Fantasian Neo Dimension Assessment (PS5)

Fantasian Neo Dimension is slightly like Japanese position taking part in recreation consolation meals. There’s the marginally androgynous amnesiac hero. He’ll go on a quest to reclaim his recollections and alongside the way in which he’ll meet up with a barely kooky orphan mage with secrets and techniques of her personal to uncover. They’re going to befriend the sassy princess, the lovable rogue, the comedian reduction, and extra. Collectively they will uncover that there is a world, nay, universe-ending risk on the horizon, and solely they’ve the means to cease it.

You are Leo, and you do not bear in mind who you might be or why you are within the Machine Realm, a world of steel and robots and conveyer belts and sparks and gray. It is grim. After your daring escape from the metallic hell you awoke in, you wander the human realm making an attempt to piece collectively your identification. This entails — in conventional JRPG fashion — speaking to individuals in cities, traversing the world map, recruiting new allies, coming into dungeons, and besting villains.

The sport’s world was created first by making precise dioramas for every location after which 3D-scanning them, successfully utilizing the scans as pre-rendered backgrounds for the extra conventional 3D anime characters we management to discover. The outcomes are fairly stunning, lending every location a real-but-not-quite high quality. It is slightly like {a photograph} of the inside of a doll’s home, or the bit within the previous Godzilla motion pictures the place he smashes up the cardboard metropolis. You possibly can inform all the pieces is a miniature, painstakingly hand-crafted. It by no means appears to be like really actual, however we recognize the work it took to construct.

Fantasian’s soundtrack comes from the legendary composer of many Ultimate Fantasy video games, Nobuo Uematsu, and his work right here is splendid. From the jaunty items that play throughout moments of hijinks to the commercial din of the Machine Realm, the elegant pomp of the Royal Capital to the dramatic themes throughout climactic battles, the soundtrack is unequivocally elegant. The tunes are diverse, becoming, and eminently hummable.

There have been moments taking part in Fantasian that evoked such sturdy emotions of nostalgia in us that they have been nearly palpable. The pleasant music from Uematsu, the pre-rendered backgrounds — if you happen to flip off the marginally grating voice performing, it looks like a type of Final Fantasy video games from the unique PlayStation, like an unfinished lacking hyperlink between Final Fantasy IX and X, lastly unearthed over twenty years later for our taking part in pleasure. It is fantastic, or a minimum of, it is fantastic till you get right into a battle.

Fight might be what is going on to make or break this recreation for you. There have been occasions we beloved it, and different occasions we hated it. It feels unbalanced; each manner too simple and manner too tough relying on the place you might be within the journey. It is the kind of recreation the place, relying on which expertise you have unlocked on the ability tree, the following boss you battle will both be unimaginable or trivial. In the event you observe the extent suggestions for quests you will shortly uncover any minor enemies you face in that quest will die as quickly as you take a look at them, however bosses you encounter can be tougher than a coffin nail. It is all around the store.

Battles in Fantasian are turn-based. A useful chart on the backside of the display screen tells you which of them character’s flip it’s, who’s subsequent, after which a dozen or so turns after that. You possibly can plan which character goes to assault or heal or buff primarily based on their placement within the working order. In your flip you’ll be able to both use a normal assault, a particular ability, or an merchandise.

Most assaults in Fantasian are projectile primarily based, and so enemy positioning issues. In the event you occur to see enemies stood in a line you’ll be able to fireplace a projectile to hit all of them one after one other. Some characters can solid spells that you would be able to fireplace on a curved trajectory to hit a number of enemies in flip. Some assaults, like grenades or bombs, hit a number of enemies in an space.

Battles contain figuring out probably the most environment friendly solution to hit as many enemies as you’ll be able to with every flip so you’ll be able to take them out earlier than they take you out. In the event that they’re bunched collectively, throw a grenade. In the event that they’re slightly unfold out then your mage may have the ability to curve a spell to hit 4 or 5 of them without delay. It is slightly like fixing a puzzle, and for some time we have been actually into it.

Sadly, Fantasian suffers from some really outrageous issue spikes. You will get via quite a lot of battles utilizing principally no technique in any respect. They’re far too simple. You then’ll face a boss that does not simply require strategic considering; it requires you to observe a particular technique, and even then luck is concerned. It isn’t a recreation the place you are rewarded for experimentation. It is a recreation that requires you to have a particular ability unlocked, do that factor, then that factor, then the opposite factor, after which pray to the RNG gods that the incorrect particular person would not die when the enemy retaliates.

We discovered it actually irritating, and it turns into much more irritating roughly half-way via the sport when the ability timber open up. Upon getting entry to the ability timber, you’ll be able to tailor your characters to your liking, specializing in a specific ability or trait. However you will then battle bosses which are nigh-impossible with out gaining access to sure expertise, which clearly you do not know till you battle them. Luckily, you’ll be able to simply reset the ability timber and get your factors again to reallocate them. Some individuals may like such a micromanagement, however we discovered it irritating.

One shining star within the fight system is the Dimengeon Machine. In the event you flip the Dimengeon on, it’s going to “inventory” random battles for you, so as a substitute of being interrupted as you discover the world to battle a large crab or one thing, you will merely get a notification to let you know that an enemy has been added to the machine. As soon as you have stocked thirty enemies, a dimengeon battle will happen during which you will battle the entire enemies you have stocked in a single go, letting you are taking out a number of baddies without delay with curved assaults or area-of-effect spells. You possibly can flip this function on or off, however we loved utilizing it and having much less interruptions and extra fascinating battles.

Conclusion

Fantasian Neo Dimension evokes recollections of traditional Ultimate Fantasy. It is bought an impeccable soundtrack, stunning locales, and a world that evokes marvel. But it surely’s let down slightly by likeable however fiercely archetypal characters and a by-the-numbers story, and it is let down rather a lot by wild and uneven issue spikes that make fight a supply of fixed frustration within the second half of the journey.