The following feature contains SPOILERS for Final Fantasy 16 and The Rising Tide DLC.
ThroughoutFinal Fantasy 16, music has played a significant role in telling the game’s tragic tale, between the calming tones of Rosaria and the fast-paced anthems of various Eikons. In the case ofThe Rising Tide’s main boss theme, ‘Cascade’, the story of how it made its way intoFinal Fantasy 16can be traced back to the game’s first trailer, shown three years before the game’s release.
InThe Rising Tide, the second expansion forFinal Fantasy 16, the main focus was on Leviathan the Lost, the serpentine Eikon of Water notably absent from the base game. Before the final main story quest, ‘Back to Their Origin’, Clive receives a letter from an unknown sender who asks Clive to help them free Leviathan’s Dominant, the infant Waljas, from an unjust fate. As the story of The Rising Tide continued, players were treated to a tune that would become the main leitmotif for the expansion. This tune reached its crescendowhen Ifrit and Leviathan came to blowsat the end of the DLC, as ‘Cascade’ sent keen-eared players on a nostalgia trip to a time whenFinal Fantasy 16was first made known.
Final Fantasy 16’s ‘Cascade’ is the Perfect Awakening and Bookend
In 2020,Final Fantasy 16had its first public appearanceduring a PS5 Showcase leading up to its launch. Dubbed the ‘Awakening’ trailer by Square Enix, this gaveFinal Fantasyfans their first glimpse at Clive, and a taste of what the developers, such as producer Naoki Yoshida and lead composer Masayoshi Soken, had up their sleeves. A song played during the trailer’s latter half, matching the beat of Clive’s Eikonic abilities. The song went unused in the base version ofFinal Fantasy 16, leaving fans to wonder if it was left on the cutting room floor.
However, just beforeThe Rising Tide’s release, Yoshida said that Soken and his team had plans for the Awakening trailer’s missing theme. Those plans came to fruition during the DLC, as Leviathan’s theme was divided into multiple phases to match the battle. The first half started with ‘To Sail Forbidden Seas’, followed by a low rumbling motif ofThe Rising Tide’s main theme, as Leviathan and Ifrit clashed on Mysidia’s open waters. Keen-eared fans were then treated to a callback to bothFinal Fantasy 16’s premiere and another Square Enix game scored by Soken.
Leitmotifs Are A Final Fantasy Franchise Staple
After the first phase gave players a low-key version of The Rising Tide’s main theme, a “DPS check” midway through the fight featured an orchestral rendition ofFinal Fantasy 14’s ‘Through the Maelstrom’, which was used against that game’s version of Leviathan. The final phase started with a triumphant fanfare to ‘Cascade’, and the chorus from the ‘Awakening’ trailer of 2020 returned. With Leviathan on the ropes, and Ifrit poised to tame the rampaging Eikon and save Waljas, the high-key brass and thumping drum beats sounded clear as the waters. Though the song was hinted asplayers acceptedThe Rising Tide’s story quest, and throughout Mysidia’s Haven village, the fight against the formerly lost Eikon deserved an equally lost anthem that was found again.
Given both Soken’s andtheFinal Fantasyfranchise’spenchant for leitmotifs, the reference to the ‘Awakening’ trailer within the game’s second, and potentially final, expansion served as a bookend for the game, as a full-circle moment. AlthoughFinal Fantasy 16development has come to a decisive conclusion, it is safe to say that Soken, Yoshida, and the rest of Creative Business Unit 3 gaveFF16a fitting musical finale forFinal Fantasyfans to enjoy forevermore.
Final Fantasy 16
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An epic dark fantasy world where the fate of the land is decided by the mighty Eikons and the Dominants who wield them.This is the tale of Clive Rosfield, a warrior granted the title “First Shield of Rosaria” and sworn to protect his younger brother Joshua, the dominant of the Phoenix. Before long, Clive will be caught up in a great tragedy and swear revenge on the Dark Eikon Ifrit, a mysterious entity that brings calamity in its wake.
