★★★★★ What!?
Mon Sep 27 2021 NabzalotOk, this is like the made another FF, but from the glory days when they were cherished! Hands down the best game that is exclusively on iOS, truly an incredible and rewarding experience. I am waiting for part 2!!
Update: Part 2 is incredible. I’m at the final battle and I already know I will keep doing post game content. The expansion in the whole game is just so well-handled. Congrats to all involved, you created a masterpiece.
UPDATE ISSUE!! I beat the game, and now I am seeing the post game stuff… HOWEVER… my final save point is at the final boss. I can’t leave the stage, and if I beat it I am offered nothing about new game+, which for once in my life I might actually like to play. As it stands, my only option seems to be to jump back 20-30 hours in the game and lose 20 levels to return to my other save if I want to get back into the game to actually access the New Game +. This is a big problem, friends! You didn’t give people a chance to access post game stuff after they’ve beaten the game, only before. :/ It’s still 5 Stars, but please see this and let me warp out of the Jas boss battle or just unlock NG+ upon completion. This whole “it’s a secret you can get before you beat the game but NOT AFTER” is a really bizarre choice. It just seems like a flat out mistake. This is STILL one of the best games in the past decade, so… please let me play the new stuff you made. 😭😭😭
★★★★★ Absolutely Stunning Apple Arcade Instant-Classic
Tue Apr 27 2021 Princess KamiraI was anticipating this game for a while and instantly dowloaded and played it on launch day. The game is spectacular because of the amount of detail put into it. Backgrounds consist of handmade diorama props mixed with computer graphics, and the camera is reminiscent of oldschool Final Fantasy “stills” such as in Final Fantasy 8 and 9. Cutscenes showcase the beautifully created environments up close, as well as the characters’ dynamic facial expressions and interactions. The music composed by Uematsu is gorgeous; It’s best appreciated with noise-cancellation headphones and the volume up (my personal choice). I hear hints of FF7, FF8, and FF9. The story pacing so far, as I haven’t finished the game, is decent. I would say that you could play the game in one or two days if you dedicate the time, but personally I feel it’s best appreciated in increments the way one would play lengthy visual novels. Speaking of visual novels, the game is a combination of a walking sim, VN and JRPG, so expect a bit of reading and exploring. But I find it great that there is so much world-building and character development, so the world never feels devoid of life. Lastly, I hope that after Part 2 and any other subsequent parts get released that a port will be underway for the Switch or other gaming consoles. Definitely feels like a game that had a lot of passion and heart put into it, and it deserves more attention.
★★★★★ More than 5 stars
Thu May 27 2021 KDH625I am amazed!!! Completely and Undeniably Amazed!!!! From the moment I started up the movement was strange to me but once I got used to it, I really started to enjoy the scenery and the well thought out story that this beautiful game has to offer. The combat is on an entire new level that also has the traditional feel of the original Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. You select and drag the line to the enemy/enemies that you want to hit and let go. You also get to see the order in which everyone attacks but because it does that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The dimengeon is one of my absolute favorite ways to grind and explore the map (or in my case not get lost lol). Instead of battling if you have it on, it sends monsters to another dimension and after a while you can battle them. Of course their are bosses and yes they have certain weaknesses but it takes it a step further. Some bosses you have to stop it before it blows you off the mountain or wipe out spears before they attack the entire party. All of these features are amazing but the best feature of this game is no matter how far you are into it, there is always something new, whether it’s new ways of attacking, new abilities, new skills, and new ways into improving your party. 5 stars is way less than what this game deserves and is DEFINITELY worth purchasing the Apple Arcade Subscription!
★★★★★ Just what I’ve been waiting for.
Fri Apr 02 2021 _|€~~*~*Finally, a beautiful game for iOS. A well made, great graphics, no in game purchases finally here. For years I’ve been waiting for a story driven game with such beautiful graphics without having to pay money for it. It appears that in repeating myself, but it’s my excitement taking over. Only thing I would complain about is the bright white screen that appears before every fight. On my 12.9 inch iPad Pro it is not fun to see that every few minutes, especially because this game was released in the night time, Eastern Standard time. The bright white lights hurts my eyes even on my iPhone 12 Pro Max, it’s never fun being forced to see that. DB Dokkan has a dark feature where it negates bright lights. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, this is what I’ve been waiting for. This game has Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts written all over it from the minute it starts. I didn’t know it was made from the creators of Final Fantasy until I went to write this review, but when I saw it I said “I knew it.” I wish this game much success, it hasn’t even been 2 hours since the game released and let me say, as a pioneer of iOS gaming, this has caught my watchful eye and I am looking forward to playing more. I have it paused now so it’s time to get back to it, later!
★★★★★ Top RPG on iOS, great RPG overall
Mon Sep 20 2021 LcgivI got this game a month after the initial release, and quickly stopped playing anything else. I only played it on iPad Pro, so the experience may be different from phone (like not being able to make an arc attack go to the top or bottom of the screen when I wanted [esp as the camera shifts in the dimengeon], or having an attack shift as I lifted my finger missing an enemy in a multi hit attack). I got used to these quirks pretty quickly and they never a big deal. Towards the endgame, I did not want the game to end. I found my self enjoying the sound track (sometimes repetitive), and just walking around looking to see the different diorama models used as backgrounds.
It seemed like forever waiting for part two, which I found to be much more challenging than the first part. Part one had the basics down, with not much in depth with mechanics and a pretty linear progression. The bosses were not that difficult either. Part 2 has equipment upgrades, skill upgrades and more. I got smacked down by bosses and had to go try other areas first, level grind, or adjust my strategy. I do wish there had been more ability differences between characters in the growth map, where I found myself uninterested in entire branches for some characters. There are cheesy gestures from older RPGs which kind of feels nostalgic, but I always know when a “head nod” or jump for joy is coming. Also wish there was a return to main menu or load button in the battle b/c sometimes you know you didn’t equip right or are screwed, but….have to wait until the boss finally offs your team.
Overall none of the minor problems made me hesitate to keep playing and this game alone was worth a few months of Arcade subscription to me.
★★★★★ One of the best RPGs I’ve played in a long time
Tue Apr 06 2021 Mackie_02As someone who grew up on the original Final Fantasy games (1-6), this game deserves to share it’s spot with the best of them. The story and dialogue is A+, the combat is fluid and refreshingly strategic at times. Some big battles can only be won with the right strategy and thinking ahead. I haven’t experienced the kind of fulfillment in winning a tough fight like this in a long while. Definitely reminded me of the glory days of JRPGs like Chrono Cross and Secret of Mana (and the aforementioned FF games). Too many rpgs these days focus too much on the action or active type battle systems, and forget the challenge that can be had in the traditional turn-based system. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
This game is so well done in almost all respects that I’d gladly pay a AAA price for it-it is certainly deserving of that price bracket.
To the developer, this game feels like something you’ve put your passion and heart into with a result that you should absolutely be proud of. Thank you for reminding me how much fun I used to have playing these kinds of games, and having, perhaps, the opportunity to relive my childhood with it. I look forward to part 2 eagerly! In fact, it might be time to fire up the emulator and replay FFIV in the meantime while I wait!
★★★★★ Needs a high resolution texture pack for TVs.
Fri Jan 14 2022 CodyMadison7The game plays much like FF7, even the story feels ripped from it so far. The turn based battles are fun. Other reviews have talked at length about the gameplay, music, ect, and it’s all pretty good besides the second half bumping the difficulty to the extreme which will no doubt turn many away from completing the game. My main problem is the backgrounds are very blurry. They use real photos so they should look amazing but seems like to keep the file size down, they used very low resolution images. It’s a shame because everything else looks great. The characters are super clean 4K models, and over a blurry photo background it just looks weird. It’s like FF7 on PS1. They could have adjusted the lighting of character models to blend into the background better also. Game really needs a high resolution texture pack for people playing on large TV sets. Such a waste to have taken all that time to build real sets and photograph them in such detail, only for it to look like some PS1 era mess. Also the controls need work. When the camera translations, it messes the movement controls up. Honestly can’t believe Apple let this release looking like this. They know not every one will play on a phone or tablet. Let people download better textures. On a 65in 4K tv these backgrounds are just awful looking.
★★★★★ Really well-made & harkens back to older FF games.
Mon Jan 01 2024 IxiionHonestly, I had to come back here to check who made this, because I was sure it was going to be SquareEnix. This game really reminds me of Final Fantasy and other similar JRPGs made during their heyday. While it's not technically SE, surprise surprise, it IS made by the same person who created Final Fantasy! If you like those kinds of games, you should enjoy this. My only gripe is the inability to skip/fast-forward through cutscenes, but that's a relatively small gripe considering the rest of the game is great. I'm actually enjoying the combat, too. It's a nice take on turn-based, where you still get SOME kind of engagement in battles by using your fingers to manually aim and etc. I think that's definitely more fun than the typical, old-school turn-base combat. I also REALLY like the system that lets you store random encounters you collect, allowing you to complete those battles at your leisure, instead of them constantly stopping your path/the story as you run around.
I don't know how big the game is so I don't know how far I'm in, but probably still very early on, so I'll have to come back for a more in-depth review when I'm further in or finished.
