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The first section of the Echoes of Vana’diel raid has been released with patch 7.1 ofFinal Fantasy 14. The storyline is an incredible love letter to Square Enix’s original MMORPG,Final Fantasy 11. Players of the over 20-year-old game will find many Easter Eggs and nostalgia at every turn, but casualFFXIVplayers may be a little lost, as the rapid fire story beats and references are quickly presented without context.
Similar to the previousFinal Fantasy TacticsandNierthemed raids, Echoes of Vana’diel is not a fully 100% recreation ofFF11.Squire Enix Creative Business Unit 3 has taken several liberties to better align the raid withFFXIVconcepts and norms. This includes battles inFF11zones that never had hostile enemies, a rearranged narrative, and characters having completely different motivations. Still, the essence ofFF11’s themes is present throughout the raid.
Main Characters Of Echoes of Vana’diel, Explained
There Are Fan Favorites And New Faces
As with other content inFFXIV, you are not simply plunged into the raid without a set up. Thequest to unlock Echoes of Vana’dielintroduces several key characters.Most of them are important for the first section, but others will have big payoffs during patches 7.3 and 7.5, where the story should extend to laterFF11expansions. For now, you will mainly follow three main protagonists - Prishe, Alxaal, and Bakool Ja Ja as they traverse the city of Jeuno.
Prishe - The Heroine From Chain Of Promathia
Prishe was first introduced in the secondFF11expansion,Chains of Promathia(COP). Her loud and boisterous personality quickly made herone of the most recognizable NPCs and the unofficial face of the MMORPG. She even eclipsesFF11’s original story companion, Lion. Putting Prishe this far forward in Echoes of Vana’diel seems to mostly be due to this popularity. This is because she never interacted with most of theFF11locations and enemies that show up in Jeuno: The First Walk raid.
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As the initial raid covers the basegame ofFF11and its first expansion, Prishe’s full story may be touched on in patch 7.3.This could introduce her home of Tavaniza, a city that was overrun and destroyed inFF11’s opening cinematic. The survivors fled underground to hide from roving Orc armies. Over the course of 20 years, Prishe fought to protect the last bastion of Tavaniza, the Safehold. Yet, she never physically aged and maintained a curse as a dark crystal had formed in her chest. Through the course ofCOP, it is this very crystal that serves to undo the terror of the Twilight God, Promathia.
Alxaal is not a specific character fromFF11’s storyline, but instead is a stand-in for the player character. When Alxaal is found he has lost most of his memories, but is aware that he isn’t a normal Eorzean.He knows that he is of the “Elvaan”and that the Mamook are a dangerous enemy. But, after seeing a lack of hostility, he learns to trust the Warrior of Light.
Alxaal represents the Paladin job, which, just likeFFXIV’s reworked Paladin, was also a tank inFF11. However, it had to be unlocked through a series of quests at level 30 or higher. More importantly, Alxaal wears a Koenig armor set. This was end game equipment whenRise of Zilart(ROZ) was current. UnlikeFFXIV, equipment had all kinds of varied stats, and many players would switch gear in the middle of combat via macros.Koenig armor would actually lower the wear’s strength score, but provide lots of vitality. Certain pieces would also raise resistance to sleep, paralyze, or offer boosted evasion.
Bakool Ja Ja - A Link To Treasures Of Aht Urhgan
Bakool Ja Ja is one of the few major characters fromFFXIV’sDawntrailexpansionthat plays a part in Echoes of Vana’diel. This isn’t just happenstance, as the Mamook were major antagonists in the thirdFF11expansion,Treasures Of Aht Urhgan(TOAU). Two-headed Mammol Ja were unique, with theFF11version of Gulool Ja Ja being the only one.
The Mamook could actively invade the otherwise peaceful zone of Al Zahbi,attacking players and NPCs in an effort to steal the city’s Astral Candescene. This could result in the ire of several people around Aht Urhgan. The Serpent Generals were the actual fighters inside Al Zahbi. However, more story related characters that might appear in aFFXIVpatch may include the mercenary leader Naja Salaheem, the royal puppeteer Aphmau, or the Grand Vizier Razfahd.
Locations And Bosses Visited In Echoes of Vana’diel
The Raid Teleports Between Places
Vana’diel isn’t properly introduced while still in Eorzea. The Warrior of Light and Alxaal end up chasing Prishe into a strange swirling portal that appears in the middle of Yak T’el. Walking through it leads to multiple cities and dungeons that were notorious toFF11veterans.
Lower Jeuno
The city of Jeuno acted as the main town hub for most ofFF11’s existence. The city’s second tier,Lower Jeuno, was especially popular with players. This was due to a very visible auction house, access to important shops, and several quests that took place there. UnlikeFFXIV, there was never any combat there. Instead, the endgame zone Dynamis - Jeuno is a copy of the administrative district of Ru’Lude Gardens. Enemies like the Goblin Replica and Vanguard Pathfinder are plucked from there.
Boyahda Tree And Fafnir
Echoes of Vana’diel next teleports to the Boyahda Tree.This was never a mandatory story zone, but was a popular EXP spot at level 60 and above. More importantly, it connected to another zone, Dragon’s Aery. WhenROZwas first released, every 24 hours, Fafnir could spawn. It had some notable drops and extremely deadly attacks.
But, what made Fafnir so notorious wasFF11’s own claim mechanics:only a single alliance of 18 people could attack any monster. If your team got there too late, you could be waiting almost an entire day for another chance. Players became ruthless and greedy, finding ways to wipe out rival link shells or heal-bomb a tank, so Fafnir would switch to them and unleash its devastating Spike Flail attack. After years of drama, Square Enix changed Fafnir into a forced pop via trading items.
Ru’Aun Gardens And The Ark Angels
Sitting high above the Boyahda Tree is the floating city of Tu’Lia, entered via the outer Ru’Aun Gardens. These names never stuck with players, and is simply called “Sky” to this day.The final story fights ofROZoccur here, most notably against the five Ark Angelsthat represent the sins of the enlightened races: Apathy, Arrogance, Cowardice, Rage, and Envy. Parties of six could fight them one at a time, or a full alliance could challenge all of them at once on the battlefield Divine Might. I personally only ever attempted the latter twice, but narrowly won both times.
The Ark Angels represent another feature ofFF11: Support Jobs, though commonly called Sub Job by players. You weren’t restricted to just one job, but could havea second one at half your max level. So you could be a level 75 Black 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 the raid armor from Echoes of Vana’diel might seem so odd inFFXIV; it directly mimics these contrasting jobs.
Mithra (Miqo’te)
Bard, Machinist, Dancer
Castle Zvahl And The Shadow Lord
The Shadow Lord was the main threat inFF11’s original 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 rage called out to the dark rider Odin, who, in turn, gifted him his forbidden powers. The Shadow Lord was reborn and soon built his stronghold within Xarcabard, the fearsome Castle Zvahl.
The Shadow Lord’s infamy is regional -FF11only released as a standalone game in Japan.FF11came bundled withROZin North America, and bothROZandCOPin Europe. This power creep resulted in players being at a much higher level and better geared for what Castle Zvahl was designed for. Many monsters simply wouldn’t attack max level players, and the Shadow Lord would often die before unleashing any powerful moves.FFXIVremedies this by letting the Shadow Lord fight at full strength, thoughFFXIVhas other power scaling issues.
Should You Try Final Fantasy 11 After Beating Echoes of Vana’diel?
The MMO Still Receives Updates
Even in 2024,FF11is still active and has a healthy and dedicated player base. It is nowhere as popular as its heyday in 2004-2008, but it can still be a great adventure for first-time players. However, you should brace yourself if you have only playedFFXIVand other modern MMORPGs.FF11predates evenWorld of Warcraftand fashioned many of its ideas fromEver Quest.
Many players joke that the “first boss” is the installation process. It can be very confusing to set up a PlayOnline account, even as an existing Square Enix Customer. And, most of the game files are downloaded after the initial launch. YouTuberAzuriteTVshowed their harrowing experience trying to get the game to run, which took them nearly three hours to even get started. The last time I did a fresh installation ofFF11was in 2021, and I have never deleted it to avoid a similar situation.
A Game Built For 2002
FF11was made for a very different era of gaming. One of the most notable omissions isa complete lack of quest markers. This has led to many players using guides and wikis to even navigate most game systems. More quality of life features have been added over the years, like teleportation and mounts that are sometimes superior toFFXIV’s. But, it can take time to understand all the mechanics.
Personally, I stopped subscribing toFF11in 2015, a few years after the release of the last full expansion,Seekers of Adoulin(SOA). However,nearly every year, Square Enix offers a week or more of free playtime, and I have used this to get multiple jobs to level 99, try the latest endgame content, and obtain item level 119 gear from activities like Domain Invasion and Ambuscade.
As mentioned,Final Fantasy 11has way more freedom thanFinal Fantasy 14. Every job feels completely different and equipment has a huge impact on performance. You can tap into multiple expansions and storylines at once without needing to complete the others. If you are tired of the gameplay homogenization that has cropped up sinceShadowbringersand intoDawntrail, dipping into its sibling MMO may be worth it.
