Mobile gaming has certainly maintained a niche inside the industry as a whole. So, what would happen if a legend in the industry developed a mobile game as if it was a console game?
Fantasian Neo Dimension aims to be just that, and after being stuck for years in what many would call the “Apple Arcade Jail”, it is now available to a wider audience with the console release. But let’s see if it can handle the fine lens of scrutiny that comes with releasing on a PlayStation console.
Let’s Start Once More, From the Top
Fantasian Neo Dimension, which I will now call Fantasian in short, follows Leo, a young man who is in the middle of an infiltration. The kicker? He doesn’t remember a thing, because due to an impact, he ended having lost his memory in the middle of this vital operation. In a moment of intense stress while trying to get away from the various sentinels, he teleports to the town of En with the help of a mysterious teleportation device.
This causes him to meet up with Sid (No, he has nothing to do with Cid, though the name is a funny coincidence), who guides him to the “Toy Box”, a sort of hideout where Leo keeps all of his treasures. After looking around, he tells Sid about the vision he had that had a young girl.
Sid says she can be found to the Old District, and so, after heading there, Leo meets meets Kina, who was raised by the fortune-teller Owen, and can wield magic. It doesn’t take long until they come face to face with Vam the Malevolent God, who cryptically talks about how the mechteria plague that’s spreading around the world is a good thing, and that Leo should not intervene with it.
Later, Leo remembers that there are multiple Toy Boxes spread across the realm, and so together with Kina, they go on a journey in hopes of reclaiming his memories, and hopefully, remember what exactly was his goal and what exactly was he doing at the beginning of the game.
Feel Like I’ve Heard This Before
I’m sure we’ve all heard of a protagonist with amnesia. I myself play Rune Factory, a series which exclusively has amnesiac protagonist, so I know this particular plot device is pretty stale. However, Fantasian’s writing is fantastic, and is reminiscent of games such as Final Fantasy IX, which forgives the use of this plot point. This resemblance makes complete sense, seeing as Sakaguchi is the lead writer for it. You can truly see his footprints all over it, which makes it feel like a classic RPG, though in ways both good and bad.
Despite using a tired trope, the writing manages to feel fresh. Leo is confused about himself and hearing stories about his past paints his past as a different person entirely. In fact, other characters treat Leo himself as comic relief by taking advantage of his amnesia to tease him, even if it can feel a bit overdone.
These moments are few and far between, but players will have encountered these situations before in either manga or other games. There are even points where Kina and a later party member Cheryl start to fight about having a crush on Leo, while the man himself remains oblivious to it.
However, even these points are nostalgic. Even the Cinderella Tri-Stars, which are presented as this group of misfits, also has a leader Morrigan, and there are a few comical scenes of the three girls taking shots at each other over Leo.
My friend who was playing the game alongside me likened the trio to Team Rocket from the Pokémon anime series. Which, yes, they fit that bill perfectly: it’s a trio of bumbling idiots that I can’t seem not to like. Their battles and scenes are infrequent but each time they show up I manage to have a smile on my face, even if their boss battles are really easy.
Fighting in the Name Of…
Fantasian does some interesting development with its battle system. At first glance, it’s not much different from many other turn based RPGs. One of the major difference is how the game handles magic spells. Fantasian allows players to bend certain magic casts to hit multiple targets, or around targets that block or absorb magic. These turn battles essentially into mini-puzzles to be solved, which leads us to the battle system’s pièce de résistance, so to speak, and that is the Dimengeon Machine.
The Dimengeon Machine is a small device that locks away the monsters from the random encounters into an alternate “dimension”, allowing players to fight them in one huge swarm. During these fights, buffs will spawn on the battlefield, and by slashing them, you can claim from extra turns to even raising the attack of the party. If a party member is afflicted by a status effect, there’s also the chance of a cube containing an Antidote to spawn, which makes these battles super fun, in my opinion.
This single mechanic is such a breath of fresh air that comes with the added benefit of speeding up your grinding. Additionally, instead of getting annoyed by the random battles, you can just enable the device, and save those battles for later. This puts each encounter as a choice for the player while not hindering exploration of an area.
This mechanic allows the flow of the game to become dictated by the player, instead of leaving it to the random gods to decide, which is one of the main hindrances that prevent some players from enjoying an RPG that has these mechanics. And I think Fantasian handled this perfectly.
Characters Both Nier and Far
So, one thing that this game cannot get away from is that it’s very clear that each menu was created with the idea of being on a mobile device screen. From the simple dialogue bubble to the design of the menus and the placement of icons really make it telling at what device this was made for. The biggest thing people might notice, however, is that a lot of design would feel at home in both Nier titles.
The main menu, for example, has this color coordination that reminded me of other Square Enix titles. Even Leo looks like a slight redesign of a typical Nier character. Ironically, since this was a mobile title first before it was on consoles, I had initially assumed this was to capitalize on the popularity of the series. However, now having played it this feels more like a coincidence, and instead, the character model fit Leo’s personality and voice.
However, the menus and some of the art design could have used a little bit of a rework to fit better with controllers. I frequently lost the cursor when in battle and would instead use the button shortcuts to choose my attack and previously used ability. Even the subtitles would sometimes blend into the background of the screen, making them hard to read.
This is very disappointing, as these scenes are few and far between due to most cutscenes using speech bubbles that appear above the character denoting who is speaking. This is obviously inspired by comic books, which uses this technique to pass dialouge to readers. Furthermore, this console port of Fantasian adds full voice acting, which enhances the immersion of the game.
I primarily kept to the English voice over as I am not as adept at Japanese as I would have hoped by now. However, the voices are great and help to fill in the personality that the character models miss to be able to run on a phone previously. Obviously, it would be too much to expect whole new models and a perspective for this port of the game, but there is something nostalgic about seeing the pre-rendered background and these lower detailed models.
Is Fantasian Worth It?
Fantasian Neo Dimension is an ambitious title that at times reaches too high for its own good. The story feels very classic, which while is a plus, can put off some players. This title will instantly feel familiar to players who have played any classic Final Fantasy. The updated battle system also feels modern, while still stepping away from the Active Time Battle formula Square is known for.
Is it a perfect title? No. Many fans, especially Final Fantasy fans, may feel a bit disappointed, as it is clear this was a mobile title first before it came to consoles. This is most prevalent in the UI design, which could’ve used a slight retouch and maybe a bit of a retouch to certain areas. However, despite this, Fantasian is a game that is very enjoyable and nostalgic for those of us who are pining for the long gone days of our youth.
Joys
- Each and every character has a deep backstory to them
- Full voice acting adds a ton of personality and helps with immersion
- The Dimengeon Machine helps keep battles fresh
Cons
- Easy to tell that the game is from mobile
- Certain elements are hard to see
