Fantasian Neo Dimension is a bit of like Japanese position taking part in sport consolation meals. There’s the marginally androgynous amnesiac hero. He’ll go on a quest to reclaim his recollections 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’re going to 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 might be 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 id. 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 lovely, lending every location a real-but-not-quite high quality. It is a bit of like taking a look at {a photograph} of the inside of a doll’s home, or the bit within the outdated Godzilla motion pictures the place he smashes up the cardboard metropolis.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 possibly can inform all the pieces is a miniature, painstakingly hand-crafted. It by no means seems actually actual, however we admire 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 diversified, becoming, and eminently hummable.
There have been moments taking part in Fantasian that evoked such sturdy emotions of nostalgia in us that they have been nearly palpable. The pleasant music from Uematsu, the pre-rendered backgrounds — when you flip off the marginally grating voice performing, 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 20 years later for our taking part in pleasure. It is great, or no less than, it is great till you get right into a battle.
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 straightforward and method too troublesome relying on the place you might be within the journey. It is the type of sport the place, relying on which abilities you have unlocked on the ability tree, the subsequent boss you battle will both be inconceivable or trivial. Should you comply with the extent suggestions for quests you may 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 likely be tougher 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 screen tells you which ones character’s flip it’s, who’s subsequent, after which a dozen or so turns after that. You possibly can plan which character goes to assault or heal or buff primarily based on their placement within the operating order. In your flip you’ll be able to both use an ordinary assault, a particular ability, or an merchandise.
Most assaults in Fantasian are projectile primarily based, and so enemy positioning issues. Should you occur to see enemies stood in a line you’ll be able to hearth a projectile to hit all of them one after one other. Some characters can solid spells that you could hearth 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’ll be able to with every flip so you’ll be able to 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 bit of unfold out then your mage would possibly be capable to curve a spell to hit 4 or 5 of them directly. It is a bit of like fixing a puzzle, and for some time we have been actually into it.
Sadly, Fantasian suffers from some actually outrageous problem spikes. You may get by quite a lot of battles utilizing mainly no technique in any respect. They’re far too straightforward. You then’ll face a boss that does not simply require strategic considering; it requires you to comply with a particular technique, and even then luck is concerned. It isn’t 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 unsuitable individual 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. Upon getting entry to the ability timber, you’ll be able to tailor your characters to your liking, specializing in a selected ability or trait. However you may then battle bosses which are nigh-impossible with out accessing sure abilities, which clearly you do not know till you battle them. Happily, you’ll be able to simply reset the ability timber and get your factors again to reallocate them. Some individuals would possibly like this kind of micromanagement, however we discovered it irritating.
One shining star within the fight system is the Dimengeon Machine. Should 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 battle an enormous crab or one thing, you may merely get a notification to let you know that an enemy has been added to the machine. As soon as you have stocked thirty enemies, a dimengeon battle will happen during which you may battle the entire enemies you have stocked in a single go, letting you’re taking out a number of baddies directly with curved assaults or area-of-effect spells. You possibly can 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 recollections of traditional Remaining Fantasy. It is acquired an impeccable soundtrack, lovely locales, and a world that evokes surprise. Nevertheless it’s let down a bit of by likeable however fiercely archetypal characters and a by-the-numbers story, and it is let down rather a lot by wild and uneven problem spikes that make fight a supply of fixed frustration within the second half of the journey.
