More Thoughts From Me: Not a Final Fantasian
I love Final Fantasy. I’m especially a huge fan of the games for that series that came out on the PlayStation 1. So when I played the demo for Fantasian, it definitely pulled me back into time a bit. And now I finally own the game and I’ve playing it a lot. Here are my thoughts on Fantasian Neo Dimension for the Nintendo Switch.
Let’s get this out of the way: Fantasian Neo Dimension isn’t Final Fantasy. Yes its from Square Enix and yes its a turn-based rpg but its very much its own thing. I’m not saying thats a bad thing. Its not. This is a very good game, to get that out of the way too, but Fantasian isn’t FF. Its not trying to be either.
The turn-based battles and the general PlayStation 1-like look of the game will remind you of the PS1 FF games. Either that or Square Enix on PS1 in general. That said, the game has really nice graphics with unique hand-crafted environments to explore. Its overheard viewpoint for most of the game is very PS1 too.
The turn-based battles have some cool twists too, with some party members being able to hit more than one enemy at once. You can also “save” some battles for later via the game’s Dimension aspect which grabs enemies and lets you fight them whenever you want. Though it doesn’t always work when turned on so you can’t avoid battles completely. Plus you still have to level up to get more powerful.
Fantasian has a very good story too. I also like (most) of the characters. And one of the best things is the game’s music which is really good. Though you can also turn on various Final Fantasy music for when you fight battles!
This game is a lot of fun. Though it can also be a pretty tough game, even in normal mode. Fantasian feels like a lost PlayStation 1 classic in some ways and a brand new game in other ways.
I’m very happy that I finally got Fantasian. I hope there will be another game too. I’m always ready for a new Square Enix rpg series!
More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. One of these days, I need to play the full Harvestella game!
Article By Daniel Fugate
