The Rising Tide is the second and final expansion for Final Fantasy XVI, offering something that Echoes of the Fallen, the previous DLC, lacked. This new content is aimed at those who have already completed the game and want greater challenges and to hone their skills. I’ll explain how he achieves this, but I will say that Square Enix has an ace up its sleeve.
In this new adventure, Clive and his companions Jill, Joshua and Torgal weigh anchor to reach the northern region of Mysidia. A place completely isolated from the world where the mighty Eikon, Leviathan, is said to rest. In this new area we will meet a new character, Shula, who leads a small group and, like Clive, wants to save the Leviathan carrier.
The story is decent and has some emotional moments, but unfortunately Shula is an extremely flat and boring character who never shuts up. The way Square Enix managed to introduce Dominant (the person who owns the Eikon) and what happened in the region is the best part of the story, with the mystery and atmosphere adding to the tension throughout the new characters do the opposite.
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The side quests introduced in this DLC are mostly completely boring and offer nothing of value, making them very tedious to complete. One of the first requires us to walk a few meters to collect flowers for the village blacksmith because his wife thought that would be a good way to introduce what is a very boring and unnecessary premise when the player has already passed dozens is of hours in Final Fantasy XVI. Towards the end of this three-hour expansion, only a few slightly more entertaining missions appear in which we are ordered to defeat King Tomberi to prevent a Tomberi invasion.
What Square Enix is particularly touting with this DLC is that we would be able to control a new Eikon and at the beginning of the adventure Clive manages to absorb part of it, enough to use the monster’s water abilities, adding something new to the game since then Wind, fire, lightning and ice were already in our arsenal, but now we can destroy our enemies with water. Leviathan encourages the player to create distance from their target and shoot with water abilities to reduce their momentum bar and stun them for a while. I didn’t think I would like the new powers so much, because when you’ve played for 80 hours with six other powers, it can be difficult to surprise with a new one, but Square Enix has done the impossible, because exactly how I As already said in the introduction, the developers have an ace up their sleeve.
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Not only does The Rising Tide introduce a new story, but it also adds a new rogue-like game mode called Kairos Portal, located in Clive’s lair. When we face this challenge for the first time, we receive a gift from the game’s main antagonist, Ultima, in the form of a portion of her power, with which, with this expansion, we will be able to use not only Leviathan’s powers, but also those of Ultima, which is overwhelming but greatly appreciated.
In the Kairós portal, the player is faced with the challenge of mastering 20 levels in which he fights a boss from the main game in all five. In this game mode, the equipment is predetermined and the only thing you can change is the Eikon abilities. The only way to improve is to achieve better results in battles (different attack patterns, better time, etc.), which grants upgrades and virtues as rewards. Improvements grant permanent benefits depending on the round, and Virtues provide benefits on multiple levels. I’m not going to lie, the Kairos Portal is very difficult and tests everything you’ve learned, which is logical considering it’s a challenge for those who have already completed the game. Square Enix even created a leaderboard to compete with other players for the top spot. The only thing I would have liked was the ability to save mid-attempt, because level 20 takes a while, but unfortunately that’s not an option, so when you finish you have to start over instead of being able to continue at level 20 Level you were at.
The Rising Tide is an excellent conclusion to Final Fantasy XVI that offers exactly what the first expansion didn’t. Now the game feels complete and together with the two DLCs it also feels like a magical journey. I want to emphasize that this expansion pass is worth investing in if you want more content and greater challenges, as The Rising Tide offers three hours of story alone and two additional hours if you’re interested in side missions. However, it is difficult to estimate how long these will last. The game Kairós Portal offers a lot of replay value. If it weren’t for this mode, it would be difficult to justify the price of this new adventure, but there is no doubt that it is worth every penny.