Congrats! This is such a fantastic video! The 10-minute background info at the beginning was amazing. Seriously, this is the most profound video on Fantasian. Thank you!
I'm right at the end. This game is fucking phenomenal. So glad I waited for the full game. Couldn't imagine breaking this game up. I woulda been tearing my fucken hair out waiting. Its honestly been such a blast. It's almost tragic it's alone on Apple arcade. I hope eventually word spreads, and people give it a go. Regardless of whether or not they hate apple or touch controls *which work perfectly btw* or whatever it may be. I hope it blows up. To "golden era" fans, this is what you've been looking for. Could you imagine if this released on console? Holy fuck you'd be seeing 9's (maybe even 10's) across the board. The battle system in particular, is so goddamn finely tuned. It's difficulty is perfect. Bosses will wreck your shit if you don't use EVERYTHING the game has taught you. It's like FFX on steroids. Game's absolute gold. Seeing as it very much seems serious mobile type games are here to stay. I hope this is the benchmark. This is deadset the quality of four of the best final fantasies ever made. It's been such a blast. Thanks for the video bud.
Glad you enjoyed the video and are enjoying the game. I haven't dug in to part 2 yet but I hear the difficulty ramps up there significantly. Looking forward to getting back to it soon.
Great review with loads of background information. Out of curiosity I opened the App Store to check games (tried out Arcade last year but didn't really feel the available titles back then) and saw Fantasian at the forefront. Will probably try it out, as someone who also grew up playing PSX JRPGs (FF9 is my all-time favorite).
This is the best Fantasian coverage I've encountered. Thanks so much. I'm curious if you've played part 2. I'm approaching the end of part 2, and... oh my... Marketing-wise, what was done here is very sneaky. Part 1 is wonderfully well paced compared to Part 2. The game has reviewed favorably because only Part 1 was reviewed (for the most part). But Part 2 is quite different, and mostly in bad ways. But they protected themselves from bad reviews by tactfully releasing a very well balanced slice of the game upfront. I feel like most key parts of the story and its characters are well established by the end of Part 1. With a few exceptions, Part 2 does little to advance the story in meaningful ways. Length-wise, part 2 is about 3/4 of the game. Gameplay-wise, it is a punishing gauntlet of cheap, unnecessarily difficult boss fights. I felt like part 1 was very well balanced in terms of difficulty. But bosses in part 2 are outlandishly difficult from the get-go. Even with resorting to guides to learn the exact strategy to deal with these bosses, they're still so overpowered that the tiniest bit of bad luck can end a 25-minute battle, despite how perfectly you manage your turns. This is actually the toughest JRPG I've ever played, and it really shouldn't be. Everything that was great about part 1 is still great. The music, art direction, battle system, etc. are still top notch. I'm just not sure what happened with part 2. My best guess is that Apple stepped in and incentivized Mist Walker to bloat out part 2 so that the hardcore JRPG fans would stay subscribed to Apple Arcade for an extra month or two to finish the game. If/when Fantasian comes to other platforms, part 2 needs to be mostly post-game content if not omitted entirely. And we'll need balance patches galore. The good news is that it can be fixed, but we likely won't see that on the Apple Arcade version.
Thanks for watching and the kind words :) I haven't gotten to part 2 yet :( Unfortunately when I changed devices I lost my game save from part 1 so now I have to beat the game again from scratch increasing the time required. I'll get to it at some point and hopefully make a review on it too as a follow up to this video :D
Thanks for the wonderful review. I play this on my mac mini m1 with an xbox controller. Mistwalker did very well with the controls for this game using an xbos/ps cvontroller.. feels like a console game.
Thanks for watching! :D Glad you enjoyed the video. Yeah, I hear good things about the M1 Mini and hopefully the extra work put in to controller support is a sign of the game getting console ports at some point in the future. It would be really good to see more people get to play it :) I haven't gotten to part 2 yet but hopefully will review that too at some point :D
@@FirstOutpost really, like the Persona and SMT, The Tales of , the Pokemon, Bravely default, Disgaea, most of Legend of Heroes, Caligula Effect, most of the saga, most of Xenoblade chronicles all of these game don't do this.
@Joshua Taylor So, Ringabel in Bravely Default has amnesia, as does Sophie from Tales of Graces and Elma from Xenoblade Chronicles X. Morgana in Persona 5 also has a form of amnesia and it is a key narrative element in many popular staple titles in the genre such as the Final Fantasy games (particularly VII and VIII which remain arguably the most impactful entries on the genre as a whole). Obviously it is a satirical overstatement to say 'EVERY' JRPG has this narrative element or trope but as you can see by how many instances could be cited just from the few franchises you mentioned, it is definitely a prevalent feature within the genre. :)
@@joshuataylor7443 Tales of Arise also has it, as does Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky with Joshua and so do several characters later in the series lol
Not yet. Unfortunately there was a problem and I lost my save file from part one which means I have to start the game again from the beginning :( Its on the list for sure. Looking forward to getting back to it at some point and making a review for part 2 :D
The reason the game is split in half almost certainly tied to Corona. Sakaguchi has been stuck in L.A since the pandemic started, and his team is Tokyo based.
I doubt that, since even earlier Apple Arcade games that came out before the Covid had started, are also mostly two-parters. It’s probably because of Apple insistence to split their games into two parts to make people more inclined to stay subscribed to the Apple Arcade service.
it is on platforms like the ps4 and 5 and sutch... and it is awesome!!!! and yes, both parts in 1 pack. even with final fantasy 1 untill 10 battle tracks! so it can be played on consoles go for it!
On TV Tropes, there is still very little on Fantasian. I guess the people that post a lotta info about JRPG’s don’t have the systems needed to play this game, which is kinda sad.
This was my concern too. It's not that Apple Arcade hasn't provided the support or production value needed to make a great game, but more that I cant imagine there are many JRPG fans who are looking for there next conquest on an Apple mobile device :/
So if you dont have a iphone or apple device, sucks to be you? Wow... what a shame I'll probably never get to try this game because of stupid exclusive rights
Yeah, its a real shame that its not on more devices/consoles/PC. I hoped it would be a timed exclusivity thing but the more I look in to it the more it seems like it might be just Apple Arcade for good as they seemed to have funded the project :( Maybe in like 10 years the rights will revert and there will be a remaster or something? lol. We can hope right? :/ Its not even that I am particularly bothered with exclusivity tbh, its more that I know the target audience for this game are generally not gamers that play their hardcore, old school JRPGs on mobile or tablet which in turn will mean the game just wont do as well :(
Just the fact that it is only available on an Apple device at least for this current moment in time is already dooming this game to non-existence. In the west, it’s pretty common to see people rocking an Apple device in some form or another, in any other places though, Apple devices are practically non-existent, as is people’s desire here to even subscribe to Apple Arcade in the first place. The amount of people that has an Apple device that I know of here, can be counted with one hand, and none of them are even remotely interested in getting an Apple Arcade subscription, nor the Apple One bundle.
It's true that the game being an Apple Arcade exclusive is hurting its potential reach. I have seen A LOT of JRPG fans disappointed that they are not able to play it or that they dont want to on that format, which is totally fair. Hopefully the exclusivity is timed as I know that is often the case with Apple Arcade games and if it is, it could really do well on consoles and P.C. Time will tell I guess.
@@FirstOutpost yes, I would loved to see this game to reach other platforms, especially on the Switch, I think it would fit nicely in there. Judging from how much of the indie titles in Apple Arcade that has been ported to the Switch and Steam, I’m pretty positive Fantasian will follow suit sometime later as well. It’s a big possibility. :)
11 minutes before starting the review... if you want to upload a video essay about your childhood with JRPGs do it, but please, don't disguise it as a review of a modern game. You can upload the 2 videos separately
To be clear, there was no attempt to disguise the video as something its not. I think context is relevant and important so often take time to add it throughout all my videos. If you are not a fan of this style, that's totally fair, but don't expect it to change in future content :)
@@FirstOutpost That’s a enough fair response…it is your video after all. However, I have to agree with Luisoncpp in that I clicked on your video expecting to watch a review for Fantasian. After watching 2-3 minutes of your video, I just had to skip forward until you got to your actual review portion and to the content that I actually came to watch. I think a more considerate way to handle this in the future would be to add time stamps if you’d like to be more respectful of your audience’s time and expectations (especially when you title your video as “review”). Of course, up to you and regardless, I appreciated the review portion of your video so thank you for taking the time to make it. (I will note that I also occasionally enjoy deep dives of a game’s history or background, though I prefer to knowingly click into and watch those videos) Last thing I wanted to say is that it looks like the game will be coming out on consoles! That’s great for fans of Mistwalker and this game.
Thanks for the respectful and thoughtfully articulated reply :) I have to make videos based on what I would enjoy myself and stay true to my own methodology but I now add chapters on almost all my videos as standard for this reason. Also, I can't wait for the console version! Got mine preordered! :D
Congrats! This is such a fantastic video! The 10-minute background info at the beginning was amazing. Seriously, this is the most profound video on Fantasian. Thank you!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it :D
I'm right at the end. This game is fucking phenomenal. So glad I waited for the full game. Couldn't imagine breaking this game up. I woulda been tearing my fucken hair out waiting.
Its honestly been such a blast. It's almost tragic it's alone on Apple arcade. I hope eventually word spreads, and people give it a go. Regardless of whether or not they hate apple or touch controls *which work perfectly btw* or whatever it may be. I hope it blows up.
To "golden era" fans, this is what you've been looking for.
Could you imagine if this released on console? Holy fuck you'd be seeing 9's (maybe even 10's) across the board. The battle system in particular, is so goddamn finely tuned. It's difficulty is perfect. Bosses will wreck your shit if you don't use EVERYTHING the game has taught you. It's like FFX on steroids.
Game's absolute gold. Seeing as it very much seems serious mobile type games are here to stay. I hope this is the benchmark. This is deadset the quality of four of the best final fantasies ever made.
It's been such a blast. Thanks for the video bud.
Glad you enjoyed the video and are enjoying the game. I haven't dug in to part 2 yet but I hear the difficulty ramps up there significantly. Looking forward to getting back to it soon.
it is now on consoles even on pc! as fantasian neo dimension and it is glorius!!!!!!
It's hard af
Great review with loads of background information. Out of curiosity I opened the App Store to check games (tried out Arcade last year but didn't really feel the available titles back then) and saw Fantasian at the forefront. Will probably try it out, as someone who also grew up playing PSX JRPGs (FF9 is my all-time favorite).
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the review! :D Yeah, if you love that era of JRPGs then you should definitely give it a look :)
pc and current platforms! physical and digital yeeeeeeees!!!!! final fantasy 9!! it is awesome! and it is on
This is a QUALITY video. Don’t quit what you’re doing, you are truly talented man. So well spoken, and engaging. Much love, hope all is well.
Thank you for the kind words. Hope you enjoy the other content as much as this one and keep a look out, plenty of new stuff on the way soon! :D
im happy i stumble upon this channel, really high quality review and i feel the passion on every sec watching the video, more power 🥰
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it and welcome to the channel! :D
Had a great time with this game as well, can't wait for the second half. Glad to have found your channel by the way, quality work!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video and the game :) Welcome to the community! :D
Love the background info in the intro, actually learned a few new things :-)
Awesome. Glad you enjoyed it! :D
素晴らしいレビューなんだが、
こんな長いレビューなのに、テラの名前が一切でないのは何故だ・・？！
インタビューとかでも坂口さんはFF6-2的な紹介をするけど、
FF、ロストオデッセイやラストストーリーの後に、
その後にテラバトルとテラバトル2とテラウォーズがあった。
その世界のDNAが再構築されて新しくFANTASIANが生まれた。
欲を言うと、そう言ってほしかった。
だからバクロウがいて、こんなにも新しくて、今までに無い作品になったんだと思うんだ。
Excellent production quality and analysis as usual!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
i have this game on the switch yes, the movement is a bit yeah, but i hope they will and shall fix it in a patch
FYI the twitch link in the description is dead.
Thank you for pointing this out! Should be all fixed now :)
This is the best Fantasian coverage I've encountered. Thanks so much. I'm curious if you've played part 2. I'm approaching the end of part 2, and... oh my...
Marketing-wise, what was done here is very sneaky. Part 1 is wonderfully well paced compared to Part 2. The game has reviewed favorably because only Part 1 was reviewed (for the most part). But Part 2 is quite different, and mostly in bad ways. But they protected themselves from bad reviews by tactfully releasing a very well balanced slice of the game upfront.
I feel like most key parts of the story and its characters are well established by the end of Part 1. With a few exceptions, Part 2 does little to advance the story in meaningful ways. Length-wise, part 2 is about 3/4 of the game. Gameplay-wise, it is a punishing gauntlet of cheap, unnecessarily difficult boss fights. I felt like part 1 was very well balanced in terms of difficulty. But bosses in part 2 are outlandishly difficult from the get-go. Even with resorting to guides to learn the exact strategy to deal with these bosses, they're still so overpowered that the tiniest bit of bad luck can end a 25-minute battle, despite how perfectly you manage your turns. This is actually the toughest JRPG I've ever played, and it really shouldn't be.
Everything that was great about part 1 is still great. The music, art direction, battle system, etc. are still top notch. I'm just not sure what happened with part 2. My best guess is that Apple stepped in and incentivized Mist Walker to bloat out part 2 so that the hardcore JRPG fans would stay subscribed to Apple Arcade for an extra month or two to finish the game. If/when Fantasian comes to other platforms, part 2 needs to be mostly post-game content if not omitted entirely. And we'll need balance patches galore. The good news is that it can be fixed, but we likely won't see that on the Apple Arcade version.
Thanks for watching and the kind words :)
I haven't gotten to part 2 yet :( Unfortunately when I changed devices I lost my game save from part 1 so now I have to beat the game again from scratch increasing the time required. I'll get to it at some point and hopefully make a review on it too as a follow up to this video :D
Thanks for the wonderful review. I play this on my mac mini m1 with an xbox controller. Mistwalker did very well with the controls for this game using an xbos/ps cvontroller.. feels like a console game.
Thanks for watching! :D Glad you enjoyed the video. Yeah, I hear good things about the M1 Mini and hopefully the extra work put in to controller support is a sign of the game getting console ports at some point in the future. It would be really good to see more people get to play it :) I haven't gotten to part 2 yet but hopefully will review that too at some point :D
@@FirstOutpost fortunately apple tv are only $179 :) I am thinking about getting one so I can play games like Fantasian in bedroom on 83" projector :)
This is such an excellent channel. Not much more to say
Thank you! Glad you are enjoying the content. Hopefully the channel will continue to grow :)
How many jrpg have the lost memory trope?
It sometimes feels like almost all of them! :D
@@FirstOutpost really, like the Persona and SMT, The Tales of , the Pokemon, Bravely default, Disgaea, most of Legend of Heroes, Caligula Effect, most of the saga, most of Xenoblade chronicles all of these game don't do this.
@Joshua Taylor So, Ringabel in Bravely Default has amnesia, as does Sophie from Tales of Graces and Elma from Xenoblade Chronicles X. Morgana in Persona 5 also has a form of amnesia and it is a key narrative element in many popular staple titles in the genre such as the Final Fantasy games (particularly VII and VIII which remain arguably the most impactful entries on the genre as a whole).
Obviously it is a satirical overstatement to say 'EVERY' JRPG has this narrative element or trope but as you can see by how many instances could be cited just from the few franchises you mentioned, it is definitely a prevalent feature within the genre. :)
@@FirstOutpost my bad with persona, bravely default and Xenoblade chronicles x but the rest of my points still stand's.
@@joshuataylor7443 Tales of Arise also has it, as does Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky with Joshua and so do several characters later in the series lol
Did you ever end up playing the second half of the game?
Not yet. Unfortunately there was a problem and I lost my save file from part one which means I have to start the game again from the beginning :( Its on the list for sure. Looking forward to getting back to it at some point and making a review for part 2 :D
Thank you for making this!
No problem! :D Thank you for watching!
The reason the game is split in half almost certainly tied to Corona.
Sakaguchi has been stuck in L.A since the pandemic started, and his team is Tokyo based.
Ahh OK. That makes sense. Thanks for the info :)
@@FirstOutpost
Np! Also, excellent video! Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the other content on the channel too! :D
@@FirstOutpost
Imma look through it! Looking forward to your future content too!
I doubt that, since even earlier Apple Arcade games that came out before the Covid had started, are also mostly two-parters. It’s probably because of Apple insistence to split their games into two parts to make people more inclined to stay subscribed to the Apple Arcade service.
it is on platforms like the ps4 and 5 and sutch... and it is awesome!!!! and yes, both parts in 1 pack. even with final fantasy 1 untill 10 battle tracks! so it can be played on consoles go for it!
On TV Tropes, there is still very little on Fantasian. I guess the people that post a lotta info about JRPG’s don’t have the systems needed to play this game, which is kinda sad.
This was my concern too. It's not that Apple Arcade hasn't provided the support or production value needed to make a great game, but more that I cant imagine there are many JRPG fans who are looking for there next conquest on an Apple mobile device :/
Excited as it is coming to console within a couple days! =)
Good vid
Thank you!
No, GREAT vid, actually :)
So if you dont have a iphone or apple device, sucks to be you? Wow... what a shame I'll probably never get to try this game because of stupid exclusive rights
Yeah, its a real shame that its not on more devices/consoles/PC. I hoped it would be a timed exclusivity thing but the more I look in to it the more it seems like it might be just Apple Arcade for good as they seemed to have funded the project :( Maybe in like 10 years the rights will revert and there will be a remaster or something? lol. We can hope right? :/ Its not even that I am particularly bothered with exclusivity tbh, its more that I know the target audience for this game are generally not gamers that play their hardcore, old school JRPGs on mobile or tablet which in turn will mean the game just wont do as well :(
Finally this game is coming to all devices, I'll be pre-ordering it soon on PC 🎉🎉🎉
This and lost odyssey are the only two true final fantasy games after X
Just the fact that it is only available on an Apple device at least for this current moment in time is already dooming this game to non-existence. In the west, it’s pretty common to see people rocking an Apple device in some form or another, in any other places though, Apple devices are practically non-existent, as is people’s desire here to even subscribe to Apple Arcade in the first place. The amount of people that has an Apple device that I know of here, can be counted with one hand, and none of them are even remotely interested in getting an Apple Arcade subscription, nor the Apple One bundle.
It's true that the game being an Apple Arcade exclusive is hurting its potential reach. I have seen A LOT of JRPG fans disappointed that they are not able to play it or that they dont want to on that format, which is totally fair. Hopefully the exclusivity is timed as I know that is often the case with Apple Arcade games and if it is, it could really do well on consoles and P.C. Time will tell I guess.
@@FirstOutpost yes, I would loved to see this game to reach other platforms, especially on the Switch, I think it would fit nicely in there. Judging from how much of the indie titles in Apple Arcade that has been ported to the Switch and Steam, I’m pretty positive Fantasian will follow suit sometime later as well. It’s a big possibility. :)
Yeah, for sure. They just announced that its about to hit 1 million downloads on Apple Arcade! No way they dont port it...hopefully. lol :D
11 minutes before starting the review... if you want to upload a video essay about your childhood with JRPGs do it, but please, don't disguise it as a review of a modern game.
You can upload the 2 videos separately
To be clear, there was no attempt to disguise the video as something its not. I think context is relevant and important so often take time to add it throughout all my videos. If you are not a fan of this style, that's totally fair, but don't expect it to change in future content :)
@@FirstOutpost That’s a enough fair response…it is your video after all. However, I have to agree with Luisoncpp in that I clicked on your video expecting to watch a review for Fantasian. After watching 2-3 minutes of your video, I just had to skip forward until you got to your actual review portion and to the content that I actually came to watch.
I think a more considerate way to handle this in the future would be to add time stamps if you’d like to be more respectful of your audience’s time and expectations (especially when you title your video as “review”).
Of course, up to you and regardless, I appreciated the review portion of your video so thank you for taking the time to make it. (I will note that I also occasionally enjoy deep dives of a game’s history or background, though I prefer to knowingly click into and watch those videos)
Last thing I wanted to say is that it looks like the game will be coming out on consoles! That’s great for fans of Mistwalker and this game.
Thanks for the respectful and thoughtfully articulated reply :) I have to make videos based on what I would enjoy myself and stay true to my own methodology but I now add chapters on almost all my videos as standard for this reason. Also, I can't wait for the console version! Got mine preordered! :D