtrack playing and—depending on your background—some nostalgia-inspiring retro graphics. Your goal here is to unscramble a series of letters to find the right password to complete the dungeon and get rid of the “bug.”

What to Do

To do that, you will need to explore each nook and cranny of both floors. There are some quirky little game developer jokes to be found on some of the walls, but what you’re really looking for are numbers and letters. The numbers on the first floor correspond with the order of letters on the second floor, and you unscramble the letters based on that to get the password. You get a map that fills itself in as you explore and will record the location of the numbers and letters, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a pencil and paper handy to jot them down and save yourself from going back and forth to check the map.

Spoilers Ahead!

The password is randomly picked from a pool of possibilities, including Bahamut, Chocobo, Crystal, and Fantasy. After entering the password, you’ll head back out of the Cheap Dungeon and speak with the minstrel again, before being treated to a nifty little cut scene; after going back to Ul’dah and finishing the quest, along with seeing an additional scene, you’ll receive your reward: a Stormblood Orchestration Roll, a Wind-up Lyse, and a Wind-up Gosetsu. You also get unlimited access to the Cheap Dungeon and can get back to it by visiting an inn, if you wish.

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That wraps up this guide to the Cheap Dungeon! The quest is available until September 14th at 7:59 PDT. Let us know if you plan on completing it!