Feeling pretty conflicted on this since The Rising Tide was positioned as the more significant DLC package of the two in the season pass, but it ends up being more like two Echoes of the Fallens in a trenchcoat.

This DLC has almost exactly the same structure as its predecessor down to the same number of major bosses (I don't count the Egi since it's recurring and is more a glorified ability tutorial) but stretched out to maybe twice the runtime. It also includes a handful of new sidequests that really do nothing but pad out its length and unlock features you already have in the main game. Gameplay-wise the new options are a good enough time, but everything else around it I found pretty uninspired, aside from the yet again best-in-class difficult boss fights. Other than that... Tonberries were cool, I guess? I was also somewhat disappointed that the proportion of interesting gameplay-altering accessories seemed lesser than Echoes.

While the story here is a little better and more pertinent to the main plotline than its predecessor, I still found it mostly pretty uninteresting give or take a couple small high points, and the ending really feels like they ran out of budget or time as the characters basically turn to the camera and say "this is why we're not doing this obvious thing" and then you randomly get granted a new ability that feels meant for when you would have possibly done that thing. I dunno!

Just... Man. I really do wish I liked it more. My heart says go lower but at worst its about at the same level as Echoes so... There it is.

I'm left mixed on this one. It has some cool concepts and aesthetics, finally some interesting accessories, more much needed party banter, and is host to a couple of the better (maybe even best?) boss fights in the game, but everything inbetween is pretty tepid and forgettable. This DLC screams "bonus" rather than another proper paid chunk of FFXVI. The story is conceptually cool, but it feels so far removed from the rest of the game and bereft of any stakes I may as well have forgotten it immediately after playing.