Produced and written by the legendary Hironobu Sakaguchi, and accompanied by a mesmerizing rating from Nobuo Uematsu, Fantasian: Neo Dimension’s launch on PS5 is ready to enchant each new gamers and long-time Last Fantasy followers alike. Regardless of being initially designed for cellular in 2021, Fantasian is a full-scale JRPG with plain allure. I lately had the possibility to dive into an early preview by means of the Historical Hill space with Leo, Kina and Cheryl in my occasion. This phase included just a few voiced cutscenes, a small space to discover, and a handful of fights, together with an enigmatic particular encounter and a basic boss battle. Right here’s what stood out.
What’s new on this model
Fantasian: Neo Dimension brings a number of thrilling upgrades with its launch on PS5. Probably the most noticeable is the beautiful 4K decision, which makes each element of the meticulously crafted world pop with breathtaking readability. One other welcome addition is the dual-language voice performing. Whether or not you like the authenticity of Japanese dialogue or the accessibility of English, Fantasian: Neo Dimension provides a totally voiced expertise that brings its forged to life. Lastly, the addition of a better issue possibility means those that are new to the style will get a better time going by means of the title regardless of its basic JRPG issue.
One of the vital intriguing new options is the flexibility to customise your soundtrack. For battles, gamers can select between the unique music composed for Fantasian —which is clearly wonderful contemplating its writer— or combine it up with iconic tracks from a choice of older Last Fantasy titles. You may select a selected title, or use the random choice to get a shock soundtrack to play over every combat.
A singular artwork route
The artwork route of Fantasian: Neo Dimension is nothing wanting extraordinary. The sport’s world is constructed solely from hand-crafted dioramas, which have been digitally recreated utilizing drones outfitted with 3D scanning know-how. This meticulous course of resulted in over 150 dioramas that kind the sport’s numerous environments, each brimming with hand painted particulars.
The dioramas are crafted with an unparalleled degree of care, with contributions from notable artists, together with Akira Toriyama, the mastermind behind Dragon Ball, and veterans from Japan’s Tokusatsu trade, identified for his or her work on sensible results in movies and tv.
Exploring these diorama-based environments seems like stepping right into a murals, with layers of textures and complex particulars I needed I may merely attain by means of the display screen and contact. The bodily craftsmanship creates a visible expertise that’s solely distinctive to the title.
Merging legacy with innovation
One of the vital exceptional facets of Fantasian: Neo Dimension is the way it masterfully combines basic JRPG parts with some revolutionary gameplay mechanics. Followers of conventional JRPGs will discover consolation within the acquainted turn-based fight system, full with elemental weaknesses and your basic spells. Nonetheless, the sport introduces a easy twist by permitting gamers to manually goal the trajectory of assaults and spells, enabling them to ricochet off a number of enemies. A few of these assaults will probably be your basic area-of-effect spell or single-target slash, however different assaults will cross by means of enemies and you’ll manually alter the curve of the spell to hit particular enemies in its path. This added layer of technique is tremendous satisfying, notably throughout large-scale battles.
And in addition, bigger scale battles are assured by the Dimengeon system, a characteristic that addresses maybe probably the most frequent criticisms of conventional JRPGs: the typically repetitive random encounters. As a substitute of recurrently battling the identical enemies within the overworld, Fantasian means that you can retailer these encounters within the Dimengeon, an alternate dimension the place you may deal with them unexpectedly. A pair caveats to this: any enemy you haven’t encountered but will nonetheless set off an on the spot battle, and you’ll solely retailer a sure variety of enemies earlier than you’ll need to dip your toes within the Dimengeon and clear the queue.
This method not solely streamlines gameplay, permitting you some beautiful uninterrupted exploration phases, but in addition permits for some wonderful fights. While you enter the Dimengeon, you’ll discover numerous bonuses scattered all through letting you steal an enemy’s flip or buff your occasion’s assaults. Choosing these up by aiming your assaults by means of the bonuses turns these mass battles into thrilling, high-stakes encounters. I discovered this technique notably pleasurable, because it allowed for extra inventive approaches in fight. The sheer variety of enemies in these Dimengeon battles – which caps at 30 in a single combat – gave me the chance to experiment with completely different spells and techniques, making every encounter contemporary and thrilling.
Fantasian: Neo Dimension is a superbly crafted love letter to the JRPGs of previous, enriched with fashionable enhancements that make it really feel contemporary and revolutionary. The mix of beautiful handcrafted diorama environments, basic gameplay parts, and new mechanics just like the Dimengeon system creates an expertise that’s each nostalgic and novel. As a fan of the style, my time with Fantasian: Neo Dimension undoubtedly left me longing for the total launch.
