Home - RPG Games - Fantasian Neo Dimension: A Comprehensive Review
The world of role-playing games (RPGs) is vast, filled with countless titles that bring fantastical stories, innovative mechanics, and breathtaking visuals to gamers. Fantasian Neo Dimension stands out as a testament to the genre’s potential. Developed by Mistwalker, the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, this title revives the magic of classic JRPGs while introducing unique twists that cater to modern audiences. Let’s delve into an in-depth review of this masterpiece, exploring its core features, strengths, and areas for improvement.
Aesthetic Excellence: The Diorama-Based World
One of Fantasian Neo Dimension‘s most striking features is its diorama-based art style. The game’s environments are crafted from over 150 handcrafted dioramas, meticulously designed to immerse players in its enchanting world. Unlike conventional digital landscapes, these dioramas provide a tactile, lifelike quality that enhances the overall aesthetic.
Key Highlights:
Visual Appeal: The dioramas’ intricate details, from lush forests to bustling towns, create a stunning backdrop for the game’s narrative.
Immersive Atmosphere: The blend of physical art with high-definition digital graphics bridges nostalgia with innovation, captivating players of all ages.
Unique Design: The handcrafted approach adds a personal touch that’s rare in modern gaming, making every location feel distinct and memorable.
The game’s aesthetic success is further complemented by the subtle use of lighting and color. Each area’s ambiance is carefully curated to match the story’s tone, from vibrant, sunlit meadows to eerie, shadow-cloaked ruins. However, while the visuals are undeniably beautiful, some players might find the fixed camera angles restrictive, particularly when exploring hidden areas or engaging in battles.
Storyline: A Tale of Dual Dimensions
At its core, Fantasian Neo Dimension delivers a narrative-driven experience that weaves together mystery, emotion, and epic adventure. The game’s story revolves around the protagonist, Leo, who awakens in a strange mechanical world with no memory of his past. As he journeys through the dual dimensions of order and chaos, he uncovers secrets about his identity, his companions, and the forces threatening the universe.
Narrative Strengths:
Character Development: Each character’s backstory is richly detailed, creating a deep emotional connection with the player.
Engaging Plot: The dual-dimension concept is masterfully executed, adding layers of intrigue and complexity to the narrative.
Cinematic Presentation: The story is told through a mix of beautifully animated cutscenes and in-game interactions, ensuring seamless immersion.
The supporting cast shines as well, offering memorable personalities and meaningful contributions to the overarching plot. From stoic warriors to enigmatic sorcerers, each companion adds depth and diversity to the story’s emotional weight. Despite these strengths, some players might feel that the pacing slows during certain segments, particularly in the middle of the game. This could detract from the otherwise compelling storyline.
Gameplay Mechanics: Innovation Meets Tradition
Fantasian Neo Dimension‘s gameplay strikes a fine balance between classic JRPG mechanics and innovative features that enhance player engagement. The game employs a turn-based combat system, reminiscent of traditional RPGs, but introduces modern twists to keep battles dynamic and strategic.
Combat System:
Dimengeon System: This unique mechanic allows players to send weaker enemies into an alternate dimension, reducing random encounters and enabling uninterrupted exploration.
Trajectory-Based Attacks: Players can manipulate attack trajectories to target multiple enemies, adding a layer of strategy to combat.
Customization: Characters can be equipped with unique abilities and upgrades, encouraging diverse playstyles.
Exploration is equally engaging, with puzzles and environmental challenges integrated into various areas. Players often need to use their wits to navigate obstacles, unlocking pathways to hidden treasures or advancing the story. While these features are groundbreaking, the learning curve for the Dimengeon System might be steep for newcomers, and mastering trajectory-based attacks requires patience and practice.
Music and Sound Design: A Nobuo Uematsu Masterpiece
No review of Fantasian Neo Dimension would be complete without mentioning its soundtrack. Composed by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu, known for his work on the Final Fantasy series, the music elevates the game’s emotional impact.
Musical Highlights:
Memorable Themes: Each track perfectly captures the mood of its respective scene, from epic battles to poignant character moments.
Diverse Soundscapes: The blend of orchestral and electronic elements creates a rich auditory experience.
Immersive Audio: High-quality sound effects and voice acting further enhance the game’s atmosphere.
Each character’s theme is a standout, providing auditory cues that amplify their personality and story arc. However, the lack of voiceovers in some critical scenes might feel like a missed opportunity to further immerse players.
Replayability and Value
With a playtime of approximately 30–45 hours for the main story and additional hours for side quests and exploration, Fantasian Neo Dimension offers substantial content for its price. The inclusion of multiple endings based on player choices adds replayability, encouraging players to revisit the game to uncover different outcomes.
Post-Game Content:
Side Quests: Numerous optional missions provide opportunities to explore the world further and deepen character relationships.
Boss Challenges: Hidden bosses offer a rewarding challenge for players seeking to test their skills.
New Game+: Players can carry over progress to a new playthrough, making it easier to explore alternate paths.
Additionally, a robust crafting system lets players create powerful items, further incentivizing exploration and resource management. Collecting rare materials and experimenting with combinations adds another layer of depth to the gameplay.
Accessibility and Platform Availability
Initially exclusive to Apple Arcade, Fantasian Neo Dimension has since been re-released on multiple platforms, including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. This wider accessibility ensures that a broader audience can experience its magic.
Technical Performance:
Smooth Gameplay: The game runs seamlessly on all platforms, with minimal loading times and no major bugs.
Optimized Controls: Both touch and controller-based inputs are intuitive and responsive.
Cross-Save Functionality: Players can sync their progress across devices, ensuring flexibility and convenience.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Stunning Diorama Visuals: Unique handcrafted environments that are visually breathtaking.
Engaging Storyline: A rich narrative with well-developed characters and emotional depth.
Innovative Combat Mechanics: Strategic systems like the Dimengeon and trajectory-based attacks.
Immersive Soundtrack: Masterfully composed music by Nobuo Uematsu enhances the game’s emotional resonance.
High Replayability: Multiple endings, side quests, and post-game challenges encourage repeated playthroughs.
Wide Accessibility: Available on multiple platforms with seamless cross-save functionality.
Cons:
Fixed Camera Angles: Restrictive perspectives may hinder exploration in certain areas.
Steep Learning Curve: Some mechanics, such as the Dimengeon System, require time to master.
Pacing Issues: The story’s momentum slows in certain segments, potentially losing player engagement.
Limited Voice Acting: The absence of voiceovers in key scenes diminishes immersion.
Platform-Specific Controls: Touch controls on mobile may feel less precise compared to traditional controllers.
Final Thoughts: Is Fantasian Neo Dimension Worth Your Time?
Fantasian Neo Dimension is a love letter to classic JRPGs, blending nostalgic elements with modern innovations. Its diorama-based visuals, engaging storyline, and strategic gameplay make it a standout title in the RPG genre. While it has minor flaws, such as pacing issues and the steep learning curve for certain mechanics, these are outweighed by its strengths.
Key Takeaways:
Perfect for fans of traditional JRPGs and newcomers seeking a unique gaming experience.
Offers a compelling mix of story, visuals, and gameplay that’s rare in today’s market.
A must-play for enthusiasts of Hironobu Sakaguchi’s work and Nobuo Uematsu’s music.
High replayability ensures lasting value for players.
Whether you’re a seasoned RPG fan or a newcomer to the genre, Fantasian Neo Dimension is a journey worth embarking on. Its blend of art, story, and innovation ensures it will be remembered as one of the defining games of its era. With its breathtaking dioramas, captivating narrative, and innovative gameplay mechanics, it’s not just a game but a testament to the artistic potential of the medium.
beautiful game why western games are not lie that in western games always have to be some which don't belong in games pick any Asian will always deliver interesting simple gameplay good story like today played 5 hours without even feeling it
Fantasian Neo Dimension is a charming JRPG, that used the original platform's limitations as a creative way to make this game. Originally on Apple Arcade, it had to go through touchscreen limitations as well as hardware. However this limitation brought with it a beautiful hand-crafted dioramas as pre-rendered backgrounds. A story telling using mostly just texts with beautiful artwork in the background and sometimes animated cutscenes. Gameplay mechanics wise it plays really like a traditional JRPG, attack, flee, items, skills. However what makes this unique was the fact you can angle your attacks to hit multiple enemies if you angle it correctly.This version of the game comes with visual upgrades and many battle soundtracks from the Final Fantasy series, however the original soundtrack for this game is also great! While I haven't completed it yet as of this writing, I haven't really seen anything negative about it, there was one sound effect bug that happened in a certain scene and that was it. The only other point is the voice acting for it is hit or miss, some voice actors really put their all into it, while others (mostly generic NPCs) felt like they did it in one take and used that.
I just can't muster interest any further. I dragged myself to the end of Act 1 and called it. There are quite a few positives, but in the end it just falls short in too many other places. Here are some highlights:[list]
[*]Stop me if you've heard this one before: protagonist with amnesia must trace his lineage and stop the mysterious virus plaguing the planet, all while being hounded by Evil McNefarious. It unfortunately never gets better.
[*]This is just way too much money for an Apple Arcade port. It looks nice and it has a slew of Quality of Life, but I couldn't justify the cost until it hit a decent discount.
[*]Uematsu continues to be the best part about this title. The soundtrack is really catchy.
[*]The party members are merely cutouts of other titles. There's nothing particularly interesting about any of them.
[*]The first few hours of the game contain a ton of references and nods to the PS1 version of FF7 which was neat.
[*]Overall the game looks nice and I like being able to click nodes on the map to auto travel.
[*]So the main gimmick of the game is that you can turn on a pocket device and send all random encounters to the shadow realm. You only have to deal with them once the capacity for the device gets full, then you fight in the pocket dimension all 30+ of them at once with a smattering of powerful upgrades you can activate along the way. On paper it's ok, but in practice it just takes too long and doesn't feel like you're saving any time.
[*]This game is just frustratingly SLOW: no 2x speed for fights, no sliders for random encounters... instead you get to deal with gigantic slews of pocket dimension fights and pray you get done before dinner. It's 2025 and somehow Bravely Default completely figured this problem out back in 2012 with a random encounter slider (0% - 200%, adjustable at any time) and JRPGs never took proper notice.
[*]The voice acting is great for the English dub and the autoplay works well enough with the shorter sentences.
[*]They do a good job of smattering treasure chests with all sorts of weird key requirements everywhere so you want to come back to areas. While I do appreciate them putting chest icons on the map for locked/open chests: they needed to go one step further and told you on the map what type of chest they are.
[*]The battle gimmicks of aiming your attack direction or AoEs is ok but gets old pretty quick.
[*]A minor grievance: Helm Bash doesn't make sense. It notes that it breaks guard, but when an enemy puts up guard or raises it shield it does diddly squat. Feels like a mistranslation.
[/list]It's so close. It has the elements of a sturdy JRPG, but instead fumbles the ball in way too many areas. By the end of Act 1 as I got a world state change: I didn't care about the story, characters, battle system, random encounters, or most things in the title. Your time is unfortunately spent elsewhere.
So far I am greatly enjoying FND with few areas of exception. There are many reviews with many more hours than me that discuss late game mechanics and difficulty (which I'm looking forward to), but here's my hot takes after the first few sessions:GOOD:
- Great writing and characters
- Music from the master Nobuo Uematsu is great in every situation
- Accessable combat flow
- Beautiful scenes and combat effects
- Overall vibe and aesthetic of late-90s/early-00s RPGs with updated graphics in many areas
- Plays excellently on Steam Deck with zero issuesBAD:
- Combat in the first 6 or 7 hours was a bit too simplistic and almost detracted me from playing more. Luckily it got more intense and provided more critical thought in recent hours
- My number one complaint is there's TOO MANY PERSPECTIVE SHIFTS WHEN EXPLORING! I get it, the dioramas made for each area are gorgeous, but you often walk 5 feet then the camera shifts to a different angle. Again and again. Over and over. There are some areas that literally have like 10+ transitions in the matter of a minute, just walking. It's disorienting and excessive at timesIf I have anything to add with more hours I'll adjust, but for now I'm very happy!
Wastes your time on purpose, debuffs rarely work on bosses and there's no point to debuff normal enemies because they die in 1-2 hits. Bosses all have a gimmick you have to figure out, so either look up a guide or waste 10 minutes each boss to figure out they're weakness. For a party based rpg, the party members are barely distinct from each other with tons of overlap. The story was overall weak and the characters were weaker. Maps were handmade irl as dioramas so thats cool, but there's so much backtracking through them that it gets tedious with random encounters every 10 steps which are again, very straight forward. I really liked the game at the beginning, but the charm it had got whittled down every time they told me to fuck off and waste more time doing chores. I'm pmo!
its a fantastic game. quite similar to FF6 in structure. the mobile UI is actually to its benefit. the music is good, the sound is good, and the graphics are good. besides the high difficulty, the game is solid to anyone who likes old school JRPGs.
The secret 4th PSX Final Fantasy, everything is here:- Prerendered-like background aesthetic.
- Humorous and well-paced scenario by Sakaguchi-san and co.
- Catchy and memorable music by Uematsu-san.Most fans of FFVII, VIII and IX should give this game a chance.
This game scratches that itch of classic jrpg vibe from the 90s and early 2000s but is packaged in updated graphics. Of course it's made by the awesome Sakaguchi and Excellent composer Nobuo Uematsu. This game is very chill in the beginning but it is also challenging so there's something for everyone!
It is a good game and the prerendered levels are gorgeous. If you like turn based RPGs you will like the second part, since the difficulty goes through the roof and you will get enemies that use different type of tactics in brilliant ways.
This game went from a fun and different JRPG to one of the most annoying level-check on each late game boss fight game I've ever seen. It is such a shame because the game is overall fun with an interesting story and characters, but the design on the later boss fights is just bad. "Oh the boss has low HP, let the boss spam its attacks where it spawns adds everywhere that enrages while the boss itself becomes invulnerable."
And if that is not enough, sometimes you need a specific character to counter the bosses adds, but the boss can also bind one of your active characters so you are unable to swap them out and forced to take care of that first, meaning that you lose even more DPS on the adds in an already tight DPS-check.Fix the difficulty on the late game areas and this game would be a lot more enjoyable, but as it is right now it forces you to over level every fight on the harder difficulty and that just takes the fun out of the entire game.
This game feels like a lost gem. I just wish it would provide an option to scale the UI. Clearly designed for mobiles. At least this game didn´t die like Nier Reincarnation. Damn you mobile gaming.However, unlike other reviews, I think this game absolutely does not evoke any FF vibes at all. It feels like it has more vibes from Bravely Default with a Nier-like protoganist.
It's hard for me to recommend this game when I can't bring myself to finish it.Starting with the good, just about every core aspect of the game grabbed my attention. The majority of the map design being handmade dioramas is fantastic. The story was fascinating to me from the start, I loved how it presents exposition as a story book and I was engaged with how the plot ramped up. The dimengeon mechanic really cuts down the tedium of random encounters, and the combat letting you aim and curve attacks makes the turn-based more engaging. Heck, even the boss fights tend to put up unique challenges each time. Everything is a pretty solid formula!The big problem is that almost every good aspect has an asterisk after it. Progression is often a drag that it takes about 20 hours for the game to open up. One part of the problem is how often the writing tries to be funny with these awkward running gags, and another is how much linear retreading there is. And once it does open up, the game will heap piles and piles of quests onto you. This is all dragged down further by the fact the game will start gimping EXP gain hard if the enemies are even a single level below you, so grinding gets tedious quick. Every single boss from here on can also steamroll you no matter how overleveled or prepared you are for their gimmick. Pickings for armor equips get slim, and buffs/debuffs barely make a dent in stats. Boss fights ended up being one brick wall after another, so for my sanity I gave up.I like so much about the game, but the difficulty scaling needs a checkup. The game has a hard mode, I don't know why they think normal needs to be this unfair.
In every category of a RPG, it hits that "almost good" mark, but it really isn't ever going to be a good game since it feels like a mobile game.
The story is boring with its lost memory crap. The story telling is thru visual novel segments that is basically low budget attempts of storytelling.
The "storage battle" combat system gets old very quick and very tedious.
The boss battles are just 3d sprites that spew out a lot of damage.
The leveling system is dumb. It added a growth map thing like FFX, but you are limited on how much you can progress in a first playthrough. It's cute that they thought someone wanted to play this more than once.
The music is okay...I don't know why this was made.
Played about 4 hours. You start out as a guy with amnesia, which is probably one of the worst ways to start a story. Met a girl. Went walking in some forest somewhere. So far there's nothing of any intrigue, I'm not curious about the characters, I find them all incredibly unlikable. And like nothing's happened! Another game with a big name behind it but no substance. People who said this game "feels" like a Final Fantasy game are just straight up lying to you, FF games hook you in the first hour. This one doesn't.
The first half of the game is fun and interesting. The back half of the game is a terrible slog.I don't know why RPG designers still include the following things, they simply don't belong in modern games:
- forced random encounters
- unskippable cutscenes
- back to back boss encounters with no saveThe forced random encounters wouldn't be as bad if they didn't decide to kneecap your exp gains, so you get to fight (or spend time fleeing from) a bunch of encounters that give you absolutely nothing of value. If you didn't want people to overgrind, at least let them turn the encounters off to stop wasting time.The voice acting is great. The story is decent. The combat system is nice. I just wish the back half of the game respected my time more. There's a lot to love, and if you have all the time in the world and don't mind any of the things I mentioned, go ahead and pick it up. If you rarely have 2-3 consecutive hours to game, I might give it a pass.
could have been brilliant but they made it boring and there are super cringe interactions both in the story and in battle, guy uses "punch" attack and he shoots a beam out of his hand that pierces multiple monsters. ugggh, WHHYYYY
Game seemed promising at the start, interesting combat, nice artstyle, decent writing.But after I while I just grew more and more frustrated with the game.
The pacing is terrible, fights are drawn out, animations are so slow that a simple fight that contains only 10 actions takes over a minute. There's way to many random fights, so either you fight (or flee) enemies every 20 seconds, or you save them and fight 30 of them in a big fight (that lasts many minutes, and doesn't have any challenge).To check enemies health/weaknesses you have to "scan" them (once per enemy type). This really only costs you a turn, and like 5 seconds, but after you've done it 100 times, it kinda wears you down, why is this needed?You also can't choose your party members (at least not in the 18h I played) because they just swap the 2 other than the MC. So if there's characters you don't really like the playstyle of, well, you're stuck with them for like 5-6h. This also limits teambuilding/tactics.Combat skills also don't have much variety, it's just a few simple attacks, and then you get some elemental varieties of those.I want to finish the game since I kinda like the characters and story but I don't think I can.
It seems weird to not recommend a game I've put 55 hours into, but I feel the same way a lot of other folks did who got this far: It's stylish, but the story isn't JRPG nostalgia, it's just generic. The combat system is pretty nice, the landscapes are really amazing, but I can't really bring myself to care about any of the characters, which is a shame because they spend so darn much time exposition dumping. They talk when they enter a new screen. They talk between battles. They talk during battles. They talk after battles. Sometimes you get a 10-minute cutscene that's presented like an illustrated storybook. I like story in my games, but man does it drag.Then there's the infamous "Part 2" difficulty spike. To be honest, I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I've lost a fight to random encounter enemies. The bosses, though, even the mini-bosses or sidequest bosses, feel like constantly ramming my head against the wall. They have absurd amounts of HP, they have very gimmicky patterns, they require you bring a very specific party with a very specific skill map and very specific equipment our you'll spend 20 minutes getting slowly annihilated and then either try again without re-equipping or dealing with a walkback that's too long and sitting through the dialog... again. And then you just have to hope the RNG gods are with you.Maybe this is the right game for someone, but not for me. I don't think I'm going to end up finishing.
I don't know how you get Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu on a project and end up with something so unforgivably bland. Nothing about the gameplay or presentation of the story lands at all. The Amnesia trope is always a huge red flag, and it drags down the narrative in service of a flashback gimmick that somehow manages to suck the life out of even emotional scenes. The "tension" between the characters feels forced and nonsensical, and i just want them to shut up half the time. Started skipping through the spoken dialogue in the first 10 hours and I don't normally do that.
The best part of the battle system gets old fast and then is quickly turned against you, turning it into an unrewarding slog that even grinders can't enjoy. After playing for hours I wouldn't recognize a single song in the game if you played it for me. I was expecting so much more from this but I have no idea what they were even trying to do.
The nail in the coffin is Denuvo, though that's a whole Square Enix issue not specific to this game.
A beautiful, thoughtful, piece of art. You can feel the love and care put into this game throughout its entirety. Sakaguchi hasn't lost his touch one bit and I am so excited to see what he brings nest.Despite some very minor issues which have been fixed with patches - this game is a near masterpiece for me and I suggest it to anyone who loves a classic JRPG.
I hate giving a negative review on a turn based game, but this game is just..... not good. The difficulty spike in the second half of the game is ridiculous. It's one thing for boss fights to be challenging, its another for them to be completely obnoxious. This game leans in the absolutely obnoxious territory to the point that boss fights are not even difficult, just outright unfair. I'm 5 level's above the current recommended level of a certain boss fight and near the end of the fight I have two enemies even with damage down hitting me for nearly 3k back to back and 2500+ group wide damage with a roster incapable of doing a group wide heal.The mediocre story isn't worth the headache that is the boss fights in this game. There is ZERO reason for the boss fights to be as obnoxiously difficult as they are. It's a cheap way to force you to grind levels in a game that is not very long. (oh and after level 35 they significantly reduce the amount of EXP you earn.....because reasons.....)
If your like me and grew up playing the original Final Fantasy Nintendo Entertainment System cartridge and you have been looking for a modern game that brings back that feeling, then look no further.
I was so excited for this game. With nostalgic memories of Lost Odyssey, I couldn't wait to play it. To avoid spoilers, I didn't delve into the game's origins. I wanted to approach the game with as little prejudice as possible and what it returned to me was pure disappointment.A positive point to mention is the lovingly crafted world, which was created from dozens of handmade dioramas and gives the game its very own charm. However, after 53 hours of playtime, it's the only thing I can still enjoy.The story unfolds very predictably and without any real depth. Or events occur that had no hint of what was going on beforehand... it's just the way it is, without any prior character development.
Example [spoiler] The moment when Zinikr realizes that he really loves the unemotional elf-woman, because it's always been that way. At some point. In his previous life. Or so... [/spoiler]The character design is rather generic and the characters themselves are copies of stereotypes.
Particualry lazy is that all the women have the same idle animations and sometimes just stand around motionless with their fingers spread out in a weird way. How can so much love be put into the background and the main characters don't even get "natural" posture?The music in the game, unfortunately, isn't something that you will remember. Usually, good game themes stick in my head for months or even years, but Fantasian Neo Dimension doesn't have a track like that.The combat system is actually quite fun at the beginning of the game. Attacks can be maneuvered around corners and can be blasted through groups of enemies, all depending on the character's weapon and skill set. The idea of "storing" enemies in a dimension to fight them in large numbers there also felt good. Unfortunately, the random encounters eventually become so intense that you feel like you're progressing on the world map for 20-30 seconds and then fighting a swarm of 40+ monsters for 5+ minutes. Some of you might be thinking, "Oh, then leveling up must be easy." Sadly, not at all. The game decided (I think it was at level 35) to introduce a soft lock on experience to ensure that enemies below your level no longer give you experience. And that's even if they're only one level below you. For many quests, you repeatedly run through the same areas, where the monsters obviously don't get stronger over time... so you constantly waste 5+ minutes in dimensional battles, with no real benefit but more "high-quality" gameplay. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love grinding in games, but in this case, it's just a waste of time.Speaking of waste of time, the boss fights in this game are, on the one hand, simply HP sponges that spam one or more random status effects, leaving you with almost no chance of winning the first time you encounter them. On the other hand, you're forced to watch their cutscenes again after killing the game with ALT+F4 in order to escape the fight. There's no way to skip a cutscene or reload the game from within combat. You always have to play until you see the "game over"-screen before you are allowed to use the "load game" option.
I also think that gimmick bosses don't have much to do with skill or difficulty. Once you see what status effect they use, you equip the corresponding "immune gems", and the fight is over for them.
So the game isn't difficult per se, just annoying.
And for you achievement hunters: To get all the achievements you need a NG+ run, which means even more pointless grinding up to level 99.I have to admit, I really tried to like this game because of Lost Odyssey in my heart, but... I can't recommend it.
This is a great tribute to the older Final Fantasy games. The story is engaging, maybe a little predictable if you're well versed in JRPGs, the characters have individual stories and are likable. The level design is nice to look at. Runs flawlessly on Steam Deck.
TL/DR: It's pretty but boringIt has been a long time since I have experienced this level of self indulgence masquerading as "nostalgia". Games have come a long way since the 8- and 16-bit JRPGs of the last century, it's a shame Mistwalker couldn't come with them. There are things to like here: the overall art design and the 3D rendered backgrounds are great. The ability to bank random encounters is a good idea, but lacking in a game where you seem to rack up a random battle every three steps.
The character design is poor, at best. From the amnesiac protagonist to the snarky kid to the magical girl with the mysterious past...we've seen all this before. Over and over again.
The battle system is not good. Aside from the encounter rate being ridiculously high the boss battles are just tedious. They are HP sponges, often with stupidly implemented ways to prolong the fight for no reason other than to prolong the fight. When a boss who I can only actually damage half the time starts healing itself it's time for me to move on to something that respects my time a bit more. Like doing my taxes or making a dentist appointment.
This game is an example of what happens when story is just a series of events and the characters have no actual character. There's no meat for me to sink my teeth into, it's just shallow interactions and every potential mystery gets explained almost immediately with blatant signposting or exposition. Not to mention fights are long slogs, even with the Dimengeon feature, and boss fights especially so. I'm a little over halfway through the game and I don't feel any stronger in a fight than I did 20 hours ago, particularly when after Level 35 the game implements an XP reduction for fighting any enemy lower level, even 1 level lower, so fights are not only long but there's no point to them since you're getting barely anything. It feels like the game is trying to make me play longer through all the worst QoL methods, as opposed to because it's fun or interesting.
