I like the battle system, but I just cannot get past tap to move. I hate it.
Una carta de amor de Sakaguchi hacia toda su carrera, saliéndose de su zona de confort y dando una increíble jugabilidad fuera del clásico sistema de combate de Final Fantasy.
El sistema de combate saca muchos elementos de la saga Trails, es un sistema el cual existen tres tipos de ataques, los individuales, los que van en línea recta y los circulares, la idea es acabar los combates rápidamente cubriendo con tus ataques a la mayor cantidad de enemigos, se beneficia aún más de este sistema gracias al Dimengion, el cual es una caja que almacena a los enemigos que encuentras en encuentros aleatorios, al llenarse te llevan a otra dimensión para enfrentarte a todos los enemigos que has almacenado, eliminando la molesta interrupción constante de los encuentros aleatorios en el género, también añadiendo la posibilidad cambiar a los personajes en medio del combate, cada uno tiene elementos únicos que no se comparten con el resto, incentiva a usar a todos los personajes dependiendo de la situación.
Me impresionó, si bien amo la saga Final Fantasy, una de las cosas que menos me gusta es lo poco interesante que es el combate, mayormente es una saga que te abre fácilmente a elementos que rompen el juego, ya sea las combinaciones rotas de Materia en el VII, o Ultima y Chainsaw en VI, aquí Sakaguchi decidió abandonar al público convencional ofreciendo una buena dificultad, si bien la parte 1 tiene una dificultad accesible, la cual ayuda a mostrar las bases del combate, donde brilla este juego es en la parte 2, en la que Sakaguchi se soltó e hizo una dificultad bastante desafiante e incluso injusta en ciertos casos, ayuda a hacer más interesante el combate de lo que ya es.
Cada Boss es una pieza se rompe cabezas, cada uno tiene su propio Gimmick y gracias al árbol de habilidades el juego llega a su máximo potencial, dándote la posibilidad de armarlos dependiendo de la situación y darte el acceso a reiniciar el árbol de habilidades para así invertir los puntos como más te beneficie.
También las gemas que son un elemento sumamente importante, ya que será el counter directo de los Bosses, pueden darte resistencias a elementos, anular efectos negativos, etc.
Si bien la historia no sale de lo convencional la cual únicamente se alimenta del chiclé, logra dar momentos memorables, pero personalmente me decepciona lo poco expresivos que son los personajes, mata los tantos momentos emotivos que quiere plasmar el juego. Es el aspecto más débil del juego, y personalmente me decepcionó sabiendo que anteriormente habían hecho Lost Odyssey que cuenta con una increíble historia que juega con el tema de la inmortalidad y como ello conlleva ver vidas acabarse en un parpadeo.
Algo que me impresionó, es como el juego sabe como planearás romperlo, hay un punto que desbloqueas a Tan, un personaje opcional el cual quien tiene acceso a múltiples buffs que si los combinas apropiadamente puedes tener una gran chance de evasión, el triple de daño y mayor chance de crítico a cambio de envenenarte y maldecirte impidiendo cualquier beneficio ya sea más buffos o curación, el cual puedes anular gracias a las gemas que anulan estados alterados, a pesar de tener en tus manos al personaje más roto del juego no puedes romper este juego, ya que el juego incentiva que se vuelva tu principal estrategia para superar los obstáculos, tanto lo sabe el juego que hasta en el combate final se menciona que sus bestias se sienten más poderosas, siendo el único al cual tiene ventaja contra el boss final junto al protagonista que en una misión secundaria desbloqueas un arma con Godkiller el cual aumenta el daño contra dioses.
Lo único que no fue de mi agrado sobre los bosses es el gimmick en el que debes destruir estructuras que cubren al boss antes de que lance su ataque definitivo, se repite bastante, se vuelve cansador, también que hay bosses sumamente injustos como el Infernal Mechteria, que no queda claro su gimmick, le haces un daño lamentable y no pude intuir de que hay que pegarle cuando le levanta la cabeza en su animación, no es para nada obvio, o el boss final que tiene 400k de vida su última fase, es el doble que el máximo hp de los últimos bosses (guardian y la fase 2 del boss final), son combates MUY LARGOS.
Los fondos no son pre-renderizados, sino dioramas reales que fueron digitalizados. Si bien en persona es bastante precioso, al verlo in-game son bastante feos y te olvidas de que son dioramas, en la época de los fondos pre-renderizados fue más impresionante, ya que por las pantallas CRT y su baja resolución los modelos se camuflaban en los fondos pre-renderizados haciendo creer que realmente los fondos no son imágenes, es una técnica magnífica, pero los dioramas no tienen tal impacto, los modelos se ven fuera de lugar.
El sistema de combate saca muchos elementos de la saga Trails, es un sistema el cual existen tres tipos de ataques, los individuales, los que van en línea recta y los circulares, la idea es acabar los combates rápidamente cubriendo con tus ataques a la mayor cantidad de enemigos, se beneficia aún más de este sistema gracias al Dimengion, el cual es una caja que almacena a los enemigos que encuentras en encuentros aleatorios, al llenarse te llevan a otra dimensión para enfrentarte a todos los enemigos que has almacenado, eliminando la molesta interrupción constante de los encuentros aleatorios en el género, también añadiendo la posibilidad cambiar a los personajes en medio del combate, cada uno tiene elementos únicos que no se comparten con el resto, incentiva a usar a todos los personajes dependiendo de la situación.
Me impresionó, si bien amo la saga Final Fantasy, una de las cosas que menos me gusta es lo poco interesante que es el combate, mayormente es una saga que te abre fácilmente a elementos que rompen el juego, ya sea las combinaciones rotas de Materia en el VII, o Ultima y Chainsaw en VI, aquí Sakaguchi decidió abandonar al público convencional ofreciendo una buena dificultad, si bien la parte 1 tiene una dificultad accesible, la cual ayuda a mostrar las bases del combate, donde brilla este juego es en la parte 2, en la que Sakaguchi se soltó e hizo una dificultad bastante desafiante e incluso injusta en ciertos casos, ayuda a hacer más interesante el combate de lo que ya es.
Cada Boss es una pieza se rompe cabezas, cada uno tiene su propio Gimmick y gracias al árbol de habilidades el juego llega a su máximo potencial, dándote la posibilidad de armarlos dependiendo de la situación y darte el acceso a reiniciar el árbol de habilidades para así invertir los puntos como más te beneficie.
También las gemas que son un elemento sumamente importante, ya que será el counter directo de los Bosses, pueden darte resistencias a elementos, anular efectos negativos, etc.
Si bien la historia no sale de lo convencional la cual únicamente se alimenta del chiclé, logra dar momentos memorables, pero personalmente me decepciona lo poco expresivos que son los personajes, mata los tantos momentos emotivos que quiere plasmar el juego. Es el aspecto más débil del juego, y personalmente me decepcionó sabiendo que anteriormente habían hecho Lost Odyssey que cuenta con una increíble historia que juega con el tema de la inmortalidad y como ello conlleva ver vidas acabarse en un parpadeo.
Algo que me impresionó, es como el juego sabe como planearás romperlo, hay un punto que desbloqueas a Tan, un personaje opcional el cual quien tiene acceso a múltiples buffs que si los combinas apropiadamente puedes tener una gran chance de evasión, el triple de daño y mayor chance de crítico a cambio de envenenarte y maldecirte impidiendo cualquier beneficio ya sea más buffos o curación, el cual puedes anular gracias a las gemas que anulan estados alterados, a pesar de tener en tus manos al personaje más roto del juego no puedes romper este juego, ya que el juego incentiva que se vuelva tu principal estrategia para superar los obstáculos, tanto lo sabe el juego que hasta en el combate final se menciona que sus bestias se sienten más poderosas, siendo el único al cual tiene ventaja contra el boss final junto al protagonista que en una misión secundaria desbloqueas un arma con Godkiller el cual aumenta el daño contra dioses.
Lo único que no fue de mi agrado sobre los bosses es el gimmick en el que debes destruir estructuras que cubren al boss antes de que lance su ataque definitivo, se repite bastante, se vuelve cansador, también que hay bosses sumamente injustos como el Infernal Mechteria, que no queda claro su gimmick, le haces un daño lamentable y no pude intuir de que hay que pegarle cuando le levanta la cabeza en su animación, no es para nada obvio, o el boss final que tiene 400k de vida su última fase, es el doble que el máximo hp de los últimos bosses (guardian y la fase 2 del boss final), son combates MUY LARGOS.
Los fondos no son pre-renderizados, sino dioramas reales que fueron digitalizados. Si bien en persona es bastante precioso, al verlo in-game son bastante feos y te olvidas de que son dioramas, en la época de los fondos pre-renderizados fue más impresionante, ya que por las pantallas CRT y su baja resolución los modelos se camuflaban en los fondos pre-renderizados haciendo creer que realmente los fondos no son imágenes, es una técnica magnífica, pero los dioramas no tienen tal impacto, los modelos se ven fuera de lugar.
After reflecting on Fantasian for a while, I think it's an easy recommend to anyone who's a fan of orthodox jrpgs of the 90s. It can be an uneven experience, especially when contrasting part 1 and part 2, but I think overall it's satisfying if you have the right expectations.
On the gameplay side of things, you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a superior turn based battle system. It's essentially a refined FFX in the sense that characters can be freely swapped in and out of battle and the turn order can be altered depending on your actions. The growth map is also very reminiscent of the sphere grid, only it allows you to freely take back any spent points and then redistribute them according to your situation. And with the amount of specific builds needed for the various bosses in this game, it's essentially mandatory that you play this way, rather than simply trying to unlock everything in some sort of linear fashion.
Characters have fairly well defined roles but usually can expand into a secondary characters skillset given enough levelling up. I loved the ability to bend magical attacks and hit a series of enemies in an arc. Ez's alchemical abilities are some of the most interesting in any jrpg I've ever played. Being able to place timer mines, or suck enemies into certain spots and set up proximity fields that allow your attacks to ricochet within and take out multiple enemies at once is brilliant.
The Dimengeon system of stockpiling enemies and then fighting them at a time of your choosing should basically be a staple of the genre going forward. Eliminates the constant stop start of random battles and allows you to explore the maps undisturbed for the most part.
If I had to give the gameplay side of things any criticism, its that certain characters end up becoming way more desirable towards the end, while others are relegated to very specific use. What starts as a game that allows for various combinations and strategies, slowly starts to narrow into tightly focused builds that you can't stray from in any meaningful way without getting completely decimated. The difficulty is quite high in this game as far as bosses are concerned so that may put some people off.
As for the story. It's very simple and relies on a lot of tropes, but has the charm of older SNES era jrpgs. This has to be intentional as there's no way Sakaguchi, someone who's fingerprints were all over FFVII and IX, would have accidentally regressed in his story telling prowess to this extent. It seems to me that he wanted Fantasian to feel like comfort food for those starved on 2D era FF and the visual identity of the PS1 titles. This especially makes sense when considering the impetus for making the game in the first place was when Sakaguchi revisited FF6.
With that in mind, if you were to judge the game as this return to the jrpg fairy tale template, then it's perfectly fine for what it is. It's certainly nothing new, groundbreaking or even exceptional when judging it by those standards (and at times it can even be considered almost bad), but I think it is important to keep in mind in order to reel expectations in. There are some pretty solid character moments and banter amongst the party, and I think this is actually where Sakaguchi is at his strongest, more so than plot, world building etc. And as always, theme is at the forefront, even if it is a simplistic one.
My main complaint is probably the unevenness in pacing and meaningful character moments in part 2. The game was much snappier and had my attention a lot more in the earlier parts, but part 2 involves a lot of backtracking and new plot elements that don't really feel interesting or come out of nowhere. Side quests also felt completely shoehorned in, with their one saving grace being that they are generally quite short.
All in all, I think its a solid game worth playing. Its use of fixed camera angles, dioramas, a world map with ship traversal, a likeable party and very engaging battle/growth systems, along with another strong Uematsu score means it ticks way more boxes than it misses.
On the gameplay side of things, you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a superior turn based battle system. It's essentially a refined FFX in the sense that characters can be freely swapped in and out of battle and the turn order can be altered depending on your actions. The growth map is also very reminiscent of the sphere grid, only it allows you to freely take back any spent points and then redistribute them according to your situation. And with the amount of specific builds needed for the various bosses in this game, it's essentially mandatory that you play this way, rather than simply trying to unlock everything in some sort of linear fashion.
Characters have fairly well defined roles but usually can expand into a secondary characters skillset given enough levelling up. I loved the ability to bend magical attacks and hit a series of enemies in an arc. Ez's alchemical abilities are some of the most interesting in any jrpg I've ever played. Being able to place timer mines, or suck enemies into certain spots and set up proximity fields that allow your attacks to ricochet within and take out multiple enemies at once is brilliant.
The Dimengeon system of stockpiling enemies and then fighting them at a time of your choosing should basically be a staple of the genre going forward. Eliminates the constant stop start of random battles and allows you to explore the maps undisturbed for the most part.
If I had to give the gameplay side of things any criticism, its that certain characters end up becoming way more desirable towards the end, while others are relegated to very specific use. What starts as a game that allows for various combinations and strategies, slowly starts to narrow into tightly focused builds that you can't stray from in any meaningful way without getting completely decimated. The difficulty is quite high in this game as far as bosses are concerned so that may put some people off.
As for the story. It's very simple and relies on a lot of tropes, but has the charm of older SNES era jrpgs. This has to be intentional as there's no way Sakaguchi, someone who's fingerprints were all over FFVII and IX, would have accidentally regressed in his story telling prowess to this extent. It seems to me that he wanted Fantasian to feel like comfort food for those starved on 2D era FF and the visual identity of the PS1 titles. This especially makes sense when considering the impetus for making the game in the first place was when Sakaguchi revisited FF6.
With that in mind, if you were to judge the game as this return to the jrpg fairy tale template, then it's perfectly fine for what it is. It's certainly nothing new, groundbreaking or even exceptional when judging it by those standards (and at times it can even be considered almost bad), but I think it is important to keep in mind in order to reel expectations in. There are some pretty solid character moments and banter amongst the party, and I think this is actually where Sakaguchi is at his strongest, more so than plot, world building etc. And as always, theme is at the forefront, even if it is a simplistic one.
My main complaint is probably the unevenness in pacing and meaningful character moments in part 2. The game was much snappier and had my attention a lot more in the earlier parts, but part 2 involves a lot of backtracking and new plot elements that don't really feel interesting or come out of nowhere. Side quests also felt completely shoehorned in, with their one saving grace being that they are generally quite short.
All in all, I think its a solid game worth playing. Its use of fixed camera angles, dioramas, a world map with ship traversal, a likeable party and very engaging battle/growth systems, along with another strong Uematsu score means it ticks way more boxes than it misses.
god I need this game on a platform that isn't fuckingh Apple Arcade
Fantasian es un título IMPRESCINDIBLE si te gusta el rol por turnos de corte clásico. Los maestros del género Hironobu Sakaguchi y Nobuo Uematsu (creadores de Final Fantasy) se han vuelto a salir con este juego, que coge todo lo bueno de los FF clásicos (1 al 10) y añade lo justo y necesario para que jugar este título mejore todavía más la experiencia jugable.
Este juego lo tiene todo: buena historia, gran banda sonora, estados alterados, debilidades elementales, mucha variedad de armas, armaduras y habilidades, componente estratégico en las batallas (con posibilidad de cambiar personajes como en FFX)... A todo esto se le une un mapamundi clásico que podemos explorar, pero también viaje rápido para los sitios que ya hayamos visitado, micro relatos con texto y música para contar recuerdos del pasado (como en Lost Odyssey), y el Dimengion, una nueva mecánica que permite acumular decenas de monstruos y luchar contra ellos de golpe para evitar la interrupción constante de los combates aleatorios.
Está claro que Sakaguchi y Uematsu han plasmado en este título todo lo que han hecho bien durante su carrera. Lo han combinado todo y lo han combinado bien, y se han permitido el lujo de hacer añadidos para mejorar aún más la experiencia. Como dijo el propio Sakaguchi, Fanstasian es la obra donde han volcado todo lo que le ha salido bien durante su carrera, y se nota. Además, como curiosidad, los fondo pre-renderizados son todo maquetas reales que el equipo ha construido para realizar todos los escenarios del juego, con un resultado sorprendentemente bueno. Sólo por este juego vale la pena pagar un par de meses de Apple Arcade, no te arrepentirás.
Este juego lo tiene todo: buena historia, gran banda sonora, estados alterados, debilidades elementales, mucha variedad de armas, armaduras y habilidades, componente estratégico en las batallas (con posibilidad de cambiar personajes como en FFX)... A todo esto se le une un mapamundi clásico que podemos explorar, pero también viaje rápido para los sitios que ya hayamos visitado, micro relatos con texto y música para contar recuerdos del pasado (como en Lost Odyssey), y el Dimengion, una nueva mecánica que permite acumular decenas de monstruos y luchar contra ellos de golpe para evitar la interrupción constante de los combates aleatorios.
Está claro que Sakaguchi y Uematsu han plasmado en este título todo lo que han hecho bien durante su carrera. Lo han combinado todo y lo han combinado bien, y se han permitido el lujo de hacer añadidos para mejorar aún más la experiencia. Como dijo el propio Sakaguchi, Fanstasian es la obra donde han volcado todo lo que le ha salido bien durante su carrera, y se nota. Además, como curiosidad, los fondo pre-renderizados son todo maquetas reales que el equipo ha construido para realizar todos los escenarios del juego, con un resultado sorprendentemente bueno. Sólo por este juego vale la pena pagar un par de meses de Apple Arcade, no te arrepentirás.
The first part was pretty good. some basic JRPG stuff, nothing -too- interesting or foreign for final fantasy likers, but it does a few neat things, like the combat being based on the angle of your attacks. With the dimengeon feature, something that should be in every JRPG, it makes a lot of it a breeze(allowing you to just cull dozens of enemies at once instead of slowly taking them 2-3 at a time.
However, despite being able to mitigate random battles through the end, it goes on way too long. It basically reveals most of its hand by the second act, and then you're killing largely uninteresting and unimportant bosses. I assume it picks up and gets back on track, but getting back into it and seeing how far the road stretched ahead at 45 hours and how long it had been for something truly interesting to occur, I decided the sunk cost fallacy had not won out on me this time.
If you absolutely love every JRPG you get your hand on, you'll dig it. It's towards the upper side of the middle of the road for them based on some minor but smart touches, but I just finally decided I'd had enough. Some story beats here and there were coolish but it’s pretty usual fare for this sort of thing, which does not appeal to me entirely. I find them a mixed bag, especially fantasy forward stories.
However, despite being able to mitigate random battles through the end, it goes on way too long. It basically reveals most of its hand by the second act, and then you're killing largely uninteresting and unimportant bosses. I assume it picks up and gets back on track, but getting back into it and seeing how far the road stretched ahead at 45 hours and how long it had been for something truly interesting to occur, I decided the sunk cost fallacy had not won out on me this time.
If you absolutely love every JRPG you get your hand on, you'll dig it. It's towards the upper side of the middle of the road for them based on some minor but smart touches, but I just finally decided I'd had enough. Some story beats here and there were coolish but it’s pretty usual fare for this sort of thing, which does not appeal to me entirely. I find them a mixed bag, especially fantasy forward stories.
When I was still playing part 1, I was very positive while waiting for the game to show its depth in terms of mechanics, progression system and fights. I got that in part 2 but I didn’t expect the game to become this challenging. In some parts it feels too punishingly hard. I’ve played all the main Mistwalker games and played many of Sakaguchi’s other games when he was part of Squaresoft. None of them were as challenging as part 2. The only explanation I can think of is this being a deliberate choice for being an Apple Arcade game. Other than that, the game is your typical Sakaguchi game in terms of pacing, story build up, the themes that are being focused on, cutscene direction and more. You feel right at home if you played the older Final Fantasy games. It has some quality of life improvements and the story is slightly more mature in terms of how the characters interact with each other. The gameplay is fantastic and there were moments where it feels great to win a fight. This game is more of a love letter for FF fans. Play part 1 if you’re here for a relaxing time. Play part 2 only if you’re ready to sweat and have many boss fights feel like the last boss fight.
This game took me an outrageously long time to finish, not only because of the fact that it was split into two parts but also because it's actually a punishingly difficult RPG. The game expects excellent strategy when it comes to boss fights, along with a combination of preparedness and some improvisation. I enjoyed how the game made grinding somewhat obsolete, encouraging deeper exploration into its systems for success. The Dimengeon is a bit of a double edged sword--it's great to not have random battles interrupting, but the Dimengeon battles do take quite a long time to clear so it somewhat takes away from that advantage. Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot. Awesome music, interesting plot, challenging & engaging battles, and some unique gameplay twists.
Fantasian is a heartfelt experience that pulls together all the reasons we adore RPGs in the first place. It’s simultaneously a game that indulges our nostalgia while also being a truly novel craft in its own right. Hironobu Sakaguchi’s weaselly Zoboomafoo-era television host is also in the mix, playing the stomach-churning MC of the whole affair. It’s a dizzying hodgepodge of neoliberalism critique, coming-of-age saga, and heist flick. Nobuo Uematsu soundtracks a scene of pratfall mass destruction in an underground mall with John Denver’s shlock classic “Annie’s Song,” in a tonal clash that could be the envy of any number of stylish young pastiche directors, but his long, grotesque scenes in a New Jersey slaughterhouse look like something you’ve seen only in the worst grindhouse slasher film on the shelf. Mistwalker needed a video game good enough that any resistance would look like entrenched old-school bullying, and it found that in Fantasian, an epic that’s equal parts sardonic and sincere.
the tale of a young farm girl named Leo (Ahn Seo-hyun) and a massive genetically engineered pig named Fantasian. The forces working to pull them apart are Tilda Swinton’s Monsanto-inspired agro-chemical company on one side, and Paul Dano’s Mr. Robot-y environmental activism group on the other.
Fantasian is our favorite RPG of 2021
the tale of a young farm girl named Leo (Ahn Seo-hyun) and a massive genetically engineered pig named Fantasian. The forces working to pull them apart are Tilda Swinton’s Monsanto-inspired agro-chemical company on one side, and Paul Dano’s Mr. Robot-y environmental activism group on the other.
Fantasian is our favorite RPG of 2021
This is the second JRPG I've ever completed. I've never completed a Final Fantasy game.
This is something that I'm working on changing. I've come to enjoy this style of game, after years of avoiding them, not understanding the appeal, and finding them too complicated.
The art style of this game sucked me in HARD. As soon as I saw the early trailers, I knew I had to give it a try. When it released in April of this year, I immediately started. The music, visuals, and character designs really got me. If you have Apple Arcade, and a decently recent iPhone, you have little excuse to not at least give this a try.
I played this mostly on my phone, with a Backbone controller. I did try it on the Apple TV, but I think the game just looked better on a smaller display. The game feels modern and controls well, and even if you just play with the touchscreen controls, you'll have a great time.
The story feels like fairly typical JRPG stuff, it works well given the characters and the worldbuilding, but it's really nothing to write home about. I enjoyed it, especially the culmination of events of Part 1. Some of the characters were really well developed, while others felt a little flat.
Given the pedigree of the people involved with this game, I can say that I will be starting an older Final Fantasy title ASAP as I need to have that experience. This gave me a taste of a modern JRPG, but I can see the building blocks from the older games and their influence here.
This is something that I'm working on changing. I've come to enjoy this style of game, after years of avoiding them, not understanding the appeal, and finding them too complicated.
The art style of this game sucked me in HARD. As soon as I saw the early trailers, I knew I had to give it a try. When it released in April of this year, I immediately started. The music, visuals, and character designs really got me. If you have Apple Arcade, and a decently recent iPhone, you have little excuse to not at least give this a try.
I played this mostly on my phone, with a Backbone controller. I did try it on the Apple TV, but I think the game just looked better on a smaller display. The game feels modern and controls well, and even if you just play with the touchscreen controls, you'll have a great time.
The story feels like fairly typical JRPG stuff, it works well given the characters and the worldbuilding, but it's really nothing to write home about. I enjoyed it, especially the culmination of events of Part 1. Some of the characters were really well developed, while others felt a little flat.
Given the pedigree of the people involved with this game, I can say that I will be starting an older Final Fantasy title ASAP as I need to have that experience. This gave me a taste of a modern JRPG, but I can see the building blocks from the older games and their influence here.
Beat this through the Apple Arcade trial, and it was so solid I might even drop a few bucks when the second part comes out! I always am interested whenever I hear of a project from Sakaguchi/Uematsu/all the other Square employees who left around the time of the Enix merger. Although my lack of consoles and poor releases have often got in the way of my keeping up with the Mistwalker games(Just getting around to playing The Last Story recently, only ever watched videos of Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey), never the less I have often bumped to the soundtracks and been impressed that without the budgets of yesterday that these artists and directors have retained their ambition of the days of Squaresoft.
The case is no different here as the game immediately hits you with stunning visuals and music that sounds like it's straight from FF7 or 8. Battle themes and boss music is hype as hell, menu and environments are memorable and pretty, and the environmental sound design hits just the right notes. HOWEVER, the sound effect that happens when you MOVE your character is quite annoying and I wish you had the option to turn it off without disabling all the other environmental sounds which are nice.
In terms of plot, so far it isn't layed on so thick and you are thrown right in to the old JRPG trope of assuming the role of a fish-out-of-water-because-of-amnesia. There are surprisingly good moments like when a character learns about the joys of meditation in the woods, and it's scenes like that which have the ol Sakaguchi touch. The characters have distinct and colorful enough personalities and are not at all hurt by a lack of voice acting. The plot develops an interesting sort of history as you move along, but none of it quite breaks from the standard fare overall. Some characters and plot points purposefully echo games of Final Fantasy past, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. A couple of cute references like a character named Cid and a huge buster sword are also a nice touch.
The main appeal is of course the breathtaking miniature environments. I'm so thankful that the team seems to have been supported with resources to deliver this Apple Arcade title, because these diorama environments feel so unique in their photorealistic look, and don't sacrifice anything in terms of style because of them. The fixed camera angles feel like some RPGs of the good ol days, and the cutscenes look so good and cinematic with the rest of the animations too, this is absolutely where the game shines.
Along with some intuitive controls and fast pacing(which is really helped by their workaround for the encounter system, in which you can 'stockpile' enemies until you want to fight them).
EDIT: Finished Part 1 now, and didn't expect to get hit with that cliffhanger ending. As the game goes on the mechanics open up, and I was really baffled by a sphere-grid inspired ability system opening to the player literally in the last few minutes of the game.
Apparently the second part is going to be more open-ended rather than plot drive, taking a point from FF6. It'll be really interesting to see and I wonder just how expansive this will get, so follow up on that when it comes out. Not sure if I'll be at a point where I can play that, but this was real easy to get through because of the off-and-on nature.
At the end, this is the classic experience most JRPG fans will be looking for, and it really does have more heart than your typical mobile RPG put out these days. The Uematsu score alone is worth sticking around for, and there are hints of some real good developments in character, however standard the plot may be. Technically I should mark this as "shelved", but I saw the credits roll and would be satisfied if this was the experience. For now, it's on to The Last Story for me!
The case is no different here as the game immediately hits you with stunning visuals and music that sounds like it's straight from FF7 or 8. Battle themes and boss music is hype as hell, menu and environments are memorable and pretty, and the environmental sound design hits just the right notes. HOWEVER, the sound effect that happens when you MOVE your character is quite annoying and I wish you had the option to turn it off without disabling all the other environmental sounds which are nice.
In terms of plot, so far it isn't layed on so thick and you are thrown right in to the old JRPG trope of assuming the role of a fish-out-of-water-because-of-amnesia. There are surprisingly good moments like when a character learns about the joys of meditation in the woods, and it's scenes like that which have the ol Sakaguchi touch. The characters have distinct and colorful enough personalities and are not at all hurt by a lack of voice acting. The plot develops an interesting sort of history as you move along, but none of it quite breaks from the standard fare overall. Some characters and plot points purposefully echo games of Final Fantasy past, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. A couple of cute references like a character named Cid and a huge buster sword are also a nice touch.
The main appeal is of course the breathtaking miniature environments. I'm so thankful that the team seems to have been supported with resources to deliver this Apple Arcade title, because these diorama environments feel so unique in their photorealistic look, and don't sacrifice anything in terms of style because of them. The fixed camera angles feel like some RPGs of the good ol days, and the cutscenes look so good and cinematic with the rest of the animations too, this is absolutely where the game shines.
Along with some intuitive controls and fast pacing(which is really helped by their workaround for the encounter system, in which you can 'stockpile' enemies until you want to fight them).
EDIT: Finished Part 1 now, and didn't expect to get hit with that cliffhanger ending. As the game goes on the mechanics open up, and I was really baffled by a sphere-grid inspired ability system opening to the player literally in the last few minutes of the game.
Apparently the second part is going to be more open-ended rather than plot drive, taking a point from FF6. It'll be really interesting to see and I wonder just how expansive this will get, so follow up on that when it comes out. Not sure if I'll be at a point where I can play that, but this was real easy to get through because of the off-and-on nature.
At the end, this is the classic experience most JRPG fans will be looking for, and it really does have more heart than your typical mobile RPG put out these days. The Uematsu score alone is worth sticking around for, and there are hints of some real good developments in character, however standard the plot may be. Technically I should mark this as "shelved", but I saw the credits roll and would be satisfied if this was the experience. For now, it's on to The Last Story for me!
that part 2 difficulty spike is nuts
Dropped after 26 hours because I don't want to keep paying for Apple Arcade. While the physical dioramas are a neat idea, they're no more beautiful or interesting than pre-rendered PS1 backgrounds. And introduce some weird ghosting as characters move behind certain objects and angles change.
I enjoy the FFX style turn system, but abilities that make the combat truly interesting (fast and slow, barrier, AOE) take too long to regularly come into play. The dimengeon device that stores random battles is ingenious. But the dimengeon battles themselves are either really tedious, or complete slogs depending on how leveled you are.
Story is.. present, I thought the writing was generic and very much uninteresting for the game's first half, but got more interesting and punchier as the game went on. Town NPC dialogue was particularly dry and not worth trying to tap my character into place to talk to them.
I enjoy the FFX style turn system, but abilities that make the combat truly interesting (fast and slow, barrier, AOE) take too long to regularly come into play. The dimengeon device that stores random battles is ingenious. But the dimengeon battles themselves are either really tedious, or complete slogs depending on how leveled you are.
Story is.. present, I thought the writing was generic and very much uninteresting for the game's first half, but got more interesting and punchier as the game went on. Town NPC dialogue was particularly dry and not worth trying to tap my character into place to talk to them.
Nobuo Uematsu and handmade dioramas. What other reasons do you need to love a game?
I’d fallen out of love with RPGs over the years. As the industry has largely distanced itself from turn-based experiences like Dragon Quest in favor of more action-focused takes on the genre like Xenoblade Chronicles or Tales of Arise, I’ve become disenfranchised.
Along comes Fantasian—a phone game, my gosh—created by the “father” of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and composed by Nobuo Uematsu. These two are the team that made the turn-based RPGs I fell in love with as a child! I upgraded my phone for the first time since 2014, bought a $50 Lightning Cable accessory, and signed up for a couple months of Apple Arcade to make Fantasian happen for myself…and it is truly the best gaming decision I made in 2021.
With Dragon Quest XI being a noteworthy exception, I haven’t felt so compelled to not just learn but master an RPG’s systems in years. And I haven’t even mentioned that the entire game is made from hundreds of literal hand-crafted dioramas, giving it a sense of artistry that makes it like almost no other game. At the end of the day, though, I was really compelled to keep playing because it’s got what I feel is my favorite implementation of the traditional “turn-based RPG structure” ever created. If you’ve played any of the old Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games, you know how random battles work. You’re just wandering around in the world, and suddenly the screen fades and you’re treated to a battle….over and over again, every 3 steps you take, to the point where it kind of grates. Fantasian addresses this annoyance by introducing the Dimengeon, a device that literally sends the enemies you would’ve encountered to a “pocket dimension” so you can face them later. You “store” 20-40 enemies as you freely explore, then you can fight them all at once when you’re ready. And when the fighting happens in this space, you can stack the odds in your favor by making sure your skills or spells activate these crystals that double your attack power for a few turns, or steal an enemy’s turn for yourself. It’s so simple and it’s so satisfying.
As you get into the meat of the experience, though, the boss fights become anything but simple. My proverbial hat is completely off to the group of people that are responsible for some of these battle scenarios. These are some of the most unique, freshest, and unmistakably brutal RPG bosses ever—I felt truly accomplished and like I’d mastered anything any dang turn-based RPG could throw at me after I rolled Fantasian’s credits. It reignited a love I haven’t felt for Final Fantasy since “the good ole days”—and this isn’t even a Final Fantasy game. Honestly, Fantasian is what Final Fantasy XVI should be, to me.
Along comes Fantasian—a phone game, my gosh—created by the “father” of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and composed by Nobuo Uematsu. These two are the team that made the turn-based RPGs I fell in love with as a child! I upgraded my phone for the first time since 2014, bought a $50 Lightning Cable accessory, and signed up for a couple months of Apple Arcade to make Fantasian happen for myself…and it is truly the best gaming decision I made in 2021.
With Dragon Quest XI being a noteworthy exception, I haven’t felt so compelled to not just learn but master an RPG’s systems in years. And I haven’t even mentioned that the entire game is made from hundreds of literal hand-crafted dioramas, giving it a sense of artistry that makes it like almost no other game. At the end of the day, though, I was really compelled to keep playing because it’s got what I feel is my favorite implementation of the traditional “turn-based RPG structure” ever created. If you’ve played any of the old Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games, you know how random battles work. You’re just wandering around in the world, and suddenly the screen fades and you’re treated to a battle….over and over again, every 3 steps you take, to the point where it kind of grates. Fantasian addresses this annoyance by introducing the Dimengeon, a device that literally sends the enemies you would’ve encountered to a “pocket dimension” so you can face them later. You “store” 20-40 enemies as you freely explore, then you can fight them all at once when you’re ready. And when the fighting happens in this space, you can stack the odds in your favor by making sure your skills or spells activate these crystals that double your attack power for a few turns, or steal an enemy’s turn for yourself. It’s so simple and it’s so satisfying.
As you get into the meat of the experience, though, the boss fights become anything but simple. My proverbial hat is completely off to the group of people that are responsible for some of these battle scenarios. These are some of the most unique, freshest, and unmistakably brutal RPG bosses ever—I felt truly accomplished and like I’d mastered anything any dang turn-based RPG could throw at me after I rolled Fantasian’s credits. It reignited a love I haven’t felt for Final Fantasy since “the good ole days”—and this isn’t even a Final Fantasy game. Honestly, Fantasian is what Final Fantasy XVI should be, to me.
Fantasian: Part 1 (2021): La historia me he enterado regu porque estaba en inglés, pero no tenía mala pinta. Aunque la carne aquí es el combate, con un sistema brillante dónde todo tiene una utilidad. Con ganas de la 2º parte para ver cómo aprovecha todo su potencial (8,55)
HEY MAYBE THIS SHOULD BE PORTED ELSEWHERE
This would've been fun if the game didn't keep lagging on my iPad. Ended up deleting the app today (05/28/2023) right when I was at the final boss because I couldn't deal with the constant lags anymore.
Maybe if I played it on my Mac Laptop it would've ran more smoothly, but given that my laptop is a mid 2015 Macbook Pro, I'm doubtful. But at least I was able to find a Youtube walkthrough and find out how it ended.
Maybe if I played it on my Mac Laptop it would've ran more smoothly, but given that my laptop is a mid 2015 Macbook Pro, I'm doubtful. But at least I was able to find a Youtube walkthrough and find out how it ended.
This took me by surprise, although given how much I liked previous Mistwalker RPGs maybe I shouldn't have been. Don't be fooled by the fact it's on phones, it's a proper JRPG in the late 90s style, replacing the then-common pre-rendered graphics with photos of diramas.
Graphically it's solid; decent character models, runs nicely at 4k on my M1 Mac. The star of the show is the backgrounds though - each one is a photo of a properly constructed diorama (the list of builders in the credits massively dwarfs the Mistwalker team). I'd often find myself stopping to look at the detail, the way they'd craft ropes out of string, the cute little cups and bottles, detailed little pieces of furniture, the texture of materials. The only real downer is that a lot of the outdoor backgrounds could be a bit higher resolution as they tend to get a little blurry. In terms of video there isn't much, but that's made up for by a surprising number of realtime cutscenes which work nicely against the static backgrounds.
Audio's good too; the sound effects are only fine but the soundtrack is excellent, and varied. Since this is likely Nobuo Uematsu's last soundtrack he's really pulled out all the stops. It goes all over the place, going from synths to live instruments and back again. Could have done with a victory fanfare though.
The story isn't going to win any awards with its characterisation and this is perhaps the oldest-feeling part of the game. Dialogue's sparse, occasionally falling into jargon but the characters keep things going and most importantly the plot keeps moving at a good pace, never staying in one place for too long. After years of spending two-plus hours in a single location in modern JRPGs it feels really urgent and lively. The constantly changing team helps too, with eight party members across the run-time so far.
The battle system is a really good one - at first you'd be fooled into thinking it's a simplified one intended for play on a phone but it has a couple of distinctions which make it a lot of fun. First is the ability for some attacks to be curved, either to hit or avoid the enemies you want to. Getting an extreme curve on a magic spell to hit three enemies behind another enemy which would block the attack is really satisfying and enemy positioning is definitely set up for that. Second is your ability to save up random battles and fight them all at once - you top out at about 8-10 enemies on screen but actually being able to run through an area and then turn around and beat down the 30 enemies that you 'encountered' on the way is really fun, especially given the bonuses you can hit while in that special arena. Difficulty seemed well-balanced too, and I had to restart more than once when I was playing sloppy.
Overall I really like this one so far. Although it's on Apple Arcade there's no suggestion of an intended phone audience changing anything about it, but nonetheless it plays in a nicely streamlined way. For example, the way you can see the current area map and plot an auto move so your character runs automatically to a point of interest combined with the Dimengion machine gathering encounters means you can play the game how you want without having to be interrupted - but you still have to deal with the enemies. Really looking forward to the second part later this year, which promises a different, less linear play style.
Graphically it's solid; decent character models, runs nicely at 4k on my M1 Mac. The star of the show is the backgrounds though - each one is a photo of a properly constructed diorama (the list of builders in the credits massively dwarfs the Mistwalker team). I'd often find myself stopping to look at the detail, the way they'd craft ropes out of string, the cute little cups and bottles, detailed little pieces of furniture, the texture of materials. The only real downer is that a lot of the outdoor backgrounds could be a bit higher resolution as they tend to get a little blurry. In terms of video there isn't much, but that's made up for by a surprising number of realtime cutscenes which work nicely against the static backgrounds.
Audio's good too; the sound effects are only fine but the soundtrack is excellent, and varied. Since this is likely Nobuo Uematsu's last soundtrack he's really pulled out all the stops. It goes all over the place, going from synths to live instruments and back again. Could have done with a victory fanfare though.
The story isn't going to win any awards with its characterisation and this is perhaps the oldest-feeling part of the game. Dialogue's sparse, occasionally falling into jargon but the characters keep things going and most importantly the plot keeps moving at a good pace, never staying in one place for too long. After years of spending two-plus hours in a single location in modern JRPGs it feels really urgent and lively. The constantly changing team helps too, with eight party members across the run-time so far.
The battle system is a really good one - at first you'd be fooled into thinking it's a simplified one intended for play on a phone but it has a couple of distinctions which make it a lot of fun. First is the ability for some attacks to be curved, either to hit or avoid the enemies you want to. Getting an extreme curve on a magic spell to hit three enemies behind another enemy which would block the attack is really satisfying and enemy positioning is definitely set up for that. Second is your ability to save up random battles and fight them all at once - you top out at about 8-10 enemies on screen but actually being able to run through an area and then turn around and beat down the 30 enemies that you 'encountered' on the way is really fun, especially given the bonuses you can hit while in that special arena. Difficulty seemed well-balanced too, and I had to restart more than once when I was playing sloppy.
Overall I really like this one so far. Although it's on Apple Arcade there's no suggestion of an intended phone audience changing anything about it, but nonetheless it plays in a nicely streamlined way. For example, the way you can see the current area map and plot an auto move so your character runs automatically to a point of interest combined with the Dimengion machine gathering encounters means you can play the game how you want without having to be interrupted - but you still have to deal with the enemies. Really looking forward to the second part later this year, which promises a different, less linear play style.
Lovely handmade backgrounds and an inventive turn based battle system.
I reached the end of Part One. Excited to play Part Two whenever it’s released. The story is fine, not great, not terrible. The characters are fairly well-developed, and the gameplay is a streamlined version of the turn-based action of the JRPGs of old. Where this game really shines, however, are the visuals and the music.
Each location is a hand-built, physical diorama that was photographed/scanned in 3D. It gives the world a photorealistic, yet dream-like feel that’s wholly unique to this game. And what can I say about Nobuo Uematsu that hasn’t already been said? The main theme evokes a sense of fantasy and wonder, and the battle music is great as always. There’s a reason he’s considered the best.
My only real complaint is that the movement controls are pretty clunky. I played with touch controls, and you move around by tapping where you want to go. It works, but you end up tapping the screen a lot just to have uninterrupted movement, and sometimes the game gets creative with where it thinks you tapped. Other than that, the touch controls were good, and the battles were very intuitive.
This game scratched an old-school JRPG itch that I didn’t realize I had, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Part Two expands on this foundation. I definitely recommend if you’re a fan of the PS1 Final Fantasy games.
Each location is a hand-built, physical diorama that was photographed/scanned in 3D. It gives the world a photorealistic, yet dream-like feel that’s wholly unique to this game. And what can I say about Nobuo Uematsu that hasn’t already been said? The main theme evokes a sense of fantasy and wonder, and the battle music is great as always. There’s a reason he’s considered the best.
My only real complaint is that the movement controls are pretty clunky. I played with touch controls, and you move around by tapping where you want to go. It works, but you end up tapping the screen a lot just to have uninterrupted movement, and sometimes the game gets creative with where it thinks you tapped. Other than that, the touch controls were good, and the battles were very intuitive.
This game scratched an old-school JRPG itch that I didn’t realize I had, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Part Two expands on this foundation. I definitely recommend if you’re a fan of the PS1 Final Fantasy games.