#Fantasian console full#

Impressively, Mistwalker has gone to the trouble of producing more than 150 physical models filled with incredible amounts of detail and scanned them into the game. It’s a striking and wholly original visual style that reminds me of the awe I had as a kid while running through the towering pre-rendered environments of Sakaguchi’s Final Fantasy VII on the original PlayStation. The most apparent of these is Fantasian‘s absolutely gorgeous aesthetic, which blends well-designed HD character models with actual intricate real-world dioramas. While Fantasian‘s otherwise solid story and characters don’t necessarily tread new ground for RPGs, Mistwalker has done a commendable job distinguishing the game in a number of other key ways. Overall, the legendary musician’s work here is outstanding and, surprisingly, even experimental, mixing the likes of rock, piano and synth with such distinct sounds as an internet dial-up connection to convey the mood of an alternate dimension robot-filled factory. The world of Fantasian is also fleshed out through beautiful hand-drawn vignettes that offer a nice change of pace from traditional cutscenes while allowing the music of famed composer Nobuo Uematsu - Sakaguchi’s friend and longtime Final Fantasy collaborator - to really shine through. All the while, Sakaguchi maintains the whimsy of the older FF games through fun bickering between the characters, like the Uzra airship captain Zinikr constantly butting heads with the disrespectful-yet-genius orphan Ez.

Learning more about Leo’s past by following the interdimensional exploits of his enigmatic father kept me intrigued, while the tragic backstories Princess Cheryl and the Queendom of Vibra and the mysterious Kina added a powerful emotional hook.

“Impressively, Mistwalker has gone to the trouble of producing more than 150 physical models filled with incredible amounts of detail and scanned them into the game.” While the dialogue itself might not be terribly original, the characters prove to be quite likable and grew on me over time. Instead, he uses these tropes to weave an engaging tale about the balance of “chaos” and “order” and the unwitting heroes who get caught in the middle. Fantasian is very traditional in this sense, but therein lies a good deal of its charm.īut Sakaguchi - who penned the game’s story and oversaw the rest of its development - is careful not to rely solely on fanservice. The story places an amnesiac protagonist named Leo at the centre of a multi-dimensional conflict between machines and humans, the gameplay revolves around turn-based combat and random encounters, and you’ll even ride on an extravagant airship early on.Įven more casual players of Sakaguchi’s older games are likely to catch that characters named ‘Sid’ and ‘Garland’ and a ‘Phoenix’ item being used to revive downed party members are not-so-subtle nods to Final Fantasy. Like a long-lost Final FantasyĪt first glance, Fantasian might seem rather derivative.

#Fantasian console full#

Although a full verdict will have to wait until the Apple Arcade game’s second and final part releases later this year, Sakaguchi has already won over this lifelong fan of the genre.