5/2/2023 0 Comments Fantasian game review![]() Fantasian is about as generic as it comes by pretty much every other metric, featuring a setting that's a blend of sci-fi and fantasy elements like most Final Fantasy games, and a spiky-haired, anime protagonist with amnesia. ![]() It's also one of the only things about Fantasian that feels original. ![]() Hopefully, Fantasian eventually makes its way to other platforms.Įven when playing the game on an iPad, though, Fantasian still looks fantastic and it would be great to see this kind of art style used in other JRPGs down the line. Sakaguchi may be retiring soon, and one of his last games may very well be Mistwalker's latest, Fantasian, which is yet another classic-style JRPG, but with an interesting twist.įantasian's main gimmick is that its game world is meant to look like a diorama, which gives Fantasian a unique art style and lends itself well to some rather breathtaking views. Honestly, it's almost a shame that the game is restricted to Apple Arcade and will mostly be played on devices like iPhones and iPads because the smaller screens don't do the game's gorgeous art justice. Since its inception, Mistwalker has delivered a number of old-school JRPG experiences, ranging from traditional titles like Blue Dragon to mobile games like Terra Battle, with varying degrees of success. I’m not stealing time to play Final Fantasy IX anymore, but if I can’t have pre-rendered backgrounds anymore, I’ll certainly take a miniature.Hironobu Sakaguchi is best known as the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise with what is now Square Enix, but since the mid-2000s, he has been creating new IP with his own studio, Mistwalker. In the occasional blurriness and the subtle contrast against the smooth, contemporary character models. I can’t help but find an immense, comforting charm in seeing the fuzzy edges and toy-like definition of Fantasian’s environments. ![]() One circumstance of using dioramas is when the in-game camera pans and zooms to show the full breadth of Fantasian’s landscapes, inevitably revealing blurry edges and the physical restrictions of working with scale models, exposed by refresh rates, Super Retina displays, and CSS pixel density. They are intricately textured and evocative, with a tangible physicality that remains a struggle to replicate in multi-million-budget, triple-A titles. Sakaguchi, an avid miniaturist, created the world of Fantasian through meticulous dioramas. With a resolutely traditional narrative, turn-based battles employing the advantages of touchscreen controls, and music from Nobuo Uemastsu, it seems fine-tuned to make the most of nostalgia.īut I don’t think the DNA of the game is found in its mechanics or storytelling, but in the painterly, precise modelling used to create the game’s environments. Mistwalker’s Fantasian, an Apple Arcade-exclusive JRPG sees Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi return to the genre he helped cement in the global consciousness. I came to the franchise on the PlayStation, and the jarring clash between its pre-rendered backgrounds and polygonal character models is an aesthetic that continues to resonate with me. A Sunday night, one of the first with a TV in my own room, fighting off my tiredness and booting up Final Fantasy IX, keeping the volume low to trick my parents that I was sleeping.
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