Fantasian - Apple Arcade - Review of the first five hours

Fantasian - Apple Arcade - Review of the first five hours
Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy creator, has released a new game EXCLUSIVE to Apple Arcade called Fantasian. It's a throwback to the Square Enix FF7 era, but its setting is entirely made of PHYSICAL DIORAMAS. This is how I feel about the game including the issues with iCloud saves that I encountered trying to play an Apple Arcade game on Mac, iPhone, AND iPad (but not Apple TV).
0:00 - PHYSICAL SETS
0:30 - The Good
4:18 - The Bad
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[@MattHorton]

Are you going to check out Fantasian?

[@silentrocco]

12 hours in, I haven‘t been invested in and entertained by a JRPG that much since my first playthrough of FF7.

[@MattHorton]

That's awesome

[@Max655]

It’s seriously so good.

[@denisbachman8159]

Same!!! 😎💪

[@emmanuelguerrero3071]

Thanks for covering this brother. Sorry about your save! That sounds frustrating.

[@juanvsreviews]

It’s funny how a game like FF7R that’s exclusive to PS doesn’t get the hate this one gets for being exclusive to iOS. This is a game that Apple Arcade needed to legitimize their existence, I don’t blame them doing this. I would’ve never subscribed to Apple Arcade if they didn’t have this game in there. It’s a brilliant move that will bring new players to their subscription. The game IS made for this platform and you can tell with the type of mechanics it has. I’m liking a lot, almost loving it. The music is incredible and the look of the game is as if somebody brought the PS era JRPG’s to 2021.

[@MattHorton]

YES! God I can and should go on this rant on the channel. Exclusives are "obvious" and "the right move" to PS fanboys until they are exclusive and not on PS. And I bought a PS5 at launch! Jesus. Anyway yeah I agree it's made for mobile. It would do well on Switch but I think that's it. Thanks for being here!

[@HugoElcabezas]

I’m okay with the save points, there are also automatic checkpoints

[@MattHorton]

I've not been able to figure out how that works

[@PhoenixMoore]

@@MattHorton Same, I’ve been wondering about the checkpoints. I actually have closed Fantasian, used my phone for about an hour, then came back to the game still running in stride. So it’s kind of odd with what kills the game.

[@MattHorton]

Yeah. Camera takes a lot of memory so it probably will. Besides that I wish we could understand more.

[@docayomide6617]

@@MattHorton The checkpoints are where you continue from if you hit "continue" rather than "load game" and so far that's worked. And yes, I have found it still running much of the time.

[@roninvalkyrie85]

10 mins in: Amnesiac protagonist, and a guy named CID that you’re friends with...does Sakaguchi think we also have amnesia?

[@MattHorton]

Haha exactly

[@MattHorton]

Hop in the discord btw. Happy to chat about it

[@tenortime3355]

Really enjoyed these two videos! This looks my kind of game! Rich story and creative environments are a huuuuge hook for me. I’m interested in the battle system and how it works for iPhone. From what I saw, it looks like you can chain targets by dragging the “cursor” over to a specific opponent? I’m assuming that’s the attack specifically for a mage-type character.

[@MattHorton]

Yep there's some details with the thief-ish character and the sort of summoner who uses aoe

[@riomorder]

You are right about the save points, I could understand this on a console but not in a phone

[@MattHorton]

Yeah

[@AndrewConkling]

This looks really fun! Not a fan of the save points even just on one device but I’ll have to try it out to see how that goes.

[@MattHorton]

I bet with kids that would get so frustrating

[@denisbachman8159]

Yes! 😎💪 LOVE this game! I’m beating the middle void for the 4th time now without NG+

[@jorgealfy]

I’m 15 hours in and I love the game so far, was thinking on downloading the Mac version to try progressing there but i think I’m gonna stick to the iPad/iPhone versions for now. The only part I don’t like is that we only got half the game last week, the second half is coming out “2021” which breaks my heart since I’m getting close to the 25-30 hours this first half offers.

[@MattHorton]

Something to look forward to then!

[@DipsyMum29]

When you switch between devices you have to wait for a few seconds and when the the screen blacks out and comes back you are good to reload. It happened to me as well but thankfully it wasn’t 5 hours (ouch)

[@MattHorton]

I did finish part 1 after that though! Great game!

[@DipsyMum29]

@@MattHorton I’m nearly finished :) Just wrapping up quests

[@psynumb]

I hope they release it on other consoles or PC, but thanks for the review :).

[@MattHorton]

Yeah! Thanks for watching!

[@zalden2565]

I have had lost my save files a few times as well

[@Ginebraxt1]

I finished it yesterday (on Ipad with Dualshock 4) and I loved it. It gave me Chrono Trigger nostalgia with a bit of Bravely Default/Second. I agree that the dialogues are not that good, but the overall story was interesting and I liked the characters

[@MattHorton]

That's awesome. I started back at an hour 15. How long did it take you?

[@Ginebraxt1]

@@MattHorton Around 21 hrs

[@MattHorton]

Good to know!

[@HugoElcabezas]

what do you think of part 2? i think story is way better and everything ! game is harder, more strategy

[@MattHorton]

I haven't really dug in yet. I didn't find the beginning of pt 2 interesting and have heard mixed reviews

[@aoshi000]

I don't have an iPhone or iPad (very old one anyway). Can you buy an apple tv and hook up a dualshock 4 to play on the TV? I'm hoping for an eventual console port with any luck (like shantae and the 7 sirens) but it doesn't happen, I'm willing to get a device to play this via Apple arcade too. Huge fan of mistwalker rpgs and loved blue dragon and lost Odyssey on the 360, archaic sealed heat on the DS, last story on the wii. Heck even party wave and terra battle on phone lol. Glad sakaguchi made another turn based rpg with uematau

[@MattHorton]

Yes

[@MattHorton]

I really recommend touch though. It's so much better with touch. Borrow an old iPhone from a friend

[@aoshi000]

@@MattHorton thanks for the tip, I thought it would've been easier with a controller with so many commands being a proper RPG. Not sure if I could get a hand me down from my sis, also i think the diorama background would look great on a big TV? . If not, I might look into the new 4k apple tv. Wish don't have to spend 200 bucks just to play this game lol. Also want to own this game too instead of subscription...

[@MattHorton]

@@aoshi000 people love exclusives unt they can't get em 😂 But yeah I understand. Honestly the dioramas are great but the combo of that and touch is what made this game for me. Absolutely doable for a controller, but yeah. Just an opinion.

[@Noumakara]

save data worked perfectly between my iphone and ipad

[@MattHorton]

Cool

[@Gaijin101]

20hrs in and its good. Sad that many wont get to play on android or pc or console.

[@MattHorton]

I didn't love the second half

[@emmanuelguerrero3071]

I recommend you use a DualShock4 to play the game.

[@MattHorton]

That's my least favorite controller 😂 I've tried it with an Xbox one though and it's good. Just prefer touch

[@PaulCooksStuff]

"younger Matt the naive" 🤣👍

[@MattHorton]

I hate having to make these videos that change at the last moment but boy it sure is funny in the edit 😂

[@PaulCooksStuff]

@@MattHorton it's reality, it's all good.

[@JessicaMatthews]

I have 1 Apple device (I use it for art creation) and nothing else Apple in my life. Unfortunately, they forcing me to bundle this game w/ a subscription to "Apple Arcade" is a hard pass. Let me pay for the game outright, and I'd be interested.

[@MattHorton]

Yeah that's fair. Their bet is that with enough exclusives you'll want their subscription full of games that don't have in app purchases.

[@Ginebraxt1]

The first month of Apple Arcade is free in case you want to check it out. I applied for the trial, finished the game and will cancel the subscription before the trial ends

[@ceruleanx5364]

there is a free trial. you can cancel your subscription once you finished the game

[@discovermajid]

Future Matt ^_^ is appropriately glum lol

[@MattHorton]

Haha I did finish the game and loved it!

[@BrendonBigley]

Oh MAN so sorry you lost your save file that's such a bummer. I've been switching between Mac / iPhone / iPad a lot... but maybe I'll stop pushing my luck and stick to iOS from now on.

[@MattHorton]

I'm glad it's working for you! Seems like it's just me and this Twitter guy reporting issues

[@Gaijin101]

Glad to see its working for others. Im selling my M1 mba and hoping to continue on an iphone/ipad.

[@jackngo9338]

Please us fantasia on other platforms.

[@MattHorton]

That'd be neat

[@roninvalkyrie85]

Smacks of the same character BS like Last Odyssey. All that aside...dioramas and classic turn based battles. I’M IN!

[@MattHorton]

Interesting! Someone I know who love this also loves Lost Odyssey. They do the same memory thing as that game.

[@roninvalkyrie85]

If the writing is half as good it’ll be a treat. If you think the tropey stuff in here is bad then check out the Jansen/Ming relationship in LO. Cringe turned up to 11!

[@MattHorton]

Haha no thanks. I'm enjoying this though. Now far past that lost save. About 10 hours in

[@ecksluss]

:O you mean the 1st Final Fantasy on ps1 is dated? Nooooo. You're missing out.

[@MattHorton]

I love a retro game but that one didn't do it for me

[@mackstertube]

I want to play this game but it's on apple devices so no I won't be playing it unless it gets ported to good devices, consoles or pc's. Plus I will always stay clear of games with save data issues. That is the worst kind of bug or problem to have. Which is why I will not play outriders until fixed for sure but by then new games are out.