As a seasoned gamer with over three decades of gaming under my belt, I must admit that I was quite intrigued by the concept of Fantasian Neo Dimension. The blend of classic RPG elements with innovative mechanics promised an exciting adventure. However, after spending countless hours navigating its intricate world, I find myself profoundly disappointed.
The latest game to break free from Apple Arcade is Fantasian Neo Dimension, joining titles such as Grindstone and TMNT: Splintered Fate. After its initial release in 2021, Fantasian made a significant impact due to being a fully-fledged JRPG from Mistwalker (known for games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey), marking a shift from their previous mobile game projects. This new version stands out because Square Enix is the publisher, reconnecting “the father of Final Fantasy,” Hironobu Sakaguchi, with the company he played a crucial role in establishing. Additionally, Nobuo Uematsu, another iconic figure in Square’s history, is contributing the final full game soundtrack for this title.
Although Fantasian boasts impressive qualifications, it was essentially a game catering to a specific, narrow audience within its genre. The Apple Arcade association didn’t aid its popularity, but aside from that, Fantasian faced challenges in attracting an audience due to a complex, two-part release format and concerns about difficulty that deterred many potential players. In contrast, Neo Dimension is presented as a comprehensive offering, with both parts of Fantasian combined smoothly, additional difficulty settings, and production benefits such as voice acting and optional battle music from recent Final Fantasy games.
A new dimension, kind of
It’s terrific that Fantasian is now accessible across various platforms, free from the limitations imposed by exclusive subscription services. This game offers a unique experience that showcases the signature elements you’d expect from a Sakaguchi production – a mix of familiar themes, an innovative visual style, genre-blending environments, distinctive combat systems, and a level of challenge not commonly found in JRPGs since games like Final Fantasy 4. These features make Fantasian exceptional, but they don’t transform it into something the original wasn’t; rather, there are new elements and some adjustments to difficulty that add to its charm.
In Fantasian, the remarkable aspect that made it standout originally remains untouched and didn’t require any modifications to maintain its impact. The visual aesthetic harks back to the PlayStation 1 era JRPGs, particularly Final Fantasy, which revolutionized the genre by using pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles, giving a sense of grandeur and blockbuster production values. Interestingly, instead of drawing the backgrounds, they are actually intricate, miniature dioramas that have been photographed in high resolution for use in the game.
The end result is similar to the pre-rendered backgrounds of classics like Final Fantasy 7, but with a different feel that steers around the edges of uncanny valley without falling in. The visuals produce an air of unreality that has a physical edge to it, enhancing the fantastical and multidimensional setting in a way you can subtly feel as you run around the maps. Unfortunately playing on Switch means some frame rate drops (more during cutscenes than gameplay) and the controls weirdly don’t adjust to camera changes, but the visual treats (especially on an OLED model) outweigh the small snaggles. The success here does a lot of heavy lifting for a story that often feels either disjointed or boilerplate depending on what’s happening in the plot.
Good idea, bad idea
The storytelling, while not particularly impressive, was more disappointing than I anticipated, given my low expectations for games with an old-school feel. This is due to Mistwalker occasionally referencing its own past in segments reminiscent of visual novels, echoing similar instances from Lost Odyssey. However, the writing in Lost Odyssey was exceptional, penned by a renowned author (Kiyoshi Shigematsu), and it truly stood out with its rich prose. In contrast, Fantasian feels rather ordinary, even when striving for greatness. There is one charming anecdote written by Uematsu, but it seems more like typical video game content than the authorial showcase that originally made this approach successful.
In Fantasian’s battle system design, there’s a striking balance. It’s evident that careful consideration has gone into every aspect, making it clear to players as they engage. For instance, the gameplay incorporates an engaging element of precision, where skills exhibit diverse Area of Effect qualities. Some abilities target singular enemies, while others hit circular areas of varying sizes, and some travel in a straight line. The majority of magic travels in a straight path, but its trajectory can be altered, enabling you to curve your shots, which helps in hitting enemies even when they’re behind obstacles more as challenges than active combatants. Consequently, the battle strategy is always about managing the positions of all participants.
Each character comes with unique roles or skills, either based on elemental aspects or special traits like boosts or exclusive mechanics, such as a high-damage dealer who inflicts self-harm. Initially, you might find yourself using certain characters for extended periods in the early stages or for specific missions in the later stages. However, once all characters are available, you gain a broader understanding of your own resources. This expanded knowledge is supposed to pay off, particularly during boss battles. Boss encounters often resemble puzzles, as they offer solutions for these confrontations, either through specific weaknesses or challenges triggered by individual attacks that necessitate specific responses.
I’ve been playing for 60 hours, why are you hitting me for 6000 HP???
Despite the impressive design flowing in, there’s a persistent challenge that surfaces around midway through, which Neo Dimension aimed to mitigate but hasn’t fully overcome. This issue, central to Mistwalker’s vision for Fantasian, is complexity – a characteristic meant to define Fantasian. However, it feels like an unintentional flaw when considering all the other intriguing aspects of Fantasian. To put it plainly, Fantasian struggles significantly with mathematical problems.
In a JRPG-style game, it can be tricky to find the ideal balance as the environment is often filled with customizable systems that provide choices for players. Unlike traditional RPGs which have defined strengths and weaknesses, this genre offers enough flexibility for players to choose their preferred strategy. However, Fantasian takes a unique approach by making boss battles puzzle-like and carefully designing character tools that seem to favor one correct solution over others. While some characters share similar tools, providing a bit of room for error, the final verdict is usually determined by numbers.
In Fantasian, the numbers are excessively high, to put it bluntly. The bosses inflict a massive amount of damage with each attack, essentially eliminating any room for error. If your team isn’t properly leveled up, equipped correctly, or buffed at the right moment, you could find half your team nearly wiped out or in critical condition within a single turn. A misstep or even a missed attack can quickly put you at a disadvantage for the remainder of the battle, making the rest of the encounter a frantic attempt to recover from a health shortage while still solving the puzzle’s requirements. The worst part is, you could be engaged in a fight that lasts for ten minutes or more without realizing you’re not meeting the puzzle’s demands until your entire party is wiped out suddenly. It’s incredibly demoralizing, making the clearly indicated paths to boss battles feel like treacherous journeys even compared to games like Shin Megami Tensei or SaGa.
Ice skating uphill
Initially, it may appear that difficult players can gradually work their way out of problems through grinding. However, Fantasian’s “Dimengeon” feature allows you to accumulate random battles to tackle in large groups simultaneously while providing a peaceful exploration experience, which is reminiscent of Bravely Default’s self-paced grinding mechanic. Later on, I discovered that this is one of several mechanisms designed to discourage grinding. Once your characters reach level 35, you encounter a significant EXP penalty if you’re slightly overleveled, and you’re also given the choice to pay to clear the Dimengeon without engaging in battles. Essentially, the game goes out of its way to prevent you from grinding, even when you want to. Simultaneously, each area and quest displays suggested levels, which are often inaccurate at best.
In simpler terms, when it comes to over-leveling being ruled out, you’re left with adhering to the game’s standard rules, but they seem biased against you. Managers become so tough that even tailored strategies seem futile, often reducing to a pattern of buffing, healing desperately, and relying on luck for RNG not to fail. I would frequently lose to bosses, despite understanding the strategy, only to win later without making any significant changes. This repeated experience was disheartening rather than fulfilling, stripping me of motivation instead of providing the enjoyment that hardcore Dark Souls players find. This is all on the new “normal” difficulty level, it should be noted. Compared to the original (now “hard”) setting, I might have quit altogether based on old walkthroughs I consulted.
In simpler terms, the time spent on customizing your characters’ gear, leveling up, and strategically setting up your party at save points seems pointless when your team still gets easily defeated, even though you are significantly higher level than the game suggests is necessary. This overshadows the clever design of the boss battles in Fantasian Neo Dimension. If these battles were more balanced, the game’s mechanics would have been more appreciated. However, despite adjustments made due to previous criticism, there are still moments when playing Fantasian isn’t enjoyable because you’re constantly worried about what might happen next. Despite its unique atmosphere and interesting concepts, Fantasian overemphasizes challenge to the point where it overshadows its own subtleties with big numbers.
The game titled Fantasian Neo Dimension will be released on December 5, 2024, and can be played on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, as well as Xbox Series X|S. I received a code from the publisher for review purposes to play the Nintendo Switch version.
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2024-12-04 14:28