It was a nice surprise that a Final Fantasy XVI DLC was announced and shadowdropped. Square Enix’s latest numbered entry to the fabled RPG series, which is more of a character action game with RPG elements this time, is getting two DLCs, the first being Echoes Of The Fallen.
It’s been a while since I’ve booted up FFXVI, I felt pretty much content with what the game offers by the end of my review. So what does Echoes Of The Fallen offers here to pull me, or any curious buyers of the DLC, back? Well, it’s just more FFXVI, essentially. The good bit, where you go through a linear action-packed level with carefully paced enemy drops and boss fights.
Party Up For One More Time (Until The Next Time)
Echoes Of The Fallen will require you to reach near the end of FFXVI to access. And before that, you’ll have to do two specific side quests before it’s even unlocked. If you’re like me, you’re probably be dreading seeing all those green exclamation marks left unattended.
FFXVI’s side quests are engaging in the early and mid-game where any morsel of lore or worldbuilding felt insightful and worth doing the tedious fetch quests for. Having to do the two side quests that I purposely skipped beforehand, only to learn why it’s a requirement before the DLC can start, really left my head scratching. These two side quests are buried under the many other likely less interesting and/or important side quests, why? Future games should really think not only on how to not only make these side quests mechanically engaging, but also a better way of grouping them up. Some players would totally spend time doing companion quests that further develops the bonds of the party members. Well, at least I would. Yet I was led to believe all of the late-game side quests are busy work to pad out the game length because by that time, I’ve had enough of doing the same boring side quests.
Yet, despite having to go through that to ensure Clive has all the party members following him for this DLC, there’s really little character development that we get with all the folks here. The last time we have this particular party composition it was fun but it had to be cut short due to the unfolding events. Now that they’re all back together again, and most of the time it’s just short quips and spoken observations about the events. There’s an opportunity to address FFXVI’s weakness in portraying party interactions and it was fumbled. Hard.
Once you do get the DLC quest to start proper (it is clearly marked when it becomes available), and it’s off to investigate a recently discovered Fallen structure, the Sagespire. Like most main quests in the base game, Clive and the party will have to traverse the overworld first before being able to fast travel to the actual level. You’ll be trundling down the meadows and swamps of Rosaria again but this time, that one mysterious door that could not be open the first time you discover the Fallen shrines is now open. Turns out that was a DLC door all along. So Echoes Of The Fallen has been planned for some time now, as even the entrance to the new location has been hinted all along in the base game.
The Sagespire itself is a beautiful architecture, so you get some extravagant views as your climb upwards through this dungeon (which, like all linear levels in the game, can be replayed in Arcade Mode once cleared). It’s highly detailed, and I noticed that the game also is running close to 30 fps more often in this level when the graphics is set to “prioritise frame rate”.
The climb upwards is long and filled with challenging encounters. If you feel the later parts of the game was too rushed that you didn’t get enough time to mess about with the later Eikon abilities outside of doing New Game+ (and clearing the remaining monotonous side quests), then this DLC is the answer to your prayers. Enemies start at level 47 onwards and they have new tricks- some enemy spellcasters can conjure a different kind of protect wall where hitting them with melee hurts you so it’s better to use magicks instead. Some enemies are just new variants of existing enemy types (the goblins are back, for example) but the sub-bosses are new. And tough.
Eikonoklasm Rave Party
And as you can expect, the end of the DLC culminates with a boss fight, and it sure is an event. The presentation of the boss fights have been going more and more grandiose and over-the-top throughout the game, and by the time you reach Echoes Of The Fallen’s boss, it sure lives up to that. Without saying specifically what it is, the boss fight (and the whole presentation of it) strikes me as what I think of a Final Fantasy XIV raid boss might be. It’s an impression I had as someone that never touched the critically acclaimed MMORPG, and it turns out I may not be entirely wrong with this.
The boss fight is tough (the health bar barely moves and the boss can deal ridiculous damage), but maybe not superboss level of tough. Though the whole structure of the DLC can feel like a secret dungeon that leads to a superboss like past FF games used to have. If it wasn’t paid DLC, that is.
The new lore the DLC present is interesting, but it only serves to flesh out bits that we already know in fuller detail. In particular about the Fallen.
The real standout of the DLC has to be the new music. The music team continued their hot streak of the masterpiece that is FFXVI’s soundtrack with at least two remarkable songs. One incorporates organs, a great instrument that really lend a certain gravitas towards your ascend upwards. And the other song, Eikonoklasm, is a breakbeat-type beat. Somehow, the out-of-place boss fight songs from the base game has another addition and this time you’re quick-stepping in a rave where an orchestral choir hums to the thumping pace made up of chops of the amen break. It’s quite majestic, and absolutely wild. Put this song in a workout playlist. Or, well, a rave.
Other than that, Echoes Of The Fallen also awards you some new bits of equipment. No really, the new bits set of accessories have fascinating properties for those still playing FFXVI to optimise their moveset.
Closing Thoughts
Is Echoes Of The Fallen DLC worth getting? For the price of RM40 in Malaysia, you’re getting exactly what you pay for. A new quest, a new linear level, some new gear and bits of new lore. Which amounts to less than five hours of play. That’s really it. This DLC is not an essential purchase, it’s not the DLC that will entice anyone not playing FFXVI yet to buy the game. It’s safe to skip.
But if you do buy Echoes Of The Fallen, you now have an excuse to go back and do all the late-game side quests and activities you might have skipped through to rush to the ending. It’s another dose of the best part of Final Fantasy XVI. But I won’t blame you should you skip this and wait for the Rising Tide DLC.
Review code provided by PlayStation Asia