Echo (Final Fantasy XIV)

The Echo is a special ability that some rare individuals possess, and an important part of the Final Fantasy XIV storyline. Those that have been 'gifted', as the members of the Path of the Twelve call it, have the power to resonate with other people's souls—and see their past, albeit not able to interfere or change it, as well as being able to speak every language in the world. As a side effect, the Echo also seems to prevent its user from being tempered by Primals.

It has been reported that this power is awakening over the last ten years, with no signal of its existence before that time. Those who awaken to it often experience a vision of meteors falling from a burning sky.

Final Fantasy XIV
It is revealed on the third quest of the main storyline of all city-states that the Adventurer has been 'gifted' with the Echo. Upon discovering this, s/he is called to the Merchant Wards of Ul'dah where they are invited to join the Path of the Twelve. The true nature and origins of the Echo are currently unknown. According to Ifrit, there's a specific deity who gave the power of Echo to everyone who possesses it, but not even he seems to know who that deity is.

Anyone who possess the Echo is branded as a Beastman by the Garlean Empire, and therefore is considered an enemy of the empire.

The power of the Echo is used on most class quests. Therefore, even if the Adventurer reaches rank 20, s/he is unable to begin any class quest before finishing the fourth main storyline quest.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
It is revealed that the Echo is linked to the mothercrystal, Hydaelyn.

The Adventurer discovers an affinity with the Echo after finding the first Crystal of Light during the early storyline, complete with a vision of the starshower. S/he soon after see visions of the Scion encountered during the story.

Throughout the Main Scenario, the Adventurer has various visions depicting prior events, such as the leaders of Eorzea at the Battle of Carteneau or the steps that led to an altercation in Ul'Dah. This trait leads to the Adventurer being invited to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, the successor to the Path of the Twelve.

A Realm Awoken
Minfilia and later the Adventurer are approached by a white-robed Ascian named Elidibus, who claims the Echo is a gift that the Adventurer has yet to master, and in time it may allow them to see the Ascians for who they really are. He also further implores him/her to understand the true nature of the Echo.

Through the Maelstrom
Taking Elidibus's words into consideration about "the true nature of the Echo," Minfilia accompanies Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn and the other Scions to the Sahagin's spawning grounds after learning they mean to summon Leviathan. During the ritual to summon the Lord of the Whorls, they witness the Sahagin Priest has achieved an advanced stage of the Echo that enables him to enter the bodies of his fellow Sahagin upon death....only to eventually be absorbed by the newly awakened Primal.

Dreams of Ice
Ysayle, another bearer of the Echo, was able to channel the primal Shiva into her body and transform into the Lady of Frost.

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
The Ascians reveal that they can use the Echo, referenced by Lahabrea as the "power to break the barriers of existence", to combine into Ascian Primes. Similar to the Sahagin Priest, he ends up getting absorbed by the primal King Thordan.

Powers
The most profound ability is seeing memories of another being to view past events. This power occurs automatically without the user's control, but can yield information they would not obtain otherwise. These visions can even be from millennia ago, as the Adventurer once saw an event from Emperor Xande's life in the Third Astral Era.

A more subtle effect is the implicit understand of languages. Throughout the story, any foreign language is automatically understood by the player character, usually with the dialogue boxes slightly altered to imply this is in effect. The most obvious instance of this is whenever Ascians have speaking roles.

Gameplay
In addition to its plot significance, the Echo is a gameplay mechanic applied to instanced duties in certain cases.

This Echo boost is a boost to all stats granted with the following conditions:
 * In the event a solo instanced duty is failed, an Echo bonus will be applied when trying again.
 * For trials, an echo bonus may be applied to the party in the event of a wipe, up to five times. This bonus is either a 5% or 10% boost (per increment).
 * For older raid content, the echo is a fixed bonus automatically applied to the party. The strength of the Echo varies based on duty, and will not increase.

In most cases, the Echo is only applied to content in subsequent version updates. The Echo only affects the players' attributes; it has no effect on fight mechanics themselves.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
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