Fantasian Neo Dimension Review (Usualsuspect)
Wishing there were a middle option. But since I have to choose I'm gonna lean more on no, and this is for me personally, for a few reasons which you might disagree with which I'll get into, but before that I'd just like to say it definitely is classic Sakaguchi, has all the styles and flair, and qualities that he's known for.
The pro's:
- It's what I wished Final Fantasy still was, a fantasy game, set in a fantasy world, with a sound track that brought me back to the days I miss. As I said above, it's definitely got the Sakaguchi touch, from start to finish.
- The soundtrack is on point. Being able to choose from a list of previous FF games for your battle theme, to the cut scenes, everything is great in that regard.
- The graphics brought me back to the good ol' PS2 days, while they aren't cutting edge, they definitely evoked the nostalgia factor for me.
The bad.....
- Toooooo many random encounters. Like I get there's a mechanic to where you can pile on a bunch of monsters and fight them all at once, but in the areas where it wasn't an option I couldn't go ten steps without another encounter.
- The controls. I used an Xbox controller and it seemed like every time the camera panned I'd have to stop moving then start again so it could realign other wise I'd be holding the thumb stick in the direction I'm wanting to go and I'd be moving any which direction but where I'm pointing the thumb stick, thus releasing and moving again it would correct itself. Pair that with the insane amount of random encounters and it became frustrating.
- No Ultrawide support. C'mon, it's 2024 (when this released), you had this game on a mobile phone for years, and just now ported it to PC and you couldn't think to implement a 21:9 resolution? Having an OLED monitor made it to where I'd have to play the game in Windowed mode just to avoid uneven burn in.
- The story bits are relatively thin, and a tad bit too little, giving me no connection with the character(s) or environment, like the majority of the game was just prop pieces and nothing more. I would have liked a little more world building, maybe a bit more character story, and dungeons that weren't two or three areas big. I know this was built off of being a mobile game so I can forgive the dungeons/areas being a tad bit short, but the story could have used more polish. It's like Sakaguchi was being rushed to get something out to make money to pay the bills.
Overall thoughts: I grew up on Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc. all Sakaguchi games. I've loved everything he's basically ever put out, including Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. That man's an RPG genius in my book, thus why I was super excited for this game coming to PC (I can't stand mobile gaming) so I could play it on a bigger screen, relaxed with controller in hand. I looked past all the flaws because Sakaguchi has never produced a game I didn't enjoy thoroughly. By the time I hit the final boss I felt how can I say it--empty? Like, I died the first time, went back through it with a different approach, died again and said screw it and watched the ending on Youtube.
I just lost al will to want to beat this game, which is extremely rare for any game I've played all the way through, I guess I was just tired of the difficulty of the game. Like, how is this "normal," when my party is getting obliterated and I've having to strictly follow tactics and guides to beat bosses? I get the game was notorious for it's difficulty, but man--part 1 was an enjoyable romp bringing me back to the days of games like FF 6 through 9. Then once I hit part 2, the enjoyment completely disappeared and was replaced with tedious boss fight after tedious boss fight, and filed it with more optional content that had even more tedious boss content.
I just lost the urge to finish it myself, after 65 hours of playtime (Steam doesn't stop the clock when you die) after farming hours on end I just said screw it--there's no enjoyment anymore, the boss fights are just an exercise in attrition. You start a battle, buff up, charge up and unleash a hard hitting attack, get smacked hard by the boss, heal up, hope RNG is in your favor, buff up and unleash another powerful attack rinse and repeat; you do this for basically every boss fight. If you're not using a guide it makes it even more tedious because you don't know what kind of attacks the boss has, and how you should be prepared so you'll go in after a lengthy cut scene get demolished, restart from last check point to better equip yourself and then go through the cut scenes again just to barely get by.
I stuck with it because Hironobu Sakaguchi is my favorite developer, his games have always been top quality. This is the first game I felt he missed the mark, unfortuntely, by a lot. Now, I'm not saying to NOT buy this game--this review is my personal experience--some may enjoy the kind of game this is, and enjoy all the content and everything this game has to offer, for me I just couldn't find it in me to finish the game myself.