It’s hard to believe that we’re already getting expansions toFinal Fantasy XVI’s extensive story. While we’ve known about them for a little while now, no one expected one of them to be shadowdropped at this year’s Game Awards show. Echoes of the Fallen marks the first of two DLC packs coming to the PlayStation 5, with the second, Rising Tides, coming in spring of next year. While we’re going to have to wait to learn about what happened to the sea serpent Leviathan, what we have today is a look at a more unnatural enemy in the form of Omega. Is this all we could have hoped for one of 2023’s best games, or is this content that should have been included in the main game to begin with?
Echoes of the Fallen is a straightforward expansion to the original game. It can be played in the latter half of the campaign and tasks Clive and friends to investigate an active tower from a familiar location. You may have passed through this area early in the campaign, but not much happened here considering it’s located in a Blighted land where magic is inaccessible. The beetle-like machine Omega has come to terrorize the world as a new Mothercrystal has been found, or at least an artificial one. The story dives a little more into the Fallen civilization that wasn’t thoroughly explained in the events of Final Fantasy XVI. It was an afterthought that could be referenced than something substantial that was brought to the forefront. Unfortunately, this short snippet of content doesn’t expand the lore too much, but does shed some light on their experimentations on creatures, airship capabilities and magitek weaponry.
The progression of this dungeon is straightforward. It’s going room to room clearing out enemies and occasionally fighting a boss. While the minions are primarily just reused enemies in the core game, the smaller bosses spread throughout are unique to the expansion, and are rather nice references to other Final Fantasy enemies, such as the Omnicron droid from Final Fantasy XIV, which will become a running theme considering the development team’s history. There are three unique bosses in this short adventure, each with their own unique attack patterns players will need to get used to. It’s the same gameplay we’ve come to expect as the combat hasn’t changed a bit, but the scenarios that have been introduced focus on picking your time to strike and break off.
The final encounter with Omega itself is engaging, having a couple of phases and one of the coolest arenas of any of the fights. If you’re an avid Final Fantasy XIV fan, you’ll be right at home, or have PTSD from the more recent The Omega Protocol Ultimate as not only does Omega have the beetle-like design, but plenty of his attacks, such as Wave Cannon and Pantokrator, are pulled from other games in the franchise. This even has a remix of eScape from the MMORPG, which while is a nice nod to one of Masayoshi Soken’s greatest works, unfortunately is far from the best iteration of the track. That’s not to say it’s bad by any means as it serves the mechanical and futuristic nature of the battle, but it’s a less impactful version than we hoped for. Finally, the one disadvantage to this expansion is that the new map is entirely segmented. The Sagespire is a fascinating structure and provides serene views, but once the story is completed, players will no longer be able to access this area outside of using the Arete Stone to replay the mission.
As for loot, there’s a surprising number of accessories to be found throughout the new dungeon. These are more endgame pieces that will help players in very specific situations, such as reducing cooldowns when precision dodging or increasing the damage multiplier when an enemy is staggered. They’ve even added more incentive for performing aerial attacks by having an accessory that does 20% more damage and increasing the number of stomps. There’s a lot of variety here that allows for even more customization to a player’s playstyle. There’s also two new weapons (or technically one that’s just upgraded into the Omega Weapon at the end). The Omega Weapon is roughly ten percent more powerful than the endgame blade, Gotterdammerung, which should allow players to get through the main campaign faster. It still doesn’t hold a candle to the new game+ weapons, but it gives a unique skin that can be glamoured.
Closing Comments:
Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Fallen isn’t going to blow your socks off, but it does expand the lore ever so slightly and introduce a beloved franchise antagonist. This is essentially a two-to-three-hour long mission going from room to room, clearing out baddies and taking down raid-approved bosses. The rewards for endgame players not looking to go into new game+ are worth it, and the adventure along the way is compelling enough to keep our attention. It may be formulaic and overly straightforward, but it doesn’t stray too far from the fantastical formula the main campaign established. The only major thing missing is an eikon fight. In the end, Echoes of the Fallen is a solid adventure that will keep you entertained for an evening.
