Final Fantasy 16 Rising Tide DLC
Added 2025-07-29 00:47:13 +0000 UTCEarly ad-free access for our playthrough to the Rising Tide DLC in Final Fantasy 16
Comments
For Ken: Odin, Ifrit, Bahamut For Beth: Phoenix, Bahamut, and then possibly Leviathan (I like the new tsunami power we unlocked but gotta play around with that more, if not Leviathan than Ifrit)
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:57:44 +0000 UTCAgreed!
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:54:25 +0000 UTCSo true!
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:54:12 +0000 UTCOh god, I don't even want to know what our final death count was!
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:53:51 +0000 UTCThe struggle was real!!! 😂
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:52:19 +0000 UTCWell that's kind of amazing 😂
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:51:20 +0000 UTCAnd of course we moved to the left 😂
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:47:28 +0000 UTCHaha, seriously! They injected that little bit of hope so people didn't rage quit and throw controllers. 😂
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:47:05 +0000 UTCThis is so nice to hear, thank you JT. At the end of the day we care greatly about our community and want to ensure we're putting out the best possible content while also remaining authentic to who we are and our honest reaction experience. So as long as we are doing that and the community is enjoying the content then everyone wins, and if that ever were to change we trust our community to let us know. 🙂
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:44:30 +0000 UTCThank you!
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:39:29 +0000 UTC😂 can't wait!
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-29 14:38:07 +0000 UTCHow to scare a FF16 player: https://youtu.be/rJcJHcskfYA?si=JvJEtZS-N4Q8ytpO
JT
2025-07-29 14:00:36 +0000 UTCWell, wasn't that a ride? Like I've said before, the final boss is gonna be a fair bit easier than Omega and Leviathan. They don't increase in difficulty to compensate for the equipment that you get from Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide, and there ain't no obnoxiously hard DPS checks lol. Didn't think The Rising Tide was coming in this soon. Assuming the finale is tomorrow, it looks like I'm about to go into overdrive in wrapping up my notes. Ya think I said a lot here? Ya haven't seen shit yet lol. See ya there!
JT
2025-07-29 12:49:14 +0000 UTCSo I'm unsure if you've already finished the game by the time ya see this, but there is one last thing I'd like to say about The Rising Tide. There is a side mission in Mysidia named "Water of Life" that serves as a pretty good epilogue for The Rising Tide if you're interested about seeing the story of Shula and Waljas wrap up with a neat little ribbon. I understand you're probably already looking past this expansion after all that's happened, but I'll leave this link here with full footage on the side mission if you're interested. Doesn't even have to be for a video, could just be for your viewing pleasure. https://youtu.be/A2rb9IncVaY?si=ZXUF7nuWaqEB5HdH Also, not sure if you'll be cleaning up any leftover side missions, but iirc ya still haven't finished up Blackthorne's line of missions. If your were any at all curious about his history or character I suggest wrapping that up. The gear the missions reward ya with won't be better than the DLC equipment though.
JT
2025-07-29 12:47:07 +0000 UTC4:42:35 Well there's never been any official statement as to why Rising Tide is DLC (to my knowledge), and I'm not a member of the dev team, so I can only give a few speculations as to why based on my knowledge of why things end up being DLC. 1) The business execs of Square Enix wanted FF16 to have more longevity and bring in more money, so they had Creative Business Unit 3 cook up some more content for it several months after release. Y'know, standard AAA game business. 2) You're speculation of the devs not having the time to implement the story content and Leviathan into the base game may not be too far off the mark. The base game's moments between main parts of the story are already pretty neutered from the resources it took to make the big Eikon fights, so it's not unreasonable to think that Leviathan would likely need more time. It's also not unheard of for a game's base game content or planned DLC to balloon so much during development that it has to be released later via a separate release. Won't spoil anything, but Xenoblade 2 had a story chapter that started becoming so elaborate during development that the dev team decided to make it a separate expansion. One that you can play without having to buy the base game and was actually sold on its own dedicated cartridge. Another example is Hollow Knight Silksong. It was originally just gonna be another DLC for Hollow Knight, but it had grown to such a size that it turned into a sequel (that we've been waiting for since 2019 god damn it).
JT
2025-07-29 12:38:08 +0000 UTC4:41:53 While I obviously ain't speaking for everyone in the community here, I do got some words on this. I'm paying a fair bit of money to be here as I am, so it's true that I do have certain expectations of how much content comes out per week. But I would never want ya to start putting extra pressure on yourselves to crank out more content if the frustration and stress starts to hinder your enjoyment of the stuff we come here for. Since this is a reaction channel, I come to ya'll for the sake of seeing a couple of delightful people experience and enjoy things that I'm also interested in. Thus, I would never want ya to start taking things to an extent that would stop that from being the case. If ya had to take some more time to cover The Rising Tide on your own time, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. That's just me though. Just spitballing here.
JT
2025-07-29 12:21:22 +0000 UTC4:37:18 While I do agree that Leviathan is def a huge difficulty spike, I honestly can't say that I feel wronged by them making it so difficult. The Rising Tide is an extra $20 DLC, so I feel like a player that is spend more than what is necessary to roll credits should get a greater challenge than what is presented by the base game. That's just me though. I guess ya do have a point of it not being considerate of casuals. I will say that I do believe that the inclusion of phase 2's DPS check is likely a result of the studio behind FF16 not being experienced with making these sorts of character action games (or games meant for "casuals" either). You see, FF16 was developed by Square Enix's studio named Creative Business Unit 3. The only works that they were responsible for prior to this game were Final Fantasy 11 and 14, which are both MMORPGs. DPS checks are a relatively common method MMORPGs use to ramp up difficulty. Problem is, I can't say that such a mechanic has a good place being in a character action game that is largely designed to appeal to the casual market. This is a point that I have more words on, but I'll be saving all of that for when we're through with FF16.
JT
2025-07-29 12:06:30 +0000 UTCIm tryna figure out if the Leviathan if ff15 is larger than this one🤔
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 12:05:00 +0000 UTCYou guys did it. Thats the main thing! And thank you for the continued content!
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 12:02:22 +0000 UTCI feel your pain - i don't want to spoil you, but i think Leviathan is the toughest boss in the game due to the DPS check.
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 11:58:57 +0000 UTC4:19:29 Lol the "not this time" still gets me. They knew people were gonna get their shit kicked in with Tsunami lmao.
JT
2025-07-29 11:18:21 +0000 UTC4:17:32 Waterspout can be avoided if you hold (not tap) circle to extend Ifrit's Spitfire dash. I find it's easier if ya just move to the right. No part of this fight "requires" you to take damage lol.
JT
2025-07-29 11:16:09 +0000 UTC(3:50:30) Bethany casually breaking the fourth wall by saying it's 3:50 at 3 hours and 50 mins into the vid lol.
JT
2025-07-29 10:35:35 +0000 UTC3:05:00 I wouldn't say that your level was the issue here. Throughout this journey, I've been trying to drop some Ifrit tips that were actually low-key trying to prepare ya for this very moment. A way of trying to help without outright spoiling that there'd be a Ifrit fight in the DLC. Guess I'll just bring re-mention the points that I had brought up before that can really help turn the tables here: - Holding circle to let Wildfire close the distance as much as possible. - Holding Brimstone (Ifrit's special square attack) only until the gauge hits red, not until it hits the top. Doing so maximizes the damage. - Unlocking Clive's basic moves like lunge and downthrust. These attacks transfer over to Ifrit, which gives you more combos to work with. - Using Ifrit's Backdraft combos. They're designed to chain together smoothly and deal much more damage output as opposed to just mashing square. I had considered giving you this video here two FF16 parts ago to help ya see just how much Ifrit is able to do, but I thought that would've been too on the nose. Basically me just shouting "look out, you're gonna fight Leviathan as Ifrit!" https://youtu.be/1FEbahDOO4M?si=VO5QMgy_kiRp3VdN Though seeing how things transpired, maybe being on the discrete side about these things may not have been the correct decision. I don't know.
JT
2025-07-29 10:27:52 +0000 UTC3:02:19 Oh no 😅. I had foreseen this type of thing happening for a while now but to see it actually play out is really something else. Never seen you this angry before Ken omg. 😨
JT
2025-07-29 09:54:07 +0000 UTCNow I know ya’ll say you’re casuals, but getting trounced this bad by a literal infant is something else smh… Nah but seriously, Leviathan is without question the hardest boss in this game. While his first and third phases are somewhat challenging, that damn Tsunami DPS check in the second phase is something else. I’ve alluded to it before in past comments throughout this journey, and it’s the one thing that made me question if ya’ll could handle the DLC on your own bc it’s just so much more demanding than anything else in FF16. I once advised ya to take a serious look at Ifrit’s combos, and this moment is exactly why. The battle calls for you to have an understanding of how to maximize Ifrit's damage output. Genuinely had even me frustrated when I first played Rising Tide when it launched since I was so rusty with Ifrit, and it still took me exactly three times to clear it on my second run. Killed me more times than everything else in the game combined, and I know damn well I ain’t alone in that. Guess this is what we get for saying that the game was too easy. That being said, Ifrit vs Leviathan is still easily my favorite Ifrit fight. The challenge and lesser use of QTEs makes it stand at the top for me. I’d probably put it just under Omega and Barnabas as my third favorite story boss. Like Omega, I really wish I could try my hand at it in Final Fantasy mode.
JT
2025-07-29 09:18:31 +0000 UTCThe epic theme that kicks in after stopping Leviathan’s Tsunami is titled “Cascade”. It’s an extended rendition of the song that played at the end of the very first trailer that revealed FF16 to the public back in 2020. Since Rising Tide was the last content to come out for FF16, it serves as a cool way to bookend this game’s journey if you had finished the base game before this DLC released. Though the first 10-20 seconds serve as the BGM for Tsunami, so I think it may still be a PTSD trigger for some. That still ain't stopping me from adding to the energy playlist though.
JT
2025-07-29 09:16:43 +0000 UTC2:22:50 Nah ya don't need full health, you just gotta dodge just right. Dodging gives you invincibility frames, so you're able to roll through the blades if ya move when they're coming at you. Though I guess this advice is of no use by now lol.
JT
2025-07-29 09:00:52 +0000 UTCThe Timekeeper boss is damn good. Definitely in my top 5.
JT
2025-07-29 08:51:26 +0000 UTCOmg 6 Deaths Later 😆
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 06:47:24 +0000 UTCCorrection Ifrit
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 06:44:51 +0000 UTCAs a baby, Leviaithan is already overpowerful and was kicking clive's ass 🤣
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 06:44:35 +0000 UTCU guys got it in the end! Attacking with the beam from afar is the only way i found to win.
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 06:34:20 +0000 UTCThe Tsunami attack is majestic ngl and annoying at the same time 😂
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 06:29:10 +0000 UTCThe musical score, scenery is gorgeous during the leviathan fight
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 06:22:44 +0000 UTCI remember fighting the TimeKeeper. He is powerful lol. Died once myself. Once you recognise his pattern though its easier.
Mosh Mia
2025-07-29 06:05:39 +0000 UTCKinda figured you two weren't gonna take to Odin abilities. Perhaps I should've just forwarded a video guide or two about 'em instead of trying to cover them my own way here in the comments. My way didn't seem to leave much of an impression. Edit: Ok after seeing how ya took to Leviathan's abilities here (54:56) in this tutorial fight, my way was definitely NOT the right way. Looks like trying to explain combat stuff in depth over text ain't gonna help. Guess I'll keep this in mind for future journeys.
JT
2025-07-29 01:37:11 +0000 UTC37:25 These right here are Tonberries. They are another longtime Final Fantasy enemy that've been around since FF5. The ones here in FF16 are much larger, but they're typically portrayed as small green skinned monsters with a cloak, lantern, and butcher knife. They often fight together in groups. The ones here in FF16 are laughably easy compared to their counterparts from other games. While they move incredibly slow, they have obnoxiously high HP and a signature attack named "Chef's Knife" that'll instantly kill any party member that gets hit with it. They're up there with Behemoths and Malboros as being the most dangerous creatures in the series.
JT
2025-07-29 01:34:02 +0000 UTCWith Leviathan joining the fray, you’ve now been properly acquainted with all of the summons that were a part of the original 8 (we’ll count Ambrosia in place of the chocobo summon). Thus, I wanted to ask you two as to which summons are your favorites so far. A few of them didn’t get to do much in FF16, so how about I just ask for your top 4 or 5? I figure Ifrit’s gonna be both your number 1 choice by default bc he’s because he so prominent in this game so I think this is a fair number. Ya can go by any criteria ya want. I’ll recap them as a quick refresher: - Ifrit 🔥 - Phoenix 🔥 - Garuda 💨 - Ramuh ⚡️ - Titan 🪨 - Bahamut 💡 - Shiva ❄️ - Odin ⚫️ - Leviathan 💧
JT
2025-07-29 00:54:13 +0000 UTCNow that we’ve more or less reached the end of the road, I find that there’s no sense in doing my usual overviews for the two remaining Eikons. Since you two won’t be using them much longer after seeing this, I figured it’d just be better to send ya this video showcasing the two of them in action. https://youtu.be/tZmkq77tZCo?si=ybqF3VpF7pZwvZLi You obtain Ultima’s abilities upon loading a “completed game” save file and heading over to the Arete Stone. Ultima grants Clive his power seemingly just out of intrigue and amusement. Redoing the final boss with these abilities is rather funny cause Ultima would probably be regretting his decision lol. Here’s the cutscene for unlocking his moves if you’re interested: https://youtu.be/MmgbFTkLCoc?si=yf6qIwM-CedQ1UD3
JT
2025-07-29 00:53:05 +0000 UTCLeviathan is yet another summon that was part of the original summons introduced in FF3 that usually serves as the go-to summon for the water element. Its design tends to stay largely the same throughout the series, that being a blue sea serpent of large proportions. While Leviathan hasn’t been included as much in later FFs, it holds a number of appearances across the series that’s comparable to Bahamut. Its gender varies from game to game, with it being sometimes male and sometimes female. It’s typically a requirement to defeat Leviathan in battle to gain access to its summon, and FF16’s fight is arguably the most spectacular one thus far. Its signature attack (as you can probably guess by now) is Tsunami/Tidal Wave, a massive water attack that annihilates enemies.
JT
2025-07-29 00:52:43 +0000 UTCYo what the hell ya'll stealth dropping again right when I'm trying go to sleep god damn it lmao. Came prepared though. Gonna leave what notes I can and get the hell out cuz I don't got all night lol.
JT
2025-07-29 00:48:24 +0000 UTC
