This review contains spoilers
Better than Echoes of the Fallen for me. Really liked the new Eikon powers, and especially the fight with Timekeeper. The only thing I wanted was more Jill and I feel like I didn't get it properly.
A new epilogue or ending would've been nice, but I'm nitpicking on that. I'm still high on the Clive being alive after defeating Ultima. 8/10
A new epilogue or ending would've been nice, but I'm nitpicking on that. I'm still high on the Clive being alive after defeating Ultima. 8/10
The Rising Tide is a little microcosm of what I enjoyed in the main game: Smooth and satifying (though not very deep) combat, beautiful enviroment/world design and setpieces with an amount of oomph rarely found in other games. It's a perfect little snack to enjoy after the main game reminding me that Final Fantasy XVI was quite nice, actually. It's a very competent DLC that tops this story off quite well.
The Rising Tide, where Clive has to fight an Eikon that is both a hydrogen bomb and a coughing baby. Where Echoes of the Fallen was mainly just combat with very little story, this feels more like what I'd expect from FFXVI, where Clive has to go to a village, get his millionth seal that lets him take on side quests (that are still terrible), and there's a decently open little zone to run around in, before going to the more linear dungeon to absorb some more Eikon juice, this time in the form of Leviathan.
I liked most of this! The story it tells about how the ancient Mysidians had to create a time bubble to stop Leviathan with the help of a former Shiva dominant, so there's just this part of the island you're on where time is frozen which I think is a really cool concept, but it's also visually so interesting when you walk around that part and there's water drops just stuck in the air, and a giant wave out in the ocean that's frozen in time (which is basically just a matte painting, but it looks very cool!) The new companion, Shula, I also enjoyed quite a bit. She's not some incredible character, and this is still very much The Clive Show, but it's nice to have a female character with a bit more agency and than Jill, who, by the way, does accompany Clive on this entire little adventure but even with her connection to Shiva gets about as little to do here as in the second half of the base game.
The boss fights for Rising Tide were surprisingly good. You get one as human Clive which really tests what you know about those mechanics, and then obviously also one against Leviathan as Ifrit, which is the same, but with what you know about the Eikon mechanics. It feels like a good conclusion to FFXVI as a whole, and as a fight, Leviathan is by far the best Eikon fight of all since he's actually pretty hard (at least on Final Fantasy Mode). Visually, though, it's probably the least interesting fight since it's set in a pretty boring arena and lacks those big moments that made the base game's Eikon fights so memorable, like the end of the Bahamut fight. If you do let him use Tidal Wave, however, be prepared to see probably the best looking tsunami that's ever been put in a video game before you inevitably die a horrible death.
And that's the DLC for FFXVI. Pretty fun, better pacing than the main story and it does avoid some of the more problematic aspects of the main story by not at all being about the magic slavery and actually having a good, female character that is more than just a very strong design to look at. But it's still XVI in a lot of ways with its bad side quests, the many invisible walls, the erratic frame rate outside of combat, said combat being pretty repetitive, and the complete focus on Clive and only Clive despite both Joshua and Jill being by his side. It's no must-play, but also nothing I regret buying or having played. Guess that applies to Final Fantasy XVI as a whole.
I liked most of this! The story it tells about how the ancient Mysidians had to create a time bubble to stop Leviathan with the help of a former Shiva dominant, so there's just this part of the island you're on where time is frozen which I think is a really cool concept, but it's also visually so interesting when you walk around that part and there's water drops just stuck in the air, and a giant wave out in the ocean that's frozen in time (which is basically just a matte painting, but it looks very cool!) The new companion, Shula, I also enjoyed quite a bit. She's not some incredible character, and this is still very much The Clive Show, but it's nice to have a female character with a bit more agency and than Jill, who, by the way, does accompany Clive on this entire little adventure but even with her connection to Shiva gets about as little to do here as in the second half of the base game.
The boss fights for Rising Tide were surprisingly good. You get one as human Clive which really tests what you know about those mechanics, and then obviously also one against Leviathan as Ifrit, which is the same, but with what you know about the Eikon mechanics. It feels like a good conclusion to FFXVI as a whole, and as a fight, Leviathan is by far the best Eikon fight of all since he's actually pretty hard (at least on Final Fantasy Mode). Visually, though, it's probably the least interesting fight since it's set in a pretty boring arena and lacks those big moments that made the base game's Eikon fights so memorable, like the end of the Bahamut fight. If you do let him use Tidal Wave, however, be prepared to see probably the best looking tsunami that's ever been put in a video game before you inevitably die a horrible death.
And that's the DLC for FFXVI. Pretty fun, better pacing than the main story and it does avoid some of the more problematic aspects of the main story by not at all being about the magic slavery and actually having a good, female character that is more than just a very strong design to look at. But it's still XVI in a lot of ways with its bad side quests, the many invisible walls, the erratic frame rate outside of combat, said combat being pretty repetitive, and the complete focus on Clive and only Clive despite both Joshua and Jill being by his side. It's no must-play, but also nothing I regret buying or having played. Guess that applies to Final Fantasy XVI as a whole.
After being burned with Ifrit's flames by the lack of quality in the first part of this DLC, I am emphatically pleased to say that this one rules. Everything that works about Final Fantasy XVI is present here. Great music, grand boss fights, gorgeous environments, and some of the best combat in the business. These were the aspects of FFXVI that stuck with me, and the aspects most revered within this expansion. Now with the shackles that were binding them down in the base game entirely removed.
The pacing is the most improved among these now-gone restrictions. There is little content in the realm of dilly-dallying at all. Not a second spent collecting grains of sand at all, not one single second.
By taking the game to a luscious tropical environment, the visuals truly excel here. They clearly spent a lot of resources on making Final Fantasy XVI look nice, only to waste every second of that time by painting the world in life-sucked landscapes and beige-coloured clouds. This DLC is free of these blemishes, and makes you realise how opulently gorgeous this game is. It is almost enough to make one forgive the atrocious framerate. Almost.
Also now present is a shockingly good difficulty curve. It’s a true perfect incline. There is no longer a late game flatline whatsoever. Perhaps only because of the lack of a late game, but such monotony is not there nonetheless.
The story, however, is just as eye-gougingly miserable as ever. They even give you a depressed NPC companion to remind the characters they are not allowed to have fun, even if they really want to. Thankfully, the brevity of this episode means the cons of a dull and drawn out story don’t have enough time to sink their claws in. Another negative of the full game washed away on these new sun-kissed shores.
I am delighted I didn’t write this whole pass as drivel after the first half. If you liked the base game enough, you should play this one. It is fun.
The pacing is the most improved among these now-gone restrictions. There is little content in the realm of dilly-dallying at all. Not a second spent collecting grains of sand at all, not one single second.
By taking the game to a luscious tropical environment, the visuals truly excel here. They clearly spent a lot of resources on making Final Fantasy XVI look nice, only to waste every second of that time by painting the world in life-sucked landscapes and beige-coloured clouds. This DLC is free of these blemishes, and makes you realise how opulently gorgeous this game is. It is almost enough to make one forgive the atrocious framerate. Almost.
Also now present is a shockingly good difficulty curve. It’s a true perfect incline. There is no longer a late game flatline whatsoever. Perhaps only because of the lack of a late game, but such monotony is not there nonetheless.
The story, however, is just as eye-gougingly miserable as ever. They even give you a depressed NPC companion to remind the characters they are not allowed to have fun, even if they really want to. Thankfully, the brevity of this episode means the cons of a dull and drawn out story don’t have enough time to sink their claws in. Another negative of the full game washed away on these new sun-kissed shores.
I am delighted I didn’t write this whole pass as drivel after the first half. If you liked the base game enough, you should play this one. It is fun.