Everything to know about Final Fantasy XIV’s Echoes Of Vana’diel Raid

The first section of the Echoes of Vana’diel raid was released with patch 7.1 of Final Fantasy 14. The plot is an incredible love letter to Square Enix’s original MMORPG, Final Fantasy 11. Players of the game over 20 will find lots of Easter Eggs and nostalgia at every step, but casually FFXIV Players may find themselves a little lost, as rapid-fire story beats and references are quickly presented without context.

Similar to previous Final Fantasy Tactics and Nier themed attacks, Echoes of Vana’diel is not a 100% recreation of FF11. Squire Enix Creative Business Unit 3 took several liberties to better align the attack with FFXIV concepts and standards. This includes battles in FF11 zones that never had hostile enemies, a reorganized narrative and characters with completely different motivations. Still, the essence FF11The themes of are present throughout the attack.

Echoes of Vana’diel Main Characters, Explained

There are fan favorites and new faces

As with other content on FFXIVyou’re not just diving into the offense without a setup. The quest to unlock Echoes of Vana’diel features several main characters. Most of them are important for the first section, but others will have big rewards during patches 7.3 and 7.5where the story should extend to later FF11 expansions. For now, you will mainly follow three main protagonists – Prishe, Alxaal, and Bakool Ja Ja as they make their way through the city of Jeuno.

Prishe – the heroine of Chain Of Promathia

Prishe was first introduced in the second FF11 expansion, Promathia Chains (POLICE OFFICER). Her loud and boisterous personality quickly made her one of the most recognized NPCs and the unofficial face of the MMORPG. She even eclipses FF11original story companion, Lion. Placing Prishe so far ahead in Echoes of Vana’diel seems to be mainly due to this popularity. This is because she has never interacted with most of the FF11 locations and enemies that appear in Jeuno Raid: The First Walk.

How does the initial attack cover the base game of FF11 and its first expansion, Prishe’s full story, can be told in patch 7.3. This could feature your home in Tavanizaa city that was invaded and destroyed in FF11is the cinematic opening. The survivors fled underground to hide from the roving Orc armies. Over the course of 20 years, Prishe fought to protect Tavaniza’s last stronghold, Safehold. However, she never aged physically and maintained a curse when a dark crystal formed in her chest. Through the course POLICE OFFICERIt is this same crystal that serves to undo the terror of the God of Twilight, Promathia.

Alxaal – The armor-clad wanderer

Alxaal is not a specific character from FF11of the plot, but is instead a stand-in for the player character. When Alxaal is found, he has lost most of his memories, but knows he is not a normal Eorzean. He knows he’s from “Elvaan” and that the Mamook are a dangerous enemy. But, upon realizing the lack of hostility, he learns to trust the Warrior of Light.

Alxaal represents the work of Paladin, who, like FFXIVReworked Paladin, was also a tank in FF11. However, it had to be unlocked through a series of quests at level 30 or higher. Most importantly, Alxaal wears Koenig armor. This was the game’s final gear when Rise of Zilart (ROZ) was current. Different FFXIVgear had all sorts of varying stats, and many players switched gear mid-combat via macros. Koenig armor would lower wear resistance scorebut they provide a lot of vitality. Certain pieces would also increase resistance to sleep, paralyze or offer greater evasion.

Bakool Ja Ja – A link to the treasures of Aht Urhgan

Bakool Ja Ja is one of the few main characters in FFXIVof Dawn trail expansion that plays a role in Echoes of Vana’diel. This isn’t just a fluke, as the Mamook were the main antagonists in the third FF11 expansion, Treasures of Aht Urhgan (TOAU). Two-headed Mammol Ja was unique, with the FF11 version of Gulool Ja Ja being the only one.

The Mamook could actively invade the peaceful zone of Al Zahbi, attacking players and NPCs in an effort to steal the town’s Astral Candescene. This could result in the anger of several people around Aht Urhgan. The Serpent Generals were the real fighters within Al Zahbi. However, more story-related characters that may appear in a FFXIV patch may include mercenary leader Naja Salaheem, royal puppeteer Aphmau, or Grand Vizier Razfahd.

Locations and bosses visited in Echoes of Vana’diel

Raid teleports between places

Vana’diel was not properly introduced while still in Eorzea. The Warrior of Light and Alxaal end up chasing Prishe to a strange rotating portal that appears in the middle of Yak T’el. Walking it leads to several towns and dungeons that were notorious for FF11 veterans.

Bass Jeuno

The city of Jeuno served as the main city center for most of the FF11existence. The second level of the city, Lower Jeuno, was especially popular with players. This was due to a very visible auction house, access to important stores, and various missions that took place there. Different FFXIVthere was never any fighting there. Instead, the Dynamis – Jeuno end zone is a copy of the Ru’Lude Gardens administrative district. Enemies like Goblin Replica and Vanguard Pathfinder are taken from there.

Boyahda and Fafnir Tree

Then, Echoes of Vana’diel teleports to the Boyahda Tree. This was never a mandatory story zonebut it was a popular EXP location at level 60 and above. Most importantly, it connected to another zone, Dragon’s Aery. When ROZ was first released, every 24 hours, Fafnir could appear. He had some notable falls and extremely deadly attacks.

But what made Fafnir so famous was FF11own claim mechanics: only a single alliance of 18 people could attack any monster. If your team arrives too late, you could wait almost an entire day for another chance. Players became ruthless and greedy, finding ways to destroy rival link projectiles or bomb a tank, then Fafnir would switch to them and unleash his devastating Spike Flail attack. After years of drama, Square Enix turned Fafnir into forced pop through item swapping.

Ru’Aun Gardens and the Angels of the Ark

High above the Boyahda Tree is the floating city of Tu’Lia, accessed from the outer Ru’Aun Gardens. These names never stuck with the players and are simply called “Sky” to this day. The final fight story of ROZ occur here, mainly against the five Ark Angels which represent the sins of the enlightened races: Apathy, Arrogance, Cowardice, Anger and Envy. Groups of six could fight them one at a time, or a full alliance could challenge them all at once on the Divine Power battlefield. Personally, I’ve only tried the latter twice, but narrowly won both times.

The Ark Angels represent another characteristic of FF11: Support jobs, although commonly called Subjobs by players. You were not restricted to just one job, but you could have one second at half your maximum level. So you could be a level 75 Dark Mage, but gain the spells and abilities of a 37 Scholar at the same time. The Ark Angels were even more powerful as they were two full jobs at once. This is also why Echoes of Vana’diel’s attack armor can look so strange on FFXIV; he directly imitates these contrasting works.

Zvahl Castle and the Lord of Shadows

The Shadow Lord was the main threat in FF11original story. He was once a proud soldier of Bastok named Raogrimm, but was betrayed and left for dead in the strange northern region of Xarcabard. His anger called upon the dark knight Odin, who, in turn, gifted him with his forbidden powers. The Lord of Shadows was reborn and soon built his stronghold in Xarcabard, the fearsome Castle Zvahl.

The Shadow Lord’s infamy is regional – FF11 released only as a standalone game in Japan. FF11 came along with ROZ in North America, and both ROZ and POLICE OFFICER in Europe. This increase in power has resulted in players being at a much higher level and better prepared for what Castle Zvahl was designed for. Many monsters simply wouldn’t attack max-level players, and the Shadow Lord often died before launching any powerful moves. FFXIV resolves this by letting the Shadow Lord fight at full strength, although FFXIV has other energy scaling problems.

Should you try Final Fantasy 11 after beating Echoes of Vana’diel?

The MMO still receives updates

Even in 2024, FF11 is still active and has a healthy and dedicated player base. It’s not as popular as it was in its heyday in 2004-2008, but it can still be a great adventure for beginning players. However, you should prepare yourself if you just played FFXIV and other modern MMORPGs. FF11 even precedes World of Warcraft and shaped many of his ideas from Always search.

Many players joke that the “first boss” is the installation process. It can be very confusing to set up a PlayOnline account, even if you are an existing Square Enix customer. And most game files are downloaded after the initial launch. YouTuber AzuriteTV showed their harrowing experience trying to get the game to run, which took almost three hours to start. The last time I did a fresh install of FF11 It was in 2021 and I never deleted it to avoid a similar situation.

A game built for 2002

FF11 it was made for a very different era of gaming. One of the most notable omissions is a complete lack of quest markers. This has led to many gamers using guides and wikis to navigate most gaming systems. More quality of life features have been added over the years, such as teleportation and mounts that are sometimes superior to FFXIV‘s. But it may take some time to understand all the mechanics.

Personally, I stopped subscribing FF11 in 2015, a few years after the release of the last full expansion, Adoulin Seekers (SOA). However, Almost every year, Square Enix offers a week or more of free game timeand I’ve used this to take various jobs up to level 99, try out the latest endgame content, and get level 119 gear from activities like Domain Invasion and Ambush.

As mentioned, Final Fantasy 11 have much more freedom than Final Fantasy 14. Every job looks completely different and equipment has a huge impact on performance. You can enjoy multiple expansions and stories at the same time, without having to complete the others. If you’re tired of the homogenization of gameplay that’s emerged since then Shadow Heralds and in Dawn trailDiving into its sister MMO could be worth it.

Source: AzuriteTV