Fantasian Neo Dimension (old-school JRPG)

[Skinypupy]

Fantasian Neo Dimension is the new(ish) old-school, turn-based JRPG from Mistwalker. Produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi (legendary Final Fantasy creator) with music by Nobuo Uematsu (legendary Final Fantasy composer), it's got a ton of pedigree behind it. Was originally released a couple years ago, but it was only on Apple Arcade so no one has played it. It's getting a full console and Steam release tomorrow. Sakaguchi was apparently inspired to make it after playing through Final Fantasy VI and remembering how fun the old-school JRPG's could be.

A couple of interesting things about it. First, all of the locales were created as physical dioramas before being scanned in as 3D models by multiple cameras. It leads to an incredibly unique look of actually running through handcrafted models as opposed to computer generated locations. Second, while it does have random battles, you can "bank" those battles (in the "Dimengeon Machine") where you can then deploy all of them at once for some large, intense battles. Looks like a cool way to manage the annoyance of random battles. It also brings back "Memory" segments, similar to the poems and stories found in Lost Odyssey, which I thought were fantastic.

The reviews of the Apple version were positive, but criticized the game for being brutally difficult. They have apparently added an easier mode for the console release, along with full voice acting in both English and Japanese. Both are definitely welcome changes for me.

I've been wavering between this one and Dragon Quest 3 HD, but after reading reviews, I'm going with this tomorrow. From the reviews, it sounds like some of the wonkiness of the Apple version still exists and they didn't do much to improve the underwhelming story, but between the unique look and the names behind it, I couldn't pass this up.

[Jaymann]

I will defiantly check this out. Looks like an excellent candidate for PS5.

[hepcat]

I will defiantly check this out.

Let's hope you don't play it the same way!

[Jaymann]

I will defiantly check this out.

Let's hope you don't play it the same way!

That's an inside joke.

Spoiler:

We had to chastise one of our managers at work and she emailed back: I defiantly (presumably she misspelled definitely) agree.

[hepcat]

I made a similar mistake between NAFTA and NAMBLA years ago that was probably far more embarrassing....

[WYBaugh]

I made a similar mistake between NAFTA and NAMBLA years ago that was probably far more embarrassing....

[Jaymann]

I'm in on PS5. It must be after midnight somewhere. Will report back manana.

[Jaymann]

My initial impression is very positive. Graphics are excellent. The menus are large and easy to read, and that is a big plus for me. You can only take health potions during battle and use an item to full heal at save points. Mana potions are available any time. At first I wasn't sure if my main character was male or female - he was sporting an earring and heels, then they started calling him Leo. Combat is straight forward and relatively simple. It does take a bit of effort to target multiple enemies, but I found later this is apparently a feature not a bug. I did run into a horrific bug early on. I was entering a random encounter when I got the white screen of death, and had to exit the game and reload. I started grinding near a save crystal and saved after every battle. Hopefully that was a one off.

For any game where some people complain it is too hard, I am going to level through the roof. So I got to level 4 before even going to the second screen. That was enough to carry me through the first boss battle. Some chests require a key and I have thus far not found any. This means I will have to remember where they are and backtrack - a minor irritation. Haven't found any weapons or armor yet, but did find my first real companion and called it a night.

[Skinypupy]

I have it downloaded and will hopefully be jumping in over lunch.

Are you playing on the Normal or Hard mode? My understanding is that Hard was the only mode available in the original release, and they went back and put in the Normal mode for this console release.

I will definitely be playing on Normal.

[Jaymann]

Yes, I am on normal. As usual I am not a glutton for punishment.

I got the device that lets you avoid battles, but you save up the enemies and fight them all at once. Interesting but not my cuppa.

[Skinypupy]

Played the first 3'ish hours tonight. So far, I'm really enjoying it. Took a minute though, as the game does itself no favors by throwing you into very boring, bland environments for the first couple hours. Once you hit the first forest zone and the world map, however, it picks up significantly.

Reminds me a lot of the PS1-era Final Fantasy games (7, 8, and 9) with low-poly but charming 3D characters running around prerendered backgrounds. Except this time the backgrounds aren't pre-rendered, they're actual, physical dioramas that were beautifully handcrafted for every environment. They're not all great (the first city areas are meh) but you can tell that a ton of hard work and love went into crafting each unique location.

The game itself is pretty standard JRPG fare. Your party on one side, bad guys on the other, and you trade blows until one falls. There are some pretty interesting mechanics that shake things up though. Many spells and abilities will have additional effects that allow you to curve their arc or pierce through multiple enemies, making battles more interesting.

This gets even more fun when you unlock the Dimengeon system, which allows you to store away random battle enemies and unleash a big horde of them (up to 30) all at once. I was initially pretty skeptical, but that system has been a blast. While you end up fighting lots of mobs, it also throws in random powerups like buffing your strength or stealing enemy turns in the initiative order. It becomes a quite thrilling way to overcome the grind of single battles, gaining big piles of loot and XP. They're also way more fun and actually far less punishing than I expected. Because of the way they mobs are grouped together and the available buffs, you can end up taking out 4, 5, 6 or more mobs with a single attack. It's a pretty awesome system, tbh.

I got the device that lets you avoid battles, but you save up the enemies and fight them all at once. Interesting but not my cuppa.

Feels like the game was designed with this system as a key mechanic for leveling and if you choose to forgo it, the whole thing is likely going to feel like an incredibly monotonous grind.

The soundtrack is great (it's Uematsu, so of course) but I also like that it gives you the option to switch to the soundtrack of several other FF games if instead if you want to. The English voice acting has been good so far, and the story and characters are pretty interesting. It's not BG3 levels of storytelling, but it certainly has an old-school FF charm to it all.

Impressed so far, we'll see how it holds up.

[Jaymann]

I finally ran into a boss that kicked my ass...

Spoiler:

The Dragon after the prison that heals himself with lightning. In essence it is timed since if you dally he will blow you off the cliff.

After about 3 wipes I neglected all healing and just blitzed the most effective attacks. It worked but just barely.

[Jaymann]

Well I learned from that close call. I found a spot with a save crystal, an inn, and unlimited spawns. I added 5 levels before the next major boss battle and survived. Now to go add 5 more.

[MCQueen2]

I love the diorama look here, it’s such a fresh take away from the typical 3D models. I love that they kept the nostalgia from that old school JRPG, the Dimengeon system is an extremely fun way to break ground and definitely worth having when you get bored with the usual grind. The story picks up but I hope it’s more than that right now as it seems quite generic. It’s all been pretty solid trip down toanderlane though.

[Skinypupy]

I highly recommend saving very frequently. The game has crashed on me 5 times now in 7 hours. Always happens when loading into a new zone or battle, and it just gets stuck on the spinning loading wheel.

[Jaymann]

I highly recommend saving very frequently. The game has crashed on me 5 times now in 7 hours. Always happens when loading into a new zone or battle, and it just gets stuck on the spinning loading wheel.

I still have only that one crash, but since it is not save anywhere the darn save crystals are precious.

[Jaymann]

LOL, I got my second crash just as I was engaging the final boss of Act 1. Fortunately I had just saved. I knew it was not the final boss of the game since there were many machine key chests about and I had not yet found any such keys. I do recommend you grind up to level 35 (essentially the max for Act 1) before this fight. I did and downed it on the first try.

[Jaymann]

LOL

Spoiler:

It's the end of the world with meteors raining down and you get a quest to...get an egg for the barkeep.

[Skinypupy]

I’m about 15 hours in. My general impression is that this a good game, but not a great one. Closest comparison style-wise is probably Final Fantasy IX, but with about half the charm.

The diorama artwork has (somewhat surprisingly) actually started to wear a bit thin, as most of the locales end up all looking just kinda…bland. The gameplay is fine as standard turn-based JRPGs go, but the story hasn’t really grabbed me much. I actually fell asleep twice playing it today because I wasn’t particularly interested in what the characters were saying.

I’m still enjoying it, but not as much as I hoped I would be.

[Jaymann]

For me this is an ideal game. It requires an insane amount of grinding to have a chance against the bosses. So I watch football or listen to music while leveling. YMMV.

[Skinypupy]

For me this is an ideal game. It requires an insane amount of grinding to have a chance against the bosses. So I watch football or listen to music while leveling. YMMV.

Yeh, I don’t really dig that aspect of it either. I can’t tune out and do other things while grinding in games, so it just ends up boring for me.

[Jaymann]

I got the crash screen at the worst possible time. I had just finished a battle of a slew of mobs followed by 3 bosses in succession. I was simply trying to warp to an inn when it hit me. Had to fight the whole battle again, but at least I knew what to expect. ABS! *Always Be Saving.

[Skinypupy]

Pretty sure I just hit the midway point last night at round level 31. Just found a major battle against Vam and revealed a new significant threat. I think this is the point where the original mobile version was split into two parts, as it just unlocked a brand new skill tree system.

Unfortunately, I find myself less and less interested in the story the further I get. These just aren't compelling characters at all, they're just bland anime stereotypes doing uninteresting things. I'm also realizing that while there's a couple of OK songs, this is a wildly underwhelming soundtrack from Uematsu.

I don't know that I'd be continuing with this one if there was anything else fighting for my attention, but I'll keep at it for now.

[Jaymann]

I finally started using the Dimengeon device for a very specific battle plan. After 3-4 grabs of enemy groups I start the fight. First Ez uses Vacuum to pull most mobs into a clump. Then Valrika fires upgraded Rain of Arrows at the clump. She actually gets a net plus in mana because she receives +2 MP for every kill. Plus you take advantage of the powerups in the area.

[Jaymann]

Just finished a tough battle with a recommended level of 44 (I was 51). There was one part where I had to guess between 2 fakes and the real boss and I lucked out on the first guess. Later bosses often require you to have a specific party member, so you must keep everyone leveled up.

Next area is recommended level 48, so I will need another day of grinding.

[Hipolito]

Was originally released a couple years ago, but it was only on Apple Arcade so no one has played it.

The original version is still on Apple Arcade. This thread inspired me to give it a shot.

Fantasian does seem like a typical, bland JRPG. But I like the slick interface, helpful map, and ability to hit multiple enemies. The quest to regain lost memories reminds me of Planescape: Torment, and, as you mentioned, the textual interludes that occur when you regain memories are similar to Lost Odyssey (another Mistwalker title). But I can see this game ultimately becoming a disappointment for me (like Lost Odyssey).

I played for 3 hours, enough to obtain the Dimengeon, fill it to max, and fight the resulting battle. This is a great feature! I want every JRPG to have it.

I did kind of enjoy playing the game, but I should play the new version instead of the one on AA. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see whether you guys play it to completion and recommend it. I don't like what I'm hearing about the frequent crashes. It didn't crash at all for me on the iPad.

[Skinypupy]

I gave up on it just after hitting the midpoint. I simply found myself bored every time I fired it up.

Even with nothing else really calling my name right now, I didn’t find it interesting enough to keep playing.

A pretty disappointing game, tbh.

[Hipolito]

That's too bad. Thanks for sharing your impressions.

I forgot to mention that I rather enjoyed the first encounter with that weird trio whose name I can't remember. The combat even had its own silly music and boss dialogue. If the game had more whimsy like that, I bet it would be better.

[Jaymann]

Make no mistake, this is a hard game. Even being 4-5 levels above recommended and following a guide I have struggled with some of the boss battles, sometimes having to back off and come back later. One thing I really like is the ability to swap out characters mid battle. Makes for nice variety and you can customize your battle plan for different situations.

[Jaymann]

I am at the last save point before the point of no return to get to the final boss. Of course I am not going through that door yet. I want to be 10 levels above the recommended before I take that plunge. At a couple levels per day I should be ready by the weekend.

It is weird when there are optional bosses that are tougher than the mandatory ones. I also want to take those out before proceeding.