Fantasian

 iOS
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
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  1. Game Rant
    Apr 15, 2021
    70
    Despite the generic plot, Fantasian is a completely serviceable JRPG that checks all the boxes, plays with some interesting new ideas, and has a gorgeous diorama world for players to explore. It doesn't feel like the proper last big hoorah for legendary game developer Hironobu Sakaguchi or composer Nobuo Uematsu (who does a tremendous job with the soundtrack), but it's still a decent, familiar JRPG experience and one of the more interesting games currently available on Apple Arcade.
  2. Metro GameCentral
    Apr 12, 2021
    70
    The unique art style belies a game that is, for the most part, ruthlessly old fashioned, but in a way that will please old school Final Fantasy fans and maybe even make some new ones.
  3. Pocket Tactics
    Apr 8, 2021
    70
    A brilliant Apple Arcade exclusive with a killer battle system, let down by hit-and-miss visuals and a slightly naff plot.
  5. Guardian
    Apr 14, 2021
    60
    Much as our heroes are caught between two worlds, Fantasian has one foot in design dogma while the other paddles around cautiously in new ideas. The result is a lengthy and sumptuous genre piece, the equivalent of a good Netflix movie that you probably wouldn’t watch at the cinema. These days, that’s more of a compliment than it used to be.
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  1. The Verge
    Apr 14, 2021
    It’s not particularly original, hewing very closely to the Final Fantasy games that Sakaguchi built his career on. But it also takes those ideas and mechanics and changes them just enough to feel fresh, while also making some notable quality-of-life changes. Fantasian isn’t just an adorable handcrafted game from the creator of Final Fantasy; it’s the most approachable Japanese RPG I’ve ever played.

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best iOS Game of 2021
1
#1 Most Discussed iOS Game of 2021

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 64
  3. Negative: 9 out of 64
  1. nedmo000
    Apr 21, 2021
    6
    The Good:
    Fantasia has some strengths and its clear that its made with love and passion but sadly it has many problems that drags it down    The Good:
    Fantasia has some strengths and its clear that its made with love and passion but sadly it has many problems that drags it down from greatness to mediocrity.

    -Turn based Battle system is very fun especially when you fight multiple opponents when you use Dimengeon.
    -its insane what they managed to achieve with the environments by using diorama it really shows that even with a limited budget and a limited hardware you can still make fantastic environments ,which is something that has been lacking in many Jrpgs released in the past decade.
    -its very approachable ,even if you have not played any Jrpg in the past its very easy to get into.
    -Cities are beautiful and are unique.
    -it works damn flawlessly without any buggs or frame drops even on my awful iphone.

    The Bad:
    and this is the part where it pains me to write mainly because the game has so much potential that are dragged down because of outdated design decisions and annoying flaws.
    -Random encounters is simply outdated and the fact that some Jrpgs still insist on adding it is simply beyond me ,even Dragon quest got rid of the damn thing for some reason they just HAD to include it ,Dimengeon thankfully does make it less annoying but still there are sometimes where you forced to fight when its a new enemy type for the first time.

    -The insane amount of concentrated boss fights in the second half was simply ridiculous and exhausting in a very bad way ,there are some cool boss fights but most of them are BS and tedious to fight.

    -Side quests are nothing but **** fetch quests with 0 effort put into them.

    -Ez gameplay gimmick is dreadful instead of using MP he uses items and once you are out of the items that he needs to do the skills he is pretty much useless and can only do normal attacks which wont do much.

    -The Writing is beyond bad and this is my main gripe with the game ,the fact that some people think its remotely good just shows how low bar the writing is for Jrpgs ,jumping from Disco Elysium to this is like jumping from Mount Everest to the depth of Mariana Trench ,where do i begin? you want to make a game that takes place in a generic setting ,with generic plot and characters? thats more than fine but ATLEAST execute properly ,its very hard to believe with all the experience the development team have they failed miserably at the writing department ,it felt like they are writing a story for a game that is supposed to release in the early 90s they failed to realize that gaming as a medium has moved far beyond the generic writing that this game has and the dialogues is probably one of the worst i have ever seen ,from the interactions between the main cast to the NPCs it really pains me to see a well designed city that is plagued with **** content and awful NPC dialogues and a lackluster worldbuilding ,its just plain bad and its such a shame because this is the part that is supposed to focus on the story.
    -a very forgettable cast of characters that has little to no chemistry.    … Full Review »
  2. PCmstrRace
    Apr 20, 2021
    0
    I didn't like it much. I was expecting more, but sadly this whole game was letdown.
  3. DigitalRain420
    Mar 5, 2023
    0
    Sakaguchi and Uematsu need to stop with this crapple exclusive mobile garbage and start making proper multiplatform JRPGs on console and PC.Sakaguchi and Uematsu need to stop with this crapple exclusive mobile garbage and start making proper multiplatform JRPGs on console and PC.

    They can even make an iOS port if they want.    … Full Review »
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