In case you missed it you can now try out a demo for World of Final Fantasy on either PS4 or the PS Vita.
I gave it a quick run through so thought I'd add a few of my first impressions.
First off, you'll notice the super-cute chibi style; throughout the demo you'll
meet famous final fantasy characters recreated in this style but
still with their usual voices, they somehow end up being both
adorable and hilarious, although you wont get much conversation out of
them during the demo. Your own characters can switch between being
these tiny "lilikins" or grow into Kingdom Hearts style
characters called "Jiants" (see what they did there?)
The style
may look like it's aimed at kids but Square Enix seem to have hit a
balance where the game will appeal to long term fans too. If you enjoyed
Final Fantasy 9 then you won't find the character style off-putting anyway, personally I'm loving it.
There's also two command modes for battle, simple button presses for
kids and casuals or a classic menu style. There's a
new stacking mechanic that I haven't discovered the finer points of,
but a stack of characters share health and are more powerful... it
also looks so cute and rather funny if you manage to topple a stack
of enemies. It's classic turn based combat and some long animations
can't be skipped... however if things are moving too slowly for you
there is a fast forward button.
As you go
you'll figure out how to “imprism” enemies, that is trapping them
in a crystal or prism. There are obvious parallels to Pokemon even
down to the spherical prism traps giving 3 wobbles/dings on a successful
capture. There's even skill trees for each monster you collect and
they can evolve into new forms. Monsters come in 3 sizes with the smaller
ones forming the top of your stack. You can even ride some of them
around the world (something I've heard Pokemon Sun&Moon is also
doing).
It remains
to be seen how much Sun&Moon will push the Pokemon franchise
forward but WOFF (not sure about that acronym) is doing some things
the Pokemon games should have done years ago; voice acting, top end
graphics, big cinematics, tweaks to gameplay, being able to play on a
home console AND a handheld!
World of
Final Fantasy is out nearly a whole month before Pokemon S&M
(possible a worse acronym) so there's time to try it out, at least
check the demo. The full game hits 28th October. Pokemon may have an edge with its mainstream appeal
but Final Fantasy might just have a solid contender, even if it is a
bit more Niche.
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