Also a good game. There was really no reason to play the original after this came out outside of some of the songs playing differently, though there were some changes that I thought were interesting choices, for better or for worse.
The biggest change that caught my eye was that summons were inevitable, and it was just the quality of the summon that changed based on how you performed in the...summoning...portion...of the song, I guess. In the original game, if you did badly enough you simply would fail the summon, and this kind of shines a light on what is maybe my biggest problem with this game compared to the last one.
By all accounts, this is the better game. It has all of the songs from the previous game plus more songs, more content, multiplayer, the whole kibosh. But one thing the original did was use performance as a means to reap rewards in the various modes, some extrinsic, some intrinsic. In the EMS (which is like a mode where you play over a music video), the song would cut short if you didn't do well enough. Here it's been made almost (if not totally) impossible to have that happen. In the FMS (or whatever the field mode is called) you get certain rewards by meeting certain characters far along in the track, but that's also based on progress. I don't really know why they removed these things because they were some of the only means of interaction these games had outside of playing the game normally.
Having said that, it's fun. There's a lot of songs here, lots of characters- really, this game is everything that TFF should have as a sequel, and it's a lot of fun.
The biggest change that caught my eye was that summons were inevitable, and it was just the quality of the summon that changed based on how you performed in the...summoning...portion...of the song, I guess. In the original game, if you did badly enough you simply would fail the summon, and this kind of shines a light on what is maybe my biggest problem with this game compared to the last one.
By all accounts, this is the better game. It has all of the songs from the previous game plus more songs, more content, multiplayer, the whole kibosh. But one thing the original did was use performance as a means to reap rewards in the various modes, some extrinsic, some intrinsic. In the EMS (which is like a mode where you play over a music video), the song would cut short if you didn't do well enough. Here it's been made almost (if not totally) impossible to have that happen. In the FMS (or whatever the field mode is called) you get certain rewards by meeting certain characters far along in the track, but that's also based on progress. I don't really know why they removed these things because they were some of the only means of interaction these games had outside of playing the game normally.
Having said that, it's fun. There's a lot of songs here, lots of characters- really, this game is everything that TFF should have as a sequel, and it's a lot of fun.
An amazing rhythm game
Had a great time playing this, super good collection of music from older Final Fantasy games and good gameplay. Really cute designs and a lot of sweet throwbacks that got me into other games in the series.
It's been a good while since I've last finished a game. This is somewhat to do with abandoning a string of games on the trot, but mostly because FF7: Rebirth has been inhaling all of my time. To give me something to play when I haven't had access to the TV, however, I exhumed my 3DS last week and went to the trouble of jailbreaking it (which was surprisingly easy to do). And then, because I evidently needed some more FF in my life, I decided to install this (which I do have the cart for somewhere - honest promise, guv - but couldn't find).
Anyway, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Colon Curtain Call is a great bit of rhythm action Final Fantasy fan service with a terrible name and a rubbish art style. You choose from one of over 200 songs from across the Final Fantasy series (plus other Square games) and then use the stylus to tap or swipe on the bottom screen in time with symbols that appear across the top, matching the melody of the song. It's pretty simple, but it works, and the pleasure you derive from doing this will unsurprisingly correlate exactly with how much you enjoy the music in the Final Fantasy games. Thankfully, I think the music is the best thing about FF, especially the older ones I played as a lad, so I had a jolly old time bopping along to all of my favourites.
Unfortunately, however, there's not a great amount to keep you playing once you've ticked off all the hits, beyond improving your scores or playing on the 'Ultimate' difficulty level, which was too frantic for me. The devs try to keep you interested by bolting on a sort of mini-JRPG gameplay mode, where you essentially have to clear random playlists of tracks in order to succeed. There are items, abilities, levels and stats, à la regular FF, but it all feels a bit clumsy and repetitive, with very little to differentiate one Quest Medley (as they're called) from another. Moreover, the difficulty of each quest isn't fixed, so it's entirely possible to be 17 tracks into a 20 track playlist, only to be completely roadblocked by an Ultimate track that brings your run to a swift, frustrating end. Or that was the case with me, anyway.
Still, when you're hitting perfect criticals all the way through Cosmo Canyon, or tapping away merrily to Man With the Machine Gun, or sweeping majestically through Streets of Rabanastre without skipping a beat, most of these quibbles melt away, and you're left with a generous and addictive love letter to some of gaming's most iconic music. If you have any affection for the soundtracks in Final Fantasy games then I'd definitely recommend giving it a go, although there's been a more recent iteration on Switch (Final Bar Line) which I've been meaning to check out, and which includes tracks from games which aren't now at least ten years old, so that could well be the one to go for.
Anyway, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Colon Curtain Call is a great bit of rhythm action Final Fantasy fan service with a terrible name and a rubbish art style. You choose from one of over 200 songs from across the Final Fantasy series (plus other Square games) and then use the stylus to tap or swipe on the bottom screen in time with symbols that appear across the top, matching the melody of the song. It's pretty simple, but it works, and the pleasure you derive from doing this will unsurprisingly correlate exactly with how much you enjoy the music in the Final Fantasy games. Thankfully, I think the music is the best thing about FF, especially the older ones I played as a lad, so I had a jolly old time bopping along to all of my favourites.
Unfortunately, however, there's not a great amount to keep you playing once you've ticked off all the hits, beyond improving your scores or playing on the 'Ultimate' difficulty level, which was too frantic for me. The devs try to keep you interested by bolting on a sort of mini-JRPG gameplay mode, where you essentially have to clear random playlists of tracks in order to succeed. There are items, abilities, levels and stats, à la regular FF, but it all feels a bit clumsy and repetitive, with very little to differentiate one Quest Medley (as they're called) from another. Moreover, the difficulty of each quest isn't fixed, so it's entirely possible to be 17 tracks into a 20 track playlist, only to be completely roadblocked by an Ultimate track that brings your run to a swift, frustrating end. Or that was the case with me, anyway.
Still, when you're hitting perfect criticals all the way through Cosmo Canyon, or tapping away merrily to Man With the Machine Gun, or sweeping majestically through Streets of Rabanastre without skipping a beat, most of these quibbles melt away, and you're left with a generous and addictive love letter to some of gaming's most iconic music. If you have any affection for the soundtracks in Final Fantasy games then I'd definitely recommend giving it a go, although there's been a more recent iteration on Switch (Final Bar Line) which I've been meaning to check out, and which includes tracks from games which aren't now at least ten years old, so that could well be the one to go for.