Fantasian Neo Dimension is just a little 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 reminiscences 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 risk on the horizon, and solely they’ve the means to cease it.
You are Leo, and you do not keep in mind who you’re or why you are within the Machine Realm, a world of metallic 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 making an attempt to piece collectively your identification. This entails — in conventional JRPG fashion — speaking to folks 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 It is just a little like {a photograph} of the inside of a doll’s home, or the bit within the outdated Godzilla motion pictures the place he smashes up the cardboard metropolis.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 every little thing is a miniature, painstakingly hand-crafted. It by no means appears to be like actually actual, however we recognize the work it took to construct.
Fantasian’s soundtrack comes from the legendary composer of many Ultimate 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 chic. 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 virtually palpable. The pleasant music from Uematsu, the pre-rendered backgrounds — in the event you flip off the marginally grating voice appearing, it looks like a kind of Ultimate Fantasy video games from the unique PlayStation, like an unfinished lacking hyperlink between Ultimate Fantasy IX and X, lastly unearthed over twenty years later for our taking part in pleasure. It is great, or a minimum of, it is great till you get right into a combat.
Fight might be what is going on to make or break this sport for you. There have been occasions we liked it, and different occasions we hated it. It feels unbalanced; each means too straightforward and means too tough relying on the place you’re within the journey. It is the form of sport the place, relying on which expertise you have unlocked on the ability tree, the subsequent boss you combat will both be not possible or trivial. If you happen to observe 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 more durable 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 of them 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 may both use a regular assault, a particular ability, or an merchandise.
Most assaults in Fantasian are projectile primarily based, and so enemy positioning issues. If you happen to occur to see enemies stood in a line you may hearth a projectile to hit all of them one after one other. Some characters can forged spells you can 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 understanding essentially the most environment friendly option to hit as many enemies as you may with every flip so you may 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 just a little unfold out then your mage may be capable to curve a spell to hit 4 or 5 of them without delay. It is just a little like fixing a puzzle, and for some time we have been actually into it.
Sadly, Fantasian suffers from some actually outrageous issue spikes. You may get by a variety of battles utilizing principally no technique in any respect. They’re far too straightforward. Then you definately’ll face a boss that does not simply require strategic considering; it requires you to observe a particular technique, and even then luck is concerned. It is not a sport the place you are rewarded for experimentation. It is a sport that requires you to have a selected ability unlocked, do that factor, then that factor, then the opposite factor, after which pray to the RNG gods that the mistaken particular person 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 bushes open up. After getting entry to the ability bushes, you may tailor your characters to your liking, specializing in a specific ability or trait. However you may then combat bosses which can be nigh-impossible with out gaining access to sure expertise, which clearly you do not know till you combat them. Thankfully, you may simply reset the ability bushes and get your factors again to reallocate them. Some folks may like one of these micromanagement, however we discovered it irritating.
One shining star within the fight system is the Dimengeon Machine. If you happen to flip the Dimengeon on, it’s going to “inventory” random battles for you, so as an alternative of being interrupted as you discover the world to combat 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 by which you may combat the entire enemies you have stocked in a single go, letting you’re taking out a number of baddies without delay with curved assaults or area-of-effect spells. You possibly can flip this characteristic on or off, however we loved utilizing it and having much less interruptions and extra attention-grabbing battles.
Conclusion
Fantasian Neo Dimension evokes reminiscences of basic Ultimate Fantasy. It is acquired an impeccable soundtrack, lovely locales, and a world that evokes surprise. Nevertheless it’s let down just a little by likeable however fiercely archetypal characters and a by-the-numbers story, and it is let down quite a bit by wild and uneven issue spikes that make fight a supply of fixed frustration within the second half of the journey.