Fantasian Neo Dimension is a little bit like Japanese position enjoying sport consolation meals. There’s the marginally androgynous amnesiac hero. He’ll go on a quest to reclaim his reminiscences and alongside the way in which he’ll meet up with a barely kooky orphan mage with secrets and techniques of her personal to uncover. They’re going to befriend the sassy princess, the lovable rogue, the comedian aid, and extra. Collectively they will uncover that there is a world, nay, universe-ending menace on the horizon, and solely they’ve the means to cease it.
You are Leo, and you do not keep in mind who you’re or why you are within the Machine Realm, a world of steel and robots and conveyer belts and sparks and gray. It is grim. After your daring escape from the metallic hell you awoke in, you wander the human realm attempting to piece collectively your identification. This includes — in conventional JRPG model — speaking to individuals in cities, traversing the world map, recruiting new allies, getting into dungeons, and besting villains.
The sport’s world was created first by making precise dioramas for every location after which 3D-scanning them, successfully utilizing the scans as pre-rendered backgrounds for the extra conventional 3D anime characters we management to discover. The outcomes are fairly stunning, lending every location a real-but-not-quite high quality. It is a little bit like taking a look at {a photograph} of the inside of a doll’s home, or the bit within the outdated Godzilla motion pictures the place he smashes up the cardboard metropolis. You’ll be able to inform all the pieces is a miniature, painstakingly hand-crafted. It by no means appears really actual, however we respect the work it took to construct.
Fantasian’s soundtrack comes from the legendary composer of many Remaining Fantasy video games, Nobuo Uematsu, and his work right here is splendid. From the jaunty items that play throughout moments of hijinks to the economic din of the Machine Realm, the elegant pomp of the Royal Capital to the dramatic themes throughout climactic battles, the soundtrack is unequivocally elegant. The tunes are diverse, becoming, and eminently hummable.
There have been moments enjoying Fantasian that evoked such sturdy emotions of nostalgia in us that they had been virtually palpable. The pleasant music from Uematsu, the pre-rendered backgrounds — if you happen to flip off the marginally grating voice appearing, it appears like a kind of Remaining Fantasy video games from the unique PlayStation, like an unfinished lacking hyperlink between Remaining Fantasy IX and X, lastly unearthed over twenty years later for our enjoying pleasure. It is fantastic, or a minimum of, it is fantastic till you get right into a combat.
Fight might be what is going on to make or break this sport for you. There have been instances we beloved it, and different instances we hated it. It feels unbalanced; each method too simple and method too troublesome relying on the place you’re within the journey. It is the form of sport the place, relying on which expertise you’ve got unlocked on the ability tree, the subsequent boss you combat will both be not possible or trivial. In the event you observe the extent suggestions for quests you will rapidly uncover any minor enemies you face in that quest will die as quickly as you have a look at them, however bosses you encounter will probably be more durable than a coffin nail. It is everywhere in the store.
Battles in Fantasian are turn-based. A useful chart on the backside of the display tells you which ones character’s flip it’s, who’s subsequent, after which a dozen or so turns after that. You’ll be able to plan which character goes to assault or heal or buff primarily based on their placement within the working order. In your flip you possibly can both use a regular assault, a particular ability, or an merchandise.
Most assaults in Fantasian are projectile primarily based, and so enemy positioning issues. In the event you occur to see enemies stood in a line you possibly can fireplace a projectile to hit all of them one after one other. Some characters can solid spells that you may fireplace on a curved trajectory to hit a number of enemies in flip. Some assaults, like grenades or bombs, hit a number of enemies in an space.
Battles contain figuring out probably the most environment friendly solution to hit as many enemies as you possibly can with every flip so you possibly can take them out earlier than they take you out. In the event that they’re bunched collectively, throw a grenade. In the event that they’re a little bit unfold out then your mage would possibly be capable to curve a spell to hit 4 or 5 of them directly. It is a little bit like fixing a puzzle, and for some time we had been actually into it.
Sadly, Fantasian suffers from some really outrageous problem spikes. You will get by plenty of battles utilizing mainly no technique in any respect. They’re far too simple. Then you definately’ll face a boss that does not simply require strategic pondering; it requires you to observe a particular technique, and even then luck is concerned. It is not a sport the place you are rewarded for experimentation. It is a sport that requires you to have a particular ability unlocked, do that factor, then that factor, then the opposite factor, after which pray to the RNG gods that the improper particular person does not die when the enemy retaliates.
We discovered it actually irritating, and it turns into much more irritating roughly half-way by the sport when the ability timber open up. After getting entry to the ability timber, you possibly can tailor your characters to your liking, specializing in a selected ability or trait. However you will then combat bosses which are nigh-impossible with out accessing sure expertise, which clearly you do not know till you combat them. Luckily, you possibly can simply reset the ability timber and get your factors again to reallocate them. Some individuals would possibly like one of these micromanagement, however we discovered it irritating.
One shining star within the fight system is the Dimengeon Machine. In the event you flip the Dimengeon on, it will “inventory” random battles for you, so as a substitute of being interrupted as you discover the world to combat a large crab or one thing, you will merely get a notification to inform you that an enemy has been added to the machine. As soon as you’ve got stocked thirty enemies, a dimengeon battle will happen by which you will combat all the enemies you’ve got stocked in a single go, letting you are taking out a number of baddies directly with curved assaults or area-of-effect spells. You’ll be able to flip this function on or off, however we loved utilizing it and having much less interruptions and extra fascinating battles.
Conclusion
Fantasian Neo Dimension evokes reminiscences of basic Remaining Fantasy. It is bought an impeccable soundtrack, stunning locales, and a world that evokes surprise. Nevertheless it’s let down a little bit by likeable however fiercely archetypal characters and a by-the-numbers story, and it is let down quite a bit by wild and uneven problem spikes that make fight a supply of fixed frustration within the second half of the journey.
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