Fantasian Neo Dimension is a revelation, a game that feels like a classic JRPG, but with modern sensibilities. This love letter to the golden age of JRPGs had a lot to live up tom, as it was made by titans of the industry at Mistwalker, including Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu. In many ways, Fantasian Neo Dimension feels like another spiritual sequel to Final Fantasy, but there is more to it here, and one way to describe Fantasian Neo Dimension is as a collection of the best moments with several new highlights thrown in as well.
Fantasian Neo Dimension follows Leo, a young man with a case of amnesia who ventured into the Machine Realm and barely escapes and from there meets Kina, a young woman with her own mysterious past. The two head out on a journey to recover Leo’s lost memories, and from there the story grows more vast, with the threat of Vam the Malevolent, and quest begins where Leo and his allies venture across the land to set things right.
Fantasian Neo Dimension takes a bit of time to get itself going, but once it does, it really works well. Fantasian Neo Dimension uses a system of visual-novel style segments to act as flashbacks and story growth and these are called Memories. These memories are fully voiced in both English and Japanese, and have been greatly improved over the original Apple Arcade release in how they convey the story. It may not be ideal for all, especially those wanting traditional cutscenes, but it does give Fantasian Neo Dimension a distinct identity and works well enough.
But a story alone is not enough to make a game great, especially a JRPG. Well, Fantasian Neo Dimension manages to do a good job here by using a classic style of turn-based combat, but one with a lot of depth and strategic elements, such as the inclusion of mechanics like Skill Trajectories. To explain what that is, your standard physical attacks are projected in a straight line and magic abilities can be curved, while other skills will have a different and possibly wider area of effect. You can set a trajectory for an attack and you can hit multiple enemies at once or even skip enemies who are resistant yo your attacks. Given that your party will all have a set of unique skills, this makes choosing the party properly something to spend time thinking about before you make your move.
That is not all though, as another gameplay mechanic is the Dimengeon Machine, which really helps change up the nature of battles. This mechanic lets you capture enemies and seal them away to be battled at a later time of your choice, or until the machine is filled to capacity. With this mechanics, you can avoid random battles for a long time, and while it does not eliminate random battles completely, it does give you far more control over the encounters. You will need to battle an enemy type the first time you encounter them, but you can begin skipping after them, which is helpful.
Combat is not all Fantasian Neo Dimension has going for it though, as the world feels well realized thanks to its unique visual style, which has the game’s locations be made up of stylized dioramas. These dioramas are strongly reminiscent of the PS1-era Final Fantasy titles, and the Neo Dimension release improves the look of these areas over the original Apple Arcade release, touching up the rough points and making the visuals sharper. That is not all though, as Fantasian Neo Dimension manages to make the world feel lived in with excellent side quests and NPCs, and the game really opens up in the second part of the game as it becomes more nonlinear which helps give players more freedom.
There are some hiccups though, as the UI still retains a lot of the mobile aspects from the game’s original launch, but these do not got in the way of the game too much, though some parts of it do look awkward. Still, overall the game is excellent and the soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu, is his usual high quality sound that stands far above other composers. What is more, is that you can alter the music to suit your choice and there are a number of Final Fantasy tunes available in Fantasian Neo Dimension, thanks to a partnership with Square Enix for the console and PC release.
Overall, Fantasian Neo Dimension lived up to my expectations and felt very much like a lost classic but without the aspects of retro gaming that we find frustrating now. It has some genuinely inventive tweaks on the gameplay, and new ways to break up the grind, and the world feels fantastic to explore. If you love the classic Final Fantasy games, then you will adore Fantasian Neo Dimension as it is both a tribute and a successor to those titles, while pushing things forward. We give this one a full recommendation.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
