Neo Dimension Review: The Ultimate Final Fantasy Tribute – FANTASIAN Unleashed

Since Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square Enix to create his own development studio, Mistwalker, the Final Fantasy series has never been the same. Although debating the quality of individual titles past the ninth entry in the series, the last the franchise’s creator worked on, has never produced an actual consensus, there’s no denying that the little spark that made Final Fantasy one of the most loved Japanese role-playing game series ever made went away together with the series creator.

This has been made painfully clear by FANTASIAN, Mistwalker’s return to a classic JRPG formula after a while. Originally released in two parts for the Apple Arcade service, the game is effectively a Final Fantasy game in all but name, featuring an engaging turn-based combat system with a very peculiar twist that is very reminiscent of the amazing Chrono Trigger, another legendary game Sakaguchi-san contributed to make in the late 90s, a unique visual style which employs hand-made dioramas for the locations, a clear callback to the PlayStation entries in the Final Fantasy series with their pre-rendered backgrounds, charming characters and a beautiful soundtrack created by Nobuo Uematsu, the man behind the soundtrack of the vast majority of Final Fantasy games.

All the above contributed to making FANTASIAN the best JRPG that only a few played due to the fact that it has stayed as an Apple Arcade exclusive up until the release of FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, an enhanced port that is a worthwhile purchase for both JRPG fans and those few who already experienced the original Apple Arcade release, thanks to some welcome additions and tweaks over the original.

The world of FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is far from a world at peace. A deathly mechanical infection called Mechteria, which robs humans of their emotions before taking their lives, is spreading at an alarming rate all over the world, and there’s little humanity can do to prevent it from spreading any further. The only one who has the chance to save the world is the young amnesiac boy called Leo, who begins the adventure in a strange land filled with machines. Narrowingly making his escape from the machines that wanted him dead, Leo finds himself back into the world of humans with no recollection of his past.

After a fortuitous encounter, the young protagonist starts understanding that his past is way more complicated than that of any regular boy and that his destiny is deeply intertwined with the Mechteria infection and the mysterious being known as Vam, the Malevolent. By traveling the world together with the companions he will meet on almost every step of his journey, Leo not only gets to remember his past and understand his destiny but will also embark on yet another journey spanning multiple dimensions to get rid of an evil that threatens to swallow all.

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension’s story is among the most JRPG stories we have seen in modern games, featuring almost every single trope the genre has featured up until this point. Despite this, Mistwalker made it rather endearing, with some solid writing that brings about some extremely emotional moments here and there. These emotional moments are mostly confined to memories, special events featuring beautiful hand-drawn sequences that cover events that happened before the story began, but they do an excellent job rounding up the tone of the adventure, which is generally on the lighthearted side.

While ultimately, the FANTASIAN Neo Dimension story treads some very familiar ground, it’s the characters that truly elevate the experience. Every member of the cast is rather likable, and their interactions help develop them considerably. Cheryl’s interactions with Leo, for example, are quite good and give both characters a little more depth beyond the tropes of the headstrong princess and amnesiac adventurer they wholly embrace.

Besides going full-in with tropes, albeit in a compelling way, Mistwalker did not shy away from going full-in with references to the Final Fantasy series in FANTASIAN Neo Dimension as well. Listing all of them would take a long time, but just in the first few hours of the adventure, you will get to understand how Leo is not all that different from thieves like Locke and Zidane, although he isn’t as likable as either of them, how Kina is Aerith in not-so-effective disguise (their color pattern is essentially the same as well), how the short battle against Sebastian is a clear callback to the legendary battle between Edward and Tellah only lacking a spoony bard and so on. As a long-time fan of the Square Enix series and Hironobu Saguchi, I really enjoyed spotting these references, which made the adventure even more enjoyable.

Even in regards to gameplay, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension doesn’t exactly push the boundaries of the genre. On the contrary, it fully embraces them, only providing some twists that make the experience feel instantly familiar yet engaging. The first half of the adventure sees a linear story progression that brings Leo and his companions from one place to another, but this is completely shaken up in the second half with the introduction of non-linear progression reminiscent of the second half of Final Fantasy VI. Players can technically go whenever they want but have to look out for very powerful enemies and bosses, as the challenge level increases considerably over the first half.  The story is told in a slightly different manner and has a slightly increased focus on the characters and their personal journeys, but overall, the experience holds itself up pretty well, although those who prefer a tighter pacing will inevitably feel a little more disappointed.

Regarding actual exploration of the game’s many locations rendered with the aforementioned gorgeous hand-made dioramas, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension doesn’t do anything different than the PlayStation-era Final Fantasy games have done. Both towns and dungeons are generally on the small side, which is not surprising given the mobile origins of the game, and feature the usual selection of treasure chests, some of them requiring keys to open and simple puzzles. Unlike the aforementioned Final Fantasy games, however, the camera is way more dynamic on the field, which allowed the developers to add more secrets inside locations

Just like a classic JRPG, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension features random enemy encounters but with a twist that gives players control over when to fight. Shortly after the beginning of the adventure, the Dimengeon system will be unlocked, allowing Leo to send enemies that haven’t been encountered for the first time to a parallel dimension where they are stored until defeated. As the Dimengeon system features a limited capacity, there will always come a time when enemies must be fought, so it is not possible to use the system to completely get rid of random enemy encounters. However, it is always a good idea to take advantage of this unique game mechanic, as it is in these Dimengeon battles against huge enemy numbers that the turn-based combat system shines.

The one mechanic that defines the FANTASIAN Neo Dimension combat system is the ability to aim certain skills to hit multiple enemies. Spells like Holy or Ice, for example, can also be curved using the upper and lower boundaries of combat arenas to hit multiple enemies or targets that sometimes wouldn’t be possible. This system, which is somewhat reminiscent of Chrono Trigger with skills having different ranges and areas of effect, truly shines in Dimengeon battles not only due to the massive amount of enemies but also because it is possible to destroy some special objects that randomly appear on the battlefield that grant a variety of beneficial effects, such as an increased attack, getting an additional turn and so on. This way, it is possible to manipulate the turn order somewhat and make these battles more manageable and, ultimately, more fun. For boss battles, it is not possible to use the Dimengeon system, and they must be fought with no option to escape or postpone the confrontation. These battles are generally well put together, challenging the player’s knowledge of the game mechanics in plenty of different ways. Unfortunately, they become a little stale as the adventure proceeds due to the excessive use of the “Mode Change” mechanics that power the bosses up briefly and force a more defensive approach, but the challenge level they usually present still makes them engaging.

While the combat system wasn’t changed in FANTASIAN Neo Dimension over the original Apple Arcade release, I feel the new version of the game will be more enjoyable than the original for the vast majority of players thanks to the introduction of multiple difficulty options. The original game was a rather challenging experience, but in Neo Dimension, the challenge level has been toned down with the introduction of a Normal, more manageable difficulty setting, relegating the original balance to the Hard difficulty setting. No matter the difficulty setting, the game still offers a decent level of challenge, so things are never a walk in the park, especially in boss battles in the more open-ended second half of the game, where they become more like puzzles than actual battles. In the original Apple Arcade release, these battles were way too difficult, but with the new difficulty setting, they are more manageable without too much grinding with the proper building of characters

Character building and progression in FANTASIAN Neo Dimension follows the same trajectory of the story. In the first half, the only customization options are granted by equipment and jewels that can grant a variety of passive skills. Later on, the character-building options expand a lot with the introduction of the Growth Maps granted by Divine Artifacts. These big skill trees feature a lot of different nodes containing a variety of skills that allow for the creation of more specialized builds to take on the challenge Leo and his companions will have to overcome after reaching the Chaos Realm. The game incentivizes experimentation by allowing players to reset each Growth Map at no cost straight from the menu. So, if any boss battle proves to be too much, it is possible to try out different strategies with different character builds with little to no hassle.

The jump from iOS devices to PC and consoles hasn’t changed FANTASIAN Neo Dimension’s presentation in any significant way, for better or worse. While the dioramas continue to look stunning at every resolution, the character models, while personable and detailed enough, do look on the simple side, bringing to mind the models used for characters in JRPG from a couple of console generations back. The interface hasn’t seen any major change over the original release, although it remains functional even with regular controls, including mouse and keyboard controls on PC that work surprisingly well, especially in battle, as aiming skills with the mouse pointer feel way better than doing the same with any controller.

Being a remaster of a mobile game, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension should run well on the vast majority of system configurations. The machine used for the test (i7-13700F, RTX 4080 GPU, 32 GB RAM) was overkill for the game, considering the official recommended specs, so it had no trouble running the game at 4K resolution, High Graphics Quality preset and locked 120 FPS. The graphics options available are limited so there’s not much room for tweaking, but this is hardly surprising, considering the type of visuals involved.

Besides a new gameplay balance and 4K resolution support on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, the vast majority of changes introduced in FANTASIAN Neo Dimension over the original Apple Arcade release pertain to the audio experience. While there is no real reason not to listen to the amazing soundtrack created by Nobuo Uematsu, the new version of the game allows players to change the battle music with tracks lifted from other entries in the series, including Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth, the Pixel Remasters, Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy XIV expansions Endwalker and Dawntrail. Tracks can even be changed during battles themselves, giving players great flexibility. The remaster also introduces new English and Japanese voiceovers that are well done and enhance the story presentation quite a bit.

Instead of attempting to do away with the tropes that have dominated the genre for a very long time, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension fully embraces them to deliver a compelling experience that feels markedly “Final Fantasy” without being an actual part of the series. The story, as a whole, may not be anything special, but the little interactions between the characters, some emotional moments, and the solid combat system, which only improves as the adventure proceeds and the challenge level increases, make for one of the best JRPGs released in the past few years.

PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.

9

WCCFTECH RATING

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension