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Despite the definitive ending ofFinal Fantasy 16, more adventures are waiting for you, Clive, Torgal, and the rest of the crew through paid DLC. Echoes of the Fallen is the first of two expansions that follow Clive and his allies as they travel to a brand-new dungeon containing tough boss fights and dark secrets.
There is a decent storyline to follow through the Echoes of the Fallen campaign, but it focuses more on combat and dungeon-crawling than gripping you with a new narrative. With new weapons to discover and a tight runtime, this DLC is worth checking out if you’ve felt nostalgic about your time in Rosaria and feel like hanging out with old friends like Jill and Joshua again.
Slight spoilers for Final Fantasy 16’s campaign are below. You should complete most of the game — everything before the final confrontation — before reading ahead.
When Can You Start Echoes Of The Fallen?
Once you purchase the Echoes of the Fallen DLC for $9.99 or buy the expansion pass for $24.99, you won’t be able to start itunless you’ve already cleared a few prerequisites.
There are three things you must do before you can start this quest — you must haveunlocked Originon the world map and completed the side quests’Priceless’and’Where There’s A Will.‘Once these three things have been accomplished, the Echoes of the Fallen story can be initiated by talking to Charon at the Hideaway.
A Strange Crystal
Charon will inform Clive thatsuspicious merchants have been selling “dusk crystals"to customers that crumble after a couple of uses. Clive, Joshua, Jill, and Torgal team up once again to stop the scammers from making a profit off of Rosaria’s misfortunes.
While Clive and Charon are talking, the ground suddenly shakes, and the camera cuts to a group of merchants as they mine more dusk crystals. After the earthquake, the group decides to run away while they can.
Back at the Hideaway, Clive and the group realize that these dusk crystals must becoming from a hidden Mothercrystalthey didn’t even know existed.
After talking to Harpocrates, he theorizes that this Mothercrystal wasn’t on their list becauseit was created by the Fallen instead of Ultima. The only way to find out is to track down the merchants and uncover their source.
The party runs into the snake oil salesmen as they are chased out of Port Isolde and continues to track them until they are eventually caught hiding outside Martha’s Rest.
During the confrontation, another earthquake causes anearby tower known as the Sagespireto start glowing, and after an ambush from a monster, the merchants escape yet again.
Clive, Joshua, Jill, and Torgal eventually find the entrance to the Sagespire in The Dim and head inside to investigate.
Boss Gauntlet
Shortly after their entrance, the tower begins initiating a security scan andunleashes enemies to protect itself. After a few battles, the group opens a door and reveals alarge mass of dusk crystals covering the hallways of the building.
The group hears a scream and stumbles upon the merchants again and must save them from the first of many bosses waiting inside the tower — Sigma.
After defeating Sigma, Joshua notices the Mothercrystal hiding inside the core of the spire before it’s sent to the top of the tower.
The merchants confirm that theMothercrystal was created by the Fallenand that they have been selling the crystals to take advantage of the lack of magik in Rosaria. Clive and his crew move onward to destroy the Mothercrystal and remove its looming danger.
As they continue their quest, they find a group of rooms with creatures stored inside. After discovering some log books, it’s revealed that the Fallen wereturning living creatures into crystals. Some of them eventually break through their containers, forcing you to fight a variety of enemies like Scorpions and Griffins.
The rest of the journey to the top of the tower forces you to face some of the toughest bosses in the game, from therelentless fury of Omicron to the unpredictability of Angra Mainyu.
The Truth Of The Sagespire
Before reaching the peak, the group realizes that the hallways are nowcovered in what seems like living flesh, indicating that the tower might actually be alive. After a handful of battles, the group finally reaches the Mothercrystal, but before they can get too close, it initiates a final sequence: Eikonoklastic defense system Omega-1.
Suddenly,a massive synthetic Eikon named Omegareveals itself and absorbs the Mothercrytal as a final line of protection. The brutal battle against this boss involves multiple phases that make Omega even stronger each round. During its final phase, Omega begins constricting all of creation, making it nearly impossible for the protagonists to breathe and creating a heightened sense of emergency.
Once it’s finally defeated, Clive prepares to destroy the Mothercrystal before the merchants make one last plea for him to change his mind. Clive convinces them that the Mothercrystal is dangerous, and they finally let him shatter it.
Why Was The Mother Crystal Created?
Ultimately,the Sagespire and its Mothercrystal were created by the Fallen in an attempt for them to wield power like gods. While the crystal itself was a mere imitation of the real thing, the technology involved with the process was so advanced that it almost matched the power the Fallen sought.
If Clive and his friends hadn’t stopped Omega,Rosaria would have been at risk of being destroyedby the powerful beings dwelling inside the tower.
After returning to the Hideaway, Clive, Joshua, Jill, Charon, and Harpocrates agree thatthe quest for power often comes with corruptionand that they will always find a way to be better than those who came before them.
