I subscribed to Apple Arcade back in 2021 for one game alone: Fantasian. I only ended up putting about eight hours into the Mistwalker and Hironobu Sakaguchi JRPG due to the subscription model and mobile format. Thankfully, I finally fixed that issue with the release of Fantasian Neo Dimension, which cements this JRPG as a worthy Final Fantasy-like game every JRPG fan should check out.
If you put Fantasian in front of me and told me it was a remaster or remake of a classic PS1 or PS2 JRPG, I’d be likely to believe you. It fits right in with some of the greats of the genre, like Final Fantasy X, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy VII. The opening of the JRPG begins with an amnesiac protagonist named Leo fighting his way through a futuristic robotic factory.
This opening dungeon wastes no time whatsoever in ushering the player into the action, much like the start of Final Fantasy VII. Fantasian Neo Dimension feels like the perfect blend of Sakaguchi’s previous Mistwalker works like Lost Odyssey and his time at Square Enix working on the Final Fantasy series. It has wonderful aspects of both experiences at the same time.
For one, there is the amnesia and visual novel-like memories that come straight out of Lost Odyssey. There is a lot of rich lore to this world, including the Mechteria menace that is invading everywhere and destroying everything. Much of this backstory plays out in the form of memories that are stunning, unforgettable, visual novel vignettes.
Then there is the combination of the general gameplay and vibes found in this JRPG. This is where the Final Fantasy element comes into play. The turn-based combat feels like a flashier, more flexible version of the first 10 or so mainline titles. Players can pick various skills, attacks, and items to use in combat each turn. This will all feel familiar to existing JRPG fans. The twist, though, comes into play with the fluidity of attacks.
You can use the thumbstick of your controller to bend your attacks. Most skills use a line to target enemies, but you can twist this line to be more angular. This allows you to bend around the edge of the arena, for instance, and hit three enemies at once, rather than one. It is a fascinating system, and most skills allow its use. This makes every single turn you make a strategic endeavor to find the most efficient way to attack.
You’ll want to do this too, because Fantasian Neo Dimension is a highly challenging game. Fortunately, this version comes with two difficulty modes: Normal and Hard. Hard is the previous difficulty from the Apple Arcade version. I shamelessly played on the Normal difficulty this time around, and it feels much more balanced and welcoming. That said, this is still one of the most challenging JRPGs I’ve experienced in a long time.
Even grinding levels and being overleveled does little to help you here. Bosses still have some of the most intense and ridiculously difficult strategies found in modern JRPGs. I appreciate how every boss pretty much has their own unique idea and concept. One boss might have arms you have to defeat first to reduce its skills set and make it weaker. But then you might have another boss that summons minions that it consumes if you don’t defeat them fast enough to do a powerful, near-party-wiping attack.
Fantasian: Neo Dimension is the type of game where you can expect to see the “game over” screen. That said, the exhilaration of defeating the bosses is one I haven’t felt in quite a while. It helps that the other parts of the JRPG match the level of the combat. Exploration, for instance, looks constantly beautiful due to the hand-crafted nature of the world. Each area you visit comes from a literal diorama the team made in the real world. There is nothing like this visual style and it continues to impress in its level of detail.
I also found, though, that this diorama idea struck the right balance between non-linearity and pacing. No area feels too large or overwhelming to explore. But, at the same time, there are enough rooms and branching paths in dungeons to warrant exploration, with tons of chests and items around every corner.
Then there is the story itself. It may not reach the heights of Lost Odyssey, for example, but it doesn’t need to. This is a tale where the characters take center stage, and I actually like this cast a bit more than the ones found in Mistwalker’s past works. The dynamic between the three leads of Leo, Cheryl, and Kina is reminiscent of the triangle of Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith in the best way possible, all without copying it too much.
The constant banter between the party members is consistently great. I won’t dive into the other party members who appear later on, but every member of the group quickly became a favorite of mine for different reasons. Better yet, Fantasian Neo Dimension does a fantastic job of ensuring every party member plays widely different from one another. Kina, for instance, is your typical White Mage character with heals. But Cheryl is like a Summoner, able to rely on her ancestral knight summons to deal impressive damage. There are some even more neat additions later on as well, spoilers aside.
Voice acting is finally available in Fantasian Neo Dimension, and it helps flesh out the party members. Whether you pick to play in Japanese or English, these aspects really bring the story and characters to life. Another new feature with this release is the addition of Final Fantasy songs. I wish it was easier to pick songs, as they are generally tied to types of fights like boss fights, normal fights, and so on. Still, being able to play with one of my favorite recent FFXIV Dawntrail tracks was a great addition.
And this is all before including the Dimengeon feature. Grinding in Fantasian Neo Dimension is a breeze because you can avoid random encounters, and instead store them to fight all at once later on. It is fascinating ideas like this that make this game one of my favorite JRPGs in recent memory. In fact, I had more fun with Fantasian than the most recent mainline Final Fantasy title.
After all, Fantasian Neo Dimension is the best way to play this Mistwalker JRPG. The sharper visuals and resolution make this truly pop in a beautiful way on the Nintendo Switch, where I played it. The story, characters, and fluid turn-based gameplay are high quality enough to feel like a classic spin-off of the Final Fantasy series. If you like JRPGs, don’t miss out on one of my favorite releases in 2024 during a year jam-packed full of thrilling releases.
Fantasian Neo Dimension releases for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on December 5, 2024.
Embark on an adventure to discover your memories and save the world from a mechanical infection. Maneuver your skill trajectories during battle, and dive into a new dimension with a unique twist on a classic RPG experience.
Fantasian: Neo Dimension finally does this Mistwalker JRPG justice with its arrival on modern console and PC platforms without a subscription. The hand-created visuals and environments look stunning, the memorable story is helped along with a great cast of characters, and the new additions like voice acting and Final Fantasy music make this better than some Final Fantasy games in recent memory.
- Voice acting is now available, both in English and Japanese
- You can rewatch the visual novel and Lost Odyssey-like memories in the Story and then Memories section of the main menu
- There is, sadly, no touchscreen support on Nintendo Switch
Published: Dec 4, 2024 06:00 am