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Fantasian Neo Dimension, or personally my Final Fantasy XVII
Even after 20 years later, Hironobu Sakaguchi, father of Final Fantasy, was still able to create games that make an impact in player's lives. Innovating concepts in the industry even to this day. Wow.
Fantasian is everything you love about PS1-era Final Fantasy with the character-writing of FFVI, the rich world & twisting story of FFVII, the masterclass dialogue of FFIX, and turn-order combat of FFX. Fantasian is undeniably the most "classical" modern Final Fantasy you could get your hands on right now. You won't regret it.
Bread-and-butter of Fantasian is its gameplay. God it's fun. It adds this really well-crafted core mechanic of curving your magic and abilities, lining them up for a more efficient cast that can absolutely change the tide of battle. The loop is so fun and addictive that in each battle I would patiently set up the perfect line for my ability for a satisfying return.
Additionally a new gameplay feature called the Dimengeon, another innovative piece from Sakaguchi. The dimengeon basically allows you to collect the monsters from your random encounters into a single entity space, and battle them manually or when the entity reaches full limit. This is honestly life-changing to RPGS that I hope other games take note off. Quality-of-life in exploring dungeons by not having to battle every few steps, efficient farming and satisfaction of killing hordes of enemies, an an option to even empty the damn thing and not battle at all! Amazing.
Without a doubt, Fantasian is also one of (if not) the most challenging RPG I have played in modern times. Would even call it the Dark Souls of turn-based RPG. The game's 2nd part unlocks A LOT of stuff that was fun story & gameplay-wise. You get to really unlock the full potential of your party members. However, this is where things get uniquely tricky. I say uniquely tricky because when you step into the game's Disc 2, the mini bosses and bosses also unlock their potentials and will brutally murder your party if you do not efficiently grasp the core of the gameplay itself and strengths of your own party & equipment. Having a clear understanding of your party & gear is key to surviving Fantasian's Disc 2. But the satisfaction of beating a Fantasian boss is unlike any other RPG, ever.
Haven't even told you the best part of Fantasian yet. Classic pre-rendered backgrounds made up entirely of hand-crafted dioramas. It's a work of art. The sheer creativity & artistic direction of Sakaguchi for Fantasian shows his freedom of love & real genuine care for the game. Every single time I enter a new screen, I'm awestruck on how beautiful every set-piece is. I just stand there and look at the view. It's these types of games that keep me going.
Of course we can't talk about a Final Fantasy-like game without our grand composer Nobuo Uematsu. Many lives were saved and cancer was cured when people heard Sakaguchi and Uematsu were teaming up again for a new game. Battle themes were not as strong as Uematsu's previous pieces (I'd even argue it's one of his weakest) however every track outside battles is a real delight. My definite favorites are Gravity, Owen's Theme, and Kina (Destiny). Really really sad that Fantasian's OST is Uematsu's last ever role as the leading music composer of a game. Your music has brought joy and life to us, thank you Uematsu-san.
Hironobu Sakaguchi made wonders on this game with developers Mistwalker that reignited classic RPG fans. Sakaguchi also said he's cooking up a successor to FFVI before he retires. We will be there when it releases. I hope to see you there. Thank you Sakaguchi for an amazing game once again.
PS: played with no character voices for classic FF immersion. it was a nostalgic experience voicing them yourself again