Knowing the ending of FFXVI, The Rising Tide doesn’t change Clive’s outcome or add a meaningful impact to the world to warrant an emotional introspection like the main game’s story. Instead, it adds additional power to Clive’s Eikonic skillset, making him appropriately powerful for postgame content that will assuredly punish players and test their might in Final Fantasy Mode. It might be a weirdly timed expansion, but it adds enough meat to the core gameplay to encourage replaying.
Final Fantasy XVI was one of the better games I played in 2023. When I initially reviewed it, I struggled putting my DualSense down as my afternoons turned into evenings and then into the wee hours of the morning. There were fleeting moments where I felt inclined to say that Final Fantasy XVI was one of my most favorite FFs. I’m not intending to start a debate about the best FF title; instead, I’m wanting to drive home the notion of Final Fantasy XVI being a cherished title.
After completing the main story, there aren’t that many loose ends to continue exploring what’s left of Valisthea. A few months ago, the team working on FFXVI supposedly disbanded to work on other projects, quelling the idea of something more in this specific universe’s future. Despite all of this, FFXVI released two DLC expansions. Nathan covered the first expansion, Echoes of the Fallen, praising it for how it expanded the level cap, told a bite-sized story of Valisthea’s past, and added degrees of challenge for FFXVI diehards who take advantage of Final Fantasy Mode.
Today (err, a few days ago), The Rising Tide made its way to PlayStation 5 consoles. Today, I will be sharing my thoughts on the supposed final chapter of Final Fantasy XVI. Today, the tale Clive and co. ends with the briefest of journeys to the mysterious land of Mysidia. Included is a short main story, new Eikonic abilities, some side quests, and a new mode to test players’ mettle. I will do my best to avoid spoilers. If you haven’t yet completed FFXVI, I would avoid reading this review until you do so.
It feels bittersweet to see this game’s story “end” in the most final sense. After spending six hours playing through the brief story, the side quests, and testing the new Kairos Gate content, I’m left feeling like this expansion is a weirdly timed expansion with shallow additions to the fully fleshed out world from the base game.
Mysidia is a very beautiful place, a blend of Mediterranean culture and ancient meso-American architecture. Protected from the rest of the world’s politics, Mysidians live a moderately peaceful life. Leviathan’s dominant slumbers under the surface of their otherworldly shield, frozen in time. Instead of Akashic creatures, Tonberrys and other new enemies are fought in the jungles. From the moment Shula, Mysidia’s protector, takes Clive and his party beyond the magical veil shielding the island from the rest of the world, the tropical paradise becomes a monsoon of epic proportions.
Oddly enough, this DLC cannot be accessed until the late game when I was about to enter the final showdown. The weakest of plot armor at the start of The Rising Tide contrasts the island with the rest of Valisthea and attempts to justify Mysidia as a late-game space, but just about everything else within the main quest doesn’t require the player to effectively master Clive’s abilities or present a challenge in the form of higher-than-usual enemy power levels. Despite enemies being level 50, I could easily dispose of most of them with single abilities that I had already unlocked and mastered.
Early on in the DLC’s main story I was able to unlock the Leviathan set of Eikonic abilities, further granting me the ability to mix and match my loadout. These abilities are ranged abilities for the most part, drastically modifying Clive’s basic attacks and giving him access to knockbacks and other tools that keep enemies at arm’s length. Crowd control is something that was lightly touched on in the base game, but the ranged abilities feel slightly out of place. Very few of them feel like they synergize well with any of the other Eikonic abilities, let alone feel like they have the same “oomph” of satisfying impact that come from using the likes of Titan’s Windup and Phoenix’s Rising Flame. Perhaps this could be addressed with an additional rumble or sound effect, but the water-gun effects need to feel more like a fire hose and less like a squirt gun.
Leviathan’s abilities are quite powerful, though, don’t worry. After the learning curve that came with figuring out the new basic attacks and the ammunition management system of Serpent’s Cry, defeating large waves of Tonberries became an easy affair.
It felt weird to get Leviathan’s Eikonic abilities in what is arguably the endgame of Final Fantasy XVI, especially as the final chapter (second expansion) of the game’s release. Most players, myself included, have spent oodles of time testing various loadouts in Final Fantasy Mode. The DLC’s main questline isn’t enough to encourage players to utilize and use the new set of abilities, especially since the only other quest to complete outside of Mysidia is the final Origin quest. There’s the post-game Final Fantasy mode, too, but that mode is less about playing flexibly and testing out loadouts. It’s more about min-maxing loadouts to go against drastically more powerful enemies.
When I think about how Square should have positioned The Rising Tide, I think of how Guerrilla Games positioned The Frozen Wilds expansion within Horizon Zero Dawn. This DLC was balanced around a level 30 player but could have been found and completed at just about any time. Come across The Frozen Wilds on your way to Meridian for the first time? Okay, good luck! Return to the Frozen Wilds once you’ve completed the main quest? Okay, that’s fine, too. Either way, the player could pick up this DLC expansion at any point without it drastically impacting the rest of the game’s outcome.
Square could have utilized the same approach for The Rising Tide. Heck, they should have done this approach when they were considering medium-term support of the game. In a world where Final Fantasy XVI is set to come out for PC, it would make sense for players to purchase the full editions of FFXVI so they could have everything unlocked from the start. Since the Leviathan Eikon’s loadout drastically changes Clive from a close-ranged beast into a mid-to-long-range combatant with a water gun for an arm, more time should have been given to the player to experiment with Leviathan in relation to the rest of the Eikonic abilities.
This is all to say that The Rising Tide’s new content feels out of place. It should have come out before Echoes of the Fallen’s postgame-focused updates, and it should have been made available in-game before the final battle.
My complaints aside, The Rising Tide is a meaty chunk of content. The main quest features around three hours of gameplay, culminating in an Eikonic battle similar to that of the other “big boss” battles of FFXVI. While this boss battle might not have the same grandeur as some of the other boss battles of the base game’s main story, it presents one of the few “good” challenges. Another hour or two can be spent on side quests upon completion of the expansion’s main quest line. For those of you keeping track, that is around five hours. Less if you forgo grinding every enemy that you come across; more if you get distracted with trying to find the hidden collectibles that can be used to craft the expansion’s newest equipment and accessories.
Beyond that, The Rising Tide offers some additional post-game content that further boosts the difficulty of Final Fantasy Mode. First, for those who have completed the game in its entirety, a hidden set of Eikonic abilities (that are very powerful and satisfying, befitting of post-game content) can be unlocked for use in Final Fantasy Mode. The Rising Tide also includes a roguelite mode called Kairos Gate. This mode can be completed by casual players and hardcore strategists; if you’re wanting to unlock a secret final boss, you’ll need to get an S-rank in every wave on Final Fantasy Mode.
When Nathan discussed the boosted level cap in his review of Echoes of the Fallen, he noted that the difficulty challenge was meaningful. The Kairos Gate mode offers an additionally meaningful yet challenging set of battles for diehards to play. This is some very good post-game content, folks.
Final Fantasy XVI remains a gorgeous game. Its inclusion of Mysidian beaches and tropics add a beautiful new biome for players to enjoy. I loved how Square Enix Creative Business Unit III has created a lush world to supplement the dire straits that are impacting the high fantasy world of Valisthea being stripped of its resources.
Now comes the time where I should wrap this review up, but do know that my criticism shouldn’t push you away from considering The Rising Tide to wrap up your experience playing Final Fantasy XVI. I enjoyed the brief time I spent with this DLC. Knowing that this is the conclusive “end” to Clive’s story as of now is enough to tell me that I should spend more time than I already have experimenting with the postgame content, as it’s clear to me that quite a bit of thought has been added to making the game challenging in a meaningful fashion.
Knowing the ending of FFXVI, The Rising Tide doesn’t change Clive’s outcome or add a meaningful impact to the world to warrant an emotional introspection like the main game’s story. Instead, it adds additional power to Clive’s Eikonic skillset, making him appropriately powerful for postgame content that will assuredly punish players and test their might in Final Fantasy Mode. It might be a weirdly timed expansion, but it adds enough meat to the core gameplay to encourage replaying.
