Is the echo artificial?

[Cleretic]

I think the static is more of a thing to show you that you're having a flashback than something that's supposed to actually mean something.

In 1.0, whenever we had Echo flashbacks, we actually moved around and could interact with people but at the same time it wasn't easy to realize we were having an Echo moment and the stories were really confusing. I imagine that switching to this was Yoshi-P's way to make the story clearer.

Considering all cutscenes have panning cinematic views, I don't think that's supposed to mean anything either. The only times we're in first person are for the handful of cutscenes each expansion where we're waiting for and talking to a handful of people who come up to us back-to-back.

Yeah, it's all this. FFXIV actually does a hell of a lot of things that are basically pure cinematic flair/gameplay conceit, and can't and shouldn't really be read into to that degree. The Echo filter is just one of many.

Especially given... well, we know exactly what the Echo is now, to a very specific degree. And it's not artificial.