FANTASIAN

What!?

Ok, this is like the made another FF, but from the glory days when they were cherished! Hands down the best game that is exclusively on iOS, truly an incredible and rewarding experience. I am waiting for part 2!! Update: Part 2 is incredible. I’m at the final battle and I already know I will keep doing post game content. The expansion in the whole game is just so well-handled. Congrats to all involved, you created a masterpiece. UPDATE ISSUE!! I beat the game, and now I am seeing the post game stuff… HOWEVER… my final save point is at the final boss. I can’t leave the stage, and if I beat it I am offered nothing about new game+, which for once in my life I might actually like to play. As it stands, my only option seems to be to jump back 20-30 hours in the game and lose 20 levels to return to my other save if I want to get back into the game to actually access the New Game +. This is a big problem, friends! You didn’t give people a chance to access post game stuff after they’ve beaten the game, only before. :/ It’s still 5 Stars, but please see this and let me warp out of the Jas boss battle or just unlock NG+ upon completion. This whole “it’s a secret you can get before you beat the game but NOT AFTER” is a really bizarre choice. It just seems like a flat out mistake. This is STILL one of the best games in the past decade, so… please let me play the new stuff you made. 😭😭😭

Absolutely Stunning Apple Arcade Instant-Classic

I was anticipating this game for a while and instantly dowloaded and played it on launch day. The game is spectacular because of the amount of detail put into it. Backgrounds consist of handmade diorama props mixed with computer graphics, and the camera is reminiscent of oldschool Final Fantasy “stills” such as in Final Fantasy 8 and 9. Cutscenes showcase the beautifully created environments up close, as well as the characters’ dynamic facial expressions and interactions. The music composed by Uematsu is gorgeous; It’s best appreciated with noise-cancellation headphones and the volume up (my personal choice). I hear hints of FF7, FF8, and FF9. The story pacing so far, as I haven’t finished the game, is decent. I would say that you could play the game in one or two days if you dedicate the time, but personally I feel it’s best appreciated in increments the way one would play lengthy visual novels. Speaking of visual novels, the game is a combination of a walking sim, VN and JRPG, so expect a bit of reading and exploring. But I find it great that there is so much world-building and character development, so the world never feels devoid of life. Lastly, I hope that after Part 2 and any other subsequent parts get released that a port will be underway for the Switch or other gaming consoles. Definitely feels like a game that had a lot of passion and heart put into it, and it deserves more attention.

More than 5 stars

I am amazed!!! Completely and Undeniably Amazed!!!! From the moment I started up the movement was strange to me but once I got used to it, I really started to enjoy the scenery and the well thought out story that this beautiful game has to offer. The combat is on an entire new level that also has the traditional feel of the original Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. You select and drag the line to the enemy/enemies that you want to hit and let go. You also get to see the order in which everyone attacks but because it does that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The dimengeon is one of my absolute favorite ways to grind and explore the map (or in my case not get lost lol). Instead of battling if you have it on, it sends monsters to another dimension and after a while you can battle them. Of course their are bosses and yes they have certain weaknesses but it takes it a step further. Some bosses you have to stop it before it blows you off the mountain or wipe out spears before they attack the entire party. All of these features are amazing but the best feature of this game is no matter how far you are into it, there is always something new, whether it’s new ways of attacking, new abilities, new skills, and new ways into improving your party. 5 stars is way less than what this game deserves and is DEFINITELY worth purchasing the Apple Arcade Subscription!

Just what I’ve been waiting for.

Finally, a beautiful game for iOS. A well made, great graphics, no in game purchases finally here. For years I’ve been waiting for a story driven game with such beautiful graphics without having to pay money for it. It appears that in repeating myself, but it’s my excitement taking over. Only thing I would complain about is the bright white screen that appears before every fight. On my 12.9 inch iPad Pro it is not fun to see that every few minutes, especially because this game was released in the night time, Eastern Standard time. The bright white lights hurts my eyes even on my iPhone 12 Pro Max, it’s never fun being forced to see that. DB Dokkan has a dark feature where it negates bright lights. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, this is what I’ve been waiting for. This game has Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts written all over it from the minute it starts. I didn’t know it was made from the creators of Final Fantasy until I went to write this review, but when I saw it I said “I knew it.” I wish this game much success, it hasn’t even been 2 hours since the game released and let me say, as a pioneer of iOS gaming, this has caught my watchful eye and I am looking forward to playing more. I have it paused now so it’s time to get back to it, later!

One of the best RPGs I’ve played in a long time

As someone who grew up on the original Final Fantasy games (1-6), this game deserves to share it’s spot with the best of them. The story and dialogue is A+, the combat is fluid and refreshingly strategic at times. Some big battles can only be won with the right strategy and thinking ahead. I haven’t experienced the kind of fulfillment in winning a tough fight like this in a long while. Definitely reminded me of the glory days of JRPGs like Chrono Cross and Secret of Mana (and the aforementioned FF games). Too many rpgs these days focus too much on the action or active type battle systems, and forget the challenge that can be had in the traditional turn-based system. It’s like a breath of fresh air. This game is so well done in almost all respects that I’d gladly pay a AAA price for it-it is certainly deserving of that price bracket. To the developer, this game feels like something you’ve put your passion and heart into with a result that you should absolutely be proud of. Thank you for reminding me how much fun I used to have playing these kinds of games, and having, perhaps, the opportunity to relive my childhood with it. I look forward to part 2 eagerly! In fact, it might be time to fire up the emulator and replay FFIV in the meantime while I wait!

Needs a high resolution texture pack for TVs.

The game plays much like FF7, even the story feels ripped from it so far. The turn based battles are fun. Other reviews have talked at length about the gameplay, music, ect, and it’s all pretty good besides the second half bumping the difficulty to the extreme which will no doubt turn many away from completing the game. My main problem is the backgrounds are very blurry. They use real photos so they should look amazing but seems like to keep the file size down, they used very low resolution images. It’s a shame because everything else looks great. The characters are super clean 4K models, and over a blurry photo background it just looks weird. It’s like FF7 on PS1. They could have adjusted the lighting of character models to blend into the background better also. Game really needs a high resolution texture pack for people playing on large TV sets. Such a waste to have taken all that time to build real sets and photograph them in such detail, only for it to look like some PS1 era mess. Also the controls need work. When the camera translations, it messes the movement controls up. Honestly can’t believe Apple let this release looking like this. They know not every one will play on a phone or tablet. Let people download better textures. On a 65in 4K tv these backgrounds are just awful looking.

Really well-made & harkens back to older FF games.

Honestly, I had to come back here to check who made this, because I was sure it was going to be SquareEnix. This game really reminds me of Final Fantasy and other similar JRPGs made during their heyday. While it's not technically SE, surprise surprise, it IS made by the same person who created Final Fantasy! If you like those kinds of games, you should enjoy this. My only gripe is the inability to skip/fast-forward through cutscenes, but that's a relatively small gripe considering the rest of the game is great. I'm actually enjoying the combat, too. It's a nice take on turn-based, where you still get SOME kind of engagement in battles by using your fingers to manually aim and etc. I think that's definitely more fun than the typical, old-school turn-base combat. I also REALLY like the system that lets you store random encounters you collect, allowing you to complete those battles at your leisure, instead of them constantly stopping your path/the story as you run around. I don't know how big the game is so I don't know how far I'm in, but probably still very early on, so I'll have to come back for a more in-depth review when I'm further in or finished.

Best IOS Game. One of the best RPG’s on any platform.

This is probably my first review on any app ever but I decided to make one because this game is just that good. I’ve always loved RPG/Strategy games. I grew up on Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, Dragon quest, and final fantasy and that’s what I love and search for. It’s rare to come across great games like those I mentioned above and I can say with 100% certainty FANTASIAN is a huge contender and has set the bar high. It’s combined traditional turn-based RPG elements with mechanics you can only find on the iPhone and it works so well it’s bound to change the game forever. The graphics, the story, gameplay is all 10/10 and I found myself quickly emerged into the game. As the game progressed it introduced new elements that continued to recapture my interest and want to play more. This game alone is enough for a Apple Arcade subscription and if more games like this are made then consider me lifetime member. Needless to say, I’m impressed. Again this is my first ever reviewed and it is so well deserved. Congratulations to the developers. Well done.

Lacks originality

I’m amazed to see less reviews that sound like this but this game is only great as long as you either want an old school final fantasy rip off or if you haven’t played enough to know that everything from the story to the music to the gameplay nearly in its entirety is stolen from these other games. The music within the first few minutes is just final fantasy music with its pitch changed, the way the camera moves is lifted from ff7-8-9. The game is a wonderful call back to some of our favorite things about those old games yes but when the game says “from the creators of comes an all new story”, then can’t go five minutes without stealing plots, music, gameplay, everything from other games, it’s just a shameless rip off. All in all a good game but I’m gonna tell it like it is, it is a rip off with plot armor protecting a lot of ridiculous scenes. It has exposition dumps out the wazoo early on and is heavy on putting you in situations that make little sense until u have beat half the game. To anyone who enjoys old school final fantasy, I would recommend, u will recall great memories of the old times and wonder how such a shameless rip off got to be called “new”.

Balance Adjustments

Most of the reviews will fall when it gets to part 2 of the game. The reason why is the balancing of the boss battles. Like many have said, just making one mistake can be devastating and having one party member gall can make the whole battle fall apart. The game is beautiful and I was really enjoying it, but now I’m just looking at it as something where I’ll have to fight another frustrating boss until the next one. They’re very overpowered and bring many advantages that are just not available to you. For example, you can spend a lot of time getting close to the end, only for a boss to use an attack that nearly wiped out your party and then pull another turn out of nowhere to make sure you’re dead. Prior to this you would have had one shot to win, but because these rock barriers are spinning around you have a 2/10 chance that you’ll hit it because of the trajectory battle system this game has. Trial and error on battles is expected because you don’t want it to be too easy, but I’m considering putting this one down. Even being past the “recommended level” doesn’t help, which says something in itself.

Produced by the father of Final Fantasy , Hironobu Sakaguchi, this once Apple-Arcade-exclusive is headed to modern consoles and Windows PCs.

Kotaku Thu Jan 02 2025

Developers Mistwalker Corporation and xeen Inc. and publisher SQUARE ENIX this week announced that their turn-based role-playing game...

XboxEra Wed Oct 02 2024

New interview with the Father of Final Fantasy covers evolving the genre, hand-crafted dioramas at 4K and more.

PlayStation.Blog Wed Oct 02 2024

From the creator of Final Fantasy, Fantasian launched via Apple Arcade in two parts during 2021. Even then, I hoped the RPG would be...

Digitally Downloaded Wed Oct 02 2024

Today Mistwalker Corporation is proud to unveil the latest from Sakaguchi and Uematsu, the RPG Fantasian, only on Apple Arcade.

Hey Poor Player Fri Apr 02 2021

A new game just landed on Apple Arcade and it uses more than 150 dioramas as its backdrop, making for a gorgeous aesthetic.

iMore Fri Apr 02 2021

We found out earlier today that the hit Apple Arcade title Fantasian is Nintendo Switch bound in the form of Fantasian Neo Dimension.

My Nintendo News Tue Jul 02 2024

Developer: Mistwalker Corporation Publisher: Square Enix Platforms: Windows (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Switch

Capsule Computers Thu Jan 02 2025

Fantasian, the new adventure from Hironobu Sakaguchi's studio Mistwalker, is a classic Japanese role-playing game at heart. Fantasian has it...

Polygon Tue Mar 02 2021

Fantasian, the Apple Arcade game written and produced by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, is reportedly coming to consoles this year.

Video Games Chronicle Tue Jul 02 2024

The creator of Final Fantasy is back with a brand-new game for Apple Arcade. Hironobu Sakaguchi's studio Mistwalker unveiled its newest game...

Inverse Sat Apr 03 2021

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is once again back with Square Enix, over 20 years since leaving the company i…

Eurogamer Thu Oct 03 2024

Developers Mistwalker Corporation and xeen Inc. and publisher SQUARE ENIX today announced that their turn-based role-playing game 'FANTASIAN...

XboxEra Thu Dec 05 2024