FANTASIAN Neo Dimension (Part 1)

There was a point this last weekend where I decided I’d had enough Neo Dimension and would just be starting a new game with the dimensions I already had at home. The grind was getting to be too much. Then I unlocked more of the “growth tree” and was able to start shaping the characters more to my liking, and suddenly, things began to look up.

So, backing up: FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is Final Fantasy. It was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator/producer of Final Fantasy I-V, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X-2 — as well as a bunch of other non-Squenix games. The music is by Nobuo Uematsu, composer of most of the Final Fantasy series’ iconic music.

The game was originally released in two parts for the Apple Arcade service, with Part 1 ending with a confrontation with the entity we thought was the Big Bad, and the second gathering the group back together again to investigate the real villains in a more open world setting. It was re-released last month as a single game in two parts.

Leo is the star of the show. At the start of the game, Leo has just lost his memory. He is trapped in a machine world with two robot protectors and no knowledge of where he is, how he got there, or how to get out — or even where “out” might be. You’re immediately in a running battle with a boss that echoes the Magitek factory explosion opening in Final Fantasy VII. This isn’t the last time we’ll be reminded of that.

After escaping (but to where?), he is rescued by Kina, an orphan who was found in the woods as a child by Owen, a fortune teller whose personality has taken a recent mysterious turn. They soon meet up with Cheryl, the crown princess of this matriarchal realm, whose mother has mysteriously died, leaving her in the charge of her regent father. This fills up our initial group of three, with Leo being striker/tank, Kina the healer, and Cheryl the nuker/debuffer.

Meeting airship captain Cid, I mean, Zinikr, (tank role), opens up the world. We soon meet Ez, a tinker, who uses crafted items in battle and can heal, buff and do AE elemental damage. Prickle, the robot from the opening, rejoins as healer/dps/buffer, and they eventually meet Vulcan-like Valrika, a witch character, who has a thing for guys with beards.. I’ve read that Tan, who we’ve met several times getting into trouble, eventually joins the party, but he hasn’t yet in my playthrough.

Mysterious “mechteria”, virus-like mechanical growths, are slowly invading the world. We soon find out this is due to the god Vam the Malevolent, who has vowed to give the world over to chaos. At the end of Part 1, we finally face Vam and discover he was only doing this to save the world from an even greater evil. In Part 2, we find out the true story behind the world’s destruction. I imagine we will eventually save the world, but who knows? I’ve seen in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Beyond Shadowgate that sometimes, the world just doesn’t get saved. Pretty sure we’ll save it, though.

Plot: The plot is nothing unusual for a Final Fantasy game. I’m going to just keep calling it part of the FF series; there’s plenty of clues. Aerith even shows up. It being split into two parts due to being originally released that way is a bit unusual, but finding out the Big Bad isn’t really the Biggest Bad is just par for the course.

Graphics: The carefully handmade dioramas that the game plays out over are amazing; it’s what originally drew me to the game when I first saw it, years ago. Knowing that all the scenery was lovingly built by hand adds love to the game. The character graphics are decent. The monsters and bosses are workable. They aren’t bad, by any means; they meet expectations and in many cases surpass them.

Characters: While Leo is a “what you see is what you get” kinda guy, and Kina is more or less forgettable, the supporting cast really shines. Prickle and Ez, in particular, break the mold, and Valrika has a permanent place in the group. I just like her vibe, and her motivations are complex.

Music: It’s Uematsu. THE Final Fantasy composer. The music is amazing. And, you have the option to bring in some of his music from other Final Fantasy games, including a couple tracks from Final Fantasy XIV. No complaints here.

The Grind: Well, I heard you like random battles so I put random battles in your random battles. There are so many that the game even offers to let you collect random encounters into a “Dimengion” device that lets you fight several at once, and then later gives you a way to flush the Dimengion so you never have to deal with them at all. The grind is the worst part of the game. In Part 2, a lot of the world is locked behind recommended levels, and meeting those requirements usually involves filling up the Dimengion and going to town on thirty to forty monsters at once.

It gets worse; there’s a couple of times where you’re facing fifty to a hundred monsters at once. This is where your nukers and buffers earn their pay.

The trash fights are never overwhelming, there’s just… so many.

The Bosses: I don’t have a problem with the boss fights. Almost all of them have a trick that is key to their defeat. I struggled with some of them in Part 1. In Part 2, I may be looking at hints online. Even knowing the weaknesses, the fights tend to be challenging as the characters juggle roles and characters swap in and out. (All characters are available for all fights, but you can only have three at once. Swapping out is easy and instant.) I’ve successfully taken on fights above the recommended level without too many issues.

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is a must-play for anyone who has loved the Final Fantasy series — no question about it. It’s got all the best parts of all the many games in which Sakaguchi has been involved and serves as a love letter to his career.

Newcomers to Final Fantasy should probably start with Final Fantasy VII; that will tell them all they need to know about whether they’d like F:ND.