A particular moment that stuck out to me from this DLC is when Clive and the gang experience Mysidia firsthand, seeing blue skies and lush green life once again, after being deprived of it by Ultima. Their awe was not unlike mine. This new location is indeed a sight for eyes sore of gloomy skies. In that way, the DLC has already filled a hole that XVI had for a good amount of its runtime. And I think that is a pretty good summation of The Rising Tide; it is what XVI needed to become truly whole.

You can see that theme in Tide's story as well. For the most part, you will be assisting Shula, a leader of a tribe of people who used to live in the South before the fall of Drake's Horn, in rescuing Leviathan's dominant from a cruel fate concocted by her ancestors. In many ways, her journey runs parallel to Clive's, as she has to be the one to step up to the plate, decide what is best for her people, and bear the consequences of their actions. Both Shula and Clive learn from each other, and in turn, they become closer to what their people need them to be. It is a very solid foundation that helps Tide's story arc to be one of the stronger ones in XVI overall.

Then you have Leviathan's powers, which, in gameplay, fill a new role that the other Eikons haven't truly served. With their long-range attacks and high evasion capabilities, it's basically a great zoning tool to have while you are rapidly crunching down on the enemies' stagger gauge. It plays almost like some of those lock-on-based shooters, from back when the gaming industry hadn't truly figured out aiming and shooting mechanics yet. And it's a blast to use. For me, one of the most satisfying parts of XVI's combat is killing mobs as fast as possible, and Leviathan's high stagger damage is very helpful indeed.

And of course, we have to talk about XVI's special sauce: the Eikon boss fights. Leviathan is easily my 2nd favourite Eikon fight, and fellow XVI enjoyers will probably know how high of a praise that is. It's not the most epic in terms of pure spectacle and presentation, but it's definitely the most challenging one. Died a couple times trying to pass the DPS check, and was also too eager to use all my health items in the last stage, haha. Gotta shout out the Timekeeper boss too, probably my favorite non-Eikon boss fight in XVI.

I do have some slight disappointments, the biggest one being the lack of Jill's involvement considering the Southern setting. But overall, I am very satisfied with this DLC. If CBU3 really decides to move on from XVI after this, then it is indeed a wonderful note to end on. XVI has been living rent-free on my mind for almost a full year now, and The Rising Tide has only strengthened its place, like rain seeping into the soil and nourishing life.

I bought and started this DLC right when it dropped since I was so damn hungry for XVI content back then. Played it for about 2 hours, had a blast re-learning all the gameplay moves and stuff, and was generally very happy to be back with Clive and the gang, striking down fools with the power of friendship. I found out it was a pretty short DLC so I saved the last hour for whenever the next DLC drops. It's supposed to drop in the next 24 hours, so here I am.

Echoes is pretty much a meaty, sizeable dungeon run; the kind you would expect to be abundant in these sort of RPGs. And XVI certainly had a lot of them already, so Echoes doesn't necessarily break new ground on that department. In fact, it doesn't really break any ground. It pretty much keeps all the qualities of the main game: entertaining dialogue, fantastic looking environments, great soundtrack, fun minibosses, and an amazing final boss.

The plot of Echoes definitely feels like one of those filler anime episodes, except there's no drop in quality, it just feels filler because it doesn't directly relate to the main story. If you talk to Harpocrates and browse the Thousand Tomes, the game will mention that Clive's accounts of this DLC will not count towards his wisdom, and that's probably the most apt way to describe Echoes' event, haha. But we do get some more badass Clive lines, so it was certainly not for naught.

But Echoes truly excels in the enemies it introduces. Omicron is a speedy miniboss that feels particularly satisfying to perfect dodge against, and the Ancient Minotaur near the end absolutely wrecked me a couple times. The absolute peak is the final boss here; Omega in all their forms. Their attack patterns and moves are so fun to deal with, it's basically a good distillation of some of my favorite parts of XVI bosses: chaotic bullet hell and AoE attacks mixed with quick blows and lunges that you gotta dodge well. And of course Omega's soundtrack fucking owns.

Aside from that, I don't think Echoes will stick out to me whenever I think of FFXVI in the future. But as far as I'm concerned, it does its job of being this neat, little appetizer before The Rising Tide, and that's all I expected from this. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be crying to My Star on the Orchestrion.

P.S. it's insane that they let us transmog Clive's sword to the Buster Sword. I will NOT be switching back to any other sword model haha

I remember playing this game around the time of its launch for a couple hours or so, being mesmerized by its brand of hard boiled sci-fi dystopia. It's not hard to see why I was so enthralled by it back then: the first 5-6 hours successfully introduces an interesting world where the advancement of man-made tech is equally matched, if not exceeded, by the occult and the supernatural. Gameplay wise, despite lacking in tutorials, the design starts simple enough to ease you in, but not too simple to bore you. Not to mention the cast of decently written, colorful characters that you are being subjected to.

But the depth in those aspects are quite lacking, especially as you reach a certain chapter where things start to get quite wild, story-wise. The progression of the story's scale and stakes in the 2nd act already feels a bit sudden and unnatural on its own. But combined by all the side characters not being fleshed out enough, the disappointingly same-y level and encounter design, and a unwelcomed difficulty spike in this act, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed with how they executed the game's second half. It almost feels rushed.

A big part of why I loved the first half of the game is how well the game introduces all sorts of interesting lore through its main missions, while maintaining this delightful detective vibe in its gameplay. From delving into Seattle's drug addict woes, to dealing with dead spirits in order to gain their testimony of an event nobody else saw, there's all sorts of stuff happening in the 1st act that I really enjoyed. You don't have to figure the story out yourself, but the CRPG gameplay of exploring thoroughly to fully scope out all your options fits perfectly with its premise of trying to figure out who killed your old friend. Even if the gameplay possibilities and options aren't that extensive (it's a relatively small scale game after all), the act of playing detective and getting yourselves some allies along the way is still a fun endeavor. The 2nd and 3rd act unfortunately doesn't have quite the same level of variety and memorability.

The RPG systems are pretty decent for the most part. Outside of combat, the various stats serve mostly to unlock certain dialogues options or pathways that usually will save you a minute or two of your time, and in the sense of their usefulness, there is a lot of room to improve on. Coupled with the somewhat cramped level design, it can feel more like a linear story rather than a CRPG. But executing these bonus options still feel satisfying.

In regards to combat, these systems feel more fleshed out, since the abilities and bonuses you'll get for advancing in the game's various combat stats feel much more helpful. For example, being able to mark a target to temporarily increase the chance of hitting them by advancing the Decking stats, and combining that with abilities such as full-auto assault rifle attacks. But do note that the combat follows the XCOM system of hit percentages, so be prepared for utter frustration as you miss attacks with 90% hit chance.

All in all, Shadowrun Returns feels more like a prelude of what's to come, rather than a completely realized idea. Still, I did have a fun time playing it, and I will be checking out the sequels someday to see if they ever get to fulfill this game's potential.