© MISTWALKER/SQUARE ENIX
I've been playing games designed by the father of Final Fantasy for more than three decades—and that didn't prepare me for the boss I faced in FANTASIAN's Tokyo Game Show 2024 demo.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is Hironobu Sakaguchi's latest game. Originally released on iOS, the game will finally arrive on consoles later this year. It's a return to his games of the '80s and '90s and an attempt to improve on a formula that's been around for nearly four decades.
In retrospect, FANTASIAN has all the hallmarks of a classic JRPG. It's the story and world design you'd expect. It also has things like random attacks and the standard turn-based battle system.
However, it also has a lot of new additions. Instead of painted or textured backgrounds, the game features incredibly detailed and hauntingly beautiful diorama replicas, giving the game a whole new atmosphere. In terms of combat, instead of performing each random attack as it appears, you can store up to 30 enemies in a pocket space—fighting them all at once when you want. The trick is that most of your character's attacks can hit multiple enemies. Some hit everyone in one line. Others hit everyone in a group. There are also many different buffs spread across the field, which when attacked will make your character even stronger.
I was so entertained by the quality of life changes in the demo that I was unprepared for the boss fight at its conclusion. I've been playing turn-based RPGs since the 90s—many of them by Sakaguchi. I thought I was prepared – even when the booth managers warned me that the boss would be a challenge.
I was asked not to reveal the boss gimmick (and had to cut the moment I figured it out from my gameplay-embedded video.) I will say, however, that you can't win the battle if you can't figure it out. And even after doing so, I barely managed to win—surviving only because the demo's item menu included more phoenix feathers and elixirs than you'd ever get at that point in the actual game.
If this is standard practice for each boss—that each boss has a specific game mechanic that you must understand and exploit to win—then I'm happy to play the final release of the game play this. If classic Final Fantasy is your thing and you want to test your turn-based combat skills, you'll be fascinated by FANTASIAN Neo Dimension.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is scheduled to release December 5, 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.