I’d fallen out of love with RPGs over the years. As the industry has largely distanced itself from turn-based experiences like Dragon Quest in favor of more action-focused takes on the genre like Xenoblade Chronicles or Tales of Arise, I’ve become disenfranchised.
Along comes Fantasian—a phone game, my gosh—created by the “father” of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and composed by Nobuo Uematsu. These two are the team that made the turn-based RPGs I fell in love with as a child! I upgraded my phone for the first time since 2014, bought a $50 Lightning Cable accessory, and signed up for a couple months of Apple Arcade to make Fantasian happen for myself…and it is truly the best gaming decision I made in 2021.
With Dragon Quest XI being a noteworthy exception, I haven’t felt so compelled to not just learn but master an RPG’s systems in years. And I haven’t even mentioned that the entire game is made from hundreds of literal hand-crafted dioramas, giving it a sense of artistry that makes it like almost no other game. At the end of the day, though, I was really compelled to keep playing because it’s got what I feel is my favorite implementation of the traditional “turn-based RPG structure” ever created. If you’ve played any of the old Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games, you know how random battles work. You’re just wandering around in the world, and suddenly the screen fades and you’re treated to a battle….over and over again, every 3 steps you take, to the point where it kind of grates. Fantasian addresses this annoyance by introducing the Dimengeon, a device that literally sends the enemies you would’ve encountered to a “pocket dimension” so you can face them later. You “store” 20-40 enemies as you freely explore, then you can fight them all at once when you’re ready. And when the fighting happens in this space, you can stack the odds in your favor by making sure your skills or spells activate these crystals that double your attack power for a few turns, or steal an enemy’s turn for yourself. It’s so simple and it’s so satisfying.
As you get into the meat of the experience, though, the boss fights become anything but simple. My proverbial hat is completely off to the group of people that are responsible for some of these battle scenarios. These are some of the most unique, freshest, and unmistakably brutal RPG bosses ever—I felt truly accomplished and like I’d mastered anything any dang turn-based RPG could throw at me after I rolled Fantasian’s credits. It reignited a love I haven’t felt for Final Fantasy since “the good ole days”—and this isn’t even a Final Fantasy game. Honestly, Fantasian is what Final Fantasy XVI should be, to me.
Along comes Fantasian—a phone game, my gosh—created by the “father” of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and composed by Nobuo Uematsu. These two are the team that made the turn-based RPGs I fell in love with as a child! I upgraded my phone for the first time since 2014, bought a $50 Lightning Cable accessory, and signed up for a couple months of Apple Arcade to make Fantasian happen for myself…and it is truly the best gaming decision I made in 2021.
With Dragon Quest XI being a noteworthy exception, I haven’t felt so compelled to not just learn but master an RPG’s systems in years. And I haven’t even mentioned that the entire game is made from hundreds of literal hand-crafted dioramas, giving it a sense of artistry that makes it like almost no other game. At the end of the day, though, I was really compelled to keep playing because it’s got what I feel is my favorite implementation of the traditional “turn-based RPG structure” ever created. If you’ve played any of the old Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games, you know how random battles work. You’re just wandering around in the world, and suddenly the screen fades and you’re treated to a battle….over and over again, every 3 steps you take, to the point where it kind of grates. Fantasian addresses this annoyance by introducing the Dimengeon, a device that literally sends the enemies you would’ve encountered to a “pocket dimension” so you can face them later. You “store” 20-40 enemies as you freely explore, then you can fight them all at once when you’re ready. And when the fighting happens in this space, you can stack the odds in your favor by making sure your skills or spells activate these crystals that double your attack power for a few turns, or steal an enemy’s turn for yourself. It’s so simple and it’s so satisfying.
As you get into the meat of the experience, though, the boss fights become anything but simple. My proverbial hat is completely off to the group of people that are responsible for some of these battle scenarios. These are some of the most unique, freshest, and unmistakably brutal RPG bosses ever—I felt truly accomplished and like I’d mastered anything any dang turn-based RPG could throw at me after I rolled Fantasian’s credits. It reignited a love I haven’t felt for Final Fantasy since “the good ole days”—and this isn’t even a Final Fantasy game. Honestly, Fantasian is what Final Fantasy XVI should be, to me.
2 Comments
@Tsuju DEFINITELY YES, you have to plan your strategies quite a lot, it squeezes the most out of the possibilities in the second part and it's quite demanding, but it's very satisfying to come out victorious, probably the hardest RPG I've ever played but it was never frustrating.
jushajod
2 months ago